wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s AEW WrestleDream 2026 Review
Image Credit: AEW
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October 17th, 2026 | Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, Florida
I just got back from vacation and it’s time to start getting back into the swing of things in terms of wrestling. I have several major matches I need to get to before my year-end list and for the first time ever, I’m ordering a WrestleDream PPV!
Divine Dominion def. Sisters of Sin [**¾]
Josh Alexander, Jake Doyle and Wardlow won a squash [NR]
The Death Riders and the Dogs beat the Conglomeration, Colten Gunn, Juice Robinson, and the returning Jay White [***]
The FTR/MCMG Best of Five Series Match #1 started on the pre-show but spilled into the main card. I will be starting my review from after that match. The Guns won in about 26 minutes (didn’t need to go that long for match 1). [****]
AEW Women’s World Championship: Mercedes Mone [c] vs. Thekla
Oh, we starting hot. This had a big fight feel. Early on, Thekla did her spider walk gimmick and Mercedes basically no sold it before hitting a sick Facebuster spot. She wasn’t intimidated by Thekla’s antics. There was just some really great back and forth wrestling here. Mercedes held serve first, only for Thekla to turn the tide. Mercedes mocked Thekla, Thekla returned the favor. They had counters for each other and threw in stiff shots to mix things up. When Thekla hit the Spear, it was especially stiff. Finding herself in trouble, Mercedes got desperate. She took off her mask, which got a great reaction, and hit Thekla with it but Thekla countered her finisher. Mercedes managed to survive that and eventually hit the Mone Maker to retain in 14:34. One of the rare times where I wish an AEW match went longer. They were a few minutes away from peaking. Still, what we got here was pretty great. [***¾]
Oddly, Thekla kind of just got up and walked off without much selling.
Chris Jericho vs. Nick Wayne
They’re 1-1 against each other. This is the classic story of the cocky youngster against the wise veteran. It’s a story I love, though Jericho isn’t exactly my favorite guy to watch in the big 2026. That said, Wayne has improved greatly and was on his game here. He played the character well, acting like a young punk after every advantage he got. Jericho got going after countering Wayne’s World into the Codebreaker. He went deep, even jumping off the top and to the outside. I don’t think I’ve seen him do that in years. Wayne resorted to spitting water in Jericho’s face. Jericho kicked out of Wayne’s World at 1. That wasn’t exactly the time for a one-count, which are super overdone as it is. I liked the spot of Jericho wearing a cup to block low blows because it ties into their bigger overall story. It helped the finish too as that led to Jericho hitting his own low blow as revenge, but the pain took Wayne to the mat, allowing him to inadvertently duck the Judas Effect. He then pulled Jericho into a small package to win in 14:49. That was better than expected because of the story stuff more than the in-ring action, though it had no business going 15. [***]
AEW World Tag Team Championship: The Young Bucks [c] vs. Kevin Knight and Kyle Fletcher
I really didn’t need another Bucks reign in 2026 but here we are. The challengers kind of dominated early and even stole the Bucks’ signature taunt. The champs were taken aback by the superior tag work of their less experienced opposition. The Bucks turned it around quickly enough and we got more of an even match, with some Don Callis shenanigans thrown in for good measure. The best spot was a sick moment outside where Matt countered a Kyle counter with one of his own, though I did like the Destroyer off of their partners’ backs too. That was a fun twist on something we’ve seen too often. They kept up the big spots, like a Meltzer Driver on the outside. That set up Kyle alone to take the BTE Trigger, only to kick out. Once the turnbuckle Brainbuster and twisting Frog Splash by the challengers had the pin broken up, you knew the champions were going to retain. Knight and Fletcher argued, setting up Fletcher to take a bunch of offense and then get thrown into Knight’s offense. The Bucks finished off Knight with the BTE Trigger in 22:38. A great tag team match. I think they went a bit overboard in some points, which is typical of a Bucks match, but Kyle and Kevin are just tremendous to watch. [****¼]
AEW TBS Championship: Persephone [c] vs. Dani Luna vs. Hyan vs. Queen Aminata
As much as I like Persephone, I think they should belt up Aminata here. A lot of this followed typical fatal four way tropes. Two people as the focal point for a time while the other two take breathers outside. It’s a format that I don’t love because it basically feels like a series of short singles matches. The highlight of that section was Aminata against Persephone. They were laying the shots into each other. I don’t have too much to say other than that. The layout of this match kind of continued until Persephone retained with a moonsault press on Hyan in 13:55. Aminata was shocked by the result, giving me an inkling that they’ll likely go Aminata/Persephone next. This was good. It never sniffed great given the layout, but it was good. [***]
AEW National Championship: Andrade El Idolo [c] vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Okay former NXT Champions. A hot start here with both men going for big blows early. They did it without it feeling tropey, as they made sure it had aggression and snap behind it all. Andrade still took time for his gimmicks like trying to take off his pants and taking a selfie with a woman at ringside. The crowd really wanted Andrade to take his pants and it got a big pop when he did it. However, I liked that Ciampa hit him while he did this, leaving Andrade stuck with his pants down and he STILL hit the double moonsault that way. Insane. I had fun with Ciampa beating up Andrade’s pants, though I didn’t like that he made them kick out. Wrestling is carny and I’m all for that in the right scenario but it doesn’t fit Ciampa’s character to do that. Down the stretch, they may have overdone a few near falls before Andrade hit his finisher on the title, turning the tables on Ciampa in 20:56. Another strong match on a show full of them so far. [***½]
AEW Trios Championship 2 Out of 3 Falls Match: The New Level and Swerve Strickland [c] vs. Brodido and Hangman Page
The previous match between these teams got ****¾ from me. Every combination of opponents in the ring worked here. Bandido vs. Creed early ruled, Hangman vs. Swerve got the huge pop you’d expect, and even Swerve vs. Brody got more heated than expected. By the time Kofi scored the first pin on Bandido to go up 1-0, I didn’t realize that about 10 minutes had passed. That’s how good the action was in this. I liked them immediately going for the second fall. It makes sense to take advantage of a downed opponent. It only took a few minutes for the challengers to even the score and though it was only around 14 minutes in, they were all spent. Again, a testament to the action and pace. They found interesting ways to play on what they had done last month, making for creative spots that made sense given their knowledge of each other. The closing stretch was filled with awesome exchanges, counters, and memorable spots. The highlight was Brody King teasing a double superplex on the New Level and having it broken up before Bandido then went up and hit them with a double moonsault slam. It was one of the greatest and most absurd things I’ve ever seen in wrestling. It looked like we were gearing up for Bandido to eat yet another pin, as he had the 21 Plex countered, only for him to turn it around and counter Big Pressure into a pin after 23:42. Excellent pro wrestling. I slightly prefer last month but this was awesome and never stopped, while also getting better as time went on. [****½]
After the match, New Level handed over the titles to Brodido and showed them respect. Swerve didn’t want to do the same for Hangman, opting to just drop the title at his feet. Their obsession with each other continues to cost them.
Renee Paquette brought out AEW’s newest signing, Ilja Dragunov. He just came out to a sick theme and posed for the crowd, who ate it up.
AEW Continental Championship: Jon Moxley [c] vs. Mark Davis
This was always going to be a war, but the violence level was even higher than I expected. I admittedly missed a few early minutes to grab a snack but upon returning, Moxley was busted open and there was blood everywhere. I don’t always like Davis’ apron piledriver spot because it often clearly looks like his opponent is totally safe but it looked barbaric here. Moxley literally clawing his way to his feet to beat a countout was such a cool little tidbit. However, playing into the story of him being basically broken the other day, Moxley sat at ringside and seemingly was ready to give up. Marina and Daniel came through the crowd to motivate him to get back in there and once he did, he hit a Curb Stomp. From there, he was ready to go toe-to-toe with Davis, even daring him to hit him harder at one point. In the end, Moxley found a way to apply the Brutalizer, which he transitioned into the rear naked choke. Davis passed out at the 23:31 mark. I loved the layout here. It was an absolute battle, yet it was mostly Moxley getting his ass kicked and surviving Davis. [****¼]
AEW World Championship Clockwork Carnage Match: Will Ospreay [c] vs. Adam Copeland vs. Darby Allin vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Konosuke Takeshita vs. Mike Bailey vs. Ricochet vs. Samoa Joe
I know a lot of people aren’t happy about this but I am. I’m a sucker for new match types. Sometimes you get a Money in the Bank, Casino Gauntlet, or Iron Survivor. Two people start and another one comes out every three minutes. Anyone pinned before the last person comes out is eliminated. Once #8 is in, 15:00 goes up on the clock and whoever gets the most pins/submissions during that time is the winner. Theoretically, this should last 32:00. Ospreay and Takeshita were #1 and #2. Their exchange was good as you’d expect before Bailey entered at #3. The United Empire boys worked together against Takeshita. Ricochet entered at #4 to “BALD” chants. He was on a roll when Darby came in at #5. Okada was #6 and after so much action, Ospreay was the one standing in the ring waiting for him. Okada took his time and was a blast once he got in there. Takeshita scored the first elimination, pinning Bailey with Raging Fire before Copeland entered at #7. Then, in a surprise, Okada snuck in and eliminated Takeshita with the Rainmaker before flipping him off a bunch. Everyone went for more eliminations before Samoa Joe could enter but they couldn’t.
They leaned into the carnage aspect of the name. Joe, Ricochet, and Okada all scored points within the first couple of minutes before Ospreay got one on Ricochet and Darby hit the Coffin Drop on Will to get his own. Copeland was the only one without a point after three minutes. Ospreay and Darby got to two before Copeland could get one. Joe tied them with just over two minutes left by making Ospreay tap. Copeland finally got on the board after Spearing Joe and then hit Ricochet with one to tie things with 2:00 remaining. That gave us a four-way tie, with Ricochet and Okada trailing. In the final 30 seconds, Okada cut off Copeland but took a Spear. Copeland covered but Ospreay hit him with Hidden Blade and then pinned Okada with 0:03 left to take the lead and win after 32:15 (I don’t believe they started the clock for the second stage until Joe hit the ring). A fun idea, though a bit flawed. Some parts felt rushed, while others didn’t totally click. I think they shouldn’t do this as a PPV main event again but it’s a cool gimmick for a special Dynamite to determine a #1 contender or something. [***¼]
