AEW hosts the WrestleDream PPV in roughly two weeks time on Saturday, October 17 from Orlando, Florida. Even with three matches announced, there is still lots of uncertainty for the card. Two of the three matches have caveats to be determined.
As it currently stands, the WrestleDream lineup includes:
- AEW World Championship: Will Ospreay (c) vs. seven more wrestlers in Clockwork Carnage
- AEW Women’s World Championship: Mercedes Moné (c) vs. Thekla
- AEW World Tag Team Championship: Young Bucks (c) vs. Kyle Fletcher & Kevin Knight
Will Ospreay should be in the WrestleDream main event. The question is if he will enter as champion. Ospreay defends the AEW World Championship against Kazuchika Okada at Grand Slam France on Tuesday,
October 6. Tony Khan realized the pickle of the time crunch, which no doubt came from repeated viewings of Timecop. Khan and Ospreay brainstormed to create the Clockwork Carnage match. Read the rules here. Technically, none of the eight participants are official yet. The world champion will be in, whether that be Ospreay or Okada. I assume that if Ospreay loses the title (he won’t) then he should be granted passage as well to regain the gold. AEW also booked Samoa Joe versus Jack Perry as a qualifier at Grand Slam France. Unless the remaining TV episodes are full of qualifiers, there will be plenty of open spots heading into the PPV.
Mercedes Moné has business to handle at Grand Slam France before her showdown with Thekla. Queen Aminata is on a win streak, and Khan put her on the radar for a title shot. Aminata doesn’t want to wait, so her opportunity comes in Paris. The winner (which will be Mercedes) advances to fight the Toxic Spider. Mercedes had a laugh thumping Thekla on Collision.
Given the emotional week that was with the death of PAC, it is easy to forget results from All Out. The Young Bucks won the AEW tag titles in a ladder match against Adam Copeland & Christian Cage and FTR. Kyle Fletcher & Kevin Knight earned the title shot in a match against Darby Allin & Steven Borden. That bout was called off early when Borden was concussed and unable to continue. The official decision went in favor of the Callis Family. This is the one bout that appears to set on the surface, barring injury.
No other title bouts seem obvious at the moment. The rest of the champions include:
- AEW Continental Championship: Jon Moxley (c)
- AEW International Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c)
- AEW National Championship: Andrade El Idolo (c)
- TNT Championship: Darby Allin (c)
- TBS Championship: Persephone (c)
- AEW World Trios Championship: Swerve Strickland & New Level (c)
- AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championship: Brawling Birds (c)
It’s hard to prognosticate the card without knowing who will be in Clockwork Carnage. Jon Moxley, Kazuchika Okada, Andrade El Idolo, and Darby Allin are all big stars worthy of the shot. However, there are also good reasons to keep them out of the main event. Moxley and presumably Okada would have lost one-on-one to Ospreay in recent weeks. Andrade has the Casino Gauntlet contract to call his shot. Allin could be more interested in defending the TNT title, assuming he beats Kyle Fletcher at Grand Slam France. I don’t think Swerve Strickland would pass up the opportunity to compete for the world title, so the trios titles may be off the board for WrestleDream.
All that to say I have no idea how this WrestleDream card will shape up.
How do you think the PPV lineup shakes out?
