All Elite Wrestling
WrestleDream 2024
October 12, 2024
Tacoma Dome
Tacoma, Washington
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Meet our previewers
Suit Williams: You can read Suit’s long-form previews and reviews of wrestling from around the world here at Voices of Wrestling. You can also find his weekly reviews of AEW Collision over at F4WOnline. Check out his brand-new wrestling blog Williams Watches Wrestling, where he’ll engage in watch projects and review requests. Follow Suit on all social media platforms @SuitWilliams.
Joey O’Doherty: Joey is an Irish contributor to the site who stays up late each week to watch AEW live. Follow Joey on X @awesomeojoe.
WrestleDream Zero Hour – ROH World Television Championship
Atlantis Jr. © vs. Brian Cage
Suit: This match got announced on the October 3 episode of Ring of Honor television. Between this and the ROH World Title match being booked for the main card, I think Tony Khan is giving another swing to getting an ROH hour on television somewhere. There are some people within my circle who are tired of the Ring of Honor conversation never going anywhere, but as long as Khan owns the promotion, he’s going to try to get someone to give him money to air it somewhere. There has reportedly been interest in the product from TV outlets, with reports that the CW wanted the show before turning to the NWA and eventually NXT. I’ve got no problem with the ROH titles on AEW TV as long as they’re presented well.
I can’t give you much insight on this match in particular, as I’ve dumped the ROH Honor Club TV a while ago. But I expect this to be a showcase for CMLL’s Atlantis Jr in front of the Zero Hour audience. Prediction: Atlantis Jr.
Joey: The re-re-RE-animated corpse of Ring of Honor is back and it appears Tony is trying once again to secure a TV deal for the AEW sister promotion. I’m very much checked out on ROH apart from the odd segment that pops up on AEW segment, but I expect this match to be an example of what Tony intends to bring to the table of any potential TV network suitor.
Brian Cage seems to know his place as part of TK’s monster factory, he gets wheeled out everytime someone else needs a shine. Atlantis Jr is Cage’s latest job and I have moderate expectations that he will again make his opponent look like a million bucks. Only one winner here. Prediction: Atlantis Jr.
ROH World Championship
Mark Briscoe © vs. Chris Jericho
Suit: The Learning Tree and the Conglomeration have been feuding for a while now, in a re-ignition of Jericho’s years-old feud with Orange Cassidy. At Collision: Grand Slam, Jericho pinned Briscoe off of a Big Bill chokeslam through a table, giving Jericho an interest in re-gaining the ROH World Title. After a low blow comment from Jericho about Mark never being as good as his late brother Jay was, the normally affable Briscoe has gotten serious and promised a Briscoe Brothers ass-whooping to Jericho.
As I wrote earlier, Jericho’s interest in the ROH Title says that Khan is trying to get someone to pick up ROH television, whether it be in the WBD family of networks or otherwise. Jericho is still a TV draw, despite fatigue from circles of fans and being beaten like a drum on television. Expect Jericho to become The Nueve and pick up the ROH World Title here. Prediction: Chris Jericho
Joey: “Am I so out of touch? No!, it’s the children who are wrong”
I’m conflicted between my heart and sound logic. My heart wants Jericho nowhere near an ROH TV gig, and I certainly don’t want him to be the man to take down Mark Briscoe, who has been a pleasure to watch most of the time since joining AEW. Briscoe has been utterly endearing since his brother’s unfortunate passing, and he has been a breath of fresh air of what AEW should be like each week, sandwiched in between Tiger Driver drama and badly scripted Mone promos.
But as Suit points out above, he is a TV draw no matter how much I am tired of his stale antics and it makes sense that ROH has a recognizable face to help it achieve its TV deal. The Learning Tree gets strapped up here and I die a little inside. Prediction: Chris Jericho
Darby Allin vs. Brody King
Suit: After losing his World Title shot to Jon Moxley, Allin wanted to get back on the winning side and prove that he could be AEW World Champion. His first step is at WrestleDream, taking on the man that answered Allin’s open challenge in Brody King.
These two have had violent battles in the past, but Allin has never pinned King. He beat him in a coffin match and got tag team wins alongside Sting against the House of Black, but never pinned King specifically. Expect that to change here. Between the reports of AEW considering Allin for a run with the big belt, alongside the promos between Allin and Moxley, Allin feels like the #1 pick for dethroning Moxley should Mox win the title. Getting a win over an established rival will be a good start in Allin’s journey to the title. Prediction: Darby Allin
Joey: Poor Darby needs two positives right now. One to rule out the negative of being made look like a dork by giving away his title shot so freely. And another, so he can have a net gain positive. Darby and King’s match feels very “oh shit, we forgot about Darbs, what will we do with him” one week out from the PPV. King has not been built up at all as a singles guy after his impressive showing in the Continental Classic, which is a shame; and while him and Darby will have another fantastic match I;m sure, I can’t help but feel disappointed that both mean seem to be in the same spot years after their nice little feud in 2022.
Darby is a guy they are pushing, he’s just a victim of circumstance right now, but big Brody needs to be pushed harder than being one part of a spooky trio. Darby surely gets the win and hopefully begins his climb towards the World Championship, while King probably loses and returns to the House of Black with his tail between his massive legs despite a good showing here. Prediction: Darby Allin
AEW TNT Championship
Jack Perry © vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Suit: Please let this be a normal title match? With the Scapegoat? No way!
The Magic Scapegoat Bus rolls into Tacoma for a TNT Title defense against Katsuyori Shibata in possibly the loosest battle of the New Japan Home Army vs House of Torture you’ll ever find. It says something about AEW’s roster that they can just pull out Shibata for a PPV match whenever they want. Expect a successful defense here, but a possible direction for Perry after this show was made clear on Dynamite with the return of Daniel Garcia. Garcia announced his re-signing with AEW, his intention to win gold, and re-established his friendship with Shibata ahead of this show. Perry should retain, and I wouldn’t be shocked if Garcia made his presence known afterwards. Prediction: Jack Perry
Joey: I expect a routine title defense for Jack here. There is nothing to get me excited about this one, sadly. Jack’s a fine wrestler, and his heel turn has been an improvement personality-wise, but I still don’t fully buy him as a reckless badass yet. As a wrestler, he is fairly competent at his worst, but he rarely goes beyond it either. He’s not bad, he’s actually quite good, but I just don’t care for him much personally. Shibata in AEW has excited me in places, but I don’t think he and Perry will set the place of fire, though Perry does it literally speaking i suppose. Prediction: Jack Perry
AEW International Championship
Will Ospreay © vs. Ricochet vs. Konosuke Takeshita
Suit: Will Ospreay defends his International Championship against two great rivals of his in Ricochet and Konosuke Takeshita. Ospreay found himself back in the orbit of the Don Callis Family, with Callis calling in his months-old favor from Ospreay to get him and Kyle Fletcher to go for the Tag Team Titles. Their challenge of the Young Bucks failed when Ospreay refused to let Fletcher use the Big Turn Screwdriver to cheat. The Five-Year Anniversary edition of Dynamite saw the highly anticipated rematch between Ospreay and Ricochet end in a double pin. The match was quickly restarted, but an attack from Takeshita on both men left the match without a definitive winner. Callis admitted to sending Takeshita after Ospreay for refusing to listen to him and costing the Family the Tag Titles.
The only finish I see here is Takeshita winning the title. Ricochet is essentially a third wheel here, having gotten screwed by Takeshita but more likely to play pin-eater in this match. Peaking this Callis Family drama here would be a good way to get the title off of Ospreay and to belt up Takeshita for the first time. With Kyle Fletcher being involved in the strife and a major stadium show in Australia coming up in February, now would be the best time for Takeshita to win the title. It would allow him to get a good reign in, with potential defenses on PPV and in Japan for Wrestle Dynasty before giving Fletcher a real crowning moment in his home country. Prediction: Konosuke Takeshita
Joey: Finally, it’s a match where I am unsure of the winner. Woo-hoo!
While I have enjoyed Will from an in-ring POV (who doesn’t), I have really enjoyed him outside of it too, despite some of the silly situations he’s been booked in. Looking beyond the drivel of “will I or won’t I use a screw driver” or the overdone melodrama of hurting someone with a wrestling move, Ospreay is a damn fine entertaining fellow and I’ve enjoyed the main story of him, Callus and the family.
I personally wouldn’t take the title off Ospreay yet, but he realistically doesn’t need it. And as much as I like the thought of Takeshita winning it and finally getting a title in AEW, I think it’s above him too.However, he could do with a big win in AEW. Ricochet probably isn’t ready to be strapped up yet either, having really only arrived recently. He still looks like he’s playing catch up to an extent with Will Ospreay and sadly looks off the pace in AEW compared to his opponents.
Could I see Will do his mate a solid and Ricochet gets a big win here? Yes. Can I see Takeshita get the win? Absolutely. Do I think either of those things will happen? No, I think Will retains here. Whatever happens, I do expect the scarred, bald head of Don Callis to get involved here either way and some melodrama with Kyle Fletcher. Prediction: Will Ospreay
AEW World Tag Team Championship
The Young Bucks © vs. Private Party
Suit: Are the Young Bucks back? I feel like the Young Bucks are back. After their dismal summer fighting over some vague idea of control over the company, the Bucks are back to fighting for their tag team titles to positive results. A rock-solid title defense against Castagnoli & Yuta at All Out and a phenomenal defense against Ospreay & Fletcher at Grand Slam lead us to WrestleDream and a defense against Private Party.
Private Party are here, hoping to pull off the upset like they did all the way back on episode #2 of Dynamite five years ago. Private Party are still generally in the same spot as they were back then, as a lower card team that people don’t expect to beat the Bucks. Part of that is the long injury layoff to Quen, who missed over a year of action. Part of that is the booking that saw them as Matt Hardy underlings for what felt like years and had them get thoroughly handled by the Moxley Death Cult for a month straight leading up to this title match. The result is the same, a team that doesn’t feel like a strong threat to the Bucks.
With Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi training for their returns to AEW, this feels like a placeholder defense while also feeling like one last shot to see what Private Party has to offer. Somebody call Kendrick Lamar, because Saturday night will be the time to watch the party die. Prediction: The Young Bucks
Joey: Are the Young Bucks back? It’s been a rough summer for Matt and Nick Jackson, and unlike Suit above, I will reserve my judgment a bit further. They had wonderful opponents at All Out and Grand Slam, but this will be the real acid test for me. A good performance here and there is a fair case to suggest they were never really gone to begin with.
Private Party are in the slot of contenders after a rough 12 months (3 years, if I’m being honest) for them. The history between the two teams is enough to get me interested and while the result seems academic, this could be the beginning of better things for Quen and Kassidy. A good showing here and it may be a chance for these AEW originals to finally reach their potential. I’m hopeful of an entertaining match with Private Party getting plenty of shine, but the Bucks will come out on top. Prediction: The Young Bucks
AEW Women’s World Championship
Mariah May © vs. Willow Nightingale
Suit: As someone who bought a lot of stock in Mariah May early on in her AEW career, I can’t say I’ve been impressed with her title run so far. Ever since the incredible angle where she bloodied up Toni Storm, May has felt cold, both in character and in reception. She had this femme fatale, serial killer vibe where she coldly and remorselessly took out her friend Storm but has not been able to effectively get the character over since then. She’s stumbled out of the blocks with stilted promos and cold title matches. One of those matches was with Yuka Sakazaki at Grand Slam, after which Nightingale stopped May from attacking Sakazaki further. Nightingale won a four-way match on Title Tuesday Dynamite to set this title match up.
If AEW has lost faith in May and want to pull the cord on it, Willow would be a great person to do it with. She’s constantly over and one of the better workers in the division. But for all the talk to the contrary, AEW doesn’t really pivot when it comes to storylines with long arcs on them like the Mariah May story. They tend to tweak it as it goes to try and make it work, and they seem to be in the process of doing that with May. She’s dropping aspects of the femme fatale character and showing more life in her promos lately, which will help as she’s got great charisma, both live show and otherwise. With the Mina Shirakawa story thread still hanging, expect May to have the most heated defense of her short reign here and get the win over Willow. Prediction: Mariah May
Joey: Mariah will win this one surely, but she really needs a strong performance to really kick start her reign which has felt hollow since the win at Wembley. They had a fine match in the Owen a few months back and both women can certainly bring out the best in each other. Willow has been tremendous recently, with a career best performance at All Out. Like some matches on the card, it seems kind of thrown together with such a short build and Mariah feels almost ice cold at the moment, so chances of Willow hitting those heights are slim, but I do think Nightingale will bring out the best defense to date from The Glamour who gets the W Prediction: Mariah May
“Hangman” Adam Page vs. Jay White
Suit: Who can stop the Path of Page? Hangman Page’s actions have come back to haunt him, as Switchblade Jay White has returned to get revenge on one of the men who put him on the shelf back in July. I’m glad White has comeback on the babyface side of things, if only to give him a desperately needed freshening up. I’m not sure where Hangman slots in right now. I don’t expect him to be in the World Title mix anytime soon with Moxley in the mix, and most of the other titles are on fellow rudos. His stated goal to “go after anyone who got in his way of revenge on Swerve Strickland” can be applied very loosely and put him in anyone’s direction.
I can see far bigger things for Jay White in the near future. I wrote that Page was one of the two men that put White on the shelf. The other man was someone who interfered in that match, future World Title contender Christian Cage. With the World Title being in the orbit of Jon Moxley’s Death Cult, I think it’s far more likely for Jay White and his babyface Bang Bang Gang to find themselves across the ring from Mox and the World Title than either Christian Cage or Hangman. Expect White to go over here before somehow getting his hands on Christian Cage’s title shot to set up a big title match with Moxley. Prediction: Jay White
Joey: Even though this also has had a short build, it comes with a fair amount of logic and history. Page is one of the big bright spots in AEW’s historic and recent booking. He’s easily one of the most compelling parts of the show. Not only that, he is booked very strong and logical, something not every AEW talent can claim. Go figure.
Jay White in AEW has been an odd journey. He’s a ready-made star who was thrown into a faction with no real direction since joining last year. But a strong Continental Classic showing reminded us that he is still one hell of an in-ring performer, with some of the most underrated mic skills in the business. The build is simple, White seeking revenge on the destructive Hangman and both men want to knock the tar out of each other. Expect a great match, not sure who gets the win here as I personally don’t think it’s a good idea for either man to lose, but I’ll guess Hanger with the win. Prediction: Hangman Page
MxM Collection vs. The Acclaimed
Suit: This match was made official on the taping for the October 11th Rampage. If it doesn’t happen, blame the internet for lying to me. This has been a “comedy” feud on the weekend shows, with the nadir being the god-awful fashion show segment at the Grand Slam taping. This is a late-stage Vince McMahon-tier angle that I have no interest in. MxM was a cute bit that have overstepped the bounds of what I want out of AEW, and I have zero interest in the tired act the Acclaimed have become. Prediction: The Acclaimed
Joey TMxM are a limited act and they face another limited act who are staler than four month old bread. Like Lucille Bluth, I don’t care much for this match and I’ll use it to grab food. Prediction: The Acclaimed
2-Out-of-3 Falls
Hologram vs. The Beast Mortos
Suit: The former Aramis, now known as Hologram, has gotten a big push on the AEW weekend shows. He debuted to great fanfare during the Collision stint at the eSportatorium and has been undefeated since then. The Beast Mortos has gotten over during that same period by having awesome matches and looking cool, which are the only two tenants of pro wrestling. They’ve gotten into it since Grand Slam, where Rush reformed La Faccion Ingobernable with Mortos and Dralistico and stomped out Hologram.
This is Hologram’s PPV debut and very clearly designed to give him a spotlight, so I’ll say that Mortos gets the rub of getting the first fall on him before Hologram comes back to win the overall match. Prediction: Hologram
Joey: Tony Khan’s new pet project gets a featured match on PPV versus the former Black Taurus. Expect cool shit from both men and both men to get over easily doing said cool shit. Hologram isn’t losing here but the real winner will be the fans watching on. Prediction: Hologram
AEW World Championship
Bryan Danielson © vs. Jon Moxley
Suit: After the shocking turn on Bryan Danielson at All Out, and after taking Darby Allin’s title match at Grand Slam, Jon Moxley looks to send Bryan Danielson home to his family and take the AEW World Title. I’ve made it very clear throughout this review that I think Jon Moxley is winning the AEW World Title on this show. But I will play Devil’s Advocate against myself and wonder about the possibilities of Danielson retaining here. He can still physically hold up, as he’s had one of the best years of his storied career. He would have options creatively, between return matches with Mox, Will Ospreay, and Hangman Page. It wouldn’t be the end of the world for Danielson to survive this challenge.
But I would be stunned if he did. Jon Moxley has returned from that vacation everybody wanted him to have, and he has quickly become the most interesting act in professional wrestling. Moxley’s taken Castagnoli, PAC, and Marina Shafir, and waged war on the promotion as AEW’s strongest main event heel act in over a year. There are clear future directions with guys like Wheeler Yuta and Darby Allin. With most of this year’s main event scene being dream match centric, a great Mox title run as a no-bullshit heel can be a real breath of fresh air for the top of the cards in AEW going into 2025. Danielson goes out on his shield, and Jon Moxley reigns for the fourth time as AEW World Champion. Prediction: Jon Moxley
Joey: Beyond Hangman Page, Jon Moxley and his evolved BCC faction are the most captivating piece of AEW television each week. Mox seems motivated and hungry to sink his teeth into this angle and the turn gave him the juice to freshen up his act, which has been the best thing going since All Out. The betrayal of Bryan is still a bit of a mystery and the motives of himself and his friends is far from clear, which makes for great viewing that makes you tune in for more each week.
It’s odd to think Danielson will lose his title so soon, thus ending his full time career in pro wrestling, but I can’t see any outcome in which Mox loses. He has to win, he needs to win and by God almighty, he’s going to take that title on Saturday. His act is a must see, his faction has turned from being a by-the-numbers booked act to an instantly rejuvenated squadron of vicious killers, with Marina Shafir’s turn as Chyna 2.0 a genius addition I never knew I wanted.
Mox is what AEW needs right now to steer the promotion back to its core mission, being a genuine alternative to WWE’s aimless, dumbed down melodrama. Last year AEW came so close to becoming WWE lite with MJF and the Devil nonsense which turned so many people off the product. With Mox at the helm, booking his own shit presumably, AEW can get back to being where the best truly wrestle.
I expect Bryan to kill himself in this match, to go out all guns blazing in a blaze of glory, but ultimately fall short as Moxley puts the old dog down for good. It’s going to be emotional. Prediction: Jon Moxley
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