AEW WrestleDream 2026 Discussion

[Doog]

I think the other issue with Clockwork Carnage happening at this PPV is that its pretty obvious Ospreay wouldn't be losing the title this early, so that hurt the jeopardy of the match. Even subconsciously, I dont think anyone actually believed Ospreay would lose so it hurt the match a lot.

At another time, deep into a title reign or whatever then yeah, it works as a main event, but not here.

Good show mind, stayed entertaining throughout with the TBS title match being the only "dull" point. Loved the Bucks/Fletcher and Knight match, looks like Fletcher and Knight will split now which is the right way to go.

Moxley was as great as ever. Also really hope MJF returns soon as I feel hes been missed , it'll be nice to have some 1 on 1 matches at a PPV where there isn't a title on the line also, appreciate with so many titles that's difficult, but only one match on this show not being for a belt is crazy.

Also, a small thing that I noticed last night, they should let entrances breathe a little.bit before hitting the opponents music, literally as soon as one entrance music stops, the other starts, like no break inbetween. I mention it because Thekla's entrance was fantastic, made her look big as fuck...yet the second her music stopped Mones hit, not saying dwell too much but leave a bit of a gap for crowed reaction as Thekla would've got that big time.

Good show though all in all, hoping for a good Full Gear card and really interested in who will main event as Ospreays next big challenger, MJF return on Dynamite hopefully. 

[Chili]

It's not been brought up but Bandido doing that double fall away moonsault slam on BOTH Kofi & Creed was an absolutely mental bit of business. It looked incredible. I'm glad the Trios belts are really fun and more importantly the title reigns don't seem to be too long now, which I actually want from the Trios belts. 

[Kamran]

They added a couple of extra matches to the tailgate show:

• Jake Doyle, Josh Alexander and Wardlow vs. Alex Breeze, Papi D and Rhys Maddox 
• Jay White, Austin Gunn, Colten Gunn, Orange Cassidy, Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong vs. Claudio Castagnoli, Daniel Garcia, Gabe Kidd, Wheeler Yuta, David Finlay and Clark Connors

The crowd were hot through most of the night, Wardlow got a great reaction in the squash match. I was surprised to see Jay return so soon, I was fully expecting him to be out for a while.

I really enjoyed the 10-man match too, they've got so good at those.

9 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

So, Wrestledream…Firstly, Andrade is the worst talented wrestler on AEW’s roster. He’s a WWE gimmick. The repetitive trouser and selfie spots in every fucking match. The stupid catchphrase shoehorned into every promo. An announcer fawning over how ‘cool’ he is as if forced to at gunpoint (for the record, I think Schiavone is saying this because he actually believes it, but it feels like the kind of thing Michael Cole would have said because Vince was screaming it in is ear - ‘REMIND THEM THAT HE’S COOL, GODDAMMIT!’)

The match was good, but I hated it, especially the trouser spot. If Ciampa had followed the ‘kick-out’ up with telling the trousers ‘Andrade wouldn’t have done that’ or something like that it might have worked, but as it was, it was a very odd thing for him to do in the context of his character - and it being a title match; albeit one for a belt no one gives a shit about. 

I think as long as they're getting a crowd reaction, they'll keep doing them. If Andrade turns heel then there's a good chance he'll stop a lot of this but until that happens, I can't see it changing. Ciampa did a similar spot to the trousers with that chicken toy during his match with Brisco; he calls himself a psycho, so attacking inanimate objects is kinda funny to me and sort of fits the character.

9 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

FTR/MCMG was good, but the Machine Guns still reek of WWE-stink to me. I don't buy them as a top level act, which FTR absolutely are at this point.

I really enjoyed their match, I can't say I watched much of their WWE run so I don't know if that helped. They will need to try and show more of their personalities off though

Overall - I thought it was a good show, really enjoyed the majority of the matches. The TBS match was okay and I agree with the criticisms of the main event; it was fine but pretty forgettable. 

 

 

[LaGoosh]

Fun B-show. Clockwork Carnage was a good laugh with a thrilling final few minutes, Bucks/ProtoJet was the perfect version  of that kind of match and Mox/Davis was unexpectedly epic. 

One thing I noticed a lot was lots of long sections where the camera shot wouldn't cut and they would stay close to the action and it resulted in some thrilling sequences. There was a bit outside the ring during the Bucks match which felt like an incredible single shot take from a martial arts movie. The talent level of this company that they can stay for so long and so close on their work without needing to hide gaps with camera cuts shows how good these guys are in ring.

Overall it feels to me that AEW this year have settled into a pattern of reliably consistent and almost guaranteed highest quality matches on every show. However they've also not really taken any creative swings or done very many big stories either. So it's been a year that I've really liked but not loved.

Edited 1 hour ago by LaGoosh