I’m getting old.
One of the ways I can tell is how grumpy I get with all the different ways to watch WWE, AEW, and NXT pay-per-view events. This was going to be the first AEW event I ordered on HBO Max, but there were all sorts of issues with getting it to work, so Amazon Prime is where I’ll be watching from. I believe this is the fourth different service I’ve used in 2025 to watch an AEW pay-per-view. Then there’s NXT events on Peacock, and of course, the egregiously confusing rollout for WWE shows on ESPN’s DTC service. People are STILL confused about the bundles ESPN is on, why they can access ESPN content from multiple places, but can only access WWE pay-per-views from a particular place, even though they have ESPN on something else, and on and on.
It’s all unnecessary.
With that said, it is WrestleDream time. The Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, Missouri was about 250 tickets away from being sold out as of this morning, so I would expect that we’ll be at full capacity for the show. I am fully expecting another loud and raucous AEW crowd, and they will be given a nine-match main show, with six different championships on the line.
Let’s have some fun.
JetSpeed vs FTR
Based on what I’ve seen on social media, I know I’m not the only person this happened to, but this match started at the end of the pre-show, and was already in progress when the pay-per-view itself began.
Guess who wasn’t watching the pre-show?
This guy.
I don’t watch any wrestling pay-per-view pre-shows, but I’ll go back and check something out after the fact if I see something worth checking out.
I have no idea how much of the match I missed, but that’s an insanely stupid way to format your shows. Some are going to say it’s AEW’s way to make sure people watch both the pre-show and the show itself, but just like AEW isn’t doing anything to make new viewers watch Dynamite or Collision every week, who is this for exactly?
If WrestleDream was three minutes away, and you didn’t already order the pay-per-view, is the idea of seeing JetSpeed vs FTR in its entirety going to be what it takes for you to part with $40-$50 of your money? Of course not. All you’re doing is making a bunch of people miss part of a match. Seems a bit counterproductive, no? I get wanting to be different, but that just seems like overcomplicating things just for the sake of being different.
This match was pretty decent. I’m not going to rate it, because I did miss a good portion of it, but the part that I did see was fun. FTR pick up the win after some interference from Big Stoke at ringside.
Jamie Hayer vs Thekla – Everyone Is Banned From Ringside
I bet JetSpeed wishes their match had everyone banned from ringside.
Nice, physical start to this one. I guess that shouldn’t be a surprise with everything that has brought us here. Thekla continues to shine in her brief AEW run, coming across as something completely unique to anything else in the AEW women’s division.
Charlie Thesz, the widow of Lou Thesz, is at ringside. Lou Thesz was raised in the St. Louis area, so the company is paying tribute to him by having Charlie there. She got a brief interview with Tony Schiavone, and has had multiple spots in the match where she was somewhat involved. Hayter shook her hand after a spot, and then, when Thekla was back on offense, she went to shake Charlie’s hand, only to pull her hand away and leave Charlie hanging.
Whether it’s just selling or an actual injury, Jamie is selling a back injury and making things awkward here. She took a diving crossbody from Thekla at ringside, with Thekla coming off of the top turnbuckle, and there was a super loud thud when Jamie landed. Since then, multiple power spots have been interrupted, with Jamie struggling to hold Thekla up. Again, whether it’s pure selling or an actual injury, it has made for some ugly looking spots.
Back-to-back Lariats give Jamie Hayter the win. The match started off nicely, then got weird for a bit, but both women worked hard. It wasn’t quite enough to make up for the lack of smoothness, but the match wasn’t bad in any way. 3 Stars
Jurassic Express vs The Young Bucks – $500,000 Match
Because we can’t have one fucking AEW show without an arbitrary amount of money on the line for the winners, here we go. At least it makes sense here, with the story of The Bucks being that they were super rich, then dead broke, then rich again, but are now dead broke again, so they went to Tony Khan and demanded a match like this to try and get back on their feet again.
At the start of the match, a loud “Luchasaurus” chant breaks out, and Luchasaurus has to acknowledge it. He looks at the crowd, puts his hands in a prayer position, then blows a kiss to the fans. He’s supposed to be a dinosaur! Kayfabe is dead!
Fast and furious pace to start this one. No surprise there.
Smart layout so far. Luchasaurus has had some fun spots when chaos reigns, but the story is that the Bucks are keeping Jack Perry in the match, taking advantage of some potential ring rust that he has, and the fans are clamoring for the hot tag.
“Of, you’ve got no money” chant from the crowd, to the tune of “Seven Nation Army.” Well, that’s just not nice. Kick your fellow human being while they’re down? Do better, St. Louis. I’m not sure you can, but at least try.
Hot tag! Luchasaurus is in to a big ovation, and he takes both Bucks out by himself with a flurry of offense.
They have continued the fast and furious pace throughout. I don’t think there’s been a slow spot until just now, and that was done to allow the crowd a chance to give them a standing ovation and chant. Tons of exciting offense from both teams so far.
“Fight forever” chants after yet another awesome sequence that ended with a Doomsday Device from Jurassic Express only getting a 2.999 count.
Countdown To Extinction gets the win for Jurassic Express. As commentary pointed out on multiple occasions, this is the first time Perry and Luchasaurus have defeated the Bucks in tag action after three previous losses.
After the match, Jack Perry goes to give some of the prize money to the Bucks, but Jurassic Express is attacked by several members of The Don Callis Family. As the Bucks walk away in sadness, Kenny Omega’s music hits, and he comes to the ring to assist Jurassic Express. Omega, Perry, and Luchasaurus stand tall to end things.
Super fun tag match. It started off red hot, and never cooled down. Jack Perry and Luchasaurus look like they never stopped tagging in the first place, picking right up where they left off. 4.5 Stars
The Hurt Syndicate vs The Demand – Tornado Trios Match (Winners Become #1 Contenders For The AEW Trios Titles)
A wild pace to start this one, too. How about that?
If AEW insists of having The Hurt Syndicate continue working trios matches, I beg of them to give Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin a new stablemate to work with. MVP looks like he can barely move at times, and everything comes slowing down to a near halt when he’s involved, even when he’s the one being beaten up.
Somewhat on topic, but it’s insane that Bobby Lashley, at 49 years old, is the youngest member of his team. Shelton turned 50 back in July, and MVP is going to be 52 in a week-and-a-half. Meanwhile, Lashley still has nine months left in his 40’s. As old as MVP looks at times, Bobby and Shelton look like they could pass for being in their 30’s still.
The Hurt Syndicate get the win. It was a decent enough match, but I think it’s something that would’ve been better off being on Dynamite or Collision. The MVP stuff slowed down a good chunk of the action, but outside of that, it was a fast-paced bout with a good combination of high-flying action and human beings throwing other human beings around. 3.25 Stars
The Hurt Syndicate are the new #1 Contenders for the AEW Trios Titles, currently held by The Opps triplets of Samoa Joe, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Katsuyori Shibata.
Kyle Fletcher vs Mark Briscoe – AEW TNT Title Match
Fletcher was having a bit of trouble getting his pants off before the match, and Excalibur said that he was having a “wardrobe malfunction.” On commentary, Don Callis said “OH, I BET YOU’D LIKE THAT!” Excalibur, hilariously, in a quiet tone, said “Quite frankly… yes.” Cue the meme of George Takei saying “OH MY.”
It’s still cool to see how much the AEW crowds love Mark Briscoe. No matter what he’s doing, and no matter how many losses he racks up, they still support him heavily and are rooting for his success.
Kyle Fletcher’s offensive “bag” is so deep. He is able to perform at such a high level against any opponent of any size and any style because he can tap in and work in all of those styles. Even though he still looks like Sid from Toy Story, his future is ridiculously bright. There’s a pretty good chance he wins the AEW World Title before 2026 becomes 2027.
Really good stuff here so far. Briscoe is working his ass off, looking years younger in the process, and Kyle Fletcher is… well… Kyle Fletcher.
AEW Referees are made out to be the absolute dumbest people on the planet. Paul Turner nearly gets run over in the corner by Mark Briscoe, but Briscoe stops himself at the last second. Briscoe turns around and gets kicked in the testicles by Fletcher. Meanwhile, Turner is still in the corner, facing away from the action and looking at the upper deck of the arena with a quizzical look on his face for some reason, missing the entire thing. Even worse, the spot didn’t even lead to the end of the match, as Briscoe kicks out at two after a pin attempt. Jesus Christ. Why in the fuck would Turner not just
The low blow did get enough momentum on Fletcher’s side, though, and he finally picks up the win. Good stuff here. Plenty of back-and-forth action with both men looking great. Yeah, we got the expected outcome, but as I mentioned earlier, Briscoe is over enough with crowds that they’re going to cheer for him, anyway. 4 Stars
Kris Statlander vs “Timeless” Toni Storm – AEW Women’s World Title Match
As the opening bell sounds, this is as quiet as the crowd has been all night. This is about the time on every AEW pay-per-view where the crowd takes a bit of a break for a match or two, after being loud and vocal for a few hours, before they pick back up for the final stretch of the show. We’ll see if that continues here.
This isn’t a knock on either of these women, but this match has been really slow so far. Neither of them wrestles like 1996 Rey Mysterio Jr. to begin with, but when they work a slower pace, it really stands out on a show that has basically been full of matches with the pedal to the floor from the opening bell.
The reign of Kris Statlander continues after she picks up a hard-fought victory. It was easily the slowest match of the night, but it was also one of the most hard-hitting. Super physical stuff here. 3.5 Stars
As Stat celebrates in the ring, the music of Mercedes Moné hits. The TBS Champion enters the ring for her own match, then tells Stat to get out of her ring.
Mercedes Moné vs ??? – Winner Takes All Open Challenge Match, with both the AEW TBS Title and the mystery challenger’s title on the line
The challenge is answered by Mina Shirakawa, who is the current interim Ring Of Honor Women’s Television Champion. It’s a pretty “safe” pick for a challenger here, after people spent a lot of time speculating on champions from all over the world coming to AEW for this one.
The crowd is still pretty quiet for this one, but surprisingly (or unsurprisingly, depending on your personal preferences and opinions), they’re louder for this than they were for Stat vs Storm.
Just like that, my feed is out, and I’m staring at a black screen with a loading logo. Based on some reactions on Twitter, it seems to be an Amazon Prime issue, as a bunch of people are upset about their feeds going out, too. So, if you’re keeping track, both HBO Max and Amazon Prime have screwed with me today. *old man rage intensifies*
After two or three minutes with a black screen, the feed came back on, only to cut back out on multiple occasions. Whenever it came back on, the feed went back several seconds, and I find myself stuck in an infinite loop of seeing Mercedes do her CEO dance and the beginning of her Three Amigos tribute to Eddie Guerrero.
Yeah, I’ve completely given up on getting to see this match. I’ll just follow along on Twitter and see what happens, I guess. Hopefully things get fixed before the next match.
According to Twitter, Mercedes won, earning her 11th championship, breaking Ultimo Dragon’s record. My feed returns with Mercedes sitting in the aisle way, while Kris Statlander stands tall in the ring. Oh. Okay then.
Brodido vs Kazuchika Okada & Konosuke Takeshita – AEW Tag Team Title Match
If my feed screws with my ability to watch this match, I might personally find Walter PrimeVideo (I believe its a Venezuelan name and pronounced “pre-may vee-day-o”) and give him a titty twister.
The RoH World Champion is one-half of the AEW Tag Team Champions, and they’re defending the titles against the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion and the AEW Unified Champion. Pro wrestling is a kooky place sometimes.
Brody King with some HUGE chops to the chests of both Okada and Takeshita. They’re echoing throughout the arena, sounding like a normal Saturday night in East St. Louis.
It still amazes me to see the in-ring chemistry that Brody and Bandido have. They look like they’ve been teaming up for years.
Smart work by the Don Callis Family members, isolating Bandido. Not only is Bandido the smaller of their two opponents, but they’re working on his shoulder that popped out of place during a match against Hechicero in Mexico a couple weeks ago.
We’re cooking with gas here, folks. We just had a lengthy sequence where Wrestler A dropped Wrestler C, only for Wrestler B to drop Wrestler A, and then Wrestler D drops Wrestler B, only to get dropped by Wrestler A, and on and on. Live crowds love that type of thing, and this crowd was no different.
It is often said that Kazuchika Okada has the most beautiful dropkick in wrestling history. He just hit one of his all-time best, hitting Bandido, who was diving off of the top rope, directly in the face. Beautiful air, and he hit Bandido right in the fucking mouth with deadly precision.
Okada goes to hit Bandido with a Rainmaker, but Bandido ducks, and Okada lays Takeshita out with it instead. Hilariously, Okada pretends to be concerned, and then breaks out in an evil smile, furthering the issues between himself and Takeshita.
Bandido just pinned Okada after a one-armed 21 Plex, which is an insanely impressive feat of strength and athleticism all by itself.
What a match. Back and forth and back and forth and back and forth, with both teams looking like a million bucks. Brodido’s reign continues, and they look like they’re going to be mighty difficult to stop. Another tag match on the show that gets 4.5 Stars from me.
“Hangman” Adam Page vs Samoa Joe – AEW World Title Match
The company really tried to microwave a personal feud out of nowhere here. It didn’t really work, but hey, I’m sure the match will still be good.
Hangman might be the most beloved man in AEW history, and yet, this seems like something of a mixed reaction, with “let’s go, Hangman” and “let’s go, Joe” chants sounding equally loud. That’s interesting. Joe can never be a full-fledged heel, but this is Hangman we’re talking about. I’m a little surprised to hear so many fans behind Joe.
Hangman with a Moonsault that looked like it missed Joe by about a country mile. The camera angle didn’t show if he just missed it, or if Joe rolled out of the way. Nigel McGuinness tried his best on commentary to say that Hangman “didn’t get all of it.” Bless him.
Samoa Joe pays tribute to AJ Styles by locking Hangman in a Coquina Clutch!
Please don’t hit me up and tell me that it’s Joe’s move. I’m begging you.
Dead Eye gets a 2.999 count, so Hangman hits Joe with back-to-back-to-back Buckshot Lariats, and that’s enough for the pin and the win. It was the hard-hitting affair you would expect it to be with who was involved, but I don’t know if it reached the levels that we have come to expect from AEW World Title matches on pay-per-view. Definitely good, but it struggled at times to reach the highest gear. 3.5 Stars
After the match, Powerhouse Hobbs and Katsuyori Shibata come to the ring to check on their fallen brethren. The crowd shows plenty of support and love for Joe, who thanks the crowd. Hangman and Joe shake hands, but then The Opps turn heel and attack Hangman. All three beat Hangman down, and then Joe drops him with a Muscle Buster. The crowd is not happy. Neither am I. I don’t think that turn was necessary, and it’s not something I wanted to see. Boo. Boo, I say.
Darby Allin vs Jon Moxley – “I Quit” Match
An “I Quit” Match featuring two men with insanely high thresholds of pain, and who you can’t picture ever quitting anything. This could be terrifying on so many levels.
AEW has a replica of the Gateway Arch as part of the entrance setup on the stage, but this arena is only two-and-a-half miles away from the real Arch. Are we going to end up with Darby doing a Coffin Drop from the top of the 630-foot-tall Arch? Perhaps a Paradigm Shift from the top of the Arch and through a stack of 100 tables below?
After a few solid punches to the jaw, assisted by a steel chain wrapped around his fist, Mox has caused Darby to begin bleeding from the mouth. Here. We. Go.
JESUS HERBERT CHRIST. Mox stands on Darby’s arm and then begins jamming a bamboo skewer underneath Darby’s fingernail. That’s disgusting. It’s a legitimate torture method, and Darby has it happening to him five minutes into the match. My fingers hurt just watching that.
It has happened so many times through the years, but Darby missing a Coffin Drop on the ring apron and splattering himself all over the edge of the ring still makes me cringe. Ouch. Marina Shafir pulled Mox out of the way at the last minute, saving him from the move.
Mox just hit Darby with leather belt shots across the back at least ten times. Darby’s back is battered and bruised pretty much from the base of his neck down to his waistline.
Darby just doused Mox in lighter fluid, and just as he goes to SET THE MAN ON MOTHERFUCKING FIRE, the Death Riders come out and run interference. Eventually, Mox gets a towel and wipes the fluid off of him. Mox then pulls a taser out goes to hit Darby with it. Darby fights it off, but Marina Shafir hits Darby with a low blow. Mox uses the taser on Darby, but there was clearly no voltage going through it when he hit Darby. Still a crazy visual, though.
Claudio Castagnoli presses Darby up and throws him from inside the ring and through the announce table at ringside. Moments later, Mox hits a Paradigm Shift on Darby through multiple tables. The crowd begins chanting “this is murder.” Then, to contradict what they just said, the crowd starts chanting “you can’t kill him.” Make up your minds.
Claudio and Pac are in the ring with an aquarium. They fill it up with water, and Darby is thrown back into the ring. Oh, for fuck’s sake. Loud “what the fuck” chants breaking out. Mox takes Darby’s face and dunks it in the tank, trying to drown him. Darby just will not quit.
As Mox continues to stalk Darby, the lights in the arena go out. When they come back on, Sting is standing behind Mox with a baseball bat. “Holy shit” chants break out, and the crowd explodes as Sting begins choking Mox with the bat. After fighting the Death Riders off with the bat, Sting destroys the aquarium with it. He grabs Marina Shafir and carries her backstage after he hands Darby the bat. We’re back to one-on-one.
Well, we were back, anyway. After a few bat shots, Darby hits a Coffin Drop and then locks Moxley in the Scorpion Deathlock, and Mox says “I quit” pretty much right away.
That was a mess. A good mess and a bad mess at the same time. Darby took an ungodly amount of punishment in that match, including actual torture methods and facing murder attempts, but Mox quits after two wrestling finishers? Get the fuck out of here with that.
They built this up as something that was almost never going to live up to the hype, and then they found a way to make sure it didn’t live up to the hype. It didn’t make sense, and it crossed the line to illogical right away.
It was brutal, violent, stiff, and it will make you cringe a bunch of times, but my goodness, that ending was really fucking stupid. Jon Moxley takes more damage than that in a random match in the opening segment of Collision sometimes, but that… THAT… is what made him quit?
I don’t even know what to rate the match. If you’re a major tribalist AEW fan, you probably loved every second of it, but if you’re a major tribalist WWE fan, you probably hated it all. I’ve already seen people on social media say that this was a “perfect” show, that it was “10/10,” and that it was one of the best overall nights of wrestling in the history of the sport. There’s the tribalism that I just mentioned.
Fuck it. No rating. You watch the match for yourselves and come up with your own grade. It’s crazy that there are three different matches on the show that aren’t getting a grade from me, and it happened for three completely different reasons.
Overall, this was another great pay-per-view from a company that truly excels at it. If you’re someone who believes entire pay-per-views are made or broken by the way the show ended, though… yikes. Everyone is going to be talking about this one, but is all news good news?
