It's almost Saturday and you know what that means.... I feel like I didn't do that right. Anyway, it's time for AEW WrestleDream!
Oddly AEW decided not to return to the Seattle market this year and opted for St. Louis, which is apparently one of the worst AEW markets in terms of ticket sales. Sales for this show finally crossed the 5000 mark over the last week but they're still well down from Dynasty 2024 in the same building. Given that Darby Allin is in one of the top matches they'd almost certainly have fared better in Seattle. Regardless, the lineup looks very good on paper - a lean eight-match card with a couple pre-show bouts on TBS (I'm sad FTR-JetSpeed isn't on the actual PPV, that match should slap).
Let's get after it....
Tornado Match: The Hurt Syndicate vs. The Demand
Not sure why we're getting this yet again. I guess Lashley and Benjamin REALLY like working with Gates of Agony. They just did a street fight on Dynamite so this will either be less chaotic than that or roughly the same. Since GOA beat THS this week I imagine THS gets their win back again and hopefully that's the end of this feud. THS have really limited their options by insisting on looking so dominant.
Pick: THS
Jamie Hayter vs. Thekla
Hayter and Skye Blue had a surprisingly good Dynamite match this week to help build to this. And in turn this match will help build to the first-ever women's Blood & Guts next month. This should be a fine match and I assume Thekla wins to keep the heat going. For B&G I presume it'll be Triangle of Madness/Megan/Penelope vs. Jamie/Willow/Harley and two others. Maybe Toni and Kris once they stop fighting each other? Hey, when's the Women's Tag Title tournament happening?
Pick: Thekla
AEW Tag Team Championship: Brodido vs. Kazuchika Okada & Konosuke Takeshita
This here is a tough one because it seems way too early to take the titles off Brodido (not to mention have them lose two in a row to the same team), but on the other hand you also don't want to beat Unified Champion Okada or more importantly brand new IWGP Champion Takeshita (fuckin' sweet). Maybe there's some kind of schmozz finish? Okada and Takeshita are obviously fighting each other soon, so their inability to gel as a team really should cost them the match. Might be a rare case where you want a DQ or countout finish.
Pick: Brodido retains
TNT Championship: Kyle Fletcher vs. Mark Briscoe
These two always make magic so this should be fantastic. There's no suspense over the finish - Kyle ain't losing yet - but Briscoe will make everyone believe for a little while. Just sit back and enjoy.
Pick: Kyle retains
Young Bucks vs. Jurassic Express
These two teams are always great together and it's lovely to see JE reunited. The Bucks are once again desperate for cash so there's $500k at stake. I imagine Jack and his dinosaur win the money and we get to enjoy more of Matt and Nick scrambling to get by financially (or as I call it, comedy gold).
Pick: Jurassic Express
AEW Women's World Championship: Kris Statlander vs. Toni Storm
Can't wait for this one. It's their first-ever singles meeting and there's a fun homoerotic babyface-babyface dynamic. I feel like Statlander's pairing with Harley Cameron has helped prep her for how to interact with Toni on camera. This should get a good 20 minutes or more to be the epic it deserves to be. Stat just won the title so she ain't losing it yet.
Pick: Statlander retains
I Quit Match: Jon Moxley vs. Darby Allin
Man, that segment they did this week in a prison phone room was actual cinema. Super cool sequence. I gotta say, I'm legitimately worried what these two maniacs are gonna do to each other. Their interactions in the Forbidden Door cage match and their Coffin Match last month were brutal as fuck, they've established neither one of them will ever say "I Quit," so what do you do to top all that and make it believable that either of them would verbally surrender? The way the build's been done for this, Darby has to win. He lost at All Out and the Death Riders beat the snot out of him on Dynamite, and of the two he's the guy you really believe would die before he'd ever quit.
Pick: Darby
AEW Men's World Championship: Hangman Page vs. Samoa Joe
The build for this one was very simple but very effective (though I'd have liked something more significant between them this week). Joe felt disrespected in their tag match together so he let Hangman know it, while Hangman felt he had red in his ledger for The Opps helping him out at All In. It's technically still babyface vs. babyface but Joe's playing the heel for this feud. The match should be great and hard-hitting. Meat forever.
Pick: Hangman retains
There will also be a Mercedes Moné segment celebrating her ten belts and the fact that she'll be the longest-reigning TBS Champion as of Friday. I assume this'll set up some kind of feud for her, perhaps with the woman who eventually dethrones her. No idea who that would be at this point but we'll see. The show looks very good as I said, not a blowaway lineup but since AEW always overachieves on PPV I expect a pretty great card.
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