AEW WrestleDream Review - October 12, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Zero Hour: Brian Cage def. Atlantis Jr. to Win the ROH World Television Championship

For the few who care, no, there wasn't any setup for this on ROH TV beforehand. Cage did nothing to earn an opportunity at the title other than rack up a few singles wins, and even then, I don't remember him ever saying he had his sights set on the Television title specifically. With all of that said, he's a good fit in Ring of Honor. This was a decent match, but it felt out of place on an AEW pay-per-view, even on the pre-show.

Zero Hour: Anna Jay def. Harley Cameron

This was added to the card on Friday's Rampage. There was no reason for it other than Cameron blaming Saraya's Dynamite loss on Jay, I guess because Jay was briefly aligned with The Outcasts months ago before leaving for Stardom. This was perfectly passable, but this also didn't feel like it belonged on a pay-per-view pre-show, more like Rampage or Collision. I'm all for Jay getting a renewed push, though.

Zero Hour: The Acclaimed def. MxM Collection

The best part of this entire thing was that MxM Collection enlisted Rico to counteract Billy Gunn at ringside. When was the last time Rico did anything in wrestling? Two decades ago? That was pretty cool. Oh, yeah, and we got a match here, too. It was whatever, and I appreciate that The Acclaimed have been kept busy in a feud after failing to win the AEW World Tag Team Championship at All In, but they're ready for a heel turn. Additionally, this is probably MxM Collection's ceiling, at least in AEW.

Zero Hour: The Outrunners and The Conglomeration (Orange Cassidy and Kyle O'Reilly) def. Premier Athletes (Ariya Daivari and Tony Nese) and The Dark Order (John Silver and Alex Reynolds)

I'm old enough to remember when AEW put actual stars on the pre-shows. Seriously, what the hell was this? Cassidy was the biggest star of the bunch by far and even that's a slight stretch. This was a total waste of time and accomplished nothing other than getting as many people on the card as possible. If nothing else, kudos to AEW capitalizing on The Outrunner's newfound popularity.

Jay White def. "Hangman" Adam Page

This match came together on relatively short notice with White returning less than two weeks ago on the five-year anniversary edition of Dynamite, but I'm glad we got it because this was great stuff and a smart choice to start the show. They worked really well together and White winning was a pleasant surprise. Granted, it was weird that Page lost after beating Swerve Strickland in the main event of All Out a month ago, but I'm sure he'll bounce back.

AEW Women's World Champion Mariah May def. Willow Nightingale

Coming out of Grand Slam, I thought Mina Shirakawa would get the shot on this show, but apparently they're saving that for a little later on. Nightingale was a logical challenger considering she's over and credible. They had a quality contest and Nightingale scored plenty of offense before eating defeat. There was no sign of Shirakawa or Toni Storm afterward, so this was pretty straightforward stuff.

AEW TNT Champion Jack Perry def. Katsuyori Shibata; MJF and Adam Cole Returned

I know had ties to Antonio Inoki (whose memory this show paid tribute to), but I wish there was more creative effort put into making Shibata feel like a legitimate challenger to Perry ahead of time. He had virtually no chance of taking the title, but for what it was worth, he and Perry had a well-worked match. The post-match returns of MJF and Adam Cole were well done with MJF going after Daniel Garcia (who confronted and was attacked by Perry) before Cole fended off MJF. Lots of potential programs there.

Konosuke Takeshita def. Will Ospreay and Ricochet in a Three-Way Match to Win the AEW International Championship

This was easily the match I was most excited for coming into this show and it didn't disappoint. I wasn't enamored with the no-selling of certain moves, but otherwise, this was a blast and the crowd reacted accordingly. The nonsense with The Don Callis Family slowed things down in the final few minutes, but Kyle Fletcher turning on Ospreay was a significant storyline development that set up the finish. It's about damn time Takeshita won gold in AEW.

Swerve Strickland Declined MVP's Proposal

Strickland came off like a massive star in his home state in this segment. He also showed how much he's improved on the mic during his main event run with his mic work here. Everyone played their roles well and now we have a feud between Strickland and MVP's posse to look forward to. I say "posse" because Bobby Lashley's arrival is inevitable and likely imminent. I figured it would happen here, but I have no issue with them holding off on it until after we get Strickland vs. Shelton Benjamin presumably.

Hologram def. The Beast Mortos in a 2-Out-of-3 Falls Match

I don't understand why the whole preshow (or at least a significant chunk of it) couldn't have been dedicated to this one match. It had no business on the main card since there isn't much bad blood between them. That's to take nothing away from the action here, however, as this was a fun lucha spot-fest in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. The stipulation wasn't totally necessary, but they made the most of it. Let's see how committed Tony Khan actually is to pushing Hologram, who remains undefeated in AEW.

Darby Allin def. Brody King

These two have a ton of history and the pre-match video package did an effective job of recapping all of it. It certainly wasn't the most meaningful match (especially without anything at stake), but they put their bodies through hell and had an above-average outing. King showing respect to Allin afterward was a nice touch. It's been a very long time since Allin last won a singles match on pay-per-view, so this was a much-needed victory for him.

AEW World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks def. Private Party

Fun fact: I was in attendance for the first AEW match these teams had five years ago this past week where Private Party upset the Bucks. They claimed in their vignette that they dropped the ball, but in reality, it was Khan who failed to capitalize on that moment for them. All of that talk left me hopeful they might take the titles here, but obviously, that didn't happen. The only explanation is that they intend to crown them later on, but even then, I feel like they should've pulled the trigger on this show. Top Flight being next in line for the Bucks doesn't intrigue me, nor does the idea of Stokley Hathaway managing Private Party. Nonetheless, this was a strong match with some suspenseful nearfalls.

​ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe def. Chris Jericho

This wasn't a No Disqualification match, but it may as well have been. I have minimal interest in the ROH World Championship being defended on AEW pay-per-views at this point (and even less interest in whatever Jericho is involved in), but to their credit, this was a solid match. Anything other than Briscoe retaining would've been ridiculous, so the outcome was the correct one. Can we please move on from Jericho's group feuding with The Conglomeration now?

Jon Moxley def. Bryan Danielson to Win the AEW World Championship

I haven't been overly impressed with Moxley's heel run so far or the Blackpool Combat Club story they've been telling, but their usual excellent chemistry and Danielson being the hometown hero made a major difference. I appreciated that it was a largely traditional main event without any shenanigans or (shockingly) blood. This received plenty of time, but the finish fell flat for me because it came out of nowhere. I'm also not a fan of having Moxley be the one to dethrone Danielson and end his full-time run, though I imagine it was Danielson's idea and AEW is adamant about getting Blackpool Combat Club over as the top heel group. We'll see if it pans out because heel Elite definitely didn't.

Overall Show

AEW once again knocked it out of the park with their latest pay-per-view despite a weak build. Of course, they've had better events this year, but the four hours were entertaining (not counting the pointless pre-show) and it was a newsworthy night with some new champs, returns and memorable matches. I maintain that the shows should be shorter because the crowd tends to die down by the end, though this crowd in particular had some life down the stretch. WrestleDream was a worthwhile pay-per-view, but as always, it's all about the follow-up.

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