AEW/Lee South
This Saturday, AEW returns to the Pacific Northwest for the second annual WrestleDream, which takes place at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington and features what could be AEW World Champion Bryan Danielson’s final match as a regular competitor. Danielson is up against his old friend Jon Moxley in presumably the last of six championship contests on a card buttressed by three non-title singles matches and a tag team showcase. And once again, the Wresting Inc. staff is here to predict every outcome — something we’ve done with a decent amount of reliability over the course of 2024.
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Granted, WWE Bad Blood did burn us a little bit. Due in part to a match finish being reportedly changed on the fly, we ended up finishing 3-2, which brings our overall record for the year to 112-20-5, or approximately 84%. We’re still hoping to work our way back up toward 90%, but we’re running out of 2024 PPVs/PLEs, so every pick counts — and it doesn’t help that we have ourselves another tie. WrestleDream might have three title matches whose winners are obvious to every single one of us, but we’re less certain about basically everything else. Does the collective WINC consciousness have what it takes to intuit the often unpredictable mind of Tony Khan? Let’s get to the picks!
MxM Collection vs. The Acclaimed: The Acclaimed (70%)
AEW/Ricky Havlik
If you’re looking at this match and thinking, «Wait, when did this match get announced,» apologies for the «AEW Rampage» spoilers. During the taping of «Rampage» that will air on October 11, MxM Collection promised not only that they would beat The Acclaimed at WrestleDream, but that they had a special surprise that would «kill scissoring forever.» It’s unclear whether this match will be on the main show or the Zero Hour pre-show, but regardless, we believe that it might be time to get The Acclaimed back on track.
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Mansoor and Mason Madden have been entertaining since debuting over the summer, with matches against FTR, House of Black, and Top Flight catching eyes on episodes of «Rampage» and «AEW Collision.» However, there is a ceiling to their act that The Acclaimed not only has the chance to surpass, but has already surpassed in AEW before. Max Caster, Anthony Bowens, and Billy Gunn definitely need to do something to freshen up their act, as it’s painfully clear that there’s some «Acclaimed fatigue» going on, but they should be up to the challenge of beating MxM.
Mansoor and Madden have only just arrived in AEW, and a pay-per-view win would do wonders for them going forward in an AEW tag team division that could definitely use a refresh. But they have many more years in the company to be taken seriously, and they won’t be hurt by a loss at WrestleDream.
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Written by Sam Palmer
ROH World Championship: Mark Briscoe (75%)
AEW/Ricky Havlik
By now, AEW fans have gotten used to wrestlers wandering around AEW programming holding title belts with the letters «ROH» on them, but it’s rare these days to see Ring of Honor titles defended on PPV. In fact, the last time any ROH championship was defended on its own (i.e. with no other titles on the line in the same match) on the main card of an AEW PPV (as opposed to the kickoff show) was last year’s inaugural WrestleDream event, when MJF defended the ROH tag titles on his own in a handicap match — and the last time the ROH World Championship was defended on its own on the main card of an AEW PPV was two years ago at Full Gear 2022. The champion that night, both entering and leaving the event, was Chris Jericho, but the WINC staff doesn’t see «The Learning Tree» repeating the feat, as 75% of us believe reigning champion Mark Briscoe will retain.
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Briscoe has been champion since April, when he won the belt from Eddie Kingston at ROH Supercard of Honor 2024. Jericho’s motivation for winning it for a second time, beyond the fact that he’s been feuding with Briscoe’s faction, The Conglomeration, appears to be the mere fact that he wants it, but that was enough to get him to invoke the name of Mark’s dead brother, Jay Briscoe, over the course of the build for the match. Would AEW really have Jericho beat Mark after such a disrespectful act, much less give Jericho another run with a world title? Three-quarters of us don’t think so — though with Jericho’s «branches» doubtless lurking on the outside, anything is possible.
Written by Miles Schneiderman
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Darby Allin vs. Brody King: Allin (95%)
AEW/Ricky Havlik
Darby Allin is not playing games after losing his guaranteed shot at the AEW World Championship to Jon Moxley at «AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam,» and a good percentage of us here at WINC aren’t betting against him. Allin issued an open challenge, answered by long-time nemesis Brody King on «AEW Collision,» for a match at WrestleDream, and a whopping 95% of the WINC staff believes Allin gets the win after a string of major losses. Allin was fired up on Tuesday’s edition of «Dynamite,» teetering on the edge between babyface and heel when addressing his former friend, but no matter which character he’s playing, Allin looks like he’s emerging from WrestleDream victorious and well on his way to becoming a main face of AEW, which he seems to so desperately want the most.
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Despite the build to this match being entirely set up within a week, Allin did a fantastic job setting the scene during his promo on «Dynamite,» talking about getting King a job in AEW as Ring of Honor was set to close its doors. King’s equally fiery response about Allin having a death wish, even getting in a quip about Allin potentially dying on the top of Mt. Everest, was enough to sway a tiny percentage of predictions his way, but not nearly enough for us collectively to think he has a chance at stealing Allin’s spot in the company with a win.
Allin, meanwhile, desperately needs a win after his loss to Moxley and his failure to capture the TNT Championship from Jack Perry. That’s a big reason why so many of us are in his corner. The fact he busted open King with a hidden rock on «Dynamite» doesn’t hurt, either.
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Written by Daisy Ruth
AEW TNT Championship: Jack Perry (100%)
AEW/Ricky Havlik
AEW tends to have «main characters» — wrestlers whose stories are so locked in that even the reincarnated Andre The Giant couldn’t halt their momentum. Such is the case of «The Scapegoat» Jack Perry.
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Perry’s AEW TNT Title reign is so central to The Elite’s current portrayal that not a single member of the smackwrestling. Staff thinks Katsuyori Shibata has a chance on Saturday. Shibata is a legendary fighter, a true wrestler’s wrestler, but he’s also a wounded warrior who’s never been the same since suffering a traumatic brain injury in 2017. That said, Shibata is a fierce combatant, and against any other champion he might actually have a shot, but AEW clearly has Plans for Jack Perry, and those plans don’t seem anywhere close to over.
Perry is in a fantastic position. He’s the pet project of The Elite, with The Young Bucks barely competing and Okada in what can only be described as «Dennis The Menace mode.» As a result, it’s not just Shibata who doesn’t stand a chance — outside of the recently returned Daniel Garcia, there doesn’t seem to be anyone nipping at Perry’s heels. «The Scapegoat» is going to have that title on his bus for the foreseeable future.
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Written by Ross Berman
Hologram vs. The Beast Mortos: Hologram (80%)
AEW/Ricky Havlik
Fans in Tacoma, Washington will see the pay-per-view debut of Hologram as he takes on The Beast Mortos in a two-out-of-three falls match, and a large majority of WINC staffers believe he will remain undefeated.
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Hologram has been Tony Khan’s pet project since debuting in July, and has remained unbeaten with a record of 13-0 on TV, including singles victories over Gringo Loco, Komander, and Mortos himself. However, judging by his most recent victory over the aforementioned Komander, it’s becoming clear that Hologram can’t keep up this streak forever. Not only that, but Mortos has now aligned himself with Rush and Dralistico as part of a reformed La Faccion Ingobernable, who will now have Jake «The Snake» Roberts mentoring them going forward, making this match more unpredictable than some may have thought.
When these two men first met in July, it was clear as day that Hologram was winning and Mortos could only gain something by putting in a strong performance, which he did. But with this extra story wrinkle of LFI in Mortos’ corner going into WrestleDream, combined with the fact that Mortos has become one of the most organically popular stars in AEW right now, there is every chance that he could walk (or trot, whatever it is bulls do) away with the win. Having said that, Khan is probably not going to let his new favorite wrestler lose in his first major pay-per-view outing, which is why 80% of us think he’ll go 14-0 this Saturday.
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Written by Sam Palmer
AEW International Championship: Will Ospreay (70%)
AEW/Lee South
Since debuting full-time with AEW earlier this year, Will Ospreay has been positioned as one of the company’s top stars and has helped further legitimize the AEW International Championship. While it’s possible that Ospreay could lose that title without even getting pinned this weekend, most of the smackwrestling. team feels confident that he will retain against Ricochet and Konosuke Takeshita.
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Ospreay first captured the International Championship in May and, despite losing the title to MJF for a month over the summer, he has felt closely associated with it ever since. On top of that, Ospreay’s momentum has slowed, with his last singles victory coming over a month ago. Following up on his draw with Ricochet on «AEW Dynamite,» many on the smackwrestling. staff feel it’s unlikely that Ospreay loses again, with 70% of us predicting he walks away with a win and the title in hand. Takeshita earned 25% of the vote, while a mere 5% took Ricochet.
While it’s not proof that it won’t happen, it’s worth pointing out that AEW has tended to avoid changing titles in multi-man matches. Neither the International Championship nor the AEW World Championship have ever changed hands with more than two people competing for the belt, although the TNT Championship has in the past. If either Takeshita or Ricochet wins, it will serve as a break from Tony Khan’s typical booking habits, which some might view as a positive. Still, based on the evidence at hand, our staff is going with Ospreay.
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Written by Nick Miller
Hangman Adam Page vs. Jay White: Page (65%)
AEW/Lee South
Despite Jay White’s recent return and him boldly calling out «Hangman» Adam Page, as one of two people who kept him from winning the AEW World Championship, not many of us are confident in White’s abilities to get the win in this feud. Following Page’s extreme and brutal feud with former champion Swerve Strickland that ended in a bloody battle in an unsanctioned cage match, 65% of us here at WINC are on his side — partially in fear for our childhood homes. White is a fantastic talent that AEW has slept on outside of awarding him the Trios Championship along his buddies in the Bang Bang Gang, but with this being his first feud back against a still white-hot Page, it doesn’t look great for him in our eyes.
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White has every right to call out Page, especially because his last match before a foot injury left him on the shelf for a few months, was a loss to «Hangman» on an episode of «AEW Collision» in the final round of the Owen Hart Cup Tournament; a win for a healthy White would have meant he would faced current champion Bryan Danielson. This is another match on the WrestleDream card that doesn’t have a ton of build to back it up, but still makes sense, with White having every reason to issue the challenge.
Despite the match being made official by AEW President Tony Khan, as of this writing, «Hangman» has yet to respond to White’s challenge. Despite him not being in the picture physically, the fact that he’s coming off the victory against Strickland keeps a slim majority of us believing Page will come out of WrestleDream victorious. This «new,» vicious Page isn’t going anywhere for quite some time, and White isn’t currently on the same level.
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Written by Daisy Ruth
AEW World Tag Team Championship: The Young Bucks (100%)
AEW/Lee South
Private Party look to lay hands on their first AEW World Tag Team Championship as they challenge the one team that has spent the most time with the belts over three reigns: The Young Bucks, who will be making their fifth defense of the titles they won in April. While most of the WINC team agrees it’s nice to see Private Party get a showcase PPV title match, we also agree that they’re going to lose it, with 100% backing the champions to walk in and out of Tacoma with their title reign intact.
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Despite that, Isiah Kassidy and Marc Quen are walking into their title challenge knowing that they can beat their opponents, having done so during last week’s «AEW Rampage» in trios action alongside Katsuyori Shibata. However, since their loss to Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho — which set them upon their current heel run — The Bucks have only lost in traditional tag team matches twice out of 13 occasions, and here at WINC, we don’t have them picking up a third at WrestleDream.
Written by Max Everett
AEW Women’s World Championship: Mariah May (100%)
AEW/Lee South
smackwrestling. staff has a clear vision for the AEW Women’s World Championship AEW WrestleDream, with 100% of us circling «The Glamour» Mariah May as the victor over Willow Nightingale. For May, this will mark her third title defense overall, and her first on the stage of an AEW pay-per-view. For Nightingale, this serves as her third opportunity to claim the respective title; her last one took place in November 2023.
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On paper, Nightingale has the obvious experience advantage, as she carries nearly a decade of experience compared to May’s five years. This dynamic makes Nightingale an ideal opponent to put over the less-experienced but fiery May, who would boast a serious notch on her belt with a victory over «The Babe With The Power.» In addition, Nightingale has proven herself to be a reliable in-ring worker, as evidenced by her positioning as the first opponent to a previously-injured Mercedes Mone at AEW Double or Nothing. Nightingale was also called in as a replacement for Stephanie Vaquer when she signed with WWE and was subsequently unable to defend the CMLL World Women’s Championship at NJPW x CMLL FantasticaMania.
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We at smackwrestling. also feel it’s simply too soon for May to lose the AEW Women’s Championship, especially while she still has unfinished business with Mina Shirakawa and former champion Toni Storm. A win over Nightingale would also represent a much-needed high point in what has been a largely lackluster reign for May since winning the belt in Wembley Stadium.
Written by Ella Jay
AEW World Championship: Even (50%)
AEW/Lee South
One of the most difficult matches to predict on the WrestleDream card is the main event. There are strong reasons why both men could win — the match takes place in Danielson’s hometown of Tacoma, Washington, and he’s said he’ll retire from full-time competition the next time he loses, but he’s facing a multi-time former AEW World Champion and a former ally in Jon Moxley, who has been delivering cryptic promos that reveal a level of conviction beyond anything we’ve ever seen before. As it turns out, we can’t come to a consensus, as an even 50% of us believe Danielson’s reign will continue, while the other 50% think Moxley will turn WrestleDream into Danielson’s nightmare.
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It feels too soon for Danielson’s farewell tour to come to an end; while it would be nice for him to wrap up on his home turf, that’s not a good enough reason to bring this run to an early conclusion, especially considering Danielson has spent plenty of time away from TV since his victory at AEW All In. Since declaring that he would end his full-time career when he loses the AEW World Championship, Danielson has only defended against Jack Perry and Kazuchika Okada. While there’s no way AEW will be able to get to all the Danielson match-ups the fans and company want to see, for this last run to have the impact that it should, Danielson needs at least a few more heavy-hitting matches to build to its culmination.
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That said, it’s possible Danielson can’t physically continue in the role. He’s admitted he needs to get neck surgery by the end of the year, and he’s working without a contract. There’s a very real chance that while AEW would ideally love to stretch out Danielson’s home stretch a little longer, his body is refusing to cooperate with those plans. It should also be noted that Moxley, already one of the strongest-booked wrestlers in AEW, recently turned heel by attacking Danielson and completely reinvigorated his character in the process, all while promising some kind of unknown fate for AEW. It’s rarely a good idea to cut down a heel at the knees so early into their run, and it would be a particularly bad idea coming off the neutered Elite takeover angle. In the war of nostalgia vs. reality, of impossible dreams vs. cold, hard facts, who will emerge victorious? Your guess is as good as our.
Written by Nick Miller and Miles Schneiderman
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