WRESTLEDREAM III - 10/18/2025

[Zimbra]

For as much as they talked about Joe being a protege of Hashimoto, the match felt like Hashimoto/Vader with Joe in the Vader role: a rampaging juggernaut with a bum arm that makes him vulnerable.  The match was great, the turn was well-executed but maybe not advisable (do we really need another heel stable?).

Goddamit, they better not have put the title on Stat just to transition it to Mercedes.

The show was mostly fine but didn't really get me interested in where they're going with any of this.

[Craig H]

I think with the DRs looking about done, the Ops will probably be the #2 heel stable behind the DCF.

I don’t even know if I’d call the Ops a faction. They’re just another trios team as AEW looks to be back on an upswing with trios and regular tag teams being focused on again.

[The Natural]

58 minutes ago, Zimbra said:

Goddamit, they better not have put the title on Stat just to transition it to Mercedes.

That's my fear and that's coming from a big Sasha Banks/Mercedes Mone fan since 2015. Kris Statlander needs her win back after losing twice to her.

Edited October 20, 2025 by The Natural

[Ramo2653]

22 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

"guy who folds in the face of adversity" is a sort of guy that we see a bunch in boxing/MMA but it's not really a character type we get in wrestling, is it?

I mean that's most heels in wrestling right? Once it got tough, the heel folds and the babyface overcomes all odds?

To be fair to Mox's character since he turned, he's always backed away once it got tough, it just plays differently because he's wearing a tight t-shirt or henley and some combat boots instead of what other wrestlers usually wear.

[The Natural]

 

[Cobra Commander]

33 minutes ago, Ramo2653 said:

I mean that's most heels in wrestling right? Once it got tough, the heel folds and the babyface overcomes all odds?

maybe some of the cool heels do that and we don't notice it but it feels like there's a lot of modern heels that kinda want to be cool funny dudes too and some might also want to be tough funny dudes

[tbarrie]

8 hours ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

I get it. Theres tons of things that grind my gears that no one else seems to care about. This is one of those things for you.

[...]

 

Makes good business sense. Makes good realism sense. I think everyone is on board with what happened but you. And I know thats a frustrating feeling, but it is what it is.

I don't think it's fair to dismiss Username's issue that way. For the record, I wasn't particularly upset myself, because I was watching WrestleDream anyway, but it definitely occurred to me that other people might be. Not that "Nobody else had a problem with it" is remotely relevant when discussing whether a complaint is valid anyway.

I can see the argument that it was realistic. Wrestling has pretty much always operated on the conceit that the show the real-world audience sees is the same as the in-universe sports broadcast, and certainly it can be hard to predict how long a competition will take. On the other hand, no real sports broadcaster is going to advertise an event on free or cable TV then tell you to buy a PPV to see the finish if it goes long.

More importantly, wrestling is a form of fiction, and realism is far from fiction's highest goal. I mean, it's sort of unrealistic that whatever wacky situation a sitcom cast gets into each week always gets resolved in twenty-some minutes. But that doesn't mean it would be a good idea to just randomly end an episode with things unresolved in the name of realism. Narrative coherence is more important than realism. Delivering what you advertised is more important than realism. And if they did do something like that, telling the viewers to buy a ticket to the movie if they want to see the end of the story would only be rubbing salt in the wound.

I don't think it's a huge problem, mind, but they really should make the full match available somewhere where anybody can watch it as a make-good.

[HumanChessgame]

I forgot what day the show was on and watched it all on Sunday, so the overrun didn't really impact me in real time. Regardless of the reasoning behind laying out the show the way they did, it just made it look like AEW had an issue with producing and timing out a show right.

[DangerMark]

16 hours ago, twiztor said:

also, i really enjoyed Stat's pre-match video. I know they downplayed the alien thing for a while now, but i'm glad to see it's not completely gone.

That video very much felt to me like a Timeless Toni Storm addition to proceedings, as opposed to anyone else

Edited October 21, 2025 by DangerMark

[The Natural]

On 10/18/2025 at 3:42 PM, The Natural said:

My predictions in bold:

AEW World Champion Hangman Adam Page defends against Samoa Joe.

AEW Women’s World Champion Kris Statlander defends against Toni Storm.

AEW TNT Champion Kyle Fletcher defends against Mark Briscoe.

AEW TBS Champion Mercedes Mone defends against any champion in the world.

AEW Tag Team Champions Brodido defend against Kazuchika Okada/Konosuke Takeshita.

I Quit match: Jon Moxley vs. Darby Allin.

$500,000 tag team match: The Young Bucks vs. Jurassic Express.

Tornado trios match: The Hurt Syndicate vs. The Demand.

Jamie Hayter vs. Thekla.

I predict Brodido vs. Kazuchika Okada/Konosuke Takeshita MOTN.

8/9. Damn Kazuchika Okada/Konosuke Takeshita letting me down although they were in my MOTN vs. Bandido so 9/10.

I wasn't into this AEW PPV like I usually am. I expected more from Kris Statlander vs. Timeless Toni Storm, really should have happened when Storm was AEW Women's World Champion this year. Hated how long Storm was in Stat's submission making it look weak and the post match, Mercedes Mone telling Stat to leave and she did. Although she returned the favour after Mone's match. I hope Stat doesn't go 0-3 vs. Mone at Full Gear.

I think we'll get Hangman Adam Page vs. Samoa Joe in Hangman's speciality, a Texas Death Match at Full Gear. It'll look bad if a newly turned heel Joe loses.

I was underwhelmed by Darby Allin vs. Jon Moxley. I expected it to be wilder though that may raise eyebrows after Moxley dunking Allin's head in a fish tank filled with water. It's because of what both have done to each other in the lead to this match plus what they do in their other gimmick matches. Both had to workaround the restrictions of the athletic commission there. Loved seeing Old Man Sting, the 2025 look really suits him.

So yeah, I'm not normally negative on AEW but am here.

[RazorbladeKiss87]

It's wild to me that I feel so "meh" about the show. There's some good stuff on it but AEW has spoiled me so much that it didn't quite hit. Maybe the main event left a bad taste and soured me on the show? 

Great night for tag team wrestling.  FTR/Jet Speed was awesome,  especially once the ppv started and they kicked it into another gear. The pre-show match leading into a ppv match was cute but I wouldn't want to see it again for a long time.  

Bucks/JE was good for a match with one team I don't care about at all. Brodido/Okada & Takeshita was fun too even if I don't want to see King dancing.  I just want to see him wreck fools. 

Main event was....well, look, I'm a death match sicko.  This match needed to go to a level that would make me uncomfortable probably to really finish the story in a satisfying manner.  Some gruesome stuff certainly. Water boarding...I feel like for what it achieved,  it wasn't worth doing. Would be nice for Mox to take a deserved break now. 

 

I still think they could have had Darby lose and had OC step up to vanquish the DR. Then have Darby snap because he couldn't do it and you got a fresh feud.  

[RazorbladeKiss87]

Also, I hope at the next PPV, when the Costco Guys show up, the Rizzler is dressed in Eddie Kingston's gear. 

[HarryArchieGus]

Trent/Rocky beating the shit out of Dad in front of his son was the best use of the Babooms yet. Slowly moving my way thru the 5 1/2 hour PPV, and to no surprise the Bucks level up the Perry/Lucha team beautifully. What a magnificent bout! Curious to see how Perry/Lucha carry this momentum, or how close to this level they can be without the Jacksons. 

[Log]

2 hours ago, RazorbladeKiss87 said:

Also, I hope at the next PPV, when the Costco Guys show up, the Rizzler is dressed in Eddie Kingston's gear. 

Rizzler morphing into Kingstonito would be money.

[The Natural]

4 hours ago, The Natural said:

8/9. Damn Kazuchika Okada/Konosuke Takeshita letting me down although they were in my MOTN vs. Bandido so 9/10.

I wasn't into this AEW PPV like I usually am. I expected more from Kris Statlander vs. Timeless Toni Storm, really should have happened when Storm was AEW Women's World Champion this year. Hated how long Storm was in Stat's submission making it look weak and the post match, Mercedes Mone telling Stat to leave and she did. Although she returned the favour after Mone's match. I hope Stat doesn't go 0-3 vs. Mone at Full Gear.

I think we'll get Hangman Adam Page vs. Samoa Joe in Hangman's speciality, a Texas Death Match at Full Gear. It'll look bad if a newly turned heel Joe loses.

I was underwhelmed by Darby Allin vs. Jon Moxley. I expected it to be wilder though that may raise eyebrows after Moxley dunking Allin's head in a fish tank filled with water. It's because of what both have done to each other in the lead to this match plus what they do in their other gimmick matches. Both had to workaround the restrictions of the athletic commission there. Loved seeing Old Man Sting, the 2025 look really suits him.

So yeah, I'm not normally negative on AEW but am here.

 

3 hours ago, RazorbladeKiss87 said:

It's wild to me that I feel so "meh" about the show. There's some good stuff on it but AEW has spoiled me so much that it didn't quite hit. Maybe the main event left a bad taste and soured me on the show? 

Great night for tag team wrestling.  FTR/Jet Speed was awesome,  especially once the ppv started and they kicked it into another gear. The pre-show match leading into a ppv match was cute but I wouldn't want to see it again for a long time.  

Bucks/JE was good for a match with one team I don't care about at all. Brodido/Okada & Takeshita was fun too even if I don't want to see King dancing.  I just want to see him wreck fools. 

Main event was....well, look, I'm a death match sicko.  This match needed to go to a level that would make me uncomfortable probably to really finish the story in a satisfying manner.  Some gruesome stuff certainly. Water boarding...I feel like for what it achieved,  it wasn't worth doing. Would be nice for Mox to take a deserved break now. 

 

I still think they could have had Darby lose and had OC step up to vanquish the DR. Then have Darby snap because he couldn't do it and you got a fresh feud.  

Very similar reviews, mate.

[NoFistsJustFlips]

17 hours ago, tbarrie said:

I don't think it's fair to dismiss Username's issue that way. For the record, I wasn't particularly upset myself, because I was watching WrestleDream anyway, but it definitely occurred to me that other people might be. Not that "Nobody else had a problem with it" is remotely relevant when discussing whether a complaint is valid anyway.

I can see the argument that it was realistic. Wrestling has pretty much always operated on the conceit that the show the real-world audience sees is the same as the in-universe sports broadcast, and certainly it can be hard to predict how long a competition will take. On the other hand, no real sports broadcaster is going to advertise an event on free or cable TV then tell you to buy a PPV to see the finish if it goes long.

More importantly, wrestling is a form of fiction, and realism is far from fiction's highest goal. I mean, it's sort of unrealistic that whatever wacky situation a sitcom cast gets into each week always gets resolved in twenty-some minutes. But that doesn't mean it would be a good idea to just randomly end an episode with things unresolved in the name of realism. Narrative coherence is more important than realism. Delivering what you advertised is more important than realism. And if they did do something like that, telling the viewers to buy a ticket to the movie if they want to see the end of the story would only be rubbing salt in the wound.

I don't think it's a huge problem, mind, but they really should make the full match available somewhere where anybody can watch it as a make-good.

I dont think I dismissed his option at all. I empathized with him because that happens to me a lot. The red white and blue ropes, too many belts, Elton John. I've had a lot of things that annoy the shit out of me that everyone else has no issue with. So it is what it is and it sucks he feels that way.

But it's bizarre anyone is acting like a throw away tag match from a bonus ppv pre show that was announced two days out is being touted as this need to see match that had so much hype behind it. No. It didnt.

It was not a "not delivering what you advertised" situation. You got to see them wrestle. If you needed to see the conclussion they showed clips on the socials. It didnt go dark with no acces to a result. I get that its annoying to people who didnt buy the ppv. But let's not act like this was some kind of dream match that had been hyped for a month or whatever. Its a random tag match thrown together two days out with little to no bearing on anything.

Empathize that it annoyed him. But on the scale of importance anyone saying this is more than 1 out of 10 is deluding themselves.

Edited October 21, 2025 by NoFistsJustFlips

[tbarrie]

3 hours ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

But it's bizarre anyone is acting like a throw away tag match from a bonus ppv pre show that was announced two days out is being touted as this need to see match that had so much hype behind it.

I agree it would be bizarre were anybody in fact to actilike that, but I don't see anybody doing that.

I do think it's within the realm of possibility that somebody might like one or both teams enough to turn into Collision specifically to see that match, though. And when they only got the opening minutes of the match and learned that the rest was behind a paywall, they'd have a legitimate grievance. Not like a "Swear eternal enmity with Tony Khan and embark on a lifelong quest for vengeance" grievance, but a small grievance none the less.

To me, it seems bizarre to act as if that were impossible, or to treat it as comparable to somebody not liking AEW's choice of ring rope colours.

[NoFistsJustFlips]

If they tuned into Collision (which aired Wednesday night from 10pm to 11pm last week) they would not have seen that match. Ohhhh burn lol.

Again, not behind a paywall. Twitter is free. Facebook is free. Instagram is free. The internet is free. If you wanted to know how it ended, didnt take much effort.

Anymore effort on this debate is a waste for both of us tho. Its all good. I can keep shrugging because its not a big deal to me, and you can keep clutching your pearls because it is to you. Wait whoops you said you didn't care that much. So I guess you can find Username and clutch his pearls? Sorry I dont know the procedure for second hand outrage lol.

Edited October 21, 2025 by NoFistsJustFlips

[tbarrie]

22 minutes ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

If they tuned into Collision (which aired Wednesday night from 10pm to 11pm last week) they would not have seen that match. Ohhhh burn lol.

Don't try me at pedantry, friend. I didn't invent pedantry, but I like to think I've advanced the art.:) And I'm quite confident they said the week before that the first hour of Collision would be Wednesday right after Dynamite, and the second hour Saturday at 19:00 right before the PPV.

22 minutes ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

Anymore effort on this debate is a waste for both of us tho. Its all good. I can keep shrugging because its not a big deal to me, and you can keep clutching your pearls because it is to you. Wait whoops you said you didn't care that much. So I guess you can find Username and clutch his pearls? Sorry I dont know the procedure for second hand outrage lol.

The idea that a discussion is only worthwhile when motivated by outrage also seems odd to me. But if you don't want to discuss any further, now worries.

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

1 hour ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

Twitter is free. Facebook is free. Instagram is free. The internet is free.

Oh sure, no monetary cost, but what about the cost TO YOUR SOUL

[username]

5 hours ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

If they tuned into Collision (which aired Wednesday night from 10pm to 11pm last week) they would not have seen that match.

FWIW the pre-show was the second hour of Collision and aired on TNT live in addition to I assume other places.

I didn't take any offense to your response BTW, it felt sympathetic enough.

[Shartnado]

Have now watched this until the end of tag title match (which was unfortunately spoiled by this week's Dynamite Thumbnail on Triller), but everything so far has been amazing! 3 women's matches and 3 tag matches! This is definitely different. And the way PPV started was very unique and quite clever in my opinion. 

Jurassic Perry looked fantastic!

Kinda like with PAC, just when you think he couldn't possibly look more jacked, he's able to do so, somehow, Mina Shirikawa has the same thing with hotness. One might think she couldn't possibly look any more hot than the last time you saw her and yet, she comes out and looks 0,04% hotter EVERY damn time!

Edited October 23, 2025 by Shartnado
More

[just drew]

It's been an incredibly busy week. I haven't gotten to finish the show yet, but the parts I've seen have been fantastic. I think I have a new favorite Young bucks match. I cannot emphasize enough how much more palatable I find them when they aren't cosplaying the nWo with their buddies Adam Cole & Kenny. There were multiple moments in that match I reacted to audibly, even though I was watching it alone. I LOVE JE's finisher. I dug Stat/Storm, too. 

I think of a single performer I've done as much of a 180 on as I have Mercedes Mone. Idk if I'm ready to anoint her one of the top female workers of all time, but damn is she entertaining right now. I dug her having mindless man-candy like the Frat House out there with her. Kind of a fun twist on the norm. I can't decide if I think they're gonna put the top title on Mercedes or not. It would make sense to merge those belts if they're gonna introduce women's tag titles. It might also be a way to quietly retire the TBS title if WBD is gonna be sold and there might be some question as to AEW's long-term TV home. You could introduce another women's mid-card title down the line. 

LOVED the tag title match. Okeshita are so damn entertaining together, and Bandido might be the best wrestler on the planet at this moment. And how could you not love Brody King? Fantastic match with a killer finish. 

Fletcher/Briscoe didn't do it for me personally, but I get why the people who liked it liked it. 

This is about where I fall asleep. Gonna try to finish the show tonight.

[zendragon]

Does he look like he's married?

[NikoBaltimore]

1 hour ago, zendragon said:

Does he look like he's married?

I could not stop laughing at this.