AEW WrestleDream is upon is, and while Tony Khan's promotion may have temporarily abandoned the Pacific Northwest and the memory of AntonioInoki for St.Louis and the memory of Lou Thesz, we're nonetheless getting the same kind of stacked PPV card AllElite Wrestling has become known for.In addition to four championship matches, the main portion of the event will feature a pair of non-title tag team contests, an "I Quit" match that might have to be impossibly bonkers to live up to the expectations set by the build, and for some reason, Jamie Hayter vs Thekla!
Sadly, the Wrestling Inc. staff wasn't able to make picks for any of the four (so far) announced ZeroHour/Tailgate matches, but we absolutely did for the main card! It's a mixed bag in terms of the percentages, with several matches we view as mostly locks and others that are basically a coin toss. Who do the WINC crew see emerging victorious from the third annual WrestleDream? Let's get to the picks!
Once again The Hurt Syndicate are looking to resolve their issues with The Demand in trios action this weekend, with each of Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin, and MVP due to take on Ricochet, Bishop Kaun, and Toa Liona in a Tornado Trios Tag match at WrestleDream.
There have been numerous contests between the groups over recent months, initially with the Gates of Agony challenging Lashley and Benjamin for the AEW World Tag Team Championship in April, and then Ricochet and the Gates of Agony costing Lashley and Benjamin the World Tag Team Championship at Forbidden Door. The Demand scored victory in their initial trios match at All Out in Toronto, with the Hurt Syndicate pulling back the victory in their rematch during "AEW Dynamite: Title Tuesday," and the Gates of Agony picking up a further win over Lashley and Benjamin in tag team action this past Wednesday.
That leaves their rubber match this weekend, and the question of who will go over and presumably win the feud altogether. On that front, Wrestling Inc.'s staff poll reflects a belief that the Hurt Syndicate will be the ones getting the win, with 89% of the votes, whereas only 14% have backed The Demand to have their point heard.
Written by MaxEverett
AEW's multi-women feud involving the Triangle of Madness, Queen Aminata, and Jamie Hayter has culminated in a one-on-one match between Thekla and Hayter at WrestleDream, and with plenty of vitriol between these two women, Saturday's lock-up is predicted to be nothing short of spectacular. What Wrestling Inc. can't seem to predict, however, is which woman will come out of WrestleDream on top. The Hayter/Thekla lines have split our crew down the middle, but when the numbers were crunched, Thekla edged out a marginal lead, with 56% of our staff members betting on a "Toxic Spider" victory in St. Louis.
Hayter made a shocking return to AEW at Forbidden Door 2024 to even the odds between the Triangle of Madness and Queen Aminata, but Hayter and Thekla's bad blood goes far beyond August. Thekla's arrival to AEW saw her put Hayter on the shelf with injury, with Hayter's disappearance marking the beginning of Thekla's meteoric rise throughout the AEW women's division. With three months of her career now wasted, Hayter has come to make Thekla pay her dues.
The Triangle of Madness' Skye Blue and Julia Hart will undoubtedly play a role in Saturday's match-up, with Thekla's two associates often playing key roles in her recent matches. While Hayter is not alone, with a ready and willing ally in Aminata by her side, the numbers are still stacked, two to three. With most other babyface female performers occupied with matches of their own, it's hard to say just who will come to Hayter and Aminata's aid to even the score between them and Thekla's dastardly trio.
Hayter is a former AEW Women's World Champion, but Thekla is a "Toxic Spider." Just who will come out on top in St. Louis is anyone's guess, and while we're tentatively betting on Thekla, you'll want to just keep watching.
Written byAngeline Phu
For the first time since AEW Double or Nothing 2022, the Jurassic Express will be wrestling a match on pay-per-view. Following their surprise reunion at AEW All Out 2025, "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry and Luchasaurus will look to finally gain a measure of revenge over The Young Bucks in a match at AEW WrestleDream 2025 that has $500,000 at stake.
It's well established that Nick Jackson is a gambling man. After all, he is largely the reason why there is half a million dollars on the line for this match because he just can't stay away from the slot machines. However, he shouldn't be backing himself or his brother when it comes to WrestleDream because this one feels like an almost guaranteed win for the Jurassic Express.
Perry and Luchasaurus have only just come back to television, they're unbeaten since returning to the ring, and even though The Young Bucks are one of the greatest tag teams of all time at this point, there is no reason for Matt and Nick Jackson to go over in this one. Part of the beauty of their gimmick since their loss to Swerve Strickland and Will Ospreay at AEW All In Texas has been that they are the butt of the joke, but they thrive in that role. The Young Bucks are self aware enough to know that they can remain a must-see act on television while also putting teams over because they've reached that mythical stage of being a team that draws money by having people pay to see them lose.
You don't want to ruin the momentum that Jurassic Express currently has going, and you don't want to give the Young Bucks too much glory because it takes away the fun of their current roles. Meaning that Jurassic Express going over at WrestleDream is not only the logical conclusion, but also the one that we think will happen. Given how well these four guys know each other, it should be a sleeper pick for match of the night, but 83% of us think it will end with Perry and Luchasaurus getting their hands raised.
Written by Sam Palmer
Darby Allin may have lost in his coffin match against Jon Moxley at All Out, but we don't think the words "I quit" are going to leave his mouth in what's likely to be a brutal, bloody battle to the end war against the leader of the Death Riders at WrestleDream. A total of 83% of us here at WINC believe Moxley's words from Wednesday's "Dynamite," where he recognized that Allin will never quit, and we think Allin is walking out of St. Louis victorious.
While Moxley did say he knew Allin wouldn't quit, Moxley also said he wouldn't lose, so we're not entirely sure how this match comes to a close or how Allin makes Moxley say "I quit." The competitors are going to put one another through hell and back, not unlike what they did during their All Out match, and there is likely to be plenty of interference once again, as well. It could very well be a threat to Marina Shafir by Allin that makes Moxley quit, but we can't think of anything Allin could do to "Mox" that would push him over the edge to want to make the pain stop. That being said, we expect plenty of weapons to be used here, from thumb tacks, to glass tubes, and anything in between, and it's not likely to stay, or even finish, within the ring.
We thinkAllin is finally defeating Moxley at WrestleDream, but neither man is going to come out of the battle unscathed. This might be a match where some of the more weak-stomached fans may have to watch through their fingers, and more than three-fourths of us believe that's due in part to what Allin is going to do to Moxley to win.
Written by Daisy Ruth
One of the biggest talents that AEW CEO and President Tony Khan has been his matchmaking. Obviously it helps that he has one of the most loaded rosters of all time, but Khan has a knack for being able to put two wrestlers together, whether it be in a tag team or as opponents, and it just manages to work perfectly. Of the pairings that Khan has put together in recent years, Kyle Fletcher and Mark Briscoe are one of the most successful, and their series of matches has warranted them a place on the AEW WrestleDream 2025 card.
This Saturday will see Fletcher and Briscoe wrestle each other for the fifth time, with this match arguably having the biggest stakes as it will be on pay-per-view for the AEW TNT Championship. Briscoe picked up two victories in 2024, while Fletcher has picked two victories in 2025, leading to this ultimate rubber match that we think Fletcher will emerge victorious from.
Given the hard work that he has put in over the past few years, it's possible that Khan could reward Briscoe with a filler run with the AEW TNT Championship. With that said, Fletcher is on the best run of his career as the TNT Champion and it just seems too early to put an end to his run now. He proved that he can hang in the main event scene thanks to his performance against Hangman Page at AEW All Out 2025, and that match could have convinced a few people backstage that he's ready for a main event push now, but Fletcher is a guy who can put respect back on the TNT Championship by having a long, competitive reign that ultimately makes someone else by having him being beaten many months down the line.
If this match is anything like their previous four, this should be an excellent bout, but once the dust settles, we think that "The Protostar" will retain his title and hold it for a long time.
Written bySam Palmer
Brodido will be making the fifth defense of their AEW World Tag Team Championship within 60 days this weekend, facing the Don Callis Family pairing of Unified Champion Kazuchika Okada and IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Konosuke Takeshita.
Since capturing the titles from the Hurt Syndicate, having pinned FTR at Forbidden Door in a three-way, the pairing of Brody King and Bandido have defended them both on AEW and CMLL programming, and are coming off a recent defense against the Gates of Agony in their pursuit of momentum after retaining them against three other teams JetSpeed, Josh Alexander and Hechicero, and the Young Bucks in a ladder match at All Out in Toronto.
Okada and Takeshita are on a slightly different journey, having found success as singles stars and been brought reluctantly under the same umbrella thanks to Don Callis; their journey for the tag titles is not entirely their design, but rather a bifold attempt to keep his family ticking forward rather than against one another, and to add more gold to the faction already in possession of the IWGP, Unified, and TNT titles. However, in getting their opportunity the challengers do hold a victory over Brodido, and would only need to replicate such a performance to see Callis' goal realized.
With all that being said, it doesn't seem likely for lightning to strike twice, reflected with the 61% majority vote for the champions to retain, especially with the challengers more focused on the issues between them the brewing battle between Okada and his Senpai. Of course, that shows 39% have their eyes on new champions when all is said and done, and it wouldn't be the remotest possibility for either of Okada or Takeshita, let alone them together, to capture gold on any given day. Ultimately, time will tell which side of the divide made the right call.
Written byMaxEverett
Kris Statlander shocked the world when she ended the reign of a then-indestructible "Timeless" Toni Storm back at All Out, but while most former champions take time to recover before rechallenging, Storm is ready for her rematch. At WrestleDream, Statlander will put her AEW Women's World Championship on the line against former titleholder Storm in singles action, and while we all acknowledge Storm as AEW's top girl, we at Wrestling Inc. think that St. Louis will see a Statlander victory, with 94% of us betting on a victory for the alien-turned-champ.
Statlander's world title reign has gone fairly well so far, with a victory over STARDOM and ROH talent Mina Shirakawa and a strong refusal to the Death Riders earmarking her first week as champion. Storm was quick to make her challenge for a singles world title rematch, to which Statlander was quick to accept. The two have been booked to fight, interestingly, as allies in multi-woman tag matches since then, but while their teams have come out with victories, it's clear that Statlander and Storm's professionalism is beginning to crack, as WrestleDream looms around the corner.
While Storm has been one of the best-booked women in the AEW women's division, rivaled only by unbeatable talents such as Mercedes Mone and Athena, she has a surprising track record against Statlander. Statlander has pinned Storm twice: once at All Out, and once back in January 2025, when she put Storm down for a three-count in Casino Women's Gauntlet match qualifier. That kind of record against Storm has only been achieved by women such as Mariah May (now-known as WWE's Blake Monroe). Combine these statistics with the recency of Statlander's reign, and a title retention would only make sense.
That being said, this is wrestling, where the card is, infamously, subject to change. Could we be in for another upset at WrestleDream?
Written byAngeline Phu
The AEW Men's World Championship match pitting "Hangman"Adam Page against Samoa Joe felt almost like it was thrown-together haphazardly on an episode of "Dynamite" to kick off the month of October, so none of us are convinced that Joe has any chance here. Despite it feeling strange betting against Joe, a full 100% of us here at WINC believe Page isn't losing the gold.
The in-ring aspect of the match is going to be great, and if AEW wasn't going to set up a long-running feud for Page in between All Out and WrestleDream to continue on through the rest of the year and beyond, the best random, for lack of a better term, challenger was Joe.
The men teamed together in a trios match against the Death Riders on "Dynamite" and got in each other's way during the bout, leading to a brawl after Page handed Joe his AEW World Trios Championship. That then led to Page challenging him in a backstage segment later that night, and it all just felt very rushed.
With "Hangman" being the person to finally dethrone JonMoxley and "rescue" the championship from the Death Riders' hostage situation, we don't think he's losing the title in what sadly feels like a throwaway match, even if it is against someone as good as Joe. Page just became champion in July with his Texas Death Match win at All In, and we don't think AEW is going to stop his reign at just over three months. All of us believe "Hangman" is defeating Joe, and it's likely his next challenger emerges as a surprise to end the show.
Written byDaisyRuth
