AEW WrestleDream 2025

AEW WrestleDream 2025

St. Louis, MO - October 2025

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into the show, the AEW World Champion was Adam Page, the AEW Women's World Champion was Kris Statlander, Kyle Fletcher was the TNT Champion, Mercedes Mone was the TBS Champion, the AEW Unified Championship was held by Kazuchika Okada, The Opps (Shibata, Samoa Joe, and Will Hobbs) held the AEW Trios Championship, and the AEW World Tag Team Champions were Brodido (Brody King and Bandido). 

WrestleDream opened with a match-in-progress we got the final minutes of FTR vs. JetSpeed. I really liked this concept - TK had hinted in a media scrum before the show that they were going to "try some new things" - as I'm not sure if I've ever seen a PPV/PLE start with one of the pre-show matches still happening. Even if this was done in the past, it was a fresh enough concept to work.

From there, we went to the "actual" opener: Jamie Hayter vs. Thekla. This was hit-and-miss and maybe a touch too long. I really liked Thekla's offense - especially her crossbody to the floor, which was immaculate - but there were noticeable hiccups throughout, awkward transitions, possibly one spot "repeated" due to a botch, missed strikes, and even a bit of telegraphing that hurt the match. I really wanted to like this match more than I did because Thekla is so impressive and seems like she's on the cusp of being a major player in AEW. (2.5/5)

The Young Bucks (who had a funny entrance that showed how they'd spent their last 500k and therefore couldn't afford a "real" entrance) took on the reunited Jurassic Express in the next match. Cagematch says this ran 23 minutes but it felt even longer due to the sheer amount of action and high spots they stuffed into it. This is another one of those matches that, if you're not a fan of what the Bucks do, you'll have no problem criticizing for its indulgences, but its hard to hate on something that, to the audience in St. Louis, was a clear winner. Luchasaurus was as over for this crowd as he's ever been. The Bucks' tandem offense, which included a callback to the Lucha Bros at one point, was as impressive as ever and even featured some new wrinkles (Perry countering one of their signature combo moves into a hurricanrana off the ropes was particularly great). Speaking of Perry, I'm not sure what the deal was with him untying the tag rope, trying to tie it the opposite corner, and then just tying back in the correct corner was as it didn't play into the match at any point, but maybe its something "meta" I didn't understand. There were probably too many nearfalls and false finishes that made Jack Perry look superhuman, but, again, that's "the brand" of wrestling this is and the real issue is that Perry is simply not over or credible enough to be surviving the same onslaught of finishers as, say, Will Ospreay or Swerve Strickland. As hard as they worked, the only thing I would've liked here was some editing. In the post-match, members of the Don Callis Family came out and attacked the JE as they were seemingly trying to give some of their winnings to the Bucks. The Bucks allowed it to happen, exiting the ring to boos, which led to Kenny Omega making his return and briefly questioning why they weren't helping out their old buddy. The Bucks shrugged their shoulders and moved on as Kenny ran in for the save, eventually running the heels out of the ring and celebrating. (3/5)

A trios match followed with Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin, and MVP taking on Ricochet, Bishop Kaun, and Toa Liona. They were an unfortunate position here having to follow a match where the Bucks and the Express had busted out every high spot imaginable and, maybe even more than their placement on the card, had to deliver what was something like their 3rd or 4th match over the past 8 weeks. Still, with Benjamin and Ricochet being so good and so capable of highlight reel moments, you knew this would be, at worst, just average. The match benefitted from "tornado" rules which prevented it from ever getting slow, but it also meant that there wasn't much structure or drama to it beyond just watching to see what the next "big move" would be. Highlights included MVP getting to hit his trademark "Ballin" elbow, Shelton Benjamin delivering an awesome cannonball tope towards the end, Ricochet bumping and selling like mad, and the finish, which saw Ricochet get saved by Kaun only for Kaun to eat a bunch of punishment and get pinned with nobody on his side risking their safety to help him. Not a bad match, but nothing to get excited about. (2.5/5)

Next up - the 5th match in the Best Of 5 series between Mark Briscoe and TNT Champion, Kyle Fletcher. I'll admit that I hadn't watched any of the previous matches. Callis joined on commentary. Things started relatively tame before Fletcher went to the outside for a breather and Briscoe followed him out and turned this into more of a fight, hitting with Fletcher with an elbow off the apron ala Cactus Jack. Other highlights included an awesome cannonball through the middle ropes by Briscoe onto Fletcher (who was seated on a chair), Fletcher powerbombing Briscoe on an upturned set of stairs, Fletcher countering the Jay Driller into a half-and-half suplex before connecting with the Last Ride powerbomb, a superplex from Fletcher that sounded like a bomb went off when they landed, a Jay Driller on the apron, a Froggy Elbow when Fletcher was lying prone on the top rope (as Schiavone noted, I'm not sure we've seen that before), and a whole slew of Fletcher kicks and running boots that looked and sounded tremendous. In a year full of remarkable performances, Kyle Fletcher once again proved he may be worthy of inclusion in the "Wrestler of the Year" conversation. The crowd desperately wanted Briscoe to get the win, booing heavily when Fletcher broke the count after a Jay Driller by putting one finger on the rope and popping just as huge when Briscoe somehow kicked out of a low blow and then Fletcher's brainbuster and running knee-to-the-jaw. Fletcher hit the brainbuster on the top turnbuckle to end things. Another very, very good match that was maybe just a hair short of "must see." (3.5/5)

Kris Statlander defended her AEW Women's World Championship against Toni Storm in the next match. While not the homerun they were clearly looking for, this was still quite good. This one suffered from some elements that had very little to do with the actual wrestling in the ring (which was almost all great). By this point, the crowd had sat through over two hours of wrestling, including two 20+ minute matches. If ever there was time for a fun squash match, this was the time for it, but instead, we got a very competitive tweener/tweener match. Tweeners, you say? I do. Storm is mega over and rightfully adored, but she's never been an out-and-out "good guy" who is fighting "for the fans." Her comedy chops and the fact that she was/is often slotted against heels has made her a de facto babyface more than anything in her actual character or presentation (pompous, egocentric, dismissive). Statlander, meanwhile, isn't too far removed from an ill-fitting heel run and, more recently, seemed to be getting recruited by the Death Riders. Statlander's super-serious, all-business persona doesn't scream "babyface" to me, though I do think this is the best presentation of her that we've seen. All of this to say the match felt a little quiet and "heatless" at times as there was not a strong face/heel dynamic for the fans to latch onto. This match was designed to make Statlander look like she has finally attained equal footing to the Storms and Mones of the roster and I think it did the job as well as it could've. Mone disrupting Statlander's post-match victory "moment" (and Statlander laying her out after the next match) seems to hint to a title vs. title match in the near future, though I'm not sure why they'd go that route when Statlander being Women's World Champion lends itself to so many other potential title defenses, including against her on/off buddy Willow Nightingale, Jamie Hayter, Thekla, and any number of international talent that TK might bring in. (3/5)

The aforementioned Mercedes Mone defended her TBS Championship while also challenging the Interim ROH Women's Champion Mina Shirakawa in the next bout. Like the prior bout, this one also suffered from elements that had very little to do with what we actual got in-ring. Shirakawa, as talented and fun as she is, had very little chance of winning this match and the audience was hip to that within the first few minutes. Speaking of minutes, this was not the right place on the card to put yet another competitive 15+ minute match. The crowd was arguably more into this match than the previous one - Mone's star power remains undeniable - but it wasn't by much. I think this match may have also benefitted from Shirakawa showing a different side of herself rather than her usual fun-loving, dancing self. This match may have had a totally different feel had Shirakawa come in with a more serious demeanor and eschewed the dancing and comedy antics to make it clear that she was taking this match more seriously than her previous challenges. There was enough good, especially in the final 3-4 minutes, to carry this into "average" territory despite feeling a bit meaningless and undercooked. (2.5/5)

The AEW World Tag Team Championships were on the line next as the champions, Brodido (Brody King and Bandido) defended their titles against the Callis Family's Takeshita and Okada. This was a very strong match with some very cool moments and exchanges (no surprise considering the talent involved). Okada delivering a shoulderbreaker to the massive Brody King was one particularly unbelievable moment. There was a sequence soon after that involved Takeshita and Bandido training reverse hurricanranas that was also mind-blowing. Really, this match just had way too many "Did you see that?" moments to bother naming them all and they deserve a ton of credit for reigniting the crowd's interest and energy as the show passed the 3 hour mark. Easily the best match of the night and maybe the best Brodido match I've seen yet. I'm very much looking forward to the Takeshita/Okada match that this match built towards. (4/5)

Samoa Joe challenged "Hangman" Adam Page for the AEW World Championship in the next match. You could tell by the speed of the entrances and pre-match announcing that the show was running long at this point, nearing the 4-hour mark. Page and Joe had a very good contest, though the finish was never really in question. I've watched a whole ton of Samoa Joe matches over the years and it really is night-and-day how much better he is when he is motivated and passionate about what he is doing on-screen (as compared to some of his pretty uninspired stretches in TNA in the early 2010s). There were some spots that looked a little awkward and I kinda wish they had just focused on beating eachother's brains in as I really liked the finish and how strong it made Joe look in a loss. The post-match heel turn by Joe and the Opps was a tremendous moment that got a great reaction from the crowd and was a genuine surprise to me as so much for the build-up had hinted to this being part of Joe's "last run." (3/5)

Main event time - Darby Allin vs. Jon Moxley in an I Quit match. This was brutal, but maybe a hair less brutal than I expected (as I expected them to deliver the craziest match since the Swerve/Page series, which probably would've meant an actual televised murder). According to wrestling reporter Bryan Alvarez, the St. Louis sports commission put some semi-strict rules on how much gore they'd allow the show to have - though "hardway" blood was seemingly allowed as Hangman Page was clearly bleeding from the mouth in the prior match - which prevented Allin and Mox from putting on the bloodbath most folks expected. Even without the permission to slice each other or themselves up, this match still felt plenty hardcore and dangerous. There were wild dives and a Coffin Drop on the apron by Allin, Moxley stabbing Allin's fingers with wooden needles, Claudio Castignoli guerilla pressing Darby from the ring onto the announce table in an amazing feat of strength and PAC literally dragging his lifeless body back into the ring, and, in the most talked-about spot of the night, the use of an aquarium to try to drown Darby that led to the return of Darby's former tag partner Sting to take out the bad guys in a huge moment. Unfortunately, the actual finish of the match - a rather simple Scorpion Death Lock - seemed a bit tame (even if I do see why Moxley looking with a plain ol' wrestling hold showed that, all along, he's been a chickenshit hiding behind his stablemates and not really the "tough guy" he claimed to be). (3.5/5)

Overall, any show with an average rating of 3.06-out-of-5 probably deserves to be praised for consistently being above-average...but this show still felt a bit like it underachieved. The main event had all the makings of being an all-time classic, but will probably only be remembered for the aquarium spot. The AEW Women's World Championship was similarly on-the-brink of greatness but never quite there. The best matches on the show were the AEW World Tag Team Titles and TNT Championship matches, which came as a bit of a surprise on a show considering I wouldn't consider any of the men involved to be "bigger deals" than Hangman, Joe, Mercedes, Toni Storm, or the Bucks. 

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand