AEW WrestleDream Preview: Match Card, Start Time, How to Watch, More
AEW WrestleDream airs tonight from Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, Florida, with the main card kicking off at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on HBO Max PPV, and history will be made when AEW presents the first-ever Clockwork Carnage Match for the AEW World Championship!
The first WrestleDream took place in October 2023, held in honor of NJPW founder Antonio Inoki. AEW continues to celebrate Inoki, whom Tony Khan calls "wrestling's greatest dreamer," each year for his numerous contributions to professional wrestling. Now in its fourth year, WrestleDream is coming to the Sunshine State for the first time.
All eyes are on AEW’s first-ever Clockwork Carnage Match, where AEW World Champion Will Ospreay, after beating Jon Moxley at All Out and Kazuchika Okada in Paris to begin his reign, now faces as many as seven opponents at once in a brand new match type he helped create with AEW CEO and GM Tony Khan. It's one of seven title matches on an eight-match main card, and the AEW Saturday Tailgate Brawl adds a pair of heated tag team matches before WrestleDream gets underway.
The Tailgate Brawl precedes the main show, starting at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT live coast-to-coast on TNT and HBO Max, with Motor City Machine Guns and FTR beginning their best-of-5 series and Divine Dominion taking on Sisters of Sin.
Check out the full AEW WrestleDream preview below to find out how we got here before it all goes down tonight in Orlando!
AEW WrestleDream Match Card & Preview
AEW World Championship Clockwork Carnage Match: AEW World Champion "The Aerial Assassin" Will Ospreay (c) vs. Samoa Joe vs. "Speedball" Mike Bailey vs. "The Rated-R Superstar" Adam Copeland vs. "The Alpha" Konosuke Takeshita vs. AEW International Champion "The Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada vs. Ricochet vs. TNT Champion Darby Allin
AEW Women's World Championship Match: "The CEO" Mercedes Moné (c) vs. "The Toxic Spider" Thekla
AEW World Trios Championship 2-Out-of-3 Falls Match: Swerve Strickland & The New Level (Austin Creed and Kofi) (c) vs. "Hangman" Adam Page & Brodido (ROH World Champion Bandido and Brody King)
AEW World Tag Team Championship Match: Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) (c) vs. "The Protostar" Kyle Fletcher & "The Jet" Kevin Knight
AEW Continental Championship Match: Jon Moxley (c) vs. Mark Davis
AEW National Championship Match: Andrade El Ídolo (c) vs. Tommaso Ciampa
TBS Championship 4-Way Match: TBS & CMLL World Women's Champion Persephone (c) vs. Hyan vs. Dani Luna vs. Queen Aminata
Jericho vs. Nick Wayne 3
AEW Saturday Tailgate Brawl: Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley) vs. FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) – Match 1 of a Best-of-5 Series
AEW Saturday Tailgate Brawl: Divine Dominion ("Megasus" Megan Bayne and "Colossal" Lena Kross) vs. Artist of STARDOM Champions Sisters of Sin (Julia Hart and Skye Blue)
AEW World Championship Clockwork Carnage Match: AEW World Champion "The Aerial Assassin" Will Ospreay (c) of United Empire vs. The Opps' Samoa Joe vs. United Empire's "Speedball" Mike Bailey vs. "The Rated-R Superstar" Adam Copeland vs. "The Alpha" Konosuke Takeshita vs. AEW International Champion "The Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada of the Don Callis Family vs. The Demand's Ricochet vs. TNT Champion Darby Allin
Will Ospreay began his AEW World Championship reign with two of the toughest defenses imaginable, and now, he faces as many as seven opponents at once! After winning the title from Kenny Omega at AEW All In: London, Ospreay finally beat Jon Moxley, the man who helped train him and a man he had never beaten, at All Out. Then, in Paris, Ospreay beat Kazuchika Okada for the first time in a championship match after entering with a 2-9 overall singles record against him.
Tonight, the first-ever Clockwork Carnage Match is Ospreay's own creation. When Tony Khan asked him what he wanted for his WrestleDream title defense, Ospreay called upon his Casino Gauntlet experience, having won the first two gauntlets, and the result is a match unlike anything AEW has presented.
Here's how it works: Clockwork Carnage features eight wrestlers, two stages and one winner.
Stage 1: Two wrestlers selected at random start the match, and every 3 minutes, another randomly selected wrestler enters until all eight have entered. Anyone who is pinned or submits before all eight have entered is eliminated and does not move on to Stage 2.
Stage 2: Once the final wrestler enters, all remaining wrestlers enter a 15-minute scoring period. Every pinfall or submission scores one fall, and when time expires, the wrestler with the most falls wins and leaves as AEW World Champion.
That makes Clockwork Carnage a mash-up of a Casino Gauntlet and an Iron Man match with many possibilities. A wrestler could beat the champion and not win the match, and Ospreay could lose the title without ever being pinned or submitted.
Samoa Joe was the first challenger to qualify, beating "Jungle" Jack Perry in Paris. "Speedball" Mike Bailey, Ospreay's United Empire stablemate, qualified by beating ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty and has promised not to hold anything back when he sees Ospreay at WrestleDream. Adam Copeland beat Josh Alexander to earn his first AEW World Championship opportunity since March 2025, then announced that 2027 will be his final year in wrestling, so he has to go after the AEW World Championship. Konosuke Takeshita, who wants to prove he is "The Alpha," made Brian Cage tap out, and Ricochet beat Ace Austin.
Two champions also had to put their own titles on the line for a chance to join them: AEW International Champion Kazuchika Okada retained against Myron Reed to take his spot in the field, and TNT Champion Darby Allin kept the TNT Championship against CMLL World Heavyweight Champion Hechicero in the main event this past Wednesday to claim the final spot. The eight competitors got a glimpse of what's coming when they all brawled to end the night.
Can Ospreay survive seven opponents, including five former world champions, or does the AEW World Championship change hands in the first Clockwork Carnage?
AEW Women's World Championship Match: "The CEO" Mercedes Moné (c) vs. "The Toxic Spider" Thekla of Triangle of Madness
With Moné not cleared for action back at All Out, Thekla beat Willow Nightingale that night to earn this title opportunity, and the animosity has only grown since. After trading sneak attacks in recent weeks, Moné teamed with Divine Dominion to take on Triangle of Madness on Dynamite. After Julia Hart sprayed Lena Kross with the black mist, Thekla stomped and pinned Kross, picked up the AEW Women's World Championship and celebrated while Moné stewed on the outside. Now the two collide in Orlando with the title on the line in a highly anticipated first-time one-on-one matchup. Does Moné prove she's the champion in every sense, or does Thekla leave Orlando with the AEW Women's World Championship for the second time?
AEW World Trios Championship 2-Out-of-3 Falls Match: Swerve Strickland & The New Level (Austin Creed and Kofi) (c) vs. "Hangman" Adam Page & Brodido (ROH World Champion Bandido and Brody King)
Swerve Strickland and The New Level took the AEW World Trios Championship from Hangman, Bandido and Brody King at All In: London by winning the Trios Roulette Royale, then beat them at All Out. Of course, that happened in the very same building where Hangman and Swerve nearly ended each other’s careers two years ago. The tension has only grown since. Those two had to be separated when Bandido retained the ROH World Title over Kofi, which led to this championship challenge. The issues between Hangman and Swerve have reached uncomfortable levels, but will they distract from the ultimate goal of walking out as champions? Who takes this heated 2-out-of-3-falls fight?
AEW World Tag Team Championship Match: Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) (c) vs. Don Callis Family's "The Protostar" Kyle Fletcher & "The Jet" Kevin Knight
Matt and Nick Jackson became the first-ever four-time AEW World Tag Team Champions at All Out by beating Cage and Cope and FTR in a 3-Way Ladder Match. On the same night, Fletcher and Knight earned this title shot by beating Darby Allin and Steven Borden due to medical stoppage.
Fletcher and Knight beat the Young Bucks in a tables match at Rebel Heart Dynamite last month, and now, they aim to dethrone the four-time champions at WrestleDream. Both teams have gotten physical in recent weeks, but the Bucks got the jump on Fletcher and Knight this past Wednesday during what was supposed to be a sit-down interview. Do the Bucks hold on to their titles, or do Fletcher and Knight leave Orlando with gold?
AEW Continental Championship Match: Death Riders' Jon Moxley (c) vs. Don Callis Family's Mark Davis
Mark Davis is on a roll against the Death Riders. In Paris, Davis and Jake Doyle beat Moxley and Gabe Kidd, with Davis pinning Kidd with Close Your Eyes and Count to Three. In Cleveland, Davis pinned Moxley himself in a trios match, making it two weeks in a row that Davis has pinned a Death Rider, and this time, it was the one that matters the most.
Moxley's raw emotions came out after the match. Backstage, he lashed out, destroying everything he could get his hands on before collapsing to the ground, and told Renee Paquette he was dealing with "a great deal of pain." Marina Shafir tried to set him straight, and it appeared to work. However, Davis made his intentions clear in a digital exclusive: "I want The Ace. I want the King of Violence. I want you at 100% because I want to face the demon of this company."
This will be a huge, hard-hitting fight between two of the most physical competitors in AEW. Does Davis end Moxley's reign with the biggest win of his career, or does Moxley prove once again why he's hard to beat when his back is against the wall?
AEW National Championship Match: Andrade El Ídolo (c) vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Andrade El Ídolo looks for his seventh successful defense of the AEW National Championship tonight, if he can get through the relentless Tommaso Ciampa, who will do anything to possess AEW gold again.
This all began after Andrade turned away Michael Oku in Paris for his sixth successful defense. Ciampa confronted Andrade and ambushed him to violently establish his next target. Now, the AEW National Championship is the next step in Ciampa's quest for gold. He won the TNT Championship in his AEW debut, but since losing it, he has come up short in his attempt to be a champion once again, including falling to Kazuchika Okada in the AEW International Championship match at All Out.
Just days ago, Ciampa and Samoa Joe beat Andrade and AEW World Champion Will Ospreay in a tag team match when Ciampa spiked Andrade on the National Title, allowing Joe to lock in the Coquina Clutch for the win. Ciampa says he left Andrade unconscious in Paris and in Cleveland, so what is going to happen when the National Title is on the line? Does Andrade tie the record of seven successful defenses, or does Ciampa finally get his hands on gold?
TBS Championship 4-Way Match: TBS & CMLL World Women's Champion Persephone (c) vs. Hyan vs. Dani Luna vs. Queen Aminata
AEW CEO and GM Tony Khan made this match official just days ago after Luna and Hyan teamed up to beat Persephone and Baker when Luna rolled up Baker for the pin, only for Persephone and Baker to attack Hyan after the bell until Aminata came out to clear the ring. Of course, Persephone initially won the TBS Championship from Maya World at All In: London with the help of Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D., and she has leaned on Baker ever since, including to beat Luna in a TBS Championship Open Challenge in Luna's AEW debut at All Out. Persephone also stole a win over Hyan with her feet on the ropes on Dynamite last month. Aminata, who fell short against AEW Women’s World Champion Mercedes Moné in Paris, now gets another chance to win her first AEW gold.
With three challengers who all have a score to settle and a double champion who isn't afraid to do whatever it takes to win, who walks out of Orlando as TBS Champion?
Jericho vs. Nick Wayne 3
After Jericho won their first battle, Nick Wayne evened the score with a huge win in Paris thanks to some help from a low blow. Now, with each holding a victory over the other, they'll fight in the rubber match at WrestleDream. When Wayne beat Jericho in Paris, it was arguably the biggest win of his career, and he kept reminding everyone about it this past Wednesday in Cleveland until Jericho interrupted and proposed the rubber match. Wayne agreed on one condition: if Wayne wins, Jericho has to come back to the ring and apologize. Jericho accepted and left Wayne in agony with a low blow of his own. Who wins the rubber match and takes ultimate bragging rights?
AEW Saturday Tailgate Brawl: Best-of-5 Series (Match 1): Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley) vs. FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler)
Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley want to prove they are the best team in the greatest tag team division, so on Dynamite this past Wednesday, they challenged FTR to a best-of-5 series, with the first match taking place on the Tailgate Brawl! That challenge came when Harwood pointed out that FTR beat AEW World Tag Team Champions the Young Bucks three out of five times, so why weren’t they the #1 contenders? Shelley used the same psychology, asking what if the Machine Guns beat FTR three out of five times, and offered to start the series right there and then. Stoke shut that down, saying that a dream match and a dream series deserves to kick off at WrestleDream. The two teams shared a tense handshake before FTR left, and now, they’ll meet in tag team action for the very first time. Who takes the first meeting between these two legendary teams to gain an early advantage in the series?
AEW Saturday Tailgate Brawl: Divine Dominion ("Megasus" Megan Bayne and "Colossal" Lena Kross) vs. Artist of STARDOM Champions Sisters of Sin (Julia Hart and Skye Blue)
After colliding in a trios match this past Wednesday, Bayne and Kross battle Hart and Blue before WrestleDream on the Tailgate Brawl! In Cleveland, Triangle of Madness beat Mercedes Moné and Divine Dominion when Hart sprayed Kross with black mist, and Thekla capitalized with a stomp to win the match. Do Bayne and Kross get revenge, or do Sisters of Sin send another message on what could be a huge night for Triangle of Madness?
How to Watch AEW WrestleDream & Start Time
Date: Saturday, October 17, 2026
Start Time: AEW Saturday Tailgate Brawl airs live coast-to-coast at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on TNT and HBO Max, with WrestleDream kicking off at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on HBO Max PPV!
Location: Addition Financial Arena – Orlando, Florida
How to Watch: AEW WrestleDream is available to order on HBO Max in the United States! AEW WrestleDream is also available on Amazon Prime, MyAEW, YouTube, and other streaming and pay-per-view platforms.
