AEW pulled off yet another triumphant PPV this past weekend; despite a rather cold buildup WrestleDream 2024 delivered a full slate of good-to-excellent matches and a handful of memorable angles, including a downer of an ending that signaled the close of Bryan Danielson's full-time wrestling career. No one does PPV events like AEW.
The show started with a G1-style banger, as Hangman Page and Jay White had a rematch from their Owen Cup semifinal. This one started methodically but built in intensity through its sixteen minutes, and after loads of explosive and sudden counters and reversals it ended to a massive crowd pop. Hangman had failed to hit the Buckshot Lariat earlier in the match, but after a Deadeye piledriver he had White exactly where he wanted him. But his bad knee which White had worked over earlier made him hesitate, and he flipped right into White's waiting arms for a Bladerunner and the three-count. The crowd went nuts for this finish. Excellent opener. ****1/4
Next up was the lone women's match on the main card, Mariah May vs. Willow Nightingale, in another Owen Cup rematch. This only went ten minutes but was pretty much nonstop action, Willow's power vs. Mariah's craftiness. May had a nearfall with May Day after Willow missed a moonsault, and I actually fell for that one. There was a great spot where Willow went for the pounce but May countered with a headbutt and a lariat. May hit a running DVD into the corner and won the match with a running knee and Storm Zero. I thought maybe Toni Storm would return here but they're saving her for another day. Really damn good match. ****
Third was Jack Perry vs. Katsuyori Shibata for the TNT Title. This was your badass babyface veteran vs. underhanded chickenshit heel match. Shibata mostly dominated, chopping the hell out of Jack. Perry would make comebacks by either outmaneuvering or cheating. They exchanged their signature offense and Shibata locked in a rear naked choke, but Perry bridged up to pin Shibata's shoulders for three. When Shibata protested to the referee Perry attacked him from behind, but Daniel Garcia ran down to make the save. That brought out MJF, and Perry hit Garcia with the TNT belt. MJF beat Garcia down and cut a promo on him, revealing that he found his Dynamite diamond ring at the pawnshop Garcia sold it to. Suddenly Adam Cole's music hit, and Cole ran down to the ring as MJF took a powder. We're FINALLY getting a proper payoff to this feud, albeit with the heel-face roles reversed. Good match, eventful post-match. ***1/2
The fourth match blew the roof off the dump, as Will Ospreay, Ricochet and Konosuke Takeshita delivered one of the most creative triple threat matches I've ever seen. Where three-ways typically devolve into "two guys fight while the third guy sells," most of this match involved all three guys doing innovative spots together. Loads of crazy, exciting stuff. They set up a table early in the match and teased multiple spots with it, but the payoff didn't come until late in the match when Takeshita hit Ricochet with a Crunchy piledriver off the apron through the table. This looked like it killed Ric. Ospreay hit Takeshita with a Hidden Blade, Takeshita kicked out at one, Ospreay hit another Hidden Blade, and Don Callis pulled the referee out. Callis tried to hit Ospreay with a screwdriver but Ospreay blocked it and suddenly Kyle Fletcher ran in, took the screwdriver and leveled Ospreay with it. Takeshita lowered his kneepad and hit a running knee to win the International Title. Post-match Kyle hit the Tiger Driver on Will, who sold it like it broke his neck. Incredible match with a storyline-furthering finish. *****
They wisely didn't have a match try and follow this, but rather the Swerve Strickland return segment. Swerve came out to a huge ovation and began to cut a promo but was interrupted by MVP and Shelton Benjamin. MVP did his pitch about how Swerve should dump Prince Nana and join his stable instead. Swerve teased doing so, but ultimately landed on "Nana is family and I don't turn my back on family." He told MVP to shove his business card up his ass, Shelton said "We're not asking, we're telling," and they had a pull-apart brawl. No Bobby Lashley yet, but that debut is coming very soon.
The special lucha match was next as Hologram and The Beast Mortos had a very fun 2/3 falls bout. The first fall went pretty quickly; Hologram dominated the action with his lightning-fast offense, finishing Mortos with a crucifix bomb. Mortos came back and overpowered Hologram in the second fall, evening the score after a Torture rack into a backbreaker, followed by a powerbomb backbreaker. The third fall was the longest as both guys hit all their big moves. Hologram eventually won with his powerbomb variation. Really good stuff. ***3/4
Darby Allin and Brody King had a signature big man-little man match, with Darby bumping all over the place. King threw him around, Darby took insane-looking bumps that would've killed a lesser man, and ultimately they battled on the top rope over the ring steps, when Darby pushed King onto them and delivered a Coffin Drop. King barely made the count back into the ring but Darby met him with a second Coffin Drop for the win. Another crazy performance from Darby in what appears to be his quest for the AEW Title. ***3/4
The Young Bucks defended their Tag Titles against Private Party in what was essentially a really good TV match. I don't think anyone believed the Bucks were losing here but they worked hard to create suspense, including Matt Jackson verbally running them down beforehand. This was full of signature offense and crazy nearfalls. The Bucks hit the EVP Trigger on Isiah Cassidy who just barely kicked out to a big pop. The Bucks hit the TK Driver to retain. A fine tag team outing. ***3/4
The semi-main event slot went to Mark Briscoe vs. Chris Jericho, and they had a really well-worked match. Briscoe has amazing babyface charisma and Jericho is a master at being a dickish heel. Both of Jericho's friends tried to interfere at different times but Conglomeration guys ran them off. First Orange Cassidy chased Big Bill up the ramp with a series of Orange Punches and later when Bryan Keith interfered he was run off by Rocky Romero. Early in the match Mark went for his outside dive off a chair but Jericho pulled the chair out of the way. That paid off later when Jericho tried to use a chair and Mark kicked it into his face and then did the chair dive. Mark did another dive over the ropes through a table. Jericho hit a Codebreaker and Judas Effect but wanted to finish Mark with a Jay Driller. Mark kicked out and fired up, hitting Froggy Bow and his own Jay Driller for the win. This was one of Jericho's better PPV matches in a while. ****
Finally in the main event, Jon Moxley attacked Bryan Danielson during his entrance and they brawled around the arena with "The Final Countdown" playing in its entirety. Hey, may as well get your money's worth. Moxley was the bully heel, Danielson the gallant, injured babyface. Mox targeted Bryan's neck throughout the match, hitting curb stomps and DDTs and using chokes. Danielson kept firing up and kicking out, even after taking a Deathrider on the exposed floor. Lots of hope spots as Danielson hit multiple Busaiku knees and snared the LeBell Lock, but Mox made the ropes. Mox hit a Deathrider in the ring and Mox kicked out at one, so Mox hit a Gotch piledriver and locked in another rear naked choke, causing Danielson to pass out. The ref stopped the match and awarded Mox the title. Mox's BCC friends came out with another plastic bag, and Darby and Wheeler Yuta ran down for the save. But Wheeler hit Darby with a Busaiku knee and the BCC duct taped Darby to the ropes as Wheeler reluctantly began suffocating Bryan with the plastic bag. The babyface locker room then ran down to save Bryan and free Darby. Bryan was stretchered out of the ring, ending his full-time wrestling career on the most somber and unceremonious of notes. The followup to this should be something. Excellent main event with a memorable and unique post-match angle. ****1/2
I know we'll see Bryan Danielson in a wrestling ring again, but I can't overstate how grateful I am as a fan that he was able to revive his career these last six years. We thought we'd lost him in 2016 but he persevered to get healthy again, and managed to deliver some of his best-ever work since joining AEW. Thank you Bryan for giving us one of the most incredible pro wrestling careers in the history of the business. As far as I'm concerned you're the new GOAT.
WrestleDream was a helluva good show with some great wrestling and multiple returns to help set things up for the future, plus the most unusual "retirement" angle we've ever seen. An easy recommendation, to put it mildly.
Best Match: Ospreay-Ricochet-Takeshita
Worst Match: By default, Jack Perry vs. Shibata, but that was still very good
What I'd Change: Not much, everything got the time it needed and the booking all made sense
Most Disappointing Match: None
Most Pleasant Surprise: Briscoe-Jericho overdelivered
Overall Rating: 9/10
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