AEW WRESTLEDREAM 2024

AEW WRESTLEDREAM 2024

Adam Page vs. Jay White
One of those matches that's "mechanically" extremely solid, but just fails to capture any emotion out of me whatsoever. Solid work from both Hangman & Switchblade, but absolutely nothing to remember. A gentleman's **

AEW Women's World Championship
Mariah May vs. Willow Nightingale
Just a rock-solid match with clearly defined roles. Willow is a pretty rockin' babyface all the way through here, and Mariah is solid with her character work as well and has some slick moments on the offense. ***

AEW TNT Championship
Jack Perry vs. Katsuyori Shibata
The bits where Shibata is just kicking Perry's ass are great, and while some of Perry's arsenal looks super weak, it works well within the context of the match given the nature of Shibata's entire shtick. A super solid & a good match. ***1/4

AEW International Championship
Will Ospreay vs. Konosuke Takeshita vs. Ricochet
I am not very much into any of these wrestlers & or this kind of a match, but it definitely was a good spotfest. Everybody had big, fun moments with Takeshita looking like a beast throughout. Some silly Ospreay moments with his facial expressions & a boring finish, but other than that, this was pretty enjoyable. **3/4

Best Two out of Three Falls
Hologram vs. The Beast Mortos
Has some neat singular moments, but man this dragged & was completely heatless for the most part. It is a very inoffensive midcard number & has some cool stuff as mentioned, but its certainly absolutely nothing to remember. **

Brody King vs. Darby Allin
It is a natural pairing, and they produce some fun-ass wrestling. Creative punishment taken & dished out throughout by both men. Though as with many of the other matches on this card, I feel like it could've been better had it been a bit tighter, but alas, it's still a very good match. ***1/4

AEW World Tag Team Championship
The Young Bucks vs. Private Party
A very paint by the numbers Young Bucks match, which means that it was very solid. Private Party's comebacks (other than Zay's final moments) weren't the most exciting, which obviously eats away from my enjoyment of the match & the finish fell flat, but it was still solid. The BTE Trigger nearfall was terrific, deserves a shoutout of its own. **1/2

ROH World Championship
Mark Briscoe vs. Chris Jericho
This, at many points of the match, had such an off-vibe that most Chris Jericho matches do, but man, Mark mothafuggen Briscoe worked his ass off. Terrific energy from him start to finish & a superb babyface shift all around. Completely made the match worthwhile. This ended up being legitimately really good (which is something you rarely can say about Y2J matches), and all I can say is Mark Briscoe! What a performance, what a babyface, what a wrestler! ***1/2

AEW World Championship
Bryan Danielson vs. Jon Moxley
Aka the death of the American Dragon. Lots of feelings about this one, given it is my favorite wrestler of all-time in a retirement-type match. I loved it. It is crushing in the best ways possible. You just know he is gonna get decimated by Moxley by the end of it, but come on, Dragon doesn't go down without a fight. It is a beautiful, classic babyface performance by the greatest ever. Moxley is also absolutely superb in his current role - he comes off as such a menacing, vicious, dangerous man. Upped the violence brilliantly with his offense. There's a few moments by him that I think fall a bit flat (the bulldog choke is the biggest example), but overall he was brilliant. Him countering Bryan's dive attempt into a Death Rider on the floor was a legitimate "OH NO" holy-shit-spot. The ending is absolutely soul-destroying. Beautiful sadness. As of now, there's no guarantees on what this REALLY means for Danielson's pro-wrestling future -- meaning that there's no official word on if he will ever wrestle again, but given the billing, it is an absolutely beautiful way to end his career as a full-time pro wrestler. ****3/4