Wrestle Dream 2024 - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Waking Up
Another All Elite Wrestling PPV is past and fans are busy processing their feelings. Bryan Danielson fans are sobbing quietly. Konosuke Takeshita fans can’t stop smiling. Few would argue that Wrestle Dream 2024 was a success, but few would also argue that AEW remains in a period of creative uneasiness. In so many words, the post-PPV discourse is just as hot as usual. At least it’s Sunday.
Personally, Wrestle Dream was a fun time and a solid show. The wrestling quality was above average overall and, for the most part, it feels like we got more clean finishes than AEW’s had across three television shows in a month. If that’s not a win, then I don’t know what is. But let’s get more specific.
The Good
International Championship - The highlight of Wrestle Dream 2024 was easily the 3-way match between Will Ospreay, Ricochet, and Konosuke Takeshita. The match itself saw both Ricochet and Ospreay overdelivering on athleticism, much like in their singles match, while Takeshita powered through both of them with physicality. There were incredible spots aplenty, creativity in choreography rarely seen, and an audience so invested you might think each guy had their own World Championship. Chekov’s table. Blue Thunder Bomb teases. Ospreay’s ever-jaw-dropping hidden blade. Hell, if this match was for the World Championship, it would have been a more-than-worthy main event. Konosuke Takeshita won, and although it wasn’t a singles match against Ospreay, and although it was only won due to interference from Don Callis and Kyle Fletcher (what a beautiful heel turn), Takeshita earned that damn belt. This has been a long time coming, and if we’re lucky it’ll be the start of something very special. Also, instead of making another section for him, can we acknowledge how fucking good Don Callis is at this? He isn’t even doing anything crazy. It’s just basic, really great heel shit.
Whose House? - Swerve Strickland returned following a brief time away from the ring resulting from his main-event loss to Hangman Adam Page at All Out 2024. The angle is that MVP wants Swerve to be a part of his faction, and while there was never any doubt that Swerve would refuse he made this first direct encounter with MVP special. He teased his current manager Prince Nana about a possible turn, and joked about him selling weed to high school kids, only to put the coffee-shilling man in a warm embrace. Then Swerve ran MVP and Shelton Benjamin out of the ring. It was an excellent in-ring promo session, with Swerve, MVP, Prince Nana, and Alexander all performing their roles excellently. And most importantly, it means Swerve is back. Let’s fucking go.
Big Bad Brody King - Darby Allin starting a new push at Wrestle Dream 2024 and a victory over his friend Brody King is a great way to start it. This is the third time these two have had a singles match together in AEW and it’s a feud that will hopefully last well into the future. Brody brutalized Darby Allin the entire match, with Darby finally catching Brody overconfident and ending the match with a series of creative coffin drops. Darby is always fun to watch, given his willingness to take unbelievable punishment, but this match was yet another shout to the heavens to give Brody King a bigger role in AEW. The big man is such an impressive in-ring performer. He destroyed Darby but also made Darby look like an absolute star in the process. I hate to compare Brody to Brodie Lee, but the two both of such a similar daunting presence and intensity. Hopefully, Tony Khan sees it too.
Willow - Much like Brody King, Willow worked her ass off, made her opponent look great, and took a loss because she’s just that damn good at her job. The pounces are always brutal. It’s a shame she isn’t the champion. She’s perhaps AEW’s best in-ring performer in the women’s division at the moment and she’s over as fuck. At least she’s getting PPV matches!
Hangman Adam Page vs. Jay White - This match desperately needed five more minutes but it was at least a perfect opener for Wrestle Dream 2024. Hangman’s angry lunging punches and elbows. Jay White’s careful positioning and counters. These two are magical together. But the highlight of the match was after Hangman lost when his eyes went crazy and he told White this isn’t the end of their feud.
Shibata Chops - There’s a moment in Shibata’s match against Jack Perry where he’s doing chops. The audience starts chanting “ONE MORE TIME!” and you can see something click in his eyes. His intensity goes up instantly. His chops become that much more violent. He doesn’t just do one chop, he does many, following Perry around the ring as he tries to get away from them. It’s the insane Shibata fans remember from NJPW, brought to life by the audience, and more than willing to give them everything they want and more.
The Bad
Chris Jericho - It must be reiterated with every Jericho performance that he is not the man he used to be. His in-ring execution is a shadow of what it was even a year or two ago. His comedic timing has faltered. Is there still a place for him in AEW? Absolutely. And even here on Wrestle Dream 2024 he didn’t stop Mark Briscoe from looking impressive. The question is, could someone else on the AEW wrestler be doing this better? Could they make more of it? Could they be better for the business? And the answer seems so obviously to be yes that it’s exceedingly baffling he still gets these opportunities and consistently makes the point that he’s one of the worst parts of every show he’s on.
Too Long Lucha - Both Hologram and The Beast Mortos have over-delivered in their television matches in 2024. They deserved a PPV opportunity to show if they could take it to the next level. The answer, unfortunately, was no. In a nearly 17-minute match, Hologram and Mortos retread most of what fans have already seen from them on television multiple times. It was all still very athletically impressive, but there was little that would be considered worthy of a bigger PPV match. Worse yet, both Hologram and Mortos grew very, very tired. Their spots were increasingly sketchy and dangerous, and there were multiple examples of each wrestler’s head hitting the ground in a sloppily executed move. Nevertheless, they made it through the match and clearly put all of themselves into it. Maybe they shouldn’t have.
Mariah May, Jack Perry, and the Young Bucks - This is a subject that’s more challenging to describe than simply being referenced as “bad.” Mariah May, Jack Perry, and the Young Bucks all put on good-to-great performances in good-to-great matches at Wrestle Dream 2024. Regardless, their respective matches featured shallow, poorly built storylines, did little to nothing to develop their own characters and stories and didn’t necessarily elevate their opponents, either. Again, their opponents were good to great! But given the opportunity presented by a big PPV match, it’s difficult not to ask — why? Why did these matches even happen other than because these are champions and they need to be present? In turn, I say that if this is the product of these championship runs, maybe there should be different champions. That’s perhaps a condemnation of AEW’s booking first, but if we’re being honest it’s also due to the stagnancy of the wrestlers themselves.
Get Well Soon, Taz - It should be increasingly clear that Taz is a vital part of AEW’s first-team commentary. Excalibur is an excellent play-by-play commentator. He’s passionate, the most informed voice in the company, and loves wrestling. But what makes the Excalibure and Taz team work so well is their veteran thoughtful and often hilarious back-and-forth banter. They click. Nigel, Schiavone, and JR each have their strengths, but they struggle to click with anyone else. It may be a matter of experience, styles clashing, or in Schiavone and JR’s cases just aging out. Regardless, the commentary was not great. It’s notable that the best match on the card at Wrestle Dream 2024 had Don Callis come in on commentary.
The Ugly
Match Order - Admittedly, the science of match order is not something I pretend to be well-educated in. You need a strong, tone-setting opening match. You want to build to a crescendo and end on a high note. But you want to mix up the tempo and give audiences time to breathe, too. It doesn’t seem complicated, though I’m sure it is. What I’m absolutely positive about, though, is that Wrestle Dream 2024 is the worst ordering of matches on a PPV card that I’ve personally experienced.
The heart of the issue is that Wrestle Dream 2024 started in a very big way. Four matches in, viewers had to think it would be one of the best PPVs ever if it could keep up this tempo. It could not. After the 3-way match with Takeshita’s victory, an energy vacuum was created and it lasted until the main event. That’s four matches where the audience struggled to get into the show, were quiet through long stretches, and didn’t react strongly to important, exciting, and emotional moments. It hurt the show overall meaningfully.
The front half of Wrestle Dream 2024’s card was too strong. The back half is not strong enough. If the two halves had been swapped, if the time given to the lucha match and Jericho were instead given to Jay White’s win and the Darby match, Wrestle Dream may have been one of AEW’s best shows. As it is, the match ordering made it trend toward average.
Bryan Gets What Bryan Wants - Bryan Danielson never wanted to be AEW World Champion, but since he got the belt anyway he’s going out exactly how he wants. More specifically, he’s being made to look like he got severely injured by Jon Moxley and his former friends in the Blackpool Combat Club. It’s a difficult ending to pull off, especially in Bryan’s hometown with an audience that wants to cheer his retirement. It gets ugly when a combination of weird execution and overbooking cuts the emotion out of the moment. To start, it’s unclear if Bryce Remsberg simply rushed the finish to Bryan vs. Mox or if it was a botched ending. Bryan had been in Mox’s chokehold for scant seconds before Bryce ended the match. It’s not an unrealistic scenario, but the audience’s mix of confusion and disbelief due to such an abrupt ending was clearly not the goal. There was no wave of boos. There was no shock or sadness (though that would come later). It was quiet, like a collective, “Huh?” The follow-up, at least, did go to plan.
A clown car of faces including Darby, Jeff Jarret, Orange Cassidy, Daniel Garcia, and Hook and BCC heels including Claudio Castagnoli, PAC, and Yuta would all end up in the ring. Yuta would do his turn on Bryan, and this is where the additional weirdness came in. This crowning of Moxley became a strange angle for Darby, who has no significant connection to Bryan, and Yuta, perhaps the least exciting wrestler of the 10+ involved in the angle. And while Yuta is putting the bag over Bryan’s head, viewers at home start to realize that Excalibur is weeping. Bryan’s retirement is hitting him. And by now Claudio is done smashing Bryan’s head in a chair, and the medical staff (and Jeff Jarret) are bracing Bryan’s neck and strapping him to a board. Again, it’s not that it’s bad so much as a failure to fully deliver and capture the purpose of the angle. It’s strange and uncomfortable, and a bit silly, too. Bryan probably loves it. But for everyone who has to show up on Dynamite and keep working week to week, this angle — as a foundation for the story going forward — is an unstable beginning.
Shane - This is some stupid bullshit but there’s a strange discourse going on with some saying they’re disappointed Shane McMahon didn’t show up at Wrestle Dream 2024. Keep Shane McMahon the fuck away from AEW, please, and keep fans that think he’d be fun away from me.
Tomorrow - A big focus post-Wrestle Dream 2024 has been on AEW’s line-up of heel champions. Jon Moxley, Mariah May, Mercedes Moné, the Young Bucks, Konosuke Takeshita, Jack Perry, the BCC, and Kazuchika Okada hold all of AEW’s gold at the moment. All of these wrestlers are more than capable of delivering great matches and great stories, but I do worry. AEW has struggled with telling great stories this year, and none of these heels have a hot ongoing story that’s exciting and worth being excited about in this moment.
AEW loves to return to this status quo. It delivers a hot PPV, concluding the stories from the prior month or two, and expects fans to remain invested in the immediate based on vibes. We should be excited about Moxley and the BCC because of what they just did, even though there’s no known feud or plan for Full Gear. Darby, OC, Daniel Garcia, and Hook are in there somewhere. We should be excited for Mariah May because months ago she had a good feud with Toni Storm, even though there’s no obvious direction for her championship or character otherwise. Okada against Kyle O’Reilly, Jack Perry vs. Daniel Garcia, and Mercedes vs. Kris Statlander will all certainly happen. Trust the process.
But whether AEW television can build off of a PPV is a subject for another time.
Final Thoughts
What could have been a 9/10 PPV based on match quality alone tripped down to a low 8/10 or high 7/10 due to the match order, for me. It’s a matter of energy and investment. That there was only one truly outstanding match, the International Championship 3-Way, limited my overall opinion of the show, too. But otherwise, there were no bad matches at Wrestle Dream 2024, and that’s worth celebrating.
Standout performers of the night include Konosuke Takeshita, Brody King, and Willow Nightingale. The hottest angle going forward is Kyle Fletcher’s betrayal of Will Ospreay and whether Ospreay will respond to Callis or not. Unrelated to the PPV, the Continental Classic can’t return soon enough. And the same goes for Kenny Omega.
Signing off on Wrestle Dream 2024, remember to put your best matches in the rear. And if you’re going to end the show with everyone crying, make sure everyone knows exactly who the villain is and what they’re going to do next.
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