It’s all about carnage.
That’s the selling point for the AEW WrestleDream 2026 event, which will air on PPV.com Saturday night from the Addition Financial Arena on the campus of the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. At least, I think it is?
Clockwork Carnage is the brand new match that AEW is featuring in the main event of the show and it includes Will Ospreay defending his AEW Men’s World Championship against Kazuchika Okada, Ricochet, Darby Allin, Konosuke Takeshita, Adam Copeland, Mike Bailey, and Samoa Joe. When I hear the word “carnage,” I think of chaos, madness, blood and guts, and the supervillain from Spiderman. Is that what Clockwork Carnage is selling?
What does Clockwork Carnage want to be?
Clockwork Carnage sounds like a match full of wild chaos and violence. AEW attempted to sell that at the end their double dip of AEW Dynamite and Collision on Wednesday night thanks to a brawl-for-all between the competitors in the match to end the show. The actual match itself? It feels like more of a strategic endurance test.
So, what is Clockwork Carnage? It’s a match with two phases. The first is an entry phase where each of the participants enter at certain time intervals. If anyone is pinned during this phase, they are out of the match. Phase two is the points phase. Everyone who is left in the match after all the participants have entered compete and attempt to secure pin falls and submissions over the others. Each one is a point and the person with the most points after the 15-minute phase is the winner and the world champion.
Easy enough, but is it a blood battle or a technical ironman match? As I write this on Friday morning, nobody really knows yet.
The creation of new match concepts is essential for AEW. Clockwork Carnage is a win from that perspective, but it lacks definition and that’s why I’m not sure it alone is going to draw the number of PPV buys that Tony Khan is used to.
Ospreay, Ospreay!
There’s another issue. Will Ospreay is going to win this match and everyone knows it. Ospreay was just crowned world champion in his home country a few months ago. His run as the guy in AEW has only just begun and losing the top title this quick would hurt his overall stock in the company. Plus, the match has formidable contenders in it, but nobody that feels truly viable in the top spot. A lot of the match is going to come across as performative with the forgone conclusion that Ospreay will win. The biggest challenge this faces when it gets in the ring is generating a story that will get the live crowd to forget what they already know about the finish.
There are two other signature matches on this B-level AEW PPV. Brodido vs. The New Level and Swerve Strickland for the AEW World Trios Championships and Mercedes Mone vs. Thekla for the AEW Women’s World Championship.
Mone vs. Thekla is a match of the night candidate and at the exact same time, the most disappointing match on the show. Where was the build??? The two women stood opposite one another in a couple tag matches, but the money was in seeing them joust with the microphone. When they have previously, you could cut the tension with a knife. It’s a missed opportunity, but telling when it comes to the booking. Mone to retain. Nothing about the story of the match leads to a significant title change moment of any kind. Business as usual booking.
A high bar that will be cleared
As for Brodido vs. New Level and Swerve, it’s a two out of three falls match that will get a lot of time to be something special. The two teams have had major chemistry since their feud started and it’s all anchored in the Page and Strickland rivalry. The last PPV match between the two squads at All Out was better than expected. This match now has a bar to clear, but all involved are motivated to clear it easily. New Level and Swerve to retain. Brodido is a nice team for the trios division, but feel like yesterday’s champions. New Level and Swerve feel like the now.
AEW WrestleDream 2026 airs live Saturday night on PPV. Full preview and predictions from The Takedown on SI and the full card is below.
AEW WrestleDream 2026 Full Match Card
Will Ospreay vs. Samoa Joe vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Mike Bailey vs. Ricochet vs. Darby Allin vs. Konosuke Takeshita vs. Adam Copeland - Clockwork Carnage for the AEW Men’s World Championship
Mercedes Mone vs. Thekla - AEW Women’s World Championship
The New Level and Swerve Strickland vs. Brodido - AEW World Trios Championship 2 out of 3 Falls Match
Jon Moxley vs. Mark Davis - AEW Continental Championship
Andrade El Idolo vs. Tommaso Ciampa - AEW National Championship
The Young Bucks vs. Kyle Fletcher and Kevin Knight - AEW Men’s Tag Team Championships
Persephone vs. Hyan vs. Queen Aminata vs. Dani Luna - TBS Championship
Nick Wayne vs. Chris Jericho
AEW WrestleDream 2026 Preview
What match will be the match of the night at WrestleDream? Let us know in the comments!
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