Tossing Salt Presents:
AEW WrestleDream 2023
Thoughts & Predictions
October 1, 2023
DougMaynard.com

Tonight, live on pay-per-view, from the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, is AEW WrestleDream 2023. It’s AEW and Tony Khan’s tribute to Antonio Inoki, and you know what that means. Lots of matches and course, a few predictions. Let’s do this.

TNT Championship: Christian Cage (c) vs. Darby Allin in 2-out-of-3 falls.

This will probably be the best match, wrestling-wise, on the show. I expect it to be evenly matched for the first two falls and both men getting one fall apiece, but then the fun starts. Will we see Sting, Luchasaurus, and Nick Wayne all get involved at some point? Most likely. Will we see the debut of ADAM? It seems likely. And when all the shenanigans and craziness erupt, look for the wily veteran Christian Cage to steal the win and retain his title. I’m not sure how it will happen, but Christian will keep that TNT Championship.

Winner and STILL TNT Champion: Christian Cage

AEW World Tag Team Championship: FTR (c) vs. Aussie Open

The Aussie Open has been impressive since arriving in AEW and this should be a good match. I don’t think we’ll be seeing a title switch though. It’s too soon in the feud and I’d like to see a series of matches before the belts switch hands. Look for a fluke finish as FTR retains and keeps their titles.

Winners and STILL AEW Tag Team Champions: FTR

ROH World Tag Team Championship: MJF (c) vs. The Righteous in a handicap match without injured Adam Cole

So the top wrestler and World Champion is wrestling on this huge PPV event by working a handicap match, defending a secondary tag team title? Okay, that sounds right. The question here is if Adam Cole is injured and that foot is truly broken. Will MJF have a partner or will he end up fighting alone? There are more questions than anything, but we’ll have to wait until the match starts to find out the answers to most of them. In the big picture of things, the ROH Tag Team Titles shouldn’t matter to MJF and, if Cole is truly injured, they’ll need new champions. Look for The Righteous, who hasn’t wrestled a single match in AEW as of yet, score a win and get the titles. Yeah, I’m thinking title switch here.

Winners and NEW ROH World Tag Team Champions: The Righteous

TBS Championship: Kris Statlander (c) vs. Julia Hart

What has Julia Hart done to earn a title shot on a PPV? She hasn’t impressed me at all in any way and I seriously doubt this match will change my opinion in any way. It’s just here to give Statlander an opponent and a match on the show. Kris keeps her title.

Winner and STILL TBS Champion: Kris Statlander

ROH World Championship & NJPW Strong Openweight Championship: Eddie Kingston (c) vs. Katsuyori Shibata

Eddie Kingston has two titles and he’s defending against one of New Japan’s top stars that absolutely no one in the United States has a clue about. That sounds right to me. Kingston just won the ROH Championship a week or so ago, and that other title, maybe a month ago, so I can’t see him losing them this quickly. I know Kingston has been having back problems and has had to quit taking Indy bookings, but I don’t think those injuries necessitate a title switch. Look for a brutal, stiff match. And Kingston keeps the gold.

Winner and STILL ROH Champion/NJPW Strong Openweight Champion: Eddie Kingston.

Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

And here is the big “dream match” that everyone is supposedly so excited to see. Yeah, okay. I respect Danielson and I’ve seen a few matches with Sabre Jr. in them, but honestly, I’ve never been impressed. I don’t think Danielson cares if he wins or loses and it won’t affect his status in any way, shape, or form, so I’ll go with SabreJr. on this one.

Winner: Zack Sabre Jr.

Kenny Omega, Chris Jericho, & Kota Ibushi vs. Konosuke Takeshita, Sammy Guevara, & Will Ospreay

Here we have the family of Don Callis taking on two men whom he betrayed and their Japanese friend. This should be a good match, but it’s buried in the card and no one will remember a thing about this match once the show ends. I’m just taking a guess here, but to keep this story going, as it seemingly has been for the past 1,246 years, I think Callis’s family of heels needs to win. Jericho beat Sammy at their last encounter, and Omega, it doesn’t matter. Look for someone to be stabbed by a common household tool, as a tribute to Moxley, and for the heel team to get the win.

Winners: Konosuke Takeshita, Sammy Guevera, & Will Ospreay.

Swerve Strickland vs. Hangman Page

This is another match that will probably be very good, but it’s buried in an extra-long show with far too many matches, and by the time it happens, the crowd will be exhausted, burned out, and ready to leave. No one will care or remember a thing. Swerve has been looking good as of late and Page, any momentum he once had is gone at this point. Look for Swerve to take the victory here.

Winner: Swerve Strickland

Young Bucks vs. Lucha Bros vs. The Gunns vs. Orange Cassidy & Hook with the winner earning a future AEW tag title shot.

The Bucks just won the ROH Six-Man Tag Team Titles so do they need to go after the AEW Tag Team belts too? sighs The Bucks shouldn’t win it because they already have titles, as does one-half of the Lucha Brothers. So that leaves The Gunns or the new team of Orange Cassidy and Hook. We’ve already seen The Gunns versus FTR before, so let’s give some support to the new team. Look for HookPockets to win here and go after the tag titles next week on Dynamite.

Winners: HookPockets (Orange Cassidy & Hook).

Ricky Starks vs. Wheeler Yuta

Why is Starks fighting Super Humman? Oh, it’s not the Juggalo Jumping Bean, but Wheeler Yuta instead. My bad! After losing to Bryan Danielson in the strap match a few weeks ago, Starks needs to get his momentum back. Yuta may be a member of the BBC, I mean BCC, my bad again, but he is just there at this point to bleed and be beaten. So in this match, he’ll probably bleed and then be beaten. Starks wins.

Winner: Ricky Starks

AEW World Trios Championship: The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn (c) vs. Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls, & Bad Dude Tito (pre-show)

So this is the pre-show with four matches announced. Why so many? This one is an easy pick. The opponents for the champions are no-names who have no build, no momentum, and no history in AEW. So they’ll probably win. Just kidding. This one should be a squash for The Acclaimed and Daddy Ass to get a spot on the show, do some scissoring, and sell some merch. Nothing more.

Winners and STILL AEW World Trios Champions: The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn.

Nick Wayne vs. Luchasaurus (pre-show).

I suppose this is the warm-up to give both men a spot and establish their presence in the arena so when they show up later in the Christian/Darby match, it won’t be a shock or surprise. I expect Christian to retain his title and win the big match, so this one goes to the rookie/kid/sidekick. He gets to beat up on a dinosaur. His father would be so proud.

Winner: Nick Wayne.

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Josh Barnett (pre-show).

This one actually could qualify as a dream match for a lot of fans so it’s stuck on the pre-show event while Yuta & Super Humman are on the main show. heavy sighs After doing that job for Kingston and losing the ROH Championship, Claudio needs to get his momentum back and should win this match. Of course, that means he’ll end up looking up at the lights and wondering why he left WWE.

Winner: Josh Barnett

Athena, Keith Lee, Satoshi Kojima & Billie Starkz vs. Lee Moriarty, Mercedes Martinez, Diamante & Shane Taylor (pre-show).

The mixed-cluster match of the evening was thrown together at the last second to give these people spots on the show and demonstrate what inter-gender wrestling should never look like. This one is going to be bad. Very bad! The talent is there, but why? What’s the story? It makes no sense and leaves me scratching my head, feeling like a turtle on a pole. Of this entire crowd, I kind of respect and like Lee Moriarty so I’ll go with that team to win. But again, I just have to keep wondering, why?

Winners: Lee Moriarty, Mercedes Martinez, Diamante & Shane Taylor.

And there you go. Fourteen matches and predictions for what is going to be a very long show. I won’t be watching, but I will be following the action on PWInsider and keeping track. Are you planning on watching? Is anyone going to pay $50 and watch this show? I honestly doubt it. So what are your predictions and thoughts? Let me know in the comments, along with any questions you may have. And with that, let’s wrap things up. Take care and be well, my friends. Watch out for foreign objects and I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!