AEW WrestleDream 2024 Preview: Say goodbye to Bryan Danielson

All Elite Wrestling returns to the pay-per-view tonight (Sat., Oct. 12) with WrestleDream 2024. The show comes to us from the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington, with the free Zero Hour pre-show beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET on AEW's YouTube channel before the main card begins at 8:00 p.m. ET.

The main card is available for purchase on Triller, PPV.com and other streaming providers, as well as traditional PPV.

Say goodbye to Bryan Danielson

There's war going on in AEW right now, and Bryan Danielson's career could be the first big casualty.

Bryan won the AEW World Championship at All In less than two months ago and will retire as a full-time wrestler after his tenure ends. Jon Moxley attacked Danielson at All Out last month and attempted to murder him with a plastic bag. The Blackpool Combat Club imploded, Claudio Castagnoli and PAC sided with Moxley, while Wheeler remained loyal to Yuta Bryan.

Moxley has said strange and cryptic things since returning to AEW with Marina Shafir by his side. One thing is clear: he believes big changes need to be made at AEW and he is the only man who can do what needs to be done. This includes Bryan Danielson finally retiring and sending him home to work as a family man.

Bryan's body is battered and he needs neck surgery, so he enters this high-risk fight as the underdog. Claudio is in Wheeler's ear, trying to get him to turn against Bryan. So that's an additional wrinkle for Bryan to worry about. Add to that the fact that Christian Cage is walking around with a contract to get a title shot whenever he wants, and he's waiting for the right time to strike and send Bryan into retirement. The bottom line is that there are many factors working against Bryan tonight in his home state and his chances of leaving WrestleDream with gold and his career intact are not good.

Is it time to finally say goodbye to The American Dragon, who is undoubtedly one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time? To find out, you'll have to tune in to AEW WrestleDream.

The rest of the map

These remaining 12 matches and segments are also currently announced for tonight's WrestleDream:

Will Ospreay (c) vs. Ricochet vs. Konosuke Takeshita in a 3-way match for the AEW International Championship

Takeshita ruined the finish of Ospreay vs. Ricochet on the 5th anniversary of Dynamite. Ospreay told Don Callis to fuck off after getting Don to admit that he had ordered Konosuke to attack him. Will Ricochet be able to take advantage of the heat between Ospreay and Takeshita to win his first championship in AEW?

Swerve Strickland returns

Strickland has been missing from AEW since losing a steel cage match to Hangman Page at the All Out event last month. Swerve returns to his hometown tonight at WrestleDream, where there will likely be a talking segment. Will MVP and Shelton Benjamin show up to make Swerve a business offer he can't refuse? And if he refuses, is it time for Bobby Lashley to debut in AEW and make him change his mind?

Jack Perry (c) vs. Katsuyori Shibata for the TNT Championship

Perry openly challenged for the title and Shibata accepted. Shibata has hinted that he will give Daniel Garcia a chance at gold if he wins it, but the “if he wins it” part is a stretch given Perry's privileged position as part of the elite.

Young Bucks (c) vs. Private Party for the AEW World Tag Team Championship

Private Party pulled off a memorable upset over the Young Bucks when Dynamite was just getting started five years ago, and they're hoping history repeats itself at WrestleDream tonight. The party recently rejected Stokely Hathaway's offer to lead it, but Marq Quen and Isiah Kassidy could change their minds if they lose to AEW's EVPs.

Mariah May (c) vs. Willow Nightingale for the AEW Women's World Championship

Willow defeated Saraya, Jamie Hayter and Nyla Rose in a 4-way match on Dynamite to retain this title. Mariah then headbutted Willow, so Willow left her to attack later backstage. Tensions have been rising and these two women have been arguing before any of the above events even happened. So it's time to finally settle their issues on pay-per-view.

Jay White vs. Hangman Page

Jay White returned to AEW earlier this month to prevent Hangman Page from seriously injuring “Rock Hard” Juice Robinson. White now has his sights set on winning the AEW World Championship, and in order to move forward in that direction he will need to defeat a former world champion. However, he'd better be careful not to anger Hangman too much, otherwise the guy might just burn his house down.

Mark Briscoe (c) vs. Chris Jericho for the ROH World Championship

The Conglomeration and The Learning Tree have been working hard over the last few weeks, so Chris Jericho decided it was time to win the ROH World Championship for the second time and become The Nueve. He made things personal by mentioning the late Jay Briscoe's name, and so Mark has vowed to hurt Jericho in this match. Chris tried to sow the seeds of disagreement between Rocky Romero and The Conglomeration this week. So we will see if his efforts prove fruitful and make the difference in this title fight.

Hologram vs. The Beast Mortos in a 2 out of 3 falls match

The Beast Mortos helped LFI attack Hologram at Collision after the undefeated babyface defeated Komander at Collision. Now it's time to fight for it in a 2 out of 3 falls match where there are guaranteed to be plenty of cool moves.

Darby Allin vs. Brody King

Frustrated after losing his guaranteed world title to Jon Moxley, Darby openly challenged him at WrestleDream. Brody responded to the call very violently, so Darby knocked him out with a rock to the head after explaining that without him, Brody wouldn't even have a job at AEW. These guys have a long history together and Darby is determined to finally capture the big man.

Anna Jay vs. Harley Cameron (Preview)

Harley is mad at Anna Jay for not helping Saraya win a 4-way match for the women's world title on Dynamite, and now she wants to kick Anna's ass. Anna replied that her ass is bouncing back, so I guess we'll see what exactly that means in the Zero Hour preshow.

The Acclaimed vs. MxM Collection (pre-show)

Daddy Ass and The Acclaimed ruined MxM's fashion show at the Grand Slam in New York City, and now Mansoor and Mason Madden bring in a mysterious man to help them end scissoring forever. Hulk Hogan won't be the third man this time, but whoever he is will likely try to target Ace at ringside.

Atlantis Jr. (c) vs. Brian Cage for the ROH Television Championship (Pre-Show)

It's not an AEW pay-per-view event unless there are 12 or 13 matches on the card. This title match dates back to the 6-man Survival of the Fittest at Death Before Dishonor, where Jr. Cage was pinned at the very end. Now Cage and his very large muscles want revenge in a one-on-one fight.

Summary

This show is all about the main event, possibly Bryan Danielson's final fight before retiring as a full-time wrestler. The rest of the menu was thrown together pretty quickly and there isn't much meat on the bone. That being said, AEW pretty much always puts on a great show on pay-per-view, especially in 2024, so expectations are still pretty high. Ospreay's match, for example, looks like an all-time great 3-way match on paper.

What will you pay attention to? WrestleDream?