Make FightsATW Your Preferred Combat Sports Source
Enjoy our boxing and wrestling coverage? Add Fights Around The World as a Preferred Source on Google so our latest stories can show up more often in your Top Stories.
Add FightsATW on GoogleThe most dangerous moments in sports often arrive just before the biggest event on the biggest stage, when months of preparation, personal sacrifice, and championship ambition can unravel in seconds. That was the reality for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) on Wednesday night as AEW Dynamite arrived at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio, with WrestleDream approaching. What unfolded felt like more than the last chapter of a pay-per-view buildup. The five remaining places in Clockwork Carnage were locked up. AEW World Champion Will Ospreay and Andrade El Ídolo faced Samoa Joe and Tommaso Ciampa, and championship dreams intensified an already hostile situation.
Mercedes Moné and Thekla brought unfinished business from Paris to Cleveland, while the collision between Jon Moxley and Mark Davis threatened to turn a championship battle into a faction war. Cleveland wasn’t just another stop on the road to WrestleDream. It was the proving ground where AEW showed how much sense that card actually made for professional wrestling’s biggest franchise. Before the championship lights could shine at WrestleDream, someone had to survive Cleveland’s darkness and prove they belonged on the big stage this weekend. Stay locked in with Fights Across The World at FightsATW.com for more updates—the place where the fights are global, the stories matter, and every corner of the wrestling world gets treated like the main event.
6 MAN TAG TEAM MATCH: THE DON CALLIS FAMILY (WARDLOW, JAKE DOYLE & MARK DAVIS) VS. THE DEATH RIDERS (DANIEL GARIC, GABE KIDD & JON MOXLEY)
Winners: The Don Callis Family
Excalibur, Walker Stewart, and Tony Schiavone welcomed viewers to Cleveland for AEW Dynamite. The Death Riders and Don Callis Family opened the show with a six-man war. From the moment Daniel Garcia stood toe-to-toe with Mark Davis, the air filled with a big-fight atmosphere. Garcia showed tough-nosed defiance, Gabe Kidd treated the ring like his backyard while bullying the bigger DCF, and Jon Moxley approached the returning Wardlow with confidence, proving size does not decide a fight. Wardlow answered with overwhelming power, but the Death Riders refused to back down. Davis and Moxley became the center of gravity, trading vicious elbows, punishing lariats, and momentum-shifting counters as their partners turned the chaos outside the ring into another battlefield. Garcia’s Dragontamer, reinforced by Moxley’s Blackout, nearly secured the win before Jake Doyle and Wardlow broke the pin, keeping the Callis Family alive for one final swing.
With bodies scattered and the Death Riders struggling, Davis hit Moxley with a devastating gut-wrench piledriver for the three-count. A week after pinning Gabe Kidd in Paris, Dunkzilla pinned the Continental Champion, turning an impressive run into something more threatening. For Moxley, the defeat was a warning. For Davis, it changed how people saw the challenger before his biggest match. The Don Callis Family left victorious, but the lasting image was Mark Davis standing over Jon Moxley. With WrestleDream approaching, the question was no longer whether Dunkzilla could beat the champion, but whether Moxley could be DUNKZILLA.
CLOCKWORK CARNAGE QUALIFYING MATCH: ADAM COPELAND VS. JOSH ALEXANDER
Winner: Adam Copeland
For Adam Copeland, the road to WrestleDream had become a race against two opponents: the man standing across the ring and the one opponent no athlete has ever defeated, time. The Hall of Famer entered Cleveland determined to secure his place in Clockwork Carnage, but Josh Alexander intended to end that pursuit before it began. The Walking Weapon attacked Copeland’s leg with surgical precision, using the steel steps, an ankle lock, and relentless submissions to wear down the veteran. Copeland answered with the experience and resilience that had defined his career, surviving a barrage of German suplexes and a devastating spear into an exposed turnbuckle before turning the match in his favor.
An electric-chair facebuster into the exposed steel created the opening, and one final Spear secured Copeland’s victory and his place in Clockwork Carnage. However, what followed carried greater significance than the three-count. Copeland revealed that Christian Cage had wrestled through three broken ribs and a collapsed lung during their recent ladder match, praising his longtime friend’s extraordinary determination. Reflecting on their sacrifices and the inevitable passage of time, Copeland then delivered an emotional announcement: 2027 would be his final year in professional wrestling. With his career ending, he made his intentions clear: one last pursuit of the AEW World Championship.
The emotional moment quickly turned hostile when Don Callis arrived with Brian Cage, mocked Copeland’s announcement, and declared that legends didn’t get to decide when their careers ended. With Mark Davis having already pinned Jon Moxley earlier in the evening, Callis was eager to extend his family’s dominance, threatening to keep Copeland from reaching Clockwork Carnage, let alone his planned retirement. His warning turned into an assault as Lance Archer, Kevin Knight, Kyle Fletcher, Josh Alexander, and Brian Cage overwhelmed the exhausted veteran. The attack continued until Konosuke Takeshita and the Conglomeration stormed the ring, drove the attackers away, and came to Copeland’s rescue.
What began as another championship opportunity became something deeply personal, with Copeland confronting both the limits of his mortality and enemies determined to hasten his farewell. Adam Copeland wanted one final championship run to define the ending of his legendary career. Don Callis had other plans, and suddenly, the question wasn’t whether Copeland had one more great moment left, but whether he would survive long enough to experience it.
CLOCKWORK CARNAGE QUALIFYING MATCH: BRIAN CAGE VS. KONOSUKE TAKESHITA
Winner: Konosuke Takeshita
With a place in Clockwork Carnage at stake, Konosuke Takeshita and Brian Cage delivered a heavyweight battle where every exchange felt final. Fresh off helping Adam Copeland fend off the Don Callis Family, Takeshita returned seeking to advance his championship ambitions against the imposing Machine. Cage took early control, driving Takeshita into the barricade and using his strength to keep the Alpha defensive. Takeshita found his rhythm with a German suplex, Blue Thunder Driver, and Liger Bomb that nearly ended it. Cage answered with a Frankensteiner and a deadlift superplex, turning the match into an exhausting battle of attrition. They traded thunderous lariats; Takeshita hit Raging Fire, but Cage fought back.
Exhausted, Takeshita survived another discus lariat, landed a crushing Jumbo knee, and trapped Cage in a hammerlock Dragon sleeper for the submission. Takeshita secured his Clockwork Carnage spot by outlasting one of AEW’s most imposing competitors through strategy and timing. After helping preserve another wrestler’s opportunity, he earned his own. With WrestleDream approaching, the Alpha left Cleveland having shown he wasn’t just competing; he was coming to conquer.
THE BUILD UP TO AEW WRESTLEDREAM IS STARTING TO HEAT UP
With WrestleDream approaching, UNITED EMPIRE carried themselves as a faction that valued strength in numbers, despite individual ambitions. Fresh from Japan, AEW World Champion Will Ospreay welcomed the growing Clockwork Carnage qualifier field and made it clear Samoa Joe doesn’t have to wait until Saturday for a taste of the champion. Mike Bailey declared himself ready for anyone, including Ospreay, while the Brawling Birds offered a far less diplomatic invitation for trouble. Andrade El Ídolo told Tommaso Ciampa to buy him dinner before kissing him again and asked whether his challenger understood the task ahead. United by the goal of becoming AEW’s most dominant force, Ospreay led a collective “Crowns up!”, signaling UNITED EMPIRE intended to control the WrestleDream conversation.
In the tag team division, FTR and the Motor City Machine Guns both gloated over their legacies. With injured Stokely Hathaway by his side, Dax Harwood interrupted Tony Schiavone to declare that championships, not performances or relationships, fulfilled him most. After defeating the Young Bucks three times in five meetings, he demanded top-contender recognition until Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley interrupted. Respecting FTR’s record and unwilling to bend the knee to their elite status, the Machine Guns challenged them to a best-of-five series, with Shelley turning Harwood’s logic against him. Stokely first dismissed the idea, then accepted it, agreeing to open the series at WrestleDream. A handshake sealed it.
Footage then showed Hangman Adam Page confronting Swerve Strickland’s New Level involvement. Brody King insisted reclaiming the titles required Hangman’s full focus, while Bandido stressed the honor of their upcoming two-out-of-three-falls match. From UNITED EMPIRE’s push for dominance to FTR’s championship fixation and Hangman’s personal clash with Swerve, WrestleDream was about defending one’s place when competition turned personal.
Later in the show, with Swerve Strickland away handling family business, Prince Nana introduced comedian Mojo Brookzz as his unlikely replacement, bringing unexpected entertainment to an otherwise serious WrestleDream confrontation. Brookzz wasted little time talking trash, taking shots at Hangman Page, Bandido, and Brody King while hilariously volunteering to fight the latter, much to Nana’s concern. Beneath the comedy, New Level delivered a pointed warning ahead of Saturday’s two-out-of-three-falls championship showdown. Kofi Kingston acknowledged his defeat to Bandido in France but reminded everyone that New Level had already beaten their opponents at All Out, while Austin Creed insisted the stipulation would eliminate any excuses about which team was superior.
Creed also warned Hangman not to let his personal issues with Swerve jeopardize his friendships or championship aspirations. The laughter brought Cleveland into the moment, but the message underneath was unmistakable: winning once might be luck, but beating New Level twice would require something considerably greater.
CLOCKWORK CARNAGE QUALIFYING MATCH: MYRON REED VS. KAZUCHIKA OKADA
Winner: Kazuchika Okada
Greatness is often measured by how champions perform under pressure. Kazuchika Okada arrived in Cleveland determined to remind everyone why his name remains synonymous with excellence in professional wrestling. Standing between the Rainmaker and a spot in Clockwork Carnage was Myron Reed, a fearless challenger whose explosive athleticism and refusal to be intimidated turned what looked like a routine win into a compelling test of Okada’s composure. Okada started confidently, casually breaking holds and dictating the tempo, but Reed answered with sharp counters, an enzuigiri, and breathtaking aerial offense that forced Okada to adapt.
As the match intensified, Reed connected with Hang Five, a spectacular dive to the outside, and a 450 splash from the steel steps, nearly producing one of the night’s biggest upsets. Yet Okada’s greatest weapon has never been athleticism alone; it is his ability to recognize when an opponent’s aggression creates an opening. He survived Reed’s attacks, countered with a Tombstone Piledriver, avoided successive 450 splashes, and turned the challenger’s momentum into vulnerability. With Reed out of answers, Okada secured wrist control and delivered the Rainmaker lariat for the three-count, securing his place in Clockwork Carnage.
WOMEN’S TRIOS MATCH: MERCEDES MONÉ & DIVINE DOMINION (LENA KROSS & MEGAN BAYNE) VS. TRIANGLE OF MADNESS (JULIA HART, SKYE BLUE & THEKLA)
Winners: Triangle of Madness
Tension between Mercedes Moné and Thekla reached a boiling point, and their collision in a six-woman tag match turned personal hostility into outright warfare. Divine Dominion’s Megan Bayne and Lena Kross joined the AEW Women’s World Champion against Triangle of Madness. The opening exchange between Moné and Thekla showed neither would wait until WrestleDream to settle differences. Their confrontation gave way to a punishing display of power, with Bayne overwhelming Julia Hart and Kross trying to neutralize the Toxic Spider. Triangle of Madness used speed, unconventional offense, and chemistry to keep their opponents off balance. Skye Blue hit a flip piledriver on Bayne, Mercedes answered with a lungblower, and Thekla nearly won with a tornado DDT on Kross. Chaos followed as Moné tried to use her championship belt, but the Sisters of Sin intercepted with a superkick combination. With referee Aubrey Edwards distracted, Hart unleashed black mist, leaving Kross open for Thekla’s Blackout and the three-count. Triangle of Madness won, with implications beyond the match.
Mercedes entered Cleveland aiming to assert authority over the women’s division, only for her rival to orchestrate another humiliation. As WrestleDream approached, Thekla delivered a message no celebration or entrance could silence: Moné might hold the gold, but the Toxic Spider was controlling the narrative, and their impending confrontation grew more legendary.
TAG TEAM MATCH: THE UNITED EMPIRE (WILL OSPREAY & ANDRADE EL IDOLO) VS. SAMOA JOE & TOMMASO CIAMPA
Winners: Samoa Joe & Ciampa
With WrestleDream approaching, the line between championship preparation and psychological warfare had all but disappeared as Will Ospreay and Andrade El Ídolo stepped into the ring against two men determined to make their upcoming title opportunities feel inevitable. Tommaso Ciampa opened opposite Andrade, whose playful interaction with the Cleveland crowd quickly turned physical. Samoa Joe brought calculated brutality, but United Empire responded with the athleticism and chemistry that made the faction formidable. Ospreay and Andrade briefly seized control through explosive double-team offense, including a corkscrew moonsault and Andrade’s plancha, before Ciampa and Joe systematically isolated the National Champion. Andrade absorbed a relentless assault before tagging Ospreay, and the AEW World Champion wasted little time reminding everyone why he stood atop the company.
A flurry of strikes and a springboard elbow shifted momentum, but Joe’s power quickly returned the contest to dangerous territory. Ospreay escaped a potential Muscle Buster, but Joe countered his OsCutter into a crushing senton, forcing Andrade to intervene. As the action spilled ringside, Ciampa delivered a DDT that drove Andrade onto the National Championship belt, leaving him vulnerable to Joe’s Coquina Clutch and forcing referee Bryce Remsburg to stop the match. Samoa Joe and Tommaso Ciampa defeated United Empire, but their victory was only the beginning. After the bell, both challengers deliberately returned the championship belts to their rivals, Joe confronting Ospreay and Ciampa doing the same to Andrade.
No further attack or speech was needed; the symbolism was unmistakable. The champions still possessed the gold, but for one night in Cleveland, their challengers controlled the outcome. With WrestleDream ahead, Joe and Ciampa made their intentions clear: they weren’t interested in borrowing the spotlight; they were coming to own it.
Discover more from Fights Around The World
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
