Dave Meltzer Assesses Potential Entrants In AEW WrestleDream 2026 Clockwork Carnage

AEW WrestleDream will debut a new match concept, Clockwork Carnage. The concept is the brainchild of Will Ospreay and has been executed in Pro Wrestling EVE. The match is in two stages and features eight participants. Two wrestlers will begin the match with the third entrant coming in three minutes later. This continues until all eight wrestlers have entered. However, if anyone is pinned or submitted in the first stage, they are eliminated. The second stage begins once the last wrestler enters. All wrestlers still in the match will have 15 minutes to score falls. The wrestler with the most falls wins and is the Men's World Champion.

At AEW Dynamite Grand Slam: Paris, Will Ospreay retained the title over Kazuchika Okada and will enter the match. Samoa Joe defeated Jack Perry to qualify for Clockwork Carnage. On "Collision", Speedball Mike Bailey will take on Lee Moriarty to determine the next qualifier.

In the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer speculated on the remaining participants for Clockwork Carnage. "Given who is already booked, if we're going to look at the roster for the other five spots in the main event, those who can logically be put in would be Adam Copeland, Darby Allin, Claudio Castagnoli, Nick Wayne, Gabe Kidd, Josh Alexander, Konosuke Takeshita, Orange Cassidy, Ricochet, Rush, and Wardlow." He did point out that RUSH said on social media recently that he doesn't expect to wrestle anytime soon.

WrestleDream takes place on October 17 and will emanate from Addition Arena in Orlando, Florida.