AEW WrestleDream 2026 Predictions: Wrestling Inc. Picks The Winners

We're one night away from AEW WrestleDream 2026, which comes at you this Saturday from Orlando, Florida with a eight-match main card that includes no fewer than seven championship matches. And with a new PPV, as always, it's time for Wrestling Inc. to predict the winners of each and every match.

To be clear, we're only predicting the main card this time around, not the pre-show matches that have been announced. We're also coming off one of our lesser showings at WWE Money in the Bank, where Paul Levesque's booking threw us some curveballs and left us under .500 on the night. That having been said, we feel confident in our ability to bounce back this weekend. Who will leave Orlando with titles in hand (or just a win, in the case of Nick Wayne and Chris Jericho)? Let's get to the picks!

Nick Wayne and Chris Jericho are set to have the rubber match in their feud at WrestleDream, as revealed on the go-home edition of "Collision" on Wednesday. While some of us aren't betting against Jericho, given the star's history, 75 percent of us are predicting that Wayne will win the match, and the feud.

It was Jericho who stood tall after hitting Wayne with a low blow on Wednesday, after Wayne took to the ring to gloat about his previous victory over the in-ring veteran on "Collision: Grand Slam France." The younger star drove the "I beat Chris Jericho" point home, complete with plenty of pyro, which brought out an unamused Jericho, who issued the pay-per-view challenge. Wayne said that if he beats the star, Jericho needs to apologize to him in the ring, for calling him names, as well as not taking him seriously in recent weeks.

We're hoping that Wayne is set for a bit of a push here, as Jericho does not need yet another victory over a young talent. Wayne's only recent victory in AEW, other than his "Grand Slam France" win, was against Komander back at the beginning of September. He also competed in the AEW All In London Casino Gauntlet match, where he had an impressive showing, but also took the pin, so he needs to stack some more wins. A WrestleDream, and feud-ending, victory over a veteran like Jericho would be big for him.

Actually getting an apology segment from Jericho to Wayne would also be big, but we're not holding our breath on that one. While it's oftentimes difficult to bet against Jericho in this latter portion of his career, 75 percent of us are holding out hope, and predicting a Wayne victory.

Written by Daisy Ruth

AEW National Champion Andrade El Idolo feels untouchable at the moment. Tommaso Ciampa is no joke as a competitor, but his AEW run has felt like it's more about "good matches" than winning. Like a coiled spring, Ciampa had been held down in WWE for years, and now he seems content to put on a true spectacle on his way to looking up at the lights. Ninety-two percent of the Wrestling Inc. Staff believe it to be so.

How you know? Well, Andrade is just simply on a tear as National Champion. His catchphrase is over. His matches are good. He's everything a midcard AEW star should be. Someday, he will need to drop the title so that he can address the world title-sized elephant in the room, but until that day, there is no reason to go off-course with the National Champion. 

It will be a tremendous battle of two former WWE NXT Champions, but it feels like Andrade has been building to this fever pitch of popularity for some time. It is going to take more than Tommaso Ciampa to dethrone him, as almost all of the WINC staff believes.

Written by Ross Berman

Outside of Will Ospreay, who has the Clockwork Carnage match to worry about, the champion who arguably has the toughest test on their hands this Saturday at AEW WrestleDream 2026 is Persephone. She'll put her AEW TBS Championship on the line in a four-way match against Dani Luna, Hyan, and Queen Aminata, three women who all have their own journey walking into this match. 

Luna lost her AEW debut against Persephone at AEW All Out 2026, but did pick up the win in a tag team match this past Wednesday on "AEW Collision," so she not only has revenge on her mind, but a little bit of momentum behind her as well. Hyan has also lost to Persephone recently, but she too has revenge on her mind as the champion has put Hyan's tag team partner and former TBS Champion, Maya World, on the shelf for the foreseeable future. Then you have Aminata, who was on a winning streak until she failed to beat Mercedes Mone at AEW Grand Slam France, but she is still one of the most feared in AEW right now so she shouldn't be taken lightly.

Because four-way matches usually have no disqualifications and no count-outs, this will benefit the champion greatly for one simple reason, Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D.. She will be able to get her hands dirty as much as she wants in this one despite not even being in the match, and if anyone tries to interfere like Aminata's good friend Mina Shirakawa, or even a returning Maya World, Baker can take care of them no problem. Plus, Persephone is technically the only heel in this match, so that would give Baker even more of a reason to come to her friend's aid.

Four-way matches are always unpredictable, hence why the percentage above isn't at 100. However, Persephone feels like she is just getting going as a dominant champion, and by putting down three challengers at once, it makes her look even stronger than what she already is. If all goes well, this could be a sleeper hit and 75% of us think it will end with Persephone retaining.

Written by Sam Palmer

Although it seems like Mark Davis has had Jon Moxley's number as of late, a strong majority of our crew believe that the Continental Champion will come out on top at WrestleDream.

Moxley is getting close to a year-long reign with the Continental title, though he's taken a bit of a different approach this time around, with fewer defenses than some of his previous title reigns. The match against Davis will mark just the 10th defense since Moxley won the belt at the end of last year. Still, his recent tag losses to the Don Callis Family notwithstanding, Moxley has continued to be booked as one of the strongest wrestlers in AEW, and he remains the safe bet for this show.

Moxley's losses have always been few and far between in AEW, and he's already put in some work helping elevate Davis to a more serious threat. As long as the two have a competitive match, Davis should still be elevated further even if he doesn't walk out as champion, and that's our expectation here.

All that being said, it doesn't feel out of the realm of possibility that Davis pulls this off. It's clear the company (and Moxley himself) thinks highly of the Australian, and he's been treated as a big deal as of late. With his former United Empire stablemate Will Ospreay holding the promotion's top title, it would make sense to build Davis up for a challenge, but we still feel he's going to come up short in this particular match-up.

Written by Nick Miller

The forever feud between "Hangman" Adam Page and Swerve Strickland has hit the Trios division after Strickland and the New Level dethroned Page and Brodido for the Trios titles at All In. 

Page has taken his title loss harder than his partners due to the animosity he has with Strickland, bemoaning the fact that he had moved on from their issue only to once again be stuck competing against him. After losing their rematch for the titles at All In, the challenge became a Two Out of Three Falls match at WrestleDream. 

It doesn't appear that things will be getting much better for Page, at least according to the Wrestling Inc. staff poll. A heavy majority of 92% predicted Strickland and co. to pick up the win, whether that be 2-1 or 2-0, while just 8% voted for the former champions to become anew. 

Strickland is 7-1 with Page in singles and tag team contests, and he and the New Level have been hot off the press in their title run, which, in itself, is still fairly young and hard to envision ending at the moment. New Level on their own merit have thrown their hats in the running for the tag titles Brodido used to hold. It just feels as though they are making moves that the former champions will have a hard time derailing, especially given Page's obsession with Strickland.

Written by Max Everett

In a match that has all the potential to be one of the best tag team matches of the entire year, The Young Bucks will look to make their second defense of the AEW World Tag Team Championships against Kyle Fletcher and Kevin Knight of the Don Callis Family, and as you can see by the percentage above, we think Fletcher and Knight don't really stand a chance.

There are three main reasons for us being unanimous in our prediction here at Wrestling Inc.. The first one being rather simple: Matt and Nick Jackson literally won the belts last month and since they aren't likely to have another reign after this one due to their constant talk of retirement, ending it here would be the stupidest decision imaginable.

The second reason kind of ties in to this potentially being their final reign as champions as we are yet to see them have two matches in particular. One versus the Motor City Machine Guns, which the Jackson brothers have already had in the past but never in AEW, and one against the New Level which is a dream match that fans have been demanding to see for over a decade. Both of those matches will likely be great, but they will have even more weight to them with some gold on the line.

Finally, and this isn't necessarily confirmed, but the nature of how Fletcher and Knight became No. 1 contenders doesn't scream "new champions" if we're being serious. Steven Borden's concussion caused the No. 1 contenders match to be stopped at All Out, but had that not happened, there is every chance Borden and Darby Allin would be in this spot given Matt and Nick Jackson's history with Sting.

Throw in the fact that the upcoming best-of-five series between FTR and the Motor City Machine Guns will likely determine who faces the champions next, and given the history the Young Bucks have with both of those teams, it's safe to say that the Don Callis Family are leaving this one empty handed.

Written by Sam Palmer

AEW Women's World Champion Mercedes Mone is set to defend her gold against Thekla at WrestleDream, after being unable to work AEW All Out due to a broken nose. While Mone is cleared to compete, as she's wrestled a few times now, including on Wednesday, she's still wearing her protective face covering, which will be a big target for the "Toxic Spider."

Despite that, there's not a single one of us who believes Thekla is walking away as champion. Here at WINC, 100% of us believe that Mone's reign will continue, as it barely feels like it's gotten started.

That's because "The CEO" doesn't have many title defenses under her belt, just one going into WrestleDream, due to her injury, and we believe she's too big of a star at this point to lose on one of AEW's smaller pay-per-views. Her matchup against Thekla is a rare heel vs. heel bout in AEW, so it's also very likely this match gets messy with Mone scoring an underhanded victory somehow.

AEW has gone through a tragic few weeks, making the build to WrestleDream tough. While Mone and Thekla have had a few segments facing off against one another, it's possible they continue their feud until AEW Full Gear, which is only three weeks after the October event, making for yet another short build. Willow Nightingale could also be brought into the fold once again, for a triple threat match, as prior to her wrist injury, as well as Mone's nose, it looked like that's where AEW was headed.

With all the future matchup possibilities for Mone, we just don't think she's losing the title so soon after winning the belt at All In London. We're all in on "The CEO," and believe she's walking out of Orlando as champion.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Despite the unpredictability of this new stipulation, Wrestling Inc. is in unanimous agreement that Will Ospreay will remain champion coming out of the pay-per-view, primarily for the same reason we were confident he'd win at last month's All Out: it's simply too early for Ospreay to lose the title. AEW did a fine job of building up to his big title win, with booker Tony Khan taking his time to belt Ospreay up at Wembley Stadium rather than rushing into it. Because of that, it feels like this reign is going to last a while, which most of us here have no problem with.

Ospreay will certainly have his hands full, however. Along with having to avoid elimination, the champion will have to earn more pinfalls during the second phase of the match than any of his opponents, which includes some real heavy-hitters. If anyone else was champion heading into this weekend, or if the match was taking place a few months down the road, there would likely be a lot more doubt about who would be walking out of the show as champion. As it stands, though, we'd be shocked to see anybody but Ospreay winning the first-ever Clockwork Carnage match.

Written by Nick Miller