By Frank Peteani, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@FrankPeteani)
Quick Intro
I’m excited to join the ProWrestling.net team as a contributor. For those unfamiliar with my work, I spent nearly eight years contributing to PWTorch.com. My most significant assignment was the VIP podcast Pro Wrestling Then and Now. I also wrote preview articles, most notably for Raw and SmackDown, and briefly covered Dynamite and Rampage—when that was a thing.
Here, I’ll examine upcoming AEW pay-per-views from a build perspective, focusing on what unfolds on television and how much interest the shows are generating. I’m “old school” and don’t pay much attention to social media. AEW should give viewers everything they need on Dynamite and Collision. That said, I may occasionally discuss something if I come across it and find it relevant. For now, I plan to publish this column every other week, though I may adjust that around the pay-per-view schedule, family life, and the “shoot” job.
Advertised Matches
“The Brawling Birds” Jamie Hayter and Alex Windsor vs. “Wrathlander” Kris Statlander and Harley Cameron for the AEW Women’s Tag Team Titles: Kris and Harley earned the right to challenge for the titles by defeating “The Sisters of Sin” Julia Hart and Skye Blue and “Divine Dominion” (Megan Bayne and Lena Kross at Collision Grand Slam France. The match was to have taken place at WrestleDream but was cancelled due to an injury to Jamie Hayter. With that said, thus far AEW put out a video on social media (I’m already breaking my rule) with Wrathlander talking about every creature having a predator, with them, of course, being those predators to the birds.
This past Wednesday, Renee Paquette was to interview the participants, but the “Sisters of Sin” Thekla, Julia Hart, and Skye Blue, and the Divine Dominion attacked them. We know where this is going, right? They need a women’s Blood & Guts match, so there it is. Back to the tag title match, I’m going to reserve judgment until I see more. I’m also curious who is framed as more likable. Early on, I would suspect that would be Wrathlander since the fans naturally like Harley.
“The Young Bucks” Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson vs. Mark Davis and Jake Doyle for the AEW Tag Team Titles: What happened on Dynamite with Davis & Doyle squashing the Bucks in a matter of minutes? I don’t think anyone saw that coming, and quite frankly, it got my attention. It’s something different for AEW. I expected (but didn’t want to see) New Level challenging the Bucks at Full Gear. Why didn’t I want to see it? They lost the AEW Trios Titles, and I hate when champions lose titles and move right to another championship situation. They’re clearly telling a story with the Bucks, given the fact that after their match at WrestleDream, they said (I’m paraphrasing) that they don’t know if they have many of these left. Does that mean they’ll be “bearing down” and finding a different gear? We’ll see as the weeks go on. There is the Blood & Guts factor, which I’ll get into later.
Unofficial Matches
“The Good, The Bad, and El Guapo” Bandido, Brody King, and ‘Hangman’ Adam Page vs. Swerve Strickland, Kofi, and Austin Creed for the AEW Trios Titles in a Texas Death Match: The Good, The Bad, and El Guapo defeated Swerve and New Level at WrestleDream in a two-out-of-three falls match to regain the titles. Bandido pinned Swerve for the deciding fall, and we could tell that didn’t sit right with the former AEW World Champion. After the match, New Level graciously handed Bandido and Brodie their belts, but Swerve dropped the belt he teased handing to his long-time rival Page.
On Dynamite, Swerve squashed Tome Filip. Later, Swerve and New Level challenged Hangman, Bandido, and Brody to a rematch, which was accepted. Swerve recalled his Texas Death Match with Page three years prior at Full Gear (which I could have attended…uggh…another story for another day). Hangman rejected the stipulation, citing that this wasn’t about the trios titles.
I’m expecting the match to happen. Otherwise, why bring it up? They’re not going to do another singles Texas Death Match or God knows what else between Swerve and Hangman, so this is AEW’s way of doing that again, which is fine. I’d like to see Bandido and Brody get down and dirty, and I certainly want to see that with New Level after years of good but polished WWE matches. I’m immediately thinking about what could have been between New Day and the Wyatt Family years ago if the reins weren’t so tight. Now we can get that.
Look for the promo work over the next weeks, which will surely be intense given the involvement of Hangman and Swerve, who are in the midst one of AEW’s key long-term rivalries.
Mercedes Mone vs. Marina Shafir for the AEW Women’s Championship: Mercedes retained her title at WrestleDream over Thekla. Renee Paquette interviewed Mone on Dynamite. After chasing Renee away (what did Renee ever do to her?), she wondered who was next. Death Rider Marina Shafir came out and told Mercedes, “Don’t be a pussy,” which left me wondering if I was back in high school.
I’m not certain this will be on the pay-per-view as it could be a TV match, but Tony Khan might want to see what he’s got with Marina on a pay-per-view. You’re not taking the title off Mercedes, so it’s okay to have an “experimental” opponent. As much as I’d like to see Marina elevated, I’d like to see her get some singles wins on AEW proper TV. If you count ROH as part of that (I don’t, but some people do), she defeated Zayda Steel back in May. That’s not enough. She’s been on the winning side of tag matches lately, including at the Pac tribute show. If this is going to be the women’s title match at Full Gear, let’s get Marina some decisive singles wins.
Standing by on the AEW World Championship
Full Gear has produced major world title changes: Hangman Page beat Kenny Omega in 2021, MJF beat Jon Moxley in 2022, and Samoa Joe beat Hangman in a 2025 steel cage match. Will Ospreay won the title at All In in August, so I don’t expect another change. The question is who challenges him. Adam Copeland emerged as the early favorite after their post-WrestleDream handshake, but Darby Allin and Samoa Joe have stronger cases after beating Ospreay during Clockwork Carnage (Darby via pin and Joe via submission). Joe, however, already faced him at Double or Nothing, but there’s no reason they can’t run that back. They ran Joe vs. Hangman back last year.
I expect Copeland to face Kazuchika Okada for the AEW International Championship after Copeland ran into Okada’s title belt before Kyle Fletcher pinned him in a Dynamite tag match. Kyle Fletcher has history with Ospreay, but he just lost the International Championship. Do we want him losing another title match? Plus, I think Fletcher may be earmarked to eventually defeat Ospreay for the title, so perhaps they hold off on their match. Given all that and the Opps promo on Dynamite, Joe is standing out as the favorite, but we’ll see over the next few weeks. They have options.
The Blood & Guts Factor
I would be remiss not to mention the impact of the November 4 Blood & Guts edition of Dynamite. Will Ospreay, Adam Copeland, Darby Allin, Steven Borden, and The Young Bucks will take on the Don Callis Family’s Kyle Fletcher, Kevin Knight, Kazuchika Okada, Wardlow, Mark Davis, and Jake Doyle.
We also know Davis & Doyle are challenging the Bucks at Full Gear. There’s also the Bang Bang Gang turning heel this past Wednesday and helping the Dogs against the Death Riders. I immediately thought two Blood & Guts matches? Then I saw Jason Powell speculate in his live review of Dynamite that it may have set up an Anarchy in the Arena match at Full Gear. Usually that’s done at Double or Nothing, but they did Stadium Stampede (I was there!), so I’m sure Tony Khan wants to check the Anarchy box off his 2026 to-do list.
Final Thoughts
I didn’t mention anything about other titles (National, Continental, etc.) or potential personal feuds, but everything should be fleshed out after Blood & Guts. Tony Khan is famous for his short builds to shows. Overall, I’m looking forward to Full Gear. Thanks for indulging me, and I look forward to my next article, as we should have more certainty about what will take place.
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