The AEW WrestleDream pay-per-view on October 18 began with a match already in progress, as FTR’s bout against JetSpeed, which started on the Tailgate Brawl pre-show, continued onto the main card. The match saw FTR, consisting of Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood, ultimately defeat “Speedball” Mike Bailey and Kevin Knight. The unusual transition led many fans to question if the show was suffering from time management issues.
A Deliberate Creative Choice
According to the Wrestling Observer, the decision to have the match span both the pre-show and the pay-per-view was not a timing error. The report noted that this was always planned to mostly happen during the pay-per-view. It was a deliberate creative choice by AEW to experiment with the show’s format.
Testing a New Format
The idea was to try something new: start the match during the pre-show, but not finish it until the PPV started. The goal was to break the predictable nature of pre-show matches, where fans often expect an end just before the main show begins. By carrying the action over, AEW aimed to make the start of the PPV more unpredictable, instead of fans always knowing the match will end right before the PPV begins.
Following their victory at WrestleDream, FTR continues to be a top team in AEW’s tag team division. The company is now building toward its next pay-per-view event, Full Gear, which is scheduled to take place on Saturday, November 22, 2025, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
