AEW held a media scrum following Saturday’s WrestleDream 2026 event at the Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, Florida.
Some of the notable highlights included:
- During her portion of the media scrum, AEW Women’s World Champion Mercedes Mone gave her thoughts about returning to Orlando and how the city has a lot of history with her for her wrestling career.
- On the topic of potential future challengers for her AEW Women’s World Championship and future of AEW’s Women’s division, Mone stated that she is hoping for more new people in 2027.
- On the topic of her match with Willow Nightingale at All In and her broken nose injury status, Mone stated “It was definitely one of the hardest-fought battles I’ve ever had and one of my greatest matches and greatest moments in my whole career. I love, love that moment at Wembley. Just a full circle moment for me as well. But yeah, I’m one month and a half post-surgery on my nose. It’s still very much broken, and I’m pushing through every single week but I love what I do, I love defending my Women’s Championship, and I’m here to be the best, and just having a broken nose, it’s not gonna faze me; it’s not gonna stop me, it’s not gonna stop me from defending this, and this is my destiny so I’m ready to give everything that I have for it.”
- Prior to the start of Ilja Dragunov’s portion of the media scrum, AEW CEO Tony Khan stated that he wasn’t sure about Dragunov’s visa status until this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite and Collision show nor if Dragunov would be available for WrestleDream until Friday night. Khan stated “Thanks to the process, it can be an unpredictable process of acquiring a visa. It’s something that I wasn’t sure until this Wednesday night, during a live broadcast, that I would be able to bring you. It’s a great surprise, and it’s something that I was so pleased that we were able to do tonight. Some people asked about the timing of the vignette that suggested your arrival at WrestleDream on Wednesday, and then having a second vignette on Friday. There is a lot of unpredictability in wrestling and a beautiful thing that happened for us is, on Wednesday night, in the middle of the show, at two in the morning your time, we got the message that Ilja was going to be able to pick up the visa the next day. We found that out during the live broadcast. We filmed the vignette just in case you weren’t going to be able to come to the PPV, we would start the build for when you were here. Maybe it was going to take another week or two, but it happened ahead of schedule, thankfully.”
- On the topic of his arrival in AEW and reception from the crowd, Dragunov stated ““I would say very, very overwhelming. It’s a new breath of fresh air for me. It is a totally new environment for me. But the way I’ve got welcomed here, it only feels plainly right.”
- On the topic of who he is looking forward to facing the most in AEW, Dragunov stated ““A better question is: Who not? For real, if I think about all the competitors here in AEW, it is hard to say who I do not want to wrestle. Because it starts with a (Jon) Moxley, it goes on with a (Samoa) Joe, it goes on with a (Kyle) Fletcher. So many amazing competitors in that ring and since I’m here and I felt this — when I went through this — to this presentation in front of all of you, I feel like I’m starving. I’m starving for competition and I know that whoever I will step up against has a serious problem because I am here. Now I am here, and this is gonna be a serious problem for so many people.”
- On the topic of his decision to leave WWE and join AEW, Dragunov stated “I’ve been doing this for almost 14 years, and I’ve been through a lot of phases when it comes down to my indie career and pro wrestling career in general. I’ve traveled to places and been under contract. I’ve never had the chance where I didn’t feel like I can’t bet on myself. If I feel that this chance is limited, then it gets more limited. Then, I feel like I’m getting stuck somewhere. Not because of external factors, just feeling stuck in general, because I have this urge to fight. I love to fight, and I want to compete, and I want to step up. If I feel that the air in a certain environment gets thinner for me, I need to breathe. That’s what I did today, here. If I need a place to breathe new, fresh air, see a new landscape, and see what the world can offer me to satisfy this hunger for competition.”
- Near the end of Dragunov’s portion, Tony Khan announced that Dragunov will be making his official in-ring debut in AEW at the October 21st AEW Dynamite show in Coral Gables, Florida.
- During their portion of the media scrum, AEW World Trios Champions The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly (Hangman Adam Page, Bandido, & Brody King) reflected on their Trios titles victory over Swerve Strickland & The New Level (Kofi & Austin Creed) on the show.
- Page also gave his thoughts in character about his personal history between himself and Strickland and how it spilled out during their match on the show.
- During his portion of the media scrum, AEW World Champion Will Ospreay gave his thoughts about the execution of the Clockwork Carnage match in AEW and stated that it was brilliant. Ospreay also gave his thoughts about the origin for the idea for the new match was him being inspired by the Casino Gauntlet and Ironman matches and wanted to fuse the two together.
- On the topic of a potential collaboration between AEW and Pro Wrestling EVE for a future AEW event in the United States, Khan stated “That’d be a great thing around one of these pay-per-views. We’ve had events with Ring of Honor in conjunction with the pay-per-views. With EVE around a major PPV event could be good. We had success working with them around All In, and we’ve collaborated a lot. I love working with Will on those kinds things, including some of the things we’ve done with EVE and the wrestlers in AEW.” Ospreay responded stating “If we can make it happen, it would be brilliant. I would love to do something.“
- On the topic of MJF walking around with his own “Triple B” AEW World title, Ospreay called out MFJ and stated that if MJF wants to find out where the real AEW World Champion is, he knows where to find him.
- Near the end of Ospreay’s portion of the scrum, Tony Khan stated that the main event involving the Clockwork Carnage match was a successful “pilot program” and believes it could be a concept for future AEW PPV main events. Khan also stated that there was a no interference rule in the Clockwork Carnage match for why nobody else who wasn’t an official competitor appeared during the match.
- During his portion of the media scrum, AEW CEO Tony Khan stated that he has been looking forward to working for Skydance and how them buying Warner Bros Discovery was a really good thing for AEW. Khan stated that he was hoping that would have happened when WBD was available for sale.
- On the topic of who chooses the music for AEW events, Khan stated he is the final curator for music and listed some of the bands and songs that he enjoys to listen.
- On the topic of the lack of house show events in AEW, Khan stated that the lighter work schedule was part of the company’s business plan and how they mainly focus on television and pay-per-views. Khan also brought up how there is no offseason in wrestling and how it is better for talent to focus on those matches for television due to the hard hitting style of AEW’s product.
- On the topic of the potential of KAIRI joining AEW in the future, Khan stated “She’s a fantastic wrestler. I can’t speak to that at this time but I am very aware and excited to see that she’s a free agent. I think that that’s very, very interesting, and I’m very intrigued by the possibility of that.”
- On the topic of the comedy aspects of the AEW National Championship match between Tommaso Ciampa and Andrade El Idolo in regards to Ciampa attacking Andrade’s pants and pinning it only for the pants to kick out, Khan stated “I spoke on the commentary a little bit, I felt like it was a little bit of him trying to have fun and play mind games like Orange Cassidy might do. In this case, we see Andrade play mind games with his opponent a lot and he’s always having fun, taking selfies during the match. I felt like Tommaso was trying to reverse the mind games on him. In this case, it’s not a legal fall, but I think he’s having fun. It’s fun within the context of the sport, but on the other hand, it’s important to remember that it is a spot and they’re both great wrestlers and I’m glad they got back to the wrestling after that. On commentary, I was sure to make a note of the fact that I do think there was some of that. There is a place for it. In the context of AEW, there is a place to have fun, but it is a sport and commentary did make it a point of addressing it that this is mind games on the part of Ciampa.”
- On the topic of “Timeless” Toni Storm’s abscense from AEW since March of 2026 and future return, Khan stated “You asked about the former World Champion ‘Timeless’ Toni Storm. Well, I know we’ve been missing ‘Timeless’ Toni Storm but everybody’s just been doing absolutely fantastic. The women’s wrestling in AEW has seen the locker room absolutely step up in the absence of the former World Champion, now in Mercedes Moné… The former World Champion ‘Timeless’ Toni Storm is certainly on a lot of our minds and I can’t say when or where but I know ‘Timeless’ Toni Storm will be back in AEW and looking to get payback for whoever it was that took her out.”
- On the topic of if he has had conversations with Skydance co-CEO David Ellision about the future of AEW with Skydance, Khan stated “Yes, I’ve had a conversation with David Ellison about the future of AEW. I’ve had a few great conversations with David Ellison about AEW. He is very excited to be partnering with AEW. Skydance means Warner Brothers and Paramount under the same roof, and this means more exciting opportunities and more resources. Warner Brothers is going to be stronger. There were two great buyers, but this was the solution that made sense for so many reasons. David Ellison is going to be a great leader, and he’s a great partner for us with the NFL. He’s going to be a great partner for AEW. He’s somebody who is the same age as me; he’s a wrestling fan. That’s really exciting for us. He wanted to keep TBS, TNT, and Warner Brothers streaming under the same roof. For us, that’s important because we’re on HBO Max and TBS and TNT. This is a plan that makes a lot of sense for everyone in AEW because it was important and exciting for AEW to get Warner Brothers Discovery to put together this great renewal in 2024 to continue for years. Yes, I’ve had good talks with David Ellison. Several good conversations with him. I’m excited that he’s going to be running Skydance.“
- On the topic of the lack of a celebration for AEW Dynamite’s seventh anniversary show, Khan gave his thoughts about how he wanted all the focus that week to be on paying tribute to the late “PAC” Benjamin Satterley. Khan also praised Satterley for being a great wrestler and being an important person in AEW’s history. Khan stated “Recently we celebrated seven years of Wednesday Night Dynamite. I didn’t talk about it all for an important reason. Because the show where we were gonna talk about this and it was gonna be the Seven-Year Anniversary Show, it was far more important to celebrate the life of PAC, and what would have been seven years of Wednesday Night Dynamite where we would have marked this, it wasn’t the most important milestone. What was way more important to celebrate was Ben’s life and all the great things he accomplished and to put on a show that celebrated his life and to encapsulate that in one night. Not to try to advertise, not to build up tonight’s AEW WrestleDream, even though we had a great pay-per-view tonight, and Pittsburgh wasn’t about building up tonight’s show; it wasn’t about building up Grand Slam France. It was about putting together a one-night tribute that was the perfect tribute and Ben’s in our hearts every night and as far as a one-night tribute show, that was the best we could do. It was perfect and I think everybody who participated gave it their very best for him. So that would have been where we would have talked a lot about the seven-year anniversary…“
Full AEW WrestleDream 2026 post-show media scrum video:
Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com 1 & 2, Fightful.com 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, & 9
Sami Zayn & Roman Reigns Face-To-Face Segment and AAA World Trios Titles Dark Match Set for 10/19 WWE RAW Show
“PAC” Benjamin Satterley’s Cause of Death Officially Revealed To Be From Bronchial Asthma
AEW WrestleDream 2026 Results – AEW World Title Clockwork Carnage
