Prior to their match at AEW WrestleDream Zero Hour, Mansoor and Mason Madden revealed that Rico, the former manager of Billy Gunn, would be in their corner for their upcoming match against The Acclaimed. However, despite having a third man in their corner, it didn’t work out for the models. The finish of the match had Rico attempt to help Mansoor back into the ring but ended up bumping into Billy Gunn. Rico attempted a spinning kick but Gunn blocked it and hit the famouser. Mansoor checked on Rico but ended up getting laid out by The Acclaimed and was ultimately pinned.
Rico is best known for his run in the WWE, where he first managed Billy and Chuck as their stylist. An angle took place where Billy and Chuck were to be married, but before the wedding ceremony was finished Billy revealed that it was all a ruse, and Rico was the mastermind behind the publicity stunt.
After splitting from Billy and Chuck, Rico remained in WWE until he was released in 2004. He wrestled in All Japan after his release and ultimately ended up retiring, aside from a match that took place in 2012.
Brian Cage defeated Atlantis Jr. to win the ROH Television Championship for the first time. In what ended up being a competitive match, Atlantis Jr. got a close near fall after countering the drill claw once. However, Cage rallied and pinned Atlantis after a second drill claw attempt to pick up the win.
Atlantis Jr. won the ROH TV title in June at a CMLL event in Mexico City, defeating Kyle Fletcher. At Death Before Dishonor the following month, he retained the title in a Survival of the Fittest match, which also included Brian Cage. In a match on Ring of Honor television in August, the Cage of Agony defeated Atlantis Jr. in a six-man tag match that also featured Fuego Del Sol and Serpentico.
Cage of Agony have mostly competed in Ring of Honor in recent months. Earlier this year Cage and the Gates of Agony turned on Swerve Strickland and Prince Nana, breaking up The Mogul Embassay for good. At All In two months ago, they teamed wth The Undisputed Kingdom (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett) in a losing effort against Dustin Rhodes, Katsuyori Shibata, Sammy Guevara, and Ross & Marshall Von Erich.
A new bout is set for Saturday’s AEW WrestleDream Zero Hour pre-show.
In a women’s division contest, Harley Cameron will go one-on-one with Anna Jay on Saturday’s Zero Hour. Cameron called out Jay in a promo on Friday’s Rampage episode, with Jay responding in kind with her own backstage promo. The match was officially announced for Saturday later in Friday’s episode.
The Zero Hour pre-show will stream on AEW’s digital media channels, including in the embedded YouTube video below.
The final WrestleDream card:
AEW WrestleDream, Saturday, October 12, 6:30 p.m. Eastern time —
AEW World Champion Bryan Danielson defends against Jon Moxley
Swerve Strickland returns
AEW Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks (Matthew & Nicholas Jackson) defend against Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen)
Three-way: AEW International Champion Will Ospreay defends against Konosuke Takeshita & Ricochet
AEW Women’s World Champion Mariah May defends against Willow Nightingale
TNT Champion Jack Perry defends against Katsuyori Shibata
ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe defends against Chris Jericho
Darby Allin vs. Brody King
Hangman Page vs. Jay White
Two out of three falls: Hologram vs. The Beast Mortos
Zero Hour: ROH Television Champion Atlantis Jr. defends against Brian Cage
Zero Hour: MxM Collection (Mason Madden & Mansoor) vs. The Acclaimed (Max Caster & Anthony Bowens)
With Bryan Alvarez out directing a Suessical, Filthy Tom Lawlor and Mike Sempervive are here to talk about Saturday’s AEW WrestleDream, the ongoing Cung Le v. UFC suit, Jesse Ventura, baseball fans hate TNT Sports, and more!
Swerve Strickland is ready to make his return to AEW programming.
In his hometown of Tacoma this Saturday, Strickland will appear at AEW WrestleDream. He’s been away from AEW since losing to Hangman Page in an unsanctioned steel cage match last month at All Out. While being interviewed by No-Contest Wrestling, Strickland discussed his impending return and teased that there are a lot of different things he could address at WrestleDream.
Strickland said he could look backward and talk about his losses to Bryan Danielson and Page. He could discuss MVP trying to recruit him. He could address where things stand between him and Prince Nana. Or he could speak about his new AEW contract and what’s going on with his business.
“There’s just a lot of different things I have on my mind that I can express and go a bunch of different ways,” Strickland said. “This isn’t just like a ‘talking segment.’ No, this is me really conveying like new news. Like me personally, my businesses outside of this. ‘The Mogul’ is not just a name I gave myself, this is truly what I am and who I am. And now we get to see where we go forward and what we address in the now.”
No matter what Strickland decides to talk about, we’ll be seeing a new evolution of his character starting with WrestleDream.
“You can always expect my next evolution of me,” Strickland said. “In any sense, in the subtleties. Like, maybe my hair is different. Maybe my look is different. Maybe you’ll just — something is different. You’ll feel something different in the air. And that’s something I always love bringing to the table. Like, you don’t know what to expect. And that’s the beauty of it. That’s the beauty of who I am, and what I do, and what I offer. Like, even Tony Khan doesn’t know what to expect. He just says, ‘Show up to work and here’s what you got.’ And I’m like, ‘Ok, cool.’ But he knows I can make it happen.
“That’s kind of the imprint I have on the show right now, and I love it. I love it. I worked really hard to gain that. And I was patient too. I took a long time, I was patient. I didn’t rush into it. I was like, ‘Let’s see how the landscape takes course. And I will find my way and adapt into that.’ And then, now, people are anticipating a return of who I am and what I have to bring and what’s different, what’s new, and what old things I’m going to address.”
Strickland was AEW World Champion prior to dropping the title to Danielson at All In 2024.
When MVP debuted for AEW two weeks ago, he blamed Prince Nana for Strickland’s recent losses and said he wants to talk business with Strickland. MVP and Shelton Benjamin are both now in AEW, and it appears that Bobby Lashley will be joining them in the company shortly.
The Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington is hosting Saturday’s WrestleDream pay-per-view. The main card has a start time of 8 p.m. Eastern.
Will Ospreay will defend his International title in a triple threat match at AEW WrestleDream on October 12.
Following a controversial finish to an Ospreay vs. Ricochet title match on Wednesday’s Dynamite fifth anniversary where Konosuke Takeshita ran in to cause a DQ, AEW’s Tony Khan announced in a social media post after the show that Ospreay vs. Ricochet vs. Takeshita for the International title is official for WrestleDream:
With the AEW International Title picture unsettled after tonight's #AEWDynamite Anniversary, the championship will be decided in a huge 3-way at WrestleDream! pic.twitter.com/BfFunFi21y
In all, four new matches are set for WrestleDream following the events of Wednesday’s Dynamite. A TNT title match, an ROH World title match, plus a Darby Allin open challenge comprise the rest of the new match announcements.
The updated lineup for the Saturday, October 12 pay-per-view:
AEW World Champion Bryan Danielson defends against Jon Moxley
TNT Champion Jack Perry defends against Katsuyori Shibata
AEW International Champion Will Ospreay defends against Ricochet & Konosuke Takeshita in a three-way
ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe defends against Chris Jericho
