Will Ospreay Wins 1st-Ever AEW Clockwork Carnage to Retain AEW Title at WrestleDream 2026

Will Ospreay won AEW's first-ever Clockwork Carnage match at WrestleDream on Saturday to retain the AEW World Championship.

Ospreay prevailed in a unique, eight-man match that also included Samoa Joe, "Speedball" Mike Bailey, Adam Copeland, Konosuke Takeshita, Kazuchika Okada, Ricochet and Darby Allin.

Here's a look at the rules and how it all went down.

Takeshita eliminated Bailey with Raging Fire.

However, Okada knocked out Takeshita with the Rainmaker.

The scoring period began after Samoa Joe entered the match as the eighth and final competitor. He got the first point after hitting Allin with the Muscle Buster.

Ricochet got a point too, hitting Allin with a lateral press.

Okada got on the scoreboard when he landed the Rainmaker on Copeland.

The champion got his first point when he executed the Styles Clash on Ricochet, but Allin got his point with a Coffin Drop on Ospreay.

At this juncture, five of the six remaining wrestlers had a point apiece, with Copeland being the lone exception.

Allin took the lead when he pinned Copeland following La Casita. Ospreay evened the score at two points, though, when he pinned Allin following Hidden Blade.

Samoa Joe got his second point when he made Ospreay tap with the Coquina Clutch.

Copeland then made things awfully interesting with back-to-back points on spears to Samoa Joe and then Ricochet.

With a minute left, Copeland, Allin, Samoa Joe and Ospreay had two points each. Okada and Ricochet had one point apiece. Copeland was in position to win the match after hitting a spear on Okada, but Ospreay broke up the pin by hitting Copeland with the Hidden Blade and then pinning him with just a few seconds on the clock.

That was good enough for the win. Afterward, Copeland and Ospreay had a heated exchange.

The match type was conceived in Pro-Wrestling: EVE—a promotion in which Ospreay works behind the scenes in the United Kingdom.

Ospreay brought the stipulation to AEW, willingly putting his world title on the line against seven of the best challengers the company has to offer.

A series of qualifying matches were held leading up to WrestleDream, starting off with a de facto qualifier when Ospreay beat Okada at the Grand Slam France edition of Dynamite to retain the AEW World Championship.

Additionally, Joe defeated Jack Perry, Bailey took down Lee Moriarty, Copeland beat Josh Alexander, Takeshita topped Brian Cage, Okada got the better of Myron Reed, Ricochet outlasted Ace Austin, and Allin triumphed over Hechicero to qualify.

With such a stacked field in the Clockwork Carnage match, Ospreay was seemingly in legitimate danger of seeing his title reign end after less than two months.

However, Ospreay was clearly motivated to win the match he helped create, especially with it taking place on a big stage for the first time.

That is exactly what Ospreay did, as he outlasted seven hungry challengers to conquer Clockwork Carnage and remain AEW world champion.