Samoa Joe became the first to qualify for the Clockwork Carnage match at WrestleDream.
In his first match since Double or Nothing, Joe returned at Grand Slam France, defeating Jack Perry to qualify for the unique match on October 17 on pay-per-view.
Perry was struck by a Uranage on the floor, narrowly beat the count, and countered a Coquina Clutch. Once placed on the turnbuckle, Perry spat at Joe before taking the Muscle Buster, and Joe won.
The Clockwork Carnage match will see the AEW champion defend the belt in a match featuring eight wrestlers and divided into two stages:
Two of the eight wrestlers are selected at random to begin the match. Another randomly selected competitor then enters every three minutes until the entire field has entered.
During this first stage, a wrestler is eliminated if they are pinned or submitted. That means it is possible for fewer than eight competitors to remain by the time the final entrant arrives.
Once the eighth wrestler has entered, the elimination portion ends and a 15-minute scoring period begins.
From that point, competitors are no longer eliminated by pinfall or submission. Instead, every pinfall or submission earns one fall, with wrestlers able to score multiple times during the 15 minutes.
When time expires, the wrestler with the most falls will win the match and the AEW World Championship.
AEW WrestleDream airs from the Addition Financial Arena in Orlando on Saturday, October 17.
