It is All In week, and I decided to go down memory lane and compile what I think are the ten best matches in the history of the pay-per-view. There have been enough editions of All In , and enough matches to sift through, to pick the ten best. Obviously ‘best’ is subjective. My definition is in-ring quality, importance, and legacy: matches that help tell AEW’s story, matches that rank among the best wrestling we have ever seen, and matches I’m especially partial to. All of these matches have carved their own little corner in AEW lore and have been immortalized.

Since the revival of the monumental PPV was announced in 2020 and it became part of the AEW PPV family, Tony Khan set out to make this event his own version of “WrestleMania.” A place where stars are born, moments are made, and AEW continues to grow. This list also gives me a chance to reminisce and see how far this company has come. While only four years old and with five different iterations of the event, All In has become the tentpole for the alternative company.

10. Kenny Omega vs Penta El 0 (All In 2018)

This match was a clear precursor to what AEW was all about in its early years. Everything that everyone loves about All Elite Wrestling was front and center in this match. Kenny Omega came into the match as the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, but did not defend it. Pentagon, Penta El Zero, or whatever name you want to call him, came to play and, in one of his first big spotlights, performed as one of the best wrestlers in the world. This was the first singles match between two of the most important wrestlers in AEW history, and it became one of the best and most important matches of AEW's early years.

The crowd was so hot for this match, and they were loving every minute. Both Penta and Omega were fighting for the love of the game, and it showed. The entire event was the seed for what would later grow into something. The wrestling style, in-ring storytelling, and all of it was pure AEW. The match doesn't get talked about as much as other pre-AEW matches are, given its importance to the promotion's creation.

Just as important were the post-match developments, as Chris Jericho, dressed as Penta, attacked Omega, starting their path toward a historic rivalry that carried the baton between All In and Double or Nothing.

9. AEW World Championship: MJF def. Adam Cole (All In 2024)

100 years from now, when you're telling the story of All Elite Wrestling, you won't be able to tell the rise of AEW without talking about the main event between Adam Cole and MJF. Cole vs. MJF for the AEW Men’s World Championship is still one of the biggest main events in AEW history, and it looked massive. If you rewatch it, both entrances looked like the biggest deal in the world, and that crowd looked like an endless sea of people.

In retrospect, having Adam Cole main event this match was a bittersweet moment for a wrestler who might never get in the ring again, and he was able to share the spotlight with his '“best friend.” This is the original mega-match in AEW. While other matches have had better drama or better in-ring wrestling, this was the first one in AEW that felt like the biggest thing in the world. The presentation set the standard, and it also gave wrestlers a different path to their “WrestleMania” moment.

So while the match was fun, melodramatic, and goofy at times, the real success of this match, at least for me, was its presentation and the standard it set for the rest of All In.

8. Casino Gauntlet (All In 2024)

While AEW had had Casino Gauntlets before All In 2024, this was easily the biggest and most well-received of them all. There was so much going on in this Gauntlet that, on rewatch, you can see why so many people fell in love with this gimmick match that night. Nigel McGuinness made his return to the wrestling ring, Ricochet made his official debut in AEW, and Zack Sabre Jr. was able to wrestle in front of his fellow countrymen and women. By the way, before we move on, a small piece of me likes to think the Casino Gauntlet was brought to London just for McGuinness.

Christian Cage ended up winning the contract for the No. 1 Contendorship, and while Cage cashing it in was a big wet fart, it did set the tone for the rest of the Casino Gauntlet winners moving forward. All In 2024 was the one that shined the brightest and set the standard for the rest of them in the future. This Casino Gauntlet was so well received at All In 2024 that it has now become a staple at the biggest show of the year, and this year’s version might be able to top it.

7. AEW Women’s World Championship: Toni Storm def. Mercedes Mone (All In 2025)

Mercedes Mone vs Toni Storm at All In 2025 felt special. On a night full of megastars, it was mentioned as a co-main event alongside Kazuchika Okada vs Kenny Omega and Adam Page vs Jon Moxley. That shows how well these competitors were regarded and how important this match was for the women’s division. I think I like this match so much because we all thought we were going to witness Mercedes’ crowning moment, finally becoming AEW Women’s World Champion and adding to her 15 titles. Instead, it became a Toni Storm moment, as she was recognized as the cornerstone of the women’s division. Storm didnt beat Mone in a fluke way either; it was a deceptive pin to leave no doubt.

This loss started Mercedes's downfall; she went on to lose every single belt after this, then started the rise again after winning the Owen Hart Cup for the second consecutive year. This match not only cemented Storm as the best-ever AEW Women’s World Champion, but it smashed any notion that Mercedes was “Hulking” and politicking her way in the locker room. Most importantly, it was the ultimate showcase for two women who bet on themselves and went against the grain on AEW’s biggest stage.

6. AEW Unified Championship: Kazuchika Okada def. Kenny Omega (All In 2025)

When Tony Khan announced he had purchased the rights to Ring of Honor in 2022, and by default the rights back to the original All In, Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada was likely the match he had in mind. This was the biggest match, as far as lore goes, that All In has ever hosted, and AEW did a fantastic job recapping Okada and Omega’s past feud for an audience that perhaps wasn't fully dialed in. This is where AEW turned the corner in recapping feuds and storylines.

This was billed as the co-main event for the night, and with good reason. Both Okada and Omega received superstar entrances, and this was the biggest version of this rivalry to date. Was this match as athletic or physically impressive as their first four match-ups? No. That said, this was the most methodical, calculated, and thought-out match of the five fights. It was structured as though both men knew every move, with neither wanting to make a mistake. This was built up as the biggest match ever, as the winner would take home the International and Continental Championships as the Unified Champion.

Okada is now up 3-2 in the series. Still, this won't be the last match we see between these two bitter, lifelong rivals.

5. International Championship: Will Ospreay def. MJF (All In 2024)

In what might preview what happens this weekend, Will Ospreay vs. MJF was the original homecoming moment for the British wrestler. MJF had beaten Ospreay for the International Championship and renamed it the American Championship because, of course, he did. While it wasn't the main event of All In that year, it was treated like a co-main event, with fireworks and an over-the-top presentation for Ospreay. Ospreay still wasn't officially signed to AEW yet, as that announcement came four months later, in November 2024. Tony Khan pulled out all of the stops for Ospreay to make him feel at home in AEW.

This was one of many fantastic wrestling matches these two men have had against each other. MJF and Ospreay seem to bring out the best in each other, and this match, in the brightest of spotlights, proved that they need to keep this rivalry alive.

The Tiger Driver ‘91 was a big point of the storyline, and when Ospreay hit it on MJF, after some assistance from a returning Daniel Garcia, Ospreay got his International Title once again, and the hometown boy got his major moment.

Could this be how All In 2026 ends, with Ospreay standing over the ring with new gold above his head?

4. CM Punk vs Samoa Joe (All In 2023)

The opening match of the first reincarnation of All In was a great match between two old rivals set to kick off the biggest show in the young company's history. The pressure was on them, and because of their professionalism, they knocked it out of the park. Add in that CM Punk had just gotten into a ‘fight’ with Jack Perry in Gorilla, and Punk knew this was likely his last match for AEW and probably wasn't in the right mindset; still, with Samoa Joe, he had one of the more memorable in-ring matches in All In history. I couldn't even imagine what was going through Joe’s mind.

These two opponents were a great choice to reintroduce what All In meant. Both competitors had deep roots with Ring of Honor, had a deep-seated rivalry, and knew how to work a great match for the fans. The win for Punk was supposed to kick off his “Real World Champion” storyline, which was going to be a good one. Instead, with his left fist raised to the air, the last we ever saw of CM Punk in AEW was him leaving through the tunnel, back to the fans, with the “real” championship over his right shoulder—an iconic picture for an iconic match.

3. Young Bucks vs Swerve Strickland/Will Ospreay

Picture it: Arlington, June 2025, at Globe Life Field. I brought my AEW-agnostic brother for two reasons: he's my brother, and I wanted to show him what AEW was all about. He wasn't the biggest wrestling fan, but he was invested in WWE at the time, around Rock v. Cody Rhodes, so he tuned in. He also likes to troll me and rib me for liking AEW. That changed when Swerve/Ospreay vs. The Young Bucks started. He was already having a good time, but this tag match changed his view of the promotion. It is the perfect encapsulation of what AEW is all about in the ring.

There was so much to fight for, so I don't think many people believed Ospreay/Swerve were going to win, but they pulled it out, and this was the climax of the founding fathers gimmick, going out with a bang. In-ring, this is some of the best wrestling in an AEW ring. The jaw-dropping moves, acrobatics, and near falls are what make AEW so great, and in this match they were dialed up and baselined right into our veins. If it made a believer out of my brother, it still has a chance to convert hardened AEW skeptics.

2. AEW World Championship: Bryan Danielson def. (C) Swerve Strickland (All In 2024)

No wrestling promotion in the world tells a fairytale ending better. From Sting to Bryan Danielson, All Elite Wrestling knows how to care for its wrestling legends, letting them go out on top while they hold up wrestling gold and are carried off into the sunset by the fans and the locker room. Though not his official last match, this match will be remembered as his swan song, where, even if he didn't want them, he was given flowers as one of the best wrestlers of this generation and of all time.

From the get-go, the entire city of London could be heard singing The Final Countdown all the way to Neptune. What a feeling that must have been for Danielson. They were hot and stayed with the sentimental favorite for 30 minutes. The match highlighted what made Danielson one of the best of all time, as he took it to the ground and put on a masterclass in technical wrestling. Begrudgingly, Danielson won the title in front of his family and cemented his legacy as one of the best wrestlers of this, or any, generation. While he might make sporadic appearances here and there, this was the perfect send-off to the only best.

1. AEW World Championship: “Hangman” Adam Page def. Jon Moxley (All In 2025)

There might be some pushback to this, but I don't think AEW has ever done a better main event than this Texas Death Match. I know the double debut of Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson has been cemented in many people's minds as the best ending to an AEW show, but for my money (which is not a lot), it's when Hangman did his job and hung Moxley over the top rope. What a visual. Those moments are exactly why Tony Khan brought back All In and made it AEW's “WrestleMania.” If there were any questions about which PPV was the crown jewel, All In 2025 erased any doubt.

The match itself was historic, of course, and that is part of why it stands above the rest. Having a Death Match as your main event at your biggest show of the year was a risk, given how the Exploding Barbed Wire had gone, but it went off without a hitch.

Perhaps my opinion is colored, as I was there live in Arlington, but seeing the Cowboy lift the belt after his climb to the top and the belt being held captive in a suitcase for the better part of a year was deeply satisfying. Not only that, but seeing the return of both Darby Allin and Bryan Danielson, exacting their revenge on the same Death Riders that took them out, was cathartic.

This match will live in the annals of AEW lore, as there was only one result that mattered, and it is exactly what we got. All across the country, people could be heard cheering for the Cowboy finally freeing us from our Death Rider purgatory.

A Handy Guide To: AEW All In 2026

August 27, 2026AEW, handy, WrestlingJhuvin PComment

Need to know when and where to watch an upcoming pay-per-view? Need to know who’s fighting who? Need to know why you should care? Then, you’ve come to the right place!

“A Handy Guide” is a new series here on Dirt Sheet Radio where we run down an upcoming pay-per-view’s match card, and discuss the competitors and stories coming into each match. For now, our focus is going to be on WWE and AEW, but if there’s interest, we may expand to companies like TNA, NJPW, and more.

Today’s edition is all about AEW All In 2026, taking place on Sunday, August 30th, at Wembley Stadium in London, England. This is the third time All In has taken place at Wembley and the fourth iteration of this event (fifth, if you count the inaugural pre-AEW event held in 2018). It is AEW’s biggest yearly pay-per-view, their own Wrestlemania, Wrestle Kingdom, Starrcade, Bound For Glory, or Ultima Lucha (shout-out to Lucha Underground).

Because this PPV takes place in the UK, it will be an early start time for US viewers.
These are the start times for the following time zones.

United Kingdom (BST): 4:30 PM
Eastern Time (ET): 11:30 AM (Pre-show) / 1:00 PM (Main card)
Pacific Time (PT): 8:30 AM (Pre-show) / 10:00 AM (Main card)

The PPV will air on major cable and satellite providers in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. U.S. and Canadian viewers can stream the event on YouTube, Prime Video, and DAZN. Additionally, U.S. fans can also stream it on HBO Max or catch it at select Dave & Buster locations nationwide. International viewers can view the event on PPV.com or MyAEW.com.

This article does not cover any of the Buy-In (pre-show) matches, and as always the card is subject to change. But for now, these are the matches, and these are the stories:

Trios Roulette Royale (Buy-In Match)

Okay, so normally, I don’t cover preshow matches in my guide, but I’m going to make an exception due to who’s involved in this. When Hangman Page lost his World Championship rematch against MJF, it meant he could never challenge for that title ever again. When he returned a few months later, he vowed to be a man of his word, but that left him directionless. A ship without a harbor, a horse without a rider, a hangman with nothing to hang. Alright, the metaphor needs work, but you get what I mean. He offered his assistance to guys like Will Ospreay against the Death Riders, and Brodido against the Don Callis Family. The latter of which trusted him enough to join forces and go after the Trios Championships. The former World Champion and the former Tag Team Champions beat The Demand (Ricochet and GOA) for the titles in their first match as a team.
No offense to the Trios Division, but it really seems like these three men are in kind of a holding pattern. In a promo on Dynamite, Swerve Strickland spoke the quiet part out loud, wondering if the end to Hangman’s story is really to “ride off in the sunset” with Brodido. Meanwhile, it’s been almost an entire year, and Brody and Bandido have yet to even challenge for the tag team championships they lost at Full Gear 2025. Regardless of their present or future circumstances, these three men will never back down from a challenge, and this time they’re throwing the challenge out themselves. Any trio that wants a shot at the gold can get it at All In.
Who’s it going to be? The Bang Bang Gang is fully complete for the first time since their inception, and also one of the best Trios champions of all time (totally not biased). Gabe Kidd made a surprise return to Dynamite this month after rehabbing a shoulder injury, so The Dogs are also complete and could go after the Trios titles. Ricochet and GOA could look for their rematch at All In. Or maybe it could be Swerve Strickland who calls his shot. He’s got a vendetta against every one of the Trios champions, and it’s been far too long since Swerve’s House has put gold on display. Problem is, though, that Swerve is just one man. Who could he possibly find to be his partners? Who? Who? Who?
Turns out it’s all of them and more! Tony Khan announced that the Trios Champions would be defending their championships in a Trios Roulette Royale. Seven trios will compete in a gauntlet until one trio, or members of that trio, are remaining. The confirmed challengers are The Demand, The Bang Bang Gang, The Conglomeration (Orange Cassidy, Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong), Death Riders, The Dogs, and a Wild Card Trio. Tune in early to catch this chaotic yet highly entertaining match.

Kyle Fletcher vs. Konosuke Takeshita vs. Kazuchika Okada— AEW International Championship Match

The turmoil in the Don Callis Family continues! The past, present, and future of Don’s endless stable will be at odds this Sunday in a guaranteed banger of a match. The intrigue and drama surrounding these three men is the closest thing AEW has to a Real Housewives series. Back in the far-away times of 2023, Konosuke Takeshita became the definitive head of Don Callis’s growing family. He achieved immediate success for Don by beating Kenny Omega twice in one week, and then used that success to become one of the most prolific International Champions of all time. Kyle Fletcher was the next to join and Don took no time at all to pair his two proteges together, dubbing their partnership as ProtoShita. Despite this, the two did become good friends and there was never any visible tension between them. The same cannot be said for Kazuchika Okada.
One of the brightest stars in New Japan quickly became the Family’s new golden boy, and it created a volatile situation between him and Takeshita. Don tried pairing them up the same way he had with ProtoShita, but they barely communicated and constantly got in each other’s way. Things came to a head at Double or Nothing, when the two faced off for the International Championship. Takeshita exorcised his demons and defeated Okada, and Fletcher came out to celebrate with his friend…or so we thought. Fletcher turned on Takeshita, unceremoniously kicked him out of the DCF, and then defeated him for the International Championship a few short weeks later. In order to “stack the odds” against Takeshita, Don inserted Okada into his championship rematch, much to the dismay of Fletcher. Don wants to ensure the gold stays in the family, but Fletcher is more concerned that the gold stays with him. Okada is being— to borrow a phrase from the Brits— a cheeky bugger and is going along with this, surely in the hopes that the gold comes back to him. Takeshita wants to knee them all in the head.
Herein lies a wonderful conundrum. Takeshita has beaten Okada one-on-one, Fletcher has beaten Takeshita, and Okada beat Fletcher once upon a time (Continental Championship match in 2024). All three men have solid claims for the title, but only one can come out on top. It’s strong style graps with reality TV drama, what a delight.

Cage and Cope vs. The Young Bucks
—
AEW World Tag Team Championship Match

When you think of the Mount Rushmore of Tag Teams, you probably think of too many faces to carve into a mountain side. On that crowded mountain, though, there’s bound to be two of the most charismatic, synergistic, influential…istic duos of all time: The Young Bucks, and Edge and Christian. The Young Bucks defined the indie-rific style that you see shades of in WWE and buckets of in AEW. They flipped, superkicked, and piledrived their way into the hearts of every die-hard wrestling fan that was sick of how homogenized and “left behind” tag team wrestling was in the mainstream. They have won the tag team titles in pretty much every promotion not named WWE (or TNA, surprisingly), and catapulted that success into co-founding the second biggest wrestling company in the world today.
The Young Bucks let their egos get the better of them, and they abused their status as Executive Vice Presidents of AEW to get title matches, top billings, and lots and lots of money. Then, at All In 2024, they lost their EVP titles in a genuine banger of a match against Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland. They were swiftly and thoroughly humbled, first by losing their pyro and theme music, and then losing matches and money. At Full Gear 2025, they sunk to a new low by tagging with the Don Callis Family to take on their old friends: Jurassic Express and Kenny Omega. When they lost, they were paid to turn their backs on their friends as the DCF beat them down. It was here that Nick and Matt finally remembered who they were, and they dropped the money in order to save their friends. Since then, they have been on a path to redemption— a path to become elite again. The final step on this path is to regain the AEW Tag Team Championships, but another elite tag team stands in their way.
Before they were Cage and Cope, they were Edge and Christian. And before they were hardened, crafty renegades with a penchant for swinging spiky bats and sleeping with the mothers of their enemies, they were radical ex-vampire thralls who did five-second poses and reeked of awesomeness. I wrote about Cage and Cope’s long-awaited reunion in my guide to Redemption, and at that pay-per-view, the Young Bucks stared down the retaining champions to plant the seeds for this match. The Young Bucks have been vocal about how much of an inspiration Adam Copeland and Christian Cage have been to them, and now these two revolutionary tag teams will go head-to-head in a match that used to only be capable with CAWs in a WWE 2K game.

Casino Gauntlet Match

If you love chaotic spot-fests filled with exciting returns and tense previews of potential feuds, then this is the match for you. The Casino Gauntlet Battle Royale is AEW’s equivalent to the Royal Rumble, or Battle Riot, or Aztec Warfare (again, shoutout to Lucha Underground). It evolved from AEW’s Casino Battle Royale, a unique battle royale with 21 competitors that came out in groups of five every three minutes, with a final mystery entrant known as The Joker. In this modified version, the number of competitors is a mystery; the only people you know for certain that are in the match are the first two entrants. Each competitor enters the ring at random intervals, and instead of over-the-top-rope eliminations, the match goes until the first pinfall or submission. The winner of the gauntlet receives a World Championship Match at the time and place of their choosing.
Over the years, the Casino Gauntlet has been the stage for some of AEW’s wildest moments. In 2024, Nigel McGuinness made an emotional return to in-ring competition in the gauntlet after retiring 13 years earlier. In 2025, Toni Storm “reverted” back to her rookie year gimmick to catch everyone in the match off guard, including the current women’s champion, her former protege/traitor, Mariah May. Also in 2025, MJF won the gauntlet at All In and connived his way into winning the AEW World Championship a few months later. Speaking of championships, Ricochet became the inaugural National Champion by winning the casino gauntlet at Full Gear. At Dynasty, Kevin Knight ran the gauntlet to win the vacated TNT Championship.
The casino gauntlet at All In is full of entrants that are sure to make this another must-see spectacle. MJF and the National Champion Andrade el Idolo are the first two entrants, and they have hated each other since Andrade returned to AEW. Tomasso Ciampa confirmed his entry into the gauntlet and vowed to go through anyone and everyone to win the whole thing. Speaking of which, his former rival Chris Jericho has also confirmed his entry, looking to ride the momentum of his No Holds Barred win against Ciampa into another shot at his long-lost AEW World Championship. Other confirmed entrants include young and hungry competitors like Speedball Mike Bailey and “The Prodigy” Nick Wayne. This will be an entertaining multi-man match, certainly, but be on the lookout for the winner. You might just be looking at the next world champion, after all.

Brawling Birds (Jamie Hayter/Alex Windsor) vs. Divine Dominion (Lena Kross/Megan Bayne)— AEW Women’s Tag Team Championship Match

Is there a more feminine, respectful way to say “big meaty men slapping meat”? Because if there is, that is the best description for what to expect in this match. Lena Kross is a bruiser from Australia who got on AEW’s radar after taking the fight to then-women’s champion Kris Statlander earlier this year. She can knock you out just as well as she can throw you around, and at six feet tall, she towers over most of the female competition. The only exception might be her tag team partner: The Megasus, Megan Bayne. She made her AEW debut back in 2021, though her appearances were primarily on the minor shows Dark and Elevation. It wasn’t until her excursion to STARDOM in 2023 that she came into her own as a competitor, becoming the Greek Goddess that we know today. She re-debuted in AEW in January 2025 by dominating in the women’s casino gauntlet, and three months later, she was already challenging for the women’s championship. In March 2026 at Revolution, these two powerhouses formally joined forces and pried the women’s tag team championships from the hands of the Babes of Wrath (Harley Cameron and Willow Nightingale).
Much like Divine Dominion, the Brawling Birds formed out of necessity and opportunity. They wanted gold, and the women’s tag team championships were right there. Jamie Hayter is a former AEW Women’s Champion who probably would have bulldozed through every contender forever had she not gotten injured. She’s strong, agile, and has a propensity for violence but in a cheeky, British kind of way. Alex Windsor (WINDSAAAH!) is the current NJPW Strong Women’s Champion who hits harder than the hangover after Newcastle loses the Premier League. The newly-crowned Mrs. Ospreay cut her teeth in Pro Wrestling: EVE for fifteen years before making her AEW debut in 2025, and she has been a strong presence in their women’s division ever since.
These teams have been on parallel trajectories of dominance, and they are set to collide in London.

Jon Moxley vs. Nigel McGuinness — Continental Cup Finals

Full disclosure: I wrote half of this match’s description the moment this Cup was announced. Jon Moxley won the Continental Classic at World’s End, and he has held on to the Continental Championship ever since. Last year, he was in the main event of All In, defending the world championship in arguably the most emotional Texas Deathmatch of all time. There is no fathomable universe where he is not playing a prominent role in AEW’s biggest PPV of the year. And it does not make sense for him to drop his championship in a blind-draw tournament on a random Dynamite right before AEW’s biggest PPV of the year. The only thing in doubt was who would be his opponent.
In the end, only one man could overcome their bracket and punch their ticket to Wembley, and that is Nigel McGuinness. Since returning to in-ring competition, many have wondered where Nigel would take his second run. Would he have a steady retirement tour like Sting (crazy dives and table spots included)? Or would he go all out and wrestle like his life depended on it like his perennial rival Bryan Danielson? Turns out, it’s been more of the latter. Nigel has shown he hasn’t lost a step and consistently wrestles circles around his competition. He took Danielson to the limit for the AEW World Championship, tested the mettle of ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty in an Iron Match, and battled Zack Sabre Jr. for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in a technical masterpiece. Though none of these bouts resulted in championship victories, Nigel remained determined and ready for more opportunities.
The Continental Cup is Nigel’s best championship opportunity to date, but it comes with a major asterisk. In his first round match against Katsuyori Shibata, Nigel apparently injured his ankle. Despite this, he refused to pull out of the tournament and managed to power through his next two tournament matches against Hechicero and Kyle O’Reilly— two men known for their submission prowess. Meanwhile, Jon Moxley has defeated Jungle Jack Perry, Jay White, and his own stablemate, Claudio Castagnoli to get to the Finals, and he will have no qualms about exploiting Nigel’s weakness to retain his championship. The valiant yet injured underdog versus the sadistic champion is a textbook wrestling storyline, but it’s fine art when crafted by the right hands. Moxley and McGuinness, at Wembley, are the best hands you can ask for.

Darby Allin vs. Kevin Knight (Falls Count Anywhere)
—
TNT Championship Match

Last April at Dynasty, Kevin Knight took to the sky during the Casino Gauntlet Match (more on that later) and became the 20th man to hold the TNT Championship. This was a welcome surprise. Kevin Knight had a stellar rookie year in AEW, wowing crowds with his aerial prowess and undeniable charisma. He springboarded himself to an Owen Hart Cup berth, two Trios Championship reigns, and an impressive showing in the Continental Classic. So, when he won the TNT Championship, the crowd cheered— they were on his side and he had their goodwill and support.
He lost all of that after turning on Darby Allin.
The Jet’s heel turn was unfortunate yet inevitable. For the past few months, he fended off challengers such as Claudio Castagnoli, Brian Cage, Hook, and then-World Champion MJF, and his confidence was devolving into arrogance. Going into Double or Nothing, he told Darby Allin he believed he could beat MJF and retain the World Championship. After all, Kevin Knight did just that to retain the TNT Championship. At Double or Nothing, MJF beat Darby Allin for the world title and left him on a stretcher, and Kevin Knight came to his aid. But knowing that he could do what the former world champion couldn’t, Kevin realized he was— in many ways— above Darby Allin and above everyone else. He took to the skies once more to hit Darby with The UFO (a spinning frog splash) and then tipped the stretcher over with Darby still on it.
Darby Allin, being the protege of Sting, knows how important it is to choose your allies wisely. The vindictive daredevil has not taken Knight’s betrayal lightly, and over the past few months, he has tried to get his hands on the TNT Champion through any means necessary. Like an explosive backpack, for instance (classic Darby). Darby has beaten Knight for the World Championship, Knight has beaten Darby for the TNT Championship. This will be the rubber match (if you don’t count their Thanksgiving Eve match in 2025), and it will be Falls Count Anywhere. They’ve already taken the fight to each other all around the arena, so might as well make it a sanctioned affair. Expect this match to be cringe-inducing in the best way, and wildly unpredictable. Kevin Knight could continue his record-setting reign and cement himself as a main-event star, or Darby Allin could become the winningest TNT Champion in history and find himself back on top again. Either way, this blood rivalry comes to an end on Sunday.

Willow Nightingale vs. Mercedes Moné— AEW Women’s World Championship Match

Oh, what a difference a year makes.
One year ago, the Owen Hart Tournament winner Mercedes Moné walked down the entrance ramp of All In Texas with every women’s championship under the sun, ready to add the AEW Women’s Championship to her collection. This year, she will walk into Wembley with only her Owen belt in tow, still looking to win the one championship that has eluded her. One year ago, Willow Nightingale was coming up short in the first-ever Women’s Casino Gauntlet match. This year, she is going into All In as the reigning Women’s Champion and with a renewed confidence in herself.
The rivalry between Mercedes and Willow is a years-long story told with gold and grandeur. Their first battle was at the NJPW Strong Resurgence PPV in 2023, where Mercedes’s unfortunate injury kept her from becoming the inaugural NJPW Strong Women’s Champion. Their second battle was at Double Or Nothing 2024— two months after Mercedes made her official AEW debut— and Mercedes took her revenge on Willow by beating her for the TBS Championship. A year and a half later, they would fight for the third time at AEW’s TV special New Year’s Smash 2025, and Willow would defeat Mercedes again to end her record-breaking TBS Championship reign.
Each time they have faced each other, they have been on vastly different sides of the proverbial mountain, and yet they still find a way to knock the other one down. Mercedes will never admit she’s jealous that Willow returned from her injury better than ever and won the only championship she hasn’t. She has blindsided, beaten down, and berated Willow every chance she gets, but Willow won’t stay down. In fact, two weeks ago, she recovered from a beatdown by Mercedes, drove her out of the ring, and proudly declared, “I’m still smiling, bitch!”
This will be Willow’s first major test as the top woman in AEW. She is a proven champion, but Mercedes is her proven spoiler. With the history and talent on hand in this match, I expect nothing less than a Match of the Year candidate from these two.

Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay
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AEW Men’s World Championship Match

Wrestling is an anime. An endless shonen anime with big personalities, dynamic finishers, and long filler arcs so the manga can catch up. With that being the case, Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay are Goku and Naruto, respectively.
Kenny possesses a Saiyan-like stamina and moveset that has propelled him to the top of NJPW and AEW, but that power came at a great cost to his health. Since his return from fighting life-threatening diverticulitis, he has vowed to recuperate and ascend to the “best version” of himself. His current run as AEW World Championship is a chance for us to see that. Will Ospreay burst into AEW with a dream to become the undeniable best wrestler in the company. Sure, he can take one too many risks, and maybe he’s a little too trusting, but he believes in himself, and he believes in his dream. Plus, he dresses up like a ninja sometimes.
This will only be the fourth time these titans go one-on-one, but they have a decade of history together. Their factions went to war with each other in New Japan, Ospreay with CHAOS and Omega as the leader of Bullet Club. When Kenny left New Japan to help form AEW, Ospreay was one of the men he penned to become Japan’s next top gaijin, and he famously criticized Ospreay for not being able to “fill his shoes”. That sowed a seed of disdain in Ospreay that he carried into their epic duology for the NJPW United States Championship, first at Wrestle Kingdom 17 and then at Forbidden Door 2023. In AEW, Ospreay and Omega have been bitter rivals pitted against each other by Don Callis, shaky allies against the Don Callis Family and Death Riders, and now fierce opponents heading into the main event of All In: London.
Despite Ospreay breaking ties with the Death Riders and coming to Omega’s aid at the end of Redemption last month, Omega still hit Ospreay with the One Winged Angel. He reasoned that the rescue was just a ruse, and the friend he knew— one who wasn’t so gun shy without help— was long gone. Ospreay says he can still pull the trigger, but he’s going to do it his way, and he’s going to do it when Kenny can see it. Well, Kenny will see pretty clearly under the bright lights of Wembley Stadium. And we will all see who is standing tall when these two goats lock horns.

Other Things To Look Out For

Last year at All In, Adam Cole had to tragically relinquish his TNT Championship due to injury, and he openly contemplated retirement. We have not seen him on AEW television since. Could he make an appearance on Sunday? If only to give us an update on his condition? Either way, we at DSR continue to wish him the best in his recovery.
Where. Is. Toni. Storm. The timeless one has not been seen since being written off in March after a backstage attack. She is reportedly taking time off for a non-injury reason, so we do wish her the best. At the same time, though, if I see the screen go black-and-white on Sunday, or I see a foreboding stiletto come into view, I will lose my mind.
We’re plunging deep into rumor territory here, but Bayley has yet to renew her contract with the WWE. She hasn’t been seen on television since losing to Lyra Valkyria on Saturday Night’s Main Event. Could we see a reunion of the Boss and Hug Connection in AEW?

Jhuvin P. is a writer for CBC/DSR. He has previous experience as a ghostwriter, has published several short stories, and is perpetually working on a novel. In addition to writing, he is also a comedian based in Colorado Springs. He posts clips of his stand-up comedy along with his other goofy antics on TikTok and Instagram.

AEW All In 2026 Preview | AAA/NXT Counterprogram | Lil Yachty vs Baron Corbin | Bakusai is Born | Dirt Sheet Radio Ep 243

August 27, 2026DSR Pod, AEW, TNA, WWEJonathan EscuderoComment

Welcome to a brand new episode of Dirt Sheet Radio! Jon and Greg are diving into another massive week in professional wrestling, previewing one of the biggest weekends of the year and breaking down shocking debuts, major television deals, and high-stakes sibling rivalries.

Here is everything on the card for today's show:

WWE Leaves ABEMA: ABEMA has officially announced it will stop broadcasting WWE content in Japan on September 30, opening the door for the highly anticipated shift to Netflix later this year.
BAKUSAI is Born: Former NJPW standout Hiromu Takahashi makes his WWE debut under the name Kyoki. We discuss his new alliance with Shinsuke Nakamura to form the tag team BAKUSAI, and their immediate sights on the WWE Tag Team Championship.
AEW All In Preview: The ultimate Wembley Stadium breakdown! With over 43,000 tickets currently distributed, we dive into the storylines leading in, notable missing wrestlers, potential surprises, and our official match predictions.
The Counter-Programming War: Analyzing how AAA and WWE NXT are strategically counter-programming against AEW's massive London weekend.
TNA Lockdown Overdelivers: Reacting to TNA's return to the all-cage Lockdown format in Chicago. Surprisingly, it wasn't bad! We highlight the biggest moments from the event, including the Nemeth brothers winning tag team gold and Leon Slater capturing the X Division title.
Lil Yachty at SNME: Lil Yachty is officially stepping into a WWE ring! We break down his upcoming five-minute survival challenge against Baron Corbin at Sunday Night's Main Event to earn Trick Williams a US Title shot.
CM Punk vs Kevin Owens: Breaking down the escalating tension between Kevin Owens and CM Punk, and what Sami Zayn's sudden involvement means for the heated feud.

AEW Continental Challenge Cup Semifinals Confirmed

August 22, 2026AEW, WrestlingS. PaulComment

The field for the AEW Continental Cup has thinned down to four, and the semifinals, which will take place on next week’s edition of Dynamite, have been confirmed.

First, it’s Death Rider vs Death Rider as defending Continental Champion Jon Moxley takes on fellow stablemate Claudio Castagnoli. This represents a rematch from the 2025 Continental Classic, a match that Castagnoli won. Moxley will look to avenge that loss against arguably the strongest member of the Death Riders stable and book his place in the final. For Moxley, this is the second consecutive match where he’ll look to avenge a loss, having already finally defeated Jay White in the quarters. Moxley is looking to run the gauntlet to retain the Continental Championship. Claudio will have to defeat two consecutive Death Rider partners if he wants an opportunity to take the championship, as he defeated Daniel Garcia to get here. Garcia had replaced Eddie Kingston.

Meanwhile, it’s a battle of the technicals, as the Conglomeration’s Kyle O’Reilly takes on part-timer Nigel McGuinness.

KOR had to beat out his fellow stablemates Orange Cassidy and Roderick Strong in the last two rounds to make it to the semis. For McGuinness, despite dealing with an injury he suffered in his first-round match against Katsuyori Shibata, the Englishman has persevered through the pain and is one step closer to gaining homefield advantage in a Wembley Stadium championship match.

AEW Confirms Next Round in Continental Cup

August 17, 2026AEW, WrestlingS. PaulComment

After eight grueling and exhilarating first-round matches, eight wrestlers remain in the inaugural AEW Continental Challenge Cup. And today, AEW President and CEO Tony Khan announced the matchups for the random draw on the AEW Continental Challenge Selection Special on YouTube. The four matches are set to take place on this week’s editions of Wednesday Night Dynamite and Saturday Night Collision.

On Dynamite, Continental Champion Jon Moxley will breathe with the Switchblade as Jay White looks to end Moxley’s defense prematurely. This will be their third one-on-one meeting, following the 2019 G1 Climax and 2023 Continental Classic, as Moxley looks to avenge his 0-2 record with his championship reign on the line.

Meanwhile, part-time wrestler and AEW color analyst Nigel McGuinness dukes it out with the CMLL World Heavyweight Champion, Hechicero. There had been speculation that McGuinness would exit the tournament due to an injury sustained in his first-round match against Katsuyori Shibata. Nigel, who has lost a significant portion of his career to injury, announced on the Selection Special that he’s staying in the tournament. He will not let another injury take him away from his opportunity.

“A different man, a smarter man, a prudent man, might say ‘Now is the time to bow out. No way you’re gonna be 100%,” McGuinnes said. “Clearly, I’m not that man.”

On Collision, long-time partners meet once more, as Eddie Kingston will face off against Claudio Castagnoli. The Mad King and The Swiss Superman are no strangers to each other, with a deep and personal history that has spanned 15+ years starting in the independent circuit.

And finally, it’s Conglomeration vs Conglomeration, as Kyle O’Reilly takes on stablemate Orange Cassidy. This will be the second time in a row O’Reilly faces off against a member of the Conglomeration in this tournament, as he defeated fellow member Roderick Strong on last week’s Collision to advance.

The finals will be held at All In on Aug. 30, where the winner will win the cup and become the AEW Continental Champion.

Lucha Libre de Elite: How Mexico and the Luchadores Have Been Instrumental in the Rise of AEW

August 4, 2026AEW, WrestlingAbel LozaComment

Lucha Libre de Elite

The second-ever AEW Grand Slam: Mexico is just a few hours away, and it has quickly become one of AEW’s best events and, for many, one of the most important of the year. Grand Slam celebrates the unique and phenomenal partnership not only with CMLL but also with lucha libre culture in general. This didn’t start overnight. Since day one, Mexican wrestlers and luchadores have been part of All Elite Wrestling, woven into its fabric. From the Lucha Brothers to Thunder Rosa to more current Mexican wrestlers like Rush, Bandido, Andrade, and Persephone, along with countless others, these Hispanic wrestlers continue to carve out their own space within the promotion.

At Redemption, Andrade became the third Mexican to win gold in AEW, after defeating Mark Davis for the AEW National Championship. El Idolo joined Thunder Rosa and Rey Fenix as the only Mexican Wrestlers to win singles gold in the promotion, not including sister promotion Ring of Honor. However, I don't think this will be the last time this happens as Bandido, Komander and Rush continue to show their ability to get over with the fans.

It’s not only about integrating lucha culture into the promotion, but also about the relationships AEW has built with other lucha promotions. Whether it was its initial partnership with AAA or what we see now with CMLL, AEW embraces the wonder of Lucha Libre. Last year, the event was truly one of the most magical moments in wrestling history, as AEW showcased some of its best wrestlers in one of the best environments the promotion has ever been part of. In honor of the return to Arena Mexico in Mexico City, let’s revisit how the culture of Mexican wrestling and luchadores has impacted All Elite Wrestling since the very start.

From the Beginning…

Luchadores have been in All Elite Wrestling's DNA since the beginning. The Lucha Brothers, Pentagon Jr (later Penta El Zero M), and Rey Fenix were on the day-one roster. Because of their ties to Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, Tony Khan could easily work with the promotion. During the initial Double or Nothing ticket announcement, AEW and AAA officially announced a partnership. During the pandemic, AEW needed to do things a bit differently to break up the monotony of empty arenas. While not a new idea, defending a belt from another promotion is novel in this generation of wrestling. For lapsed or new fans, especially those who only knew WWE, a belt from another promotion being defended on AEW television seemed alien.

The AAA Mega Championship match between champion Kenny Omega and challenger Sammy Guevara was the first time many American wrestling fans received this sort of exposure outside U.S. wrestling norms. It was easy to highlight that promotion and title on national television during the pandemic. It gave some fans their first glimpse of things to come for AEW and other promotions. It was an added benefit not only for AEW but also for AAA.

Necessity Is the Mother of Cooperation

AAA wasn't the only wrestling promotion that AEW worked with during the pandemic. Even if not strictly Lucha promotions, luchadores were always the candy in Tony Khan’s eyes. When AEW worked with TNA, Black Taurus eventually made the jump over under the moniker Beast Mortos. Even wrestlers who never made the jump, like Laredo Kid, were prominently showcased. It wasn't just the men who were showcased in AEW. Thunder Rosa was introduced to a much larger audience during the pandemic because of the AEW/NWA partnership during her tenure as the NWA Women’s World Champion. While she eventually lost to then-AEW Women’s champion Hikaru Shida, her profile grew, leading to a permanent roster spot for Rosa in AEW.

However, nothing lasts forever. AAA and AEW officially ended their partnership around the end of 2022, when Tony Khan felt AAA had double-crossed his company in an attempt to end the relationship. Fortunately, in October of 2023, AEW announced a partnership with the oldest professional wrestling promotion in the world, el Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, or CMLL. This partnership propelled both companies into a new stratosphere and to a reach not seen before in North America.

Mexican Milestone Moments

The ability of Tony Khan and those in his ear has given AEW the ability to become a major platform for Luchadores and Mexicans to showcase their culture, give a curtain call of sorts, and reassure us that we have more in common than we do differences.

Thunder Rosa and Her Mariachi

I know that Thunder Rosa hasn't been on television as often as she used to be, as she has become more of an AEW ambassador, but La Mera Mera winning the title against Britt Baker in that Steel Cage match is not only one of the greatest moments in the women’s division; it is one of the greatest television moments in the young company's history. For me, the main reason is that Rosa proudly represented herself, her family, and her culture throughout the match. Her reign began the moment the mariachi kicked off her entrance, and the emotion was palpable as she won her way, representing her culture unabashedly.

Thunder Rosa has now won the Mexican National Women’s Championship, parlaying her hard work in AEW to a blossoming career in Mexico.

Mistico’s Redemption

One of the most important moments for luchadores in AEW came at last year's Grand Slam: Mexico, with Mistico’s appearance. AEW’s impact on luchadores is not fully understood without also examining its impact on Mistico. Before his reemergence in All Elite Wrestling, Mistico was still widely known as Sin Cara, the much-maligned luchador whose time in WWE is remembered as an epic failure. While this was not his first appearance for AEW, it marked the official end of his redemption arc for an American audience.

Mistico is one of the biggest modern stars of Lucha Libre and does not need to seek validation. Even so, this appearance at Grand Slam almost entirely erased his tumultuous WWE run, which, for many American wrestling fans, was their only impression of the generational luchador. From the entrance, finally getting his song back, “Me Muero,” to grabbing the Mexican flag and waving it proudly, his legacy was set in stone. The outcome of the match didnt matter much as this was his moment, despite the fact that MJF got one over on him by removing his mask and almost causing an all-out riot).

El Vaquero y Su Pueblo

And of course, how can we forget about our Cowboy? His promo, all in Spanish, connected the Mexican people to Hangman’s upbringing and to how the culture has always been something to aspire to be a part of. It was an incredibly moving promo that not only hyped up his upcoming match against Moxley but also cemented the relationship between the Mexican community and AEW.

So, while not given by a Mexican wrestler or a luchador, the top babyface in the company and the No. 1 contender to the AEW World Championship used his platform for such a moment, which was exactly what Grand Slam is all about.

A Launching Pad

Not all wrestlers from Latin America have stayed in AEW or even picked the promotion during free agency. It would be impossible to hoard all the talent in a single promotion. For others, like Stephanie Vaquer and the Lucha Brothers, AEW was never the endgame, and that's okay. Still, AEW’s continued showcasing of lucha and Hispanic talent has made other promotions feel they have to keep up and sign them. For the burgeoning promotion, those opportunities would not have been available for that transition.

Who is to say that the AAAXWWE partnership is even a thing without the exposure from AEW. Triple H is more open to working with other promotions, as we have seen with AAA, TNA, and NOAH. Hunter’s philosophy is 180 degrees different from his predecessor, Vince McMahon, who was reluctant to do anything like that. With that being said, would that have happened if the Forbidden Door hadn’t been opened previously?

To say that AEW has never influenced WWE, or vice versa, would be silly. You know they have. It would also be inaccurate to say that CMLL and AAA are not big or smart enough to make the crossover on their own. Even so, with AEW unafraid to cross the aisle, Luchadores from those promotions have benefited from a larger audience and a bigger paycheck.

Speaking of paychecks, wrestlers can now get a couple of paychecks without leaving the other behind. Wrestlers like Persephone, Hechicero, and Thunder Rosa all have two-way contracts with the promotions and can still represent both. A great launching pad toward a more secure future post-wrestling.

The Future is Bright

The partnership between the two promotions is alive and well. Earlier this week, we had Semana Internacional (International Week), presented by CMLL, right before Grand Slam. While major AEW wrestlers were not be present, several were still major players on the card. Kyle Fletcher, Kevin Knight, Bandido, Komander, and others were promoted for CMLL’s event, giving us a little taste before Grand Slam. This also highlights the give-and-take relationship between the two promotions.

However, this has been much more than just a wrestling partnership. It's been a highway for cultural exchange for fans from both countries. In that sense, Mexican and Mexican-American wrestlers have always had an impact not only on the storylines but also on AEW's culture and presentation. AEW is the platform that allows many of these men and women to be seen by an American audience. At the same time, AEW has become a more prominent promotion in Mexico and across the rest of Latin America. It's a symbiotic relationship, not a parasitic one, that has benefited both parties. More importantly, I think AEW has done a fantastic job of creating an outlet for Mexican and Mexican American fans to take pride in their culture.

Right now, AEW is chock-full of Mexican wrestlers who continue to make their push towards the top of the card. Persophone, Andrade, Bandido, Komander, and Rush are on television consistently and are winning and challenging for all of AEW’s championships. Pro wrestling has always been a funny and ego-filled business, but if these promotions can continue to see the good in working with each other, we can continue to see these wrestlers thrive.

A Cowboy’s Odyssey: How “Hangman” Adam Page Reestablishes Himself In AEW

August 3, 2026Wrestling, AEWAbel LozaComment

Adam Page is officially back in All Elite Wrestling after making the save and stopping The Demand from crushing The Conglomeration and Brody King. This was not his first appearance since losing to MJF; it came in his promo on the July 8th edition of Dynamite, where Hangman laid out the AEW World Championship-less roadmap for his return. However, this is the first time he has been woven back into the show and is officially part of weekly television again. It also looks like he is teaming up with Brodido to become The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, a trio name clearly tributed to one of the greatest westerns of all-time.This marks his official return to AEW and the start of a new chapter in his career.

Clearly, there is a lot of work to do before Hangman can compete for any AEW championship again, let alone the world championship. Page needs to rebuild his credibility with the locker room and the fans. That will be the foundation of Hangman’s story. How can Hangman redeem himself in his own eyes and come to terms with his new reality?

If he's not going to challenge for the World Championship, what will be his ultimate goal in his new era in All Elite Wrestling? Where does he start, and what titles should he try to win? Do we see partnerships with old friends and rivalries against some of his old Rogue’s Gallery? This new era of the Cowboy could be the most significant of his career, cementing his legacy even if he never wins again. However, let's look at how “Hangman” Adam Page can get back in the saddle and maybe, someday, get back to the mountaintop.

Reckoning Day for the Cowboy

Hangman has been out of action since his loss to MJF at Revolution earlier this year. The match, at least how it finished, was one of the most shocking moments in AEW history. The Hangman being hung was jaw-dropping, and truly one of the most unexpected finishes to a match we've ever seen. It won't be an easy psychological bounce-back, so that will be the foundation of Hangman's story. Page has become the patron saint of resilience and perseverance, but at the same time, has been the personification of hate and struggle—the duality of a Cowboy. However, that story can only be told a certain number of times before the magic runs out.

So there needs to be an easy, simple jumping-in point not only for Hangman but also for the audience. Right now, teaming up with Brodido seems like an easy layup to get us started down his new journey. The Don Callis family is always a great punching bag, so it makes sense that Page is starting there. Maybe that is where we see his opponent for All In come in.

Where does Hangman Start?

A great way to kickstart his momentum again would be to revisit some of Hangman’s biggest rivalries, like Jon Moxley, Jay White, and Kazuda Okada; Kyle Fletcher would be a fantastic rival, with or without belts. Eventually, it would be nice if these were for some of the titles, but to start, I don't think that is essential.

Something I think would really catapult Hangman back into the spotlight is a reunion with his old tag team partner, Kenny Omega. Obviously, this depends on what happens with Omega post-All In, but if Will Ospreay is officially crowned, Omega could also use a landing spot. Either way, these are two great ways for Hangman to get his bearings and get back into the ring, from a storytelling perspective.

Hangman Immediately Brings Legitimacy To Any Title

AEW has dozens of titles. Trust me, if you've been on the wrestling side of the internet for even 30 seconds, AEW naysayers will remind you about this. With so many titles in rotation for AEW, a hierarchy has developed regarding the importance of some belts over others. Having a legitimate former AEW World Champion compete for other titles, making them feel like the most important championship, can increase the value of any title in need of a push. Adam Page is a 2x AEW World Champion. The Cowboy winning and mid-card title would immediately bring prestige to any title.

I think all titles are on the table for the Hangman, well, except for the World Championship, obviously. Whether he goes on a tear, winning titles left and right, or concentrates on just one, this will ultimately be up to Page and Tony Khan: which direction they want to go. However, I think it would be much smarter to make a concerted effort to determine which belts Page wins.

What Title Makes Sense for Adam Page?

Out of all the singles titles that AEW boasts, I think the one title that could use the biggest boost in prestige and cache is the TNT title. The de facto AEW TV title has fallen behind other titles—the International and Continental—in prestige. Whether this was by design or not, the TNT title has fallen behind. Kevin Knight has been a worthy titleholder; however, he seems too busy trying to win the AEW World Title rather than defending his TNT Title. If Hangman concentrates just on the title, that would immediately prop up the title.

A juicy story AEW can tell is Hangman for the Ring of Honor title. Whether that's his new partner Bandido or a new contender, Hangman winning the ROH World Championship could be a full-circle moment for the cowboy. Honestly, Page doesn't have to win a singles title right away. He can be a vagabond for a while, telling a meaty story. Nobody tells a story like the Cowboy, so Page can hit the ground running to tell some laid-out stories, even without any of the AEW titles at stake. This can set a good foundation for this return and avoid having him challenge for a belt just for the sake of it.

A Cowboy’s Odyssey

This next chapter in the story of the Hangman will be twofold: 1) reckoning with the fact he can't compete for the AEW World Championship again and 2) finding a new purpose. Since day one, Adam Page has had one mission: to win the AEW World Championship. And that is exactly what he did, from battling Chris Jericho in the first-ever AEW World Championship match all the way to winning the title for the second time at All In: Texas. That has been basically his entire character arc in AEW: chase the biggest prize in the sport. It is time to add another layer to this character, one not in the World Championship picture. The Hangman has been broken down differently than when he turned heel.

When he turned heel, he at least had a direction. His direction was making sure his boot connected with Swerve’s ass. This time he is directionless and doesn't know where to start, or where the rest of his career will go. The Odyssey recently returned to the popular zeitgeist, and Tony Khan and Adam Page could tell the wrestling version of that story. Why not have Hangman go on his own odyssey to the World Title? I'm not saying Hangman should take 20 years to win the title. Still, making Page go through his own trials and tribulations, his own siren call and Island of Ogygia, could bring another sophisticated story to wrestling.

The suitors for his belt, which he lost so egregiously to Samoa Joe because of Hook, could be reunited with the king.

But he can't get there right away, obviously. He needs to get his sea legs again. Page already started with a new persona, establishing himself as a wise, grizzled veteran and savior for those in need. That is where his partnership with Brodido makes sense. For the immediate future, I think he will be presented as a savior, the guardian angel of AEW and those who need it, but throughout this journey, who is going to save the savior?

The Million-dollar Question Is: Does Hangman Ever Compete For The AEW World Championship Again?

Yes, I think he does—but this should be years from now, five to seven years plus. That is the real question: can the entire saga be worth the ride if they don't pull the trigger anytime soon? I know TK gets some criticism online for slow burning stories, but that is exactly the route he needs to take with Adam Page. The journey has to be the real story here and not necessarily the destination. I think Hangman's character and the crowd have to earn it. As fans, we have to live and die by the results, and that makes us care.

I think what will eventually set up Page for his title shot is this: like Odysseus breaking into Troy destroying Zeus’s Law to end the war, will keeping his word do more harm than good if he doesn't challenge for the World Championship again?

As always, the ‘Hangman’ Adam Page character has many layers that make him incredibly interesting, and I think his upcoming journey might be his most ambitious to date. There is so much for the cowboy to do outside the AEW World Championship scene that it will not only benefit the company but also build his legacy in wrestling.

If done correctly, this era of the Hangman can be his magnum opus.

What Do You Think?

Am I wrong, or what do you agree with?

Where am I missing the point, or do you agree with any of my points?

Let me know in the comments below!

AEW Redemption Fall Out: The Road to All In Is Set

July 27, 2026Wrestling, AEWAbel LozaComment

The brand-new AEW PPV Redemption just happened, and there is so much that happened that we need to break it down. Our eyes are squarely set on London, as this is the last stop-sans Grand Slam: Mexico-- before we get to the biggest pay-per-view of the year. Thus, in preparation for All In, here are the top eight moments from Redemption that will affect AEW heading into London.

On Our Way to London

Three different title changes, major story angles, and cemented matches have changed the narrative for All In, and so far, it looks like it's going to be an all-time great AEW show. This was the first time there was a PPV the month prior to All In, and I think it was a success, allowing Tony Khan and crew a before-and-after event to get all the stories ready for the biggest PPV of the year in their return to Wembley.

There has been some early pushback on the quality of Redemption as a whole, and on whether the wrestling lived up to AEW's very high standard. I personally think that while maybe not all the matches hit that high, most did. But more importantly, a cohesive gathering of what all of the builds will be for All In was vastly more important, and I think that was successful. Not every show needs to be the biggest show of your year to supplement the product.

Grand Slam: Mexico Is Next up for the International Title

AEW Grand Slam: Mexico might have found its main event after Speedball Mike Bailey won the No. 1 contender ladder match, and Kyle Fletcher successfully defended his title against Bandido. This build for the next couple of weeks should be fun, and the winner in Mexico undoubtedly goes to All In as the International champion. It could even be a rematch if the match lives up to what we know we can get from Fletcher and Bailey.

The odds probably point to Fletcher as the favorite to retain his title in Mexico; however, Tony Khan loves to do celebratory champ-chasing, and I think Bailey would be the next person in line to get his ceremonial win. At this point, Fletcher is Teflon and losing really won't stick to him. Since this match is taking place before All In, expect us to hit the ground running on this angle as soon as this week.

Ospreay vs The Death Riders

Welp. As quickly as we got Will Ospreay into the Death Riders, he is already out. In one night, Ospreay looked like he had been born to be a Death Rider, only to betray Jon Moxley for Kenny Omega’s neck. Moxley’s reaction tells one story—his face of complete disappointment was that of a father whose child did something unexpected. However, his actions will speak louder than whatever he might feel personally.

I will be very interested to see how Moxley reacts. Will he see this as a child acting out or as Judas who betrayed Jesus of Nazareth? Will the rest of the Death Riders feel any differently than Moxley, and will that create internal conflict within the faction? This will be fascinating to watch as we march towards All In.

This is Maya’s World

The first title change of Redemption saw Maya World continue her ascension to the top of the card, defeating Hikaru Shida for her first singles title in AEW. The rise we have seen from World is almost unprecedented, feeling almost as though her rise came at the blink of an eye, yet well deserved. While it is important to remember how she got here, I think the more important question to ask for her career is: Where does she go from here?

The length of a title reign isn't what's important; it's the impact it had—ask Darby—and I think Maya can have a major impact with the TBS title. World needs to ride this momentum to continue to push her, defend the title, and give the title a shot in the arm it's been needing for a while. The women’s locker room is filled with talent which should foster an opportunity for Maya to continue to prove herself against some of the best.

How You Know What’s Next for Andrade?

Nobody this side of Channing Tatum gets a pop like that for taking their pants off like Andrade El Idolo. The new AEW National Champion, Andrade, is over with the crowd, and that connection he has with them—as we saw after the match—is something I don't think he could ever do. Andrade has gotten over a broken English catchphrase, and the only thing that will stop him is AEW’s creative. His immediate future, I think, needs to be to continue to climb for the ladder from belt to belt, until that rocketship ends with Andrade winning the AEW World Championship. Tony needs to make sure to keep the momentum going for Andrade.

Andrade is the perfect example of why burning bridges between companies is not smart. He was welcomed back with open arms for his second run in AEW, and now the goal is the AEW World Championship. How you know? Because I do. And that should be the start of his next climb.

Nothing Is Stopping Willow

It was a long time coming, but we finally have what many AEW fans have been clamoring for: Willow Nightingale as the AEW Women’s World Champion. Willow is now the first-ever women's triple crown winner, having won all the titles in the women’s division. Willow will now head to London to defend her title against Mercedes Moné. Willow vs Mercedes was always the right call. Shout out to Thekla for a successful AEW Women’s Championship reign. She took the title and ran with it. Making herself one of the more popular women in the division.

There has been major pushback that the outcomes of the match did not live up to the moment of Willow's crowning. However, all I can go back and think about is Willow’s smile after she won. I think that should speak to how Willow felt about her moment where she finally reached the mountain top.

No Big Debuts or Returns

According to reports, up to seven ex-WWE wrestlers want to sign with All Elite Wrestling, but they just had to wait for their non-compete clause to expire. However, there were no debuts or returns. No Motor City Machine Guns, no New Day, no Santos Escobar, no Kairi Sane, and no Sheamus, who was always a long shot. Even Buddy Matthews, who tweeted like he was coming back, did not. I think the majority of fans were expecting someone to make their appearance, but with All In just around the corner, that makes sense for them to do any major reveals then.

One expectation. Dynamite is slated to be in Detroit this week. Where are the MOTOR CITY Machine Guns from? Take a wild guess.

The Best Bout Machine Retained

Kenny Omega retained the title. No hijinks, no help, nothing. Just the Best Bout Machine doing what he does best: kicking ass. Obviously, the sequence most people will talk about is the post-match angle, where Ospreay betrayed Moxley, then Omega “betrayed” Ospreay. I don't see it that way. I see Omega as either misinformed or acting in the heat of the moment. Or maybe he wanted to get one over on Ospreay. We've seen him do it before to AJ Styles in NJPW as a member of the Bullet Club.

I personally think the closing sequence was spectacular and tactical. It adds a layer of storytelling it did not have before. Now, instead of two buddies holding hands into the biggest match of their lives, major tension has been created. I love that turn of events, especially since it leaves Ospreay immediately regretting not putting the finishing touches on Omega before.

That concludes our AEW Redemption fall out. Be sure to come back for future fall outs for future events, and you can watch All In: London in just over a month on August 30th.

A Handy Guide To: AEW Redemption 2026

July 24, 2026AEWJhuvin PComment

Need to know when and where to watch an upcoming PPV/PLE? Need to know who’s fighting who? Need to know why you should care? Then, you’ve come to the right place!

A Handy Guide is a new series here on Dirt Sheet Radio and Comic Book Clique where we run down an upcoming pay-per-view’s match card, and discuss the competitors and stories coming into each match. For now, our focus is going to be on WWE and AEW, but if there’s interest, we may expand to companies like TNA, NJPW, and more.

Today’s edition is all about AEW Redemption 2026, taking place on Sunday, July 26th, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. This is the inaugural Redemption event and the first AEW PPV to take place in Montreal.

The PPV will air on major cable and satellite providers in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. U.S. and Canadian viewers can stream the event on YouTube, Prime Video, and DAZN. Additionally, U.S. fans can also stream it on HBO Max at a discount, or catch it at select Dave & Buster locations nationwide. International viewers can view the event on PPV.com or MyAEW.com.

This article does not cover any of the Buy-In (pre-show) matches, and as always the card is subject to change. But for now, these are the matches, and these are the stories:

**Mark Davis vs. Andrade El Ídolo— National Championship Match**

To the surprise of no one, the Don Callis Family is all over this show, and out of all the matches on this card, this one is the Doniest Callisiest Familiest of them all. When Andrade returned to AEW, he immediately aligned himself with Don Callis and his growing family. However, the DCF’s biggest strength (numbers) is also its biggest weakness. The more members they have, the more egos need to be balanced, and Andrade didn’t want to get lost in the shuffle behind guys like Okada, Fletcher, or the newly acquired Kevin Knight.
Things came to a head at Forbidden Door. Andrade was handpicked by Don Callis to join Team MJF in the wild and bloody “Death’s Door” twelve-man tag team cage match. He protested the decision, primarily due to his hatred for MJF, and would loudly betray his team during the match. Now on his own and with an eye for singles gold, Andrade won a number one contender’s match for a shot against a familiar face: the National Champion, and DCF member, Mark Davis.
Mark Davis joined the family back in 2025 as part of a spiteful feud against Will Ospreay. He’s brought both muscle and brains to the group, beating down DCF adversaries with precise brutality. He made it to the semifinals of this year’s Owen Hart Tournament, and a couple of months ago, he won the AEW National Championship from “Jungle” Jack Perry. Davis has defended the belt in RevPro and Ring of Honor, and most recently defended it in a hard-hitting match on Collision against “Speedball” Mike Bailey. This Sunday, he is not only defending the championship, but also the honor of the Don Callis Family.

**"The Painmaker" Chris Jericho vs. Tommaso Ciampa**
**— No Holds Barred**

This feud has hit all the notes for a typical face/heel feud. Returning star receives a welcome back pop and an automatic face turn, heel is jealous of face because “reason”, something something respect.
Tommaso Ciampa has made his hatred for Chris Jericho crystal clear (even spoofing his infamous 1,004 Reasons promo to explain it). He believes he is better than Jericho and feels he needs to expose him as a fraud following his return to AEW. As for Jericho, he is running solo for the first time since the disbandment of the Jericho Appreciation Society, and sees Ciampa as a nuisance (see: Jericho calling him “Tommy” during a recent promo battle). The two faced off for the first time at Beach Break, and Ciampa won after blinding Jericho with sand and hitting him with a running knee. Typical heel work, typical end to a filler feud.
And then Ciampa tried to attack Jericho with a power drill.
“Psycho Killer” Tommaso Ciampa has re-emerged, and it seems this is no longer just about respect. Now, he wants to kill Jericho(?). Meanwhile, Jericho has not taken this threat lying down, and has tapped into his own sadistic side, returning to his Painmaker moniker to enact revenge on Ciampa. Ciampa has upped the stakes and called for a No Holds Barred match, Jericho has accepted. Painmaker versus Psycho Killer; this is going to be brutal.

**Cage and Cope (Christian Cage/Adam Copeland) vs. The Death Riders (Claudio Castagnoli/Pac)**
**— Tag Team Championship Match**

When Christian Cage and Adam Copeland became the AEW tag team champions, it was a cathartic moment. Two best friends whose careers were cut short due to injuries, returned and branched off on their own paths, and then came together to remind themselves and the world how great they are. Some people thought they might slow down a little bit. Some people thought they would take on challengers sporadically until dropping the belts and riding off into the sunset. Those people do not know Cage and Cope.
In their first two defenses of the championships, they faced young, hungry competitors in The Dogs (Clark Connors and David Finlay) and The Death Riders (Daniel Garcia and Wheeler Yuta). The Dogs and Death Riders are now aligned to inflict pain and violence all throughout AEW, and the tag team championships remain in their crosshairs. Since the younger Death Riders were unable to get the job done, the heavy hitters are now taking their shot. Claudio Castagnoli and PAC are wrestling savants with kicks and elbows that can take your head off. Cage and Cope will not let the titles go without a fight, and Claudio and PAC are the perfect wrestlers to bring the fight to them.

**Bang Bang Gang**
**(Jay White/Juice Robinson) vs. The Dogs (Clark Connors/David Finlay) — Double Chain Match**

Speaking of The Dogs, they have been engaged in a bloody and personal feud with the Bang Bang Gang that stems from a historic schism of one of Japan’s most infamous factions. In 2023, Jay White lost a “Loser Leaves NJPW” match, and as he was addressing the crowd, David Finlay attacked him and took control of Bullet Club. Finlay saw the faction through to its bitter end while White joined AEW and formed Bullet Club Gold (later the Bang Bang Gang). In 2025, Jay White needed to take time off to deal with some severe injuries and would be sidelined for 15 months. Enough time for David Finlay and Clark Connors to finish their tenures in New Japan and set their sights on becoming all elite.
The Dogs formed in full force back in March when David Finlay made his AEW debut to help Clark Connors and the other dog, Gabe Kidd. Formed from the ashes of the Bullet Club, these three men have run roughshod through the AEW roster and were set to win the tag team championships at Forbidden Door. Until Jay White made a surprise return and attacked David Finlay, costing them the match. There is a price to pay this Sunday, and it will be paid with blood and chains. The Double Chain Match will supposedly function much like the Double Dog Collar Match between FTR and The Briscoes in 2022. One member of a tag team will be chained to a member of the opposing team, ensuring there is nowhere to run or hide, and the violence will not stop until there is a pinfall or submission.

**Kyle Fletcher vs. Bandido— International Championship Match**

On March 28, 2026, Kyle Fletcher suffered a torn meniscus, fractured tibia, and fractured ankle. These injuries should have taken him out of action for months. Less than sixty days later, Kyle Fletcher returned at Double or Nothing to help kick Konosuke Takeshita out of the Don Callis Family. An insane amount of luck kept Fletcher from needing surgery and allowing him to rehab so quickly. Though, it wasn’t luck that helped him defeat Takeshita and win the International Championship.
The golden boy of the Don Callis Family is riding high after betraying one of his best friends— again— and taking his title in the process. He has already amassed one successful title defense against the high-flying luchador Komander, and at Redemption he’s set to face another luchador: Bandido.
At just thirty-one years old, Bandido has already solidified himself as a legendary luchador and has held the ROH World Championship now for over 470 days. He combines smooth high-flying prowess with a disproportionate strength that allows him to easily throw around guys twice his size. And he, like so many wrestlers, has a bone to pick with the Don Callis Family. After Fletcher successfully defended his championship, he and the DCF sought to unmask Komander. He was saved by Bandido and Brody King, which enraged Fletcher enough to call the tag team out for a singles match with the International Championship on the line. It’s a bold, emotional move on the young champion’s part, but if it pays off, it can go a long way in solidifying Fletcher as a main-event talent.
If it pays off…

**Six-Man Ladder Match to Become #1 Contender for the International Championship**

The multi-man ladder match is the bay leaf for a pro wrestling match card. You don’t always need it, and you don’t know how it got in there, but man is it giving that stew the good spice. On this pay-per-view, the spice is coming from a six-man ladder match to determine the new number one contender for Kyle Fletcher’s International Championship. Already announced for the match are: Quebec’s own “Speedball” Mike Bailey, the man who nearly defeated Fletcher in his first defense, Komander, the former National Champion “Jungle” Jack Perry, and The Beast Mortos, who returns to AEW after dealing with visa issues.
The final two entrants will be determined in qualifying matches on Saturday night’s Collision. AR Fox takes on “The Prodigy” Nick Wayne, and the last time these two faced off, Fox was victorious and also won the ROH World Television Championship from Wayne. Now, they face off for a shot at a different championship. The second qualifying match is between El Clon, the evil side split off from the wrestler Hologram after he began “glitching out” in the ring, and Lio Rush, who has become possessed by a demon that has made him go insane and also won him the ROH World TV title. Wrestling is fun.

**Hikaru Shida vs. Maya World**
**— TBS Championship Match**

Hikaru Shida returned to AEW in April to answer Willow Nightingale’s challenge, coincidentally, for the TBS Champion. Over the next few weeks, Shida began developing an attitude and animosity towards her fellow competitors. She was more brutal and relentless in the ring, all for the sake of becoming a champion again. She fully turned heel during the Survival of the Fittest match, submitting Kris Statlander after she was blindsided by Persephone, and becoming the TBS Champion. She has shown no mercy to challengers and continues beating them down after the bell rings. It’s during her post-match beatdown of Queen Aminata that she was interrupted by her newest challenger: Maya World.
Maya World has had a whirlwind couple of months. After the tragic loss of her brother, she continued to wrestle in order to honor his memory. That drive and dedication earned her a spot at Forbidden Door and in the finals of the Women’s Owen Hart Cup tournament. Despite coming up short, it gained her respect and adoration from the fans, and a continued presence on AEW television. Now, on the heels of her great showing at Forbidden Door, she is in another high-profile pay-per-view match. Can she ride her momentum all the way to her first AEW championship win? Or will Hikaru Shida continue to hone her ruthless edge and extend her reign?

**The Young Bucks vs. Death Riders (Will Ospreay/Jon Moxley)**

After defeating him at Dynasty in April, Jon Moxley started a campaign to recruit Will Ospreay. It was a confusing move, the two men are like oil and water. Moxley is cold, methodical, and violent; Ospreay is flashy, high-flying, and…okay, so he’s violent too but in a video game character kind of way. Still, though, why would Moxley want Ospreay of all people to join the Death Riders? The answer, it turns out, is deceptively simple: Ospreay earned Moxley’s respect. He’s willing to work with the Aerial Assassin so he can live up to the latter part of that moniker. Ospreay was hesitant at first, but he eventually learned to tap into his more violent side, and even the most apprehensive Death Riders learned to embrace their newest recruit. With the Death Riders in his corner, Will Ospreay vanquished Swerve Strickland at Forbidden Door and won the Men’s Owen Hart tournament.
The lessons continue, however, and Moxley has taken the full-fledged Death Rider completely under his wing. Moxley and Ospreay have become a formidable mentor/student tag team, defeating their opponents with a brutality that some would deem unnecessary. The Death Riders would deem it as part of the business. Meanwhile, the Young Bucks have their sights set on the world tag team championships again and want to ensure The Elite are all holding gold sooner rather than later. They see Will Ospreay and, by extension, the Death Riders as a threat to that golden prophecy.
The Young Bucks have challenged Moxley and Ospreay to a match at Redemption, and the Death Riders have accepted. With the Bucks being best friends to Ospreay’s potential All-In opponent, Kenny Omega, how personal will he take this match? Will it be “just business” for him? Or a prelude to what could await Kenny in London in one month?

**Thekla vs. Willow Nightingale**
**— Women’s World Championship Match**

Back in May, Willow Nightingale suffered a shoulder injury that forced her to relinquish her TBS Championship and drop out of the Owen Hart tournament. This was a significant loss to the women’s division and hurt the momentum of Willow, who was having a banner year. However, earlier this month at Beach Break, Willow made a shocking return during the Women’s Casino Gauntlet, ultimately winning the match and a shot at the AEW Women’s Championship. Willow Nightingale proudly revels in this pay-per-view’s theme of redemption. On an episode of Collision, she declared, “Redemption means…that the worst day of my career doesn’t have to define the rest of it.” She’s been vocal about the pain of losing it all, but also the strength it took to get her back and better than ever. She is not going to waste this chance to get back to the top of the women’s division.
However, the woman standing in her way is the mean, violent, *toxic* champion Thekla. After winning the championship in a bloody strap match against Kris Statlander in February, Thekla has been on a reign of terror. Alongside Julia Hart and Skye Blue, the Triangle of Madness has engaged in regular beatdowns of the women’s division and antagonized pretty much anyone with a pulse. Unfortunately for her challengers, Thekla has backed her trash talk up decisively in the ring. Over the last five months, she’s amassed victories against the likes of Thunder Rosa, Mina Shirakawa, Jamie Hayter, Alex Windsor, and Stardom’s own Starlight Kid. Neither woman is backing down from the other, and when these two dynamic forces finally meet, it’s surely going to be spectacular.

**Kenny Omega vs. Kevin Knight**
**— Men’s World Championship Match**

There is perhaps no other wrestler on this card that embodies the theme of redemption like Kenny Omega. Back in January 2025, Kenny Omega returned after a thirteen-month absence due to a life-threatening bout of diverticulitis. During that time away, he had two feet (sixty-one centimeters) of his intestines removed and was told he could never return to the level of the Best Bout Machine, the seven-star man, the God of Pro Wrestling. To return to the ring was already a miracle, to become AEW champion again was another thing entirely. Jameus Mooney wrote a beautiful article that touches on how much Kenny’s identity is linked to the AEW World Championship, and you can read that here.
Winning the world championship means ultimate vindication for Kenny. Yes, he did win the International Championship from Konosuke Takeshita during this time, which was vindicating in its own right, but it wasn’t the World Championship. It wasn’t the championship synonymous with All Elite Wrestling, the company he built. At Dynasty, Kenny was unsuccessful at wrestling the world championship from MJF, but managed to secure a rematch at Beach Break. However, it was with an asterisk that has plagued The Elite since AEW’s inception: if Kenny lost, he could never challenge for the world championship ever again. Thankfully, Kenny Omega found himself again and regained the world championship at Beach Break. Kenny knows it’s going to be a journey to keep his championship, but he also knows this will all result in the “best” version of Kenny Omega that AEW has ever seen. A version that every challenger of the belt will have to combat.
Enter the TNT Champion, Kevin Knight.
Kevin Knight won the TNT Championship in a Casino Gauntlet match at Dynasty in April. The win came as a surprise to everyone…who hasn’t been watching the product. Kevin Knight has quickly become one of AEW’s most reliable talents, and him winning the TNT Championship shows the company believes he is the present and future of the business. However, that responsibility has deformed into arrogance, and he believes the people that have lifted him up are actually anchors holding him down. At Double or Nothing, he let one of those anchors loose by turning heel on Darby Allin. Since then, he has split from his tag team partner, “Speedball” Mike Bailey, joined the Don Callis Family, and called out the new world champion.
Kenny has called Kevin Knight out for being a fraud. He believes there is still goodness inside Knight and wants to see the return of “The Jet”. But Kevin Knight doesn’t believe there is goodness in his heart, only greatness. That ego may get the better of the TNT Champion. His growing disdain over certain members of the DCF (*cough* Kyle Fletcher *cough*) has caused him to ban the rest of the family from ringside during this match. This will be the first test of Kenny’s reign and the biggest test of Kevin’s entire career. Whatever the outcome, this is sure to be an exciting match.

**Other Things To Look Out For**

Where is Swerve Strickland? After coming up short in the finals of the Owen Hart tournament, he hasn’t been seen on television. Could he make an appearance at Redemption? And if so, who does he go for next?
Hangman Adam Page can never challenge for the AEW World Championship again, leaving his next path wildly up to interpretation. Could we see a hint of what he does next on this night?
Mercedes Mone went back-to-back and won the Owen Hart tournament two years in a row. She’s set to face the women’s champion at All-In, so she’s certain to make an appearance at Redemption, possibly after (or during?) the women’s championship match.
It was also announced that this PPV would celebrate 80 years of the Rougeau wrestling dynasty. Expect a nice, respectful ceremony at the event with very little chance of shenanigans.
A plethora of former WWE wrestlers have entered free agency. Big names like Motor City Machine Guns, Kairi Sane, and The New Day are on the market and have not yet confirmed where they’re going next. Could we see some new faces become all elite at Redemption?

Jhuvin P is a new writer for CBC/DSR. He has previous experience as a ghostwriter, has published several short stories, and is perpetually working on a novel. In addition to writing, he is also a comedian based out of Colorado Springs. He posts clips of his stand-up along with his other goofy antics on TikTok and Instagram.

AEW: Ospreay's Match Against Omega Wraps Three Years of Story

July 9, 2026Wrestling, AEWJameus MooneyComment

When Kenny Omega lost his AEW World Championship to Adam Page after two years of television that had been meticulously mapped out from Page’s initial loss to Chris Jericho in 2019, the feel of AEW shifted as its influx of talent, its political dynamic shift, and its growth, such as the additional programming and purchase of Ring of Honor, completely radicalized the booking philosophy and ended its long-term, cohesive feel. That cohesive feeling is something that professional wrestling as a whole hasn’t seen a company have long-term since the days of Jim Crockett, and it’s something that many lamented about the growing pains AEW felt coming out the pandemic. The Codyverse, the name given to the Cody Rhodes story as one of its initial founders found himself vilified for refusing to integrate himself with the rest of the show and ultimately pushed him out the door, irsonically a similar feeling he has now bubbling beneath the surface as SmackDown’s top guy amidst the WWE fanbase in 2026, is one thing the rest of the show can work around. But when you have talent who refuse to work with certain talents because they think they’re above them, or a talent on a big money deal who has to be pacified onto his own unofficial brand split of people who are willing to coddle him and mold themselves to his perception of what pro wrestling should be, a thorough sequence of your programming becomes increasingly difficult to book around.

Then the follow up to Will Ospreay vs Kenny Omega happened. It was at this show, Forbidden Door 2023, that it became obvious that the aforementioned big money contract was on his way out. It was that match between Omega and Ospreay that began to give AEW its feel back. This also coincides with the reports that Tony Khan had taken back full control over his booking, something he deviated from after Page’s win. Over that time, AEW has seen the reigns of MJF, Samoa Joe, Swerve Strickland, Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, Adam Page, Darby Allin, and now Kenny Omega. The hottest signing, just months after the Omega match, Will Ospreay, has had a three year odyssey to the AEW Championship that will culminate in the rematch with Omega, and the dynamics of every single championship reign between Forbidden Door 2023 and All In 2026 have built to Will Ospreay’s coronation in his home country, and every dynamic is ultimately set to play into its finish, with his road back being feuds with every single wrestler mention. For the first time since AEW initially did it with Adam Page, Khan has finished a three year angle to make the biggest of championship victories.

The championship lineage since Will Ospreay signed with AEW: MJF, Samoa Joe, Swerve Strickland, Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, Adam Page, Samoa Joe, MJF, Darby Allin, MJF, and now Kenny Omega. To go through the dynamics of each of these characters individually is to blueprint the rise of Ospreay in AEW.

Let’s start with Jon Moxley, as that seems most critical with Mox being the hive that the bees fly around, and considering Ospreay’s the latest member of the Death Riders. As you’ll be able to tell as we go along, Moxley being the glue is going to bring every single name into this. Moxley’s arc over this period of time includes a significant heel run that became clearer as it went along. Hiding the most coveted prize in the industry in a briefcase over a prolonged period because nobody in the company is worthy of seeing it is one thing, but Moxley’s entire angle with the Blackpool Combat Club was about respect. If you bleed with Jon Moxley, you’re in the Blackpool Combat Club. Of course, after the forced exit of Bryan Danielson, a name that will be coming up momentarily, the Blackpool Combat Club became the Death Riders with Moxley at the helm. The idea for Moxley with his group is to train them to be the best professional wrestlers they can be, and over time we’ve seen him go against his group and aid his group depending on what he thought was best for the people in his circle. A good example of this is the Wheeler Yuta head shave where Moxley went against Yuta for going against his word, forcing him to have honor. While this may seem uncharacteristic of a heel, especially when he’s still allied with Yuta, it’s not about the traditional heel vs. babyface structure that pro wrestling is very much behind the times as a whole in deviating from as much as it is the character, in theory, is about respecting the industry, and going against his team forces them to learn respect in news way. Meanwhile, keeping the belt and cheating to do so is theoretically the antithesis of what Jon Moxley is supposed to believe in, however, as Moxley has explained on numerous occasions, pro wrestling likes to stack the deck, and anybody who cannot upend him with the deck stacked is not capable to lead a pro wrestling company. You have a hybrid of Moxley in his in-between stage, because the training to be a main event star is nuanced. You’re not just going against honor against a babyface like Omega, but you’re going against the dishonorable like MJF.

When Will Ospreay lost the opportunity to face Jon Moxley at All In 2025 to Hangman Page, it needed to be Hangman. The downfall of AEW that forced Moxley into his attempt to get people to step up began the moment that the day one thoroughbred lost his championship to a talent who didn’t respect what Moxley had built, and almost destroyed it. For Page, that was always going to be his moment, and it was the right call for Hangman to be the man who righted the ship. But when Hangman bled with Mox, when Hangman quite literally lived up to his name to make Moxley quit and you see Moxley smile, it’s at that point that Mox knows AEW is in good hands, and his attention needs to focus to anybody who didn’t have the right goal for AEW, anybody who was focused on putting themselves first, and not the company. Go back and watch All In 2025, firstly because it’s a fantastic show capped off by one of the best matches the company has had to date, but primarily for this purpose: who’s out at the end of the show for Hangman against Mox and the Deathriders? Swerve Strickland, Bryan Danielson, and Darby Allin make their presence felt at the end of the match. Ospreay and The Opps had also been helping throughout, but more begrudgingly. The Opps worked the Death Riders to open the show, but Ospreay had been attacked so he couldn’t help Hangman. Everybody but MJF and Kenny Omega in this nucleus of people, who aren’t involved in this aspect of Ospreay’s story.

Darby first shows up with a video where he’s quite literally planting a flag on Everest. Darby had to be out there. Swerve had failed against Moxley and it had gotten so bad to where he needed to help his nemesis. Swerve as a character needed to be out there. Ospreay may have helped, but his character shouldn’t have been there, and therefore it wasn’t. Ospreay’s character in December of 2024 had issues with Darby because this was Darby’s focus, but it had never been Ospreay’s focus. This promo right here from the Continental Classic tells you that this was never about anything other than being World Champion for Ospreay. For Page? It was so much more. For Ospreay? He wasn’t ready.

On his attempt to capture the World Championship in 2024, Ospreay had a match with the aforementioned Danielson. For those who don’t know, Bryan Danielson prematurely retired from professional wrestling due to a neck that couldn’t sustain any more damage ten years earlier. Though he ended up returning in 2018 to the sport, that was after many medical breakthroughs in a short period of time. In the match, Ospreay is desperate to win, so he hits a Tiger Driver ‘91, which is a move made famous by legendary AJPW pillar Mitsuharu Misawa, who was so desperate to defeat Akira Taue in a match in 1991 that instead of hitting his traditional tiger driver, a double underhook suplex, he dropped Taue directly in his neck instead of flipping him through the suplex. It’s a move Misawa rarely went back to, but used it scarcely when he had no other option. When Ospreay nailed Danielson with his Tiger Driver ‘91, Danielson lost all mobility in both of his arms, causing Ospreay to break down thinking that he had paralyzed one of his heroes. Due to the danger, Ospreay promised to retire the move until Danielson convinced him to use it against MJF, which led to their match in Wembley Stadium, giving Ospreay the biggest win of his AEW career at All In 2024. It’s clear from that story that Ospreay struggled stepping on the neck of his opponents to put them away in scenarios where an Oscutter, Hidden Blade, or Styles Clash may fail him. With Moxley having broken his neck, Will Ospreay came back this year focusing on the fear the Death Riders made him feel, and as he continued to fight with Moxley, the realization that he needed Moxley set in, and the respect that Mox had for him stepping up came through. Ospreay’s lack of killer instinct comes from within, the idea that lives are on the line every time he steps through the ropes. It’s that experience with Danielson that triggered the initial anxiety that Moxley was going to eradicate, but the real neck injury suffered by Ospreay put a fascinating wrinkle into what would become the long-term story as Ospreay’s real life engagement made him question the mortality of his own career. For Ospreay to be ready, there’s two things that needed to happen that hadn’t happened for him to become the ace of AEW, what he touted he’d become the moment he came in: he needed to develop a killer instinct to put opponents away, and he needed to not be afraid of what could happen to him. The Owen Hart Tournament match with Samoa Joe, whose chant is aptly ‘Joe is gonna kill you,’ ended up being the vehicle that provided the proof of a killer instinct brewing. It’s the match in the Finals that determined his fear, and it was against the most dangerous man in AEW.

While Hangman celebrated his triumph, one of Ospreay’s oldest friends in the industry, and the guy who had been teaming with Ospreay, Swerve Strickland is watching on in a look of bittersweet disdain as he just had to help the man who once burned down his home just to save his own career. Before Ospreay’s neck injury took him off television, a quiet resentment from Swerve came through. During Ospreay’s absence, the demeanor shift in Swerve made him snap. With a date etched with Will Ospreay in the Owen Hart Tournament finals in 2026, the tournament that Ospreay lost to Page in 2025, two weeks before Forbidden Door told all. Three years of television came bursting out of one promo.

After a year of no contact, the old pals unleashed their own frustration. Swerve is angry that Ospreay is playing ‘booty boot camp’ with the Death Riders after everything the group of main event talent went through, including Ospreay with Swerve against The Young Bucks at the same event, to eliminate Mox’s death grip on the show, and points out that Ospreay never explained why he made such a decision. Ospreay pointed out, just two weeks before he officially joined the Death Riders, that he hasn’t forgotten and he hasn’t forgiven them, but he just let it go because the training is working. But Swerve was the only wrestler who didn’t try to help Ospreay when the Death Riders broke his neck. See if these names who did try to help sound familiar: Kenny Omega, Samoa Joe and the Opps, Darby Allin. Ospreay believes the reason is because he was angry that he had to help Hangman, and while Ospreay points out that he would run through a brick wall for Swerve, but he wouldn’t have done it with Ospreay, even though he did what Ospreay wanted to do with him by himself. It’s all set up in this promo right here, though the extended version of this promo is significantly richer for the purpose of the story if you want to go find it on the HBO replay. For Will Ospreay, who came in friends with everybody, he continues to realize the loyalty isn’t returned in a competitive environment.

Everything shifts back into focus. For Will Ospreay, an explanation isn’t necessary because it’s not his main focus, it’s never been his main focus. He has the most dangerous man in AEW standing in between him and a World Championship shot in his home country in the biggest venue in the world, the one venue every kid from England wants to headline at some point in their life. He will do anything to have that match. At Forbidden Door, Swerve nearly ended Ospreay’s career, and Ospreay still won, because for Ospreay, the fear of what he has to do and what’s being done to him is no longer going to stand in his way to get his championship. Will Ospreay wanted his chance to kick the ball because after three years of saying he will be AEW’s ace, he is ready to become the ace. For those uncultured wrestling fans who refuse to watch anything outside of the Western Culture ‘sports entertainment bubble,’ is a term that originates from the Japanese tradition of professional wrestling as the guy that weather any storm for a company if he’s the focal point, and AEW’s undisputed ace to this point? The guy training him. Jon Moxley’s entire arc the last couple of years? Finding AEW’s ace to replace him.

So where are MJF and Kenny Omega in all of this? MJF defeated everybody mentioned, while also having his own feud with Ospreay in the interim. As MJF is now on his third AEW Championship reign, having missed a majority of Moxley’s Death Riders run due to Hollywood calling his name, MJF’s long-term stories with Darby and Hangman have changed their dynamics, particularly Hangman’s, who can no longer challenge for the AEW Championship, something that Swerve brought up in the promo we just looked at Ospreay’s expense.

But the general stipulation for Omega’s final title shot is that he faces the same stipulation that Hangman, Cody, and the Bucks have faced. Kenny’s four best friends that founded AEW with him. For a character like Omega, who breathes the championship, the stipulation that he can’t challenge means his entire life is at stake. And for a character who relies on honor, the focus in recent weeks noting that he’d never been able to defend the championship without help, alluding to his original run with Don Callis during the pandemic, means he needs the honor. Since wrestling Ospreay, Omega’s bouts with diverticulitis have put him on the shelf throughout, making him question if he still has it. After his two best friends in the industry had their title aspirations killed by stipulations that required them never challenge for the belt again, he had to agree to that to even get the shot to prove it to himself.

The other thing they set up with Omega is that the kickout at one when his back is against the wall, a kickout that he used against Will Ospreay at Forbidden Door as Ospreay used his finisher against him, was a big focal point of Omega’s title win last night. The other thing they set up? MJF kicking out of the One Winged Angel months ago as the referee was down and he could count until 30 seconds later. The One Winged Angel has not been kicked out of in fifteen years, and a heel who technically did but had still been beaten by it has spent months saying he ‘kicked out of it like it was nothing.’ This drew attention to the fact that it’s the most protected finisher in professional wrestling, in fact, it’s probably the only finisher in any major company that hasn’t been prostituted in any capacity.

MJF was arrogant because the only person he’s beaten straight up this year is Darby Allin, who had beaten him very quickly when 100%. With Allin destroying his body before the match, MJF was able to pick him to pieces. Other than that, even his win over Omega where he ‘easily kicked out of the One Winged Angel” required both cheating, and the referee being knocked out. But MJF’s arrogance is exactly why Kenny was able to take the championship. The week before the match with Kenny, the night after Forbidden Door, Ospreay met multiple characters backstage at the top of the show. It started with Moxley, it continued with Kenny, and it ended with Max. As Max is set to face Omega, he simply looks right past Omega and tells Ospreay he’ll see him at Wembley, thinking there’s no chance Kenny still has it.

It was that night at AEW Dynasty where Omega lost to MJF and Ospreay lost to Moxley. Ospreay began to side with the Death Riders, and Omega began to question if he was still the Best Bout Machine. But that night, when Darby Allin won the World Championship with a headlock takeover to complete his arc as a man who kept losing the big one, which by the way is a perfect example of a thread throughout a show, maybe the best example of a bottle episode in wrestling in generations, there’s one interaction that made it crystal clear that All In would be Kenny Omega vs Will Ospreay for the AEW World Championship. In the trainers room, a banged up Omega and Ospreay just sitting there talking about how they let people down, and Ospreay reminded Omega how he bounced back ten years ago after the Tokyo Dome loss to Okada. Omega, noting he doesn’t have time left, looked at Ospreay and said ‘but you do. AEW, professional wrestling? It’s all you from here on out, man.’ Ospreay responded saying ‘I think we still got this, man. My dream, and my ambition, is to still be the AEW World Champion, and I hope you haven’t given up on that dream either.’

With that promo, I looked at the person I was watching that show with, and I said ‘I don’t know how they’re circling back to Kenny for the championship, but that’s your match at All In, and they just confirmed years of television,” only for him to scoff at me. Last night, when I was in the venue, my best friend and I had what can only be described as a new core memory, watching Kenny Omega cap this story in a way only Kenny Omega could, but we were also with three people who aren’t wrestling fans, my best friends other friends who wanted a night out with their friends. I remember looking down at this one lady who was with us, who had only seen wrestling one time when we went to the UCF show in January as a group, and for the first time, I saw her going insane, the way I did when I was a child discovering wrestling, while we were watching the main event, and she knew nothing about Kenny Omega’s story. She just knew what she saw, and she was entertained as much as anybody in the audience, who popped so loud that I couldn’t even hear myself think in an open-air venue on Clearwater Beach when Kenny did the patented kick out at one spot. Mick Foley in his post on Facebook today said that the match ‘felt like a sense of community’ for the people in attendance, and he’s right. For the first time since Daily’s Place, a moment in professional wrestling felt like a communal experience, and it’s entirely in the story they told, no matter where along the ride you came in. In an era where people are accustomed to overly produced professional wrestling with generic matches that need to be cookie cutter for branding, companies that let artists make art make something that’s worthwhile, and that’s entirely where the energy comes from.

Personal tangents aside, the segmen set the scene. Omega was once the best wrestler in the world, and in their rematch, he wasn’t able to defeat Ospreay. Ospreay is now the best in the world, on the precipice of confirming it, and Omega needs to beat him one more time to solidify he’s still that guy, while Ospreay needs the victory to prove that his win isn’t hollow.

Double or Nothing 2026 was one of the highest buyrates in AEW history for any pay per view. The show did the second-largest gate in company history for a U.S. show (for those who think putting the belt on Darby via television left money on the table, Darby as champion was the driving factor, as noticed by the massive move in ticket sales after the title win. It’s almost as if it’s a dated television concept parrotted by bad faith podcasters who have run every wrestling company they booked into the ground). Ticket sales are up year-over-year, the ratings are in a very solid place working in harmony with HBO Max, and AEW has been growing in a variety of different ways with their outside ventures. AEW is back to the feeling of hope for the future of professional wrestling that it had before the drama of 2022 threatened its immediate future, and with its future looking bright, it’s all been building to the crowning moment of the guy who will lead it.

Long-term storytelling still matters, even if many writers in wrestling would rather write as they go. In this time period, they’ve wrapped the career of Bryan Danielson, completed the arcs for the Hangman and Swerve long-term program, Kenny Omega in a post-diverticulitis world, and the original Death Rider angle, using all of it to build to a singular moment for Will Ospreay.

Every wrestler that Ospreay worked with to take down the Death Riders has been integral to evolving his character as the Death Riders finish the evolution so he’s ready to win the World Championship. Each of those acts? They passed him in the line to become World Champion when his character was expected to come in and win it immediately. Each reign has had a purpose to the long-term angle of who Will Ospreay is, and adding layers to the Billy Goat persona, bruv.

Now, it’s time for him to face the one person he roots for as much as he roots for himself, the one person who mentored him, the one person he’s struggled the most against. The first match took place in their home away from home of Japan. The second took place in Kenny’s home country of Canada. In London, the story for Ospreay is that he’s main eventing in Wembley for the World Championship, and now he’s ready to punch his ticket as the ace in his country. Since the dawn of AEW, Ospreay and Omega are 1-1, with classics in New Japan and AEW. It’s time to complete the trilogy.

Expect a One Winged Angel, and for Will Ospreay to kick out at one. Expect the most thunderous ovation of the night. The finisher being protected only matters if you eventually use it to make a star, and Kenny’s always noted that that’s the end goal. The match will be violent and bloody. The match will have a palpable feeling that only those two can bring to their matches, but it’ll be a deeper level because of the work every character on the program has put in to build to this one match.

AEW is the hottest it’s been since the last time Kenny Omega was World Champion, and that has little to do with who the belt is on, but the cohesion of the show that waned when they reached the ultimately goal of creating their first major star. To create a second one, they went back to that strategy, and AEW gained its feel back.

The question that any title change AEW has that’s conveniently not asked with any other title change is ‘when you crown the guy, where do they go from there?’ as if it’s a valid question. But AEW already has that set up, too. There are only three men that have beaten Will Ospreay in AEW who have not had a loss to Will Ospreay. Jon Moxley, and expect that to come back up immediately following his championship win, considering he’s not forgotten or forgiven. Darby Allin, who of course, just gifted MJF the championship after destroying himself in his sprint of a title reign. Darby has yet to get a rematch for the championship as he’s been focused on the post-match attack by Kevin Knight. Adam Page, who as of right now can’t challenge for the World Championship again. But for a character defined by that belt, expect a heel turn when the time comes that wiggles his way out of it. He has his immediate future after the win already mapped out for him, considering all three men he’s failed to beat are all main event talent who have a reason to go after the championship. That’s before you factor in the long-term story with Kyle Fletcher, who I’d have be the guy that beats Ospreay a year from now if he can get the right momentum, the title claims that Andrade, Speedball, MJF, and a number of other talents currently have. They’ve fostered an environment where there can be ten different guys that realistically get the title match, keeping the main event scene from becoming derivative of itself.

In London, Will Ospreay will be elevated to the sky.

Photo credit: AEW.

Jameus Mooney is an entertainment writer for Comicbook Clique, having covered the entertainment industry for years. You can follow him on Twitter here, and Letterboxd here. You can also listen to his horror podcast, The 2:17 Horror Podcast, at the DeathArts XIII YouTube channel.

Julia Hart Reveals ARFID Diagnosis

July 3, 2026AEW, WrestlingJhuvin PComment

On her personal TikTok page, AEW wrestler Julia Hart posted a video revealing that she had been diagnosed with ARFID back in November 2025, and that she has been going to therapy to understand her triggers and how the disorder has affected her mentally.

According to the National Eating Disorder Association, ARFID stands for “Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder”. Those with ARFID are known to limit the quality and quantity of the food they eat, much like other eating disorders. However, unlike other eating disorders, selective eating from ARFID is not caused by distress over one’s own body image. It is caused by a lack of interest in eating, a problem with the food’s taste, texture, or smell, and/or a fear of choking or vomiting from the food.

In her video, Julia mentions how a lot of people talk about eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating, and there is less discussion around ARFID. Her concern is well-placed.

There is limited research on ARFID, and it is difficult to even get diagnosed with it because it shares symptoms with other, more pervasive, eating disorders as well as autism. Not only that, but society is quick to wave off the sensory aversion and lack of appetite as someone just being a “picky eater”. The lack of knowledge about ARFID, and the societal instinct to dismiss problems they haven’t personally experienced, has created a space of confusion and shame for those with ARFID.

When people believe you’re choosing to suffer, it’s more difficult to receive help. However, there is always hope. Julia ends her video wondering if anyone else is going through ARFID and wants to talk about it, creating a safe space for those with the disorder. We here at DSR applaud Julia Hart for her bravery, and we wish her and others with ARFID a healthy, strong recovery.

And if you believe you may be suffering from ARFID or any other kind of eating disorder, consider talking to a mental health professional or a primary healthcare professional. You can also visit the National Eating Disorders Association website for more information on eating disorders. You can also call the National Alliance for Eating Disorders Hotline at 1-866-662-1235.

BREAKING: AEW Cuts Several Members of The Roster

April 1, 2024AEWJonathan Escudero1 Comment

PWInsider reports AEW is currently evaluating their talent roster and making cuts to benefit both the company and the talents.

Talent released so far:

Stu Greyson
Dasha Kuret
The Tate Twins aka Dalton Castle's Boys
Anthony Henry
Jose the Assistant
Parker Boudreaux
Jorah Johl
Slim J