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All In

A Handy Guide To: AEW All In 2026

AEW, 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

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 Redemption Fall Out: The Road to All In Is Set

Wrestling, 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.

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

Wrestling, 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.