AEW Dynasty 2026

AEW Dynasty 2026

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada - April 2026

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the AEW World Champion was MJF, Thekla was the AEW Women's World Champion, FTR were the World Tag Team Champions, the TNT Championship was vacant due to an injury to Kyle Fletcher, Willow Nightingale was the TBS Champion, Kazuchika Okada held the International Championship, the Trios Champions were The Dogs (David Finlay, Clark Connors, and Gabe Kidd), Jon Moxley was the Continental Champion, the Women's World Tag Team Titles were held by Lena Kross and Megan Bayne, and Jack Perry was the National Champion.

Dynasty 2026 opened with Konosuke Takeshita and Kazuchika Okada taking on The Young Bucks. This was your typical Young Bucks match with lots of crazy sequences and crowd-pleasing signature moves. They went 20 minutes, which was maybe a tad long, but this was never dull and the Vancouver crowd was hot for all of it. Okada and Takeshita worked together well at the start but eventually came to blows before things intensified and they each got hit with eachother's most devastating strike (due to a Young Bucks dodge). The finish came when the Young Bucks set up Okada for the Meltzer Driver (now known as the TK Driver, wink wink) and Takeshita chose not to stop them from hitting it. Really good opener with only one spot that I thought got a bit too cutesy (a sunset flip that led to a double German suplex). Wrestling is allowed to be fun and "maximalist" and that's what this was. (3.5/5)

For a tag match, especially one with the Bucks and Takeshita and Okada, going 20 minutes can work because they're good enough to load it up with tight, unbelievable sequences and there's enough bodies around to prevent things from ever getting slow. The next match - Chris Jericho returning after nearly a year to take on Ricochet - suffered from having to fill the same amount of time and needing to space things out a bit because, ultimately, Jericho is not the worker he once was (and the match had far less heat because it was booked less than a week ago). The Vancouver crowd gave Jericho a warm reception, but this was more-of-the-same from him with the Ayatollah wrestling with the purpose of proving he could still "go" but doing so at the cost of delivering a match that was actually interesting or intriguing. Ricochet is an incredible athlete, but his stable, The Demand, feels very muh like a midcard act because The Gates of Agony are a JTTS team. The match began with lots and lots of shtick from Jericho and then Ricochet targeting Jericho's arm, but the limb work didn't really go anywhere. There were some good moments sprinkled through - including Jericho countering a 450 with a Codebreaker - and I liked the story of Jericho being unable to overcome the numbers game with the GOA's constant interference, but some of said interference really buried Aubrey Edwards (the ref). Had they stuck to a simpler story and shortened this match, it may have worked. For a guy known for his "reinventions," this was the same Jericho we saw before, chasing past glories when the biggest issue he's faced over the past few years has not actually been his athleticism, but his lack of a truly fresh new character/approach. (2/5)

Andrade El Idolo took on Darby Allin in the next match. These two have a fair amount of history from Andrade's first run and had an amazing track record of excellent matches, which made it no surprise that they'd be booked against each other on this show. This was essentially a Number One Contender's match - at least on Darby's side - as a deal had been worked out between the Don Callis Family and MJF. Good technical wrestling to start with Darby and Andrade trading holds. The first great spot occurred early on as Andrade did his "tranquilo" bit on the middle rope and Allin just nailed him with a cannonball. Now on the floor, Darby tried to capitalize but got whipped into the barricade. Andrade, in an impressive show of strength, lifted Darby up in a vertical suplex, walked him up the stairs and onto the top rope, and then overhand slapped him down so he could take a picture with a fan. As he was about to get back in the ring, Darby came down crashing down on him with a Coffin Drop! Wow. Up into the crowd they went, where Darby hit a Samoa Joe-esque dropkick on the steps! Somehow Darby was able to get back in the ring, where he was met by Andrade's version of the Three Amigos, the final snap suplex sending Darby into the corner turnbuckles. Andrade missed the double knees and took an over-the-top stunner. Back up to the top they went, with Andrade holding Darby in a fireman's carry. Andrade seemed to be going for some sort of back drop, but Darby countered it into a crossface. RIdiculous. Andrade got to the bottom rope and out of the ring, only to eat another dive from Darby! This one got a Holy Shit chant because it looked so brutal. Darby seated Andrade in a chair, bit him, and then sent him flying off the chair with a dropkick off the top rope! Another incredible spot with Andrade making the extra effort to make it look even better by going back into the announcer's table. Moments later, the two were duking it out on the apron and Andrade managed to pull Darby up and give him a vertical suplex off the apron and onto the floor. Goddamn. In a clever twist, Andrade elected not to take the potential count-out victory and helped Darby into the ring, a subtle babyface move. Back in the ring, Andrade hit the double knees but Darby got a shoulder up! Andrade took off his pants, which has become something of a signature move of its own for him and connected with the moonsault-fakeout-moonsault but only got 2 from it. With blood pooling in his mouth from a busted lip, Darby hit Andrade with a series of strikes but got the hell slapped out of him. Andrade attempted a reverse DDT but Darby countered it into a Scorpion Death Drop of his own! Coffin Drop! 1...2...Andrade stopped Aubrey's arm! Cool "kickout." Darby went for the Code Red, Andrade blocked it though, and hit him with the spinning back elbow! 1-2-kickout! As they went to show the replay, Andrade attempted some sort of underhook DDT but Darby countered it into one of his niftier pins! Brilliant finish. After the match, Andrade shook Darby's hand, signaling a potential babyface turn for the guy (though the moment was kinda dampened a bit by the fact that Andrade was sporting the type of tights that left little to the imagination). Aside from that, this was excellent and played like something of a Darby Allin Greatest Hits match without having to veer into anything extra gory or convoluted. (4.5/5)

FTR defended the AEW World Tag Team Championships against Christian and Adam Copeland in the next match. Though not as spot heavy as the opener, this one had the crowd just as jazzed. Lots of good stuff in this match spread over 20 minutes (at this point, Allin/Andrade had been the shortest match on the card and even that went 15+), which may have just been a tad long. Stokely Hathaway might have been the MVP here as his interference and interactions with Christian and Copeland were very entertaining. I loved the failed Power-and-Glory spot by Christian and Copeland (and then Wheeler also failing on his follow-up splash). Christian took a great bump over the timekeeper's table towards the end. Liked that FTR busted out BTE Trigger, which seems like a very not-so-subtle hint that we'll be getting a 3-way tag team match in the near future, something I think could be incredible. Copeland ended up busted open from a shot with the championship belt, which raised the drama a good bit when the match was beginning to seem like it had entered a big move-rinse-repeat pattern with all the near falls. Not a "must see" match or anything, but no less than good. (3/5)

A Casino Gauntlet match for the vacant TNT Championship followed with RUSH and Tommaso Ciampa opening things off before Bandido came out to a very respectable crowd response. On commentary, they often hype up how this match can end at any time and that the early entrants are at an advantage but...then these matches go 20+ minutes and that talking point loses credibility with me. Speedball, Kevin Knight, PAC, El Clon (who was maybe the most impressive of anyone just because his offense stands out so much), and Daniel Garcia all came out and got to hit signature stuff as the match turned into your typical multi-man spotfest, culminating with everyone hitting a dizzying array of moves in rapid sequence before Wheeler Yuta came in. I like that this match points to some potential bouts that I'm not sure we've seen yet - JetSpeed vs. the Death Riders, Bandido vs. anybody, etc. - but do think this match veered too far into being just a showcase of finishers and not what was really a TNT Championship match.  The Gauntlet match wrapped up soon after with Kevin Knight getting a surprising W after it seemed like Ciampa may have taken it home. I try not to rate matches based on their booking, but I'm not sure why Knight got the title here as he's not really been entangled in any of the major storylines the way even Bailey has semi-recently (facing MJF in an Eliminator Match and wrestling Fletcher not too long ago) or Bandido (who had a fairly high-profile run as an AEW Tag Champion) or any of the three participants from the Death Riders, all of whom could probably use a big W at this point. This was fun. (3/5)

Thekla defended her AEW Women's World Championship against Jamie Hayter in the next match. Poor Jamie Hayter. At one point, she was one of AEW's most talked-about women's wrestlers but, since her unfortunate injury a couple years ago, Hayter has struggled to connect with the audience in the same way. The crowd seemed mostly disinterested in this match for most of its runtime, which is a shame because both women worked hard and did end up pulling them in by the end. Thekla is still not quite as over as a World Champion should be and Hayter wasn't on a big enough roll to feel like a true challenger capable of winning the title. Had this been on Dynamite or Collision, this match probably would've had people singing its praises...but on a PPV, sandwiched between a fast-paced spotfest and a semi-main in Ospreay/Moxley, this couldn't really keep up in terms of getting the crowd into it no matter what the women busted out (which, to be clear, was a ton of nasty kicks and a ridiculous suplex on the apron and some genuinely great exchanges). (2.5/5)

Will Ospreay faced Jon Moxley in a grudge match next. This feud was built around Moxley putting Ospreay on the shelf for 6 months with a neck injury and Ospreay's quest for vengeance. Ospreay came out swinging, hitting a Hidden Blade right at the bell that caught Moxley straight in the face (and seemed to open up his lip). He hit a 2nd one soon after that sent Mox out of the ring. I liked the way Ospreay's initial onslaught made it clear that he was more focused on hurting Mox than defeating him, a throughline that they stuck with from beginning to end as Ospreay would come to regret that instead of keeping the pressure on Mox right from the jump, he took time to play to the crowd, scream in Mox's face, and position him for maneuvers (that Mox would sometimes counter). Speaking of counters, Mox has never been known for his agility, athleticism, or quickness necessarily, but he kept pace with Ospreay in this match and it was very impressive to see him executing some fairly complex sequences. I was suspicious about the repeated mentions of the 20-minute time limit, but I would say that it added an extra level of drama (even if they went to that same well for the Takeshita/Mox feud not too long ago). I dug the finish too as Mox hit a piledriver on the steel steps, two more Paradigm Shifts, and then the Death Rider DDT to end things. There were several memes made about Ospreay not adequately selling certain moves, but the whole match was built around Ospreay fighting out of sheer anger and animosity so I didn't find it too unbelievable that he could constantly get another "wind." In fact, I thought the finish spoke directly to Ospreay's lack of real strategy as Mox had effectively "emptied" Ospreay's tank, targeting his fragile neck with a series of game-ending moves, and essentially putting him down with a string of offense that even Ospreay's fury couldn't overcome. Well worth checking out. (4/5)

After a promo from Darby Allin (in which he seemed to be "calling his shot" and demanding a World Championship match at the upcoming Spring Breakthrough show), we got a silly pre-match "sketch" featuring Roderick Strong, Orange Cassidy, and Kyle O'Reilly (who I could've sworn was injured again?), the core trio of The Conglomeration. O'Reilly being a Vancouver native got a huge pop from the live crowd. Their opponents were the reigning AEW Trios Champions, The Dogs (David Finlay, Clark Conners, and Gabe Kidd. I haven't seen a ton from Finlay or Conners but was impressed with their presence, even if I wouldn't say they "wowed" me with their offense. Strong tossing around Cassidy like a weapon was fun, though the absence of Kidd and O'Reilly for an extensive amount of minutes during the match was very noticeable and made this feel more like a classic tag than a trios match. The match became essentially a 2-on-1 but Strong held his own and made the hot tag to O'Reilly, whose offense looked great. The finish seemed a little bit messy (I'm guessing Kidd was legitimately injured) and rushed, to the point that I'm not sure the cameraman even knew where to be shooting, but the crowd dug it enough. Like the Thekla/Hayter match, this one felt very much like your standard TV match as opposed to be a PPV worthy bout. (2.5/5)

Main event time - MJF defending the AEW World Championship against Kenny Omega. For a match that went 35+ minutes, this one absolutely flew by without feeling like they were "spamming" moves. Really liked MJF's selling throughout and the way he consistently targeted Omega's midsection (with Omega doing a good job of selling the cumulative damage of every big splash or suplex he dished out). Danielson was excellent on commentary in this match (and really for every match he called) and has become among the best commentators going today. One of my few criticisms was the finish, which was better-executed and was better conceptually than the one used in the Mox/Ospreay match earlier on the show but still felt too similar. I'm not sure there was any point in the match where I felt like Omega could win, a criticism of not just the storyline or the booking going into the match, but also of the story told in the ring, which was all about Omega's greatness and MJF's survival, to the point that they tipped their hand a bit and the match lacked the emotional pull that an all-time classic should have. That being said, the good heavily outweighed the bad in terms of execution and the crowd was hot for all of it. (3.5/5)

With a respectable Kwang Score of 3.17-out-of-5, a slight improvement from March's Revolution show, Dynasty 2026 was yet another solid AEW PPV featuring at least one Best of the Year candidate in Allin/Andrade and a handful of other very good-to-great matches in the main event, Ospreay/Mox, and both tag matches. I was not a fan of the overly-long and rather un-creative Jericho/Ricochet match or Thekla/Hayter suffered from a spent crowd, though, while the trios match felt like "TV-level filler" even before Gabe Kidd's injury.

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand