AEW Redemption 2026

AEW Redemption 2026

Montreal, Quebec, Canada - July 2026

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into tonight's show, the AEW World Champion was Kenny Omega, the Women's World Champion was Thekla, the AEW World Tag Team Champions were Adam Copeland and Christian Cage, the TNT Champion was Kevin Knight, the TBS Champion was Hikaru Shida, the Divine Dominion were the AEW Women's Tag Team Champions, the International Champion was Kyle Fletcher, the Continental Champion was Jon Moxley, the Trios Championships were held by The Conglomeration (Kyle O'Reilly, Roderick Strong, and Orange Cassidy) and the National Champion was Mark Davis. 

The first ever Redemption pay-per-view kicked off with a 6-man Ladder Match where the winner would receive a shot at Kyle Fletcher's International Championship. The participants were El Clon, Jack Perry, The Beast Mortos, Nick Wayne, "Speedball" Mike Bailey, and Kommander. As one would expect, this was your typical "spotfest" and Bailey, the hometown guy, garnered the largest crowd reactions. The Beast Mortos was a great base, Perry hit Wayne with a Canadian Destroyer through a ladder bridge, and Kommander delivered an insane spinning splash after running the ropes onto Wayne (through a table). Bailey got the W after delivering his patented backflip double knees onto Mortos, who was prone on a suspended ladder. In terms of psychology and logic, this was imperfect, but that's par for the course and what separates truly great ladder matches from just a fun "popcorn" match that wants you to turn your brain off and just watch guys do crazy stuff. (3/5)

The Young Bucks vs. Will Ospreay and Jon Moxley followed. Highlights from the early going included a nifty double-team stomp on Ospreay in the corner and a very stiff head-to-head collision that I'd call a potential botch if it weren't for the fact that the talent involved are known for delivering such convincing spots in their matches. Ospreay showed concern as Nick Jackson sold on the outside, drawing him a reprimand from Moxley. From there, Matt Jackson went to work, taking out both guys with his speed and high-flying before getting sent into the steps by Marina Shafir. This led to an extended stretch of face-in-peril action as Mox and Ospreay dished out the punishment to Matt Jackson. Mox barely got 2 after a release suplex and then cinched in a rear chinlock before tagging in Ospreay. They attempted a double-back body drop but Matt fought back, nearly making the tag - but Mox pulled Nick off the apron and piledrove him into the floor! Great cut-off there. Ospreay hit a flying forearm to the back of Matt's head and then hit him with an awesome Liger Bomb for 2. Ospreay applied the Cross Arm Breaker but Jackson had too much energy and was able to power out. Jackson hits some strikes and then a flying crossbody to Mox on the floor! He went for another tag but Ospreay cut him off once more, grabbing him by his legs. Somehow Matt Jackson countered a wheelbarrow hold into a reverse destroyer (?) that brought Ospreay's face into the mat hard. Wow. I'm not sure what one would even call that. Nick tagged in (though Matt was clearly hesitant due to the head trauma earlier) and took out both Moxley and Ospreay, looking no worse for wear but still blinking on-occasion to sell the previous damage. Matt came back in to set Ospreay up for a double stomp on the top rope by Nick into a powerbomb by Matt! Incredible nearfall there. The Bucks tried for a Meltzer Driver but Mox cut it off and he and Ospreay delivered some offense of their own for another 2 count. At this point, a "This Is Awesome" chant started up and the crowd was not wrong. The hits kept coming - Mox' rebound lariat, the Ospreay hitting a ridiculous high-flying move to the floor, Ospreay inadvertently knocking Mox out with a springboard forearm, the Bucks' double superkicks, both sides delivering ridiculous front flip splashes back-to-back, and a ridiculous sequence in which the Bucks hit a BTE Trigger only for one of them to get taken out by a Hidden Blade. Nick Jackson sold the head damage a bit but continued to fight valiantly, eating another brutal forearm and then a heel kick to the head by Ospreay. Ospreay nailed him with a punch straight to the head, much to the delight of Mox on the outside and then stepped on Jackson's back, preparing him for a final punch to the back of the head. Matt came in to cover him up as Ospreay made the tag. Mox tossed Matt to the floor and delivered a Curb Stomp...but Nick kicked out at 2! After a Bulldog Choke, Mox hit him with a series of forearms to the back of the neck but Matt came in to break it up with a superkick. Ospreay pulled Matt out of the ring who then inadvertently nailed Marina Shafir with a superkick too! Superkick to Ospreay! The Bucks looked like they might turn things around but Mox hit a pair of Paradigm Shifts and then a Death Rider onto Nick Jackson! Instead of going for the cover, Mox grabbed a chair and brought it into the ring. Ospreay grabbed it from him and Matt nailed it with a superkick to send it into his head! BTE Trigger onto Mox! But Mox flips the double birds as a Superkick Party ensues and Mox eats a whole slew of Superkicks and then a Double Superkick to put him down for good. The Bucks win! That was the kind of match that people who hate the Bucks would likely consider too over-the-top and "video game"-ish, but I enjoyed the hell out of it and, at times, thought it was mind-blowing with its breakneck pacing and incredible sequences. Not for everyone and certainly not the wrestling purists, but, as I've written countless times, if you're going to have a non-stop, action-packed "fireworks show" match, you have to deliver the goods and this absolutely did. Wild stuff here. (4/5)

Bandido challenged Kyle Fletcher for the AEW International Championship next, with Fletcher promising that his allies in the Don Callis Family would not get involved on his behalf. This match was bonkers, though my favorite element may have been Fletcher's heeling, which really helped in letting things "breathe" and making Bandido's comeback - Fletcher was absolutely destroying him for the first 10 minutes or so - believable even as they went further and further into the false finishes and "super" finishers. Highlights included a brainbuster on the apron by Fletcher, Bandido delivering a 21 Plex from a Full Nelson position, a Frog Splash to the floor by Bandido, and Fletcher finally putting Bandido down with a Brainbuster in the corner that aimed for the top rope but seemed even more violent as I'm not sure what exactly Bandido landed on. My biggest criticism - aside from the match going maybe 2-3 minutes too long - was the "de-valuing" of both guy's finishers when it would've been better, with both having such deep arsenals, to build the match around Bandido or Fletcher not being able to deliver their "closer" rather than both men kicking out of each other's "best move." (3.5/5)

The Dogs - David Finlay and Clark Connors - took on Jay White and Juice Robinson of the Bang Bang Gang next in a Chain Match. Having to follow an epic like Bandido/Fletcher would've been tough for anybody, but this rivalry is so cold that it was especially noticeable how disinterested the crowd was for the first several minutes. Watching The Dogs get tortured by Juice and Jay White was fun, but the crowd barely reacted to it, which is a shame because its not like anyone was taking it easy and, by the end, some of the chain shots were particularly brutal. There was a close call when Finlay nearly paralyzed Jay White with a power slam, but at least they captured that spot on camera (Clark Connors took what sounded like a horrific bump on the steps to the outside that only the fans in attendance witnessed). Run-ins from The Death Riders' Yuta and Garcia and then the rest of the Bang Bang Gang led to the finish, but in a No DQ match, they felt unnecessary and does make one wonder why the rest of the Bang Bang Gang wasn't at ringside the whole time. There were too many brutal spots to consider this below-average and, in front of a hotter crowd and with camera work that actually captured everything from the right angles, this might've actually come off better. (2.5/5)

Hikaru Shida defended her AEW TBS Championship against Maya World in the next match. An unfortunate trend of matches that went just 3-4 minutes too long continued here with the added negative of some fairly sloppy work from both women. It's hard to separate the mediocre booking that leads to a match having very little heat from the mediocre in-ring work (which doesn't help). They were given over 15 minutes but this could've and should've been wrapped up in under 10, which may not have helped the credibility of either woman but would've helped the show immensely because it has become way too predictable that every match on these shows is going to go a considerable amount of time. (1.5/5)

The AEW World Tag Team Championships were on the line next as Adam "Cope" Copeland and Christian defended the straps against The Death Riders' PAC and Claudio Castignoli. The Death Riders dominated the early going, jumping Cope before the bell and then taking out Christian on the outside. The crowd was more into this than the previous two matches, but that's not saying much. I don't think anyone in the arena thought PAC and Claudio were going to win and the Christian and Copeland Reunion Tour lives and dies by the drama of their matches. Like their brief feud with The Dogs, there wasn't enough for them to sink their teeth into to make this match feel PPV worthy. There was some good action because PAC and Claudio's "basement" is always going to be in the good range but felt more like a TV match than a major title defense. The Bucks/Cope and Christian match at Wembley should deliver a much, much more interesting build and drama, thankfully. (2.5/5)

"The Painmaker" Chris Jericho vs. Tommaso Ciampa in a No Disqualification match followed. In this gimmick, Jericho is a merciless, face-painted "death match" wrestler, which is at least easier to digest than seeing him go 20-minutes in a straight-up wrestling match. There was some absolute brutality on display here with barbwire bats and tables, thumbtacks, sand, hockey pucks, and mirrors all being used. Ciampa took a Death Valley Driver through a table on the floor while Jericho, not to be outdone, ate a Psycho Driller through a mirror (with one piece of glass looking like it almost impaled his back). A Death Match going for amount of time that this match did seems unnecessary and credibility-pushing to me, though I'll give them credit for not wasting much time and getting right to the blood and gore and then building up the stakes as the match wore on with wilder and wilder spots. The crowd was into this, but there were still noticeable smatterings of anti-Jericho chants going on, not the best sign when he's working so incredibly hard to prove his value. As Excalibur noted on commentary, there was also at least one young fan who wanted to see fire. There was a little bit of comedy added to the match as Ciampa brought out a hockey stick and used it to beat down on a stuffed animal of the Montreal Canadians' mascot (and then hit with a Project Ciampa backbreaker too). Seemed a bit silly to me, but whatever. The finish came when Jericho had Ciampa trapped and looked like he was about to literally drill into his skull with a power drill and Ciampa was forced to quit. I can get into crazy death matches when there is a real sense of danger and the wrestlers treat it deathly serious, but between Jericho's goofy face-paint and Ciampa's bit with the stuffed animal, this hit too many sour notes for me. (3/5)

Andrade El Idolo challenged Mark Davis for the AEW National Championship in the next match. At 16 minutes, this was the shortest match on the show up till this point and still felt like it would've been better with 3-4 minutes shaved off. Like the Shida/World match earlier, there was some noticeably sloppy moments on display, especially in the closing stretch when Andrade struggled to remove his pants and then walked over to Davis, played around with his leg, and then headed to the top rope just for Davis to block a frog splash. Davis has become one of my favorite big men in wrestling but he has better chemistry with other workers. This match would've been better received by the audience as the main event to an episode of Dynamite, but as "filler" on a 5-hour show, it didn't stand out enough to make it worth checking out. Also, what was with Andrade's super-long  (2/5)

Willow Nightingale challenged Thekla for the AEW Women's World Championship in the next match. Willow and Thekla put on a very good match but the crowd was just out of steam by this point. The match was a nice-and-tidy 16 minutes, hard-hitting with some genuinely great moments - Thekla's crossbody to the floor, Willow's powerbomb on Skye Blue on the outside, Thekla fish-hooking Willow's mouth while she applied an Indian Deathlock - but the crowd wasn't there to push it to that next level. (3/5)

Main event time - Kevin Knight challenging Kenny Omega for the AEW World Championship. This was the right match at the wrong time. If there was maybe some small sliver of a chance that Willow was not going to win the previous match - maybe some sort of screwy finish to lead to a three-way with Mone at All In? - there was an absolutely ZERO chance that Omega was losing here. Knight used some heel tactics before the bell and Omega did a good job selling, but Knight would've had to shoot the guy at point blank range in the center of the ring for the fans to believe he could win the title. Had this match happened on an episode of Dynamite, it might've worked as a "coming out party" for Knight, a match where Knight proved he was worthy of challenging for the World Championship and being considered a major player. On a PPV, though, this sort of "fan service" match felt laborious, needlessly long and more like a "performance" than a real contest. After Knight's initial flurry, Omega dominated the match and his offense looked (and sounded) incredible at times. As an Omega "Greatest Hits" match, sure, it was fine, but with so few matches left in his career (reportedly), his PPV bouts could be/should be much bigger deals. (2.5/5)

The post-match saw the Death Riders emerge to attack Kenny Omega, eventually putting a chair around his neck. The Young Bucks tried to intervene but got taken out. This led to Will Ospreay showing up and telling them to stand down. Jon Moxley offered him a plastic bag to use to essentially murder Omega the way they did Bryan Danielson. Ospreay tore it up and gave Mox a forearm that sent him out of the ring before sending the rest of the Death Riders packing. Ospreay and Omega had a moment together but as they posed for the crowd, Omega hit Ospreay with a One-Winged Angel, a bit of a heel move but I dug it. Omega and The Bucks left together with the Bucks looking a little confused/surprised that Omega would attack Ospreay. It was a good segment, but not great enough to warrant a +1.

With a Kwang Score of 2.75-out-of-5, Redemption 2026 ranks as the lowest AEW PPV I've watched since Full Gear 2023, which should tell you how consistently great AEW PPVs tend to be. AEW shows always run long and the match durations generally exceed 15 minutes but, in the past, more often than not, the matches feature enough drama and unpredictability to overcome these (fixable) issues. On this show, with every single match outcome turning out exactly as most fans predicted (save for maybe Maya World winning the TBS Championship), the lack of suspense in individual matches began to accumulate and shroud the entire show. Maybe a true, unwavering AEW "sicko" could enjoy a show like this, but for me, this was a mostly skippable, underwhelming event.

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver