AEW WrestleDream 2026

AEW WrestleDream 2026

Orlando, FL - October 2026

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, Will Ospreay was the AEW World Champion, the Women's Champion was Mercedes Mone, the TBS Champion was Persephone, the TNT Champion was Darby Allin, Jon Moxley was the Continental Champion, the National Champion was Andrade El Idolo, the International Champion was Kazuchika Okada, the World Tag Team Champions were the Young Bucks, Swerve Strickland and The New Level held the Trios Championships, and the Brawling Birds (Jamie Hayter and Alex Windsor) were the Women's Tag Team Champions.

I didn't go into WrestleDream 2026 with very high expectations - the main event seemed a bit thrown-together and odd (no surprise considering that the build was interrupted by the tragedy of PAC's passing and there wasn't all that much time after All Out anyway) and leaned very heavily towards somewhat predictable outcomes and multi-man matches. But AEW has a knack for overdelivering so...

The show began in medias res with FTR taking on the Motor City Machine Guns in the first of a Best of 5 series. If I don't watch a match in full, I don't like to give reviews and, because I didn't watch the first half of the bout (it started on the Buy In), I won't do that here but what I did catch was excellent and has me very, very excited to see the rest of the series on Dynamite and Collision (which I rarely watch). The Guns got the victory after a 20+ minute match that had the Orlando crowd chanting "Fight Forever." 

Next up - Mercedes Mone defending her AEW Women's World Championship against Thekla. I'm a Thekla superfan at this point and this match played to her strengths. If anyone says AEW lacks "characters," you can point to this match as an example of just how wrong that opinion is. They didn't bust out any crazy sequences, but this was still terrific and engaging and I'm very hopeful that it will not be their last match against each other despite Mone's clean victory. They got plenty of time and built up the suspense very well. I really loved Mone's repeated use of the Lung Blower. I loved Thekla's R-rated taunting on the floor. I wish the commentary team played up the fact that Thekla's stablemates were unlikely to provide assistance as they had competed earlier in the night and lost to Divine Dominion. (3/5)

Chris Jericho vs. Nick Wayne followed. Jericho was more over in front of this Orlando crowd than I was expecting, but this match felt more like a "coming out" for Nick Wayne, who feels much more "fully formed" than he did 3-6 months ago. Jericho earned some "You Still Got It" chants as he worked hard and took some big risks off the top rope. Jericho being over as a fun-loving nostalgia act babyface was not something I was expecting as he was known for so long as someone who was constantly "reinventing" himself but it certainly works for him. Over on Cagematch, folks continue to put down Jericho's work but this was solid and the right man - Nick Wayne - won by outsmarting Jericho with a tricky inside cradle. I didn't think the "cup" spot was bad at all, though I can understand why some people disliked it. Another solid match. (3/5)

As expected, the opinion of the next match on Cagematch is the total opposite of what Jericho/Wayne earned as The Young Bucks and Kyle Fletcher and Kevin Knight put on a 20-minute super-duper spotfest that earned them a massive 9+ rating. Now, I'm in agreement that this match was absolutely insane with some amazing sequences and double team moves and even some stuff - like the Coast to Coast from Knight onto both Matt and Nick - that I'm not sure I've seen before...but this is also, sadly, the type of match that will probably be forgotten in a few weeks despite the ridiculous effort on display, a match that has no "staying power," that was a delight to watch in the moment but leads nowhere. This was just non-stop craziness because the athletes involved can provide it. In terms of wrestling logic, I liked the story of Fletcher and Knight trying to beat the Bucks at their own game by going move-for-move with them and never taking their feet off the gas. That being said, to enjoy this match, you have to be willing to accept a not-small amount of cooperation and choreography and there were noticeable moments when participants would blatantly position themselves for the next spot. I can put up with it to a degree, but it irritates me enough to prevent this match from being a "Match of the Night" contender. (3.5/5)

Persephone defended the TBS Championship against Dani Luna, Hyan, and Queen Aminata in the next match. Lots of great little moments in this match with some very impressive work out of Dani Luna, the least established of the four. They crammed a ton of action into a 14-minute runtime and were not holding anything back, which helped keep the crowd engaged from beginning to end. The finish was a bit ugly and seemed to have been an "on the fly" decision after the intended finish - a Persephone moonsault that broke-up a submission - didn't quite connect with Hyan or Luna enough to lead to a believable pin. (3/5)

On a show full of matches that ping-ponged between working and not working for me, Andrade El Idolo's defense of his National Championship against Tomasso Ciampa might have been the most tonally confused. Some positives: Both Ciampa and Andrade are very over and the crowd was essentially behind both guys despite Ciampa being (technically) the heel. They also have great chemistry together and I really loved Ciampa's ample use of running knees and Andrade's Meteoras. I love Ciampa's entrance theme and I dig the way his daughter has become part of his act (even if it didn't really make sense here the same way it did against Okada last month). I loved Ciampa removing his pants to reveal trunks that mocked Andrade's "How You Know?" catchphrase. I love that his character is driven to win Championships but is also somewhat of a lunatic. But the line between sanity and insanity got blurred maybe a tad too much in this match when a frustrated Ciampa started performing wrestling moves on Andrade's discarded pants, attempted to pin them, and then had the pants "kick out." It was a comedy spot thrown into an otherwise incredibly hard-hitting and violent match that even included a surprising cameraman bump. I liked that they teased Andrade losing the match because of his pants being stuck around his ankles but wished they would go all the way with it because the gimmick, while fun, is too silly for me at this point. When Andrade was a heartthrob heel in the Don Callis Family, it worked. But now that he's supposedly working towards challenging Will Ospreay for the AEW World Championship, I'd like to see him lean into a more serious character and less towards the stripping Lothario thing. Too weird at times for me to consider it must-see, but the parts that were good were really, really good. (3.5/5)

My Match of the Night followed as The New Level (Kofi and Xavier Woods) teamed with Swerve Strickland to defend the AEW World Trios Championships against "Hangman" Adam Page, Bandido, and Brody King. These two teams had a heck of a match at All Out so I was expecting good things here and was not disappointed. Hangman and Swerve's segments were heated and awesome. I really liked the bit of turmoil/conflict between Brody and Page too as it was a nice red herring. Xavier Woods continues to really shine in AEW, clearly wrestling with purpose and passion. Loved the use of Bandido and how much he was put over throughout the match. I thought this would've gone a touch longer consider it was 2-out-of-3 falls, but the finishes were realistic. This match didn't get silly at any point or dip too far into choreography and cooperation (though Bandido being able to do a double fallaway slam on Kofi and Xavier from the top rope was definitely bordering on that), which is not something that could be said of some of the other matches on the show. Worth checking out. (4/5)

Jon Moxley defended his AEW Continental Championship against Mark Davis in the next contest. It was the best of Mox, it was the worst of Mox. I liked that the match started with some straight-up grappling as Mox tried to set the pace and show off his Death Jitsu stuff. I don't necessarily think it makes for the most exciting start to the match, but I can appreciate the logic of the veteran being in control early and Davis having to wrestle "Mox's match." The match picked up considerably after Mox either bladed on the right side of his head or just straight up stabbed himself with a nail because it was a ghastly wound and he bled buckets. On other shows, this might not have worked as well - it seems like Jericho intended to get color earlier in his match against Wayne but never quite got it - but because this was the only match where we saw blood, it certainly stood out. I liked Davis dominating most of the match, but Mox lost me with the melodrama on the outside as he questioned whether he should continue. Mox has been many things and the commentary - and Renee Paquette in her pre-match comments - played up the emotional toll that PAC's passing had on him, but I thought it was a overdone and schmaltzy and I was shocked to read so many positive reviews of the match and that moment in particular. I also felt like, after Mox's big comeback moment, the match dragged on for far too long. If you're going to tell the story of Mox having to find it within himself to get back in the ring and overcome the monster, I'd have preferred he overwhelmed a now-overconfident Davis with some sudden, unexpected offense based on his cunning and experience. The match just didn't need to go 20+ minutes to tell this story, especially after the previous match went the same duration but contained 3 separate pins. (2.5/5)

Before the main event, Renee Paquette welcomed AEW's newest signing - Ilya Dragunov! I'm very excited to see what he will do it in AEW but fear that he is going to either end up in United Empire or the Don Callis Family because, well, everybody in AEW is seemingly part of some faction or another. It would actually be fresh for Dragunov to come in and not instantly align himself with 4-5 others, similar to Ciampa. 

Main event time - the second ever (the first ever occurred in a British indy that Will Ospreay is associated with a few weeks earlier) Clockwork Carnage match! The rules were sorta simple (despite lots of talking points on various podcasts and in social media about them not being simple): 8 men qualified, 2 would start the match, every 3 minutes another entrant would enter the match until all 8 had entered. If anyone was pinned during this first stage, they would be eliminated. After the 8th entrant, the match would enter a second stage where it became a 15-minute "scramble" with the title going to whoever had scored the most pinfalls or submissions. Personally, I wasn't expecting much out of this match and while I don't think it was objectively terrible, it was definitely the product of an ADHD brain (Ospreay has talked openly about his diagnosis as a kid). As expected, there were some cool moments - Takeshita and Okada continuing their rivalry, Darby Allin going on a tear, the undeniable overness of Adam Copeland and emotion he brought into the match, Ospreay and Ricochet's chemistry, and Samoa Joe being Samoa Joe. I thought the finishing stretch was absolutely fantastic and had me wondering if we might be heading into some form of overtime. Unfortunately, there was also a whole ton of guys selling on the outside of the ring while two or three wrestlers duked it out in the ring, particularly noticeable and frustrating in a match where the only way to win the title is to constantly be in the ring, attempting to get a sneaky pin here or there. While we did get those big flurries of offense and pins early on, the 15-minute time limit was too long to keep that energy for its duration but also too short to allow a longer story to be told with all 7 of the competitors ("Speedball" Mike Bailey was eliminated during the 1st stage, which seems like a bit of an insult). The post-match handshake between Copeland and Ospreay got a huge reaction but the only match I'd like to see them have would be a Title vs. Career bout (and for Copeland to lose). The stipulation has potential but could use some tweaking. (2.5/5)

WrestleDream 2026 was not an all-time great AEW PPV, but it was solid enough that I'd recommend checking out most of it. I considered the main event and Mox/Davis to be the weakest matches of the night, but a cursory look at Cagematch or the reviews on Reddit would indicate I'm in the minority. The six-man tag was very good. The MCMG/FTR opener had me regretting not watching the Tailgate show (or at least the last 15 minutes of it). The Bucks/Fletcher and Knight match was a fireworks show and I enjoyed the heck out of Thekla/Mone just because Thekla can do no wrong right now. Andrade/Ciampa was tonally uneven and Jericho/Wayne was imperfect but placed at the right point on the show where it didn't feel excessively long (though, looking at the runtimes of most of the matches on the card, its hard to argue it couldn't have been a bit tighter). More than anything, though, what worked for me most about this show as an entire "piece" was the way many of the matches fit together thematically. Jericho wrestled the better match but Wayne used heel tactics reminiscent of the ones Jericho once employed to get the W. The Young Bucks were pushed to their limit by a team that was aping the Young Bucks style. Jon Moxley, arguably AEW's most established bruisers, had to dig deep to defeat Mark Davis, a guy just 4 years younger than Mox but with far less exposure. Even Thekla/Mone had elements of Mone being the crafty veteran and Thekla being the unorthodox newcomer. Obviously, despite no real similarities in their work, the Copeland/Ospreay interactions were seemingly building to an eventual (though wholly unnecessary) "passing of the torch" between the two down the line. The twist here was that "The New Class" didn't usurp the top guys as much as they showed how dangerously close they were. Not every match was for every fan, but there was more than enough to get a thumbs up from me.

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

TNA Turning Point 2012

TNA Turning Point 2012

Orlando, FL - November 2012

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, Jeff Hardy was the TNA World Champion, Samoa Joe was the Television Champion, the World Tag Team Championships were held by Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez, the X-Division Champion was Rob Van Dam, ODB and Eric Young were the Knockouts Tag Team Champions, and Tara was the Knockouts Champion.

Turning Point 2012 began with Samoa Joe defending his TNA Television Championship against Magnus in a rematch from the previous month's show. This was an improvement from their first battle, though the "No DQ" stipulation didn't really add much of anything to it because the match was wrestled fairly straight-up and only Magnus seemed interested in using any sort of weapon. I also liked that this felt like a return to form for Joe, back to wearing the trademark red-and-black and wrestling in front of a crowd that seemed invested and excited to see him. I'm a rather big Samoa Joe fan but I'm also fairly critical of some of his TNA years when he seemed fairly unmotivated and disengaged (and who could blame him?) so this match felt like a step in the right direction. Not bad at all. (2.5/5)

This was followed by ODB and Eric Young taking on Tara and "Jesse" (aka Jessie Godderz, who came into TNA after appearing on the show Big Brother, a franchise he still frequently appears on based on a cursory look at his Wikipedia page). It was a wise move to have Eric Young in the ring here because he carries Jesse through a decent 8-and-a-half minute contest. Young and ODB's partnership isn't my cup of tea, but its over with the TNA crowd. The match doesn't overstay its welcome and they keep the energy up from beginning to end so there isn't much to criticize. Its not an all-time classic or anything, but its fine for what is due to the energy and competency of ODB and Young. (2.5/5)

Rob Van Dam defended the X-Division Championship against Joey Ryan in the next match. RVD was moving and working slower than in his glory years (obviously), but was still over with the crowd. Joey Ryan had some momentum and had a decent gimmick going as a sleazebag. They get even less time than the previous match, which was probably a good thing considering RVD was working like he was really only interested in the paycheck and Ryan is more "sizzle than steak" as an in-ring competitor, a guy that could get heat with his shtick but wasn't super special as a wrestler (at least based on what I've seen). (2/5)

Luke "Doc" Gallows took on Joseph Park (Abyss' alter ego) in the next match. This stunk, but what would one expect with these two? Gallows never been a particularly exciting worker, singles or tag, but somehow built a respectable career based on sheer size. I was genuinely amazed that I enjoyed the Joseph Park/Bully Ray match from a couple months prior (?) so I had at least a tiny bit of hope that maybe they'd do something interesting with their 10 minutes but this was just a boring brawl. Joseph Park "snapping" and essentially revealing that he's just Abyss' "other personality" is eye-rolling cringe. This is the type of drippy, soggy storyline that could work in the proper context - like maybe early 90s WWF where the show is designed to appeal to 7 year olds - but TNA was too varied a show, too "adult-oriented" at times, to allow a concept like this to be enjoyed even tongue-in-cheek. (0/5)

Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez defended the TNA World Tag Team Championships against Christopher Daniels and Kazarian in the next match. I really enjoyed the triangle tag match from the previous PPV but wasn't sure this would be as good (without AJ Styles and Kurt Angle in the mix). While this did not surpass that match, it was a good bout, the kind of match that keeps the action going, sticks to the fundamentals of what makes a tag match work, and makes both the champions and challengers look like they could come out with the victory. Solid. (3/5)

James Storm vs. AJ Styles vs. Bobby Roode was next. This one had an interesting-but-potentially-counterproductive stipulation as the winner would become the number one contender to the TNA World Championship while the loser would have to wait one full year before they could challenge for the title. While I could understand that, at the time, TNA was hoping to make bigger stars out of Roode and Storm, you don't have to look any further than this very match to see who shouldn't have taken the pin...and yet, when all is said and done, its AJ Styles who did the job. To his credit, AJ puts on a subtly genius performance throughout the match, purposefully wrestling with more trepidation and making some noticeable "slips" to sell the idea that he is not at his mental peak coming into this match. Storm and Roode draw upon their deep history, which also helps a somewhat uneven match. This match is loaded with action but, for whatever reason, it didn't wow me and the audience didn't seem enthralled by it either. Meltzer gave this 3.5 stars The Observer, which seems a little extra kind because the effort was there, the execution was there, and the story was good, but all the elements didn't make for a captivating watch. Better than average, sure, but not as good as I was hoping. (3/5)

Devon, now a part of the Aces and 8s took on Kurt Angle in the next match. This was about what I expected, though it's not like Devon was working hard. At the end of the day, he wasn't a very exciting singles worker and Angle, while fine here, is a bit overrated when it comes to delivering on "carry jobs," which was needed here. The commentators play up Devon targeting Angle's neck, far from the most creative angle to take (especially considering Devon isn't really doing all that much different than what he usually does). Angle ends up getting the clean W with the Ankle Lock as the rest of the Aces and 8s watch from the outside. (2/5)

Main event time - Jeff Hardy vs. Austin Aries in a Ladder Match for Hardy's TNA World Championship. They had an awesome match on the previous show and, with ladders now included, I had high hopes for this and was quite pleased with it. Unlike the first match, which felt like Aries doing his damndest to prove he deserved to be in the main event scene, it was Hardy who had a "career match" here, taking some absolutely nasty bumps on the map and into the "spine" of a ladder. I really liked Aries' cleverness in this match, first when he tried to bury Hardy under a ladder and the steps and, later, when he got a hold of the controls for the hanging belts. I also really, really liked how often Hardy and Aries' ability to capture the titles was thwarted by the ladders themselves being bent. I've probably seen well over a hundred ladder matches over the years so it's rare that one really stands out, but this was awesome (even after a bit of a shaky start when Aries barely hit Hardy with a stomp and Hardy still bumped for it right in front of the camera). (4/5)

Though not as good as Bound for Glory from the previous month, Turning Point 2012 at least features a very, very good main event. Unfortunately, nothing else on the card even comes close and the Joseph Park/Doc Gallows match is a complete drag. Aside from the aforementioned main event, the best thing on this show is AJ Styles performance in a losing effort. Earn a Kwang Score of 2.38-out-of-5, this show is a...

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver

TNA Bound for Glory 2012

TNA Bound for Glory 2012

Phoenix, AZ - October 2012

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, Austin Aries was the TNA World Heavyweight Champion, the X-Division Champion was Zema Ion, the World Tag Team Championships were held by Frankie Kazarian and Christopher Daniels, Miss Tessmacher was the Knockouts Champion, Samoa Joe was the Television Champion, and Eric Young and ODB were the Knockouts Tag Team Champions.

The previous month's No Surrender 2012 show ended with Jeff Hardy, against all odds (pun not necessarily intended), defeating Bully Ray to become the number one contender for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship held by Austin Aries.

This show opens with Rob Van Dam challenging Zema Ion for the TNA X-Division Championship. This wasn't a bad match, though it was clear that RVD was "leading" and that the match wasn't as fast-paced as Ion was probably capable of. Still, compared to some of the other Zema Ion matches I've seen, having him in the ring against an opponent that the fans actually care about meant that this match actually had a fair bit of heat. They only got 8 minutes, which made the finish feel like it came out of nowhere. Average. (2.5/5)

Samoa Joe vs. Magnus was next. Magnus cut a promo before the match, which definitely had me thinking he'd win the TV Title here, but Joe got the submission victory at minute 9. The crowd was very into this, surprisingly so, considering that it was another average-to-good match and not one I'd consider deserving of a "This is Awesome" chant. Then again, we are talking about 2012, a year when the WWE was going through one of its most critically-maligned years. Good, hard-hitting match seemingly designed to re-build Joe as a killer, but, to me, in order to get Joe back on track they needed him to absolutely demolish people in surprising fashion and this was more just a solid back-and-forth that didn't play on their previous partnership at all (even on commentary). Another solid match, but nothing worth seeking out. Kinda like the last match, Joe was over enough with the live crowd to make this work, but I kinda wish he had thrown in more of his signature stuff to put this over the top. (2.5/5)

James Storm took on his former tag partner in Beer Money, Bobby Roode, in a street fight next. The special guest ring enforcer was Bellator champion, King Mo, though he barely did anything in the match. I must admit to having no idea that King Mo would end up being involved in TNA and other wrestling promotions, off and on, for the next 8+ years. Anyway...Storm bled a bucket's worth and there were some wild spots in this match, including the use of thumb tacks and an absolutely insane table spot where it looked like Roode's skull hit the floor rather than the intended table. I'm not surprised Meltzer gave this 3+ stars in The Observer as this match was intense and physical and bloody and basically everything one would want out of a grudge match between these two. Really enjoyed the escalation of violence here too. The best match of the night so far and a quiet contender for one of the top 20 matches in TNA history up to this point. (4/5)

Joey Ryan took on Al Snow in the next match. The story here was that Ryan had been part of TNA's "Gut Check" competition, had been voted out of the competition, but had 87% of the fan support and felt that he'd been unjustly eliminated. Ryan took his frustrations out on Snow and the feud developed from there. It's hard to rate a Joey Ryan match in 2026 because Ryan's reputation took such a tremendous hit during the #MeToo movement when he was outed as a sex pest. He's not Buck Zumhofe-level sicko (few are), but he apparently was "living the gimmick" of being a sleazeball and took advantage of at least a few women. Anyway...he throws a good right hand. More evidence that this Phoenix crowd was "all in" on this show? They chant "You Still Got It" for Al Snow within the first 2 minutes for no apparent reason. The ending comes when Matt Morgan shows up and attacks Snow, which was a genuine shocker to me as it feels like Morgan hadn't been featured for at least a few months (a look at Cagematch reveals he hadn't wrestled a match since June, but I'm not sure if he'd appeared on TV after that). Not bad at all, but not great and kinda cringey to watch because its a Ryan match. (2.5/5)

The TNA World Tag Team Championships were on the line in the next bout as Bad Influence (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) defended the titles against AJ Styles and Kurt Angle and the team of Hernandez and Chavo Guerrero. AJ and Chavo started things off before Kurt got the tag. Daniels tagged himself in but AJ then tagged himself in as well, the break in action allowing Chavo to regroup and hit him with a back suplex before bringing in Hernandez. Hernandez applied a bear hug and turned it into a release suplex. He followed it up with a body slam and then they hit a double-team move. Hernandez hit a splash for 2, but Kazarian came in before they get do anything more. Lots of quick tags in this match as Angle came in soon after and then Chavo and then Hernandez soon after that. The match picked up once Bad Influence took over, hitting some moves behind the ref's back and double-teaming AJ, and then got even crazier during its second half with AJ hitting an awesome dive to the floor, a wicked, imperfect spot involving Hernandez and Kazarian off the apron, and some of the best Kurt Angle suplexes I've seen in a long while. The finish was a bit of a surprise but believable and well-executed. I'm not sure this got to the level of "must see" but I liked this more than the past few Bad Influence/Angles & Styles match I've watched. (3.5/5)

Tara challenged Ms. Tessmacher for the TNA Knockouts Championship next. The story here was that Tara had been Tessmacher's mentor but had turned on her after losing her initial challenge at the previous month's No Surrender show. Tara is better as a dominant heel but this match didn't grab me. Why is Taryn Terrell the guest referee for all of these matches? It cheapens the title and the division to have her in there. Fine for what it was and probably better than what the WWE had going in the Diva division at the time, but my rewatch of all of these TNA shows has corrected my belief in the myth that the Knockouts division was "ahead of its time." (2/5)

After Tara unveils her "Hollywood mega-star boyfriend" to be some dude from some reality show, we get a video from the TNA Hall of Fame ceremony featuring Lex Luger, Hulk Hogan, and Dixie Carter all talking about Sting. 

This leads to the next contest - Bully Ray and Sting taking on two members of the Aces and 8s in a No Disqualification match. Watching the pre-match video, I had no idea that Shaq was involved. It was later revealed that the two masked members of the Aces were Mike Knox and Luke "Doc" Gallows. They brawl on the outside for a minute or so before the crowd starts chanting for tables. Sting hits a splash onto the guardrail to a big pop. The action finally settles and we get a standard tag match, which doesn't make a ton of sense to me as it undercuts the Aces' law-breaking gimmick and because this is No DQ (meaning there is no reason to make tags at all). Sting takes some punishment but manages to lock in the Scorpion Deathlock (only for it to be immediately broken up). Sting hits the Scorpion Death Drop soon after but can't make the cover (but can make the tag to Bully?). Bully comes in and hits a neckbreaker and then a shoulder block off the second rope. The heels double-team and Sting stays in his corner for no reason. Bully gets 2 on a splash but the cover gets broken up again. Sting finally comes in to even things out. One of the Aces brings a chair into the ring but gets booted in the face before he can use it. Bully grabs it but in comes a 3rd member of the Aces and he hits him with a low blow. Joseph Parks, who had been beaten down and handcuffed to the guard rail, uses his immense power to rip the cuffs off the rail! He comes in and takes out the 3rd member of the Aces, fighting him all the way up the ramp. Back in the ring, Ray and Sting are in trouble taking shots in the corner. Bully breaks free and they hit a Doomsday Device to a big pop. Bully hits a splash in the corner and then Sting hits one of his own on the other member of the Aces. Sting tells Bully to get the table, building up for a Dudley Death Drop as the crowd goes wild. Before they can pull it off, Sting gets pulled to the outside and yet another masked man enters the match. Bully gets put through a table and then eats a pin, ending the match on a rather flat note. The heels stomp on Sting in the corner and more members of the gang make their way into the ring. Hogan's music hits and most of the Aces scatter - which makes no sense because they have a clear numbers advantage and Hogan was close to 60 - leaving one member in the ring to get punched out. Hogan and Sting double-team him and pull off his mask revealing that it is Devon! This shocks everyone in the ring to the point that Devon is able to walk out of the ring with the rest of the Aces escorting him through the crowd. The reaction is undeniably huge, which means as much as I can shit on the execution of this match and post-match segment, this was over with the TNA fanbase. (2/5)

Main event time - Austin Aries defending the TNA World Championship against Jeff Hardy. I'm not a huge Aries fan, especially as he's outed himself as something of a jerk/creep/asshole (even before the #MeToo Allegations, though after the Christy Hemme incident, he came off as particularly pompous and arrogant in an out-of-character interview on an episode of Talk Is Jericho), and Jeff Hardy is highly consistent, so I wasn't expecting to be as impressed with this match as I was. Hardy was the clear favorite, but Aries "takes" this match with the incredible bumps he takes, his character work, and his sharp offense. Hardy is no slouch in this, but this is the "A Double" Show and he's clearly working to cement his status as a legitimate main eventer after a rather brief World Championship run. The crowd's enthusiasm for Aries also gave this a different and special atmosphere, though Hardy has his fair share of fans in attendance as well. This is a genuine contender for one of the best TNA matches I've ever seen and I'm not surprised Meltzer gave it 4 stars in The Observer. Fantastic match and a career highlight for both men. (4/5)

With a pretty decent Kwang Score of 2.88-out-of-5 (thanks in large part to an excellent main event and a very strong Roode/Storm match), Bound for Glory 2012 is one of the better TNA PPVs I can remember. Even the "lows" on this match are watchable, which is not always the case for a company that, at the time, was featuring guys like Devon, Abyss, Joey Ryan, and Doc Gallows in major roles. In fact, this show earned the highest score since the last Bound for Glory, which also got a 2.88. 

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

AEW All Out 2026

AEW All Out 2026

Chicago, IL - September 2026

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into the show, Will Ospreay was the AEW World Champion, Mercedes Mone was the Women's Champion, Adam Copeland and Christian held the AEW World Tag Team Champions, the TBS Champion was Persephone, the TNT Champion was Darby Allin, the Continentnal Champion was Jon Moxley, the National Champion was Andrade El Idolo, The Brawling Birds (Jamie Hayter and Alex Windsor) held the Women's Tag Team Championships, Kazuchika Okada was the International Champion, and Swerve Strickland and The New Level (Kofi and Xavier Woods) were the Trios Champions.

The show kicked off with a very good PAC vs. Andrade El Idolo match for Andrade's National Championship. They worked a bit of a start/stop pace in the opening 10 minutes of the match, letting things breathe a bit more than you might see in a typical AEW TV match where the wrestlers are working around commercial breaks and there are greater time constraints. I really liked Marina Shafir's involvement as she has become a great heat magnet. I also thought it was really wise of TK to put this match first as the build-up wasn't particularly memorable and this benefitted from a crowd that was still fresh and very excited for the show. Author's Note: I wrote my review of this match less than 6 hours before I read the tragic news of the passing of PAC. I decided against revising my (admittedly) brief review because I feel like it would be disingenuous to go back and add thoughts and reflection that I did not have "in the moment." I didn't "fix" my rating. The match was good, borderline great. Many PAC matches were. The guy was an incredible wrestler. (3.5/5)

Darby Allin and Steve Borden followed this up by taking on the Don Callis Family's Kyle Fletcher and Kevin Knight. I try not to skew my ratings towards booking, but its curious to me why Fletcher and Knight have been paired together as a new team when you could run this exact same story with the much more polished pairing of Aussie Open. Anyway...Fletcher continued his streak of very good performances and Darby Allin did the same, taking some absolutely awesome bumps. Darby Allin is a cheat code at this point as he is seemingly incapable of not giving 110% and making a match memorable just with his willingness to take punishment. Unfortunately, this match will be remembered for its non-finish as Steve Borden and Kevin Knight attempted a double coast-to-coast move ala Ricochet and Logan Paul from a few SummerSlams ago. While I'm sure Borden practiced the move, whether it was his nerves, slippery ropes, or just bad luck, he landed hard and seemingly suffered a concussion, ending the match by referee's decision (the W awarded to Fletcher and Knight). I wasn't sure if the injury was legit but 18 or so hours later, I haven't read differently. To be honest, I'm not unhappy with the outcome as I'm not sure Darby and Borden should be challenging for the AEW World Tag Team Championships anytime soon considering how green Borden is. While he throws a good right hand and a decent dropkick, Borden is a work-in-progress while Fletcher and Knight, if they're meant to be a credible, legitimate team, shouldn't necessarily be losing to a comparatively unseasoned pairing. For what this was before the unfortunate accident, this was no less than good simply because of Darby and Fletcher being so reliably excellent over the past few years. (2.5/5)

Persephone, with Britt Baker, came out for her TBS Championship Open Challenge and her opponent was...Dani Luna? I'm guessing that TK was counting on the crowd being "up" after what I presume would've been an Allin/Borden victory, but that was not the case and the Chicago audience - as well as the audience at home - probably expected someone with a bit more of a "name" to be Persephone's opponent. At first, from the entrance graphics, I thought it might be Mina Shirakawa (which also would've been a letdown) and I had heard rumors that it might be a returning Ruby Soho (which may not have yielded a match as good as this one, but probably would've gotten a bigger reaction in the opening minutes), so it being the relative unknown in Dani Luna wasn't exactly the shot-in-the-arm the show needed. Persephone and Luna had good chemistry and delivered a good match, but the lack of crowd interest was noticable and the match's 15-minute runtime felt a bit long. Baker got some good heat on the outside with her interference, but she's got some work to do in terms of freshening her character if this new role is going to work and really make the pairing with Persephone a potential main event act for the division. (2/5)

Kazuchika Okada vs. Tommaso Ciampa for Okada's International Championship was next. The crowd was super hyped for this, which is somewhat surprising considering Okada's AEW run has been a bit uneven and Ciampa has never been a "main event" guy outside of his rightfully-adored feud with Johnny Gargano 10ish years ago (?). But, in front of this Chicago crowd, this was a "dream match" and it delivered exactly what it needed to, including a wonderful moment in which Ciampa's daughter gave Okada double birds. Hard-hitting, some excellent false finishes, lots of good counter-wrestling...it was all there. My only slight criticism may have been that the second half outshined the first, but that's not unccommon for an Okada match and I wouldn't consider the first half "bad" or boring. I also really liked the little nasty details they threw in with Okada grabbing Ciampa's beard and, later in the match, Ciampa biting down on Okada's finger. Another very good match, maybe just a bit short of "must watch." (3.5/5)

The Divine Dominion (Megan Bayne and Lena Kross) challenged The Brawlin' Birds (Alex Windsor and Jamie Hayter) for the AEW Women's Tag Team Championships in the next match. At All In: London, the Birds won the titles in front of a crowd that was primed for "feel good" moments involving their hometown heroes. I criticized the title change and thought the match wasn't too great, a bit too "back-and-forth" and formless. This match also leaned heavily into the parity of the teams, but added a metric ton of ridiculous bumps and weapon shots, so much so that I wondered how the "CLT match" later in the night could possibly top the violence that was on display here. Megan Bayne once again had a stand-out performance, the kind that makes me hopeful she'll get a sustained push as a singles star in the near future (though, with Persephone and Thekla also doing such good work recently, the division seems a bit overloaded with heels). Highlights included a great table bump on the outside, a barbwire board getting smashed through, thumbtacks being used for the finish, and Megan Bayne looking like the victim in a horror movie with all the crimson she was sporting. Thoroughly entertaining. (3/5)

The next match was the Trios Championship bout - Swerve Strickland, Austin Creed, and Kofi vs. "Hangman" Adam Page, Bandido, and Brody King. Not much to say here aside from this match being darn good. As always, Swerve and Hangman had incredible chemistry. Bandido did some insane strength spots on top of his usual awesome high-flying. Brody King did Brody King things. Austin Creed looked like he was having a blast, working the frenetic and frantic pace that I'm not sure he was ever allowed to do in the WWE where the pace tends to be slower and "video game wrestling" with lots of logic-defying spots and false finishes tend to be reserved for just the main event. The crowd was electric for this. I'm not sure what else these two teams can accomplish against each other because this match set such a high bar, but I wouldn't mind them doing a whole series of matches because this was a great fireworks show and I'd love to see what they might come up with to differentiate this match from future matches (whether that's building the match structure around an injury angle or going the No DQ route or putting it in a cage or whatever). I wasn't as high on this match as the fans over at Cagematch, where this one sits with a strong 9.33 rating, but I thought this was very strong if maybe a tad bit too "ridiculous" with some of the cooperation needed for some of the spots (for a couple examples, when Brody King essentially German Suplexed his own partner, who was also suplexing Kofi and Creed, there was an audible "count" before they hit the spot and, later on, Brody kicking out of a pin when he had all three of his opponents pressing down on him). (3.5/5)

Thekla vs. Willow Nightingale was next in a match to determine the Number One Contender for Mercedes Mone's AEW Women's Championship with the match scheduled for WrestleDream in October. This was the right kind of sloppy early, the kind where not everything is hitting but that lack of flawless execution makes it feel like a genuine fight. Highlights included Thekla hitting a double stomp to the back of Willow and then mocking her entrance, Willow applying a perfect cloverleaf that looked like it was bending Thekla in half and then turning it into a powerbomb (a spot that Excalibur noted was a shout-out to Andy "The Butcher" Williams RIP, Thekla working over both of Willow's hands (including the injured one, which was taped up), and Willow's cannonball to the floor followed soon after by a beautiful crossbody by Thekla that should remind people that you don't need to flip or flop to be a great high-flyer. The Chicago crowd was fairly split but it's obvious that Thekla is a borderline babyface at this point as, no matter how vicious she is, the crowd just loves the character. There were some small moments of telegraphy, but this was beautiful otherwise and they cut an insane pace without underselling any of the big moments. Willow bridged out of Thekla's spear, which led to Thekla doing the Spider pose in another great moment. Julia Hart showed up with Skye Blue right behind her, but Hart inadvertently struck Thekla with the belt for a very close nearfall. Willow couldn't get Thekla up for the Gut Wrench Powerbomb and then ate a stomp to her injured hand and then the back of her neck to end the match. This needed 4-5 minutes to be a show stealer but it was very, very good for what it was (and one has to assume that Willow's legitimate injury likely played a role in this only going 13 minutes. Mercedes Mone showed up afte the match in Chicago Bulls inspired gear (and a ludicrous mask). Terrific match for what it was. (3/5)

The 3-Way "CLT" Match - AEW couldn't promote it as a TLC match due to WWE owning the copyright - between Adam Copeland and Christian Cage, The Young Bucks, and FTR followed. FTR came out wearing custom "ceremonial" belts for some reason, which was odd and kinda confusing. Cope and Cage got a massive response from the Chicago crowd, who, despite the show entering its 4th hour - more if you include the "Tailgate" maches - were still super excited at this point. Anyway...this was loaded with table spots, ladder spots, and chair spots that were "almost like the ones in the 90s if you squint." I'm not advocating a return to unprotected chair shots but I'm not necessarily a fan of guys having to pause and aim for someone's back when it would make so much more sense to clobber them over the head. Fortunately, we know get to see guys getting put through chairs or crotched on the back support part but it is a bit obvious. Maybe they should just replace chairs with gimmicked trash cans? Cash Wheeler may have been the match's MVP because he flew into and through a whole bunch of furniture. Stokely's bump through "two" tables (he completely cleared the first) was another highlight. Really liked seeing Christian and Dax get some color to get over the grittiness of this match. Liked Adam Copeland sending the Bucks into the ladders the way he used to go into them back in the day. Just an overall very good, very entertaining match, but one that I did feel was missing some of the "nostalgia spots" that I went into it expecting and I think would've made it feel more historic and legacy-defining. (3.5/5)

Main event time - Will Ospreay defending the AEW World Championship against Jon Moxley. This was never going to live up to the all-timer that Ospreay and Omega put on at All In, but it was more about the story and the drama than the action. Moxley dominated the first half, punishing Ospreay with piledrivers and his usual violent tactics, targeting Ospreay's neck. He was forcing Ospreay to bring out the "killer" inside and when Ospreay did finally turn things around, the match's intensity peaked. Having the Death Riders interfere and then get taken out by the United Empire didn't have the same Avengers-esque feel as when we saw a similar crescendo of gang warfare at All In: Texas 2025, but that show was built so much more around Hangman's story of redemption/revenge against a dominant heel faction while this was more about Mox, whose now a pseudo-face (?), "passing the torch." I can see why people didn't love the histrionics of Mox essentially welcoming the Hidden Blade towards the end, but I wasn't as put off by it. The ref bumps and false finishes were a little bit more eye-rolling to me. This wasn't as bad as some of the previous Mox main events in 2024/2025, but it wasn't as good as Ospreay's better matches against opponents or the match they had at Dynasty earlier in the year. (3/5)

With a very respectable Kwang Score of 3.05-out-of-5, All Out 2026 didn't reach the heights of the previous month's All In show, but it was consistently good and most of the matches delivered. The unfortunate injury suffered by Steve Borden cut short a match that might've stolen the show while Thekla/Willow was just too short, period. 

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