The Revolution has come and gone, and now AEW is on the road to Dynasty. The post-Revolution "Dynamite" was a muted affair, giving the Wrestling Inc. Staff the sneaking suspicion that most of the major players in AEW were either recovering, or dealing with social media fallout.As always, there was plenty to love on "Dynamite," and plenty to hate. We're going to let the results speak for themselves and dig deep into our feelings to debrief this week's edition of the flagship show.There were moments of glory, like Will Ospreay's incredible return match against Blake Christian, but there were also ridiculously low moments, like the hokey Coffin Match between Darby Allin and Gabe Kidd.Enough introducing though, let's get to what worked, and what very much didn't, from this week's edition of "AEW Dynamite."
Love them or hate them, The Young Bucks are a tag team who are dream opponents for many wrestlers working today. They are guaranteed to put on a great show nearly every time they get in the ring, making them a hot ticket for duos in their generation, while also being a big enough name to be a draw for the generations that came before them. Matt and Nick Jackson have wrestled virtually every major tag team of the 21st century that you can think of, except one, and that match doesn't seem too far away now.For as much as I'm not that high on Adam "Cope" Copeland as a singles guy in the big 2026, I can certainly get on board with him and Christian Cage having that nostalgic run in the AEW tag team division this year. Edge and Christian are always remembered as being one of the best tag teams of their generation, despite only really being active for around three years, which sounds insane considering how much they're talked about. An entire generation of duos passed them by as they went off on their solo journeys, but now that they are back together, they can finally have standout matches with the biggest names of the current crop of talent, and The Young Bucks are at the top of that list.But first, Cope and Cage need to get past FTR, the current AEW World Tag Team Champions. Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler have faced Cope and Cage, but their match at AEW All Out in September 2025 was more of a personal grudge than anything. Now the gold is involved, and you just know that Tony Khan would love nothing more than to have some five-second poses on "Dynamite" with Cope and Cage as champions. They're challenging FTR for the straps at Dynasty, which is in Canada, so you know who's going over there (just look at who won at All Out for spoilers), and with the Jackson brothers starting a story arc where they are hard-working Christian boys who want to reach the top of the mountain again, it sets up The Young Bucks vs. Cope and Cage for the AEW World Tag Team Championships perfectly.It's a match that all four of them have wanted for a while, so you know that when it happens, they will have their working boots on. If they're up for it, maybe even make the eventual feud ender a TLC match at Wembley, really make it feel like a generational dream match. We've seen FTR and The Young Bucks enough. Let's have some nostalgic fun since we were robbed of The Hardys legacy run in 2022.Written by Sam Palmer
This was a weird "AEW Dynamite." The vibes were off, and nowhere was that more apparent than when Don Callis literally phoned-in his appearance on the show, having a stooge hand Andrade El Idolo a briefcase full of money to give to MJF. I think. Anyway, Andrade thought the whole thing was shady, and therefore undersold the entire promo segment.It was awkward, and stilted. It just didn't gel properly, and felt thrown together in what can only be described as TNA-esque fashion. They didn't even open the briefcase to show any money inside. The whole thing felt very bush league.I don't know what's going on there, to be honest, and I'm not sure I care. Don Callis doesn't even care, otherwise I'm pretty sure he'd be there. The man has never met a town he wouldn't make for a paycheck.It just felt off, and quite frankly, so did the whole show, but Sam Palmer's covering the broader aspects of the show. Anyway, Renee Paquette deserved better.Written by Ross Berman
This week saw the continuation of Swerve Strickland and Kenny Omega's feud as eventual World Championship challengers, following the latter's return to the company, making the save for Brody King at Revolution; Strickland had defeated King in singles action on Sunday, and in trying to further his attack with a stomp onto a cinderblock, he prompted Omega to emerge and make the save. Strickland wrote him off TV in February, defeating him in singles action and establishing himself as the top challenger outside of the "Hangman" Adam Page-MJF World title program.This week saw Omega make the challenge for a rematch and an entirely undisputed claim to number one contendership, but it was clear that he would have to put something up in this double-or-nothing deal. Enter Strickland, for that matter, coming down to the ring to cut a promo about power and what he has felt at the hands of those who wield it.The beginning of his promo was pure resonance, and it made sense as he wielded the history of his time dealing with organizations with power, in the military, and the developmental brand of WWE, as his reason never to be denied again. The Young Bucks had cost him the opportunity to become AEW World Champion for the second time at last year's Dynasty, and he took their titles as EVPs.And if Omega wants to cost him yet another opportunity at becoming champion, then he wants to take his role and the power of his role as EVP. Only, instead of when he and Will Ospreay defeated the Young Bucks last year, it appears he wants to completely usurp Omega. Championships and power. It was essentially as super-villain wrestler a super-villain wrestling monologue could be, and Strickland continues to suit that role really well.Obviously, any promise of a match between Strickland and Omega should always be met with an obligatory "Oh, neat," at the very least. But the story is slotting into place in a logical and quite exciting way. Strickland as EVP is legitimately intriguing. Omega in the World title picture, feuding with MJF, is also legitimately intriguing. And to get to either of those destinations, there has to be what is almost certainly going to be a great match. It's just got a lot riding for it. And Strickland's delivery is also something to be admired.Written by Max Everett
I'm about ready for this feud between Darby Allin and Gabe Kidd to end, given how long it's lasted and my personal lack of interest in it anymore. The good news is that it looks like it's finally come to an end after tonight. The bad news is that it wasn't exactly the grand finale I would've liked to have seen if it was going to continue on for this long, regardless.Now, I have to give credit where credit is due here. Allin and Kidd definitely tried to do something different in this match, between the chloroforming, the flipping of the car, Kidd being trapped in a straitjacket. I also have to give a shoutout to Kidd here for wrestling the vast majority of this match while trapped in the straitjacket and being unable to use the full range of motion with his arms.With all of that being said, this Coffin Match just wasn't one that was my cup of tea. I found myself finding it hard to take it all seriously and felt like it was more cartoonish than anything else, which isn't a great thing for me to be feeling about something that's supposed to be the culmination of a long-term feud between two men who absolutely hate each other. It also didn't help that the crowd seemed to be confused about what was unfolding in front of them (as I was too), as it was a lot to take in and process all at once while still trying to be engaged in what was happening.This brings me to my other issue with this entire thing. Normally, a Coffin Match as the end of a long-term feud would make total sense to me. However, we just had MJF and "Hangman" Adam Page take on one another at Revolution only days ago in a Texas Death Match that had a fairly similar vibe to this Coffin Match, and there was a No Holds Barred that took place on this same edition of "Dynamite". With so many similar stipulation matches happening in that close proximity to one another, it felt like it was a little bit of a hard pill to swallow. I could've done with at least a week's break between the Coffin Match and the No Holds Barred Match at the very least, and could use a little break from these kinds of hardcore matches.Written by Olivia Quinlan
I thought tonight's episode of "Dynamite" was peak "nobody was cleared, and this is what we got," but the one really good thing we did get was the return of one "Aerial Assassin," Will Ospreay. He returned to the ring tonight against Blake Christian after returning to AEW, following neck fusion surgery just six months ago, at Revolution on Sunday, to confront Jon Moxley and the Death Riders.Ospreay had a good match against Christian, and good for "Vanilla Baby" to get some time on "Dynamite" against a massive star like Ospreay. I'd imagine that means Ospreay and likely AEW President Tony Khan have a lot of faith in him, which is cool for him. The more important part about it all, however, was that AEW got Ospreay on the show to kick things off, something this show really needed by the end of it. His return was the most exciting thing on the show tonight, which was missing a lot of main players, or at least those main players getting physical, after Revolution.While the match was good, Ospreay's promo after it was great. I'm still not entirely sold on him going after Moxley and the Death Riders, since Mox has been leaning more babyface in recent times, but they did take Ospreay out at Forbidden Door, prior to him leaving for neck surgery. Ospreay, of course, still remembers that and is quite furious about it, so at least it all makes sense. And, Ospreay's fiery promo tonight helped sell me on this all a little more.Ospreay told Moxley that he didn't need a weapon to snap someone's neck. He could do it "with his bare f****** hands," which was a fire line, despite the obvious need for a censor there. That brought out the Death Riders, and when Ospreay tried to go after Moxley, he got PAC instead, which also made sense. I wouldn't mind seeing Ospreay work his way through the Death Riders, taking them out one by one until he gets to Moxley. We've seen that before with other feuds with Moxley, but with Ospreay, it doesn't feel like a stale angle.While I didn't find this overall episode of "Dynamite" anything special, I sure am glad Ospreay is back. There's still quite a lot going on around MJF and the AEW World Championship scene, like with Kenny Omega and Swerve Strickland vying to be the number one contender right now, so a smaller feud with the Death Riders to get Ospreay back in the swing of things is probably exactly what he needs to be doing right now.Written by Daisy Ruth
If this week's episode of "AEW Dynamite" felt a bit different compared to all of the shows leading up to AEW Revolution, don't worry, you're not alone in thinking that. AEW is known for being the company that focuses on the in-ring action more than the promos, and the segments, and the video packages, and yet, there was a lot of that this week. That's not to say those are bad things. They're not, but the glaringly obvious reason why this show felt a bit light on action was EVERYONE WAS HURT.It's always been a common problem in AEW following a big pay-per-view. Everyone gives everything they have to make sure the pay-per-views are the best shows possible, which leads to fans waiting in anticipation for the next episode of "Dynamite" to see the fallout. Then "Dynamite" happens, and half the stuff you saw on the pay-per-view isn't even referenced on TV because 75% of the roster aren't medically cleared to compete, making the fallout shows feel a bit light in comparison to what happened before the weekend.Don't get me wrong, wrestlers deserve a little rest, especially after such a big show. However, neither man who featured in the Revolution main event appeared live, none of the women's champions were there, Toni Storm was replaced by Mina Shirakawa for her match because she was hurt, the vast majority of guys who were on the Revolution card weren't mentioned outside of video packages and backstage segments and those who were showed up for a promo or two.This is a backwards move because it saps the momentum built up from the weekend. Fans were very excited to see what was next, particularly because the next pay-per-view is four weeks away, meaning there is less time to build up meaningful matches, which should, in theory, make the fallout episode of "Dynamite" have a quick energy that already gets you ready for the next pay-per-view offering. Instead, the show has the vibe of when your teacher called in sick at school and a substitute sat at the front of the class and put a movie on."Dynamite" this week wasn't bad, but when you have high expectations set by the string of shows you've seen in recent weeks, you can leave feeling a bit short-changed. I mean, come on, Don Callis was only on the show via FaceTime! That's when you know Tony Khan is working with a shoestring roster. Maybe this will give "AEW Collision" a chance to pick things up as we march down the road to Dynasty, but in terms of getting us ready from the jump, this was a show "Sorry, I wasn't ready" sort of show.Written by Sam Palmer
