This week marked the 131st anniversary of The Lumiere Brother's hosting the first paid showing of a film, 1895's "Workers Leaving The Lumiere Factory," in some ways the first summer blockbuster, even if the term didn't actually come about until the 1970s, and AEW celebrated with a Summer Blockbuster edition of Dynamite. If you want to read more about the show, the AEW Summer Blockbuster 6/10/2026 results page is your friend.It's now time to give out some thumbs up and some thumbs down. There was plenty to like about tonight's show, especially the opening contest, and there was plenty to hate, like...well...all the bulls*** that happened before the opening contest. If you want to keep the discussion going, the comments section will be open as always.For now, it's time to talk about what we loved, and what we very much did not, from the Summer Blockbuster edition of "AEW Dynamite."
When Chris Jericho came back to AEW in April, I figured I'd give him a shot. He had been gone for nearly a year at that point, so his booking was going to feel fresh no matter what, right? Well, he's entering just his second feud since his return, and it already feels like a new Jericho Vortex. The New Jericho Vortex of Bald, if you will, and it already feels pointless and redundant.I'm sure it's because Jericho loves his catchphrases and attempting to get goofy things over, and now, he's trying to overtake the sickos' love of chanting "BALD!" at various heels. First, he feuded with Ricochet, which took fans through an oddly booked assortment of babyfaces for the Stadium Stampede match at Double or Nothing, and Jericho's next bald foe is none other than Tommaso Ciampa.The pair opened up "Dynamite" tonight, and though the segment lasted about 10 minutes, it felt like it dragged on forever. I guess I thought we'd start out with one of the matches advertised, and I assumed Orange Cassidy vs. Andrade, so I wasn't prepared for an immediate promo segment, as that's not usually AEW's thing.Ciampa brought out Jericho, who, of course, was nearly immediately silly and called Ciampa "Tommy," which got the crowd chanting, and it just felt like it got the show off to a slow start. It wasn't as cute or clever as Ciampa's previous "List of 1,004 Reasons he Hates Jericho" bit. The segment ended in a pull-apart brawl, and by the end of it, I didn't want to see Ciampa vs. Jericho any more than I already did. Which was already only a tiny bit, simply because I just really like Ciampa in AEW.While I think Ricochet is fine after taking the overall loss to Jericho, I don't want to see Ciampa lose to him. Right now, the "Psycho Killer" feels slightly lost, as there are too many guys in the main title picture, and I guess you can't have a heel Ciampa feud with a heel Kevin Knight for the TNT Championship. For a company with so many titles, you'd think there would be obvious space to slot Ciampa in for a feud over one.If Jericho's whole new thing is just feuding with bald guys on the roster and making up catchphrases to sell t-shirts, I don't know if I could have thought of anything more ridiculous for him upon his return. Jericho is back to not working for me, and this opening segment just fell really flat.Written by Daisy Ruth
They say that you learn something new every day. Today, the new thing that I ended up learning about was the rivalry between the Ohio cities of Cincinnati and Cleveland.All jokes aside, Jon Moxley and Shane Taylor put on a banger of a match for the Continental Championship. For something that I viewed as being a pretty random match ahead of this show, I expected little more than some solid wrestling between the two men that was a means of giving Taylor some time on "Dynamite" and would ultimately just be another successful defense for Moxley. While Moxley did end up retaining, the two men were given a nice chunk of television time to put on something that was gritty, grounded, raw, and super engaging.I normally would complain about the little post-match brawl that followed between The Death Riders and Shane Taylor Promotions, but this was a rare case where I actually liked it. It was a great way to leave the door open for AEW to do more between the two stables without being excessively over the top or clear out the back with every single member of both stables. It felt a little more on the understated side, which is refreshing from the usual multi-man post-match over-the-top brawls. It's something that I really enjoyed and would really like to see from these kinds of brawls in the future.Written by Olivia Quinlan
Technical difficulties prevented me from expressing how I felt about Mark Briscoe being the frontrunner to be MJF's next major challenger for the AEW World Championship, but my trusty co-workers did their thing and worded it beautifully. Fast forward one week and the Briscoe/MJF situation has a new wrinkle that hasn't got me riled up or anything, but it has got me thinking that I've seen this all before.For context, Briscoe talked to Tony Khan before his match with PAC, and when he called out MJF after he beat PAC, everyone (including MJF) thought he was going to demand a title shot. Instead, he revealed his ultimate plan, a multi-man Steel Cage Match where if his team wins, Briscoe will get a shot at MJF.Once again, I need to stress that I don't have a problem with Mark Briscoe at all, and he has every right to challenge for the title, considering he beat MJF the last time they faced off. However, it's the cage thing that has got me a bit puzzled. If Briscoe was going to talk to Tony Khan, wouldn't he just say "Listen, boss, I beat MJF last time we faced, he's ducking me, you need a main event for Forbidden Door, and I've got the wins to back my case up" or something like that? Wouldn't that just be a lot easier, or is that me asking for wrestlers to actually think logically?A multi-man Steel Cage Match is kind of nonsensical in every way imaginable. Sure, it gets a bunch of guys on the show, and I'm all for wrestlers getting those big pay-per-view paydays (and I don't even know if those exist in the world of guaranteed contracts we now live in). For the context of the story, it does make Briscoe look a bit dumb. Using money as the Deus Ex Machina to get The Don Callis Family on MJF's side is fine, but on a show that is also meant to feature the best that CMLL and NJPW have to offer, throw some of those guys in the match. There's literally 12 spots to fill. I know Forbidden Door is an AEW show first and a cross-brand show second these days, but again, another opportunity was missed right there.To cap it all off, we did a multi-man Steel Cage Match at last year's Forbidden Door. That match was even announced in the same building where this week's episode of "AEW Dynamite" took place in. Sure, it will be fun, but you've got to have some sense mixed in with that fun, and most of this year's Forbidden Door main event doesn't have that for me.Written by Sam Palmer
One of the things I was most looking forward to in the lead-up to this year's AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2026 pay-per-view was the arrival of Sareee in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. We love a bit of Sareee here at Wrestling Inc., so much so that she topped our "Best Wrestlers Under 30" list in 2025. She is just that good.We looked poised to get Sareee vs. Athena on free TV, and maybe even Sareee vs. Mercedes Mone at Forbidden Door itself. It might have even been Willow Nightingale had she not gotten hurt, but sadly, Sareee wasn't cleared to compete due to persistent neck problems, and despite literally flying a replacement with her in the form of Takumi Iroha, Maya World was chosen to take Sareee's place in the tournament. Hopefully, we get to see Sareee and Iroha in AEW very soon.But when opportunity knocks, you've got to open that door, and Maya World opened that door on this week's edition of "AEW Dynamite." Maya has had a truly rotten week in the grand scheme of things as news broke on June 7 that her brother Jatwane was killed in a roadside incident at the age of 25, so the fact that she was able to go out and perform at the level that she did with everything that must be going on in her own head is a borderline miracle.Not a lot of people gave Maya any hope in her match with Skye Blue, myself included, as I thought it would just be natural to have Skye advance to the next round, so that plans aren't shifted around too much. With that said, I did think that it would be cool if we got an upset victory by having Maya win, especially given everything she and her family have been through these past few days, and that's exactly what we got.Was it the best match on the show? No, but Maya and Skye put in two very good performances that the crowd eventually warmed up to. They even got dueling chants at one point, which is rare considering how much of a straight heel Skye is. The girls worked a lovely match that peaked right when it was supposed to, and having Maya go over was absolutely the right move to make. Now she has to take on Athena, and sure, she will probably lose, but if she builds on the momentum that comes from this win, AEW could have accidentally landed themselves a brand new star. Let's just hope her tag team partner, Hyan, doesn't get forgotten amongst all the excitement.Written by Sam Palmer
When the Men's Owen Hart Tournament bracket was revealed, pretty much everyone assumed the end result would be Will Ospreay vs. Swerve Strickland to determine the AEW World Title contender for All In in Wembley Stadium. Now, a few weeks later, the tournament finals are set and they're exactly what everyone expected.The matches were all good, but there was not a single competitor who looked like they'd have a case to go to the All In main event, besides Swerve and Ospreay. I'm sure the final match will be good. This might be a case of complaining that my steak is too juice and my lobster too buttery, but there's something just a little uninspired about the way this year's tournament went. Swerve has a solid case to go to Wembley, but I am getting the sneaking suspicion this is all leading where we all expected: Will Ospreay finally having his crowning moment in Wembley Stadium.There was far more drama in the Maya World upset win. The Women's tournament has an air of unpredictability, while the Men's Tournament has felt like a deathmarch to an inevitable conclusion.Written by Ross Berman
It feels like such a breath of fresh air to have a division that, top to bottom, is geared towards the ultimate goal of winning the World title. That seems like an odd thing to say, but with segmented storytelling often comes a disconnect from what everyone else is doing compared to the chosen one or two occupying the challenger pool.Too often, there is just a challenger and a champion, rather than a breathing ecosystem of several competitors looking to lead the race for first dibs, finally making good on their opportunity. But this week's "Dynamite" displayed a multitude of names, new and old, looking to settle their claim.The ongoing Owen Hart Tournament found its final as Swerve Strickland defeated Brody King in the main event, with both of those men making it clear they want the title that MJF holds. Strickland and Ospreay will now wrestle at Forbidden Door for an opportunity at All In. Meanwhile, Don Callis is cutting deals with MJF that put him in the crosshairs of Kyle Fletcher, Andrade, and TNT Champion Kevin Knight.Knight agreed to wrestle at the behest of the World Champion so long as he got a shot after a win, Fletcher had to be called off by Callis from getting in the face of the champ, and Andrade outright made Callis agree to secure him a shot at the title after weeks of waiting for his chance.Mark Briscoe is, despite all of MJF's rejections, evidently bending the ear of Tony Khan himself to get an opportunity. Hence why Knight and the DCF are working with MJF, with Briscoe getting a multi-man tag cage match against the World Champion and whoever he can find that will work with him.Even Darby Allin's return came as a result of his World title loss to MJF, then being turned on by Knight to cement his heel turn. He returned this week to confront and hit Knight with a skateboard while he was calling on the World Champion initially.Everything is being done for the World title, and everyone is geared towards making the next title match theirs. It centers everything and gives a meaning behind each motion, bringing together the entire division into a singular current.Written by Max Everett
