One episode of "Collision" stands between the AEW faithful and Redemption in Montreal. The final "Dynamite" before the PPV saw two titles defended, dissension amongst the Don Callis Family, and a surprise Mick Foley appearance. You can read all about it over on the 7/22/2026 AEW Dynamite results page.It was a mixed bag of a Wednesday. There was lots of good, especially from the in-ring action, but some of the storytelling was off-kilter, and the rushed nature of the PPV build hamstrung much of the show. If you want to keep the conversation going, the comments section will be ready and waiting, as always.Enough bloviating, let's get into what we hated and what we loved.
I think that Cope & Christian vs. PAC & Claudio Castagnoli is going to be a very good match but nothing in the build has convinced me it's anything more than a "Dynamite" main event, and the backstage assault this week did nothing to assuage my fears.I feel like I just watched Cope and Christian in a feud with a cocky heel team who would attack them at random. It's getting tired. It deflated the program for the brief moments it occurred.It kinda feels like Cope and Christian are sitting at the top of the tag division, with their boots on the throats of any other tag team. Ever since their feud with FTR, they've faced strictly non-entities, and a team including the oft-loser PAC is more of the same. The real crime is that Christian and Castagnoli are doing some of the best work of their careers when their not tied to tag partners. Castagnoli's CMLL run was phenomenal and Christian's run as "The Patriarch" cleared the path for his reunion with Cope. Both men could be doing something better, but instead they'll be killing time at the PPV.Written by Ross Berman
The July 22 episode of "AEW Dynamite" kicked off in style as Kevin Knight successfully defended his AEW TNT Championship for a record tenth time against Darby Allin, and as you can probably imagine, this one delivered in all areas for me.One small detail that I appreciated was that this match took place in the same building as their first match back in November. That was in the Continental Classic where Knight accidentally put Darby in the hospital and forced him out of the tournament, so being back in the same building, only this time with a strict face/heel dynamic, and the guy that put the other guy in the hospital actually being the heel was an inadvertent win on the booking side of things.On to the match, and while I don't think it holds up to what they produced in May when they fought over the AEW World Championship, this one felt a lot snappier and quicker. Darby practically launched himself out of a cannon to kick things off, taking Knight into the crowd and even hitting the elbow through the timekeeper's table all within the opening few minutes. Before you know it, Darby's been crotched on the guardrail, he's been slingshot into the steel steps, he's bleeding, and we haven't hit the commercial break yet.The match feels like it's been a firework display non-stop, and only now are you getting a chance to soak it all in. The referee taking a spill did seem a bit unnecessary, and took the fun element of the match out, as you can see AEW waving a big sign that reads "We are keeping Darby as strong as possible so Kevin's going to get a non-clean finish." However, it does make sense, as you do genuinely want to keep someone like Darby strong considering he was the world champion two months ago, but also giving the win to the guy who is headlining your next pay-per-view.While I don't have an official time on how long it was, this one felt super quick, super concise, and super fun. A combination of the two matches they've had before but put on fast forward, and had it not been for the dirty finish, it could make the claim of being the best of the Jet/Darby trilogy.Written by Sam Palmer.
I'm never going to like matches involving guys (or gals, but, it was specifically the men's division) who are already set for big matches at upcoming pay-previews being involved in somewhat pointless tag team matches before these big events. I say somewhat, because at least tonight in the matches that were the biggest offenders, we got some story progression with ProtoKada seemingly on the outs, and Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley not getting along.While I did like the match pitting Kyle Fletcher and Kazuchika Okada against Brody King and Bandido, we're getting Fletcher and Bandido for the International Championship on Sunday. I'm certain we're not going to see Bandido get the victory, once again at a pay-per-view, due to Fletcher's ongoing feud with Takeshita, so I guess we had to see Bandido pin the "Protostar" tonight.I initially thought it was going to be nice to see Okada in action, but he didn't exactly do much in the match. Fletcher and Bandido fought in a lot of the bout, as they had a long sequence in the beginning, and again toward the end, where Bandido finally landed the 21-plex to pin the champion after a series of big moves and pin attempts. While I have all the confidence in the world that their match at Redemption is going to be equally as good, I feel like I saw quite a bit of it already.Even though they're not facing one another at Redemption, but rather, All In: London, I also didn't love Ospreay and Omega teaming up together, especially with Moxley involved. I personally haven't been a huge fan of the "Ospreay in the Death Riders" story, though I'm aware I may be alone there, and the team-up felt weird, beyond the "odd couple" feeling I'm sure we were all supposed to have with it. The pairing also further enforced the fact that Omega's title defense against Knight at Redemption is pretty pointless, as it's beyond obvious it's going to be Omega and Ospreay at Wembley Stadium.We have five episodes of "Dynamite" left before All In, so I'm sure the team of Omega and Ospreay isn't done, with some Moxley involvement thrown in there, and there's at least one more "can they co-exist?!" matchup between now and August 30. AEW isn't the only promotion guilty of this, but it's a pet peeve of mine. At least the trio's opponents tonight in the Don Callis Family aren't involved in Ospreay and Moxley's tag match at Redemption, as they're taking on the Young Bucks. Overall, this show didn't do much to get me excited for Redemption, a PPV I'm already convinced doesn't really need to happen.Written by Daisy Ruth
We've seen finishes that involve miscommunications between tag team partners to cost them a tag team match time after time in modern-day professional wrestling. Because of how often they've been done, they can start to all blend together and can feel like a boring way to build up discussion between members of a tag team or a stable. That being said, certain miscommunications such as the one between Kazuchika Okada and Kyle Fletcher during their match against Brody King and Bandido show that they can be an effective plot device that can create dissension.I was already on board with the tag team match between Okada, Fletcher, King, and Bandido. I found myself enjoying the well-paced action and probably would've loved this anyway with how engaged I was throughout the course of this match, but much to my surprise, my favorite part of all this ended up being Okada accidentally hitting Fletcher with the Rain Maker to cost them this match.The two moments of Okada acting indifferent towards Fletcher inside the ring moments after hitting the Rain Maker on him and then apologizing to Fletcher on the outside as if he had never behaved in that manner were great for the story they're telling here, and just added that extra little touch to everything that really made it for me. The attention to small details like that can be the difference-maker sometimes between something mediocre and something great, with this serving as the perfect example of such through some great character work from a great performer.Written by Olivia Quinlan
Once that awesome match between Kevin Knight and Darby Allin was over, we had Kyle Fletcher and Kazuchika Okada come out to kind of steal the thunder away from the AEW TNT Champion. I thought maybe they would just let one segment flow into the other as Fletcher and Okada were ready to face Brodido, but when we came back from commercial, the entire Don Callis Family is in the ring and it's here where your boy gets to rag on the Don Callis Family creative again!I had a week off from putting all my "hated" eggs in the family basket since the Fletcher/Komander match was very fun, but the biggest faction in AEW were back at it again this week as there is dissension in the ranks for the 500th time this year. Knight is getting interviewed by Renee Paquette about his AEW World Championship match with Kenny Omega, and he decides to point out that he's made more defenses of the TNT Championship than Fletcher, and he did it without the family getting involved. This then descends into Fletcher getting Knight's face about how he doesn't need the family either, and that he's going to have everyone banned from ringside for his match with Bandido on Sunday. What? And he went the extra mile and had the family banned from ringside for the tag match with Okada against Brodido immediately after his promo...what?Okay sure, Brodido actually beat Okada and Fletcher so that teases the fact that Fletcher might not be able to get it done without the family's help, but come on man. Knight has been in the Don Callis Family for what feels like 15 minutes, and there is already dissension in the ranks? Are we serious right now? All of this just feeds into the drum that we've been banging for weeks here at Wrestling Inc. which is Kevin Knight shouldn't have been in the Don Callis Family to begin with, he just doesn't fit. He could have been a heel on his own and it would have worked, in fact it would have worked even better now that Kenny Omega is the champion because his association with the family ended months ago.If MJF was the champion, I'd understand it a bit more, but doing this to try and tease an eventual Knight/Fletcher match just didn't land. It's lazy booking, especially since we just went through all of this with Konosuke Takeshita against BOTH Okada and Fletcher. But hey, if this is the route we are taking that ends with Knight not being in the family anymore, I'll be happy to walk that path, even if it looks to be bumpy and awkward.Written by Sam Palmer
This week's main event played on the tried-and-tired "Can they co-exist?" trope, but trios like Love Triangle, the spiritual successor to Death Triangle comprised of AEW World Champion Kenny Omega, All In challenger to the AEW World Championship Will Ospreay, and AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley, teamed against the Don Callis Family's chunky boys Hechicero, Brian Cage, and Jake Doyle.The match did three things it needed to do, first and foremost putting on a fun display for the crowd and those watching at home, but also playing into the tensions between those Ospreay is currently close to on the roster.His mentor, the one who took him on with the expressed intent of carving him into a World Champion. His idol and rival, the man he emulated for so many years, coming into conflict with him at several stages, and ultimately at their greatest place as friends ahead of a World Championship bout threatening to divide them. Ospreay was tasked with winning a match against a team of sleazy heels while also having to keep an eye on the tensions between Moxley and Omega.They did eventually achieve that victory even after Omega caught Moxley in an act of friendly fire, thus prompting a fight at the end of the show between them. Which once again Ospreay got in the middle of and inevitably got floored himself.Then came the third thing this match and segment accomplished, building to Redemption this weekend. The Young Bucks, who Ospreay and Moxley will be facing, got involved, and then it was Omega trying to keep the peace. The DCF attempted to pick the bones, and Omega got RPG Vice in a position for a double V-Trigger. But just as he looked to deliver it, Kevin Knight delivered the flushest of springboard belt-shots with the TNT title, standing tall with both belts to close the show.Knight was the unsung, unspoken aspect of the match until that point. His challenge this weekend is the very reason that the tag match was occurring. But it all got lost in the subtext of All In, Omega overlooked him, and he closed the show standing tall. He put the spotlight on him heading into this weekend. And he will be looking to play spoiler much as he did tonight.Written by Max Everett
