AEW arrived in Detroit freshly Redeemed. The post-PPV edition of "Dynamite" was loaded with title matches, stretching the show beyond its usual two-hours-ten-minutes. The 2.5 hour supershow was detailed in full over on the AEW Dynamite July 29, 2026, results page.Now, it's time for the Wrestling Inc. crew to explain what they loved and what they didn't. The bloat was overall a bad thing, but the matches themselves gave us plenty to love. It was a paradoxical show in that way. As always, the comments section is open to you, if you feel you need to keep the conversation going.Let's break down the good and the bad from Wednesday's show in Detroit's Masonic Temple Theater.
I know that AEW Redemption may have been a pretty mid pay-per-view event, but it was still a pay-per-view event that had a total of six titles be put on the line. For that reason, I felt it a little overwhelming to have that be followed up with a "Dynamite" that had four titles be defended on it and wasn't really that thrilled about watching so many of them.Considering that the AEW World Trios Championship was the only title match announced as of last night, the National and TBS Championship matches were announced earlier today, and the Continental Championship was announced fairly last minute, there really wasn't a need to add three more matches on a show that would've been just fine with the World Trios Championship match that was announced on Sunday. Maya World and Andrade El Idolo also just won their respective TBS and National Championships four days ago, so I would've preferred it if AEW had waited one more week before they had their defenses in order to create some more hype for them and to give the fans a little more of a breather between things. I can understand the idea of wanting them to be fighting champions, but I think another week would've been beneficial here, especially with how easily predictable the outcome of both of those matches was.Written by Olivia Quinlan
The opening three way match for the AEW National Title was a great time. No bones about it. Andrade El Idolo has been enjoying a new surge of popularity, with the National Title as a kind of reward for making "How Do You Know?" into a legitimately over catchphrase. Nick Wayne and Jack Perry have been kind of rudderless, now that they're not young enough to be AEW's wunderkinds, but too young to be the seasoned main event talents that everyone assumes they'll be someday.The company's glut of title belts has really served Wayne and former National Champion Jack Perry. The midcard can be a bit formless at times, but if the National Title division can become the place where young talent can mix it up with the likes of Andrade El Idolo.Written by Ross Berman
I loved AEW Women's World Champion Willow Nightingale's promo segment with Mercedes Mon tonight, and after hearing that reception from the crowd, I believe even more so that Nightingale should be holding that title. Still, I couldn't help but think of Thekla and how good and just white-hot she was going into AEW Redemption. It seems like such a shame she may not be getting a spot at All In, and I hate that for her.Thekla was barely mentioned tonight, and while I realize it was Nightingale's night, something just felt off about it. Hopefully, she cuts a promo about her loss tomorrow night on "AEW Collision" and just what may be next for her, but I think there could have been time made for that to happen tonight. "Dynamite" had a lengthy overrun once again, and there were quite a few title matches for the men that could have been cut down by a few minutes, even just by two, to allow for some backstage promo time for the former AEW Women's World Champion.I like the idea I've been seeing floating around social media that Thekla could take on Kairi Sane, or whatever ring name she will be going by, possibly Kairi Hojo, with Kairi defending the honor of Stardom. While that feels more like a Forbidden Door match, hopefully Tony Khan sees how distraught fans were at Kairi's release from WWE, and brings her in, even just to defend her former friends and former promotion if Kairi isn't interested in working there right now. I obviously have no idea what is going on with the former WWE star at this point, so hanging Thekla's All In plans there may not be the smartest idea.Hopefully, we get some answers for Thekla on "Collision" tomorrow night, as she deserves to be on the big stage at Wembley Stadium after all the hard work she put in with the top women's title. After tonight, there's no way that she can be added to Nightingale and Mone's match, so I'm really hoping there are interesting plans for her moving forward.Written by Daisy Ruth
Willow Nightingale came to the ring to celebrate her Women's World title win from Sunday, yielding one of the rarest and purest moments of heartfelt joy as Detroit literally overwhelmed her with support. She was in legitimate tears as the crowd chanted along with every word she spoke. She even got a chant for her mom as she recalled the support she got from her while she was sidelined.The entire venue hung on every word she spoke, and it helped wrap the segment in the wholesome energy it deserved, though this is wrestling and eventually that was going to subside for something a little more dramatic.Enter Mercedes Mon, winner of the Women's Owen Hart Cup for the second year running and once again challenging for the elusive Women's World Championship at All In. For all that can be rightly said about Willow as a natural babyface, Mone works ever so well running perpendicular as a heel. As much was reflected in the response to her entrance and when she was in the ring talking to her rival.Nightingale was the one to end her record-setting TBS Championship run, and the last person to beat her in an AEW ring. Facts she had no issue flouting to Mone, getting beneath her skin and drawing anger from the pretentiously smug "CEO."When all was said and done, the contract was signed, and their All In bout was made official, allowing for Mone to call on the Divine Dominion to aid her in dropping Nightingale. The Brawling Birds came and made the save because they are looking to take the Women's Tag Team titles from the Dominion, and that was all she wrote.A wholesome moment for a new babyface champion, apt villainy from the challenging heel, an all-around big match, big rivalry feel, and involvement from another prominent program at the same time. Wrestling at its finest.Written by Max Everett
Will Ospreay's main story is his rivalry, and seemingly now, broken friendship, with Kenny Omega going into their AEW World Championship match at All In, but "The Aerial Assassin's" other major story in recent weeks and months, his relationship with the Death Riders, felt seriously overlooked tonight. Coming off the big breakup angle between Ospreay and Moxley at AEW Redemption, it felt pretty weird.Obviously, there's no real way to do Moxley vs. Ospreay before Wembley Stadium, but there has to be some way to keep up Ospreay's momentum with the leader of the Death Riders, assuming Moxley is his first challenger post-All In when he wins the title. Maybe the story with Omega is just too big to do so, but it seems like they're trying to do something there, as Ospreay is facing Daniel Garcia on "Collision." But Garcia is no Moxley.Even before that segment with Garcia's challenge, however, the Death Riders opened the show with a pretty anti-climactic confrontation with their now-former member. Garcia called him "young boy, Bill," which he'd call him again later in the night, which grated on my nerves in a way I'm sure it's supposed to, and Ospreay hit him for it.Moxley held PAC back from Ospreay, who told Moxley he "didn't get to pull the trigger for him," and he gave back the patch and said he was "out." Then, the Death Riders kind of just walked away, and Ospreay got into a much more interesting conversation with "Hangman" Adam Page, something the Detroit crowd was more interested in.In their backstage segment later, Garcia challenged Ospreay and was the one to address him, saying that Ospreay always walks away from things when they get hard. Seems like something Moxley could have said, in a much more eloquent way, but if AEW wanted to get to the match tomorrow, I guess that made sense. Moxley then didn't speak about "The Aerial Assassin" at all, and instead talked about the "morality police" and said he was tired of talking about the way they do things compared to how others do them. It just, again, felt weird for him to not address the major elephant in the room.Maybe Ospreay goes through the Death Riders, one-by-one in the weeks leading up to All In, then goes face-to-face with Moxley once he has the title. It just seems rather prolonged, however, and like AEW was trying to do too much with two different stories, with not enough time between Redemption and All In.Written by Daisy Ruth
Sunday's Redemption saw Will Ospreay spurn Jon Moxley and the Death Riders for his friendship with AEW World Champion Kenny Omega, only to then fall victim to a One Winged Angel anyway. Wednesday's show picked up with that, first with Moxley and the Riders confronting Ospreay over his actions, Ospreay telling them to shove his membership in the faction and surely soon to suffer the repercussions of that. To close the show, it was Omega's time to address Ospreay.Omega felt Ospreay had looked down his nose at him when he said it was a shame he had given up on himself, despite having no idea what he had been through to get back to this point. And then he had to watch him align with the very group they had been fighting against, the same group he had warned him would expect him to do what they had, and Ospreay seemed to expect him to be thankful that he didn't choose to betray him.Worst of all, he considered putting that bag over his head and strangling the life out of him. Ospreay denied that as being the case, which Omega didn't buy at all, and rather than going back-and-forth on that point just chose to slap him and call him a liar. Then he slapped him again. And again. And again, until finally Ospreay had enough and slapped him back, going for the Hidden Blade but stopping short as a warning he could do it if he wanted to.That was the perfect segue into Ospreay's own passionate retort, with Omega rolling out of the ring and forced to listen as he went into why he didn't want to betray him in such a manner and why he wants to simply outperform him on the highest level.Simply writing it as it happened doesn't capture the emotion and the stakes the segment put on the line. It could be and is often said, sometimes in a derogatory manner, that both Ospreay and Omega have the cadence of anime characters. But this felt more on the level of Sephiroth and Cloud from "Final Fantasy" in the best way. Omega is likely on his last run as World Champion. Ospreay is looking to finally break that duck and become a World Champion. Only one can achieve that goal, and Ospreay needed to put across why that should be him.Mission accomplished, from this writer's perspective.Written by Max Everett
