This week's "AEW Dynamite" had the heavy responsibility of paying tribute to both the life of Andy "The Butcher" Williams, who died over the weekend at an independent event, but also the career of Rebel, who has been battling ALS. "Rebel Heart" was a heartrending edition of the flagship show in support of ALS research. You can read all about the emotional event over on the AEW Rebel Heart 9/9/2026 Results Page.The Wrestling Inc. Crew had plenty of feeling about the show, mostly good, with some bad as well. The show had incredible highs, like the balancing of its more solemn duties with the requirements of a weekly entertainment product, or the showout performance of Sting's son. There were also lows, like the company's reliance on Eliminator matches, despite All Out already having a marquee world title match booked. As always, the conversation can keep going in the comments section.It's been a long, emotional night, and all that's left is the best and the worst from the Rebel Heart edition of Dynamite.
As you can probably tell from reading some of our negative points about the Rebel Heart edition of "AEW Dynamite," there wasn't really anything inherently bad or offensive on the show, nor did we expect anything from such a broadcast. The combination of the ALS awareness campaigns, Tanea "Rebel" Brooks getting in on the action despite everything that she has been through, and the heartfelt tributes to Andy "The Butcher" Williams made this such a feel-good show that managing to spin all of those plates and pull it off was a gargantuan task that AEW pulled off...almost.We understand that this was a show designed to make you feel good, but with over two hours of airtime to fill, not everything on the show could be dedicated to Rebel or The Butcher. The upcoming AEW All Out 2026 pay-per-view needed some love as well because that is the company's next big event coming up on September 26, and after the big match additions on last week's show, you would think that with so many eyes on this specific episode that the company would push you towards wanting to watch its next pay-per-view offering with some fresh matches.However, aside from the segments involving Will Ospreay and Jon Moxley, and the closing angle featuring The Young Bucks and FTR, the All Out card remains exactly the same as when the show started, and that isn't a good thing. The show is in just over two weeks, and looking at how much AEW pay-per-views are packed from top to bottom, there is still so much to add to that card. Mercedes Mone and Thekla look like they are on a collision course, with Willow Nightingale also getting in on the action. Why not just book that match for All Out there and then? Mone vs. Thekla, or a three-way involving Willow, it keeps that future offering feeling big and exciting.Tony Khan has had the tendency to leave all of the major match announcements until the very last minute, and I get it; he wants us to watch every show right up until the day before because you never know what he might add. However, while that might work for Zero Hour/Buy-In pre-shows, you want that main card fleshed out and finished at least a week before so you can dedicate that go-home show to talking the few indecisive people into the building.This week's show wasn't focused on building to All Out, and that's fine; it wasn't supposed to be all about that. But the spots where things could have been built up or announced just moved sideways rather than forwards.Written by Sam Palmer
AEW does a lot of things right, and putting on a solid, meaningful, emotional tribute show- in this case, I'd also call it a "benefit show-" is one of them. Tonight's "Rebel Heart" episode, in support of Rebel, Tanea Brooks, and ALS research, was extremely well done. The company also had a slightly difficult challenge, for lack of a better term, with the very recent passing of "The Butcher" Andy Williams, but was still able to pay tribute to him in a meaningful way on the night.The emotional show flowed extremely well, all heavy and sad things considered. Kicking off with the "Waiting Room" with Rebel and Britt Baker was really cute and the right call to start the night on a lighter note. Rebel's comedic timing is still spot on, and it was nice to see her looking happy. I found myself watching her expressions more than whatever Persephone and Hikaru Shida were saying.I thought the show had a nice balance of tribute aspects, as well as continuing the build toward All Out. It made sense for Baker to be involved in a trios match alongside Persephone and Shida, against Maya World, Hyan, and Thunder Rosa. The moment of the show was Rebel coming down on her wheelchair, complete with "Roll Model" on the back, to give Baker her glove, just like their old days. The women's celebration after the match made me teary, and the transition to the video package explaining more about Rebel's journey, as well as about the need for more ALS research, was perfect. The video was really well done, and playing it after Rebel and Baker's emotional moment, after they got to the back, felt more effective than starting off the night with it.Elsewhere on the show, Excalibur delivered a very touching tribute to the late Williams on commentary as a memorial graphic was shown, though it was hard to hear him get choked up. It was revealed that Saturday's episode of "AEW Collision" will be a tribute to The Butcher. On a busy night of wrestling with many things already planned and announced, it was a nice moment. I'm glad Saturday will feature a more focused, fuller tribute to Williams, but this was very nice amongst everything else going on tonight.The rest of the action on the show was fast-paced and very geared toward All Out, with just two-and-a-half weeks to go before the event. While there was a lot of emotion throughout the episode, it was still a very good in-ring and story-based episode of "Dynamite."Written by Daisy Ruth
We all got a big shock last week on "AEW Dynamite" when Josh Alexander made his surprise return to the company after suffering a knee injury in March that looked to keep him out of action for the rest of the year. Before his injury, "The Walking Weapon" was becoming one of the most consistent performers in AEW and had he not gotten hurt, could have had a decent role to play at AEW All In London 2026.But that's okay, he's back now, and he's got a unique chance to work with Steven Borden, the son of Sting who has taken social media by storm because just look at the guy, it's simply not fair for someone to look as good as him. However, there is a problem when it comes to having Alexander in the match that he was involved in on the Rebel Heart edition of "AEW Dynamite." Who do you pin?You obviously don't want to pin Borden because he's the guy the entire match is being built around, and he's being built as a potential future star for the entire company. You don't want to pin Darby Allin because he's the AEW TNT Champion who just got his belt back, and by pinning him, you're also having Borden lose his first match on "Dynamite." Then on the other side, you don't want to pin Alexander in his first match back because you don't want to make him look weak, especially against a guy who had wrestled only a handful of dark matches by the time Alexander got injured. To round it off, you don't want to pin Mark Davis because he's being built up as the true hoss of the Don Callis Family who has also been having a great year so far.Looking at those four options, Davis is probably the one you go for when it comes to taking the pin, but for some reason, Alexander was the one looking at the lights. You could make the argument that he is fresh off an injury so he isn't at 100%, but that rule mostly doesn't apply for anyone in wrestling.It just seemed like a really strange decision to have Alexander be the one to take the pin right after coming back. Maybe it's just a trope that can be twisted every once in a while to make for a change, but sometimes those tropes are there to be used because they are tried and trusted. Don't bring a guy back and have him eat the pin a week later, the momentum just gets killed on the spot. A weird choice to end what was a very fun match.Written by Sam Palmer
I absolutely won't be complaining anytime soon about the banger matches New Level and Swerve Strickland have had for the AEW World Trios Championship over the past couple of weeks. Their defense against The Conglomeration was no exception to that sentiment.This was such a fun match to kick off what turned out to be a really beautiful show, and I enjoyed every second from bell to bell. It had everything I could want in a trios match, making for a really engaging watch. I was especially a fan of the spot with Orange Cassidy putting his hands in his pockets to trap New Level in a side headlock as he fired off his signature kicks on Strickland, as it really spotlighted the exciting nature of the match. I'm also a big fan of Kofi and Austin Creed defending the AEW World Trios Championship on a weekly basis with Strickland since they became titleholders at All In. I think it serves as a testament to how dedicated New Level are to their craft, how much they want to wrestle inside the ring, and the magic that they create with Strickland in the ring as a trios team.Written by Olivia Quinlan
I am never going to be a fan of title eliminator matches, and the concept needs to be done away with in AEW. I feel like I say that all the time, but with how big a match Will Ospreay vs. Jon Moxley at AEW All Out is, tonight's eliminator pitting "The Aerial Assassin" against David Finlay just felt pointless on a show that already had a lot going on.All Out is in just two-and-a-half weeks, and I don't believe anyone is getting a pin or submission on the AEW World Champion before then. Especially someone who is loosely associated with Moxley, via The Dogs and Death Riders relationship. Finlay isn't exactly someone who's been built up to be a major threat to Ospreay's title, either. The in-ring action itself was fine, but title eliminators as a concept is just something I'm never going to be on board with. It almost always feels lazy, and I can't remember the last time a competitor actually beat a champion during an eliminator match to get a future title shot.Ospreay has a lot going on right now, and I'm glad AEW focused more on his relationship with Moxley tonight, though there is his plan of creating a new, stateside United Empire that's still very up in the air, and that's not something I'm likely to forget about. Ospreay revealed he was the one who asked for the title match against Moxley at All Out, because Ospreay feels like he owes him for training him and getting him back on his feet. I feel like all of the Ospreay/Death Riders stuff tonight could have been accomplished without the eliminator match or involvement of The Dogs, and taking that away would have likely just cut the overrun, but also could have given more time to another match, if necessary.Written by Daisy Ruth
Debuting this week was the second coming of Sting, his son Steven Borden, alongside the human projectile and man who stood next to Sting through his return to retirement, Darby Allin.Since first appearing during his father's retirement match against the Young Bucks at Revolution 2024, it had been dark matches and run-ins for the aspiring second-generation wrestler, growing more frequent in the build-up to All In.It wouldn't be fair to say that it was an instant classic of a match for his first, but working alongside someone like Allin against the Don Callis Family's Mark Davis and Josh Alexander was a perfect way to obscure any weakness of green around the edges.Allin was essentially the crash test dummy of the match, as he so often is, and absorbed much of the offense from Davis and Alexander. Davis hit a knee stomp in tribute to "The Butcher" Andy Williams. That was just a nice touch on a show full of nice touches.But what that allowed Borden to do was become the hot tag hero for the bout, running in for a very hot stretch that doesn't require much technical work besides having the crowd behind you and wind in your sails. He had both, and it worked tremendously.Eventually, he and Allin picked up the win with a tag team finisher, Coffin-Scorpion Death Drop, which is encouraging since it says this is something with thought behind it, thus likely a more long-running thing.Later, that was effectively confirmed with Allin and Borden running in after the main event, standing alongside the Young Bucks against FTR and the Don Callis Family pairing of Kyle Fletcher and Kevin Knight. That was a clean way to introduce them to the tag team division, embroiling themselves in a matter that stems from a literal tag team summit at All In.There is history on all sides, between Borden, Allin, and the Young Bucks. Between Allin, as well as Borden to a lesser extent, and Knight. The Bucks and FTR are already in the Tag title picture. So this isn't just a throwaway introduction. Steven Borden is now actively involved in a program with layers and the potential to be significant at such short order.That's the perfect way to debut, very akin to the way the New Level debuted at All In and announced their own arrival to the tag team division.Written by Max Everett
