AEW TV 2026 discussion

[RedTwoster]

9 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

Oops! Clearly I harbour subconscious fandom for Roderick Strong. I had no idea 

Don’t talk yourself down like that.

[Supremo]

Admittedly, I’m speed-running and skimming these shows due to having to watch my kids during the Summer holidays, but this All In built isn’t really clicking, is it? It doesn’t feel like the biggest show of the year at all.

The All In card itself is great, and I’m excited to be going live, but with two weeks to go, and everything feeling lukewarm at best, I’m not sure a bunch of multi-man tags is the answer.

Panic stations. Make Alex Windsor Kenny Omega’s manager.

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

Those sit downs with Renee should be good

 

[LaGoosh]

4 hours ago, Supremo said:

I’m not sure a bunch of multi-man tags is the answer.

Should have booked The Elite, Ospreay, C&C vs Don Callis Family in a mega 12 man tag rather than two separate trios matches. Complete breakdown on the babyface side with tensions spilling over and finish the show on everyone merking eachother in complete chaos.

[Ro_y Disco]

9 hours ago, Supremo said:

this All In built isn’t really clicking, is it? It doesn’t feel like the biggest show of the year at all.

I'm looking forward to the show, but apart from Knight/Allin, it doesn't really feel like there's any feuds to get behind. Most of the top matches are face/face or multiperson. A lot of matches, the challenger is just the number one contender. Even Willow/Mone, there's very little in the way of an actual feud. 

[tiger_rick]

Very enjoyable show. They've got their short-term direction locked in and you can feel that through the big picture direction. That's not always the case but when it's obvious, they are laser-focussed and it creates a nice environment. Ospreay/Kenny sitdown interview was really good.

Few snaffus. I think MJF's pre-tape played too early and Andrade did a great job of ignoring it. Roddy Strong punching thin-air was fucking hilarious. Clearly a bit of a misunderstanding but well covered by Excalibur.

The Cup matches were a really nice change of pace compared to the multi-person matches which were much faster paced and spot heavy. Mox & White particularly. All of the matches were very effective, including the ridiculously short squash of Jonathan Cruz.

The only one I didn't like was the 4-way women's match and that's because I just hate the way multi-person matches are worked these days. I'd rather never see another one again than see one or two people hiding on the outside constantly, including selling for minutes after about 10 seconds of action. WWE influenced that style with multi-mans and Royal Rumbles but whoever has aped it here needs shooting.

Looks like some sort of mad Trios Title match at Wembley with loads of teams. I don't hate that. The Trios titles and the "division" feels about as good as it ever has at the moment so a big showcase match would be quite timely. 

The promotion has a lot of the problems its always had but taking a long break from it and jumping back in makes it much more enjoyable. I dunno how long it will feel this fresh but I'm enjoying it.

[RedTwoster]

10 hours ago, Ro_y Disco said:

I'm looking forward to the show, but apart from Knight/Allin, it doesn't really feel like there's any feuds to get behind. Most of the top matches are face/face or multiperson. A lot of matches, the challenger is just the number one contender. Even Willow/Mone, there's very little in the way of an actual feud. 

I couldn't disagree more - I think the build has been very strong and whether you're enjoying the stories or not (full disclosure - I am) the card is packed with heated feuds. I'm not sure how you could look at Willow/Mone and say there's little in the way of a feud. For me, including last night, it's honestly one of the best built AEW women's world title matches ever. It feels like there's genuine bad blood between the two, and Mercedes has been doing career best work on the mic. None of it feels scripted, it feels like they actually hate one another. Mercedes calling Willow a 'bully' hit particularly hard; it was such a clever line for her to take - it felt so unfair, but believable. For me, it's the best built match on the whole card. 

Omega/Ospreay - clearly there's a feud there, although Kenny's mic work has been a bit panto villain as far as the delivery goes. Ospreay has been pretty good, though. I'm enjoying the feud though, and the match will almost certainly be sensational. 

I do agree that Knight/Allan has been well built, though. For quite a while I'd felt like Tony Khan was overrating Kevin Knight, but he's really coming into his own on the mic. He reminds me of Kyle Fletcher in that his early promos were pretty diabolical, but as soon as he found his footing, he quickly felt like the next big thing. I could absolutely see Knight holding a world title in the future. 

2 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

Looks like some sort of mad Trios Title match at Wembley with loads of teams. I don't hate that. The Trios titles and the "division" feels about as good as it ever has at the moment so a big showcase match would be quite timely. 

 

The Swerve promo was one of my favourite parts of the show, it gave me goosebumps. Personally, I'd prefer to see Page and Brodido against Swerve's team, with Swerve coming out at the start of the match before summoning out his mystery partners, who I still assume will be New Day. What a magical moment that would be. I can't wait to see them debut. 

4 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

Few snaffus. I think MJF's pre-tape played too early and Andrade did a great job of ignoring it.

It's still weird to me that they're in the Casino Gauntlet and not having a one-on-one match. Their feud feels heated enough to merit that, and Andrade is hotter than he's ever been throughout his entire career. 

Okada might be my favourite wrestler. He's hilariously dickish and relishes in it like he's having the time of his life. He's such an enjoyable character and I'd love to see him get a World title run in the next year. The thought of that smug arsehole parading around with the World Title is just brilliant. I also want to see him interact with MJF, that could be tremendous. 

On the whole, it's been a brilliant year for AEW. I enjoy pretty much every show and everyone seems to be bringing their best to the table. All In feels as it should - like their Wrestlemania. I'd love to see them take a real swing next year and schedule it to take place in the States while Saudi-Mania is going on. Pit your biggest against their biggest at a time when WWE is particularly vulnerable and running a show fuelled by blood money.

[Chili]

Unrelated to the show, but AEW related. I had to laugh hard at Road Dogg saying he's not been offered a booking gig from AEW because of what he believes are his political views, and pointing out the hypocrisy that Tony Khan's old man donated to the Trump campaign during the first term and Road Dogg's never done that, so they're worse than him.

It has nothing to do with him being absolutely fucking shit at his job, no sir. It's gonna crush him when Jericho, Dustin Rhodes, Kamile and who ever drop him a text saying "Oh you didn't REALLY know, it's genuinely not because you're MAGA" 

Edited August 20 by Chili

[RedTwoster]

37 minutes ago, Chili said:

Unrelated to the show, but AEW related. I had to laugh hard at Road Dogg saying he's not been offered a booking gig from AEW because of what he believes are his political views, and pointing out the hypocrisy that Tony Khan's old man donated to the Trump campaign during the first term and Road Dogg's never done that, so they're worse than him.

It has nothing to do with him being absolutely fucking shit at his job, no sir. It's gonna crush him when Jericho, Dustin Rhodes, Kamile and who ever drop him a text saying "Oh you didn't REALLY know, it's genuinely not because you're MAGA" 

I see that he also said the tag titles were ‘beneath’ Colton and Austin Gunn, which is highlights both how little WWE values that division and how little understanding he has of how the titles are positioned in AEW in the first place. 

[Chili]

1 hour ago, RedTwoster said:

I see that he also said the tag titles were ‘beneath’ Colton and Austin Gunn, which is highlights both how little WWE values that division and how little understanding he has of how the titles are positioned in AEW in the first place. 

Also, I do reckon after Regal in AEW, I wouldn't want to bring another fox SOOOO associated with Triple H into the hen house.

[BomberPat]

Hechicero vs. Nigel McGuinness was very much my graps, and made me think a lot about different ways of working with/around an injury, as well as showing me things I haven't seen before in wrestling and these days that's all I want. I normally hate a wrestler saying out loud what they want you to know is the story of the match, but Nigel flat out telling Hechicero "go for my foot again and I'll go for your mask" really worked for me because Nigel wants Hechicero to know he's doing that, and to not even try it - and it's smart, crafty wrestling from Nigel to know that if Hechi really clamps down on his ankle, he doesn't necessarily have the time to get out of it or counter it into something else, so instead he goes for something low effort that he knows Hechicero will stop everything to defend against. Fantastic.

I assume Nigel's injury is a shoot, given how Hechicero largely worked the foot but not the actual ankle, and if it is for real, it's a fantastic bit of work that the obstacle in Nigel's path in a submission expert and then, I'm guessing, the next opponent will be Kyle O'Reilly, a guy who's made Jon Moxley tap out to an anklelock. Proper wrestling, this.

Rest of the show was a mixed bag. Mercedes and Willow were fantastic, and felt as real and genuinely heated as Mercedes has in her entire run. I have no idea what they're doing having Willow defend against Maya World between now and All In, though - there are two singles women's titles, both on babyfaces, yet they're wrestling each other? And it made Excalibur sound absolutely daft explaining how agents and security were out for the Willow/Mercedes pull-apart because they needed to protect the All In Women's Title match, but then having to add "unless Willow loses the belt to Maya World on Saturday". A completely unforced error. The only explanation I can muster is that the Maya World match will end up being for both titles, because before Willow got hurt the plan would have been for both belts to be on the line in a Mercedes/Willow match at All In, and they're reshuffling the decks to get back to that. If that's true, it feels like a waste.

The Ospreay/Omega stuff I'm in two minds about - I like that the shallowness of their friendship has revealed all these insecurities and grievances that are all coming out now, but they shouldn't be coming out evenly; the babyface in this feud shouldn't be the one holding on to gripes from six years ago, and having a chip on his shoulder about having to work harder during Covid than Kenny did, and as much as tying in their histories makes it feel more real, there shouldn't be so much time given up on AEW TV to explaining backstory from PWG and NJPW. I laughed out loud when Renee Paquette brought up CHAOS in their histories, because a feud that has already managed to involve The Elite, The Death Riders, The Don Callis Family, and The United Empire absolutely needed another faction getting brought into the mix. Will's character is a hothead and that's fine, but at times he comes across as too bitter and spiteful, when that should be Kenny's story - the end of the show was Omega becoming more and more desperate and deranged over needing to beat Will, and that's a better story when Will isn't also hung up on shit from years ago and snapping at Kenny over stuff.

On top of that, I've made no secret of hating all the Ospreay/Death Riders stuff. That part of Will's justification was that he had nowhere else to turn - "not even the United Empire" - only to then decide that actually, he could just ask the United Empire to help him out, it would just be a difficult conversation, and then for the United Empire to just be perfectly fine teaming with Will with zero issues doesn't make Will look any more likeable or justifiable in becoming a Death Rider and, by his own admission, enjoying it. Both trios matches I thought were a misstep - Will and his mates from NJPW against the Don Callis Family C-team and Kenny and the Bucks vs. The Don Callis Family B-Team aren't really interesting matches on their own, but the question was whether, in both cases, their tag partners were happy working with them despite recent changes in behaviour or attitude. In both cases, it turns out the answer was "yes, it's not an issue at all". The United Empire had no problem teaming with Will despite the Death Riders, and the Young  Bucks have no problem with how Kenny's been acting - I don't think a house show quality feelgood trios match with the Elite working babyface was the best way to lead into a segment of Kenny snapping on Will, and there was no question whatsoever about how the Bucks feel about Kenny going mental.

[HarmonicGenerator]

Just reiterating things people have already said:

*Mercedes/Willow segment was great, and I also liked the TBS four way. But it’s completely deranged that they set up a Willow vs Maya women’s title match for Collision. Why? To what end? Mad and pointless.

*Jay White vs Moxley was excellent, and the post match does make it look we’re getting an All The Trios match. Not sure if that and a Casino Gauntlet on the same show will feel a bit much but I will enjoy seeing all the guys.

*Will/Kenny sit down interview I thought was really effective. Didn’t think much of the show closing angle. This should have been such an easy match to build to but I feel like by Wembley we just need to ignore all the buildup and pretend they just decided to do the match.

[Supremo]

The Omega/Ospreay sit down interview was the most effective thing they’ve done to promote the match, and dickhead Kenny is always my favourite Kenny, but it was completely undermined for suffering from pro-wrestling’s daftest/funniest trope.

Wrestlers losing their fucking mind the moment anyone ever alludes to a family member always makes me laugh. It oftentimes doesn’t even require an insult. Just stating, “you have a mother,” or, “your wife exists,” is enough for them to completely fly off the handle.

Thoughts and prayers to any doctors or nurses who have to ask wrestlers who their next of kin is.

”DON’T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT MY FUCKING FAMILY!”

[DavidB6937]

1 hour ago, Supremo said:

"DON’T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT MY FUCKING FAMILY!”

Unless you're Don Callis. With the size of his family you'd struggle not to mention someone.

[Supremo]

It’s like one of those awful debate videos, where it’s something like, “One liberal vs. Twenty Trump supporters,” only it’s “one man mentions that another man has relatives.”