AEW TV 2026 discussion

[Olly1984]

1 hour ago, RedTwoster said:

A bit of a nothing Dynamite, that one. Perfectly fine, but perfectly skippable as it didn't do much to progress anything. 

I've said it before, but I find it hard to take Nick Wayne seriously at the best of times, never mind 

I'm a little bit surprised that Thekla/Mercedes/Willow has turned into a one-on-one number one contenders' match, but I'm glad they're not wasting Willow's next World title shot. I hope whoever wins this match ends up main eventing Wrestledream. If it's a Mercedes/Willow rematch, that's blockbuster. Either way though, I don't think Mone should be dropping the belt. 

 

 

Think they are doing the Number 1 contender match as Mercedes isn't cleared for All Out. 

[RedTwoster]

14 minutes ago, Olly1984 said:

Think they are doing the Number 1 contender match as Mercedes isn't cleared for All Out. 

Probably a blessing in disguise then, it felt a bit too soon to go back to Mercedes/Willow. Maybe they'll do that anyway come Wrestledream, but there's a realistic chance that they could close the show with that bout, which would justify running it back so quickly. Plus, if Willow was to lose, I don't see any reason why they couldn't revisit it much later after she claws her way back up the card. 

[Ironic Indie Lad]

Truly hope they arent building towards Ospreay v Kidd for the Liverpool PPV main event. 

[Merzbow]

29 minutes ago, Ironic Indie Lad said:

Truly hope they arent building towards Ospreay v Kidd for the Liverpool PPV main event. 

The match itself will be great but yeah, Gabe just isn't translating to AEW well at all is he? I don't know why he's playing such a corny cartoon version of himself.

[Chris B]

1 hour ago, Merzbow said:

The match itself will be great but yeah, Gabe just isn't translating to AEW well at all is he? I don't know why he's playing such a corny cartoon version of himself.

Because he isn't very good at this.

[BomberPat]

Gabe Kidd's "coked up hardman in a Wetherspoons" act seems to be over in the US, but it comes across as so forced to me. Especially when PAC then steps up and is so much more convincingly a terrifying bastard with none of the ridiculous threats. It should be a golden rule in promos that a wrestler never threatens to do something you don't believe that they will at least try to follow through on - in the last two weeks, Gabe Kidd has threatened to murder Will Ospreay and to cut him into pieces, and not only is it completely unbelievable, Gabe's not even the guy Will's feuding with for the PPV! 

Mostly found the show very throwaway, nothing that feels particularly important. For all the "shades of grey" and relationship building between Moxley and Ospreay for months, this show just treated it as a generic babyface vs heel stable rivalry. It's amazing how little they're referring back to the Ospreay/Death Riders story, which time continues to convince me was as much of a colossal waste of time in retrospect as I felt it was at the time.

On Nick Wayne, I think he's in a tough spot. One of the worst things you can be labelled in wrestling is "the future", because people keep saying it and keep treating you as someone who will be good one day, take that as read, and then don't do the work to actually ensure you get there, or else miss the window where you might. Not that I think Nick Wayne is anywhere near there yet, but he has that tag on him. And the problem is that the writing can't make its mind up whether Nick Wayne is this young prodigy or a naive young rookie. Yes, he's 21 years old. But he's been wrestling eight years. I don't buy that a guy who wrestles in a necklace has never had that necklace snap during a match, to the point that it would make him freeze and focus on that above everything else going on, that he would make that mistake after eight years. When Jericho had been wrestling that long, he was WCW TV Champion and was less than a year away from jumping ship to the WWF. 

[Chili]

Gabe Kidd is Kill Crazy from Red Dwarf VIII. 

[Chris B]

1 hour ago, BomberPat said:

Gabe Kidd's "coked up hardman in a Wetherspoons" act seems to be over in the US, but it comes across as so forced to me. Especially when PAC then steps up and is so much more convincingly a terrifying bastard with none of the ridiculous threats. It should be a golden rule in promos that a wrestler never threatens to do something you don't believe that they will at least try to follow through on - in the last two weeks, Gabe Kidd has threatened to murder Will Ospreay and to cut him into pieces, and not only is it completely unbelievable, Gabe's not even the guy Will's feuding with for the PPV! 

Thing is, if he were to do the exact same act as a lower-card comedy act, who constantly looks at the lights, it'd be good stuff. If the point was that he lacks dignity and gets himself into fights he can't back up, that'd be fine. But we seem to be expected to take an unserious man seriously.

[BomberPat]

yeah, it seemed bizarre that - again, given all the psychodrama and "shades of grey" between Moxley and Ospreay before now - there seems to be more focus on Gabe Kidd as a threat/rival to Ospreay than on the guy he's actually wrestling at the PPV; it was Gabe who took Will out of the match, Gabe who held him back for the finish, and then Moxley who just got clattered by Moxley to make the save while Gabe was able to get away relatively unscathed. They seem to be trying to tell a story that Moxley is afraid to hurt Will but Gabe isn't, and that's a point of contention between them, but nobody's telling that story well, and Gabe is completely unbelievable in that role.

The most damning thing about him is that, in his absence, The Dogs were a far more interesting tag team as just Dave Finlay & Clark Connors than they ever have been as a Trio or as adjuncts to the Death Riders with Gabe in the mix. He drags them down into this goofy hard man act, while Finlay & Connors alone had the right balance between cool, stooging, and being actually dangerous. With Gabe in the mix, they're an act that were constantly told are a dangerous threat to the people around them, but who never actually do anything. Which, as you say, would at least be something if that were the point, but it isn't, we're not supposed to think that Gabe's the guy who keeps telling you he's going to beat you up without actually doing anything, we're supposed to buy him as this dangerous violent psychopath.

It feels like the story they're trying to tell is that Gabe is too violent and too unhinged even for the Death Riders, but he's not actually doing anything, while the Death Riders at least intended to try and break Francesco Akira's neck, not that long ago tried to break Kenny Omega's neck and suffocate him with a plastic bag, and still have the clout of everything else they've done before that. If the story instead were that Gabe thinks that he's like the Death Riders, but actually they're more disciplined and focused while he's a loose cannon or a braggart who talks big but hasn't proven that he can deliver, that would be more plausible.

 

Speaking of Francesco Akira, he's been great fun every time he's shown up, is generally good value for money, and it's hilarious that this United Empire angle going on in the background of Ospreay's title reign has just backdoored this random bloke into being a TV main event act.

[tiger_rick]

The absolute best thing about AEW TV in 2026 is that they've simultaneously rediscovered how effective trios tags are for storytelling and time filling and established a thriving trio title division alongside it. every week there's a match, like Brodido & Hangman vs. Conglomeration on Wednesday that just delivers on the anticipation and the in-ring.

Really enjoying where a lot of people are at the moment. Andrade particularly, as a B-level babyface with a title shot in his pocket. That vignette was very good stuff. All three main contenders in the trios division are in a great place. All three main contenders in the tag title division too. Knight and Fletcher as a makeshift tag team who you watch grow into something is really fun. Ciampa is in a really good place. Okada is great. Jay White feels like he's building something.

The women's tag division is shallow but carried by two great acts. Thekla is back and awesome. Willow and Mercedes are as good as anyone in the world at the moment. Persy is the perfect TBS Champion. 

Following Steve Borden's journey from the beginning is very exciting. Jack Perry's little arc is also fun. Can't wait until the only former champ he has to call out is CM Punk!

The Death Riders are a really good act. Didn't see that coming but they've really settled into a reliable part of TV. The "Against The World" catchphrase is great and so is their entrance, as discussed elsewhere. I don't love Gabe Kidd but I do like how he's between these two groups fairly seamlessly. 

Not too many negatives because I'm really enjoying the shows at the moment but agree with everything about Nick Wayne. The positive spin I can put on it is that at least him and Jericho working gets my two least favourite acts in one match.

Can't think of too many times the company was in a better place than they are currently. The big picture is still something I don't really see. Moxley as Ospreay's first opponent was blindingly obvious to anyone, with the built in backstory, but I don't see what's beyond that, currently.

[BomberPat]

2 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

Can't think of too many times the company was in a better place than they are currently. The big picture is still something I don't really see. Moxley as Ospreay's first opponent was blindingly obvious to anyone, with the built in backstory, but I don't see what's beyond that, currently.

I've been trying to think this through, and I think we get a lot more United Empire drama, which has bubbling under the surface the last couple of weeks. I really hope that's not the case, because it's probably the least interesting route they could take with Ospreay.

As much as I think All Out is the place to end it, I think they intend to keep the Ospreay/Moxley feud going for another couple of months. Maybe divert to Ospreay vs. Gabe Kidd at Grand Slam France, but I think with Blood & Guts in November, that ends up being Death Riders & The Dogs vs. United Empire/assorted babyfaces, building into a big gimmick match blow-off between Ospreay and Moxley at Full Gear. That's partly because I can't see what else warrants the Blood & Guts stipulation, partly because they're just starting to get the ball rolling on the United Empire as a thing in AEW, and partly because knowing how Will looks at wrestling and how TK sometimes likes to book, I think they will want the visual symmetry of Ospreay being locked in a cage with Moxley, calling back to when Mox broke Will's neck in the first place.

[RedTwoster]

1 hour ago, BomberPat said:

I've been trying to think this through, and I think we get a lot more United Empire drama, which has bubbling under the surface the last couple of weeks. I really hope that's not the case, because it's probably the least interesting route they could take with Ospreay.

As much as I think All Out is the place to end it, I think they intend to keep the Ospreay/Moxley feud going for another couple of months. Maybe divert to Ospreay vs. Gabe Kidd at Grand Slam France, but I think with Blood & Guts in November, that ends up being Death Riders & The Dogs vs. United Empire/assorted babyfaces, building into a big gimmick match blow-off between Ospreay and Moxley at Full Gear. That's partly because I can't see what else warrants the Blood & Guts stipulation, partly because they're just starting to get the ball rolling on the United Empire as a thing in AEW, and partly because knowing how Will looks at wrestling and how TK sometimes likes to book, I think they will want the visual symmetry of Ospreay being locked in a cage with Moxley, calling back to when Mox broke Will's neck in the first place.

I've thought this countless times before, but I feel like Ospreay/Moxley might lead to the Death Riders finally turning on Mox, with a new incarnation of the group being led by Gabe Kidd. I wish they wouldn't do Blood and Guts annually (largely because I hate Wargames-style matches, to be fair) but if they do, I could see it being Team Mox vs. whoever would make up Kidd's version of the Death Riders. 

[Chili]

Gabe Kidd is also the 'hold me back lads' guy you get in Spoons.

Anyway, I predict that Nick Wayne necklace thing will somehow tie into his late father or something. Give their angle is a bit of juice. I actually think Jericho working with Nick Wayne is a good call because while we're all on tenterhooks waiting for Jericho to be proper shit again (literally could be any week), he's got enough experience that he could do some good for Wayne.

It's a shame Mama Wayne isn't about now because a solo heel who has his MUM to back him up and run off too when things don't go his way would be fucking marvellous little shithead heat. All brash and arrogance with his mam there. A modern day Buff & Judy but it's proper heel stuff.

Edited Thursday at 02:26 PM by Chili

[ReturnOfTheMack]

18 minutes ago, Chili said:

 

It's a shame Mama Wayne isn't about now 

I was getting ready to nake a joke about agreeing as shes fit, but in fairness I really enjoyed her as part of The Patriarchy, she really understood the role.

[Hannibal Scorch]

Gabe Kidd is dating Willow Nightingale.

Fuck Gabe Midd