AEW TV 2026 discussion

[BrodyGraham]

In a roster that includes Megan Bayne and Lena Kross, what's the point of Kamille? I know there's crossover appeal with American Gladiators but she was fucking hopeless in her last run and there's already far better 'big' women in the company now.

[Chili]

53 minutes ago, BrodyGraham said:

In a roster that includes Megan Bayne and Lena Kross, what's the point of Kamille? I know there's crossover appeal with American Gladiators but she was fucking hopeless in her last run and there's already far better 'big' women in the company now.

Because she's on American Gladiators and they aren't. Pretty much that, get what you can out of it I suppose.

[Kamran]

1 hour ago, BrodyGraham said:

In a roster that includes Megan Bayne and Lena Kross, what's the point of Kamille? I know there's crossover appeal with American Gladiators but she was fucking hopeless in her last run and there's already far better 'big' women in the company now.

My only experience of her is from AEW which as you said, was pretty crap. Have you seen any of her earlier work? The only reason I ask is that I remember quite a few posts on social media from the last time she was around, talking about how she's been wasted, etc. I mentioned in the Dynasty thread that I thought she looked pretty good on Zero Hour so it will be interesting to see if she can keep that momentum up although I don't think anyone sees her beating Willow.

 

[RedTwoster]

1 hour ago, BrodyGraham said:

In a roster that includes Megan Bayne and Lena Kross, what's the point of Kamille? I know there's crossover appeal with American Gladiators but she was fucking hopeless in her last run and there's already far better 'big' women in the company now.

Before the NWA became MAGA wrestling, she had good matches there - many against AEW talent, strangely enough. I don’t know why it didn’t work out for her initially, but she has some level of talent and there’s value in persisting with her, I think. 

[tiger_rick]

If they did nothing with Kamille, people would slate Tony for no capitalising on her mainstream pub. It doesn't matter how good she is, you get her out there.

Where's Wardlow?

[Chili]

1 hour ago, tiger_rick said:

If they did nothing with Kamille, people would slate Tony for no capitalising on her mainstream pub. It doesn't matter how good she is, you get her out there.

Where's Wardlow?

Either not cleared yet or nearly there. He's been backstage apparently, whatever that signifies.

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

What do we think of Nick Wayne then?

[RedTwoster]

For me that was an all-timer episode. I’ll start with this though - an hour-and-a-half before you get any stories or matches featuring the female roster? Sort yourself out, Tony Khan.

Anyway…

I have mixed feelings about exactly how Darby won his first World title - a proper match would have been much more exciting in this case - but I love how they built up to it throughout the show and basically made this episode the story of Darby. Historically, AEW has been pretty bad at that, with everything feeling disconnected, but this worked incredibly well. 

MJF defied the odds to have a tremendous title run, so well done to him too.

I loved the Omega/Ospreay angle, and this surely has to be foreshadowing a match between the two. All In for the title seems about right. I think I’ll be in the minority here, but I wouldn’t object to MJF as champion defending against both Ospreay and Omega in a triple threat. The emotion of knowing that they can’t both achieve their dream (and indeed, neither might) could make for some powerful storytelling. I’d still favour a one-on-one match, though. 

Thekla has improved enormously on the mic. I think they need to start pushing her as a centrepiece star. She’s proved she’s more than capable of filling that role. Stop treating her like a lower tier champion, she’s better than that.

Willow/Kamille was fine for what it was, but  Kamille still looked a bit dodgy at times. 

I didn’t like the Jericho promo as follow-up to his defeat. I wanted to see him questioning if he could do it anymore, not run with bad stand-up.  Maybe that’ll happen after a second loss.

Kevin Knight is good, but he’d benefit enormously from a heel turn. There’s something slightly smug about his promos, and I think there’s a brilliant heel character waiting to happen there.

I’m enjoying Ciampa as a heel. He’s good at it, and I’m sure he’ll have a very good match with Darby next week, or whenever that happens.

There’s still too much Don Callis for my liking, but it feels like his family is falling apart so I suspect this won’t be a permanent thing.

All in all though, I had a great time watching this show, and what more can I ask for from wrestling? If any disgruntled WWE viewer decided to check Dynamite out this week, they played a good hand. 

[mim731]

I've never been able to get on board with Darby Allin. Obviously there's the real life stuff, but from a purely on screen perspective he's always seemed massively unlikeable. It's good to see the company giving someone fresh a go, but Allin as champion does nothing for me. 

[TheScarlettChad]

Darby rubs me the wrong way. The allegations are one, the fact he's named himself after GG Allin is another. But he's a mad man. He's this Gens Jeff Hardy. The crowds love him. 

[LaGoosh]

24 minutes ago, Tim Healys Chutney Spoon said:

What do we think of Nick Wayne then?

I like him but he needs a some work. He's got a massively punchable face (compliment) and good potential as a heel but he's too spotty in ring. Needs to be more like Wheeler Yuta than Will Ospreay.

I've only watched the Darby stuff so far as I had a feeling they would strap him up. I liked it. They told a really good story throughout the show which is something they rarely do and should do more of. I haven't been invested in the World title scene since it went completely cold a few months into Hangman's second reign and Darby winning it still hasn't made me feel hugely invested however it's fun that they're doing something new and relatively unexpected and MJF's schtick is feeling very tired indeed.

As for Darby himself, I'm a huge fan of his ring work. I think he's one of the best out there and never has a bad match. The endless feuds with the Deathriders then Gabe Kidd killed a lot of his momentum and they didn't make anywhere near as big a deal out of the Mount Everest stuff as they should have. But I think at the same time he desperately needed something big like this and fuck me climbing Mount Everest and planting an AEW flag at the top...I think doing that deserves at least a short title reign.

[RedTwoster]

53 minutes ago, Tim Healys Chutney Spoon said:

What do we think of Nick Wayne then?

I’m on the opposite side to @LaGoosh on this one, I think he’s one of the most indierific wrestlers they have. ‘Mother Wayne’ is a great gimmick, and she added a lot of Christian Cage’s heel act, but as it is, I see little potential in the guy.

His mic work has improved for sure though, so I’ll give him that much. 

Having said all of that, he’s hardly in a prominent role, so if he’s being kept around to occasionally lose to bigger stars, that’s fine with me. I wouldn’t bother doing much more with him than that, though.

[Chili]

I'm so so on Darby generally, but I don't care about wrestling in general enough to have any issues with him being champion. It was a great show long angle, I'm sure it'll play into MJF getting a rematch where he wears some face paint like Darby and wins it back or something bollocks, but it was great seeing him run his mouth and try every excuse, cheat and STILL it fucked up for him. A heel getting their just desserts. Good stuff. Darby doesn't strike me as giving a toss about how long the title reign is, I don't think it was cheap either. Lovely bit of business.

[ReturnOfTheMack]

Can't say Im a fan of Darby, but it was nice to see Sting Flair at the end.

[The King of Old School]

1 hour ago, RedTwoster said:

I loved the Omega/Ospreay angle, and this surely has to be foreshadowing a match between the two. All In for the title seems about right.

Agree, that is the match for Wembley.

I do have a feeling though that it might happen at DON instead in the final of the Owen cup though.

Unsure about Darby as champ, as been said the crowds love him so maybe worth a go, I'm guessing it goes back on MJF at DON though?

The ideal route for me now would be Darby - MJF - Omega to Ospreay winning it at Wembley