For All Elite Wrestling’s second pay-per-view of 2026, the young promotion ventured north of the border to Vancouver, British Columbia, for the 2026 edition of AEW Dynasty.
Unless you’re like Pat McAfee and believe that wrestling is optional on a wrestling show, you were treated to some great in-ring action on April 12. So, let’s get into the specifics of what made this PPV work (and what didn’t).
Hits for AEW Dynasty 2026
Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Kenny Omega
An outstanding main event. MJF continues to impress in his second reign as AEW World Champion. He has stayed on point with his promos without veering into low brow territory and his work-rate isn’t far behind, as we’ve now seen against a variety of opponents. And, Omega showed us why he’s an all-time great worker with plenty of stellar outings left to offer. He will presumably rekindle his feud with Swerve Strickland to see who will break their 1-1 stalemate.
The Young Bucks vs. Kazuchika Okada and Konosuke Takeshita
The top contender for match of the night. It’s hard to have a bad match with the greatest tag team of all time, and when you put them opposite Takeshita and Okada, you know there’s a chance you’ll see something special, and that’s what happened in the Dynasty opener. The match focused on Okada and Takeshita’s contempt for each other preventing them from working together as a team. Of course, Okada couldn’t help but be a jerk throughout the contest, and it made his eventual pinfall loss (with a reference to Full Gear 2019 mixed in when Takeshita let the Bucks Meltzer Drive his partner) more satisfying.
Jon Moxley vs. Will Ospreay
Great stuff from these two. Ospreay is another one of those guys that you can count on for at least a four-star effort on PPV, and Moxley once again makes his case for Wrestler of the Year. The Continental Classic rules helped with the pace and Ospreay losing because he was too consumed with getting revenge on Mox sets up an interesting arc for him going forward.
Kevin Knight wins the TNT Championship
For the vacant TNT title, we got a fun Casino Gauntlet featuring most of AEW’s top midcarders. The usual “get your stuff in” spots ensued before we got a pleasant surprise: Knight hitting his UFO splash on Daniel Garcia and pinning him to win the belt. For Knight, whose ascent up the card began during the Continental Classic, this win affirmed the promotion’s belief in him as a future top guy.
Thekla vs. Jamie Hayter
Another intense, hard-hitting affair between these two, despite the underwhelming finish. That’s now two straight PPV title defenses for Thekla that have ended somewhat anticlimactically, but that’s a small nitpick in the grand scheme of things (for now). Kudos to Hayter for stepping up in the pro wrestling equivalent of a spot start in baseball. Meanwhile, Thekla, continues to shine as champion, but she’s going to need some fresh babyface challengers soon.
FTR vs. Cage and Cope
Even with a couple of awkward spots (particularly the ones with the tag title belt), these teams turned in a fine second chapter of their story. It was a relatively clean win for FTR, but the challengers have the out with Christian Cage’s kayfabe arm injury (and the shenanigans with the belt). We’ll probably see a rematch between these four, with a stipulation added, in the near future.
Kyle O’Reilly wins the Trios titles with the Conglomeration
With a lot of Canadians losing on this show, Kyle O’Reilly returning in his home province to win the Trios titles with Orange Cassidy and Roderick Strong served as the feelgood hometown moment of the night. The match itself was a fun pre-main event breather, though Gabe Kidd’s injury dampened things a bit. O’Reilly seemed primed for the biggest push of his AEW career before his absence, so we’ll see if he can recoup some of that momentum.
Andrade El Idolo vs. Darby Allin
“The little kid who works for Sting” bests Andrade again. This went as you would expect: Allin tries his best to injure himself and Andrade inflicts some punishment of his own while wooing some interested parties at ringside. The result was a great match. Allin’s win earned him a showdown with MJF for the world title in the top contender’s home state.
Chris Jericho vs. Ricochet
A low grade hit. Ricochet deserves a lot of the credit for creating the movement in this one and for his bumping and selling, but Jericho did hold up his end of things. There’s still good reason to doubt what Jericho brings to AEW in 2026 (that segment to set up this match with Ricochet wasn’t a good sign), and even Jericho losing here fits the trend of his previous feuds that lasted far past their expiration date. But this was fine for what it was, and at least Tony Khan got it out of the way early in the show.
Misses for AEW Dynasty 2026
Nothing major
Another strong outing on PPV for AEW. All of the matches at least met their expectations, even if you disagreed with some of the results. The Zero Hour matches didn’t disappoint, either. At this point, it would be a surprise to see a bad AEW PPV, but until that day comes, fans should enjoy this level of consistent output.
If you would like even more AEW Coverage from Chris Jeter, check out more of his articles right here on Let Them Wrestle.
