AEW Dynasty 2026 Predictions: Wrestling Inc. Picks The Winners

While the eyes of the wrestling world might be turning toward WWE WrestleMania, AEW Dynasty 2026 is coming up first, with nine matches announced as of this writing, five of which will be contested for championships. Emanating from Vancouver, British Columbia, the show could have massive implications for AEW's year depending on who wins which matches and whether any titles change hands. And as always, the Wrestling Inc. staff are here to predict the winners!

We're coming off a middling performance from "WWE NXT" Stand & Deliver, which threw us some definite curveballs, and some of these matches are pretty close calls. That said, our confidence remains unshaken, and we believe firmly that we know how just about everything goes down this Sunday. With that in mind, let's get to the picks!

A rather late addition to the Dynasty card coming as a result of United Empire and Alex Windsor joining the skirmish between Will Ospreay and Jon Moxley flanked by the Death Riders, Windsor will be now be facing the Riders' resident female counterpart, Marina Shafir. In the main event of Wednesday's "AEW Dynamite," neither woman was officially booked as part of the match, instead having their contest reserved for Sunday's show.

According to Wrestling Inc.'s staff poll, Shafir is the favorite to go over on the night, given her recent dominance. She suffered a loss in her last significant singles match against Mina Shirakawa, with the opponent she was feuding with, Toni Storm, suffering an injury to put a pin in it for what could be a year or more. On the other hand, Windsor has been more involved as a tag team wrestler in AEW, even as RevPro's Undisputed Women's Champion; she teams with AEW Women's Championship challenger Jamie Hayter as the Brawling Birds. 

That is somewhat reflected in the voting split with 54% backing Shafir to make a slim majority, while 46% reckon it could be another loss for "The Problem" and Windsor goes over.

Written by Max Everett

The reluctant Don Callis Family pairing of Kazuchika Okada and Konosuke Takeshita have been tasked by their leader to deal with the Young Bucks, with the pair of them promised they will only get to fight when they have done so. Therefore, the match hinges upon whether or not they can postpone their fighting for another time and focus on the team that Okada used to run with. 

Okada and Takeshita on their own are exceptionally talented wrestlers who have been positioned at the upper echelon of the company, standing alongside Kyle Fletcher as the proverbial big three of the DCF franchise. But they have never been able to get along in a tag match with pretty much all of them descending into sabotage, friendly fire, and a flat-out brawl when all was said and done. 

The Bucks, meanwhile, are coming off of a loss to AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR at Revolution and were teasing a confrontation with Adam Copeland and Christian Cage in the post-match segment. Perhaps that's why the pendulum of belief is swinging in the favor of the Bucks, according to the Wrestling Inc. staff poll, with a majority of 62% voting for them while 38% believe Okada and Takeshita get what they want.

Written by Max Everett

While Andrade El Idolo may be on a hot streak since coming back to AEW following drama with WWE, we still think Darby Allin is destined to win their bout at Dynasty. If Allin is victorious, he earns himself a shot at the AEW World Championship, as per the stipulation put forth by MJF, via the mouthpiece of Don Callis.

Kenny Omega also let Allin know that he would honor that stipulation if he's the one to emerge from Dynasty as champion. That gives Allin the extra boost, as if he really needs one, to go all-out in his match against Andrade. He also cut an excellent, impassioned backstage promo on the most recent edition of "Dynamite" that explained just why he wants to become champion, after saying for years he didn't care about the top title.

The promo was more than convincing enough for us to believe Allin is taking this match. He revealed he was scared that he might not be able to win the big one and be the face of AEW. He also questioned what all the glass, fire, and blood was for if he isn't enough for the title, and said he needs the gold "more than anybody could ever imagine." It's more fire than we've seen from Allin, really ever, regarding the AEW World Championship, and it doesn't look like Andrade stands much of a chance.

While there are many stars who could easily be built within a match or two to become number one contender for the top title, Allin is right there, especially if MJF retains. Andrade has also previously questioned Callis working with MJF, so there's another story built in with a loss for him.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Chris Jericho is back from sabbatical and Ricochet is still in the doghouse for mocking a fan with Multiple Sclerosis. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out why the Wrestling Inc. staff isn't sold on Ricochet's chances on Sunday.

Even if Ricochet hadn't decided to mock a fan's medical issues, I'm not sure he'd have much of a chance against the returning Jericho. Jericho is, for better or worse, a staple of AEW programming who needs to re-establish himself after a long time away. Maybe the self-awareness that Jericho showed in his promo on Wednesday will manifest in him being humbled on the big Dynasty stage by the brash and cocky Ricochet, but the votes have still turned out the way the votes turned out, and the staff is 100% certain that Jericho will mark his return with a win. In fact, it's the only match on the card for which we are all in agreement.

This is, after all, the same event where Jericho lost to Bandido last year, forcing him to vanish for nearly a year, so it would make sense for his redemption to start on Sunday.

Written by Ross Berman

A knee injury to Kyle Fletcher has momentarily left AEW without a TNT Champion, but at Dynasty, a new one will be crowned. With the title now up for grabs in a Casino Gauntlet Match, some of us believe that AEW will wipe the TNT slate totally clean with a brand new champion.

Mark Davis leads our poll amongst the fresh face contenders with 23% of votes. Davis, of course, is Fletcher's Don Callis Family stablemate, which means that a win from him would keep the title within the group. Kevin Knight follows at 15%, with a couple of staff putting their faith in the high-flyer's potential as a singles champion given that he's already proven himself in tag team and trios settings. Rush, the number two entrant in the gauntlet (spoiler alert for "AEW Collision"), gathered 8% of the vote, as did Private Party's Isiah Kassidy.

The true victor of the WINC prediction poll, however, is Tommaso Ciampa, a former TNT Champion whose initial reign got cut short. Ciampa burst onto the AEW scene in dramatic fashion as he answered an open challenge issued by the then-TNT titleholder Mark Briscoe. In his official AEW in-ring debut, Ciampa then unseated Briscoe to secure his first piece of AEW gold.

His celebration continued when he successfully defended the TNT Title against Claudio Castagnoli and Roderick Strong in a three-way bout. As quick as Ciampa's success came in AEW, though, it went, as Fletcher bested him just 11 days into the reign, marking an abrupt title change.

This same abrupt change now has 46% of us convinced that AEW will reward Ciampa in this Casino Gauntlet, not only to rectify it, but to also set Ciampa, still a new star to the company, back on a thriving track. Following his latest "Dynamite" match, Ciampa will enter the Casino Gauntlet as the number one entrant, which statistically gives him the best chance of winning to begin with, as well.

Written by Ella Jay

AEW Dynasty will mark Will Ospreay's first pay-per-view match since returning from neck surgery, so naturally, some of us (31%) believe that he will go over in order to put an immediate exclamation point on his comeback. Meanwhile, the majority of Wrestling Inc. staff are thinking about Ospreay's long-term future.

Yes, a Continental Championship win would be a nice addition to "The Aerial Assassin's" resume. And yes, a win over Jon Moxley, the defending champion, would certainly avenge the attack that Moxley and the Death Riders unleashed on Ospreay prior to his television hiatus. Technically, though, Ospreay is coming off a victory from his last major pay-per-view appearance, AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door, as well as a string of victories in his post-return. So does he really need a moment of triumph at Dynasty?

According to 69% of WINC, he doesn't, especially when he has a bigger goal of capturing the AEW World Championship.

After Dynasty, AEW's focus will likely shift to the Owen Hart Foundation tournament, where the winners will receive world title shots at AEW All In, set in London, England. Who is currently the star of the All In poster? Will Ospreay. And who is a notable native to England? Also Ospreay.

Last year, Ospreay progressed to the finals of the Men's Owen Hart Foundation tournament, but ultimately fell short to "Hangman" Adam Page, and in turn, fell short of his world title dream. Given this, plus his glaring presence on the AEW All In advertisements, we expect Ospreay to circle back to the Owen Hart Foundation tournament and win it so he can make his dream a reality at this year's All In event.

A Continental Championship victory over Jon Moxley would hinder that course, or at best, be an awkward stepping stone to the larger gold prize. Considering that Moxley has greatly elevated the Continental title, we see no need for AEW to take it off of him at this point either, further affirming our belief that the company will avoid that scenario altogether.

Written by Ella Jay

It's difficult to bet on anyone other than Cope and Cage, Adam Copeland and Christian Cage, when they're fighting for gold in their home country of Canada, and that's why we aren't betting against them at Dynasty. We think that the team is finally capturing the AEW World Tag Team Championships from FTR's Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler at the pay-per-view.

It has honestly felt like FTR has only held the belts to get to this match, where Cope and Cage will then dethrone them. Sure, they've had around five total defenses since winning the belts from Brodido at Full Gear, but Cope and Cage seemed to be lurking around every corner. They finally reemerged from the shadows at Revolution and made their intentions for the gold known.

Copeland and Cage are also no spring chickens, as the former Edge has acknowledged himself. They are likely on their final tag team run, and getting the belts on them here would be good for drawing power for coming events like Double or Nothing in May, and possibly even as far as All In London at the end of August. Or, by that time, Cage and Copeland could be feuding with one another in thr final frenemy battle of their careers.

There may be an ever-so-slight chance that FTR pulls out a victory here, maybe by nefarious means at the hands of Stokely Hathaway, leading to a ladder match or whatever version of a TLC match AEW can make their own, at Double or Nothing, but we just can't see that. And if a stipulation match does indeed happen, we think Cope and Cage will be holding the titles after their Dynasty victory.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Jamie Hayter's attention is divided. She's coming after AEW Women's World Champion Thekla, and she's also establishing her new team, The Brawling Birds, alongside Alex Windsor. Meanwhile, Thekla's single focus is holding on to the title.

For this reason, the Wrestling Inc. staff is pretty much adamant that Thekla will be walking out of AEW Dynasty with her title reign intact. Hayter hasn't exactly felt like a non-entity on AEW TV, but she's felt much more like a tag competitor than a true-blue contender for the Women's World title. There's something dangerous and otherworldly about Thekla, and it would be a shame for all of that to be squandered so soon. With Toni Storm off on a mystery medical hiatus and Mercedes Mone lurking in the wings, waiting for the right moment to strike, it feels like now is the best time to run with Thekla for as long as the AEW fanbase can possibly stand it.

It would certainly be a shock if Hayter won, but the staff just doesn't see it in the cards for her, which likely means we'll get many more weeks of Thekla flirting with Renee Paquette in menacing fashion.

Written by Ross Berman

If AEW is really serious about MJF, then there is no other choice here. Kenny Omega has done great things for the company, but MJF can't just be the guy they trust with the belt when the bigger stars are busy. He needs to be the bigger star, and there's only one way that happens: beating Kenny Omega.

He beat Hangman Page. Now he needs to beat another former world champion and that is exactly what Kenny Omega is. The staff overwhelmingly believe that a win over Omega, underhanded or not, will be yet another feather in the cap of MJF, in what we all assume to be a very big year for the young star. It doesn't matter who you put in front of him, he needs to beat them. Even if this were Will Ospreay in Wembley, I'd be saying the same thing: MJF needs to be holding that title right now. He needs to dominate the main event scene long enough for a Darby Allin or an Ospreay or a Swerve Strickland to dethrone him somewhere down the line.

MJF is showing up on talk shows that usually have guests like Zohran Mamdani or Gavin Newsom, bringing the AEW title places it's never been. It would be pretty foolish to give that up so that Kenny Omega can show up on a Twitch stream somewhere with it.

Written by Ross Berman