AEW Dynamite 7/1/2026: 3 Things We Hated & 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "AEW Dynamite," the show that opened with an MJF world title defense and closed with the promise of another MJF world title defense! Perhaps it's fitting, but there was a lot of world title stuff on "Dynamite" this week, and we here at WINC have a lot to say about the world title in the column as a result — including some disagreement between our writers.

Unfortunately, that does mean we have less to say about other things, like Kevin Knight's TNT title match with Lio Rush, or the crowning of a new TBS Champion. Those things were fine, and you can read about them on our "AEW Dynamite" 7/1/26 results page, which is a great place to catch up if you missed the show. In this space, we only discuss the things that stood out to us the most, either in a positive or a negative way. We're not just talking about the world title, but we're mostly talking about the world title, so strap in! Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 7/1/26 episode of "AEW Dynamite!"

The Don Callis Family are always a major presence on any AEW show, mainly because there are so many members that you come out of some shows wondering if you have somehow joined the group without realizing it. They are one of the most consistent groups in wrestling in terms of in-ring work, but that can make some the stories outside of the ring feel a bit strange, and this week's show didn't really land for me.

Let's set the scene. Andrade El Idolo broke away from the group at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2026 and had the crowd in the palm of his hand when coming out for a promo on this week's episode of "AEW Dynamite." Before he could ever really get going, he's attacked by members of the family and is quickly ushered out of sight so Kevin Knight could get ready for his match with Lio Rush. That match happens, and for as over as Rush is right now, it didn't really do anything for either guy — only for Darby Allin to come out and want a shot at the AEW TNT Championship, which Knight was going to accept if it wasn't for Callis who basically told Darby he should be in jail. Also, just for good measure, "Speedball" Mike Bailey watched on from the crowd and did nothing.

All of that happened and I don't think anyone benefited from anything. Andrade, who has been angling for an AEW World Championship match with MJF, now looks to be stuck in the Don Callis vortex that Kenny Omega was stuck in for what felt like 58 years. Knight, who has also been looking for a match against Maxwell Jacob Friedman, had one of his least impressive showings in his AEW run so far and doesn't look like he will be getting that shot anytime soon. Darby, who was the AEW World Champion just over a month ago, is now chasing a title he had no interest in previously. "Speedball" looks like he's been forgotten about in the midst of all of this, and Rush got made to look like a dweeb.

Don't get me wrong, the eventual match between Darby and Knight will be great, especially if their previous two encounters are anything to go by. However, there were a lot of moving parts in this part of the show and it didn't feel like they all moved in the right direction. Hopefully this was just a bumpy start to a big summer for the biggest family in AEW.

Written by Sam Palmer

459 days is how long AEW fans have had to wait to see "Switchblade" Jay White, and after his surprise return to the company at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2026, he cut a promo on the July 1 episode of "AEW Dynamite" that has me ready to see where he goes next.

One thing that White never usually gets credited for is his work on the microphone. His years of basically cutting unscripted promos on a nightly basis in New Japan Pro Wrestling means that he can go out there, sprinkle in all of the catchphrases that he has, respond to the reactions of the crowd, and still get his point across effortlessly. That's essentially what he did in this promo tonight.

We have a set-up to what is coming up immediately in a feud with The Dogs. For newer fans, that might not seem like a big deal but believe me, there is a lot of history between The Bang Bang Gang and The Dogs that goes back years. As White said in his promo, he has known David Finlay for over 10 years, as they joined the NJPW dojo in Tokyo, Japan at the exact same time. If you need any proof of what they looked like at that time, watch AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura from NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10 as you will see both White and Finlay carrying Styles away from the ring after the match was over (which is also a cool little Bullet Club lore deal as well).

Finlay was also the man to kick White out of NJPW back in 2023 and take over the leadership of Bullet Club, reshaping it into the faction that would essentially become The Dogs. When White calls himself "The Catalyst of Professional Wrestling," more often than not he is right because without him, The Dogs as a group would cease to exist. The fact that we are finally getting that feud now is something I'm personally very excited for.

But above all, what this promo did was remind people that "Switchblade" has all the tools to be the top guy in AEW. He's great in the ring, he's great on the microphone, he carries himself like a superstar wherever he goes, and he's reached a point in his career where he will want to make everything count after missing so much action due to injury. Give him and The Bang Bang Gang a great feud with The Dogs, tie up the loose end with Adam Copeland, and throw him into the shark tank that is the AEW World Championship picture. He's ready, I'm ready, and you should be ready as well.

Written by Sam Palmer

I'm getting a terrible sense of deja vu even writing this now, but Mark Briscoe and MJF's last singles match was apparently their bloody tables and tacks match at All Out 2025, all the way back in September. For whatever reason, and maybe it's because MJF has held the title twice in recent memory, I feel like I've seen this exact match where these two have faced off much more recently. Maybe it's because Briscoe has been one of the many men calling out MJF for a title shot for weeks, ever since he won the gold back from Darby Allin. Either way, I obviously wasn't the biggest fan of this match tonight.

There was nothing seriously wrong with it, and I'm just being picky, other than the fact I think the "referee's discretion" thing in AEW is getting old, fast. The use of the table should have been a disqualification. If you're going to have looser rules for AEW World Championship matches, referees should enforce the rules strictly during other matches to make the title match intensity — intensity that's apparently allowed to include weapons — stand out.

When I say "nothing seriously wrong," I mean the in-ring action was fine. I just feel like every Briscoe match I've seen on "Dynamite" in recent memory has been a lot of the same, and maybe that's why the deja vu is hitting. I didn't even think the blood was too terribly egregious that early into the show tonight, but I really think I'm getting desensitized to it after watching AEW for so long, and even the bloody aspect just felt like more of the same.

While I'm all for the world championship being defended on "Dynamite" sometimes, it feels like it's been competed for on television an awful lot lately, even after Allin's reign ended. Now, we're getting yet another AEW World Championship match with a very possible title change next week, but that's a different story.

At least one feud for MJF appears to be fully wrapped up, though he's got plenty of other guys gunning for him. Briscoe's done a lot lately, and it probably wouldn't hurt for him to just "Conglomerate" backstage with his buddies for a while to recharge.

Written by Daisy Ruth

This week's show started hard and fast with MJF defending his World Championship against Mark Briscoe, a match that relaxed the rules to near non-existence for a bloody contest that encapsulated the vitriol of their feud. 

MJF had invoked the name of Jay Briscoe repeatedly in the lead-up to this contest, among various other derogatory invocations. So if they were to have a pure wrestling contest without that added violence, it would have undermined all of the steps that had come before. Likewise, Briscoe had just embarrassed MJF at Forbidden Door to get the title shot, so even the champion was coming into this match aggravated by its very premise. 

With that in mind, they fought a violent contest from the get-go. MJF was raking and biting at Briscoe's head within minutes, drawing blood. Briscoe came back with a Froggy Bow and took the action to the outside, dumping MJF through the ropes and leaping off a chair in the ring over and outside of the ring. He then introduced a table, smashed MJF into the steel steps, and set him upon it for another Froggy Bow. 

MJF came back, threw Briscoe onto the apron and then put away the table like the good little heel he is – wrestling fans love a bit of chipboard after all. But then Briscoe came back and decided exposed concrete would be a better crashpad for his opponent. Similar to before, Briscoe was the one getting his back slapped across that concrete in MJF's escape from catharsis. 

That escape wasn't the smoothest as he eventually did get put on the concrete and took a trip through a table, though he ultimately kicked out of the Jay Driller back in the ring. Ultimately when all was said and done, MJF survived with his title after a Heatseeker. 

There's just something about a championship match to open the show that delivers on all the promise of violence and that little bit more. Briscoe is in his element when wrestling a little more on the extreme side; MJF in his element whenever he steps between the ropes. And it helped that one is someone you can earnestly root for while the other is a certified d***head.

Written by Max Everett

When AEW World Champion MJF, then in his second reign with the title, made "Hangman" Adam Page agree that if he lost their title match, he'd never challenge for the AEW World title again, it was a major deal. Page just lost at Revolution in a Texas death match, and hasn't been seen in AEW since. While the argument may be that the pay-per-view was almost four months ago, using that same stipulation again, this time with MJF facing Kenny Omega, still feels way too soon.

Before Revolution, that hadn't happened since Cody Rhodes lost his ability to challenge for the title way back in 2019, and when it happened, it was hated by many fans. Some even cited it as one of the reasons why Rhodes left AEW to return to WWE. Now, we're doing it again, and it just feels very rushed, and almost like MJF is making it his gimmick. As we've seen, he's not soon to run out of challengers, but eliminating major competitors from challenging for the company's top gold ever again, not just challenging while he's still champion, doesn't feel like the best move. It's a dramatic stipulation that shouldn't be thrown out there constantly, and should remain reserved for grudge matches like MJF and Page.

Of course, this could all just be leading to Page's return at "Dynamite: Beach Break" next Wednesday to either cost MJF, awarding Omega the championship, or to get the match thrown out, for Omega to challenge MJF again at AEW Redemption. AEW has started to hype next week's show up and make it seem like a big deal, which is great, and I'd welcome a Page return, but I don't know if this is how I'd go about getting there. There's so much going on at the top in the company right now, his involvement may make things feel even more crowded than they already are.

We certainly seem to be heading down the road toward Omega vs. Will Ospreay for the AEW World Championship at All In: London, and we're taking a pretty unpredictable route to get there, which is good. I just really wish we could have kept this stipulation away from Omega, after it was just used so recently, and went straight to booking this match at Redemption.

Written by Daisy Ruth

We may know that Will Ospreay will be challenging for the AEW World Championship at AEW All In on August 30, but there's still one question that remains: who will be titleholder by the time that the event comes around?

Oftentimes in modern day professional wrestling, there's usually a clear answer when it comes to who will walk into a big pay-per-view event holding the title. One of the things that AEW is doing really well is leaving a little mystery surrounding that question by setting up Kenny Omega as a legitimate threat to MJF's AEW World Championship next week by using the stipulation he can't challenge again for the title should he lose.

Considering how chaotic and messy the AEW World Championship picture has felt over the last several weeks with what feels like half the roster wanting a shot at the title, this was actually a great step in the right direction for dialing things back a little back. Yes, the title picture is still a little chaotic with MJF, Ospreay, Omega, and Andrade involved in it. However, it was handled much more carefully and felt far more intentional in the manner in which it was executed. I also think the unpredictability factor as to who Will Ospreay will be challenging for the AEW World Championship makes things far more interesting to watch, and keeps all of the possibilities open without a definitive answer to make for a far more engaging product to watch as a viewer. Ospreay's involvement with The Death Riders also makes for another interesting prospect, serving as an extra little something that will inevitably factor into things somehow.

Written by Olivia Quinlan