AEW Dynamite 7/15/2026: 3 Things We Hated & 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "AEW Dynamite," the episode that gave us not one, not two, not even three, but four new matches for the upcoming Redemption PPV in Montreal! We have thoughts about ... well, not quite all those matches, but most of those matches here in the column this week. We also have some things to say about Kyle Fletcher's first International title defense, the main event women's trios match, and more!

If you missed the show, please feel free to check out our "AEW Dynamite" 7/15/26 results page, where you can catch up on stuff we're not covering here — like the AEW world tag title match, for example. Not only is this column a place for the WINC crew to share our subjective opinions, we also only share those opinions on the matches and segments that stood out to us the most, for better or for worse. Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 7/15/26 episode of "AEW Dynamite!"

It's hard to be thankful that Andrade El Idolo is getting a shot at gold in AEW when it's one of the many titles in the company that feels like it doesn't mean anything. Tonight, he beat the Don Callis Family's Jake Doyle to move on to face Mark Davis for the National Championship at AEW Redemption. After Andrade's been gunning for the AEW world title for so long, this just falls flat for me.

I've mentioned it all before, but it bears saying again, especially after Andrade's backstage segment with Renee Paquette tonight. He said that he'd take out every member of the Don Callis Family if he had to, and if he has to take every championship away from them, he'll do that too, because his destiny is to win the AEW World Championship. To me, that plan certainly doesn't scream "AEW top title destiny," but rather, "retribution on the DCF," which does make sense for Andrade, since Callis didn't take him and his desire for a world championship shot seriously while he was still in the faction.

To me, that promo just felt like AEW is delaying Andrade getting to the top, which I guess was obvious ahead of All In: London with Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay. If he were to beat the entire Callis Family, that's certainly enough to win him a title shot, but it might take until at least Full Gear at this point to run through everyone.

In that promo, Andrade also revealed he had MJF's Dynamite diamond ring, though for what bigger purpose right now, I have no idea. Being a babyface, he didn't use it to get the win over Doyle, and MJF wasn't on the show tonight. It's rumored that the former champion could be taking some time off TV ahead of All In, and if it's MJF vs. Andrade for the ring at Wembley Stadium, that would be fun and give them both something to do outside of the top title picture.

I didn't think there was anything necessarily wrong with "Dynamite" tonight, and Andrade and Doyle's match was good, but, and I hate to be that person, some of AEW's storylines need a little work. In this case, it's due to having quite a few names in the top title picture, and not everyone can fit there without doing too many babyface vs. babyface matches. Andrade's time will come, I just wish it was sooner rather than later. At least he'll likely have some form of gold until then.

Written by Daisy Ruth

This has been something emerging out of a lot of the recent AEW TV shows but it remains true this week: it is refreshing to have a world title picture that feels  in a constant state of reactive flux. A division that breathes with the participants at the time. 

Kenny Omega won the title from MJF last week and thus the proverbial North Star to all things World Championship became Omega versus Will Ospreay at All In at Wembley. Ospreay earned his opportunity at the title while MJF was still the champion, beating Swerve Strickland in the Owen Hart Cup Final after having been adopted into the Death Riders by Jon Moxley. It was Ospreay who had encouraged Omega to even try for another time against MJF, though even after all the respect and adulation between them, Moxley doesn't seem impressed. 

Meanwhile, Kevin Knight wanted the opportunity that he had agreed with MJF would come while he was champion. It didn't. So he is now confronted with having to challenge a different kind of opponent altogether. And even as the match was made for Knight versus Omega for the World title at Redemption, there was a lot of noise surrounding his role in the Don Callis Family and whether he would be better suited reverting back to "The Jet." 

The World Championship is smack-bang in the middle of all the aforementioned dynamics. Moxley is coaching Ospreay to finally become world champion. Knight is doing what he feels he needs to do to win the world title. Omega is getting started in his run with the world title and learning what that will mean for friendships and alliances. 

For better or worse, the characters are reacting and acting based on their goal of becoming world champion. That's the end goal and every movement is done with that in mind. That makes for compelling TV.

Written by Max Everett

There's no denying that Kenny Omega dethroning MJF as AEW World Championship deserves to be celebrated, but his celebration from this edition of "Dynamite" felt like it was more of a mess than a celebration.

To start, I didn't love that Will Ospreay's entire portion of this segment had him talking about the immense respect he had for Omega before things between them heat up on the road to All In. Given that Ospreay has become part of The Death Riders, I would expect a little more intensity out of his character and didn't personally feel like this was the best way that AEW could've kicked off a storyline that's as high profile as this one is for the AEW World Championship. It needed to be heated right out of the gate instead of Ospreay just talking about how heated it was going to get, and wasn't something I was really a fan of.

My bigger issue with this segment was how much AEW tried to cram into this one when it really should've been broken down into at least three different segments across the next few editions of "Dynamite" and "AEW Collision." The Young Bucks presented Omega with the original AEW World Championship belt, Ospreay voiced his respect for Omega, Kevin Knight confronted Omega to make for quite a lengthy verbal confrontation about Don Callis, and then a brawl broke out between The Death Riders, The Don Callis Family, and Darby Allin — it was just a lot to take in and process all at once. It was just too over the top, and didn't quite mesh together with the various storylines and talents all converging at the same time without any breaks between anything.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

Over the past few weeks, I've ragged on The Don Callis Family and how the storylines surrounding the group have been a bit all over the place to the point where it's actually quite funny. That kind of continued this week on "AEW Dynamite," but for a change, I'm actually going to praise the family, in particular Kyle Fletcher, because for as wonky as their storylines might be at times, Callis sure knows how to pick them when it comes to their in-ring work. 

Shout out to Brian Cage and Jake Doyle for their excellent showings against Darby Allin and Andrade El Idolo, but Fletcher absolutely stole the show with Komander in their AEW International Championship match. Fletcher is becoming a guy who can be relied on to have a good-to-great match with just about anybody in AEW, but ever since he's adopted a more power-based arsenal, a lot of his most fun matches have come against smaller, more athletic, high-flying guys. Just look at his pair of matches with "Speedball" Mike Bailey for some examples.

He can base just as well as a stocky heavyweight, but he can match the athleticism of a luchador when he needs to, and that helps massively with his bumping because man, did he bump for Komander in this one or what? It feels like an age since we seen Komander in AEW, and that's because it has been an age as he only returned this past Saturday on "AEW Collision" after having visa issues, but the time he's spent in CMLL has refined him into someone who is even more entertaining than he already was. He didn't miss a step when using the ropes to his advantage; he literally makes the most jaw-dropping moves like easy. If you asked me to do the rope walk dive to the outside, I'd tear my ACL, MCL, and everything in between just thinking about it. Komander just flows through moves like that like it's second nature.

Of course, with a match like this, the result is never in doubt, but that gives the guys the chance to go out and really put each other over with their moves and both guys looked fantastic. Komander is someone fans will want to see more of on their screens, Fletcher looks like a dominant champion already, and this was easily my pick for match of the night.

The post-match segment that followed was a bit overbooked for my liking, but it did set up a match that, while it will likely be absolutely insane, doesn't exactly sit right with me, or even some of my colleagues. I'll let Daisy explain...

Written by Sam Palmer

If there's one thing I'm actually really tired of in AEW, it's ROH World Champion Bandido being booked to take losses. Sure, he hasn't actually taken this upcoming "L" just yet, but it's sadly pretty obvious after tonight. Bandido is set to take on International Champion Kyle Fletcher at AEW Redemption, and with the way things are going for Fletcher, he's just not losing the gold to Bandido.

Tonight, we saw Kazuchika Okada and Fletcher exchange looks over the gold when they both went to pick up the belt in the ring. In a later backstage segment, where Fletcher agreed to take on Bandido at Redemption, Okada was standing over his shoulder while he was speaking, with a look on his face like he's ready to take Fletcher down at any second.

That's something that Takeshita did following Fletcher's successful defense over Komander tonight, knocking him flat out, as if anyone really expected his feud with the new champion to be over after "Beach Break." It may take awhile to continue after tonight, as Takeshita is in NJPW's G1, but that feud is far from over. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a triple threat pitting all three guys against one another for the International title.

I wouldn't hate that at all, if it weren't for poor Bandido being set up to take another loss. He lost at Forbidden Door to Jon Moxley in a Continental Championship match, to Swerve Strickland at Double or Nothing in the Owen Hart Foundation tournament, and took another loss in the TNT Championship Casino Gauntlet match back at Dynasty. I will say, he recently defended the ROH championship he's been holding for over a year against Katsuyori Shibata on "AEW Collision," and he and Brody King won against Aaron Solo and Nick Comoroto tonight, but when you compare those wins to the big losses he's taken on pay-per-view, it just sucks.

Bandido was a lot of fans' Wrestler of the Year last year. While he's, of course, still amazing in the ring, his booking is just terrible. After tonight, I feel like there's no point in even hoping he pulls out a victory over Fletcher, as his feud with Takeshita, and seemingly soon, Okada, needs to have the gold on the line.

Written by Daisy Ruth

If there was one thing I did not expect to hear when the July 15 episode of "AEW Dynamite" kicked off, it was that the women's match would be the main event. Not because they don't deserve to, but come on, we've all watched AEW for long enough to know that 85/90% of the time, the girls aren't going on last. However, I'm very glad that they did because these girls sent the crowd home happy, even with the heels picking up the win.

The main event of this week's episode of "Dynamite" was Mercedes Mone and Divine Dominion taking on the team of Willow Nightingale, Maya World, and Hyan. Willow of course won the Casino Gauntlet Match last week to earn a shot at Thekla's AEW Women's World Championship at AEW Redemption on July 26, and the winner of that match will defend the title against Mone at AEW All In London 2026. Mone beat Maya to win the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament so she still wanted revenge for that (and probably on Dave Meltzer for not rating the match for some reason), so she brought her tag team partner Hyan to help her and Willow out as Mone had the backing of the current AEW Women's World Tag Team Champions.

The match itself was very entertaining. There might not be a better babyface in wrestling right now than Willow, and she got the crowd on her side, as did Maya and Hyan against a team that included Mone who was wrestling in her hometown. Megan Bayne and Lena Kross looked like beasts here, particularly when they were in there with Maya and Hyan, both of whom served as great underdogs as well. And of course, "The CEO" towed that face/heel line on home soil in a way that proves again why she really is one of the best women to ever step foot in a ring.

The only thing this match was missing was any sort of involvement from the Triangle of Madness. After all, Willow is facing Thekla in 11 days for the title and both Julia Hart and Skye Blue were attacked by Bayne and Kross last week. With that said, they are all in Japan right now so I can let that slide. But overall, the women got time to work, they all got their licks in, they beat the snot out of each other on a couple of occasions, and they all looked great throughout.

We've said it before and we'll keep saying it. Tony Khan, give your women the ball and they will run further than you can ever imagine.

Written by Sam Palmer