AEW Redemption 2026: 3 Things We Hated & 3 Things We Loved

The first-ever edition of AEW Redemption has come to a close, and the general consensus among the Wrestling Inc. crew is that it didn't quite live up to the high bar set by the last few pay-per-views. There was nothing truly terrible on the show, but some of the matches left us wanting more, while others never grabbed us. On top of that, the crowd tonight struggled to stay invested through the whole show, though they came alive at times.

With such a packed night, we won't have enough room to cover everything, but you can count on our trusty AEW Redemption 2026 results page to get you caught up if you missed any of the action. Here, we'll be focusing specifically on the highs and lows of tonight's pay-per-view, including the post-main event shenanigans, "Speedball" Mike Bailey picking up a hometown win, and much more.

Now that all that's out of the way, go ahead and check out our thoughts. Then, head to the comments to let us know whether or not you enjoyed Redemption.

I don't think I'm in the minority when it comes to AEW fans still questioning whether or not Redemption needed to be added to this year's pay-per-view slate ahead of All In: London at the end of next month. There were absolutely some great moments tonight, but they were few and far between, and also, they could have happened at other events, including All In itself. This show also started an hour earlier than usual, but still lasted nearly five hours, six including the Buy-In, which, for this B-level show, felt excessive.

While I loved that Willow Nightingale finally captured her first AEW Women's World Championship tonight, I understand the complaints I'm seeing online that it felt slightly underwhelming, with not a lot of build behind it. We saw her All In opponent, Mercedes Mone, watching on from the crowd, but she didn't confront the new champion to fully reignite their feud just yet. I'm also really happy for Maya World, but that title change could have also had some more fire behind it, and could have happened at All In, even if it happened on Zero Hour or something ahead of the show. The same goes for Andrade El Idolo. The AEW National Championship isn't exactly the company's biggest title, and it would have been cool to see him win it at Grand Slam: Mexico.

There wasn't much heat behind Adam Copeland and Christian Cage's title defense against the Death Riders, and the double chain tag team match pitting The Dogs against The Bang Bang Gang fell incredibly flat (more on this soon). The Montreal crowd had a lot to do with that, as they were pretty quiet, on television, at least, throughout the night, which really took away from the show. Kyle Fletcher and Bandido was a banger of a match, but there was no doubt that Fletcher was keeping the International Championship.

There was also no chance for Kevin Knight to dethrone Kenny Omega in Canada, during his first defense of the gold, ahead of a big money match at All In against Will Ospreay. I love that AEW has faith in Knight, and the match was an excellent showcase of his skills, but the finish was never in doubt, which is always pretty lame to me. The post-match angle was also set up earlier in the night when Will Ospreay and Jon Moxley defeated the Young Bucks, and while I'm not upset about the storyline progression, it just felt a little too obvious. There were no big surprises tonight, and while there was plenty of good in-ring action and some setup to All In, I don't know how necessary this lengthy pay-per-view really was.

Written by Daisy Ruth

I was going to try and do all of this in French because Redemption took place in Montreal, but for one, I don't trust Google Translate, and two, I don't want to insult the good people of Montreal (or France for that matter).

Who doesn't love a good hometown win? That's what the main card of AEW Redemption 2026 kicked off with and the show couldn't have gotten off to a better start if it tried. Many people scoffed at the idea of having a multi-man ladder match to determine a challenger for a secondary title on this card, but what we got was a damn fine opener with a winner everyone could get behind.

It must be said that yes, there are far too many ladder matches in wrestling today and you can only do so much in them before you stop and say "I have seen literally all of these spots before." However, this one had just the right amount of familiarity with a little dash of moments that we hadn't seen either ever or in a long time.

That last point was aided by the fact that a lot of these guys haven't been seen on a regular basis in AEW for some time. Komander, El Clon, and The Beast Mortos have all gotten their work visas back in the last few weeks after spending time in CMLL, and the work they've done in Mexico has made all of them, especially Komander, a lot more precise in their movement which worked very well in this environment. Nick Wayne has been in Japan and only returned recently, and he threw himself around here with enough reckless abandonment to warrant a spot on this card. "Jungle" Jack Perry has only just signed a new deal with AEW and did look like he was just riffing at times, but he had the guts to hit a Canadian Destroyer off the ladder through another ladder in the closing moments, so he's cool, too.

Then there is the true winner of the match, and the whole night in reality, "Speedball" Mike Bailey. AEW don't have the benefit of having huge names from Montreal like a Sami Zayn or a Kevin Owens, so giving Bailey the spotlight was absolutely the right call. Plus, he did some insane things in this match that had what was a tough crowd for most of the night on their feet. Now he gets an AEW International Championship match at AEW Grand Slam Mexico which is one thing, but when your name is being chanted in the main event because your former tag team partner is getting the life kicked out of him, that's a prize no one can take away from Bailey tonight.

Written by Sam Palmer

With every AEW pay-per-view, I always think there are a few matches that could be cut, to either add time to bigger matches on the card, or just to shorten the event overall. The double chain tag team match pitting Clark Connors and David Finlay (The Dogs) against The Bang Bang Gang's Juice Robinson and Jay White was one of those matches, but there were a number of problems here beyond the length. The match plodded along and wasn't exciting, despite the violent nature.

I usually love a good stipulation bout, but this one didn't work. I'm even invested in the Dogs vs. Bang Bang Gang feud, thanks to the history between White and Finlay in NJPW, but this being the teams' first match in what's likely to be a three or more match series wasn't a great way to start. It also had to follow one of the best matches of the night, Kyle Fletcher vs. Bandido for the International Championship. The crowd was pretty dead for it, and their silence was noticeable.

Neither team got too innovative with the chains, which were fairly long to allow for some reasonable movement. White and Robinson got The Dogs hung up by their wrists over the top rope early in the match, but of course, that just led to Connors and Finlay being whipped with the chains, which is a good portion of what we saw throughout the match. Even though they were long, the chains still got in the way, with Connors having to untangle himself from around Robinson and the post by going in and out of the ring. Finlay also appeared to struggle with it ahead of a really scary spot where he dropped White on his neck.

I also didn't love the interference by the Death Riders, though I will admit it at least made sense, since at least they're aligned with The Dogs. Maybe it's because it would have made more sense for Daniel Garcia and Wheeler Yuta to interfere in the AEW World Tag Team Championship match pitting Adam Copeland and Christian Cage against Claudio Castagnoli and PAC. I don't know Gabe Kidd's visa status, but I was expecting him to pop up here.

This felt pretty unnecessary overall tonight, as there were much better stipulation matches on the show. The ladder match to open Redemption was fantastic, and even though I'm not a big fan of Chris Jericho and his Painmaker gimmick, his match with Tommaso Ciampa was much better in terms of pacing and brutality than the double chain tag team match.

Written by Daisy Ruth

AEW, like any large-scale wrestling promotion, has had its fair share of would-be breakout stars over the years. These stars got so popular with the crowd it seemed almost a given that they would be awarded with a title. Some have been crowned as desired, others were arguably crowned long past when they should have been, and others never got that opportunity and have since seen their moment pass.

Maya World was the latest to walk that path and reached the fork at Redemption, leveraging a surprise run to the final of the Women's Owen Hart Cup to challenge Hikaru Shida for the TBS Championship. And she actually managed to win the title from Shida, on her birthday no less.

It's just really cool to see someone getting over with the crowd, to the extent that she was being backed to beat Mercedes Mone at Forbidden Door, and then actually being rewarded with a run for it. The match itself was unfortunately among the less awe-inspiring of the night, but it did little to change the pop when that final three was counted.

She was never intended to be in the Owen Hart Cup, rather standing in when Sareee pulled out through injury. But she continued to make the best of every opportunity as it was given, galvanized the support around her, and when all was said and done, deserved her crowning moment for it all.

Written by Max Everett

The main event of Redemption saw Kenny Omega retain the AEW World Championship over Kevin Knight after an enjoyable contest, but what came after felt like much ado about nothing.

Following back-to-back defeats for the Death Riders, the faction came out to exact some retribution on the World Champion before Ospreay challenges him at All In. They set him up in a steel chair and looked to stomp it over his neck, per their modus operandi, until Ospreay then came out to stop them. This of course fed into the overarching theme of Ospreay's mentorship under Moxley, his own personal Yoda, that he would need to learn to pull the trigger despite friendships and allegiances.

He had failed earlier in the night to do that against the Young Bucks as Nick Jackson was feeling the effects of a clash of heads, leaving Moxley to suffer for his indecision. And now he was doing the same thing here, swinging the chair instead at the Riders to clear them from the ring.

Moxley then entered the ring, talking Ospreay down and introducing the hallowed plastic bag – the weapon used to asphyxiate Bryan Danielson after Moxley retired him for the World title – for him to finally pull the trigger.

Thus ensued Ospreay staring at the bag like it might swallow him whole, wrestling with the prospect of using it. But then he tore it apart and turned on Moxley, ascending the top rope and looking to celebrate with Omega before he then got dropped with the One Winged Angel for, one would guess, considering using the bag?

It all felt a little flat when all was said and done. Did Omega turn heel? That won't be clear until Wednesday. So maybe this segment could have been put off to Wednesday to provide that clarity. If Omega was just hitting Ospreay for considering using the bag, then that feels a little weak and trounces on the weight of Ospreay turning on Moxley.

All of that just to continue with face Ospreay versus face(?) Omega at All In, but now with the added element of Ospreay turning on the Death Riders. It was a lot of booking to achieve very little.

Written by Max Everett

When AEW Redemption 2026 was announced, a lot of people had the same thought: why? Why put a big pay-per-view one month out from the biggest show of the year? What could possibly happen that could warrant a pay-per-view happening right now? What are we even doing here? While all of those questions all have their own merits, when you get a match like Kyle Fletcher vs. Bandido for the AEW International Championship on a card like this, I will happily accept more.

There wasn't much of a story surrounding this match, but it was in contention for being match of the night before the bell sounded. As it would turn out, it wasn't just the match of the night by a considerable margin; it might be in the conversation for the best AEW match of the year so far.

Just to point out the obvious to get things started, both of these guys are insane in the ring. Fletcher might be the most tailor-made wrestler for AEW that there has ever been. Athletic enough to match a Will Ospreay, can base for any luchador in the company, strong enough to match someone like a Brody King, has a defined look and character of a man who knows how good he is and is hellbent on achieving what he believes is destined for him. Then there's Bandido who might be one of the most consistent wrestlers in the world when it comes to quality. He's easy to cheer for, has all the high-flying to be considered a generational luchador while strong enough to hold people bigger than him up in the air with one arm, and he does it by looking like the coolest man in the world.

These guys went toe-to-toe for over 26 minutes and the biggest compliment you can give them is that it didn't feel like it. This match flew by, but the big spots felt like they had the right build and were earned. Did they kick out of a couple of finishers? Sure, but even those moments worked. For example, Bandido used the 21-Plex to pin Fletcher on "AEW Dynamite," so when he hits it here, you genuinely believe for a second that he might win. Simple but effective tactics to keep people engaged because you can build to bigger, more insane moments off the back of something like that.

Go and watch this match guys, it's incredible. It's not great that Bandido lost another big match on pay-per-view, but he will get that big victory soon enough. As for Fletcher, he's got a date with "Speedball" in Arena Mexico.

Written by Sam Palmer