Biggest Winners And Losers Of The Week — 8/10/2026

It's been another exciting week in the wacky world of professional wrestling, and as always, the Wrestling Inc. staff are here to name some winners and losers!

There's plenty to talk about from the last seven days, from the returns of multiple stars on "WWE Raw" to a title change on AEW's Grand Slam: Mexico edition of "Dynamite." AEW also kicked off its Continental Challenge Cup, while WWE saw one notable wrestler go down with an injury. And of course, we have things to touch on from outside the world of televised wrestling, from the court of social media to "The Pat McAfee Show."

Who does the WINC staff see as having truly come out on top this week, and who remains in the basement? That's what we're here to find out. From Eddie Kingston to AJ Styles, here are your WINC winners and losers for the week of 8/10/2026!

Fans of "WWE Raw" went from watching Women's World Champion Liv Morgan prance around alongside Judgment Day, declaring she was the "best Women's World Champion of ALL TIME" without defending her gold for over 100 days after winning it at WrestleMania 42, to being spoiled by the returns of two top stars in the division. Becky Lynch and Stephanie Vaquer made their returns to the red brand and made their intentions for gold known last Monday, and suddenly all seems right — or at least much better — within the "Raw" women's division.

As Judgment Day started a beatdown of Sol Ruca after her victory, via disqualification, over Roxanne Perez, Lynch's music hit for the first time in over two months, to the delight of the crowd. To make things even better for many fans, Lynch appears to be working babyface this time around, or, as seen a bit later in the segment, at least a tweener, and not her seemingly politician-inspired heel character that was getting old by the time she took some time off following her Queen of the Ring tournament loss.

Some of the lines in Lynch's promo missed, to the point of being edited from the replay on Netflix, but she did get some zingers in there, basically saying that Morgan had become a glorified valet and that she was going to make sure it's not another 100 days before Morgan puts the title on the line again. As Morgan issued her fiery response, Vaquer came out.

Instead of cutting a promo of her own, she let her actions do the talking, which was much appreciated compared to an interrupting promo train, and took out both Perez and Rodriguez before focusing on Morgan. She and Lynch stared one another down, giving off the impression that Lynch may be working more as a tweener, since Vaquer is a certified babyface who has been on the shelf longer following her title loss at 'Mania.

No matter who works babyface or heel between these two women, it's a huge victory for the red brand's division. Morgan's threats of not defending her title for another 100 days felt pretty real, and now fans have not one, but two hot challengers gunning for her gold. Lynch and Vaquer have yet to square off one-on-one in the ring, which would make for an interesting No. 1 contender's match, though WWE is more than likely going to go for the big triple threat to sell tickets to Sunday Night's Main Event next month.

Written by Daisy Ruth

On Wednesday's "AEW Dynamite," The Demand's Ricochet, Bishop Kaun, and Toa Liona lost the AEW World Trios Championship after just a seven-day reign to Brody King, Bandido, and "Hangman" Adam Page. While it was a great match on an excellent edition of "Dynamite" from a white-hot Arena Mexico, it feels like AEW has lost the plot with the trios titles. More often than not, it really doesn't feel like they mean much.

The AEW World Trios Championships are needlessly floundering, as the division overall isn't being booked strong, or with much thought. There are plenty of trios in AEW, from The Dogs to The Opps to any combination of the Don Callis Family, and, of course, The Demand, who had been after the gold for quite some time, only to lose them in embarrassingly short fashion, when Wednesday's match could have easily happened at AEW All In: London. When a strong team has the titles, like the Conglomeration, the gold isn't defended near as often as it should be.

Brodido and Page make an entertaining trio, but they're thrown together. Their title win was Page's first match back since losing the AEW World Championship, and his ability to ever challenge for that title again, back at AEW Revolution. The Demand, an actual trio, getting only a seven day title reign after dethroning The Conglomeration's Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong, and Kyle O'Reilly, just doesn't feel right.

That might be because it's not the first time this year that Page has been thrown together in a trio to win the titles. He teamed up alongside Kevin Knight and "Speedball" Mike Bailey to hold the gold for 46 days at the beginning of the year. The team served as a buffer between heel champions, The Opps, and the Don Callis Family's Kyle Fletcher, Kazuchika Okada, and Mark Davis.

The trios titles just haven't been taken seriously in 2026. Ever since Samoa Joe, Katsuyori Shibata, and Powerhouse Hobbs had to drop the titles in January, as Hobbs was heading to WWE, they haven't felt special and title reigns have been abysmally short, outside of the Conglomeration's recent run. None was perhaps more egregious than The Dogs' one day reign, capturing the belts on "AEW Collision," only to lose them the next day at AEW Dynasty, a buffer between babyface champions.

It's most certainly a play to get more guys on the All In card, with The Demand insisting on a rematch, with maybe another team like The Dogs with a returning Gabe Kidd, or The Opps with a returning Samoa Joe, thrown in there. Hopefully that's the case, because right now, the Trios Championship picture feels chaotic, and not in a good way.

Written by Daisy Ruth

"The Mad King" is back on our screens, and after just one match, Eddie Kingston has got people talking. 

When AEW announced the Continental Cup at the end of last month, I was hopeful of a few surprises when it came to the 16 men involved. The company has such a deep midcard that it wasn't going to be the end of the world if Tony Khan just stuck to the guys who have been the core of "AEW Dynamite" and "AEW Collision" throughout 2026, but it's always nice to get a few curveballs thrown in the mix, and Kingston was the biggest by far.

Spending nearly all of this year either in Ring of Honor or on the indies, Kingston has lost a step compared to what he was like before his catastrophic leg injury in 2024. He wasn't the most agile guy in the world, but that spring in his step that he had through the inaugural Continental Classic tournament in 2023 was gone when he returned last year, so throwing him in the Continental Cup felt like more of a legacy move than anything. But those who have been fans of Kingston for many years held out hope that he could produce something in the first round, regardless of whether he won or not, to show us that he still had what it took to compete on the biggest stage, and that's exactly what happened.

If you haven't watched his match from the August 8 episode of "AEW Collision" against Jake Doyle, do yourself a favor and watch it. It's one of the hardest-hitting matches you will find anywhere, and you can literally see Kingston trying with everything he has to keep up the pace. That's what makes this incarnation of Kingston so endearing — he's real. He knows more than anyone that he's not what he used to be, but he's using the strength of the fans and whatever he has built up inside of him to power on through, and now I'm sitting here thinking that the rest of the field needs to step aside because Kingston vs. Jon Moxley at Wembley Stadium is something I want to see. Kingston has got me this fired up after a single outing, and that's why he is a winner for me.

Is he the most in-shape? No, but look at Dusty Rhodes or Kevin Owens. Is he the most athletic? No, but look at Terry Funk or CM Punk. Is he someone who is reaching the point of being impossible to route against? Absolutely, and it's great to see "The Mad King" back in AEW, so let's enjoy him while we still can!

Written by Sam Palmer

As a fan of Chelsea Green, this one hurts to write, but what else can you call her after a week that saw her (a) take the pin in an impromptu tag team title match on "WWE SmackDown" and (b) break her orbital bone in that same match? After her feel-good ladder match victory at SummerSlam, Green flew into Philadelphia on Friday night riding high, with many suspecting that Rhea Ripley's knee surgery would result in WWE dropping the "interim" from Green's newly-won WWE Women's Championship. Now, her supporters wait with bated breath to see if she'll be allowed to keep the title she won a week ago, or if her injury will force her to vacate the belt.

And again, it's not as though things we looking bright for Green's title reign regardless of the injury. Having her get pinned by Fatal Influence on the first "SmackDown" after her big win was certainly a choice, and after that, Nia Jax came out to apparently stake her claim to Green's championship, suggesting Jax would be Green's first feud as champion. That's ... not exactly the most exciting option from a creative perspective. Not sure anyone was out here screaming for the banger that would be a Green vs. Jax title match.

Green's injury comes at a terrible time for her, and hopefully her dream title reign doesn't come to a premature end, but judging by how Friday night went, it's unfortunately possible we won't be missing much if it does.

I have always respected Mike Mizanin, but he's finally been around long enough to really prove his devotion to being "The Miz." Many wrestlers succumb to a kind of wrestling mid-life crisis. Cody Rhodes used his to found AEW, John Cena and The Rock used theirs to go to Hollywood, many have burned their WWE names and tried to make a prison break video, but The Miz has always been a sound, professional company man. Sometimes he's WWE Champion, sometimes he's a zombie Frankenstein, controlled by Danhausen. Either way, The Miz is always game, and The Miz never falters.

Recently, Miz dealt with the fact that he's been around long enough for his name to be essentially given to the Milwaukee Brewers' Jacob Misiorowski. On "The Pat McAfee Show," The Miz bristled against being called "The Mike," since Misiorowski was now "The Miz" in McAfee's eyes, but by the end of the weekend, WWE had trademarked "The Mike," likely meaning this isn't the last we'll hear from "The Mike."

You seemingly cannot break Mizanin. You give him a cheeky nickname on a talk show, and it will likely be merchandise by September. It's like nailing JELL-O to a tree, it can't be done. He has an almost-unflappable personality, whether he's taking an elbow from Snoop Dogg or winning the WWE title, there's an almost zen-like focus that I simply have to respect. The man simply cannot lose.

Written by Ross Berman 

Let me set the scene. You're hanging out with your friends on the weekend. It's a sunny day, you're kicking back enjoying the company of people you have a lot in common with and because of that, you feel comfortable.

Then, out of nowhere, you hear a familiar voice, a voice you don't want to hear when you're in your comfort zone, a voice of one of your parents, and all of a sudden there he is, your dad introducing himself to your friends, being as embarrassing as you thought he might be. He's harmless, but when you get home you're enraged at the fact that he tried to say things like "rizz" or "67" in front of all your friends. 

That is essentially what AJ Styles did to his son Avery over the weekend, and social media won't stop talking about it.

For context, Avery Styles wrestled on GCW's "Rude Awakening" event on August 1 against Marcus Mathers, a match that WWE Superstar Natalya saw live. Natalya wanted to get Avery to her wrestling school as he was ready to start "paying his dues," but Arik Cannon, a former opponent of Avery's dad, accused the 19-year old of avoiding helping out at the venue when it came to setting up the ring and the chairs in the crowd.

AJ then chimed in defending his son, stating that he was flown in as an outside attraction and was paid to wrestle, not to be part of the ring crew. Arik fired back by saying if he wants to stand on his own he needs to earn the respect of his peers, to which AJ responded by saying that if you invite someone over for dinner, you don't ask them to do the dishes as well. Oh dear.

I'm all for a father defending his son, but you get the sense that if AJ hadn't said anything, Avery would be in a much better spot by now. The amount of matches Avery has wrestled at the time of writing is in single digits; he's not going to know how things work no matter who his dad is, but the fact that his dad has built him up as someone who is perhaps too good to roll his sleeves up and do the dirty work isn't going to do him any favors.

Now, Avery is going to have an unnecessary target on his back almost immediately, and that target might not have been placed there if it wasn't for AJ essentially saying "My son is too good to put out some chairs." Avery will pay his dues and this will all pass, but AJ, let your son fight his own battles from now on.

Written by Sam Palmer