AEW Dynamite Review - April 1, 2026

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Chris Jericho Returned; AEW World Champion MJF and Kenny Omega Signed the Contract for Their Match at Dynasty

To address the elephant in the room out of the gate, ugh. There have recently been rumblings that Jericho would be coming back to AEW and it made the most sense for it to happen in Winnipeg with that being where he's from. That said, I'm not a fan of him returning. It's not even a case of me wanting to see him wind down in WWE, either. I just don't think the AEW product needs him or has needed him in a very long time, not to mention the last few years of his run in this company have been awful. We'll see what he has in store. As for the contract signing, it was solid and effective as far as building toward the title match at Dynasty. Mike Bailey came out to set up him against MJF in the main event later on.

Kenny Omega, Brody King and AEW National Champion "Jungle" Jack Perry def. The Demand (Ricochet and GOA)

Omega, King and Perry were a bit of a random trio, but The Demand called them out and Omega is from Winnipeg (much like Jericho), so that's why we got the match. It was a spirited six-man tag team affair that received an ample amount of time with the babyfaces going over as they should have. I won't read too much into Omega pinning Ricochet instead of either member of GOA, but I did find it interesting.

Will Ospreay def. Pac

As much as I was looking forward to these two going all out again, I actually thought it was smarter for them to do what they did with Pac attacking Ospreay beforehand. After all, the whole reason Pac faced Ospreay was to weaken him before Ospreay faces Jon Moxley at Dynasty and he definitely did that, even though Ospreay eked out the win. The Death Riders left him laying afterward.

The Brawling Birds and Mina Shirakawa def. Triangle of Madness (Sisters of Sin and AEW Women's World Champion Thekla)

Man, the crowd's energy fell off a cliff starting with this match for some reason. It was a perfectly well-wrestled match, so I don't understand what the issue was. I will say, though, it was sad hearing Shirakawa get almost no reaction when at one point she was pretty popular with AEW fans. I blame the booking. I thought Shirakawa would get another shot at the AEW Women's World Championship at Dynasty, but with Jamie Hayter picking up the win for her team instead, maybe not.

Brody King and AEW National Champion "Jungle" Jack Perry Saved Darby Allin from The Don Callis Family

It was established in this segment that it will be Allin vs. Andrade El Idolo at Dynasty. That should be good. I know Allin has been winning a lot on his own for a few months now, but I'd actually like to see Andrade go over and get the next shot at the AEW World Championship. King and Perry saving him seems to set up a six-man tag team match at some point. Omega crossing paths with Allin could be planting the seeds for a future match if Omega takes the title at Dyasnty, but I hope it's just a tease and nothing more because I don't think MJF should lose to Omega right now.

AEW World Champion MJF def. AEW World Trios Champion "Speedball" Mike Bailey in an AEW World Championship Eliminator Match

I understand what they were going for with this match, and I realize Bailey is from Canada, but this was not a main event-worthy match. As a main event, I get why it went as long as it did, but at the same time, MJF shouldn't be that competitive with Bailey in my opinion. I appreciated that the show went off the air on time for a change, but this was an underwhelming ending to the episode.

Overall Show

The first hour was hot, the second hour was completely cold. The crowd was inconsistent throughout the night, but I did think it was an enjoyable edition of Dynamite on the whole. As much as I didn't want to see Jericho back in AEW, his return was certainly newsworthy. AEW hasn't had a ton of time to build up Dynasty, but the card is shaping up to be strong and I'm sure it will deliver, regardless.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews