AEW Dynamite Review - April 22, 2026

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AEW TNT Champion Kevin Knight Confronted MJF

Starting the show with MJF upset over losing the AEW World Championship last week made the most sense. I liked that he demanded Darby Allin come out but instead got Kevin Knight. This was effective in setting those two up for an AEW TNT Championship clash on next week's Dynamite. There's a real possibility of MJF taking the title if the idea is that he has to put something on the line in order to get a rematch with Allin.

Brody King def. Lio Rush

I've made it clear in past reviews that Rush's new character does nothing for me personally, but I've also said that I appreciate the effort in giving him reps with it on television to see if it sticks or not. Honestly, I do think it has a decent chance of getting over with the AEW audience. He was on Collision last week and this was another opportunity for him to show off the character, even if he was never going to win. They had a solid bout and King's win was meant to give him a credibility boost before he emerged at the end of the night to challenge Allin to a championship match next week.

Hikaru Shida def. Mina Shirakawa

Shirakawa searching for who attacked Toni Storm should ideally keep her busy in the foreseeable future and ensure she has a regular role on television, so that's a positive. I'm also all for giving Shida more to do now that she's back from her hiatus and seeming going heel. This was a well-worked match and Kris Statlander unintentionally giving her the assist was a nice touch.

Mark Davis def. Will Ospreay by Referee Stoppage

Although I've never been high on Davis as a character, I do have to give him credit for giving every match his all these past few months. He's really been busting his ass and it's been paying off, to the point where he picked up a victory over Ospreay here. That was genuinely surprising, but I don't mind Ospreay suffering a setback before he hopefully wins the men's Owen Hart Cup. The match itself was great as well.

Samoa Joe def. Cody Chunn

Joe wasn't out of action for very long (he may have been last on television in January or February), but it felt like it was a lot longer, so I'm happy he's back. I have to imagine he'll also be involved in the AEW World Championship scene seeing as how he never got a rematch after losing it at Worlds End in December. This was a straightforward squash for him.

AEW World Champion Darby Allin def. Tommaso Ciampa

Allin's pre-match promo and championship celebration were good, and I appreciate that we're not going right back to him having a rematch with MJF (I assume they're saving that for Double or Nothing). Allin's giving out opportunities to other people in the meantime and this was an excellent example of that. Allin vs. Ciampa was just fantastic and the best singles match I can remember Ciampa in many years (he's had some strong ones in recent memory in both WWE and AEW but this topped them all). Sometimes you just have to let wrestlers go out there and wrestle. I could have done without Ciampa bleeding, but that was my only nitpick. As I mentioned earlier, Allin vs. King for the title is official for next week's episode.

Overall Show

Dynamite's been on a roll as of late and this was another enjoyable edition. The main event is absolutely worth seeking out, but the rest of the show felt meaningful as well, like there weren't just matches for the sake of matches. That's been my biggest complaint about Dynamite for the last year or two, but the show is trending in the right direction again, so that's encouraging. Two-thumbs up this week.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews