AEW Dynamite Review - March 18, 2026

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Will Ospreay def. Blake Christian

I'm still amaazed Ospreay was able to make it back from neck fusion surgery so soon. Hopefully he didn't rush back and isn't risking further injury. At any rate, this was a solid showcase for Ospreay to remind viewers of what we've been missing. It's funny that Christian is positioned as a threat to the ROH World Championship in Ring of Honor but is always booked like a loser in AEW, but I can't say I'm surprised. Ospreay brawled with The Death Riders afterward to further that feud.

The Death Riders (AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley and Wheeler Yuta) def. Bang Bang Gang (Ace Austin and Juice Robinson

Death Riders stuck around for this match. The outcome was obvious because Bang Bang Gang have been an undercard team since failing to win the AEW World Tag Team Championship late last year, but the match was decent. It basically allowed Death Riders to get some heat back after Ospreay got the better of them at Revolution and right before this bout.

Darby Allin def. Gabe Kidd in a Coffin Match

This started in the parking lot and spilled over into the ring. The crowd sounded quiet and confused early on but eventually got into it as it progressed. Coffin matches are Allin's specialty, so the stipulation felt fitting for the blow-off, but man, The Dogs already feel like stepping stones. I liked Allin calling out MJF afterward as they have history and I'm all for him gunning for the AEW World Championship if it means him getting the hell away from Death Riders and The Dogs.

Swerve Strickland Addressed Kenny Omega

Omega called out Strickland in a backstage segment earlier in the show, challenged him to a rematch and demanded he put his number one contender status on the line (was Strickland vs. Brody King a number one contender's matchup for the AEW World title at Revolution and I just missed it?). Strickland agreed to the rematch here but said that Omega would need to put his EVP role on the line. I assume Omega wins and faces MJF at Dynasty in Canada, but I appreciate adding some extra stakes.

AEW World Trios Champion "Speedball" Mike Bailey

Bailey and Davis have traded the AEW World Trios Championship back and forth in recent weeks, so this was a logical match to do. It was less about the Trios titles and more about giving Bailey a (somewhat) notable singles win, ideally before he gets another shot at Kyle Fletcher's AEW TNT Championship and takes the title. They had a good match and were allotted an appropriate amount of time.

Mina Shirakawa def. Marina Shafir in a No Holds Barred Match

Toni Storm was originally scheduled to face Shafir here before being found bloody and unresponsive in the locker room earlier on. I guess the idea is that Ronda Rousey attacked her, planting the seeds for a future match. I get why Shirakawa would serve as her replacement, but she never wins anything in AEW, so I was shocked when she won decisively. The stipulation made this mildly more interesting. Hopefully they can capitalize on this momentum for Shirakawa, even if she ends up challenging for a championship unsuccessfully.

The Young Bucks and AEW National Champion "Jungle" Jack Perry def. The Don Callis Family (RPG Vice and AEW International Champion Kazuchika Okada)

The Bucks and Perry were aligned with Okada in The Elite, but RPG Vice being involved in this main event was comical considering how often they lose. That automatically gave away that one of them was eating the loss for their team. The rest of the match was your usual Bucks spot-fest, but it was fun for what it was. The post-match segment with the Bucks, Adam Copeland and Christian Cage, and FTR was well done and established that Cope and Christian will be vying for the AEW World Tag Team Championship at Dynasty while the Bucks wait in the wings for another opportunity.

Overall Show

In my opinion, Revolution was AEW's strongest pay-per-view since All In last July, yet this was a fairly tame edition of Dynamite in comparison. Putting on a hot event and then not following up accordingly on Dynamite is par for the course for AEW. Tony Khan has to do a better job with that. This wasn't a terrible edition of Dynamite by any means, but "perfectly fine" is how I'd sum it up succinctly. The build for Dynasty has begun, which is smart because it's coming up in under four weeks.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews