AEW Dynamite Review - September 23, 2026

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AEW World Trios Champions The New Level and Swerve Strickland def. The Demand (GOA and Ricochet)

I liked that we got to hear from both trios backstage beforehand because it made this match feel more important, even though Strickland and New Level retaining the titles was a foregone conclusion. All six stars worked hard and put together a hell of an opener. Brodido confronted the champs afterward as they'll be challenging them for the AEW World Trios Championship at All Out.

AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley def. Dezmond Xavier in an AEW Continental Championship Eliminator Match

Moxley just beat Zachary Wentz on Collision, so I suppose it was only logical that he beat another one of The Rascalz ahead of his AEW World Championship opportunity at All Out. Again, the outcome was never in doubt, but to the credit of Moxley and Xavier, they had a fun match with Xavier being made to look credible in defeat. I just don't know why Moxley needed so many Eliminator matches prior to the pay-per-view.

AEW World Tag Team Champions Cage & Cope, The Young Bucks, and FTR Brawled

This upcoming Ladder match between these three teams pretty much sells itself, but I thought the mic work in this segment was solid and accomplished what it needed to. We got the expected brawl at the end, too. Cage & Cope standing tall left me convinced that they're losing the AEW World Tag Team Championship on Saturday night, most likely to the Bucks.

Tommaso Ciampa def. Jake Doyle

Although this had a heel vs. heel dynamic, the match made sense with Ciampa facing Kazuchika Okada for the AEW International Championship at All Out and Doyle being a member of The Don Callis Family. It was a nice, hard-hitting affair that didn't last longer than it needed to. I appreciated that we got to hear from Ciampa and Okada afterward and that they kept their promos short and sweet.

AEW TBS Champion and CMLL World Women's Champion Persephone def. Hyan (CMLL World Women's Championship Was Not Defended)

Obviously, Hyan has done nothing to earn a shot at the AEW TBS Championship, but she's teammates with Maya World (the former champ who is currently out injured), so I understand why this match happened. That said, this wasn't very interesting because there was no reason to believe Hyan had a chance of winning and thus it felt like a glorified squash. She announced backstage during Collision later on that she'll defend the TBS title in an open challenge at All Out. The debuting Kairi is a possibility, but what about the returning Ruby Soho?

United Empire (AEW World Champion Will Ospreay and "Speedball" Mike Bailey) def. The Death Riders (Claudio Castagnoli and Gabe Kidd)

It was established earlier on that Bailey is now a member of Ospreay's new United Empire. Anyway, I feel like we've gotten a version of this match almost every week since the post-All In edition of Dynamite. It was well wrestled and the action was enjoyable, but it felt like it didn't matter who won. The post-match angle was lame with Ospreay laying out Kidd and Moxley doing nothing about it.

Overall Show

As far as pay-per-view go-home shows go, this wasn't a very exciting one. It didn't help that there was another hour to go with Collision (which I'll write about in a separate review), but even on its own, Dynamite was decent at best. The final hype for All Out was fine, but it didn't move the needle much for me. Thankfully, I was already looking forward to the event as it has plenty of potential on paper.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews