AEW Dynasty Review - April 12, 2026

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Zero Hour: NJPW Strong Women's Champion Alex Windsor def. Marina Shafir (NJPW Strong Women's Championship Was Not Defended)

Shafir recently suffered losses to Toni Storm and Mina Shirakawa, so I really didn't think she'd lose again so soon. Well, I was wrong. I'm not complaining because I genuinely don't care if Shafir is protected or not, but at this point, it apparently doesn't mean much to beat Shafir. Nonetheless, they had a decent match. I know Windsor is teaming with Jamie Hayter at the moment, but I'd like to see this amount to something for her on her own.

Zero Hour: Kamille def. Big Anne

Kamille lives! She's been off AEW TV since November 2024, if you can believe it. I'm shocked she's been under contract this entire time, to be honest. She was obviously a standout in the NWA, so I hope she can build momentum again in AEW, but time will tell. This was a straightforward squash for her as it should have been. She also attacked Willow Nightingale afterward, and we found out later she'll be challenging her for the AEW TBS Championship on Wednesday's Dynamite.

Zero Hour: AEW National Champion "Jungle" Jack Perry def. Mark Davis

Davis has been featured so prominently on AEW TV since his partner Jake Doyle got hurt earlier this year that I thought there was a legitimate chance of him taking the title here, even though he never seems to win whenever it matters most on his own. This was a quality contest and Perry eking out the victory protected Davis in defeat in case they want to run this back.

Zero Hour: AEW Women's World Tag Team Champions The Divine Dominion def. Hyan and Maya World

This was a last-minute addition to the card. Hyan and World have been getting plenty of exposure so far this year and have potential as a team, but there was no way they were winning here. I'm glad Divine Dominion beat a team under contract to the company instead of the usual enhancement wrestlers, but they'll need a true feud one of these days.

The Young Bucks def. The Don Callis Family (AEW International Champion Kazuchika Okada and Konosuke Takeshita)

I'm convinced this only existed to get the Bucks on the show, because this could've easily been saved for Dynamite or Collision. That said, these four had an extremely entertaining opener. It was wisely paced and the crowd was into the action. The Bucks winning should get them back into AEW World Tag Team Championship contention while Okada and Takeshita teasing more tension must mean their next singles match is imminent (or at least it should be).

Ricochet def. Chris Jericho

I was genuinely shocked by how much I liked this match. We know Jericho can go, but I wasn't all that impressed by Jericho's in-ring work before he left last year. To his credit, he brought it in this bout. I was also pretty shocked by the outcome. That isn't to say Ricochet getting a win over Jericho is a bad thing, but it makes me worried that this will be a full-fledged feud instead of just a one-off as it should have been.

Darby Allin def. Andrade El Idolo

The stipulation was that Allin would earn a shot at the AEW World Championship if he won. Despite that, I was pulling for Andrade to win since he just lost to Adam Page in a number one contender's match at Grand Slam: Australia, but oh well. This was the quality contest you'd expect from these two. I understand keeping Allin undefeated in singles competition, but I hope Andrade does challenge for the title at some point this year given the terrific work he's been doing since returning to the company.

AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR def. Adam Copeland and Christian Cage

At one point, I thought it was a slam dunk that Copeland and Christian were winning the AEW World Tag Team Championship on this show, but when The Young Bucks lost in Los Angeles at Revolution, it made sense for Copeland and Christian to fall short on their home turf, too. The match was damn good with great drama down the stretch. We have to be headed for a three-way for the tag titles, right?

Kevin Knight Won a Casino Gauntlet Match to Win the AEW TNT Championship

There were a ton of different directions AEW could've gone in here with the new AEW TNT Champion (Mike Bailey was my personal pick since he nearly beat Kyle Fletcher for the title a few weeks ago and this event emanated from his native Canada), but Knight was an excellent choice considering his current trajectory. We see so many Casino Gauntlet matches these days that a lot of them blend together, but this was fun as always.

AEW Women's World Champion Thekla def. Jamie Hayter

Hayter is super talented, but she came into this contest completely cold as a challenger. She just failed to take the title from Kris Statlander four months ago and she arguably had less of a chance of winning here. I have no issue with her and Thekla rekindling their rivalry so Thekla could avenge her loss to Hayter, but the outcome was a foregone conclusion. It was a well-worked match, but the finish could've been better executed.

AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley def. Will Ospreay

Although I don't care to see Ospreay with the AEW Continental Championship, I was still pulling for him to win here, simply so we could move on from Moxley as champ and this rivalry as a whole (even though it hasn't lasted long). I get wanting to keep it going, though. This was a top-notch match, though my biggest complaint was the constant kickouts and nearfalls. Not every matchup needs them.

The Conglomeration (Kyle O'Reilly, Roderick Strong and Orange Cassidy) def. The Dogs (Clark Connors, Gabe Kidd and David Finlay) to Win the AEW World Trios Championship

For those who missed it, The Dogs just won the Trios titles on Saturday's Collision. I was in favor of the title change, but apparently that was only done so they could turn around and drop the belts to The Conglomeration here. Uhm, sure, I guess. The match was fine and I'm happy O'Reilly is back (I forgot he was even gone), but I have no idea what the hell they're doing with The Dogs.

AEW World Champion MJF def. Kenny Omega

I was in attendance for the last match MJF and Omega had back in October 2023 and this was certainly on par with that. The length was unnecessary, but they captured that big fight feel and produced the above-average main event they were capable of. I wouldn't have hated Omega getting the belt back in his home country, but MJF needed to retain if he's going to be defending against Allin on Wednesday's Dynamite. I don't know that I'd count MJF as being the first person in AEW to kick out of the One-Winged Angel since he took too long to cover him, but they probably will.

Overall Show

This was yet another kickass pay-per-view from AEW. Once again, my main criticism is that it was too damn long (I waited until the following day to watch it in its entirety). Perhaps the four-and-a-half-hour shows would be more bearable if they started earlier for us on the east coast. There has to be a happy medium between what AEW does and what WWE does when it comes to the pay-per-views. Otherwise, Dynasty was a blast with a surplus of wonderful wrestling, and I appreciated that they set up a bunch of stuff for Wednesday's Dynamite.

SEE MORE: AEW PPV Reviews