Results
- MJF def. Mark Briscoe (AEW World Championship) (18:21) (Recommended)
- Kevin Knight def. Lio Rush (TNT Championship) (8:43)
- Jon Moxley & Will Ospreay def. Blake Christian & Lee Johnson (9:14)
- Hikaru Shida def. Maika, Harley Cameron, Persephone, Kris Statlander & Queen Aminata (Survival of the Fittest) (Vacant TBS Championship) (17:27)
AEW greats catch up at Forbidden Door
This week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, live from the Viejas Arena in San Diego, California, opened with a clip backstage from Sunday’s Forbidden Door pay-per-view, where Death Riders leader Jon Moxley caught up with Will Ospreay after he won the men’s Owen Hart Cup. Ospreay asked Moxley what he meant a few weeks ago when he said he was starting to see “it” in him.
“If I could explain it in words, I’d do it for everybody,” Moxley said. “He who defines himself can never know who he really is.” After a little more chatter, Moxley whipped out a Death Riders patch and asked Ospreay if he wanted to officially join the group.
While holding the Death Riders patch, Ospreay was approached by Kenny Omega, who described how proud he was of his performance at Forbidden Door. Ospreay expected a preaching from Omega, who clearly was listening in on the Death Riders convo.
“You’re not my dad … Just because you’ve given up on yourself doesn’t mean I’ve given up on myself,” Ospreay said.
Next to enter the scene was AEW champ himself MJF. Omega warned MJF that, if he survives Mark Briscoe on tonight’s Dynamite, he has other big challengers just around the corner.
Omega was forgiving of Ospreay’s harsh comment: “You’ll always be my friend, and I’ll always care,” Omega said before leaving.
MJF defends against Mark Briscoe, presents risky offer to Kenny Omega
We then went to the live feed, where the biggest match of the night got the action started. AEW World Champion MJF put his title on the line against Mark Briscoe, who earned the shot by prevailing in a six-on-six cage match at Sunday’s PPV. Briscoe was sporting damage from that plunder-heavy match, wearing a huge bandage across the forehead. MJF had his left thigh wrapped.
MJF played possum and faked an injury to his leg early on, allowing him to catch Briscoe with a piledriver. The champ was quick to rip off Briscoe’s forehead bandage and bite into his skull, causing blood to pour out.
Briscoe, sporting a crimson mask, climbed back into the match with a series of moves. He earned a near fall early on with a Froggy Bow elbow drop. MJF was able to escape a Jay Driller, but got caught with a pair of dives to the outside from Briscoe just moments later.
Briscoe set MJF up on a table at ringside and was about to go for another Froggy-Bow elbow drop. However, MJF got up to his feet and instead tossed Briscoe from the top rope to the ring apron in a huge slam. To get some heel heat, MJF put away the table Briscoe had set up as the show went to commercials.
The match got just a little bit more riskier when the broadcast returned, as Briscoe peeled off some padding from ringside. Briscoe tried for a Jay Driller onto the concrete floor, but MJF reversed it into a devastating back body drop. MJF tried to follow that up with a tombstone piledriver onto the floor, but Briscoe reversed it into an (understandably) safe slam to the floor.
Briscoe came off the ring apron with a huge elbow drop to the floor before the match got back into the ring. The challenger got a two-count after connecting with a Cutthroat Driver. The fight went to ringside again, where Briscoe came flying off a guardrail for a Blockbuster to MJF.
Briscoe took out the table once again, put MJF on it, then leaped off the top and to the outside with an elbow drop. They went back into the ring, where MJF put a boot on the bottom rope to just narrowly avoid a pinfall finish.
Briscoe kept the pressure on MJF, scoring yet another Froggy-Bow elbow drop. He followed this up with a Jay Driller, and MJF looked beat… But he just barely kicked out in time! Briscoe brought MJF to the top rope, where he tried for an avalanche Jay Driller. MJF gouged the eyes of Briscoe to avoid the move.
A Heatseeker attempt was escaped by Briscoe. After they both searched for roll-ups, a Jay Driller from Briscoe was countered by MJF into a slam, then a Heatseeker for the pinfall win.
This was a great match, and credit to Briscoe, who really bumped his ass off in this one. Considering MJF took a million huge moves from Briscoe, I would’ve liked it if MJF needed a little more to earn the win here. Also, while I don’t dislike spots at ringside, maybe they overdid it a little, heading outside three or four times within a few minutes. But this was nonetheless still a fun title match.
MJF put on his Dynamite Diamond Ring afterward and landed a cheap shot on a defeated Briscoe. He planned on further hurting Briscoe, but Kenny Omega eventually came in for the save.
Omega got on the microphone and said that if MJF has the energy for all the plunder he utilized, maybe he has energy for another match with him later tonight. Wishful thinking on the part of Omega here. MJF, surprisingly, said he would wrestle Omega next week! But there was one condition: If MJF wins, Omega can never challenge for the world title ever again. Same stipulation Hangman Adam Page fell to earlier this year.
Andrade gets a parting gift from the Don Callis Family
Backstage, MJF addressed Andrade El Idolo, who turned against him during the cage match on Sunday. He warned that “payback’s coming” for the “Real Latino Man.” He said in the promo that Kenny Omega won’t accept his title challenge because he is “literally” gutless. Will Ospreay walked into the frame and asked why MJF insisted on the stipulation for the Omega match. MJF said it’s cause the champ does what he wants. The champ then said that, no matter what anyone thinks will happen in the coming weeks, he’ll see him at Wembley.
Speaking of Andrade, he appeared on-stage for an interview with Tony Schiavone in the next segment. He was asked by Schiavone about wearing a shirt on Sunday that said “F*** MJF, f*** [Don] Callis.” Andrade made it clear that he’s “done” with the Don Callis Family and is fully in pursuit of the AEW world title.
After Andrade said his “How you know” catchphrase, numerous goons from the Don Callis Family attacked him from behind. Brian Cage brought Andrade into the ring and gave him the Drill Claw driver. Don Callis himself got on the mic, mocked Andrade’s “How you know?” phrase, then ordered his squad to toss Andrade out of the ring as Kevin Knight has a match next.
Kevin Knight defends TNT title, Darby wants next
The next matchup saw TNT Champion Kevin Knight defend against “Blackheart” Lio Rush. This match was made after Rush’s surprise cameo during Sunday’s cage match, where he went after Knight and other Don Callis Family members.
It was revealed early in the match that Rush had turned the ROH World Television Championship all-black, custom for his “Blackheart” gimmick. Rush was on a roll early on, galloping around the ring then delivering a tope suicida to the floor.
Jake Doyle briefly distracted Rush at ringside, allowing Knight to score a huge lariat to drop the challenger. Back in the ring, Knight connected with a huge springboard lariat. A move from Rush was quickly countered into a pop-up spinebuster from Knight. He followed up with a Uranage for a somewhat sudden pinfall win.
Knight’s time to celebrate his latest win was short-lived, as Darby Allin came out immediately after. The former AEW World Champion said he wants a TNT title shot. He warned that if Knight says no, he’ll keep terrorizing him as he did on Sunday.
A fired-up Knight was about to accept his challenge, but had the microphone ripped from his hands by Don Callis just before he could! Callis said that, as long as he is able, he will prevent Allin from getting a title shot.
“You’ve dug your grave, Kevin,” Allin said.
It was kind of skipped past during this segment, but Speedball Mike Bailey was watching on from the crowd.
Backstage, Chris Jericho crashed a Tommaso Ciampa interview and started to brawl with him. The fight went outside the venue, where a shopping cart was utilized. Ciampa tried to take an electric screwdriver to Jericho’s head but was thankfully stopped. Jericho jumped off a production truck onto Ciampa and a group of security guards before they were finally pulled apart. Those two will face off on next week’s show.
Ospreay wins alongside Moxley
Roaming reporter Renee Paquette caught up with Kenny Omega and attempted to figure out if he has decided on the offer from MJF. The Young Bucks were torn over whether Omega should accept the match or not. Omega said he hasn’t decided yet. “If I can’t challenge ever again, what’s left for me?”
Tag action was next, with Will Ospreay working alongside Jon Moxley to face The Swirl’s Blake Christian and Lee Johnson. Ospreay had the Death Riders patch on his gear for this match. The Swirl jumped Ospreay and Moxley before the bell to start the match with a slight advantage.
The Swirl scored a double-team Death Valley Driver to Moxley for a near fall as the show returned from a break. Jay Lethal tripped up Moxley from ringside at one point in the match. Marina Shafir retaliated by giving Lethal an exploder suplex.
Back in the ring, Moxley turned Johnson inside out with a lariat then gave Ospreay the hot tag. Ospreay went on a long run of moves, including a standing moonsault on Johnson for a near fall.
Christian tried to get back into the match, but a top-rope move from him was reversed mid-air by Ospreay into a cutter. A Paradigm Shift from Moxley was followed up with an Os-Cutter from Ospreay onto Johnson for the pinfall in nine minutes. Solid showcase of these two.
Jay White returns to Dynamite
We saw an interview from Sunday night, where Christian Cage said that, despite Jay White playing a huge role in their win against The Dogs, he still has a bone to pick with him.
The next segment saw Jay White make his return to Dynamite for the first time in over a year. “We have waited 459 days to do this,” White said, before going Guns Up with the rest of the Bang Bang Gang.
White talked about how the times have changed since he was away. People used to hate the Death Riders, now they accept them, he said, for example.
White put his focus on who he attacked over the weekend when he returned: “Who let The Dogs out?”
He proclaimed it’s still the “Switchblade era” and said if anyone, including The Dogs, isn’t down with that, they got two words for them: Guns up.
Backstage, Shane Taylor Promotions said they’re the new group that runs Collision. The group called for three of the Bang Bang Gang to face three of STP on tomorrow’s Collision.
Hikaru Shida wins the TBS title
The final match of the night saw six women battle for the vacant TBS Championship in a Survival of the Fittest match. For anyone out of the loop, this ROH-originated stipulation sees six people face off in an elimination match. One by one, people get picked off until there’s a sole survivor.
Anyway, the women competing for the vacant title were: Harley Cameron, Hikaru Shida, Kris Statlander, Persephone, Queen Aminata, and STARDOM’s Maika.
Cameron was the first to go, getting taken out just two minutes into the match after taking a beautiful Razor’s Edge from Persephone. Maika was sent packing after a commercial break, as a crafty referee misdirection spot from Shida allowed her to get a roll-up pinfall.
Aminata connected with a headbutt and Off With Her Head combination to Shida. It looked like Aminata was about to eliminate Shida, but then, suddenly, Persephone got into the ring and caught Aminata off guard with a roll-up pinfall! We went into a commercial break with Persephone, Statlander, and Shida remaining.
Statlander and Persephone traded roll-ups at the 15-minute mark. Former women’s champ Statlander was able to keep CMLL’s Persephone down for the three, leaving it to her and Shida for the TBS title.
Shida grabbed the TBS belt and looked to use it as a weapon, but Statlander smacked it out of her hands. They got into a battle of roll-ups, which Shida transitioned into an ankle lock. Statlander crawled to an edge of the ring, where an enraged Persephone struck her in the head! With the ankle lock still intact, Shida wrapped an arm around the head of Statlander and put her to sleep. Shida is the new TBS Champion.
Hmm. I don’t love this decision. I get that Shida is a big name, but I was hoping a newer talent who could use some more exposure from a title, like Queen Aminata or Persephone, could’ve gotten the nod. I was also expecting maybe a big more frantic pace for a six-way match.
Kenny Omega is willing to risk it all
The final segment of the night saw Kenny Omega decide if he would accept a match next week against MJF for the AEW World Championship. As MJF said earlier in the night, a loss for Omega next week would mean he would never get to challenge for the world title ever again.
Before he went out to the stage, Omega was stopped by Will Ospreay, who warned him that accepting the match could be a huge mistake. Omega said that he’s at his own “death ground” and needs to be allowed to make the decision on his own.
Omega came out to the ring for a promo, where he said the support he has felt has given hope that he can beocme champ again.
“If you people can believe just one more time, then I know I can be a champion that each and every one of you can be proud of,” Omega said.
Omega said that he doesn’t want to join the lineage of Cody Rhodes and Hangman Adam Page as wrestlers who cannot challenge for the title again. “Is the cost just simply to high?” Omega asked.
“And the answer is no. You want me to put it all on the line, Max?”
Omega said he is still “the God of professional wrestling,” and because of that, he accepts the offer from MJF.
“Get ready to pass over what has rightfully been mine since the last time we wrestled,” he said.
Just after Omega wrapped up his promo, the champ emerged from the crowd and blindside attacked him! MJF put on the Dynamite Diamond Ring and was about to strike Omega, but was instead tackled by the upcoming challenger. A sea of security guards hit the ring for a pull-apart. They could only keep these two apart for a brief period of time, as they were able to continue fighting. Really strong final segment between these two. I’m usually not the biggest Omega promo fan, but he had a solid speech.
Final thoughts
This was a decent episode of Dynamite with some ups and some downs. While I didn’t love the TBS title match and thought the TNT showdown had something of a sudden finish, we were treated to a great world title showdown in the opening segment, as well as a good segment to close the show, hyping up what should be a huge episode next week.
A bazillion matches were announced for tomorrow’s Collision and next week’s Dynamite. Here’s a look at everything that was unveiled:
AEW Collision – 7/2/26
- Thunder Rosa & Mina Shirakawa in action
- The Demand in action
- Adam Copeland, Austin Gunn, Colten Gunn & Jay White vs. Shane Taylor, Lee Moriarty, Carlie Bravo & Shawn Dean
- Andrade El Idolo vs. Brian Cage
- Speedball Mike Bailey, Bandido & Mistico vs. Zachary Wentz, Dezmond Xavier & Myron Reed
- Kyle Fletcher vs. El Phantasmo
- PAC & Claudio Castagnoli vs. Drilla Moloney & Shingo Takagi
- Athena vs. Rina (#1 Spot in Beach Break Casino Gauntlet)
- Maya World vs. Julia Hart (#2 Spot in Beach Break Casino Gauntlet)
AEW Dynamite Beach Break – 7/8/26
- Jericho vs. Tommaso Ciampa
- Konosuke Takeshita vs. Kyle Fletcher (AEW International Championship)
- Casino Gauntlet Match for Women’s World Championship Shot at Redemption
- MJF vs. Kenny Omega (AEW World Championship)
