Welcome to After 48 on GrapPro where we discuss an All Elite Wrestling pay per view two days after it aired. That way the hot takes cool down and we can think about it with a clear perspective. At least that’s the idea.
AEW is heating up.
The best part of it heating up is I don’t think it’s due to big debuts or one giant angle that everyone is buying into. While the MJF title reign and having plenty of contenders is a big part of it? That’s not really a big angle. That’s just doing a good job running your division. What I mean by no big angle is in 2021 the company was thriving through The Elite storyline between Hangman Adam Page and Kenny Omega. They built the two up to clash well and once they pulled the trigger after Double or Nothing 2021? That’s when the company started seeing major gains in viewership. History will remember it being about the debuts of the likes of CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, and Adam Cole, but AEW was hot before they came in.
2026 is off the back of a 2025 which started cold, extremely cold, and eventually warmed its way up thanks to the decision to make Hangman Adam Page the guy to finally beat Jon Moxley at Y’All In Texas. Once the company decided who was going to be the golden child to do it, between Page and Ospreay, the company rode that momentum. It has been extremely strong pay per views for the most part since that Double or Nothing.
Now we’re in 2026 with MJF as champion and the company is carrying that momentum. That isn’t to say everything is going great (a lot of divisions need work, some placement of some wrestlers) but it is saying everything is moving forward and the general audience is up for it.
Revolution was a very smartly booked show for much of it. Tony Khan knew a lot of heels were winning on the night so he made sure to bookend matches with either big returns or big announcements. Christian, Adam Copeland, Ronda Rousey, and Will Ospreay were back to back in terms of ending matches with someone coming out to steal the thunder. I see the logic of having the Trios matches to happen late in the show to spark the crowd up but I’ll never be crazy about the AEW Trios Championship happening before a no stakes trios match.
The show was very well paced as well until the main event, so overall I’d say it was a great show. There’s only one division that needs considerable work, but I think the answer is in the future. Ultimately AEW set up a show with a lot of things that could be a downer, but made sure we had a chaser for the majority of it.
Favourite Wrestling Match
AEW Women’s World ChampionshipTwo out of Three Falls
Kris Statlander versus Thekla (c)
In thinking about the show, I was surprised that I went back to this in how much I enjoyed it. Thekla is one of my favourite wrestlers on the show week in and week out. She is one of the best wrestlers I’ve seen in a very long time in making you forget any vertical weaknesses she has as a small pack of dynamite and just knowing how to be slick and smart in the ring to overcome it.
The size difference between Statlander and Thekla is dramatic whenever they stand near each other but this match ensured you wouldn’t see it that much. I think the first fall was easily the best one as it was a masterclass of Thekla using her aggression, a violent combination of spit piss and vinegar (maybe better to just call it toxic) to keep Statlander off balance and believably defeat Statlander on the first fall in under five minutes. If they had done this as a singles match it might have had a lot more impact.
The second fall was Thekla keeping that advantage and giving Statlander an opportunity to be a babyface working from underneath instead of having her obvious visual advantages. Statlander needed a solid 10 minutes to keep from getting pinned again and tying the falls.
Unfortunately that final fall was definitely an overbooking mixed with bad visual sights by the referee and the wrestlers. It wasn’t the cap off I was hoping for the match and will likely get eye rolls from people who don’t understand that favourite match of the night says nothing about the quality itself of the match. Favourite is the one I came out feeling the best from. Messed up final fall or not, it was Thekla standing as tall as she can to retain the AEW Women’s World Championship.
It’ll be interesting to see who they try to throw at Thekla next but I have no doubt in my mind she’ll make it good. What a fantastic addition to AEW she’s been.
Best Wrestling Match
Bandido versus Andrade El Idolo
Let me get my only issue with the match out of the way.
It should have been for the ROH Men’s World Championship.
Making this non-title really gave the finish away. I knew Bandido wasn’t winning.
However, I don’t really rate a match based on how much I feel like I know who the winner will be. There’s a thing in hockey (and probably other team sports) we call a “scheduled loss” where a team is usually on the second half of a back to back, playing their inferior backup, and are a better team in the standings of their opponent but the opponent is better rested and wants it more. That’s a scheduled loss. You have a good idea who is winning. It’s still going to be a great game.
That was this match. Boy was it this match. I think this was better than anything else on the card for what I love in my pro wrestling. I know there’s a lot of fans of the FTR vs Bucks match (which was great) or Moxley versus Takeshita (also great) and maybe even the main event (I’ll get to it) but this was everything I wanted in a professional wrestling match. Bandido is such a great babyface. Andrade is a great heel but he also makes you love him with his divorced Don Juan energy. My favourite moments in the match were when Bandido couldn’t get his pants off fast enough so Andrade trucked him, Andrade’s back elbow (which I think is the best wrestling move in the world right now) and then that back kick when falling that Bandido did (which would rank second in the best wrestling moves in the world if he does it more.)
I can’t say enough good things about this. This could have been a main event for the AEW Men’s World Championship. It at least should be for a lesser title soon enough. I mean, aside from the ROH Men’s World Championship which it could have been for but I guess not.
More Thoughts After 48
Hangman Adam Page: I’ll talk more about the stipulation in another article. Focusing on the match I have to say that as much as I wasn’t crazy about it? That finish? Perfection. Literal perfection. One of the greatest finishes to a pro wrestling match I’ve ever seen. I don’t know if it was planned for Page to get choked unconscious and hit the camera with his bloody face or not, but it doesn’t matter. It happened and it was perfect.
Page was stretchered out of the match so I could see him being gone for some time. It would be probably a good thing for him. Give it some time, let people forget a little, and then have him return dealing with the consequences of his actions. And really, it’s his actions. He didn’t need to do this. He did it because he thought once again he needed Texas Death to beat MJF even though he beat him in a regular match less than a year prior. He made these stakes and now he has to live with it.
Dumbass.
Maxwell Jacob Friedman: I do feel this was all about giving MJF a defining win. He wanted his CZW hardcore moment in AEW and he got it. He took a glass light tube, he took glass in the ring, he took barbwire to the mouth, and he got to have an explosion bigger than the Exploding Ring Death Match. The match very much felt less like the other Texas Death and more like a John Cena Extreme Rules match. You know the ones where a bunch of chairs or tables would fall on a guy, where every spot was very much planned to go from one to the other. I don’t feel like the connective tissue of the match was there the way the Swerve Strickland match was with Hangman, for example.
MJF ending the pay per view standing on Hangman’s fallen body on a gurney was a great visual. He’s been an excellent AEW Men’s World Champion. The interesting thing is right now he doesn’t have a clear number one contender on the babyface side unless someone like Kenny Omega finishes up with Swerve quickly (or delays it) so I’m curious where they go for Vancouver.
The Dogs: I really thought The Dogs should have won their first match together. They’ve honestly taken a lot of losses lately in their debut. Maybe AEW is doing that intentionally to temper their expectations but this is a team that really should be winning those Trios Championships and building themselves up on TV as a dangerous unit.
Darby Allin: I hope this coffin match tonight is the end of the feud with The Dogs. You could probably go Darby versus MJF if they did. It’s also possible Darby doesn’t want the match with Max.
Orange Cassidy: I love OC. I need them to do something new with him. I’m not saying turn him heel but I don’t know. I just need something fresh with him. He isn’t Freshly Squeezed anymore. That juice has been sitting in the fridge for a while.
Roderick Strong: Great performance by him. Multi-man matches are really where Roddy shines. He can get in and get out. Also entertains me that for years he was one of the most fratboy looking wrestlers and now looks like the dad from Inside Out.
Andrade El Idolo: I don’t know if AEW puts the main title on him but I would really love to see him wearing major gold in the company in 2026. He’s been on absolute fire. He is finally becoming everything we hoped he could be. I’m all in on Andrade.
Místico: Very happy for Místico to finally get his AEW contract. I know it has felt touch and go with him in AEW due to his previous experiences in WWE. He’s the biggest star in Mexico and having a dual contract is a nice moment. At 43 he isn’t as crisp as he used to be but he has quite possibly the best wrestling theme song of all time. One of them at the very least. Gets me emotional every time I hear it. Trios Champion is a good spot for him.
JetSpeed: I didn’t expect JetSpeed to win the Trios titles again now with a new partner so quickly. It really felt like AEW was pushing Kevin Knight towards a singles run and I think this is the better spot for him. Mike Bailey is one of the most reliable wrestlers in the world for having a great performance.
Kyle Fletcher: After several pay per views where Fletcher’s rise was a big story, this one he was just part of the card. He’s still TNT Champion but by the end of this year? Kyle needs to get elevated up. I think that’ll happen. It’ll just need a former friend of his to be champion first.
Mark Davis: I was really happy for him and Kyle to finally win a championship together, albeit short. I would honestly love an Aussie Open run for a few months again. They could use them as the number two heel team behind FTR.
Kazuchika Okada: We need an AEW International Championship defence in Vancouver.
Swerve Strickland: It’s pretty obvious his next feud will be Kenny Omega, but maybe they should delay it? I would love to see Swerve go too far and get suspended so Kenny can go after the AEW Men’s World Championship and possibly beat MJF for it in Vancouver. I wouldn’t be surprised though if they just go with Swerve versus Omega.
Kenny Omega: Glad he made it back from Japan in time for the appearance.
Babes of Wrath: I know Harley Cameron is popular but it might be a good time to keep Willow in singles and put that team on the burner. I’m sure they can still find a role for Harley without her taking up minutes a better wrestler could be in.
The Divine Dominion: Too bad for Penelope Ford. I do hope they give them Freebird rule to defend the titles as the three of them. Good PPV debut for Lena Kross who does everything decent. Jake Lee she is not thankfully. Looking forward to them facing Brawling Birds but also maybe possibly Hikaru Shida and Syuri? Please?
Konosuke Takeshita: He’s taking a lot of tough losses lately. Having Takeshita lose twice to Moxley here is a real bummer. I know the big plan is for him and Kazuchika Okada (I expected that for Forbidden Door) but maybe they do it for Dynasty. He needs that big win.
Jon Moxley: One of my big issues with the Moxley face turn was just that he had Will Ospreay in the future to get revenge for injuring him. I’m glad Moxley was booed enough in this match that Ospreay’s return felt like an avenging babyface going after a heel instead of the nebulous mixed grey area Mox loves to live in.
Will Ospreay: Welcome back Will. Not sure how you’re gonna feud with AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley and later win the AEW Men’s World Championship against… someone, but that’s not my needle to thread.
Timeless Toni Storm: I’m disappointed that AEW has little confidence in Mina Shirakawa as Toni’s partner to the point where now she just gets beat up or beat in matches to build other people up instead of an equal partner and AEW Women’s World Tag contenders but it’s clear AEW wants Toni in singles matches again. Does this mean Thekla is in her future?
Ronda Rousey: Well, folks wanted to see a Marina Shafir push. You got your push. Now you get her friend. Why are you surprised? She showed up in ROH to tag with Marina once already. Ronda isn’t official to AEW. That’s why Tony made it sound like it was just Marina’s friend coming in and not an official signing. I’m guessing she might do a match with Toni but more likely another tag match with Marina. If Ronda starts liking AEW? Don’t be surprised if they roll the red carpet for her. TV Executives love her.
Cope and Christian: They made their return right before the AEW pay per view in Canada! What a surprise. Great to see Christian Cage back. Cope I can take or leave. I do expect them to do the match with FTR for the titles as soon as they can. Can’t risk another injury delay.
Stokely: Should have run over a child with that wheelchair.
Jack Perry: Nice to see him win the AEW National Championship. Hope he defends it at Maple Leaf Pro later this month!
Ricochet: Ricochet losing the title coincided with him saying absolutely the wrong things to a person on Twitter about them deserving MS which is not the sort of thing he should ever be saying. Yes, people say worse things to him on a daily basis, him and his wife, and it sucks. But there’s lines you don’t cross, and you don’t allow people to push you online to this point. The Online Mob jumped on it and I wouldn’t be surprised if Ricochet takes a break from social media mandated by AEW. I’ve heard people talking he might be fired for it, but if you fire Ricochet for that but only give social media lessons to Sammy Guevara for things he said, or allow MJF to get away with anything, or have no issue bringing Ronda Rousey in? It’s going to raise a lot of eyebrows on what AEW allows and doesn’t, and what skin complexion is allowed to be an asshole in All Elite Wrestling.
El Cløn, AR Fox, and Lio Rush: They were by far my MVPs of the Blackjack Battle Royale. I really hope this leads to those guys wrestling each other in matches on TV. Heck at this point I’ll even take ROH. Lio Rush’s new look and mannerisms are fantastic. AR Fox is more exciting than most wrestlers on the AEW roster. And El Cløn? He’s my guy. Love Da Clone.
Shane Taylor: Rumble Bad Rizzler Rumble.
Road to Dynasty
Dynasty isn’t too far away. Only April 12th in Vancouver, British Columbia.
All Elite Wrestling has less than a month to build for this next pay per view. Four Dynamite’s and four Collision’s and then we’re at Rogers Arena. AEW will be staying in California tonight for Dynamite and Collision. Next week will be in St. Paul, Minnesota and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Then AEW will be doing their seemingly annual spring Canadian tour of Winnipeg, Edmonton, and then Vancouver for Dynasty.
The results from the pay per view don’t make it clear as to who MJF will be facing next. I originally thought Kenny Omega would make the most sense as he’s the biggest Canadian star they got. Kenny however has to finish things with Swerve. Andrade could do it and get the crowd on his side but I don’t know if they go that way. Unless you got a Jay White return in your pocket you plan to use for Dynamite instead of having it be lost in the heavy return shuffle of Revolution it’s tough to figure who they go with.
My idea would be for Swerve to get himself suspended somehow so he can’t work Revolution against Kenny and then open the door for Kenny to beat Andrade to get his win back and get the shot against MJF. That opens the door to do Kenny Omega versus Maxwell Jacob Friedman and pushes the big Swerve rematch to Double or Nothing. Maybe even for the AEW Men’s World Championship if I get my way.
Unless AEW is doing a tag match where Toni Storm finds a partner to go up against Marina Shafir and Ronda Rousey, I feel like Toni’s win should put her back in the singles division to face Thekla. A lot of the babyfaces here are tied up. Brawling Birds will likely go after Kross and Bayne. Kris can’t be getting another shot after losing a 2/3 falls match. Willow already TBS Champion. If they go with Harley Cameron… sigh.
If Will Ospreay is ready I’m sure he faces Jon Moxley (actually, could Konosuke Takeshita face MJF? Doubtful but a thought) for the AEW Continental Championship. Kazuchika Okada is free once again to defend the AEW International Championship.
Cope and Cage will certainly be getting an AEW Men’s World Tag Team Championship shot against FTR. We’ve been waiting for this match for way too long. Time to finally do it.
What do the rest of the tag teams do? You got Brodido losing major singles matches, you got the Bucks losing this big one against FTR, you got Private Party recently returning, LFI recently returning, just a lot of teams needing something to do. I wouldn’t mind seeing Bandido go after Kyle Fletcher for his TNT Championship.
JetSpeed and Mistico as Trios Champions have a lot of options and need to be on the show. The Dogs, LFI, Don Callis Family (Andrade, Hechicero, and El Clon please), Death Riders, and maybe a HungBucks? Doubtful, but it’s an option.
I could see Jack Perry facing Ricochet in a rematch for the AEW National Championship unless Ricochet has to take a break. That’s an easy opener. Tommaso Ciampa is another way to go and the one I think they go with.
As I talked about before, my bigger question marks are guys like Orange Cassidy and Darby Allin. They need a purpose soon aside from neverending feuds. I would love to see Darby take on Okada for the AEW International Championship, while Orange Cassidy I really don’t know.
If Toni isn’t facing Thekla, maybe we need a return of Mercedes Moné and dare I say, a Moné we cheer for? Probably too early. She still has more titles to lose.
AEW doesn’t have a lot of time to figure out Dynasty, but that might be in their favour. Use the short amount of time to slam a few matches together easy, but take the time instead to build up exactly what your Double or Nothing will be in New York on May 24. Especially since with All In now back in late August, it doesn’t make sense to do the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament until the summer. That can finish sometime in June or July for Forbidden Door instead of concluding in May.
Double or Nothing will definitely have Anarchy in the Arena, which I think ends up Team Will Ospreay versus Death Riders. If Cope and Christian win the tag titles they can have a big dream match against the Young Bucks here. Toni Storm might be finally free of the Death Riders feud to go after Thekla’s title. Moné should be back. Maybe AEW finally has Hikaru Shida and Syuri come in so the tag division for the women can be more exciting. That’s my hope at least.
I’m already on the road in front of the road we’re about go down. Settle down bucko. You know what? Don’t settle down. Let’s go even further down the road.
One last thing. I’ve heard a lot of people say that 2026 is a big year for AEW (every year is a big year for AEW I know) but the bigger year is 2027. The AEW TV deal was a three year deal with a one year option. The looming purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery to Paramount Skydance will have an effect on that. My guess is they get their one year to push it to 2028 and figure out if this merger even happens.
There’s also a rumour that AEW will be running two stadium shows instead of one. They will run their usual Wembley in the summer for All In, and a spring event in 2027. Who knows if that ends up SoFi Stadium or not.
Why else is 2027 big? Contract expiration’s. The Elite (Kenny Omega, Hangman Adam Page, and the Young Bucks) are all up August 2027. Christian Cage is up July of 2027 (likely retires.) Jon Moxley of all people is up at the end of 2027. MJF’s deal expires sometime in 2027. Toni Storm is up March of 2027. Will Ospreay rumoured to be January of 2027 (likely gets extended due to injuries) and just to add? FTR are up at the end of 2026, which is basically start of 2027.
That’s a lot of the top stars of AEW. Almost all of them. Swerve Strickland is one of the few guys with a contract going until 2029 so he won’t be an issue. Otherwise that’s most of your men’s main event, one of your biggest women’s stars, your two biggest tag teams (three if you count Cope and Christian) and what’s this? There’s also Kazuchika Okada up in 2027!
So yeah. 2027 could be a monumental year. AEW could re-sign most of these guys, but even if they re-sign most of them? Even one or two leaving would change AEW going forward. Imagine if someone like MJF decided to leave due to a massive offer elsewhere, or The Elite finally deciding it’s time to go. AEW is never the same after that. Even if say FTR leave, that’s a major tag team no longer around. Everything shifts after that.
All of this is to say: the good vibes on AEW right now? Enjoy them. This is a year where AEW is going to try and get everything they can out of this fantastic roster, and tell stories meant to build to some big things next year. Two stadium shows, major ramifications to their TV deal, and what could possibly be the departure of major stars in the company. 2026 could be the last year of AEW as we know it before massive changes comes in.
Enjoy the ride.
