What’s next for AEW after Dynasty? | Opinion

The results of Dynasty left the future murky for some of the biggest stars and champions of All Elite Wrestling. With much of the slate wiped clean, what should we expect for Double or Nothing and beyond?

Here’s a look at what might be next for wrestlers like MJF, Will Ospreay, and Darby Allin. The following is based purely on speculation and conjecture, and not on any backstage rumors or reports.

Let’s start by looking at the long-term destination: All In London will occur at Wembley Stadium on August 30. This will be AEW’s third show at the giant building, and with the novelty perhaps having worn off, they’ll need a big draw. The biggest draw they could book would be Will Ospreay challenging for the world championship in front of his hometown crowd. 

The problem there is that Ospreay just lost his challenge to Jon Moxley for the Continental Championship. So to get to Wembley, Ospreay would likely need to win the Owen Hart Cup and the title shot that comes with it. If this sounds familiar, that’s because it’s the same blueprint AEW used for Bryan Danielson in 2024: injuries, a losing streak, a last-chance tournament win, and climactic victory in London. (Hopefully Ospreay’s postscript will last longer than Danielson’s did.) 

So who will Ospreay be challenging? AEW has already booked MJF to defend his World Championship against Darby Allin at Spring BreakThru, only three days after his victory against Kenny Omega. And Omega is likely to hang around the championship scene as well, having visually pinned MJF for over a dozen seconds at Dynasty. We can probably expect the three of them to battle for the belt from now through the summer, perhaps with Andrade El Idolo and Swerve Strickland getting involved as well. 

It’s worth pointing out that AEW’s next pay per view is Double or Nothing in Queens, New York, not far from MJF’s backyard. He’s almost certain to main event that show, but will he be going in as champion or challenger?

One name not in the world title mix: Hangman Page. Page has not been seen since losing to MJF at Revolution and thus, allegedly, will never challenge for the world championship again as per the stipulation. So Page needs a new goal. Jon Moxley, meanwhile, needs a new challenger for his Continental Championship after beating Ospreay. Putting the two together would be rematch of the main event of All In: Texas, AEW’s biggest show of 2025. (They have had one singles rematch since then, with Page beating Moxley on Dynamite last July.) 

One more match seems certain for Double or Nothing: it seems like Kazuchika Okada and Konosuke Takeshita have finally, finally split, and the two will likely face off for Okada’s International Championship.

Elsewhere:

  • Surprisingly, FTR defeated Adam Copeland & Christian Cage at Dynasty to retain the World Tag Team Championships. In the days leading up to that match, Cage & Copeland had a staredown wth the Young Bucks, who would then beat Okada & Takeshita at Dynasty. Booking Cope & Cage against the Bucks for a title shot, only for FTR to interfere and set up a three-way instead, sounds like a very WWE thing to do. In this instance, it might also make the most sense.
  • Kevin Knight is your new TNT Champion and has a bevy of Death Riders, Don Callis Family members, and La Faccion Ingobernable luchadors set to challenge him. He will be defending against Claudio Castagnoli on Wednesday at Spring BreakThru. It also seems inevitable that he’ll be defending against Speedball Bailey in a teacher-vs.-student matchup somewhere down the road.
  • In the women’s division, Willow Nightingale will obviously be defending the TBS Championship against Kamille, who laid her out twice on Sunday night. As for Thekla, after defeating Jamie Hayter at Dynasty, her next challenger for the AEW Women’s World Championship might be Hayter’s tag team partner, Alex Windsor, who defeated Marina Shafir at Zero Hour. 
  • I wouldn’t spend too much time thinking about the Conglomeration and the World Trios Championships. Those titles have already changed hands five times in three and half months this year. They seem to be AEW’s answer to New Japan’s Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: an excuse to put a lot of bangers on shows without a lot of dominant champions or long-term story developments. 

Tony Khan comments on Vancouver hosting AEW Dynasty 2026

Ever since AEW first came to the city in 2024, Tony Khan knew he wanted to return to Vancouver with a pay-per-view.

It was announced today that Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada will host AEW Dynasty in April 2026. Speaking with newspaper The Province, Khan commented on the news and promised that Dynasty will be one of the best pro wrestling events ever held in Vancouver.

“(We) made our Vancouver debut in May 2024 with AEW Collision,” Khan said. “It was an amazing crowd. They were incredibly passionate and had such a high respect and knowledge for AEW that I knew I wanted to bring the city a pay-per-view event in the future. Vancouver has had some great wrestling events through the years, but I’m confident that AEW Dynasty will be one of the best wrestling events ever held in Vancouver.”

This will be AEW’s first time back to Vancouver since that May 2024 event. It’ll mark the third time Canada has hosted an AEW PPV, with the previous two both having taken place from Toronto. Khan told The Province that Canada has been an “amazing host country” for AEW whenever the promotion has gone there.

AEW also has trips to Winnipeg and Edmonton scheduled for April 1 and April 8 leading into the Dynasty PPV. Both of those events are live Dynamite episodes with Collision tapings.

As 2025 reaches its final weeks, Khan reiterated that he feels this is AEW’s best-ever year when it comes to TV show and PPV quality.

“Every week this year I’ve been proud of the AEW TV shows, I’m beating myself up after the weekly TV shows less than ever,” he told The Province.

“In particular, I think that in 2025, AEW Collision: Grand Slam Australia, AEW Dynamite: Spring BreakThru, episode 300, Grand Slam Mexico, Blood & Guts and this past week’s Winter Is Coming events were all among the best wrestling TV shows that AEW has ever produced. As incredible as those TV events were, I believe that our track record on PPV this year is even more impressive. I think that we are poised to hit even greater heights in 2026, and AEW Dynasty at Rogers Arena on Sunday, April 12 will be a key event to achieve that goal.”

AEW reveals date and location for Dynasty 2026

With 2025 almost over, AEW is starting to build its pay-per-view schedule for next year.

It was revealed today that AEW Dynasty will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 2026. The date for the show is Sunday, April 12 at Rogers Arena. The announcement was made in advance of tickets going on sale to the general public next Monday (December 22).

Along with the PPV date, AEW has shows in Canada scheduled for April 1 and April 8. Both are live Dynamite episodes with Collision tapings. The April 1 show is being held at Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg, while the April 8 event will be at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

December 22 is the ticket on-sale date for those Winnipeg and Edmonton dates as well.

AEW is currently building toward Worlds End, the company’s final PPV of 2025. Here’s what the upcoming PPV calendar looks like at the moment:

AEW PPV schedule —

  • Saturday, December 27: Worlds End at NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois
  • Sunday, March 15: Revolution at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California
  • Sunday, April 12: Dynasty at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
  • Sunday, August 30: All In at Wembley Stadium in London, England

Injury caused change in plans for AEW Dynasty Tag Team title match

An injury to Brian Cage led to a change in plans for AEW’s upcoming Dynasty pay-per-view.

In the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer confirmed that Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin are scheduled to defend their AEW Tag Team titles against Big Bill & Bryan Keith at the Sunday, April 6 PPV in Philadelphia. It was originally supposed to be Cage & Lance Archer challenging for the belts, but Cage is dealing with a knee injury.

“The tag title match was a change as Brian Cage suffered a knee injury on an independent show on 3/20 in Los Angeles against Chris Masters,” Meltzer wrote. “So the originally planned but not announced Hurt Syndicate vs. Murder Machines match had to be changed and they had to pivot to new challengers, going with Bill & Keith.”

The build to Lashley & Benjamin vs. Big Bill & Keith began with a confrontation on Dynamite this week. After a challenge was issued, The Hurt Syndicate told Big Bill & Keith that they’ll need to win a match before they’ll be granted a title shot.

Big Bill & Keith vs. Top Flight is taking place on AEW Collision this Saturday.

Lashley & Benjamin were crowned the new AEW Tag Team Champions when they defeated Private Party this January. Big Bill is a former tag champ, holding the titles with Ricky Starks from October 2023 to February 2024.

A match between Cage and Rich Swann was scheduled for Future Stars of Wrestling’s Chris Bey benefit show on March 23, but Ricochet ended up facing Swann instead.

Philadelphia to host AEW Dynasty 2025

AEW is bringing its Dynasty pay-per-view to Philadelphia this April.

It was announced via the Philadelphia Inquirer today that AEW Dynasty 2025 will take place from The Liacouras Center on Sunday, April 6. The venue is located on the campus of Temple University and has been hosting AEW events since 2019, but this will be the first time AEW has ever held a PPV in Philly.

“Philadelphia has been a great home for AEW and really all of pro wrestling for many years,” Tony Khan told The Inquirer. “The energy is tremendous and we’ve always wanted to have a pay-per-view event there. AEW Dynasty is going to be a great pay-per-view in a great city at an arena where we have a great history of putting on awesome events. It’s the perfect place to make a pay-per-view debut.”

Tickets for the show are going on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Eastern time on Monday, February 3.

Dynasty debuted as an AEW PPV event last year in St. Louis. It was headlined by Swerve Strickland winning the AEW World Championship from Samoa Joe — with the card also featuring a classic match between Bryan Danielson and Will Ospreay.

“The goal is to live up to the original,” Khan said about Dynasty 2025. “Last year’s Dynasty was a huge hit and a great event. It was tremendous and we built huge expectations for the card and I think we can live up to it and have Dynasty become a great tradition as an awesome pay-per-view for AEW.”

The next PPV on AEW’s calendar is Revolution 2025, which is happening the month before Dynasty. Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles is hosting Revolution on Sunday, March 9.

MLW Fusion results and video: Von Erichs vs. Dynasty title match

Editor’s Note: You can watch this week’s episode at the bottom of this post.

***The Big Takeaways***

  • The Dynasty had mixed fortunes in their very own episode of MLW Fusion. Gino Medina and Alexander Hammerstone beat, and unmasked, Septimo Dragon and Aerostar in singles action — moves that angered Konnan as foreshadowing to a future angle.
  • In the main event, Mance Warner helped even the odds and aid the Von Erichs in successfully defending the MLW tag team championships against MJF and Richard Holliday.

***Show Review***

We opened with a special Dynasty opening video montage intertwined with the usual Fusion package. Rich Bocchini was asked to read a prepared opening that not only hyped up all the Dynasty’s matches tonight, but, of course, it ridiculed and belittled their opponents like Septimo Dragon, Aerostar, and the Von Erichs.

We also got a shot of a flyer on the wall backstage letting us know that Mance Warner had been banned from the building.

Gino Medina defeated Septimo Dragon (w/ Konnan) (6:48)

The Dynasty edited tale of the tape had Dragon’s height as “pint sized”, weight as “malnourished”, style as “lucha lolz”, and hometown as “irrelevant.” Medina’s were “perfect”, :untouchable”, “better than Konnan”, and “Monterrey, Mexico.”

Richard Holliday joined the commentary team while we were told that Air Wolf’s MLW career is over thanks to the hands of CONTRA Unit’s Sentai death squad attack two weeks ago. 

They went to the outside straight away with Dragon hitting a moonsault off the apron and then a suicide dive, landing on his feet each time. Back inside, both had a stalemate after a smooth exchange of rolling reversals, escapes, and feints but Dragon hit a headscissors after a handstand walk across the ring. Dragon went to the well once too often as Medina shoved him off after another headscissor attempt and took control.

Dragon cut him off shortly thereafter by getting his boot up on a charge in the corner and then hit a big springboard armdrag from the apron into the ring, but Medina hit a big spinning kick to the head to counter. Medina then rolled out of the ring and shoved Konnan, but he took his eye off the ball which allowed Dragon to hit a springboard Asai moonsault to the floor. He followed up with a stiff side kick to the face and a Spanish Fly on the inside for two.

Dragon hit a single leg springboard tilt-a-whirl DD, but Medina kicked out at two. He then went to the top, but missed a double foot stomp and Medina caught him with snake eyes, rolled him up with his feet on the ropes, and picked up the win out of nowhere. 

— We saw Mance Warner outside the arena promising the fans they will see him and he isn’t going anywhere. 

MLW National Openweight Champion Alexander Hammerstone defeated Aerostar to retain (4:39 not including commercial break)

The Dynasty’s obnoxiousness continued as Aerostar’s namebar called him “Mexican Spaceman.” Konnan was on commentary talking about the AAA partnership with MLW. He said they will be sending talent to Mexico, and he Aerostar was coming off a huge win over Monster Clown in AAA. 

Aerostar started quickly, hitting a middle rope dropkick and a springboard coffin drop that rocked Hammerstone, but as Aerostar looked like he was about to hit a dive, we went to commercial break.

Back from the break, we saw footage of Hammerstone powerbombing Aerostar on the ring apron and hitting a massive slam called the “Spinal Countdown” inside the ring. Back live, Aerostar hit a corkscrew splash off the top rope for a two count, and a rolling Ace crusher for another close two count as Hammerstone looked shaken.

Hammerstone crotched Aerostar on the top rope and then hit a massive middle rope delayed superplex for a two count of his own. A bicycle kick and German suplex followed, but the champion’s powerbomb was reversed and Aerostar nearly picked up the upset with a rollup.

For the second match in a row, a Dynasty member ripped off a luchador’s mask, except this time, it was still during the match and Hammerstone used the distraction to roll Aerostar up and pick up the win as Aerostar tried to cover his face from the crowd. Konnan confronted Hammerstone after the match before helping Aerostar to the back.

— We had another instalment of “Filthy Does Dallas.” In this week’s clip, Tom Lawlor and Dominic Garrini wished the Von Erich family luck from the hallowed ground of the Dallas Sportatorium, but Garrini was quick to point out the ground was covered in garbage. He said the Von Erichs have a big match coming up against Lawlor and Garrini “so don’t piss it away on the Dynasty”. Garrini and Lawlor then turned and urinated on the Sportatorium grounds.

— From outside the building, Mance Warner kept the theme going when he promised to “piss on the Dynasty’s party.”

— CONTRA’s weekly propaganda video had MLW World Champion Jacob Fatu calling out CIMA (and the rest of the world) to come and have a shot at his world title. We then heard CIMA will get his shot in three weeks on episode 100.

— Alicia Atout was backstage interviewing Davey Boy Smith Jr. and the Von Erich brothers. They talked about Smith’s grandfather training the Von Erichs’ grandfather and the strong unity between the two families. Smith said he had the Von Erichs’ backs (where have we heard that before?) and said he will have his eyes on Tom Lawlor and promised to catch up with him very soon.

— Warner and a case of light beer were outside the building as he ran into Dynasty whipping boy Grogan. They started downing beers and Warner was able to trick and persuade his way past Grogan into the building after giving him a few beers and pointing him in the direction of the dancing girls down the street. Grogan said that MJF was an assh*le anyway so we could be looking a short run in the Dynasty for MJF’s bodyguard.

MLW World Tag Team Champions Ross and Marshall Von Erich defeated MJF and Richard Holliday to retain (12:39)

This was a rematch from last year’s pay-per-view where the Von Erichs first won the titles. The Dynastic tale of the tape had Bank Account (“BROKE vs $$$”), Style (“Hillbillies vs. Handsome”), and IQ (“Brain Dead vs. 220”).

The Dynasty jumped the Von Erichs during their entrance as they were being handed flowers by some female fans in the front row. MJF and Holliday continued their beatdown and sneak attack, destroying the flowers in the process. Holliday hit a belly to back suplex on Marshall on the ring apron while they put the boots to Ross on the inside. They were goading Ross to tag his brother while cutting him off and repeatedly turning to the crowd to insult them. Holliday even dragged Marshall off the apron to stop him tagging in.

Ross got hit with a double team elbow drop but he kicked out easily. He then fired up with a big boot, but Holliday powered him back to the Dynasty corner. Holliday then hit a big suplex for a two count while MJF shouted “What was with that two count, cueball?!” to the bald referee.

Ross reversed a double suplex into a double neckbreaker and the crowd erupted to get the hometown hero over to his corner. He scratched and crawled and got the tag to his brother who sent MJF to the outside and crushed Holliday with a corner cannonball. The brothers then hit a combo kick/lariat, but Holliday somehow kicked out. MJF ran in guns blazing, but was sent to the outside. Ross then ran in and launched off his brother’s back, squashing MJF with a plancha over the top rope to the floor.

Marshall then went for a superplex off the middle rope, but Holliday reversed it into a Market Crash from the middle rope instead. MJF then came off the top rope with a big splash, but Ross jumped in and broke up the count just before three.

Alex Hammerstone was seen swaggering down to ringside, but behind him came good old Mance Warner who took out the National Openweight champion with a steel chair. Gino Medina came out and brawled to the back with Warner.

The Von Erichs dropkicked Holliday out of the ring and hit MJF with the Claw assisted back suplex to pick up the win to retain their titles.

***Next Week***

  • “Filthy” Tom Lawlor vs. Ross Von Erich
  • Erick Stevens in his MLW debut against Douglas James
  • King Mo in action

***In 3 weeks on Fusion episode 100***

  • MLW World Champion Jacob Fatu vs. CIMA