The SmarK Rant for AEW Redemption 2026 – 07.26.26

The SmarK Rant for AEW Redemption 2026 – 07.26.26

Live from Montreal, QC

Your hosts are Excalibur, Tony Schiavone & Nigel McGuinness

International title #1 contender ladder match: Mike Bailey v. Jack Perry v. Nick Wayne v. El Clon v. Komander v. The Beast Mortos

Obviously Speedball is the clear crowd favorite here. Komander and Bailey clear the ring and trade kicks, and then Perry dropkicks Wayne out of the ring. Clon uses his wacky kicks to put Perry down, but Mortos sends a ladder into the ring and smashes everyone down. Komander and Bailey make the first climb, but Mortos dumps them over and gets rid of Bailey. Komander flies around the ring with a splash from the top onto the ladder. Clon moonsaults Komander onto the ladder as well, and then Nick dumps Komander and hits him with a dive for good measure. Nick is looking a bit more filled out recently. Eating better and increasing his protein, I guess. Mortos attacks everyone outside but Bailey breaks it up and kicks him down, setting up a double dive with Jack Perry onto the pile. To the top of the ramp, where Bailey comes off the big ladder set up there with a moonsault onto another pile of guys, and then Perry hits his own. Nigel: “Tony, you have a lot of experience with ladders, right? Looking girls’ windows?” This man is a menace. Back to the ring, Bailey tries to moonsault Perry on the apron, but Nick hits Wayne’s World to take him out, leaving Perry to make the climb. Mortos saves and tosses Jack onto a pile on the floor, but then he makes the climb and Komander ropewalks into a dropkick to knock him off. To be honest I thought he was going for something bigger there. Komander pins Mortos under the ladder and makes the climb at a weird angle, but Mortos powers the ladder over like Spider-Man pushing the building off himself and if you’re old enough to understand that reference it’s time for a colon cancer screening. Mortos makes the climb and suddenly we get a bunch of ladders set up and everyone climbs, but Beast Mortos stands alone atop. But then Perry knocks him over and we get some tables added to the ladders. So everyone sets those up and Perry puts Mortos through one with a rana in a scary bump, and Clon puts Bailey through one with a double stomp, and then Komander ropewalks around the ring and moonsaults Wayne through a third one. Back in the ring, Beast Mortos is somehow still alive after that bump and he runs wild, powerbombing Jack into a ladder, but Clon takes him down with a backbreaker. Clon and Komander slug it out on a ladder bridge and Clon takes him down with Made in Japan, thankfully not onto the ladder bridge itself. Back on the floor, Wayne goes up a big ladder and puts Clon through a table with a Phoenix splash. I know it bugs people from a visual standpoint but god bless the referees for bracing those ladders so they don’t die. Wayne and Perry make the climb in the ring, but Perry takes him down with a destroyer, leaving Mike Bailey to deal with Mortos. So he puts Mortos onto a ladder in the corner and hits the double knees, and then sets up the ladder and climbs to claim the contract at 20:00. He was the obvious and correct winner to kick off the show. Felt a little contrived at times but everyone kept it really safe and there were some incredible dives. ****

The Young Bucks v. Will Ospreay & Jon Moxley

Nick and Ospreay trade takedowns to start and Nick hits him with a leg lariat to win that battle. Over to Matt forn assisted rana and the Bucks double-team Mox as well before Nick comes in with a double stomp on Ospreay for two. They both try a takedown and knock heads for a collision off that, and Nick actually bails to the floor to shake it off. So Will dives onto Matt, but gets the ref to check on Nick’s well-being, which pisses off Moxley. Back in the ring, Matt hits Ospreay with a DDT off a superkick attempt and tosses Mox out for a dive, but Marina takes him out. Back in the ring, the Death Riders work on Matt as this match is shockingly heatless. Matt fights free and goes for the tag, but Moxley takes out Nick on the floor with a piledriver and Ospreay powerbombs Matt for two. Matt fights them off again but Nick still won’t make the tag. Matt fights off Ospreay again with a faceplant and Nick finally tags himself in, despite Matt’s second thoughts on it. Nick runs wild with a stunner on Ospreay for two, but Nick is clearly having trouble shaking the head injury off still. Matt with the powerbomb on Ospreay for two. Bucks try the Meltzer on Mox, but the Riders reverse into a Styles Clash / Piledriver combo and that gets two. Riders with the corner clotheslines on Nick and Mox hits him with a cutter while Will takes out Matt on the floor. Nick fights back and Moxley nails him with a lariat to turn him inside out and Nick is still selling like he’s knocked goofy. Well, goofier than usual. Bucks regroup, but Mox chokes out Matt, so Nick saves with a splash and they hit Mox with the BTE Trigger. Ospreay saves with the Hidden Blade and Nick tags himself back in for another try, but he collapses and Ospreay hesitates and tells him to tag out. But Nick keeps fighting, so Will gives him some grace and then beats on his head with superkicks and elbows him in the head to knock him out. The ref wants to check on Nick, but Will lets Moxley tag in, and he curb stomps Nick for two with no care for his well-being. He continues beating on Nick with elbows until Matt superkicks him to save his brother, and then superkicks Marina as well as Nick rolls up Mox for two. But Mox has had enough and DDTs Nick twice and adds a Death Rider, but he won’t cover because he’s trying to make a point. So he grabs a chair and takes out the ref, but that’s far enough for Ospreay, who stops him. And the Bucks hit Mox with another BTE Trigger, but Mox won’t go down. So the Bucks batter him with superkicks and Nick pins him at 19:37. I was skeptical with the lack of heat but they turned this into a totally different type of match with Nick’s head injury and the melodrama between Ospreay and Moxley and the underdog win by the Bucks and it kind of ruled. ****1/2. Obviously this was playing the long game to set up Moxley as the big dragon for Sir Ospreay to slay after he wins the title, and the Bucks are clearly getting the tag belts at All In and they needed to win here.

AEW International title: Kyle Fletcher v. Bandido

They trade suplex attempts to start and Bandido rolls him up for two with Kyle barely escaping. So he bails and thinks it over on the floor, and then back in the ring as Bandido takes him to the floor with the headscissors. But Kyle cuts off a dive attempt with a FULL BODY LIFT AND SLAM and take over. Kyle puts the boots to him, but Bandido fights back and takes him to the floor. He tries a moonsault, but Fletcher superkicks him on the way down and then follows with an apron bomb that gets two after some conversation with the front row. Kyle with the full nelson, but Bandido makes the ropes and they exchange shots, as Fletcher puts him down for two. Kyle beats him down, but Bandido powers up and deadlifts Kyle into a suplex. Bandido slugs away in the corner and follows with a dive out of the corner and the press slam to make a comeback. Frog splash gets two. They fight to the apron and Fletcher hits him with a brainbuster out there. Bandido beats the count at 9, but Fletcher hits him with a Last Ride on the way in for two. Kyle with a half and half suplex, but Bandido snaps off a german and then improvises a 21Plex version of a dragon suplex for two. He tries it again, but Kyle bails to the apron to escape, so Bandido takes him to the floor with a powerbomb off the apron. He follows with a frog splash from the top rope to the floor and even that isn’t really getting the crowd going. Back in the ring, shooting star press gets two. Kyle tries to pop him up into a faceplant and Bandido reverses into a tornado DDT in mid-air, and they’re both down. They trade headbutts and Bandido tries the X-Knee, but Fletcher blocks it and tries a running knee. Bandido pops him up into a faceplant off that and it gets two. They fight to the top rope and Bandido brings him down with a blockbuster for two. X-Knee sets up the 21Plex and that gets two. Fletcher crawls back to the ropes again, but this time he was faking and he hits Bandido with a knee strike and brainbuster for two. To the top, but Bandido shoves him down. Fletcher brings him down with a top rope Michinoku Driver, but that only gets two. Lawn dart into the corner and running boot follows, and the top rope brainbuster finishes at 26:12. Another non-surprising finish as Bandido puts on a great match in losing to a big star. ****1/2

Chain match: Jay White & Juice Robinson v. Clark Connors & David Finlay

Man Jay White is REALLY skinny. The Dogs attack before the bell, but Jay and Juice use the chain to double-team and take over. They take it to the floor and the BBG beat on them with the chains and follow with stereo dives, although like much here tonight the crowd isn’t really doing much. Finlay runs White into the post and Clark runs Juice into the stairs as the Dogs take control. Back in the ring, the Dogs beat on Juice in the corner as the crowd is just so dead for this and there’s not really much going on anyway. White comes back with a dragon screw on Finaly and they double-team Connors into a White DDT. White with a uranage on Finlay for two, but the Dogs regroup and beat on Juice with the chains. Clark throttles Juice with the chain, but White does a nice babyface comeback and pulls on the chain to fight off Finlay and make the save. But then Clark spears him and the Dogs choke them out again. High Low on White gets two. Finlay with a Dominator for two. Finlay nearly tripped on his own chain and dropped Jay on his neck, but thankfully they figured it out. Clark goes up and Juice yanks him down and into the steps to bring him down, and the Bang Bang Gang double-teams Finlay and beats him down with the chains. But then Yuta and Garcia hit the ring and take out White on the floor, prompting the Gunns to make the save. But then Marina passes David his big wooden dildo, and that knocks out Juice for the pin at 17:30. The announcers LITERALLY promised us blood at the start of the match, and you had one guy wearing white pants and another guy NAMED JUICE in the match and we got nothing. Average match with a bad finish where they tried to do the chaotic brawl and the dead crowd didn’t buy it. Not like a full on DUD, but it was kind of a dud that overpromised and underdelivered. **

Meanwhile, Jon Moxley gives Will Ospreay another lecture about how he can’t be a nice guy all the time, and tells him that if Will won’t pull the trigger, then Mox will.

TBS title: Hikaru Shida v. Maya World

I know they’re big on Maya right now but this doesn’t feel like a PPV match. Maya takes her down with an armdrag, but Shida gets a high knee to put her down and on the floor. Shida with knees off the apron, but they slug it out there and Maya hits her with a bodypress. Back in the ring, Maya gets a seated dropkick for two. To the top, where Shida tries a stretch muffler on the top and then goes to work on the leg and bites her in the corner. Shida with a backbreaker for two. Maya takes her down with a headscissors,but Shida cradles for two. Shida with a missile dropkick as Maya sells the knee, and that gets two. Maya with a cradle for two and she goes up with a pump splash for two. Shida takes her down with a half crab, but Maya makes the ropes, so Shida goes up with a meteora for two. They trade cradles for two as the match shows a bit of life, but they clothesline each other for a double down to slow it down again. Maya with a Shining Wizard from both sides, and then she pulls down the kneepad and hits a third one, but Shida bails to the floor to escape. Well that’s Maya’s fault for not covering sooner. Shida grabs her kendo stick, but the ref stops her and Maya hits a dive. Back in the ring, Maya misses a moonsault and Shida cradles for two. Katana kick gets two for Shida, and she gives us SHOCKED TWO COUNT FACE. Maya rolls her up for two, but Shida gets a tombstone for two and puts her in the TBS Lock. Maya looks like she’s going to tap, but Shida breaks the hold and hits a knee strike to deliver more punishment. Falcon Arrow gets two. But then she charges and Maya catches her in the bridging blockbuster and pins her out of nowhere to win the title at 16:49. That was one of those WWE finishes where the heel just hits finisher after finisher and then the babyface gets a fluke win. Whatever magic the Mone match had wasn’t duplicated here, as this was kind of a drag and felt like a TV match. Is Maya the AEW version of Tom Magee? *1/2. Also what was even the point of putting the title on Shida? They should have just had Maya win it and cashed in on her momentum.

AEW World tag team title: Cope & Christian v. Pac & Claudio Castagnoli

The Death Riders attack Cope before the bell and lay out Cage in the aisle, and then go to work on Cope in the corner. Claudio with an armbar and he switches to a sleeper, but Cope reverses to his own before Claudio drops him with a suplex. Cope escapes the Neutralizer and they collide for a double down to set up a hot tag for Christian. Christian with a tornado DDT for two and he chokes Pac out on the ropes before backdropping him onto Claudio on the floor. Back in with a diving headbutt on Pac for two. Death Riders trap him in the corner, however, and Claudio beats him down to take over. Pac with a flying elbow for two. Pac drops an elbow and slugs away on him. Claudio with a backbreaker into Pac’s double stomp gets two. Claudio with a Sharpshooter on a Canadian here in Montreal, which of course draws big boos, and he releases it to dropkick Cope off the apron so that Pac can whip him into the railing. Claudio adds a nice running forearm to put Cope into the crowd. Back in the ring, Pac with a shooting star press, but it hits Christian’s knees and that gets two. Claudio with the Giant Swing into the dropkick from Pac, but that only gets two. Christian manages to hit a Killswitch for two and it’s hot tag Cope, and he runs wild and clubs on the Death Riders with backfists and a double clothesline. He powerbombs Pac into Claudio and hits Pac with the Impaler for two. Pac rolls him up for two but he uses the ropes and gets caught, and Cope hits him with the Edge-O-Matic but there’s no partner to tag. So he fires up alone, but misses the spear, and the Death Riders hit a form of stuff piledriver for two. Cope takes Pac down with the crossface, but Claudio makes the save and the Riders hit the corner elbows until Cope comes out of the corner with a spear on Pac and pins him at 18:40 to retain. Another foregone conclusion as C&C continue to be really limited and spend most of the match selling. It was good overall but not like at the level of the Bucks matches or anything. ***1/4

Afterwards, this brings out the Bucks, and we learn that in fact they will face each other for the titles on my 25^th birthday at All In. I’m assuming that’s going to end up being a multi team ladder match by the time we get there.

Street Fight: The Painmaker v. Tommaso Ciampa

Impressively, they license Judas Priest for this one, although it’s “Painkiller” and not “Painmaker”. This one should have blood, I’m assuming. They duel with a chair and baseball bat to start, but Jericho gets the codebreaker for one and produces a bag of sand to toss in Ciampa’s eyes. They brawl on the floor and Ciampa produces a table, but Jericho sprays him with a fire extinguisher. Ciampa is presumably blinded by that, so Jericho hits him in the head with the extinguisher and brings him back in the ring for a beating with the chair. Taz clarifies that the edge of the chair “hurts like the dickens”, which is fitting for the PAINMAKER. They fight on the apron and Ciampa puts him through the table with the Fairy Tale Ending, and back in for two. Ciampa runs him into the chair in the corner while Excalibur relates how a kid behind him is yelling at them to light the table on fire, and the announcers are concerned about the parenting going on there. Ciampa finds a hockey stick and chokes him out with that for a face pop, and then produces a Bruins jersey to turn himself super duper heel before beating up a stuffed Canadiens mascot and pinning it. Jericho puts the trash can on Ciampa and uses the stick on him. And then we get the bag of thumbtacked hockey pucks, as Jericho suplexes him onto those. Next up, he finds a sandpaper block and that finally busts Ciampa open, allowing him to steal the Bruins jersey and toss it in the garbage. No arguments here. They’ve been dead to me since 2011. Back on the floor, Jericho sets up a barbed wire table, but Ciampa beats him down with the trash can and uses a hockey puck to bust him open. Running knee strike gets two. Next up, Ciampa finds a thumbtack elbow pad, but Jericho takes him down with the Walls, but Ciampa grabs the bat and uses that to escape. They fight on the apron and Jericho takes him through the barbed wire table with a death valley driver off the apron. Back in the ring, that gets two. Jericho takes him to the top and finds a mirror at ringside that gets set up on a pair of chairs. But Ciampa goes low and takes him off the top with Project Ciampa, thru the mirror darkly, for two. So Ciampa retrieves his BRUSHLESS DRILL OF DEATH to perhaps do some light murder on PPV, but Jericho unleashes green mist and the Judas Effect for two. So then Jericho finds a barbed wire mirrior as this just gets way too silly to take seriously, and then he loads up the thumbtack elbowpad and hits the Judas Effect for two. And then he threatens to put Ciampa’s eye out with the drill, so Ciampa gives up at 22:00. This was all over the place in tone, starting out with Looney Tunes shtick and then turning into a Sickos brawl and then getting over the top ridiculous again with barbed wire mirrors and power drills and it just too long and too much at times. That being said, it had huge heat and got over big, and I’ll take what I can get tonight from this shitty crowd. ****

Meanwhile, Mick Foley meets up with the Divine Dominion and that sets up the Brawling Birds at All In while Mick barks like a dog. Well that didn’t work.

AEW National title: Mark Davis v. Andrade el Idolo

This feels way too high on the card, although I’m glad to see Dunkzilla getting a big PPV payoff. Andrade hits the elbow right away for two and takes Davis down with a headscissors, but Davis slams him into a senton for two. Davis beats on him with chops in the corner, but Andrade grabs a hanging armbar from the apron and follows with a diving crossbody for one. To the floor for the selfie with a MILF (Montrealer I’d Like to Fotograph) but Davis suplexes him onto the apron and takes over in the ring. Davis with an elbow in the corner for two and he goes to a chinlock and then goes to work on the knee in the corner. They trade chops while Tony discusses Mark’s large posterior, and Davis goes to an abdominal stretch, but misses a senton. They’re slapping meat and Davis wins that battle, but Andrade kips up and hits the Three Amigos for two. Double knees in the corner gets two. Andrade tries the DM and Davis reverses to a slam for two. Davis with the lariat and he pops him up into the piledriver for two. Davis tries the sleeper on the apron and Andrade necks him to escape that, but Davis clotheslines him back into the ring. But then he tries a piledriver on the apron and Andrade reverses him into the post and goes up with a moonsault to the floor. Back in with the double moonsault for two. And it’s time for PANTS OFF (Tazz: “He’s gotta get ones with the Velcro gimmicks”) and now he’s got “HOW YOU KNOW” on his ass so you know it’s over. Davis tries another piledriver and Andrade counters with a rana for two, and the DM finishes at 15:00 to win the National title and start his road to the big belt. Good meat match with another obvious finish on the evening. ***1/2

Meanwhile, Speedball talks about living a dream tonight, and calls his shot for Grand Slam Mexico on August 5.

AEW Women’s World title: Thekla v. Willow Nightingale

Look, we all know how this story is going, but Thekla is super hot right now and deserves to keep the belt for a while longer. Willow with the spinbuster off the bell for two and a pounce puts her on the floor. They fight out there and Willow smacks her right on the boobie and suplexes her on the floor, but she misses the cannonball and goes into the stairs. Back in the ring, Thekla rips at Willow’s bandaged ear and chokes her out on the ropes to take over. Thekla with a pair of superkicks and she goes back to the bloody ear. Taz: “Some of those Long Island girls are tough…I’ll tell ya”. Willow fights back with a lariat and a corner splash, and she follows with a missile dropkick for two. Thekla goes up and misses a flying nothing, but spins Willow into the standing submission instead until Willow escapes with a backbreaker. They fight to the top and Thekla gets the spider suplex, but Willow pulls her out of the Tree of Woe and they throw down until Willow puts her down with a lariat. Thekla goes after the leg and bridges into the deathlock, but Willow makes the ropes. They head to the apron and Thekla DDTs her out there and follows with a diving crossbody to the floor. Back in the ring, Thekla tries the spear and Willow counters with a sunset flip for two. Death valley driver gets two. Thekla escapes the powerbomb and rolls her up for two with the ropes, but the ref catches her, and Willow hits the spinebuster and goes up for a moonsault that misses. Thekla with the spear, but Willow just catches her and powerbombs her for two, with Skye Blue making the save. So Willow takes care of her outside, but Thekla hits her with the spear after the distraction. But then Willow hits the BACKSLIDE OF DOOM and wins her first World title at 16:10. Won’t be a long reign but it’s good she finally got it. Wasn’t a great match, but it was good enough. ***1/4

AEW World title: Kenny Omega v. Kevin Knight

I wish they done something like a title v. title stip just to give this any kind of gravitas. Knight lays him out with the belt before the bell and undoes his wrist tape, but Kenny fights back with chops until Knight dropkicks him. Kenny takes him to the floor with a rana, but Knight cuts off the Terminator Dive with a knee to the gut and hits his own dive instead. They fight out and Kevin smashes him into the table a few times while talking trash, but Kenny fights back, so Kevin springboards off the announce table with a clothesline. Back in the ring, Knight runs him into the corner for two, but he misses a splash and Kenny misses a senton. So Knight hits the splash on a second try for two. Knight chokes him out on the ropes and Kenny necks him to break free, so Knight rakes the eyes and snaps off a rana in the corner. That gets two. Knight goes to work on the knee, but Kenny rolls into an anklelock and Knight makes the ropes. Knight with a clothesline for two as the crowd chants “Speedball’s better”. That is demonstrably untrue. Kenny with You Can’t Escape, but he takes too long and hits the knees on the moonsault, then regroups with the poison rana. V-Trigger and Snapdragon suplex put Kevin on the apron and they fight to the floor, where Kenny takes him to the table for another snapdragon suplex. Back in the ring, Kenny puts Knight in his place and blasts him with a knee strike, and then picks him up and hits another one. That is a rather aggressive attitude from babyface Omega. Knight reverses a powerbomb into a DDT, so Kenny throws forearms and demands that Kevin FIGHT BACK. So Kevin does, and Kenny demands more and slugs away on him. Knight puts him down with the short powerbomb and then springboards into a clothesline on the apron. But he tries a dive and Kenny kicks him on the way down, kicking his leg out of his leg, and back in for a piledriver that gets two. They fight to the top and Kenny hits him with vicious Mongolian chops to the neck, but Knight won’t go down, so Kenny powerbombs him off the top and follows with the V-Trigger for two. To the top, Knight hangs Kenny in the Tree of Woe to set up the coast to coast. So Knight grabs both belts and Kenny evades the TNT title, but Knight hits him with the uranage on the belt for two. Knight goes up for the UFO but misses, and Kenny tries the One Winged Angel, but Knight flips out of it. But then Kenny hits another knee strike and the One Winged Angel to finish at 25:00. A good main event but it felt weird, with Kenny taking all the offense and almost bullying him at times. ****

And afterwards, the Death Riders hit the ring and beat Omega down, as Moxley had indeed promised to take the shot earlier in the show. So they set up Kenny for a Pillmanizing, but Will Ospreay calls them off and then chases them off with the chair, setting up a showdown with a pissed off Moxley, who takes the chair away from Will and then produces a plastic bag again. We do not need this again. Mox demands that Will use the bag on Kenny, but that’s finally too much for him and he turns on the Death Riders to end their association. Seemed like it was a bit early to run that big angle, but Moxley is clearly the guy to challenge after Will wins that title. And then just as everything calms down, Kenny suddenly turns on Ospreay and leaves him laying to end the show, which I guess goes with his heel edge during the match and makes Will an more clear babyface going into the All In show.

So this was a bit of a challenging one to rate, as it was clearly average or below average for an AEW PPV, but the bar is set so insanely high for this company that anything below “Most incredible show of the year” is considered a failure. I’d say it’s worth watching on streaming like HBO Max or whatever, but it’s not really something I’d go out of your way to spend the $50 on right away. It’s basically a throwaway show with a bad crowd that still managed to produce multiple **** matches. So take from that whatever you’d like.