AEW All Out 2026: Preview and Predictions
The Eighth edition of AEW’s All Out is upon us and I have one question…
What the hell is a Tornado Tailgate Brawl and how many Steveweisers are going to be wasted? In any case, while it’s annoying that my guy Jay White is in another likely overbooked pre-show match, the rest of the card has rounded out as we head into the 2026 iteration of All Out.
In total there are 11 matches announced with Will Ospreay defending his weeks-old championship reign against Continental Champion Jon Moxley in the main event, Adam Copeland and Christian Cage are defending the AEW tag team championships against FTR and the Young Bucks, Divine Dominion will be rematching the Brawling Birds in hopes of reclaiming the AEW women’s tag titles and Thekla and Willow Nightingale will battle for a chance to wrestle for the AEW women’s world title at WrestleDream against Mercedes Mone.
Well, before Tony Khan adds more weightiness to the Chicago card, let’s dive into things. Following All In we’re sitting at a fine, moderately respectable 76-29 for the year (76/105; 72%). So let’s break this down and hopefully do better than All In.
Pre-Show
8-Man Tornado Tailgate Brawl: Bang Bang Gang (Jay White, Ace Austin and the Gunns) vs. The Death Riders (Daniel Garcia and Wheeler Yuta) and The Dogs (David Finlay and Clark Connors)
I think to try and pick this apart and predict it would be madness and I’m not sure there’s an aim or goal here for the winner other than continuing to give the people involved something to do on the big shows. Either team can win here and it’ll be fine, but I’d like to see both sides do something more concrete beyond these chaotic multi-person tag matches. This just feels like they’re all in a holding pattern. I think without Claudio in the match that’s a knock against the Death Riders and Dogs’ chances. I’d also wager that because the Dogs won at Redemption that we’ll see some degree of restitution here with Switchblade and the boys getting a win back. Winner: Bang Bang Gang
Jack Perry vs. Katsuyori Shibata
My knee-jerk presumption is that Shibata takes this, but in looking at their recent matches in AEW, Shibata has split his 16 matches with an 8-8 record, while Perry has 19 matches in 2026 and has won 11 of his 19 matches. This coming match will be their second singles meeting, with Perry having previously beaten Shibata during a TNT championship defence at WrestleDream in 2024.
With little on the line this time around and with it not feeling like a real push for Shibata is imminent, I feel like Perry has more momentum to lose with a defeat than Shibata does. I’d like to see them do something with Shibata, but it feels like Perry is in the midst of a slow-burn push. Because of that I’m leaning toward another win for Perry over Shibata. I’d hardly be upset though if Shibata pulls it out; I think with so many titles around there’s something more concrete for him to do other than being Hook’s mercenary. Winner: Jack Perry
All Out Main Show
AEW Women’s Tag Team Championship – The Brawling Birds (c) vs. Divine Dominion
I’ll be honest here, I really thought Tony Khan was going to slide Megan Bayne and Lena Kross off to his personal timeout island for no clear reason, so good on him for booking the women’s tag division like a division with actual teams and not just patchwork teams of defenders thrown together to validate its existence. *breathes* Good on, ya bud!
In all seriousness I think Bayne and Kross are too good together right now to be simply cast off, but I also have to wonder what the endgame is here. I suspect another title change, because I think we can agree that Bayne and Kross still having time as a team is odd, and if so, we need to have a whole separate conversation about hometown wrestlers winning championships for “reasons.” I’m not sure what the longevity is for the Birds as a team, but I think it wouldn’t be the worst thing to flip the titles back to Bayne and Kross, and then do something similar to what the men did where all the key teams at the top of the card filled the ring to announce themselves.
I think we need more static, defined teams. It would be slightly different here, but Hyan and Thunder Rosa would be an example. As for this, I think if it’s clean the Birds win. If shenanigans ensue, the Divine Dominion regain the titles. I am leaning more to the latter though, so we shall see. Penelope Ford re-emergence? Winners: Brawling Birds
AEW Trios Championships – Swerve Strickland and the New Level (c) vs. Hangman Page and Brodido
I suspect we’re seeing this for similar reasons to the Divine Dominion getting a return match for their women’s tag titles. In both cases they lost their championships at All In last month. The only difference between them is that while Bayne and Kross losing was decisive, due to the nature of the match they were in Page and Brodido didn’t factor into the ending that allowed Austin Creed, Kofi and Swerve to leave Wembley with trios gold. While this has been a good renewal of hostilities between Page and Swerve, I feel like unless we’re not directly transitioning the New Level and Swerve to a feud with Omega and the Young Bucks from this point there’s no reason to call the feud here.
I think Swerve and New Level should win this and perhaps carry the feud into WrestleDream next month. The combination of Swerve and Page being at odds in any form is becoming a timeless feud, one they can just pick up when needed, and adding partners to the mix spices the dynamics up so it doesn’t just feel like Swerve and Page are the central pieces. I think the long term plan has got to be that Elite feud, which carries its own history both in and outside of AEW. Whether that means next month or Full Gear, I think that’s next and there are no shortage of alternate options for Page, Bandido and Brody King outside the trios titles. Winners: Swerve and the New Level
#1 Contender Match for AEW Womens’ Championship – Thekla vs. Willow Nightingale
With Mercedes Mone as the new champion and in need of a number contender, rather than simply defaulting back to another Mone-Willow match, Nightingale has to earn another chance at the women’s world champion. I would also wager the interactions between Thekla and Mone are very telling toward who the winner is going to be here. I just can’t see Nightingale coming out with the win here. In a match where the two contenders both have a valid claim to the title for a rematch, it only makes sense to position the fresher of the two matches front and centre for WrestleDream. At this point Mone and Nightingale has been run into the ground and we need to let that settle for a while, whereas Thekla’s presentation is a fresher set of circumstances for Mone and her new championship. Winner: Thekla
Darby Allin and Steven Borden vs. Don Callis Family (Kevin Knight and Kyle Fletcher)
It feels like yesterday that Borden was just arriving in AEW with almost no experience outside the training room. Now weeks later we find Allin and Borden in a number 1 contender match for the AEW tag team titles against another team that, although they are DCF teammates, has been thrown together. This is all happening as three of the best teams ever do battle in a triple threat ladder match for the tag team championships. So this is odd. I assume this match will go on before the titles are defended. First, I think we need to at least consider the off-the-wall possibility that Borden turns on Allin and joins Callis. Otherwise, long term we’re just doing a novelty rehash of Sting-Allin lite.
Regardless, I don’t think they’re being setup to win the titles. I think that would defeat the purpose of parading all of your best teams out at All In, only to have a singles wrestler and a very green Borden challenge for them and win. I think with time the possibility of a turn gets stronger, but I’m not fully sold on it happening at All Out. Another thing we need to consider is the result of the title match itself because Allin and Borden winning makes more or less sense depending on who comes out of All Out as champions.
Spoiler warning: I think the Bucks are winning the tag team titles, and if so, that meshes well with an Allin-Borden win since that is effectively Sting’s final match. It’s a pure callback.
If that all falls into place, I’d expect no turn and a Borden-Allin loss. As odd as this is, I think this makes the most sense with what we have in front of us. I think the Bucks, Borden and Allin win, and then the Bucks successfully defend on television before continuing on with the tag division’s gauntlet of killers. Winner: Darby Allin and Steven Borden
The Main Events
AEW Tag Team Championships – 3-Way Ladder Match – Adam Copeland & Christian Cage vs. FTR vs. the Young Bucks
This match is a convergence of all the stories surrounding the tag titles that have been told over the last year or so, and even beyond that if you consider the longstanding rivalry between FTR and the Bucks. I think that this has been the endgame for quite some time with these three duos rehashing Cope and Cage’s greatest hits on what we assume is their final run at the top. This triple threat ladder match is not unexpected, but even still, is the culmination of years of strife and resilience for Copeland and Cage.
Even if they do end up losing here, even though I’ve personally not been on board with every step of this run, in hindsight I can see why certain decisions were made because it all led us here. If this is it, or if we’re coming up on the end for Cope and Cage, then this is a good way to punctuate their careers together. Whether that means it concludes here as they violently try to cling to their glory or we begin writing the epilogue, I think they drop the straps here. And as I said in the Allin-Borden section, I think the Bucks take this. In this weird alternating, tit-for-tat thing Tony Khan does with the Young Bucks and FTR title reigns, they’re up. Winner: The Young Bucks
AEW TBS Championship Open Challenge – Persephone vs. TBA
There are a lot of rumours out there as to who this might be. Popularly Kairi’s name is getting thrown around, but allegedly as of Friday night she has not signed according to multiple reports, with Fightful stating it would be nearly legally impossible. That doesn’t mean it’s not happening, simply that you should not expect to see her. She is my preference, but the problem I have with that, even if the legalities are settled, is you’d need or want to put the belt on her, and you’ve literally just crowned Persephone as champion and made a big deal out of her.
I think Mara Sade is a possibility as she comes in from TNA. I’ve also seen Dani Luna’s name thrown about, but I’m less familiar with her. I think the chief consideration is whether or not Persephone loses, and after only a month I think that’s a no. If it is Kairi then I can argue it and justify it, otherwise the other person needs to make sense with respect to whether or not they can debut and look strong in defeat. I just think Kairi is a waste of a surprise in this scenario if Persephone absolutely is set to win at All Out. Winner: Persephone
AEW National Championship – Andrade El Idolo (c) vs. Pac
Andrade and Pac is going to be one of the better worked matches on the card, and it might also be one of the funnier ones given how opposite their character personalities are. Much like Okada and Ciampa this is one of the matches I’m looking forward to that should be ripe with good wrestling, good sequences, and very probably Pac sneering at Andrade during his selfies. “How I know?” Ehhhh, it’s a hunch.
I don’t think Andrade’s run ends here, but MJF is still lurking and I’d not be surprised if he returns to cost Andrade the championship. I think that is a lower chance here though, as I think it happens when he cashes in his world title shot, but I’d still look out for that. Overall I think you still have meat on the bone for what you can do with Andrade, so I don’t expect a change of the guard. Winner: Andrade El Idolo
AEW International Championship – Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Tommaso Ciampa
I wouldn’t expect anything particularly long here. This is a match truly born from the idea of wanting to prove your value against someone who is considered to be one of the greatest of the modern wrestling era. That is summed up in Ciampa’s “I gotta know” promos he’s given over the last few weeks, and I think in that regard, even if Ciampa loses his promos are setting him up for post-loss success.
Ciampa should not beat Okada if this remains clean, and in that purity of contest, I think Ciampa will push the pace and be aggressive against a version of Okada who’s become more comedic, more of a dick, but can turn on “The Rainmaker” quickly if pushed. I think that’s the interesting part of this matchup — it’s going to surprise you because their styles complement really well. This is one of my dark horse matches that I’m really looking forward to. Winner: Okada
AEW World Championship – Will Ospreay (c) vs. Jon Moxley
All Out 2026’s main event pits AEW champion Will Ospreay against Continental Champion Jon Moxley. This edition of All Out seems to have a prevailing theme where it feels like so many different storylines over the last 1-2 years are culminating on this one night. In the particular case of the main event participants this truly goes back to 2025 and has carried through since Ospreay’s return from neck surgery earlier this year.
The dynamic between these two has shifted in its definition depending on the situation. We’ve gone from a year ago where the Death Riders storyline injured Ospreay to allow him the time to get real life neck surgery, to upon his return loosely aligning himself with the people who injured him as a means to improve and rebuild himself into a greater, more varied threat than he ever was. Although he still takes to the air, at times Ospreay has appeared more like his straight “Assassin” persona he briefly adopted in NJPW when he shifted to the heavyweight division full time than his more well-known “Aerial” self.
The overarching purpose from Moxley’s perspective has always been to drag Ospreay through battles of attrition to test and enhance the integrity of his mettle mentally and physically. This match is just the culmination of that. It’s the final exam in my view. If getting to Wembley and winning the AEW title was the final project for the school year, All Out is the final exam where the only option is to ace it. Anything less than perfect is a failure.
This is really just an extension of Moxley’s overall purpose on AEW TV from the point he defeated Bryan Danielson for the AEW title nearly two years ago; the objective is to either make everyone better, or weed out the weak. That’s what is actually in front of us. For Ospreay to fly, he needs to pass the teacher’s tests, crush the final boss, or in Assassin’s Creed terms, if Ospreay is Ezio Auditore, he needs to kill Rodrigo Borgia decisively.
That’s the point of his “thank you” during the countdown show. It’s the point of him asking for this match.
Will Ospreay is winning this match not just because he should or needs to simply because he literally just won the AEW title. Rather he’s winning because he is rising to meet Moxley’s original challenge and I view this as the finale to this act of his story. For Ospreay to move on to matches with Swerve, Ricochet, Fletcher, MJF, Okada, or anyone else in the AEW main event scene, he needs to first defeat the man who is concurrently his guardian angel, mentor, and ruthless adversary.
This match is all in the name of competition, and I have to again point to the parallels between their promos about being the “Ace” of AEW. Even though they were performed a few years apart their verbiage was similar and the tone identical by design. Jon Moxley isn’t going anywhere, but what we’ve seen with Ospreay’s rise and with Omega passing the torch to him last month is going to be replicated here. I think Moxley will still lurk to keep him honest, but the responsibility for being the standard bearers of AEW will now rest on the shoulders of Ospreay, MJF and everyone around them. Winner: Will Ospreay
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