Can’t Knock The Hustle: AEW Redemption 2026 Review

AEW continues their road to All In(nit) by holding the very first Redemption pay-per-view.

This is the last AEW pay-per-view before All In(nit), coming five weeks before the big event at Wembley Stadium.

Redemption comes to us from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It’s a really fresh market for the company, as this is the first pay-per-view they’ve held in Montreal, and I believe it’s only the second overall event they’ve done in the city, after an episode of Dynamite in late-2023.

Halfway through the pre-show, WrestleTix reported that there were 390 tickets still available to purchase, on a night where the setup will accommodate a total of 7,472 fans.

There are ten matches on the card, with six titles being on the line, as well as a Ladder Match to crown a new #1 Contender for the AEW International Title, a No Holds Barred match, and a Double Chain tag match.

I’m ready for the show, so it’s time to rock and roll.

 

Jack Perry vs The Beast Mortos vs Komander vs El Clon vs Nick Wayne vs “Speedball” Mike Bailey – Six-Way Ladder Match to name the new #1 Contender for the AEW International Title

The introductions for the match get underway while there’s seven something minutes remaining on the pre-show.

I don’t know if this is a sign of things to come, but the crowd was super quiet during the introductions of almost everyone in the match. They came to life for the introduction of Speedball, who is from Laval, Quebec, Canada, which is only a short drive northwest of Montreal. It wasn’t an earth-shattering reaction or anything, but infinitely louder than what Mortos, Komander, El Clon, and Nick Wayne received. As the final entrant, Jack Perry got a decent reaction, but we’re still nowhere near the usual level of crowd noise that we hear from AEW crowds on pay-per-view.

Some weird moments to start the match. There was an awkwardly timed spot between Mortos and El Clon that saw Clon stand there and hold a ladder for several seconds, waiting for Mortos to finally do something. Then, there was Mortos looking like a complete moron after he cleared the ring, had a ladder on the mat, clapped his hands to get the crowd amped up for a big spot, then he seemingly remembered the point of a Ladder Match, because he grabbed the ladder to set it up, but the other competitors had already returned to the ring by that point.

Hey, pro wrestlers… if you can’t perform a spot quickly and properly, maybe you shouldn’t perform the spot at all. With a ladder on the stage, Speedball goes to s-l-o-w-l-y climb it, with the other men in the match just standing at the bottom of the ladder while they wait for him. He finally gets to the top of the ladder, then has to stand there for several more seconds, first to steady himself, and then to play to the crowd. Meanwhile, the other competitors are still just standing there, looking like complete fucking dipshits.

Perry pulls some tables out from underneath the ring, and it gets a minor pop from the crowd. It’s always funny in matches like Ladder Matches or Hell In A Cell type bouts, when crowds pop for tables, which should, technically, be a “lesser” weapon than what is already available. Live crowds are well-trained, that’s for sure.

Ladder Matches aren’t exactly known for their subtlety and their ring psychology, but this one has been especially egregious. There will be a time when a bunch of tables are set up at ringside. Then Wrestler A will put Wrestler B on one of the tables, while Wrestler C places Wrestler D on another table, and Wrester E places Wrestler F on yet another table. Now we get Wrestler A jumping from the top of a ladder or the top rope with a move to put Wrestler B through the table… followed by Wrestler C being a super nice guy and waiting for that spot to finish and for the crowd to pop before he jumps from a different ladder to put Wrestler D through the table… and then Wrestler E having the patience of a saint, because he waited for two big spots and two crowd pops before he jumps from a different ladder to put Wrestler F through a table.

To the surprise of nobody, Speedball is able to climb a ladder in the ring and retrieve the contract. He is the new #1 Contender for the AEW International Title, currently held by Kyle Fletcher, although Fletcher is defending the title against Bandido later in the show.

There were a decent handful of big spots here, but overall, this was a poorly put together match. Too many instances of wrestlers looking like idiots and carefully choreographed spots just for the sake of doing them. It’s the same complaint that a lot of people have for AEW… too many matches look like overly rehearsed dance routines instead of wrestling matches, fights, or anything along those lines. I’ll go 3 Stars for this one.

 

The Young Bucks vs Jon Moxley & Will Ospreay

This is the only match on the card that doesn’t feature a title on the line or some sort of stipulation or gimmick attached to it. I highly doubt that will affect the quality of the match, but it’s still interesting to point out that it’s the only such match on a ten-match card (11, counting the pre-show match for the AEW Trios Titles).

Ospreay and Nick Jackson bumped heads on accident, and both men stagger around. Nick slowly walks over to his brother, who basically tags himself in while Nick stands next the apron and recovers. Seconds later, Matt goes to tag his brother back in, but Nick isn’t on the apron anymore, as he’s wandering around at ringside. Matt goes to his brother and helps him sit on the ground in front of the barricade. They’re really selling that Nick is dealing with some sort of head injury… meanwhile, there isn’t a doctor or an official in sight that is tending to Nick. He’s just chilling at ringside. Now, as I type this sentence, Excalibur and Nigel McGuinness are talking about how something is “clearly wrong” with Nick, who has made it back to the ring apron. You know… where he would be if he was legitimately concussed.

Mox and Ospreay are taking advantage of the odds, working Matt over. Matt finally goes to tag his brother in, but Mox pulls Nick off the apron and then drops him with a piledriver on the floor. Is Nick dealing with a real injury coming into the show? It’s a bold choice to have this end up being a Handicap Match.

Oh, hey, Nick is right back in the match, making the entire thing pointless.

A “this is awesome” chant breaks out. While the action has definitely been better than the opening match, I think that’s a bit much, especially at what is probably a relatively early point in the match.

We get a “normal” Bucks match for a few minutes, but now, Nick is selling a head injury again. He goes to take a step, but collapses to the mat. Instead of the match being stopped, or at least paused while people tend to an injured wrestler, nothing is happening. Instead, Rick Knox simply stands there as Ospreay hits Nick in the dome on multiple occasions. Nick is selling that he’s completely unconscious on the apron. This is so fucking stupid. Does AEW know that we’re aware of brain injuries in 2026 and what happens when athletes deal with those brain injuries?

Mox grabs a steel chair and goes to finish Nick off, but Ospreay interrupts him and grabs the chair. Matt superkicks the chair into Will’s face, and now, Matt is up like nothing happened. This is getting dumber by the second. They’re able to put Mox away to pick up the win, and the crowd is excited.

I don’t even know how to rate it. The action in the match was really entertaining, but the story being told was equally as dumb, if not worse. It’s four of the biggest and best on the roster… just have a fucking match. It’s not difficult. 3 Stars, because I’m not going to overlook how dumb things got, even with the fun action while it lasted.

 

Kyle Fletcher vs Bandido – AEW International Title Match

I don’t even remember the last AEW pay-per-view that began with back-to-back 3 Star matches from me.

LOL @ Fletcher going to perform a move on Bandido at ringside, only for Referee Paul Turner to yell out “DON’T DO IT!” which was followed by a single fan in the crowd yelling “DO IT!” Fletcher puts his arms out, shrugs, and then powerbombed Bandido on the ring apron.

It took four years for AEW to run a show in Montreal, and then another two-and-a-half years for them to return. Based on the crowd reactions so far… especially in a city that is legendary in pro wrestling for the noise they make… perhaps the company should wait a while before coming back again. To be fair, they’ve picked things up a bit for this one, giving Fletcher the biggest heel heat of anyone on the show so far, and getting behind Bandido a bit, but even now, they sound like the crowd at a random episode of Dynamite instead of a pay-per-view.

GOOD LORD ALMIGHTY. With Fletcher flat on his back on the floor after being powerbombed, Bandido heads to the top rope and connects with a Frog Splash, landing with a LOUD thud. There was no margin for error there.

Not that the bar was super high, but this match is better than the previous two by leaps and bounds. Of course, this brings out a comment from Tony Schiavone that he has never seen a pay-per-view start with three better matches than what we’re getting tonight. Folks, Tony Schiavone is the dirt worst. He hasn’t had a good call in, what, 30 years? His entire AEW tenure has been almost nothing but him yelling about how good this match is, how hot this woman is, how much of an asshole that heel is, with nothing else. No sizzle, no steak… just a plate full of parsley.

So far, this has been one of those matches that would fit right in as a World Title pay-per-view main event. There’s a “big fight” feel to it, and that is only growing as the match continues on.

Of course I jinxed it. After I finished typing that, Fletcher goes to hit Bandido with a Sheer Drop Brainbuster from the top, but it appeared that Bandido missed almost everything on the way down. It got the pin for the champion, though. Great stuff from both men, even though Tony Khan continues to refuse to give Bandido his much-deserved singles push in AEW. 4.25 Stars

 

“Switchblade” Jay White & Juice Robinson vs David Finlay & Clark Connors – Double Chain Tag Match

I haven’t been a fan of this feud at all, and I’m hoping this puts an end to it, so that everyone involved can move on. With that said, I’m expecting a lot of brutality here, so… hooray?

In case you’re wondering, the chains in the match are of the mighty thin variety. Hercules Hernandez is turning in his grave.

Speaking of people that are dead… this crowd doesn’t care about what is happening right now.

These super long chains have already been wreaking havoc in the match. There has been a couple spots where the chains have gotten tangled up, and wrestlers will have to untangle them before going through with the next spot. I guess you always run that risk in matches like this.

We almost saw some REAL havoc caused by the chain. Finlay goes to hit Switchblade with something, but it seemed like he got his feet caught up in the chain, maybe causing him to not propel Switchblade properly. This caused White to nearly land directly on his head, but he was able to get his forearms out at the last second to take the brunt of the bump.

Wheeler Yuta and Daniel Garcia are out to attack Switchblade and Juice, but they’re interrupted by The Gunns and Ace Austin. As everyone brawls in the aisle, Marina Shafir shows up and sneaks the shillelagh to Finlay. Why are being so sneaky about it? There are no disqualifications in this match. Just hand the damn thing to him. Shit, use it yourself.

A shillelagh shot to Juice’s head takes him down, and it’s enough to give Finlay the win for his team.

The match was… okay. Nothing too offensive, but definitely something that would’ve been better served taking place on television instead of pay-per-view. I’ll give it 3 Stars, and we’ll move on.

 

Hikaru Shida vs Maya World – AEW TBS Title Match

Will the meteoric rise of Maya World continue with her becoming a champion tonight?

Maya stops in front of a fan with a “Happy Birthday, Maya” sign and poses with the sign. Today is, indeed, her 24th birthday.

The crowd is still relatively quiet for this one.

Because it has been a major point of conversation recently, allow me to address the discourse about the weight that Hikaru Shida has put on. She’s not a slob or anything, but it’s pretty clear that she weighs more now than she did at other points in her wrestling career. Okay… so? I haven’t seen it affect her in-ring work, and it also hasn’t done anything to change the odds of me (or any of you) dating her… so what’s the point in all the complaining? She’s still one of the best women on the AEW roster, and she’s still a beautiful woman. I see no problem. In fact, I think the added weight works in her favor as a newly-turned heel. Her not being a petite woman plays to her advantage, allowing her to be more physical.

Maya has been taking an ass whooping in this one.

The ass whooping that I just mentioned proved to be the undoing of Hikaru Shida. Shida was beating the hell out of Maya, and she got cocky, thinking that she got a pin, but Maya grabbed the bottom rope to break it up. Shida argued with the ref, and that allowed Maya to attack, scoring a bridging pin to get the win, and we have a brand new AEW TBS Champion. On one hand, it’s so cool to see Maya reach this level, but on the other hand, Shida won the title 25 days ago, and probably deserved to have a longer reign.

I’ll go with 3 Stars there. The story was good, but there were too many slow stretches that brought things to a halt. It just never got out of first gear at most points.

 

Adam Copeland & Christian Cage vs Claudio Castagnoli & Pac – AEW Tag Team Title Match

Before the match begins, the champions are attacked by the Death Riders, and both Copeland and Cage are battered. The match finally begins, but Cage is still on the ramp, several feet away from the ring. Oh, hey, another “handicap match” on the show.

After multiple minutes, Christian has finally made his way to the ring, and he gets an immediate hot tag, and has miraculously forgotten about whatever knee injury he was selling that prevented him from joining the match earlier. I expect better from a veteran like Christian.

“I kinda wanna see that, to be honest!” – Taz, on commentary, discussing the possibility of two Canadian legends losing the Tag Team Titles in Canada. Well, that’s just not nice. Relax, Donald Trump.

Claudio locks Christian in a Sharpshooter… in Montreal… and the fans are not happy. That’s a nice touch from Claudio.

Claudio and Pac haven’t let up at all since that pre-match attack, but the champions are starting to bounce back a bit.

Well, yeah… they definitely bounced back. After being dominated for most of the match, Copeland and Cage were able to sneak out the victory to retain. After the match, while Copeland and Cage are celebrating in the ring, they’re interrupted by The Young Bucks. As the Bucks get to the ring, a graphic appears on the big screen to reveal that Copeland and Cage will defend the Tag Team Titles against the Bucks at All In(nit). No FTR return, and no debut for Kofi and Austin Creed. There’s still time for it to happen, giving us the heavily rumored four-way match.

Claudio and Pac being so dominant added to the quality of this one. They’re so good at what they do. It still wasn’t a great match, but I’m still going to give it 3.25 Stars.

 

Chris Jericho vs Tommaso Ciampa – No Holds Barred Match

Folks, there are no words to truly describe just how ridiculous the nearly 56-year-old Jericho looks as this “Painmaker” character.

Jericho pulls out a black bag. Thumbtacks? Legos? Nope. Sand. Not even the extra dangerous Dale Gribble pocket sand, either. Just your regular sand, and he tosses a bit of it in Ciampa’s eyes. Then, Jericho pulls a fire extinguisher out and uses it in Ciampa’s face. Sand and a fire extinguisher? What is this, a WWE “hardcore” match?

Oh, hey, Ciampa grabs a trash can and a hockey stick. This IS a WWE “hardcore” match.

Funny moment on commentary, with Excalibur indirectly mentioning the quiet crowd. He says that it’s rare you get to hear individual fans in the crowd at AEW shows, but he says there’s a kid sitting behind him that is yelling for Ciampa to light a table on fire.

Ciampa puts on a hockey sweater for the Boston Bruins, then gets a stuffed animal mascot of the Montreal Canadians and hits the mascot with the hockey stick. He goes to “pin” the stuffed animal, but he gets a trash can shot to the back of the head. This is making WWE matches look like Samoa Joe vs Necro Butcher.

Oh, I think Jericho sensed my issues. He gets another black bag, and empties its contents on the mat. The bag was full of… hockey pucks that have thumbtacks glued to them. A moment later, Ciampa is driven onto the pucks, and he ends up a bloody mess. To add injury to injury, Jericho takes out some sandpaper, and he rubs it against the bloody bald head of Ciampa.

Now we’re getting a table covered in barbed wire. At least they’ve finally remembered what company they work for.

Ciampa pulls out a third black bag, revealing an elbow pad that is covered in thumbtacks. These aren’t very practical weapons.

Whenever the stuffed animal is shown in the shot, the crowd chants for Youppi, the name of said mascot. They’re more interested in the hockey-related things than anything else happening in the match.

Jericho sets two chairs up in the ring, facing each other. He brings a mirror into the ring, using it as a bridge to connect the two chairs. He goes to perform something on Ciampa from the top rope, but Ciampa hits him with a low blow and then sends Jericho crashing through the mirror, sending shards of broken glass everywhere.

Remember what I said about the weapons in this match? Now we have a second mirror, this time wrapped in barbed wire. What?

LOLOLOLOLOL @ the finish of the match. Ciampa brings out the power drill that he brought out on television recently, but Jericho gets a hold of it, and he turns the drill on. He puts the drill bit to Ciampa’s forehead, and Ciampa is selling it like he’s being legitimately tortured, but the camera shot of it is blocked by Jericho’s arm, so we don’t see anything. Then, the bell rings, and Jericho is declared the winner. It wasn’t revealed that Ciampa quit or tapped out, nor is it said that Aubrey Edwards called for the finish. That entire finish was botched in almost every way.

Overall, the match was entertaining, even if it didn’t end up being a classic. Too many stupid weapons that don’t make any sense, and then that finish that ended up being ruined. This has been such a weird night for AEW. 3.5 Stars

 

Mark Davis vs Andrade El Idolo – AEW National Title Match

This could be a lot of fun. Not only is it a really fun clash of styles with what they like to do in the ring, but both men are on a big-time hot streak right now.

That clash of styles is on fully display early on. Davis wants to slow things down and grind Andrade into dust, but Andrade is looking to pick up the pace. It’s pretty back-and-forth so far.

I’ve said this in some of my previous columns, but I’m so happy for Mark Davis. Once he got injured and saw Kyle Fletcher go on to become a major singles star for AEW, to go with his fellow United Empire stablemate Will Ospreay becoming a solo star, it really looked like he could’ve been left for dead with nothing to do. He was able to bounce back and show that he, too, can be a big-time player as a solo act in AEW.

Unfortunately for him, he won’t be a big-time player as a solo act as the National Champion for any longer. Andrade with the pin and the win in what was a pretty fun match, becoming the brand new champion, giving him his first title as a member of the AEW roster. It certainly approached “great” territory, ultimately falling just shy of that mark, but that’s perfectly fine. 3.75 Stars

 

Thekla vs Willow Nightingale – AEW Women’s World Title Match

Interestingly enough, it seems like there’s a bit of a split reaction for these two women. Willow is definitely the crowd favorite, but there is a very noticeable portion of the crowd that was cheering for Thekla’s entrance, and have continued cheering and chanting for her in the early stages of the match.

Commentary has picked up on the split crowd reaction. Excalibur brings it up, and Schiavone credits it to Thekla’s wild personality winning some of the fans over.

This has been a nice physical contest so far. Willow is using her size and strength advantage, but Thekla’s background in Japan means she isn’t afraid of the heavy strikes and submission attempts.

I haven’t mentioned it yet, but it has been so quiet for most of the show that you can hear the Spanish commentary team doing their job in the background of the English commentary team’s headsets.

After a really fun match, Willow with the roll-up to get the pin and the win to become the brand new AEW Women’s Champion. Nothing against Willow, but I feel that Thekla has been doing such a good job that she deserved to be the champion heading to Wembley next month, but I can’t complain too much with Willow winning here. 3.5 Stars

 

Kenny Omega vs Kevin Knight – AEW World Title Match

Main event time.

If you need a sign that there are too many titles in WWE and AEW, look no further than the fact that there have been seemingly a dozen different wrestlers who called themselves “Insert-Name-Here Two Belts” at some point because they were a double champion or were looking to become a double champion. Earlier in the show, Thekla was “Thekla Two Belts” because she was the AEW Women’s Champion to go with being one-third of the Artist Of Stardom Champions for the Stardom promotion. Then, in the very next match, we get Kevin Knight saying he’s looking to become “Jet Two Belts” by winning the AEW World Title to go with his AEW TNT Title.

Tony Schiavone, proving he can’t even do the simple things correctly, says that Knight is looking to become “Kevin Knight Two Belts” here. Jesus, Tony, you’re the whitest guy in the building, and you’re in fucking MONTREAL.

“Fuck you, Kevin” chants break out, giving Mr. Knight the biggest heel reaction of anyone on the show. You know you’re doing a good job as a heel when you can make Canadians say that to you.

“You still suck” chants are now aimed at Knight when he continues to stay on offense. Taz, deciding to be Common Sense Jones over here, points out that the fans say he still sucks, but those same fans were cheering like crazy for him not that long ago.

Yeah, it’s worth repeating, but the story so far has been Knight’s heel heat. I don’t think anyone is expecting him to win this match… if AEW goes with Knight vs Ospreay at Wembley instead of Omega vs Ospreay or even MJF vs Ospreay, then Tony Khan should be drawn and quartered on live television… but the crowd is really treating him like a big deal. The match itself has been pretty decent so far. Jet has been in control almost exclusively, but instead of his balls-to-the-wall style, he’s slowing things down and playing to the crowd more, so there hasn’t been a ton of action just yet. There’s still plenty of time for that to change.

“Speedball’s Better” chants are now being heard. Montreal really, really doesn’t like Kevin Knight.

Omega with a Snapdragon Suplex on the apron, and that sends Knight staggering to the announce table. Then Omega delivers another Snapdragon, this time on the announce table. Ouch.

As the match goes on, the story has shifted to Omega almost taunting Knight, demanding that Knight fight back, fight more, and fight harder. He wants the best that Kevin Knight has to offer, and Jet is trying his best to deliver just that. The more Kenny dishes out, the more Jet returns fire. I dig it.

We got the expected outcome… Omega retaining… but the journey to that outcome was a blast. I’m going 4.25 Stars here. As I said, Kenny wanted Jet to keep fighting, and that’s what he did. In the end, it wasn’t quite enough to become the top guy in the company, but his future remains incredibly bright.

After the match, the Death Riders hit the ring and attack Omega. The Young Bucks run out to try and save Omega, but they fall victims to the numbers game. At ringside, Jon Moxley and Marina Shafir are calling the shots. Claudio wraps a steel chair around Omega’s neck, but before he can put Omega on the shelf, Will Ospreay runs out to make the save. Wheeler Yuta gives Ospreay a hug, then gives the nod to Claudio to finish the attack, but Ospreay intercepts it. Ospreay goes after the group with the chair, but then Moxley gets in the ring and is able to convince Ospreay to hand him the chair. Will gives him the chair, and Mox throws the chair out of the ring. Mox then pulls out a plastic bag, similar to the one he used on Bryan Danielson in the past. Moxley wants Ospreay to put the bag over Omega’s face, but Ospreay refuses. Ospreay decks Mox, and then takes the rest of the group out.

After the Death Riders leave, Ospreay hands Omega his title, and the two men shake hands. We were about to go off the air with both Omega and Ospreay celebrating in the ring together, but Omega sneaks up behind Will and drops him with a One Winged Angel. He picks up the discarded plastic bag and holds it up over a fallen Ospreay as he trash talks him. The crowd is really booing Omega now. On commentary, Taz assumes that Omega was upset because Ospreay even had the thought of using the plastic bag cross his mind.

We finally go off the air at the 4:54 minute mark of the show, with Omega and the Bucks celebrating on stage while Ospreay looks on in the ring with an “okay, now it’s on” face.

 

What a weird show. It wasn’t anywhere near the level that you might expect from AEW on pay-per-view, but there were still a couple of great matches.

What AEW doesn’t need to do, though, is have a B or even C-tier pay-per-view hit the five-hour mark on a Sunday night. Yeah, yeah, yeah… more for your money and all that jazz… but you can deliver $50 ($40 on HBO Max) worth in three or even four hours. If you absolutely NEED to go five hours, there are going to be a lot of fans that would much rather you do it on a Saturday night, especially when it isn’t a holiday weekend.

Either way, thank you for reading. I’ll be back in about 12 or so hours with my usual weekly column. Be good to each other.