What — didn’t expect to see me back so soon? There was never a chance I was going to sit out the buildup to the biggest show of 2026. Yes, we’re barely a week and a half into the year, but that only makes the moment more striking.
This Monday night, AEW presents a pay-per-view that’s already being talked about internally as the show of the season. I haven’t had a single off-the-record conversation with an executive, but you don’t need inside access to feel the momentum. The pieces are in place, the stakes are clear, and the energy around this card is impossible to ignore.
I’ll be back by the end of the weekend with a full Mop-Up of the competition. For now, though, the spotlight belongs entirely to AEW.
AEW World Heavyweight Championship
Will Ospreay (C) vs. Kenny Omega
Kenny Omega’s signing was announced before AEW even had its opening day. From the beginning of All Elite Wrestling, it was clear that BWM Inc. had major plans for the former IWGP Champion. It didn’t hurt that Omega was arguably one of the hottest free agents of 2022.
When Omega made his first appearance in the company, he immediately set his sights on AJ Styles, who was the AEW World Heavyweight Champion at the time. Unfortunately for Omega, Chris Jericho would steal his opportunity for a title shot, defeating him to become the number one contender thanks to the help of the Inner Circle.
Out of respect for Styles — and later Bryan Danielson, two men Omega knew well from the overseas wrestling scene — Omega put his championship aspirations aside and formed a tag team with another hot young prospect in Hangman Adam Page.
Page and Omega went on to win the World Tag Team Championships, holding the belts for 91 days. When they lost the titles, Hangman began a long downward spiral, and Omega tried — and ultimately failed — to pull him back from the darkness.
That’s what made what happened at Aftershock 2 this past August so shocking. After defeating Omega, Hangman moved on to a bitter rivalry with the Aerial Assassin, Will Ospreay. At Starrcade 2025, the newly drafted Young Bucks arrived to assist Hangman in his main event match with Ospreay.
Hangman would go on to briefly become champion at Dynamite 50, only for the Almighty Bobby Lashley to cash in the Gold Rush Ladder Match contract and take the title moments after Page had won it. It was also that night that Ospreay got his revenge for what had happened at Starrcade.
With the numbers now on Page’s side, Ospreay recruited help from his longtime friends Kenny Omega and Bryan Danielson, both of whom had their own history of issues with Page. In the Anarchy in the Arena match at Aftershock 2, Omega stunned the world when he betrayed Ospreay and Danielson to reunite with Page — going so far as to help Page set Danielson on fire!
From the moment Ospreay became champion at Sympathy for the Devil, Omega has had his eyes on the title. With Hangman Adam Page no longer in the picture, Omega has emerged as the de facto leader of the “True Elite,” and he believes capturing his first world championship will finally seal the deal.
Ospreay has always been driven by competition and has never shied away from a challenge. The Aerial Assassin admits that this is still the early stage of his championship reign, but he has promised to be a fighting champion. Ospreay heads into Monday night just two weeks removed from a brutal title defense against Switchblade Jay White, a match that left his ribs badly damaged. I’ve it on good authority that, as of today, Ospreay is still taping those ribs during training.
The two men have met dozens of times in Japan but have had only one prior encounter in AEW. At Dynamite #60 at the end of September, Ospreay defeated Omega in their epic Fall Brawl clash, thanks in part to an accidental distraction from Hangman. With Page now out of the picture, will history repeat itself this Monday — or will Kenny Omega finally capture his first World of Wrestling–recognized World Championship?
AEW World Tag Team Championship
The Young Bucks (C) vs. The Briscoes
When “Dem Boys” arrived in AEW last summer, they did so amid massive hype— and just as much controversy. In the wake of the JadeTrade Scandal, BWM Inc. felt slighted and used that grievance as justification to bypass World of Wrestling regulations regarding available talent. The Briscoes, despite hoping for a long-awaited mainstream television debut, were never added to World of Wrestling’s eligibility list, even though they were among the most popular tag teams on the independent circuit.
So when AEW came calling, Jay and Mark Briscoe didn’t hesitate. They signed on the dotted line, and a series of vignettes aired to hype their arrival. In those vignettes, the Briscoes spoke candidly about their belief that they are the best tag team in the world — and about the discrimination they had to overcome to reach the grand stage.
The reaction to the Briscoes was immediate and overwhelmingly positive. Suddenly, both ULW and WWE claimed interest in the duo, and my counterparts down south even named them Tag Team of the Year for 2025, despite the fact that they had competed in only a handful of matches.
That acclaim didn’t sit well with The Young Bucks, who have arguably enjoyed the biggest year of their careers. In a truly unprecedented move, BWM Inc. drafted Matt and Nick Jackson separately, with the second and third overall picks. After briefly helping Hangman Adam Page capture the World Championship, the Bucks went on to defeat the Harlem Turtles to win the AEW World Tag Team Championships.
The Briscoes, meanwhile, were denied a previous title opportunity during the Attraction’s reign. When Omega and the Bucks attempted a three-on-one assault on Will Ospreay, it was the Briscoes who stormed the ring to even the odds.
This Monday night, the question is simple: will the Briscoes finally live up to the hype, or will the Young Bucks put an exclamation point on the biggest run of their careers?
AEW Knockouts Championship
“Timeless” Toni Storm (C) vs. Becky Lynch vs. Jade Cargill
What more can be said about the work these three women have done this season that hasn’t already been said?
“Timeless” Toni Storm put together an incredible 2025, traveling a path that saw her retire Miss Athena Star in one of the bloodiest bouts in professional wrestling history, cementing Storm as the torchbearer of the modern Knockouts Division. She capped off the season last May by ending Liv Morgan’s 200-plus-day reign as champion.
When the new season began this past summer, Storm was immediately targeted by “The Man,” who had just jumped ship as part of the infamous trade scandal. Becky Lynch was sent to AEW as a centerpiece of the Jade deal — a trade originally intended to send both Lynch and Jade Cargill to BWM Inc. in exchange for AJ Styles and Matt Riddle. What followed was a series of heated confrontations, with both women showcasing their elite microphone skills as they built toward a collision.
Storm appeared almost giddy at the prospect of facing a challenger of Lynch’s caliber, and the two delivered a remarkable match at Aftershock 2. Storm ultimately retained the Knockouts Championship, but before Becky Lynch could even process the loss, the wrestling world was stunned by the arrival of Jade Cargill.
That moment set the stage for the epic encounter between Storm and Cargill at All Out. Unlike her confident showdown with Lynch, Storm entered the match against Jade with a thin veneer of bravado masking an uncertainty we hadn’t yet seen from the champion. Jade pushed Storm harder than any challenger before her, and although Storm appeared to be closing in on victory, Lynch resurfaced and laid out both women.
With tensions boiling over, a number one contender’s match was scheduled to headline AEW’s inaugural holiday special, Season’s Beatings. On that night, Becky Lynch and Jade Cargill battled to a hard-fought draw. The show ended with Timeless Toni Storm addressing the chaos, dismissing both women as supporting actors in her film, and agreeing to defend the Knockouts Championship in a triple threat match at Elite Warfare!
Since then, “The Man” has made things deeply personal by trashing Storm’s vintage soundstage. Jade Cargill, meanwhile, has remained singularly focused on the prize. All three women have proven they are capable of leading the Knockouts Division — but at Elite Warfare, only one will walk out with the championship.
Elite Warfare: 60 Men, 3 Rings, 1 Winner
Winner to earn a shot at the AEW World Heavyweight Championship
Remember after the 2025 Draft when some pundits claimed AEW had “too much” main event talent? If that sounded like coping, it’s probably because it was.
In just the second installment of the Elite Warfare match, we’ll see AEW’s top stars collide for the right to challenge the champion — with advanced notice — at any point between now and the end of the season. While many of the entrants are still being kept under wraps, here’s what’s known about Monday night’s main event.
The American Nightmare Cody Rhodes and the Megastar LA Knight will draw the first and second entry spots. Switchblade Jay White enters at number three, while MJF is slated for the halfway point at entry 30. By winning the Elite Warfare Invitational, Finn Bálor has earned the right to enter last at number 60. The Kingslayer Sean Olson, Sami Zayn, Bobby Lashley, Logan Paul, Bryan Danielson, Swerve Strickland, Mr. Brodie Lee, and the Guilty Remnant have all officially declared for the match. Several top prospects have signed up for the match in the past several days.
The rules are simple. One man enters every 30 seconds. After the first 20 entrants, the next 20 competitors will enter ring number two, followed by the final 20 participants in ring number three. As established last year, movement between rings is permitted — but entering the match in the wrong ring results in immediate disqualification. Once the field is narrowed down to the final ten competitors, AEW officials will direct them all to ring one, where the match resets, until only one man is left standing!
This match represents a massive opportunity — not just for a loaded field of established main-event stars, but also for competitors who haven’t yet had ample time to showcase their full potential on BWM Inc. television. With multiple surprise entrants rumored to be involved, Monday night shapes up as a true wildcard scenario — one where genuinely anyone can win!
World Of Wrestling: Murrey Universe 