AEW promised to give us the brackets for their annual Owen Hart Foundation Tournaments on the May 13 episode of Dynamite. They delivered, starting with a men’s bracket that includes two big matches for Double or Nothing on May 24 in Queens, New York.
- Will Ospreay vs. Samoa Joe
- Bandido vs. Swerve Strickland
AEW’s been building to both for a few weeks. Samoa Joe has been demanding Will Ospreay ditch Death Riders and Sensei Jon Moxley to join The Opps and study under him. When it became clear Ospreay wouldn’t after his training from Mox led to a victory over
Ace Austin, The Opps tried to soften Bruv up before The Owen, but the Riders arrived to make sure Katsuyori Shibata and Anthony Bowens didn’t get to him.
The Joe/Ospreay winner will face either Mark Davis or Jack Perry in the semi-finals. That National title feud will continue in round one.
Strickland and Bandido have been stalking each other via video package since Dynasty, at least. When Swerve’s not being conspired against, that is. They’re on the other side of the bracket, and the winner of their match faces either Claudio Castagnoli or Brody King. That beefy battle is the last first rounder in the 2026 Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament.
Overall — and despite a tough first draw in Joe — it’s hard to not see Ospreay emerging from the left-side before winning the whole thing to get a main event World title shot in his home country at All In London. There’s lots of good choices to emerge from the right-side as his opponent in the Owen Cup final, though.
The Women’s Owen Cup bracket has almost as many names from outside AEW as inside it, fitting considering the final is at the cross-promotional Forbidden Door PPV. The one at Double or Nothing, however, will be two Wednesday and Saturday regulars: TBS champ Willow Nightingale vs. Alex Windsor.
They’re on the right, along with CMLL Women’s champ Persephone — who was just pulled from Friday’s Ring of Honor PPV due to injury. She’ll be taking on Stardom’s Hazuki.
On the left-side of the Women’s bracket, Mina Shirakawa takes on ROH Forever champ Athena. The winner will face with Skye Blue or Sareee, who’s succeeded all over Japan since leaving WWE NXT in 2023.
No word yet on when the non-PPV first round matches will happen, but the finals are at AEW’s June 28 Forbidden Door PPV in Arizona.
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