All Elite Wrestling returns to pay-per-view tonight (Apr. 12) with Dynasty 2026. The show comes our way from Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
The event begins at 7 pm ET with the Zero Hour pre-show on YouTube. That leads right into the PPV main card at 8 pm ET. Fans in the USA can purchase it from PPV.com, HBO Max, Amazon, DAZN, and YouTube, or their cable or satellite provider. The show is also available on MYAEW for fans in Canada, the UK, and international markets.
It looks like AEW’s old guys plan to dominate the roster in 2026
AEW President
Tony Khan has booked 12 total matches (of course) across the pre-show and main card of Dynasty. Two of these matches stand out to me for featuring the in-ring returns of pro wrestling legends who are 50+ years old.
After more than one full year out of the ring, 55-year-old Chris Jericho is back tonight in a singles match against super worker Ricochet. After Jericho’s last run in AEW was marred by go away heat, a terrible gimmick, and constant chants of “Please retire,” he has been very careful about putting himself in the best position to be cheered as a babyface since returning on Dynamite less than two weeks ago.
Not only have all of his appearances come in Canada so far, but Chris is up against one of the most hated heels on the roster. Jericho also brought back his very popular List of Jericho gimmick to set up this match. On top of that, it looks like Jericho is in great shape. That’s all well and good, but how well can Chris go in the ring and keep up with Ricochet after being out of the ring for so long? If Jericho wants to sustain goodwill with the AEW audience, he probably needs to be able to still deliver at a high level in the ring, which can be very hard to do at his age.
The other returning legends at Dynasty are 52-year-old Adam Copeland and 52-year old Christian Cage. They looked very good in the ring the last time they wrestled in September when they beat FTR. Cope and Cage are challenging for the AEW world tag team titles against FTR tonight. Not only do the babyfaces want to take away the thing that matters most to Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler, but they also keep talking about ending their careers at Dynasty. Copeland may have to bring back Spike late in the match to live up to that threat of violence and suffering.
Copeland has said over and over again that he only has a small window left in pro wrestling. With that in mind, the plan here may very well be for E+C to get one final run as tag team champions, setting them up for a big 2026 being paired up against other top teams like the Young Bucks.
Can AEW’s legendary old men still get the job done and beat the elite talent they are fighting in their in-ring returns tonight? Tune in to AEW Dynasty to find out.
The rest of the card
These remaining 10 matches and segments are also currently advertised for tonight at Dynasty:
MJF (c) vs. Kenny Omega for the AEW world championship
It’s The Devil vs. The God of Pro Wrestling for the top prize in AEW. MJF says Kenny’s intestines may explode at any moment due to his diverticulitis. The AEW doctor says Max is overstating things, and Omega is in the best shape of his career. That sort of reminds me of what happens every single year in MLB Spring Training where the older veteran coming off a down year declares that he is in the best shape of his life, only to inevitably succumb to injury or age-related decline shortly into the season.
The 42-year-old Omega isn’t in the same age range as Jericho and Copeland & Cage, but the clock ticking down on his career is a significant part of this story, so I think you can argue it’s another example of an AEW old guy trying to reclaim his former glory at Dynasty en route to dominating 2026.
Jon Moxley (c) vs. Will Ospreay for the AEW Continental championship
Ospreay somehow returned from neck surgery in just six months, and now he’s out for revenge on Moxley for trying to end his career last September. Mox says it isn’t personal for him, and he doesn’t have any sympathy for a man who faces the consequences of his stupid decisions, which is what happened when Ospreay entered that cage match last year with a fucked up neck.
The numbers game of the Death Riders have overwhelmed Will at times over the last few weeks, so he brought in the United Empire to fight back on this week’s Dynamite. But now it’s Mox vs. Ospreay under Continental title rules, which means everyone is banned from ringside and it’s a 20-minute time limit. Is that really enough time for these guys to settle this issue once and for all?
Thekla (c) vs. Jamie Hayter for the AEW women’s world championship
Thekla needed someone to defend her belt against with just a few weeks to build to the PPV match and Toni Storm mysteriously out of the picture. Jamie Hayter happens to be a former AEW women’s world champion, so the Brawling Birds joined up with Mina Shirakawa to beat the piss out of the Triangle of Madness. Even so, Hayter is a major underdog at Dynasty.
Casino Gauntlet match for the vacant TNT championship
Kyle Fletcher is injured and out for months, so now his vacated belt is up for grabs in Tony Khan’s favorite gimmick match. There are staggered entries like a Royal Rumble, except the match ends as soon as someone scores a fall. That’s why it’s better to be an early entrant in the match (in theory, although in practice I’m not sure that one of these has ever ended in the first 10 minutes).
All we really know is that Tommaso Ciampa and RUSH are the first two entrants, and it’s always exciting to see which surprise names may pop up as the clock keeps ticking. If AEW wants more old guys to dominate 2026, then perhaps the recently returned 49-year-old Bobby Lashley will show up here to destroy the field. It doesn’t seem like Swerve Strickland is interested in winning this belt, but he is a top star who isn’t booked at Dynasty, so I wouldn’t completely rule him out of this one.
The Dogs (c) vs. Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong & MYSTERY PARTNER for the AEW world trios titles
David Finlay, Clark Connors, and Gabe Kidd just won the belts on last night’s Collision, but I think there is a pretty good chance they will immediately drop the gold to The Conglomeration, especially if the MYSTERY MAN ends up being Pat McAfee local hero Kyle O’Reilly.
Darby Allin vs. Andrade El Idolo
Darby says there is absolutely nothing that can stop his pursuit of MJF and the AEW world championship. MJF worked out a business deal with Don Callis to thwart Darby’s goal, so now Andrade is here to put an end to Darby’s dream. The only problem is that Andrade also wants to win MJF’s world title, and he isn’t happy about wasting time on this assignment.
Young Bucks vs. Konosuke Takeshita & AEW International Champion Kazuchika Okada
It sounds like this was originally supposed to be Bucks vs. ProtOkada, but plans changed when Kyle Fletcher got injured. Now Okada and Takeshita have to try to work together again to beat the best competition in the business, just like Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen did on the 1990’s Chicago Bulls. Don promised Takeshita that he’ll get his rematch against Okada if things go smoothly here. However, The Alpha would be wise to never trust Don Callis’ word, or to expect Okada to play nice.
Divine Dominion (c) vs. Hyan & Maya World for the AEW women’s world tag team titles (pre-show)
As far as I’m aware, Hyan & Maya World have never ever won a match on AEW programming. That’s why the tag champs had to be nice enough to grant them this title match. I guess Megan Bayne and Lena Kross are pretty smart when it comes to padding their record with an obvious win against jobbers.
“Jungle” Jack Perry vs. Mark Davis for the AEW National championship (pre-show)
Perry better be careful about getting into an extended feud with the Don Callis Family, because the line of thugs to fight through is at least 200 men deep, and he’ll eventually trip up against one of them (but probably not this time on a pre-show).
Alex Windsor vs. Marina Shafir (pre-show)
This is essentially an offshoot of the Moxley vs. Ospreay feud, considering that Windsor is Ospreay’s soon-to-be-wife and Shafir has saved Moxley’s ass so many times. Maybe the Death Riders will go 50/50 at Dynasty, with babyface Ospreay going over later in the night if Marina wins here, or vice versa.
What will you be looking for at Dynasty?
