All-In 2026

The 5Star is finished, and I got more stars than that to hand out after All-In 2026

5STAR Grand Prix 2026 Final Match

The 5Star this year was very good, but not a lot of matches stood out to me to write about. Instead it was just more a consistent spread of great matches, with great semi finals. The finals delivered

Rina vs Starlight Kid

5Star Finals

Rina needed this more than Kid. Kid is already over. Kid has a win over Suzu and an assuredly a title match. Rina, meanwhile, has been in purgatory, a chick in an half broken egg, struggling to be born. More than grown enough, more than ready, but lacking the space to do so.

And here, on her biggest stage, she is paired with an opponent who has gone through and survived what she'll have to survive. An opponent perfect for her. Rina has had great matches against bigger wrestlers, but it's like wearing your parents clothing. You can play the part of the underdog in an epic match, but unless the opponent appropriate, it's still playing a part. Kind is still her senior, but the space between them is just right.

Given that setup, they do exactly what you must in something like the 5star. You deliver the super athletic, hard hitting main event the fans are craving.

Perfectly booked.

AEW All-In 2026

No match on the felt TRANSCENDENT like on some previous AEW shows, but this show ruled in it's just... incredible consistency, great crowd, and top tier production. I'm usually not a fan of the AEW presentation. My highest praise of it is "It's not WWE", which is the lowest of the low when it comes to things I watch with my eyeballs.

The video packages were also incredible. Short, punchy, and charming. Nothing took too long. I was watching this on a VOD so I could have skipped ahead, but never felt the need to, as nothing between matches overstayed its welcome. While no match felt transcendent, this show might. It felt like something was clicking.

There are some good matches I'm not going to talk about. Like Takaeshita/Fletcher/Okada is probably 4 or 4 1/2 but I don't feel strongly enough about it to say anything. Other matches probably cross that bar too, but whatever

Jon Moxely vs Nigel McGuinness

Continental Challenge Cup Final Match

A story, told through multiple shows, leading to a finish that was sad and beautiful. Not a super flashy match, but the right story, with the right wrestler, in the right venue. They really managed to sell the damage to Nigel's ankle, and sending him back on commentary in a wheel chair was such a great touch.

I'm almost surprised this is the one that stuck out for me from the undercard.

Kevin Knight vs Darby Allin

Falls Count Anywhere

As long as it isn't designed to piss you off, like some old WCW/WWE style shenanigans, I love big crazy nonsense matches. I love stupid dives. I love how Darby hates living. That dive off the scaffolding felt like it had a second more air time than I'm comfortable with. The fact he got up and did ANOTHER DIVE? All in the same match where he destroyed his penis on 6 chairs? I can't NOT be pleased.

Willow Nightingale vs Mercedes Mone

AEW Women's World Title

The coolest thing anyone can do is bleed, it's like smoking but healthy for you.

Just absolute asskicking. Mercedes bumped and died, and bumped so more. Willow pulled out whole range of offense she usually doesn't pull from, all so Mercedes had novel new ways to die.

Willow when she's 'on' is incredible and Mercedes is always the perfect ragdoll.

... Is this as good as Rina vs Kid? Probably not, but I guess this the problem with having a short scale I only use half of. But they also deserve it. In the context they have to work, this is the peak of their art form.

Kenny Omega vs Will Ospreay

AEW Men's World Title

Great match, obvious capstone. Probably my second favorite of the Ospreay/Omega matches. Worlds better for me than their first AEW outing (which was great, but embodied a lot of what I don't know about western wrestling).

This match didn't really have a style like their first two. It was a blend of everything. They could do this same match in Japan and, ignoring the hometown hero role, it could have worked the same. It was like a pure distillation of both their life experiences into a match that represented them more then the current company they were working for. Even AEW's production, which tonight was them at their peak, kinda blurred the vibes.

That Tiger Driver '91 had me screaming. The way Kenny sold his arm was harrowing. Like obviously he was working, but he seemed so distressed about it, that my empathy and fear just shot up. Incredible juice.

Still kinda a style mark for Japanese wrestling, so I prefer their first encounter, but this one is still pretty close.