Dave Simon and Johnny North were ringside for AEW Redemption 2026 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, and the live experience changed the entire conversation. A lot of fans who watched the pay-per-view on TV called it boring — but seeing it in person, top to bottom, this was an 8-out-of-10 show that flew by across nearly six hours, from a 6 p.m. pre-show to a finish around 11:45. That gap between the TV reaction and the live reaction is the story of this card, and it says something bigger about why AEW’s pay-per-views hit differently than its weekly television.
🎯 Key Takeaways
- AEW Redemption 2026 was a live-experience 8/10: The energy, the crowd, and the pacing all hit differently in the building than they apparently did on TV for some fans watching at home.
- Kenny Omega beat Kevin Knight to retain the AEW Championship in a hard-hitting main event that, while entertaining, didn’t feel like the emotional peak of the night.
- The Young Bucks beat the Death Riders, and Mike Bailey’s six-way ladder match win brought the entire building to its feet.
- Jacques Rougeau’s family tribute got booed at the Bell Center — the same building where Rougeau beat Hulk Hogan nearly 30 years ago — reopening old wounds tied to his history with Kevin Owens.
- Chris Jericho, Edge and Christian all delivered in a show that leaned hard on nearly three decades of Montreal wrestling history.
AEW Redemption 2026 Was a Reminder Why Live Beats TV
Plenty of people watching AEW Redemption at home came away thinking the show dragged and didn’t build to much. Having been in the building, that read doesn’t match what actually happened on-site. This was an 8 out of 10 — genuinely terrific top to bottom, with the one real knock being a lack of major surprises or title changes that felt truly consequential. What it lacked in shock value, it made up for with pure in-ring quality across nearly six hours that never felt like six hours.
That’s the case for going to an AEW pay-per-view live if one comes to your city. AEW’s weekly Dynamite tapings are fine television. Their pay-per-views are a different animal — they go the extra mile in the ring in a way that simply reads better live than it does through a TV screen. The crowd energy carries matches that might feel like a slow burn on a broadcast, and AEW Redemption 2026 was the clearest proof of that gap yet.
REDEMPTION PPV ENDS WITH KENNY OMEGA GIVING WILL OSPREAY A ONE WINGED ANGEL OUT OF NOWHERE!!!
— Drainmaker (@TheDrainmaker) July 27, 2026
Just because they're friends… doesn't mean Kenny will take him lightly.
pic.twitter.com/t9MSx3Abnm
Kenny Omega’s Title Defense Over Kevin Knight Delivered — Even If the Crowd Wanted More
Kenny Omega closed the show by retaining the AEW World Championship over Kevin Knight in a hard-hitting, athletic main event where Knight was never realistically in danger of winning. That’s not a knock on the effort — it’s just the reality of where each man sits on the card right now. The bigger question hanging over the match was whether it actually felt like the emotional peak of the night, and for a chunk of the crowd, the answer was no. Several of the matches earlier on the card generated more heat than the main event did.
What salvaged it was simply getting to watch Kenny Omega — the Best Bout Machine himself — defend the AEW Championship live, in a 20-plus minute main event. How many more of these are we actually going to get? Nobody knows. That uncertainty made every minute of it worth savoring, main event pacing questions aside.
The post-match angle added a real wrinkle: the Death Riders came out to attack Kenny and attempted to bag him, only for Will Ospreay to make the save. Then, in a genuinely dastardly move, Kenny turned around and hit Ospreay with the One-Winged Angel — a reminder to his own ally that this is still Kenny Omega’s show. The crowd popped for the betrayal instead of turning on him, which tells you everything about where his stock sits with the AEW fan base right now.
🤔 Did You Know?
The Young Bucks beating the Death Riders on the same card set up the post-match dynamics that let Will Ospreay make the save for Kenny Omega — before Kenny turned right around and hit him with the One-Winged Angel anyway.
Mike Bailey’s Ladder Match Moment and an Undercard That Overperformed
The best moment of the entire night, live, was Mike Bailey winning the six-way ladder match. When Speedball started climbing, the entire Bell Center stood up — the kind of organic, spontaneous reaction that no amount of production value can manufacture. It’s the sort of moment that only really registers when you’re in the room for it.
The rest of the card backed it up. The Young Bucks over the Death Riders was a great match, with Will Ospreay doing what Will Ospreay does. Kyle Fletcher and Bandido had a terrific — if slightly overlong — encounter. Andrade beat Mark Davis to become the new AEW National Champion, and Willow Nightingale beat Thekla to become the new AEW World Champion, with the crowd firmly behind Willow’s moment. And then there was Chris Jericho versus Tommaso Ciampa, a match built around chaos and stunt violence — thumbtacks, barbed wire, a trip through glass — that split the room on execution. One specific beat, where Ciampa pinned referee Aubrey Edwards for a mock three-count mid-match, drew genuine groans from fans who felt it undercut the momentum right before the finish. It was still one of the most talked-about matches of the weekend either way.
Jacques Rougeau’s Tribute Got Booed — And the Bad Blood With Kevin Owens Isn’t Going Anywhere
AEW paid tribute to Jacques Rougeau and his family during the show, in the very building where Rougeau pinned Hulk Hogan clean at a WCW house show nearly 30 years ago — a genuine “I was there” piece of Montreal wrestling lore. Instead of a clean ovation, the tribute drew real boos, and that reaction has almost nothing to do with in-ring history and everything to do with decades of friction between Rougeau and Kevin Owens, whose fan base has not forgiven old grievances.
That’s a rare thing to see: a wrestling legend get a family tribute and get booed for it. Whatever the merits on either side of that dispute — and there are strong opinions in both directions across the Quebec wrestling scene — it’s a reminder that Montreal audiences carry long memories into these buildings, and AEW walked directly into one of them without necessarily realizing the scale of what they were stepping on.
This is how they clean the ring after the Jericho’s-Ciampa match #AEWRedemption pic.twitter.com/ZjkbqsMQL2
— Dave Simon (@davesimonmma) July 27, 2026
Chris Jericho, Edge and Christian Prove Montreal Never Lets Go
The through-line of the entire night was history. Chris Jericho has been entertaining Montreal at the Bell Center for close to 30 years, dating back to 1997 as Lionheart, and the ovation he received wrestling Tommaso Ciampa proved the city still hasn’t let go — even when WWE once deliberately booked a heel promo running down Montreal before a Jericho appearance to try to get him booed, the crowd saw through it and cheered anyway.
Poor Youppi …
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) July 27, 2026
Watch #AEWRedemption LIVE on HBO Max PPV pic.twitter.com/3st24YfEob
Edge and Christian getting to work the Bell Center again, alongside Jericho, closed the loop on nearly three decades of history in that building for both performers. It’s fair to wonder whether this was the last time Montreal sees that pairing live. Whatever comes next for AEW’s Canadian dates, AEW Redemption 2026 leaned into that nostalgia in exactly the right way, and it paid off with the crowd from the opening bell.
📜 Historical Context
Chris Jericho’s history at the Bell Center goes back to 1997, when he wrestled there as Lionheart. Nearly 30 years later, wrestling Tommaso Ciampa at AEW Redemption 2026 in that same building, he still got a hero’s ovation — even after WWE once tried to get him booed there on purpose.
Reality Check: TV Ratings Don’t Tell the Whole AEW Story
The Reality: A lot of the online reaction to AEW Redemption treated it as a disappointing, forgettable show. That doesn’t match what actually happened in the building. The wrestling was terrific from top to bottom, Mike Bailey’s ladder match moment was one of the best live reactions of the year, and Kenny Omega headlining a pay-per-view is worth appreciating while it’s still happening. The knock on this show isn’t quality — it’s that nothing on the card felt like a true “whoa” moment, no major title change, no gut-punch swerve. That’s a fair note. But calling this a bad show because the pacing read differently on a screen than it did live is missing what AEW pay-per-views are actually built to deliver. If an AEW pay-per-view comes to your city, go. It’s worth it.
For our full breakdown of what’s coming at WWE’s own flagship event this weekend, read our WWE SummerSlam 2026 predictions. We also covered AEW’s recent business decisions in our piece on how our full AEW Redemption 2026 card preview, and revisited last year’s AEW Redemption’s pre-show ticket-sales struggles for more on how these two promotions keep drawing comparisons. For official results and match details, see AEW’s official site.
AEW Redemption 2026: Frequently Asked Questions
What happened in the AEW Redemption 2026 main event?
Kenny Omega defeated Kevin Knight to retain the AEW World Championship in a hard-hitting, 20-plus minute main event. After the match, the Death Riders attacked Omega before Will Ospreay made the save, only for Omega to turn on Ospreay with a One-Winged Angel.
Who won the six-way ladder match at AEW Redemption?
Mike Bailey (Speedball) won the six-way ladder match, drawing one of the loudest live reactions of the entire show as the Bell Center crowd stood up when he began climbing.
Why did fans boo the Jacques Rougeau tribute at AEW Redemption?
The tribute drew boos largely due to long-standing bitterness between Jacques Rougeau and Kevin Owens dating back roughly two decades, with a portion of Owens’ fan base still holding negative views of Rougeau.
Was AEW Redemption 2026 a good show?
Live in the building, AEW Redemption rated as an 8 out of 10 — strong, consistent wrestling across nearly six hours. The show drew more mixed reactions from fans watching on TV, largely due to a lack of major title changes or shocking swerves.
Did Andrade and Willow Nightingale win titles at AEW Redemption?
Yes. Andrade defeated Mark Davis to become the new AEW National Champion, and Willow Nightingale defeated Thekla to become the new AEW World Champion.
