There’s been a line thrown around All Elite Wrestling since Will Ospreay started with the promotion full time in 2024 – restore the feeling.
It was a line associated with a rough time in AEW’s short existence. The young promotion struggled through a parade of backstage problems spilling out into the public eye, most notably Punk’s final year in AEW, along with a clear dip in the overall creative quality, something AEW President Tony Khan blamed on him booking shows “by committee” and trying to please everyone.
Since then, AEW took very obvious steps in course-correcting both the on-screen produce and behind the scenes. Creative has become more focused, AEW appears to be more discerning with who gets signed, and anyone considered difficult to work with or toxic to the backstage environment was slowly filtered out. It was a long process, but one that was necessary after a tough stretch for the company needing to not only “restore the feeling,” but restore its identity.
Early AEW, for all its imperfections, was an exciting time for wrestling fans because for the first time in almost 20 years, WWE had legitimate competition on national TV. It was a promotion founded on the idea of being a fan-friendly promotion that delivered exciting matchups and potentially build bridges with other promotions down the road.
That fan-minded identity never truly disappeared, but the company’s growth along with bringing in a flurry of big name free agents and fresh WWE releases, Khan, by his own admission, made the mistake of trying to please everyone. It is something the AEW President cites as a key reason for AEW’s creative shortcomings across 2022 and 2023. He was also keen to take shots at WWE as often as he could, something that was seen as fun and cool at first but came across later as pointless and petty.
Cut to the day after the Dynamite after All In 2026, and the AEW fans are enjoying right now is night and day from that period of time in AEW’s history. The 2026 AEW roster is arguably the greatest roster ever assembled, all reports indicate the backstage environment is extremely positive, and Khan has spoken about refocusing creative, trusting his own instincts rather than trying to please everyone.
It hasn’t just “restored a feeling,” it restored a promotion’s identity.
The excitement around AEW coming out of its biggest show of 2026 is akin to the excitement coming out of All Out 2021. This was the show seen as the definitive “AEW has arrived” show with the AEW pay-per-view debut of CM Punk, who debuted weeks earlier, the debuts of Ruby Soho, Adam Cole, and Bryan Danielson, and effectively cementing the relationship with New Japan Pro-Wrestling between Jon Moxley’s match with Satoshi Kojima and an appearance by Minoru Suzuki.
This was a company that worked hard to get back to this state, and All In 2026 was the culmination of that work.
However fans felt about the creative build to All In, one thing everyone seemed to recognize was that this show felt like AEW truly turning the page into a new era. It was a show built around a literal passing of the torch from Kenny Omega to Will Ospreay with the AEW Men’s World Championship, with Omega being even more on the nose with his My Hero Academia-inspired entrance.
Coming out of All In 2026, Ospreay is the new AEW Men’s World Champion and it already feels like there is plenty of exciting things to come for the promotion under AEW’s new Ace. Mercedes Mone has made more history with her AEW Women’s World Championship win and is poised for a much anticipated feud with Thekla. The tag and trios divisions look poised to enjoy an exciting all-star period in the wake of The New Level’s debut. And Britt Baker’s alliance with Persephone injects even more intrigue into a women’s division that is night and day in quality from 2021.
Up and down the card, there is plenty fans are excited to see in a way that harks back to that first peak period. One example came on the post-All In Dynamite from Allen, Texas, where a simple graphic for Will Ospreay vs. Jon Moxley at All Out got one of the biggest reactions of the night despite being weeks away and in Chicago, Illinois. That reflects just how genuinely excited fans are for AEW at the moment and what is to come.
And that’s not to mention the 3-way ladder match announced for the AEW Men’s World Tag Team Championship between the champions Christian Cage and Adam Copeland against FTR and The Young Bucks. Mercedes Mone vs. Thekla appears to be the plan for All Out, as well, though it hasn’t been officially announced as of Sept. 3.
It is a company sure of what it is, where its going, and where it wants to go after that. It is a promotion confident in the product and talent put on screen who, in turn, are confident in everyone working behind the camera.
AEW knows what it is again, and fans should be excited for what is to come.
Minimum Wage Nerd 