It's DoN Week! Darby's Exceptional Title Run! Willow's Heartbreaking Announcement! WHERE IS KENNY OMEGA?!

 

This was published on Tumblr on May 21st

What's up, my lucha fans! This is Francis aka francisthewitcher and I give you a big welcome to my new wrestling blog known as The Lucha Corner! Where I bring you mucho wrestling!

As you already know (or probably), I'm a huge wrestling fan and lately I've been thinking a lot about using a platform not only wherer I can share my views about the wrestling promotions that I follow, I'm also thinking about expressing my honest opinions about what's going on in the wrestling industry, my takes on the news we're learning every week, and what are my personal thoughts about what's coming next.

And this is why I decided to make this blog.

Of course, while I follow the best wrestling brands such as AEW, NJPW, CMLL and I look at the indies once in a while, I can't say I'm also a fan of certain brands everybody knows. But I rather focus more on the products that I love instead of what I hate.

So without further ado, let's get started with our first episode!

AEW Dynamite 5/20/2026

Okay, so let's talk about what we watched this past Wednesday at AEW's Dynamite 3-Hour Special Show.

The show opened with a trios match between members of the Don Callis Family, Andrade El Idolo and Mark Davis, and the leader of The Demand Ricochet, against The Young Bucks and Chris Jericho.

The match was much fun, and I also found the team of Andrade, Davis and Ricochet more like a dream tag team. And while it's clear that the age is now catching up to Jericho, he actually did a decent job along with the Young Bucks to put a really good match. Not to mention that we see he's in a better shape than he was a year ago.

Of course, the match ended with team Ricochet getting a win, but it didn't end when everyone started to brawl as Jack Perry came out to fend them off with a bag of onions (XD) and the Hurt Syndcate came out to hurt some people. No pun intended

A good angle to hype their upcoming Stadium Stampede match that will take place at Double or Nothing this Sunday.

BUT WHERE IS KENNY OMEGA?!

Yeah, that is the real question. I honestly expected Kenny would make a big return, but it's more likely they're saving it for the PPV and that's understandable. Even so, we've seen DCF feuding with The Elite over and over again that at some point we wonder when is gonna last.

At one hand, I know this makes more sense given that they have a long history, but it's true that the this feud needs to move on so the Young Bucks can aim the tag team titles and Kenny would focus back on the singles run.

I know it has more to do with the fact that his body is not the same anymore as years ago before the diverticulitis almost took his life. But I still believe Kenny will eventually get his last run as the AEW Champion before retiring.

I've seen people speculating that maybe Kenny was doing part-time dates because his body can't handle anymore, which could be true, but we have to remember that he had other stuff to do, like going to Japan to promote the new Street Fighter 6's Season 3 pack. So I believe there's more reasons than just health concerns, but only time will tell.

Anyway, let's move on to the next point!

Mark Briscoe vs Tommaso Ciampa in a NO DQ Match.

This match really delivered what they promised, a bloody match between two hardcore men spilling blood and breaking tables! And once again, Ciampa proved that just because he had a long-term run in the WWE, it didn't mean he didn't deserve a place to be in AEW.

I admit that the moment he debut, I didn't feel the hype, but now I wish I was and I learned that if anyone wants to test waters in another promotion, it's best to give them a chance before judging the book by its cover. So to speak.

Despite that Ciampa was defeated, he got a post-show segment wherer he makes a clear statement to the locker room that nothing changes the fact that he's the Psycho Killer. I'm really pleased to see him having a great run compared to his last time in the other brand. I also hope we'll see him winning more gold!

After that, we saw Swerve Strickand making a return on TV to make a statement, but Bandido attacks him and tried to get revenge after Strickland jump on him back in ROH's Supercard of Honor. Of course, it was a short segment to hype up their match at Double or Nothing and I'm so looking forward to it!

One thing I also want to speak up. It's about the silly debate I've seen on social media that and I quote "Tony Khan fumbled Bandido." Not only this was a very silly take, it's also that some people seemingly forgotten the fact that Bandido had a minor hand injury back in February and had Visa issues.

God, I really hate the VISAs

Because of that, we also couldn't see Beast Mortos and Komander lately and I think this affects too much to the luchadores making tours in the US. I don't know if it's because of the current administration that's running the government, or something about Visa's policies, but I can only hope that something would change for the better.

Moving on. Here comes the worst part of the show...

https://twitter.com/AEW/status/2057266062467498162

Willow Nightingale made a heartbreaking announcement that she suffered a shoulder injury in her last match. Therefore, she was forced to vanquish the TBS title and promised the fans that she will be back soon and better than ever.

Yeah, the announcement really broke me and I was almost this close to drop this show. Willow was basically my favorite women's wrestler and I was enjoying her run as the "Comeback Killer", but of course, there's always the time when an injury happens.

With Willow, Mercedes and Toni out of the picture, this is definitely a huge blow to the women's division that Tony Khan should adress the matter ASAP.

Not only that, the fanbase were also vocal about what's their issues with AEW's women's division, some of them are valid, others are just nitpicking. But it's more than clear that more talent in the division should be pushed so they can carry it. And with the TBS title now vacant, I think they should make a new tournament to feature more talent in the division. Maybe they should also bring some talent outside AEW!

Maybe it would be a good opportunity for Shida, who's going to turn Heel sooner than later, to take the spot and have a run as a heel TBS champion.

I have more points, but it will come later.

Kyle O'Reilley faced Moxley in an eliminator match for the Continental title. At first I had a complain of why they're doing the eliminator matches when it would be obvious that the challenger would lose anyways. But I got some good answers from other fans who explained that it's a way to give some talent an opportunity to showcase themselves to the crowd by putting them on something more than just a non-title match.

Not only this was a fair point, I was also reminded that this is a method to make a champion defend their title even if this is not an official title match. But I still think they could do another way and tone down the "Eliminator" matches, but that's just my opinion.

Anyways, about the match, honestly it was kinda underwhelming compared to their last match at Full Gear 2025, but I knew they were holding themselves back for their big match at the PPV. Hence why it ended in a draw and the match finishes with Kyle giving a brief but solid promo.

Still, after hearing Willow's announcement, I was getting a hard time getting into the show, but I knew I had to go through and watch it until the end.

Next, there was the 8-women tag team match between Triangle of Madness and ATHENA vs Thunder Rosa, The Brawling Birds and Mina Shirakawa!

I tell you, I missed watching Athena on AEW so much that I found her return so special! Although I wish they'd bring back her old theme cause I like it more than the new one.

Anyway, I also found the match really good, the women really stepped up to deliver a good old-fashioned women's wrestling, but Athena was the real MVP in this match! And of course, the bout ended with Julia Hart spitting black mist on Thunder Rosa, just like she did with Persephone a few weeks back.

Honestly, not sure if the black mist is necessary, and I don't like the idea that Thunder Rosa and perhaps Persephone too will become corrupted by it. But for now I'll hold my judgement until I see the payoff.

Also I'm happy Athena and Mina Shirakawa are taking the PPV spot, but the fact Willow had to be sidelined for her injury was still a heavy price...

Now, to say more about what the women's division really needs, I think this is now the good time Tony Khan should keep Athena on AEW TV more than ever. With other huge stars out of the picture, Athena could be the only one who can carry the burden until Mercedes and Willow comes back.

Not only that, I also think that they should bring other stars like Queen Aminata and Red Velvet. They have so much talent that they can contribute the AEW's women's division. Maybe that's what they're planning as we speak since Willow's injury was shocking for all of us fans.

Tell me what you think. You can leave your comments below this post.

Now on to the main event!

Once again, not only Darby gave us another solid defense, he already proved to be a huge champion material we never seen in the previous reigns! So this match against Mike Bailey was nothing different, and I'm still believe he's actually half-death to even survive all the punishment without getting injuries!

I mean, he got run over by a bus once and returned like nothing!

MJF of course came to crash the party in the commentary, but I loved this man more that his recent interview made me believe that he might get his title back this Sunday. But of course, we can't be so sure, and that's the beauty part of it.

Not only because anything could happen in that match, we also saw a short segment from Rush claiming that he will get the AEW World Title after the PPV. So whatever happens at Double or Nothing, we probably gonna see a new feud with Rush now that he's been pushed to the full moon (despite that most of his matches were only squashes of course)

After the match, the program already moved on to Collision, and opens with Kevin Knight delivering a promo to Darby and Mike Bailey, but I'm starting to think that Mike's heel turn is about to come sooner than we think. And I'm actually more curious to see him as a heel.

When the Jet Speed left the ring, MJF tried to jump on Darby and shave him, but Darby of course turned the tables and tried to do the same with MJF. I don't know guys, but I think Bald MJF is gonna bring a lotta eyes in this product LOL

Moving on. We got to see Will Ospreay vs Katsuroyi Shibata, really good match and I'm so glad to see Shibata back on TV again.

That's not all. While it's strange that we're not hearing from Hook again after his match with Kevin Knight, I think that Anthony Bowens being the new member of The Opps was the right move as he's noticeably comfortable with his new role.

On the other hand, the storyline of Will Ospreay with the Death Riders is raising a lot of questions to the fanbase, and it's more than just that. After what happened at All In 2025, we were led to believe that it was the start of the Death Rider's downfall and the eventual turn on Moxley. However, when Moxley became a Continental champion, it didn't happen, and since then it's been dragging on for months without seeing a possibility that the climax will ever happen. Plus it's not doing favors for the young talent like Wheeler Yuta and Daniel Garcia.

That's also another issue I noticed and heard from the fans. Tony Khan and AEW needs to stop stalling the storylines' development such as this one and Takeshita's face turn and DCF turning on him. Of course, we still don't know what is their end game plan, but hopefully we might see some real development at Double or Nothing.

Now, about Divine Dominion's Eliminator tag team match, at first I was going to skip it since it was just a squash match, but this morning came the announcement that the Divine Dominion will face Zayda Steel and Viva Van at DoN's Buy In.

This announcement took my by surprise, mostly because I originally thought it was gonna be TayJay. But I found a very smart idea. Since we watched Divine Dominion vs Maya World and Hyan at Dynasty, I was under the impression that they're now giving the women's tag team division some development.

It's also very good that they're pushing some talent who are showing hard work and dedication to the brand, especially Viva Van since she's been around much longer. But what's so interesting about it is that it makes us speculate about the possibility of an underdog tag team actually winning/surviving Divine Dominion's eliminator and get their title shots.

We might see more of this after Double or Nothing, but it would be also interesting if they bring some outside tag team talent from other brands to face Divine Dominion. In fact, they should bring Nightshade and Nyla Rose in AEW to be the next challengers!

Nightshade agreed with my idea by the way.

https://twitter.com/nightshadepw/status/2054440676734206426

https://x.com/nightshadepw/status/2054607644091183194

Now, before we wrap this up, the main event of Collision was the tag team title match between FTR and The Conglomeration

I have to be honest with you, I actually didn't feel anything in this match. The only good thing about it was Roderick Strong in the match. My biggest issue I have with this is that we're still hoping that The Young Bucks or The Dogs would be the next tag team champions.

I have nothing against Edge and Copeland and I understand they deserve their last run as tag team champions, but we thought their feud with FTR was ending after Dynasty. And while FTR are really well talented, their run as tag team champions have become so dull.

We can see their plan was to make Copeland and Edge face the next challengers at All In and they'll lose to their titles to the Young Bucks.

On the other hand... since we heard the shocking news that MCMG and New Day were released from WWE, there might be a chance that these tag teams will also be involved in the tag team title match at All In. Maybe in the ladder match.

Still though, the tag team division has been suffering a stall because of the constant FTR and C&C feud that didn't give a chance to other tag teams getting a chance to be the new champs. Hopefully by Double or Nothing, it will change.

CONCLUSION

The 3-Hour Special show was actually better than last week. Of course, it doesn't change the fact that a 3-hour show is never a good idea, but on the other hand, it's understandable they're making that because the strong competition they have with NBA and NHL. I just hope we'll get back to the usual 4-hour weekly shows after those seasons.

And while I understand some concerns about the main card for Double or Nothing, we've been over like this more than a few times. Fans freaked out about the Dynasty card, and yet, the PPV was so good in the end. So it's not gonna be different this Sunday.

Are you excited for Double Or Nothing? What are your expectations for Sunday? Is MJF gonna be bald? We'll soon find out!

And one more thing, let's all wish a very happy birthday to Kota Ibushi. As he turns 44 today!

Well, that should be all! Hasta aqui concluye por ahora! I hope you have enjoyed reading my first blog entry! This is my very first time I ever tried to do something like this, but this is really helping me to give all of my thoughts and opinions I've been meaning to tell.

Not sure where this could lead me, but I'm feeling very optimistic about it.

If you'd like to see me make more content on this page, please give me a follow or leave me a comment. You can also follow me on Twitter for more wrestling content and on Instagram for a look at BTS of my life.

So without further ado, this is Francis aka francisthewitcher, wishing you a wonderful day. Hasta la proxima! Y que viva la Lucha Libre y el Pro Wrestling!