Welcome to Wrestling Inc.’s live coverage for “AEW Dynamite” and “AEW Collision” on May 20, 2026, coming to you live from the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Maine at a special run time of 3 hours!

As he prepares to defend the AEW World Championship against MJF in a Title vs. Hair Match at AEW Double or Nothing this coming Sunday, Darby Allin will be putting his title on the line tonight as he defends against “Speedball” Mike Bailey. Allin has had successful defenses against Tommaso Ciampa, Brody King, Bailey’s JetSpeed tag team partner Kevin Knight, PAC, Konosuke Takeshita of The Don Callis Family, and most recently Sammy Guevara across “Dynamite” and “Collision” over the last several weeks dating back to the April 22 episode of “Dynamite”.

Two thirds of the AEW World Trios Champions and Conglomeration members Orange Cassidy and Roderick Strong will be challenging FTR for their AEW World Tag Team Championship, with only days remaining before Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler defend their title against Christian Cage and Adam Copeland in an I Quit Match at Double or Nothing. Cassidy defeated Harwood in a Double Jeopardy Match during the “Dynamite” and “Collision” special on May 6 to earn his and Strong’s title shot tonight.

Cassidy and Strong’s stablemate Mark Briscoe will be competing in a match of his own as he goes head-to-head with Tommaso Ciampa in an Anything Goes Match. Briscoe has been looking to seek out retribution against Ciampa since making his return to AEW, with Ciampa having previously dethroned Briscoe as TNT Champion on the January 31 episode of “Collision” before eventually losing it to Kyle Fletcher shortly after.

Yet another member of The Conglomeration will also be in action, as Kyle O’Reilly faces The Death Riders’ Jon Moxley in an AEW Continental Championship Eliminator Match. If O’Reilly emerges as the victor, then he will earn a future shot at Moxley’s Continental Championship. Moxley won’t be the only person competing in an Eliminator Match, as Divine Dominion’s Megan Bayne and Lena Kross have issued an AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championship Five Minute Eliminator match to any women’s tag team who wishes to answer the call.

Jericho, The Hurt Syndicate’s Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin, and The Elite’s Kenny Omega, Jack Perry, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson will be colliding with The Don Callis Family’s Andrade El Idolo and Mark Davis, The Dogs’ David Finlay and Clark Connors, and The Demand’s Ricochet, Toa Liona, and Bishop Kaun in a Stadium Stampede Match at Sunday’s pay-per-view event. Before all fourteen men meet, Jericho will be joining forces with The Young Bucks to take on Andrade, Davis, and Ricochet in trios competition tonight.

Katsuyori Shibata of The Opps will be competing in his first match since taking part in a 21 Man Blackjack Battle Royal for the National Championship during the AEW Revolution Zero Hour Pre-Show on March 15 as he squares off against Will Ospreay. Ospreay has been training with the aforementioned Moxley and the rest of The Death Riders over the last few weeks to better his previously injured neck, and emerged victorious against The Bang Bang Gang’s Ace Austin during last Wednesday’s episode of “Dynamite”.

Additionally, The Brawling Birds’ Jamie Hayter and Alex Windsor will be joining forces with Thunder Rosa and Mina Shirakawa to face Ring of Honor Women’s World Champion Athena and Triangle of Madness’ Skye Blue, Julia Hart, and AEW Women’s World Champion Thekla in an Eight Woman Tag Team Match. Swerve Strickland will also be making an appearance on tonight’s show as he prepares to take on Bandido in a quarterfinals match for the 2026 Men’s Owen Hart Foundation Cup Tournament at Double or Nothing.

We are live! Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, and Taz greet audiences at home before we head over to a video of Jericho and The Young Bucks strategizing ahead of their Trios Match against The Don Callis Family and Ricochet earlier today. Jericho also apologizes to Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson about his past actions against them and the three men brainstorming names for their trio. The three men then make their way to the ring, with The Don Callis Family and The Ricochet following.

While Saturday Night’s Main Event doesn’t need to be completely booked with championship matches, WWE has been severely neglecting its top women’s titles since they changed hands at WrestleMania 42. The six-woman tag team match pitting WWE Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley alongside Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss against former champion Jade Cargill, Michin, and B-Fab may be attempting to set up something for Ripley’s gold with both Cargill and Flair involved, but as it currently stands, the match isn’t very exciting and for awhile, it seemed like WWE was going in another direction for a six-woman tag match.

When this match was booked last week, Ripley wasn’t even on the show to speak for herself. Bliss and Flair were taken out after a match against Michin and B-Fab, and Bliss seemingly just waltzed into General Manager Nick Aldis’ office and asked for the match, without asking Ripley, who hasn’t exactly loved working with Flair in the past. It’s getting tiresome watching Ripley and Flair not get along but being forced to work together, and now, Ripley has reason to be furious with Bliss, too.

Ripley, Flair, and Bliss were also feuding with the recently-debuted Fatal Influence. Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley, and Lainey Reid are getting crazy heel reactions from crowds, and being newbies on the blue brand, it would have been nice to see them in another sort of exhibition match, for lack of a better term, on Saturday Night’s Main Event. The event never feels big or special, especially in months where it’s held between much larger WWE specials, this month being Backlash and Clash in Italy, so a fun, but more meaningless match against Fatal Influence for Ripley, Bliss, and Flair would fit the bill a bit better. That’s partially because any storyline going forward with Ripley’s title should probably be done on weekly television rather than what’s likely to be a SNME special with low viewership.

The match makes some kind of sense, at least, with Ripley and Cargill having such recent history, and Cargill even called out the champion for a rematch in Italy ahead of the team’s confrontation with Bliss and Flair last week, but it just all falls flat. While it’s highly possible we see something come out of this match where Flair and Cargill could compete to become number one contender for the WWE Women’s Championship to face Ripley at Clash in Italy or some other event in the future, that very well could be wishful thinking, and something that probably should be set up on television.

Written by Daisy Ruth

WWE’s plans for rebuilding its tag team division following WrestleMania 42 cuts are becoming clearer, and they may not align with earlier reports.

According to Bryan Alvarez, the company is not prioritizing the signing of outside tag teams. This update comes after a separate report suggested that WWE could look beyond its current roster to strengthen the division. Alvarez addressed the situation directly, noting that WWE’s focus is instead on developing teams internally.

“Also, regarding tag teams, we are told WWE does not really have much interest in outside tag teams at the time, but there are newly-made teams on TV like Miz & Kit that will remain tag teams, and a few teams in NXT likely called up soon as well.”

One of the key examples mentioned is the pairing of The Miz and Kit Wilson. The duo first teamed together following Backlash, initially presented as a short-term alliance. However, the team is now expected to continue as a regular part of WWE programming. Wilson’s previous partner, Elton Prince, was released during the April 24 roster cuts, which led to the formation of this new combination.

WWE is also looking toward WWE NXT as a key source for rebuilding the division. Several teams within NXT have been positioned for potential main roster call-ups in recent months. These include groups such as The Vanity Project, The Culling, and members of the D’Angelo Family, along with singles competitors who could be paired together moving forward.

The need to rebuild comes after a significant wave of departures that impacted the tag team landscape. Among those who exited are Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston of The New Day, who reportedly requested their releases. The Motor City Machine Guns, consisting of Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin, are also no longer with the company.

Additional exits include members of the Wyatt Sicks faction, who have since been rebranded on the independent circuit, as well as the team of Jeff Cobb and Tonga Loa.

With these changes, WWE appears committed to reshaping its tag team division from within, focusing on long-term development and roster continuity rather than immediate outside additions.

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