AEW held its first-ever Redemption pay-per-view Sunday night from the Bell Centre in Montreal, and the show lived up to the name. Three titles changed hands, one of them on the new champion’s actual birthday, and the main event closed with one of the more dramatic swerves of the year.
Here’s what happened.
Maya World Wins Her First Title. On Her Birthday.
Maya World upset Hikaru Shida for the AEW TBS Championship, lifting Shida for an overhead slam and transitioning straight into the pin to end her reign at 25 days. The date wasn’t a coincidence in the way it worked out: July 26 is Maya World‘s birthday, and she turned 24 with her first singles title in AEW around her waist, per Fightful and Wrestling Inc.
It’s a redemption story in the most literal sense. A month earlier, Maya World fell just short in the Owen Hart Cup final, losing to Mercedes Moné at Forbidden Door after a run we covered here at The Stunner. Sunday night, she finally got to the top of the mountain.
Willow Nightingale Becomes a First-Time, Grand Slam Champion
Willow Nightingale beat Thekla for the AEW Women’s World Championship, her first singles title in the company and enough to make her AEW‘s first-ever Women’s Grand Slam Champion. Triangle of Madness member Skye Blue nearly cost her the match, sneaking Thekla‘s foot onto the bottom rope during a near-fall, but Nightingale powerbombed Blue on the outside and came back to counter a Thekla backslide attempt into the pin, per POST Wrestling and Wrestlezone.
Nightingale is already booked for her first defense: Mercedes Moné, who watched the finish from ringside, at AEW All In in London.
Will Ospreay Turns His Back on the Death Riders. Kenny Omega Turns His Back on Ospreay.
In the main event, Kenny Omega retained the AEW World Championship over Kevin Knight. The real story started after the bell. The Death Riders, minus Ospreay, ran in for a post-match beatdown and put a chair to Omega‘s throat, ready to stomp it down. Will Ospreay stopped it himself, tearing up a plastic bag Jon Moxley handed him, decking Moxley with a punch, and clearing the ring of the whole group.
Ospreay tossed his Death Riders kneepad to the mat, handed the title belt back to Omega, and the two shook hands. Then Omega grabbed him off the second rope and hit him with the One-Winged Angel anyway.
It’s a clean, full-circle setup: Omega defends the AEW World Championship against Ospreay at AEW All In, Wembley Stadium, August 30, this time with both men fully back to being rivals.
Full Redemption Results
- AEW World Championship: Kenny Omega (c) def. Kevin Knight
- AEW Women’s World Championship: Willow Nightingale def. Thekla (c)
- AEW TBS Championship: Maya World def. Hikaru Shida (c)
- AEW National Championship: Andrade El Idolo def. Mark Davis (c)
- AEW International Championship: Kyle Fletcher (c) def. Bandido
- AEW World Tag Team Championship: Adam Copeland and Christian Cage (c) def. Claudio Castagnoli and PAC
- Six-Way Ladder Match (No. 1 contender, AEW International Championship): “Speedball” Mike Bailey def. Jack Perry, Komander, The Beast Mortos, Nick Wayne, and El Clon
- No Holds Barred Match: Chris Jericho def. Tommaso Ciampa
- Double Chain Match: David Finlay and Clark Connors def. Jay White and Juice Robinson
- Trios Match: The Young Bucks def. Jon Moxley and Will Ospreay
