The Portland disaster in the making
If you were anywhere near the Cross Insurance Arena on May 20, you saw the absolute chaos that is AEW booking in 2026. They rolled into Portland with a card that looked like a fever dream I had after eating bad gas station sushi. We got Ricochet, Mark Davis, and Andrade El Idolo teaming up to beat the Jericho-Young Bucks alliance, which sounds fine until you realize they needed outside interference from The Dogs to get it done.
Listen, I love high-flying talent as much as the next guy who treats his living room floor like a trampoline. But interference-laden finishes are the fast food of professional wrestling. You get a quick rush of energy, it looks flashy for a second, and then you realize you’re feeling bloated and empty ten minutes later.
The Ciampa-Briscoe street fight mistake
Then there was the Tommaso Ciampa versus Mark Briscoe street fight. Look, I have the utmost respect for both guys. Briscoe is a human blender and Ciampa has spent years turning his body into a weapon. But throwing them into a street fight mid-show feels like lazy writing.
We have reached a point where 'unrestricted violence' is just code for 'everyone is too tired to wrestle a technical match.' When you rely on a street fight to pop a crowd, you aren't telling a story. You are just checking a bureaucratic box that says 'violent finish required for segment 3.'
Why the Jericho experiment is still sputtering
Let's talk about the Elephant in the room, or rather, the Lionheart in the main event frame. Watching Chris Jericho mix it up with the Young Bucks is a nostalgia trip that has run out of gas. As seen in the recent photos from Portland, the energy is there, but the outcome feels predetermined by a creative team that is terrified of moving on. We are sitting here in June 2026, and we are still leaning on 2019-era star power to hold up the mid-card.
Ricochet deserves better than being a Swiss Army knife waiting for a distraction finish. He is a generational talent who looks like he’s playing 'tag' with a locker room of guys who are holding him back. If you need The Dogs to save your finish, you shouldn't have booked the match that way in the first place.
The math isn't adding up
The booking in Portland suggests a company that is coasting on fumes before we hit the summer heat. They have 9 days left until the World Cup kicks off and eyes start wandering away from the squared circle. If this is the best they can do to retain casual interest, they are going to get buried by the sporting calendar.
You can’t just throw talented bodies into a blender and hope for the best. You need narrative stakes. Right now, AEW feels like a band that keeps playing the greatest hits while the bar is clearing out and the bouncer is yelling 'last call.' I want to see these guys tear the house down, but stop handing me the blueprints for a wreckage.
