"The Jet" Kevin Knight is the new AEW TNT champion, having won the title during the Casino Gauntlet match at AEW Dynasty on April 12, 2026.
How did this go down tonight, what led to this, and what could be on the horizon? Let's break it all down!
How We Got Here:
It was announced on this week's episode of AEW Dynamite that Kyle Fletcher had suffered an injury on the previous episode of AEW Collision which has forced him to relinquish the AEW TNT Championship. Fletcher was in the midst of a 56 day title reign as a follow-up to his previous 114 day reign (who he lost to Mark Briscoe before winning it from Tommaso Ciampa, who had beaten Briscoe) and was likely set to keep the title for quite some time, as it was said that his original plans for this event would have been to team with Kazuchika Okada against The Young Bucks instead of defending the title.
The Casino Gauntlet for the vacated belt was announced, with Tommaso Ciampa beating Mascara Dorada to earn the #1 entry spot and RUSH beating Anthony Bowens for the right to enter second.
Match Details:
In order of their entrance, these ten wrestlers were able to join the match before the winning decision: Tommaso Ciampa, RUSH, Bandido, "Speedball" Mike Bailey, El Clon, PAC, Daniel Garcia, Anthony Bowens, Kevin Knight, and finally, Wheeler Yuta.
The finish came about in an interesting scenario where Knight scored a pinfall over Garcia while his tag team partner, Bailey, was just breaking out of a submission hold. This could be a point of contention going forward that may break apart JetSpeed, according to Excalibur's tease on commentary.
Personal Reactions & What Happens Next?:
I don't quite see the justification for a JetSpeed split out of this. If Bailey had a submission going on that would have led to him winning the match if the referee had been in a better position to see that instead of the pinfall, then maybe, but that's not what's happening here. Nevertheless, with them losing the trios titles and Knight winning a singles belt, I could certainly see that being the end of this group, with Bailey going into a singles run, too. He's also fun, so he's got three other titles he could potentially win while Knight hopefully has a solid title reign. Tony Khan is clearly a fan of him and has been putting more and more focus on Knight, so he's as viable a pick for this belt as it comes.
Depending on when Fletcher is able to return, he would be a go-to pick for the next to win the title, but if that's not in the cards, I could see any number of guys from this match potentially being the one to dethrone him, but with that many midcard belts, it's always hard to determine who will go after which belt. This could easily be something for a guy like Ricochet or Bobby Lashley or something, too, for all I know. For now, Knight being champion is a cool thing, and I'm excited to see his run.
Tell us what you think about this title change by leaving a comment below! Who do you think will be the next in line to challenge for the title, or possibly even win the belt next? Keep the discussion going!