AEW Dynamite Review - February 11, 2026

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Swerve Strickland and Kenny Omega Brawled

This was strong stuff from these two. Omega and Strickland successfully recapped their history with the AEW World Championship as well as with each other and established a reason for them to fight. The brawl was also well done and served as a hot start to the show. I figured that match would be saved for Revolution, but it's actually happening on next week's Dynamite.

The Death Riders (AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley, CMLL World Heavyweight Champion Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta) def. The Don Callis Family (Josh Alexander, Mark Davis and Konosuke Takeshita)

Tony Khan apparently really likes having his first match of the night feature Moxley. Most of his matches blend together for me at this point, but at least Death Riders aren't as prominently featured as they were at this time a year ago. This was a well-wrestled match designed to build toward Moxley defending against Takeshita at Grand Slam: Australia. Alexander getting pinned instead of Doyle was pretty silly, though.

Kyle Fletcher def. Tommaso Ciampa to Win the AEW TNT Championship

I've seen it said that this was better than most other singles matches Ciampa had in WWE, which isn't saying much because the guy was primarily utilized as a tag team player over there. Nonetheless, this was a great match, but I could have done without all of the kickout crap down the stretch. Fletcher ending Ciampa's reign so soon was certainly a shock, and while I'm not a fan, I'm willing to wait and see how this plays out. I'm also not a fan of Fletcher and Mark Briscoe rekindling their rivalry already, but them facing off in a Ladder matchup is a nice attraction for Grand Slam: Australia.

Orange Cassidy and Roderick Strong def. Daniel Garcia and Clark Connors

There's always been tension between Strong and the rest of The Conglomeration, but it's been especially apparent as of late, so it was bound to amount to something eventually. Thus, I'm glad Strong walked off on Cassidy here to move that forward finally. The match itself was whatever and I'm not even sure why it existed otherwise, but Garcia losing despite having the advantage was funny (I'm aware Darby Allin took out Connors, but still).

The Young Bucks def. The Rascalz (Myron Reed and Dezmond Xavier) and Private Party in an AEW World Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contender's Three-Way Tag Team Match

Private Party were the mystery wild card team. They were off AEW TV since losing the tag titles over a year ago. To my knowledge, neither of them were hurt, so there was no reason for their extended absence, but them being back in the mix is a good thing. This was exactly what you'd expect from the talent involved, but it was fun for what it was. The Bucks winning was the least desirable outcome, but it's been almost two years since their last encounter, so I don't personally mind.

Thekla def. Kris Statlander in a Strap Match to Win the AEW Women's World Championship

It was cool for this to get the main event spot and it made sense with the title changing hands. They had a hell of a hard-hitting affair, and while you could argue the blood wasn't necessary, it did add to the intensity of the match. The ending fell a bit flat as I don't know what Thekla was going for with Statlander's hands being tied only for them not to be tied, but I'm in full favor of Thekla becoming champ. Statlander had a terrific run from an in-ring standpoint, but she lacked character development, and hopefully losing the title will give her that. You could hear a pin drop when The Brawling Birds (the new team name for Jamie Hayter and Alex Windsor) came out to make the save for Statlander. They should make for a solid duo, but Hayter should be on her own in my opinion.

Overall Show

This was easily the most eventful edition of Dynamite in quite some time, which was surprising since Grand Slam: Australia is coming up on Saturday. Dynamite needs to feel must-see more often and this episode was definitely that with two title changes, contenders being crowned and Strong seemingly turning on Cassidy. Omega vs. Strickland happening next week is a smart way to keep the momentum rolling. Meanwhile, Grand Slam: Australia is a stacked show on Saturday and the final hype for it here was effective.

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