By Jake Barnett, ProWrestling.net Co-Senior Staffer (@jakebarnett)
AEW Dynamite (Episode 333)
Sacramento, California, at Memorial Auditorium
Simulcast live February 18, 2026, on TBS and HBO Max
We got a series of rapid fire promos at the start of the show. Mina Shirakwa said she would follow up cutting Wheeler Yuta’s hair with winning the TBS Title. WIllow responded by saying she would defend her title and may the best woman win. Megan Bayne called herself an All Elite Goddess. Swerve Strickland intensely said he needed a win tonight. Kenny Omega responded less intensely, and said he needed Swerve out of his way.
Renee Paquette was interviewed backstage about Roderick Strong abandoning him last week. He found a replacement tag partner in Tomohiro Ishii. They will face Gabe Kidd and Clark Connors later on in the show. In the arena, Jon Moxley made his entrance for the opening match, which is an eliminator match for the Continental Championship. Renee Paquette was shown at ringside, speaking about the long travel for both Mark Davis and Jon Moxley, and how Davis wants to use this match as an opportunity to prove himself.
Mark Davis then made his ring entrance.
1. Mark Davis vs. Jon Moxley in a Continental Championship Eliminator Match: Davis and Moxley traded holds early on and fought to a stalemate. Davis landed a few shoulder blocks and a big body block to take Moxley off his feet. He followed up with a hip attack and a running elbow strike in the corner. Moxley escaped to the floor, but Davis followed and landed a series of heavy chops. He lined up for a big forearm strike, but Moxley ducked and he struck the ring post. Moxley then quickly turned on the jets and hit a suicide dive. Davis had bloody knuckles after hitting the post. Moxley targeted the hand and bit him. He then placed his hand on the steel steps and stomped on it…[c]
As the show returned, Moxley was sat in a chair in the corner near the barricade on the floor. Davis charged at him and kind of whiffed what would have been another hip attack. Moxley continued the attack on Davis’ bloody knuckles as the match returned to the ring. He pulled Davis back into the ring with a superplex. He followed up with some gut punches and a big running PK for a two count. Davis landed a punch with his bad hand and winced.
Moxley returned fire with some punches, but Davis leveled him with an enziguri. He attempted a lariat, but Moxley ducked it and landed a cutter. Moxley attempted a sleeper, but got suplexed instead. Davis went for a piledriver, but Moxley escaped and rolled him up for a near fall. Davis quickly turned a gutwrench into a piledriver for a close near fall. Moxley avoided another enziguri and landed a stomp to get back into the match.
Both men traded big shots, but Moxley was able to take down Davis and apply the Bulldog Choke to get a tap out victory.
Jon Moxley defeated Mark Davis at 13:48
After the match, Jon Moxley celebrated his victory before exiting the ring. Hangman Page was shown in a pre-taped promo. He told MJF he was coming for him, and he would end him if necessary to take back his AEW World Championship. MJF and Hangman will go face to face later in the show. Back in the arena, FTR made their ring entrance…[c]
My Take: An enjoyable opening match that suffered a bit from a lack of suspense. I’m not sure if Davis actually broke his hand or just had a cut, but there was enough blood to make for a convincing weak point throughout.
Dax Harwood complained that the Young Bucks cheapshotted them. The crowd chanted “STFU” as he said that the Young Bucks were the best tag team in the world in 2016, but a decade later they sit firmly in second place to the team of the generation. Stokely spoke up and said the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, and that’s where they were with the Young Bucks.
He said they shook hands with the Rascalz and Private Party last week, even though they tried to run Private Party out of AEW, and that’s the hypocrisy he hated in AEW. Stokely continued and said the hate they have for their coworkers is overwhelming, and then complained about their parents and kids running around the locker room like they own the place. The Bucks snuck in from behind and superkicked FTR, and then Stokely was left defenseless.
The Bucks played to the crowd a bit, and after some teasing kicked Stokely and FTR again before officially issuing a challenge for the Tag Team Championships at Revolution. Backstage, Brody King and Bandido were shown in a pre-taped promo. Brody said he was “that close”, but he’s not going to sit around and feel sorry for himself. He said he was looking for a fight on February 25th to get back into the World Title hunt.
Back in the arena, Marina Shafir made her ring entrance for the TBS Championship fatal four way match. She was followed by Megan Bayne, Mina Shirakawa, and TBS Champion Willow Nightingale.
2. Willow Nightingale vs. Mina Shirakawa vs. Megan Bayne vs. Marina Shafir for the TBS Championship: Bayne and Shafir worked together early on to target Willow Nightingale after sending Mina to the floor. Willow battled back and sent Bayne to the floor with a lariat and then landed a cannonball from the apron to the floor. Mina then climbed the top turnbuckle and took out all three women on the floor with a big splash. Mina continued the assault on Shafir in the ring with a twisting splash and covered for a near fall.
Willow landed some splashes in the corner on Shafir and Bayne, but they quickly turned the tables on her. Bayne landed an impressive hurracarrana out of the corner. She then picked up Mina and tossed her onto Willow and Shafir at ringside…[c]
My Take: The Bucks and FTR is a quality addition to the PPV lineup. The TBS Title match is off to a fast start.
Bayne and Shafir continued to attack Willow as a unit. Mina landed a kick to Shafir and a slingblade to Bayne. Willow broke up the fall. She then landed a series of spinebusters on all three opponents. Willow covered Mina for a fall, but Shafir broke it up. Bayne and Willow traded power shots, and eventually both went down with a double clothesline. Willow was up first and delivered a Death Valley Driver to Bayne. Shafir landed a twisting backbreaker to Willow.
Bayne sent Shafir to the floor and then dove on all three women at ringside. Shafir and Bayne then came to blows. Shafir landed some kicks, but Bayne picked her up and tossed her into the timekeeper’s area. Bayne then climbed the turnbuckle in the ring, but Willow pulled her into the ring with a scary German Suplex that had her land almost directly on top of her head.
Mina Shirakawa landed a flurry of punches and a spinning backfist on Willow. She attempted to apply a Figure Four, but Willow rolled her up and got the win.
Willow Nightingale retained the TBS Championship at 11:29
Willow celebrated after the match as Bayne and Shafir were fuming. We then got a video recap of the Grand Slam Australia show. Hangman Page and MJF will go face to face next. Tony Schiavone and Bryan Danielson paid tribute to recently deceased WWE Producer/Director Kerwin Silfies and offered condolences to his family and friends…[c]
My Take: That was a scary moment for Megan Bayne, who seemed alright after taking a very dangerous bump. Otherwise, that was a fun match that had better flow and chemistry than you might have thought on paper.
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