AEW Dynamite 2/18 Results: Swerve turns heel, defeats Omega

February 18, 2026 John Kleinchester NEWS, RECOMMENDED, Show Reports
Photo Courtesy: AEW

February 18, 2026
Memorial Auditorium – Sacramento, CA

By: John Kleinchester

AEW Dynamite Results

  • Continental Championship Eliminator Match: Jon Moxley over Mark Davis via Bulldog Choke in 13:58
  • TBS Championship: Willow Nightingale over Mina Shirakawa, Megan Bayne, & Marina Shafir via Roll-Up in 11:15
  • Orange Cassidy & Tomohiro Ishii over Gabe Kidd & Clark Connors via Brainbuster in 9:40
  • The Brawling Birds over Viva Van & Becca via Two Birds, One Stone in 3:55
  • Kevin Knight over The Beast Mortos via UFO Splash in 8:38
  • Swerve Strickland over Kenny Omega via Big Pressure in 20:10 (Recommended)

 

Big Tom in the House

AEW Dynamite from Sacramento kicked off with footage of earlier in the day, with Renee Paquette speaking with Orange Cassidy and Cassidy introducing Tomohiro Ishii as his replacement for Roderick Strong, who walked out on their match last week. 

Continental Eliminator

The first match of the night was an AEW Continental Championship Eliminator Match with Jon Moxley taking on The Don Callis Family’s Mark Davis. Davis used his size advantage to control the early portion of the match until Davis missed a punch on the outside, nailing the post and busting his hand open. Moxley immediately went after Davis’ hand, biting and stomping it. 

After a commercial break, Bryan Danielson speculated that Davis’s hand must have been broken as Moxley and Davis continued their hard-hitting contest. Excalibur noted that if Davis could secure a time-limit draw, he would also earn a future Continental Championship match, as it was announced that 10 minutes had passed, with 10 remaining. The two exchanged near falls, including Davis hitting a deadlift piledriver in a dangerous-looking spot. The finish saw Moxley reverse a piledriver attempt into the Bulldog Choke for the quick tapout victory. 

Footage was shown from after Grand Slam Australia, with Hangman Adam Page saying he would end MJF to take the World Championship. 

FTR Promo

Next up, FTR was out with Big Stoke to cut an in-ring promo complaining about the Young Bucks attacking them last week. This culminated with Matt and Nick running in and superkicking FTR. Big Stoke wheeled around as the crowd chanted “superkick”, with the Bucks obliging, knocking Stoke out of his wheelchair. The Young Bucks challenged FTR for the Tag Team titles at Revolution in Los Angeles. 

More footage from Australia was shown, with Brody King talking about being so close to winning the World title (as the crowd in Sacramento immediately started chanting “fuck ICE”). King said he was getting back into the title hunt and noted that next Wednesday, February 25th, is the date to bring on the baddest and best.  

TBS Championship 4-Way

The next match was the 4-Way match with Willow Nightingale defending her Championship against Marina Shafir, Megan Bayne, and Mina Shirakawa. The match began with all four women showing off their high-flying and hard-hitting maneuvers, highlighted by Bayne executing a Huricanrana off the top rope on Nightingale. After an ad break, any teamwork that had started in the early part of the match broke down as all four went at it. 

Bayne then took Shafir and powerbombed her onto the timekeeper’s table. Willow followed that up with an Avalanche German Suplex on Willow in an insane-looking spot. Mina Shirakawa then hit the spinning backfist on Willow and went for the Figure Four, but was rolled up by Willow for the win. 

The announce team took a moment to honor the passing of Kerwin Silfies, with Bryan Danielson tearing up, saying he didn’t know anything about TV production when he got to WWE, and Kerwin was so kind and helpful. 

Stipulation Time

Next was the face-to-face meeting with Hangman Adam Page and AEW Men’s World Champion MJF. It was explained that no physicality would be allowed in this segment. MJF jumped right into it, saying he hated that people call Hangman the “main character” when it was clearly him. Friedman continued that Page had two wins over him, but something was off about him lately. MJF speculated that it was because Hangman had the title twice but buckled under pressure both times. Adam Page retorted that he hated MJF (and his new, thicker hair) and that he had never met anyone more like him. Page suggested that they include a stipulation for their match and let the fans decide. MJF declined, saying they were just doing a regular wrestling match. Hangman offered the Cody stipulation – if he doesn’t win, he will never challenge for the Men’s World Championship again. MJF agreed, and Hangman proposed a Texas Death match at Revolution. 

Moxley and the Death Riders cut a backstage promo on the Don Callis Family, challenging them to a match this Saturday on Collision. Moxley challenged Takeshita to a no-time-limit match at Revolution. Wheeler Yuta had his freshly shaved head hidden by a hood. 

Ishii & Cassidy vs. Kidd & Connors

The next match was Orange Cassidy teaming with Tomohiro Ishii to take on Gabe Kidd and Clark Connors. This match began with Kidd and Conors dominating the faces, taking Cassidy out with a big suplex on the outside.

After the break, Ishii and Kidd started hitting each other as hard as they could, much to the crowd’s delight. Ishii then started clutching his hamstring but kept going. Cassidy and Kidd brawled into the crowd when Darby Allin appeared, attacking Kidd with his skateboard. Meanwhile, back in the ring, Ishii hit Connors with a Brainbuster for the win. Ishii was clearly in pain, still clutching his hamstring as the segment ended. 

The Don Callis Family was beating people down in the bowels of the arena, and they accepted both the Collision challenge and Moxley’s challenge to Takeshita for Revolution. Okada appeared and said he actually showed up, unlike Takeshita. He then shook Andrade’s hand and called him the “uncrowned world champion,” and Andrade said he had his eyes on the world title. Callis finished by saying Claudio’s CMLL world championship would look good in their group. 

Hook cut another pre-taped promo in which he said that The Opps were recruiting. Hook said he sent Shibata back to Japan to handle their international recruiting while he focused on domestic recruiting. 

The Brawling Birds

Next, the Brawling Birds made their television debut, taking on Viva Van and Becca. Van and Becca got a few offensive maneuvers, but were ultimately defeated after the Birds hit their finisher entitled “Two Birds, One Stone”. 

Renee Paquette interviewed Thunder Rosa and Kris Statlander backstage, and it was revealed that Statlander wasn’t cleared for one to two weeks, whereas Rosa was cleared as of today. Rosa said she didn’t like Triangle of Madness and would go after Thekla for Statlander.  

Kevin Knight vs. Beast Mortos 

Prior to this match, Knight offered that if Beast Mortos could beat him, they would give him and any other members of LFI a Trios Championship match this Saturday on Collision. Mortos dominated through the commercial break as the crowd chanted “he’s a lawyer” and “he will sue you”. Tony Schiavone said that JetSet Rodeo has had an incredible run thus far, but they have yet to have a single match since winning the titles in January. The crowd was really into both participants in this match, but Knight pulled it out with the UFO Splash, so no title match for LFI. 

Ricochet and GOA cut a backstage promo, reiterating that he had put Jack Perry behind him. The Demand challenged Jet Set Rodeo to a Trios title match for this Saturday on Collision. Ricochet found Jack Perry’s knide on their locker room door as the segment ended. 

Kenny Omega vs. Swerve Strickland

The main event of the evening saw Kenny Omega taking on Swerve Strickland for the first time ever. Entrances began at 9:52 pm, so there was either going to be an overrun or some chicanery to push the match to Revolution. As the match began, the crowd chanted “holy shit” as MJF was shown watching backstage. 

After a final ad break, the action continued, with both Omega and Swerve getting near-falls as the crowd chanted for both men. Omega hit a Snap Dragon Suplex on Swerve on the apron and set up for another one off the apron to the floor, but Swerve countered, landing on his feet. 

Swerve followed that up with a 450 splash to Omega’s lower back for a two count. Omega then successfully executed an avalanche Snap Dragon suplex for another massive near fall. Swerve then pulled Referee Aubrey Edwards into the path of Omega’s V-Trigger. The announcers tried to claim that it was inadvertent, but it didn’t appear that way at all. 

Omega went for the One-Winged Angel, but Swerve reversed it, hitting the House Call. Swerve followed that up with the Swerve Stomp on the apron. Omega was then catapulted into the steel turnbuckle and hit another Swerve Stomp as Paul Turner finally appeared, but Omega kicked out. Omega went for the OWA again, but Swerve was able to escape. Swerve connected with a House Call and finished Omega off with the Big Pressure. 

After the match, Swerve attacked Omega and tossed Paul Turner from the ring. Swerve hung Omega from the ropes with the chain, choking him. Swerve took Omega and put him through the announce table as he yelled into the camera, “I needed this”. 

 

About John Kleinchester 298 Articles
John Kleinchester is a New Jersey–based wrestling reporter, primarily covering WWE and AEW. He can be reached at [email protected].
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