AEW Dynamite Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights From Feb. 26

The February 26 edition of Dynamite delivered a big title match and major buildup ahead of Revolution, all airing in the Frontwave Arena in San Diego.

Orange Cassidy hoped to become the first-ever three-time international champion by dethroning Konosuke Takeshita. Who would win and advance to face Kenny Omega at Revolution on March 9?

Bryan Keith looked to collect the bounty placed on Will Ospreay's head by Don Callis. Would The Aerial Assassin make it through a battle with The Bad Apple?

Undisputed Kingdom continued to build momentum as a trio by picking up a win over FTR and Daniel Garcia.

Deonna Purrazzo looked for revenge against Harley Cameron, hoping to stop the momentum of All Elite Wrestling's rising star.

"Hangman" Adam Page was in action, while MJF appeared live ahead of their Revolution clash. Swerve Strickland and Prince Nana also spoke about their future.

This was an important show for AEW less than two weeks from the first pay-per-view of the year.

"Hangman" Adam Page made quick work of Aaron Solo, winning with the Buckshot Lariat.

The Cowboy called out MJF, who arrived to warn Hangman that he needed to "check on" his friend. Cameras found a bloodied Christopher Daniels backstage.

Page found Daniels and called over officials to check on him before continuing his pursuit of The Salt of the Earth.

AEW typically is better for starting with action, but this was truly a segment over a match. Solo barely lasted a minute.

This was more about setting up Page to be surprised in the ring by the reveal of MJF's vicious attack on Daniels.

This was a strong if predictable follow-up ahead of Revolution, further showing how much Hangman cares about The Fallen Angel.

The ending of the segment was slightly awkward as it made little sense for no one to check on Daniels before Hangman demanded it. The positive was clear, though.

Page remains the reluctant hero coming back to the surface while MJF is willing to do anything to make a point.

Result

Page def. Solo by pinfall.

Grade

B

Notable Moments

—The show started with Cope arriving in an ambulance that he promised for The Death Riders.

—In a pre-taped interview from earlier in the day, MJF said he was done believing in AEW, only himself, as he had his AEW tattoo removed.

—Page arrived in a truck and headed straight to the ring for his match.

—Hangman said he hated three things: Running out of biscuits, English ivy and MJF.

At the behest of Don Callis, Bryan Keith tried to hurt Will Ospreay throughout this match, but The Aerial Assassin landed a Styles Clash and Hidden Blade for the win.

Ospreay charged through the crowd to brawl with Kyle Fletcher until security intervened.

For a match that lacked drama due to the obvious result, this was about as good as it gets. Keith and Ospreay flowed through this contest, landing clean, vicious strikes.

The chemistry between these men should be explored again down the line, hopefully after The Bad Apple has risen further up the ranks.

The goal of the match was to deliver for the crowd while also furthering the angle between Ospreay and Fletcher, and all the boxes were checked.

This is one of AEW's best angles going into Revolution and may just be the clash with the highest likelihood to steal the show given the history between the two.

Result

Ospreay def. Keith by pinfall.

Grade

B

Notable Moments

—Callis and Fletcher watched the action from a special booth in the crowd.

—Outside his private locker room, Chris Jericho revealed he was helping Callis deal with Ospreay.

—Keith countered The Aerial Assassin's Hidden Blade with a knee lift and powerbomb for a close near-fall.

—After a signal from Callis, The Bad Apple teased hitting the Tiger Driver 91, but Ospreay fought it off this time.

The Murder Machines were rolling as Lance Archer had Turbo Floyd up for the Blackout, but then The Hurt Syndicate's music hit.

The distraction allowed Floyd to roll up Archer for three.

This was a basic tag team match, helped by an invested crowd. The pacing was awkwardly slow, setting the stage for the interference to come without much fanfare.

Truth Magnum and Floyd finally get an AEW Tag Team Championship opportunity, which was hard-earned by their steady character work over the latter half of 2024.

The messy finish also sets the stage for Archer and Brian Cage to get their opportunity down the line.

It's not inspiring booking, but it is effective for a tag team division that needs a variety of challengers to emerge to heat up the scene.

Hopefully, The Outrunners look like more than filler challengers for The Hurt Syndicate as they could genuinely deliver a memorable story as the underdogs trying to pull off the ultimate upset.

Result

The Outrunners def. The Murder Machines by pinfall.

Grade

C

Notable Moments

—Excalibur promised further updates on Toni Storm's condition on Collision after the heinous attack by Mariah May last week.

—After a hype video for Momo Watanabe, Mercedes Moné tried to bully Billie Starkz backstage until Watanabe ran off The CEO.

—AEW showed footage of The Outrunners' appearance on SportsCenter to hype up the University of Omaha men's basketball team.

Swerve Strickland delivered an opportunity for Ricochet to get back in the ring with him, with the winner becoming the new No. 1 contender to the AEW World Championship.

The One and Only agreed to the contest but only at Revolution. Prince Nana then asked Swerve to get his robe back, or he might not be able to do this anymore.

This was a smart way to explain why Ricochet would agree to a rematch with Swerve and set the stage for the next man up following Revolution in the world title scene.

The Mogul did not speak much, but his hatred for Ricochet could be felt in every word he did say.

Conversely, Ricochet spoke a bit too much here, continuing to throw out the generic sports team insults when he already had heat with the crowd.

Nana was the biggest highlight in this moment, selling all the angles that define this Revolution. This is the first time Nana is asking Swerve to do something for him, and that means a lot to The Mogul.

Grade

B

Notable Moments

—AEW showed a highlight video from last week's conflict between Ricochet and Nana.

—The Mogul advised Ricochet that they were "done when he says they're done."

—Ricochet came out in a suit, Nana's jacket and a backwards cap that he revealed to be for the Super Bowl-winning Philadelphia Eagles.

After a heavily contested trios match, Adam Cole reversed a piledriver into a stack-up pin on Daniel Garcia for a surprise three-count.

Trios action is typically where AEW thrives in spite of booking, as the talent flow well in this format. This match was no different.

Everyone involved was hitting hard and moving fast. It was good to see Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler back in action again, quickly elevating the heat here.

All that said, this was an awkward match from a booking perspective. While Garcia and FTR have teamed together before, there was no obvious reason for them to do so in this contest.

Both are part of separate trios that AEW had recently highlighted, and FTR recently delivered a warning for the World Tag Team Championships instead of going after trios gold.

In particular, AEW has yet to explain why Rated FTR is no longer a pairing on TV when that trio is better together than apart.

This all was meant to set up a hot-shot TNT Championship match for Collision. While Garcia and Cole will have a good contest, the story could have been told better.

Result

Undisputed Kingdom def. FTR and Garcia by pinfall.

Grade

C

Notable Moments

—This match started out friendly but got chippier throughout. Particularly when KOR mocked FTR repeatedly.

—Harwood caught Strong in a Sharpshooter, but KOR locked him in a Sleeper followed by Wheeler choking out O'Reilly in one big pile of submissions.

—After the finish, Cole and Garcia barely stopped FTR, KOR and Strong from coming to blows again.

—Tony Khan made a TNT Championship match for Collision between Garcia and Cole.

Cope and Claudio Castagnoli brawled to the ring before Wheeler Yuta and Marina Shafir arrived to help.

Jay White came to help followed by Willow Nightingale, and while Jon Moxley looked on in horror, Cope and Willow delivered Con-Chair-Tos to Castagnoli and Shafir.

The Rated-R Superstar continues to deliver on his word: eliminating The Death Riders. It seems Wheeler is the last man standing between Cope and Moxley.

The best part of this angle was Willow's arrival, allowing her some revenge against the woman who has laid her out the past two weeks.

The fans were behind Cope just as the Revolution crowd will be, but it will still be down to the action at the PPV to sell this as the true top angle for AEW right now.

Grade

C

Notable Moments

—Wheeler accidentally took out Shafir with a Buisaku Knee, much to the amusement of White.

—Moxley was able to pull Wheeler out of the action only to realize in horror that he could not save Shafir.

—Cope, Willow and White helped close up the ambulance with Shafir and Castagnoli in the back.

Harley Cameron fought from behind throughout her match with Deonna Purrazzo.

When she could not roll up The Virtuosa, she landed a spin-out DDT for the victory.

Solid but unspectacular has defined Purrazzo's run in AEW so far. She has not found that spark that made her a great heel in TNA.

The crowd was behind Cameron as expected, and The Virtuosa played well to that reaction, keeping the heat throughout before giving Cameron a nice win.

The next goal for Cameron is to wrestle big names and keep winning. She has the popularity to justifiably beat almost anyone right now.

Meanwhile, The Vendetta needs a reset, perhaps adding a couple more members followed by picking up some needed victories.

Result

Cameron def. Purrazzo by pinfall.

Grade

C

Notable Moments

—Cameron fought out of the Tree of Woe to turn around the momentum of this match and hit a strong enzuigiri.

—Cameron's move set remains limited, but she is starting to get certain moves like her Shining Wizard over.

Orange Cassidy fought Konosuke Takeshita with all the passion that made him a two-time international champion.

However, Takeshita was just too strong and won with the Raging Fire.

This is what it's all about. Two of AEW's best went out to steal the show and delivered a match like nothing else on the night.

The back-and-forth was wild, selling the crowd on every near-fall. Despite just a one-week build, Cassidy came off as the strongest threat to The Alpha's title reign.

The ridiculous pace made this feel like a PPV match all its own, and the bar has been set for Kenny Omega. He will need to find a way to top this war.

The Cleaner at his best can do that, but he is not at his best. Where The Alpha and Omega can thrive, though, is telling a story.

Throughout this contest, Takeshita perfectly played the crowd as the ruthless heel, and he needs to bring that full energy to a war with Omega.

Result

Takeshita def. Cassidy by pinfall to retain the International Championship.

Grade

A

Notable Moments

—Callis joined commentary with Mark Davis guarding him.

—Takeshita crushed Orange's sunglasses. When Freshly Squeezed pulled out a second pair, the champion stole them and gave them to Callis.

—The titleholder almost won with a beautiful counter to a Stundog Millionaire with the Blue Thunder Bomb.

—When Callis tried to get involved, Bryce Remsburg flew in to stop him.

—Cassidy blasted Takeshita on the announce table with the Beach Break.

—Freshly Squeezed got his glasses back for a dive, but Takeshita knocked him out with a right hand in the air.

Konosuke Takeshita vs. Orange Cassidy was the main event of the night for a reason. That match alone made this show worth watching, delivering one of AEW's best TV matches of 2025 so far.

However, the overall show was more of a good effort than an outstanding one. The key stories were developed. The Revolution card has solidified.

The women's division could have used more spotlight, and the trios division remains a work in progress.

Still, everyone was working hard to make the most of their time, and the key angles remain hot.

Revolution is shaping up into another hot PPV in what has been an unmatched streak of quality on PPV from AEW.

Grade: B