AEW Dynamite - Maximum Carnage 1/14/2026: 3 Things We Loved And 3 We Hated

AEW came to Phoenix, AZ, promising "Maximum Carnage," and according to one Wrestling Inc. writer, they did not deliver on that promise. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Another "AEW Dynamite" has come and gone, and like all weekly wrestling shows, there was plenty to love and plenty to hate. While the show might not have brought "Maximum Carnage," it did have a wild #1 Contender's Tag Team Match, as well as a pretty spectacular world title fight in the main event, but it was still a muted affair, and one that started with a wonky opening contest. There was also a shocking lack of Brody King, outside of the bare minimum. As always, we will not be breaking down what happened on tonight's broadcast, as that has been handled by the results page.

Instead, we'll get deep in our feelings and explain why this week's "Dynamite" did, or did not, live up to expectations.

Without further ado, the best and the worst of "AEW Dynamite: Maximum Carnage."

Okay, so part of me gets that the whole deal with Darby Allin is he can and will put himself through all manner of abuse, launching off ledges into glass and debris and all sorts of things the average human being would give a wholehearted "Pass" to. Part of me is really entertained when he does so, in a very morbidly curious way. It's intriguing to watch a man ostensibly try to break himself and then keep going after that. But there comes a point where one can be beaten to oblivion and back a few times, and it just doesn't make sense for them to go on and win the match. Because seriously, what are you doing, losing a match to someone you have just nearly hospitalized?

Enter tonight, the clash between Darby Allin and PAC, the grudge match that promised a lot purely based on what had preceded it – PAC throwing Allin through a burning table on the stage during Blood & Guts. It was a singles match and couldn't rely on the weaponized chaos of before, so there had to be some adaptations made to its format. Chiefly, the pair of them got started by fighting around the arena. Annoyingly, Allin hit a Coffin Drop into some vague area, and I am saying vague area because there was absolutely no light in that area; for all I knew in the moment, Allin had whisked his rival off into the Phantom Zone, never to be seen again.

Of course, they were seen – and heard – again, with PAC launching Allin spine-first into the steel steps, a landing that could not be gimmicked as Allin limply bounced off the edge of the middle step. Even still, because buses and Everest had failed to stop him previously, Allin found his way (kind of) to his feet, and the match was officially started. Only then, PAC launched him onto the ramp for another hard, "Seriously do you have no bones?" landing. Allin found a way back into the match, somehow, and tapped PAC out while the referee was incapacitated, which surely meant PAC was going to get his win anyway. Nope.

Wheeler Yuta came out with a steel chair, blundered that run in, and thus allowed Darby to hit a Coffin Drop onto said chair wrapped around PAC's ankle. And then he tapped PAC out again, this time with the referee awake and well to give the decision. So you could look at that as Allin is some machine who just will not be stopped. Or, and this has a little more riding behind it, PAC isn't that goo,d and Yuta is just a little bit of a dumba**. You could have just given PAC the win, avoiding all of that. Because seriously, Allin cannot be that invincible.

Written by Max Everett

As a huge fan of Kenny Omega, "Hangman" Adam Page, and Swerve Strickland, it's been something of a dream for me to see them all stand together in the ring with one another. Now that I can say it became a reality with this episode of "Dynamite", it was honestly everything I imagined it would be and even more.

Not only are Omega, Page, and Strickland three of the biggest stars in all of AEW right now, but their post-match segment tonight set up so much potential for storyline options. The possibilities are endless, whether they end up facing one another in singles or tag team competition to rack up wins and make their case stronger for an AEW World Championship match, work together in some capacity to go after Samoa Joe, or even spin it into them challenging The Opps for the AEW World Trios Championship at some point further down the line. It felt like an exciting moment to be an AEW fan, and was cool to see all three of the standing in the ring as one another at the same time in one of the more interesting post-match angles that AEW has done in a while. I'm absolutely looking forward to see what's next to come for all three men, and it makes for a great set-up as to what's to come following MJF's successful defense of the AEW World Championship.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

I know I'm always one to complain about long AEW shows, especially when it comes to "Dynamite," but when the company is using branding like "Maximum Carnage," I expect there to be MAXIMUM carnage on the show, not just some. This episode tonight would have lent itself well to one of the three-hour blocks of television, though I know there's no reason to throw "AEW Collision" on for an extra hour this week without a pay-per-view coming up. The branding would have worked a lot better on one of those shows. I know last year, at least, AEW ran a "Maximum Carnage" branded show around this time, but I just can't figure out why it's important to happen at this time of year.

That's not a knock on any of the performers tonight, as the wrestling on the show was quite good, it just wasn't booked nearly as hardcore as it could, and should, have been, especially when it comes to AEW. On a show often criticized for its use of blood, tonight would have made a bit more sense to bring it out.

The four-way tornado tag team match was my match of the night, and even that could have done with some more carnage. There were barely any shenanigans, other than Ricochet pulling the referee out of the ring at one point. I can't say I love how massive the Don Callis Family has grown to be, but there could have been plenty of carnage with a few other members involved to help Mark Davis and Jake Doyle secure the win. Or, even after, they could have run down to help them during the confrontation with FTR, though the heel versus heel booking is already a bit odd to begin with.

The opening match featuring Darby Allin and PAC had some potential to get nuts, and was overall a solid match with some exciting spots (though they were normal for an Allin match), but it still didn't quite get to the level I was promised. And, honestly, Bandido losing his AEW World Championship match to MJF was to be expected, though it was still enjoyable. MJF had obviously been looking past the ROH Champion for quite some time, and nothing too crazy happened there.

I'm sure it's been mentioned before, likely by me, that AEW needs to step back with the fun branding if they're not going to follow through. To me, "maximum carnage" sounds like there should be some hardcore stipulations on a show, and despite a major title being on the line in the main event, and a fun four-way tornado tag, there wasn't a lot of havoc to be memorable.

Written by Daisy Ruth

I really wanted to fit more words beginning with D in that title, but I digress...there's another one.

AEW promised Maximum Carnage for this week's episode of "AEW Dynamite" in Phoenix, Arizona, and the vast majority was found in the four-way match to determine the number one contenders for the AEW Men's World Tag Team Championships, currently held by FTR. The Young Bucks, JetSpeed, Gates of Agony, and the team of Mark Davis and Jake Doyle of the Don Callis Family knew what was at stake and produced another party match that lived up to the name of this week's show.

Going into the match, two teams were the clear favorites: JetSpeed and The Young Bucks. The main reason is that they are both babyface teams these days, and the champions are currently heels, so it makes the most sense, but they both have history with FTR in recent years, and relighting a fire underneath either of those feuds would be fun regardless of who came out on top. Granted, FTR and The Young Bucks have faced each other a lot in recent years, but Matt and Nick Jackson once again proved in this match why they should always be a force to be reckoned with in AEW. For JetSpeed, they feel like they're getting closer and closer to the top, but they need that big victory to tip them over the edge. As they rock in the ring, the fans love them, and they have impeccable chemistry with Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler.

However, this was the first night as a tag team for Davis and Doyle, and they looked like they had been teaming for years. Long-time fans of the man formerly known as Jake Something know what he's capable of, and he was in there with a number of guys who made him look like an absolute monster, especially "Speedball" Mike Bailey, as they were champions together as Speedball Something in DPW. Davis has had rotten luck with injuries in AEW, but he looks like he can finally be unleashed as a no-nonsense brawler with devastating offense, which was on full display with the way Kevin Knight sold the finishing move that ended the match.

A big shoutout to Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona, the latter of whom did a Moonsault, which was great, for playing their parts in this match well too. With that said, this was a Davis and Doyle showcase that ended with them looking like a tag team no one would want to mess with. The heel vs. heel dynamic against FTR seems strange now, but Davis and Doyle will have a lot of people cheering for them in no time.

Written by Sam Palmer

Here's the thing: if you're going to put in the effort to fly out a talent in order for them to appear on a show, then you should at least give them something good to do for the benefit of the fans and maximise the roster to their fullest potential. I don't know if it was exactly worth it to fly Brody King out to Phoenix, Arizona just to have him in a very short backstage segment, score a quick win against Jon Cruz in a squash match, and help up Bandido after he had lost his AEW World Championship match to MJF. It may seem like a lot now that it's been listed out, but King's screen time tonight totaled something like 5-7 minutes give or take.

While it was intriguing for AEW to have set-up the idea of Brody King turning his back on Bandido based off the tiny cues in his body language and demeanor, it didn't feel like it was worth taking "Dynamite" all the way to 10:10 PM ET just to add in a small detail that didn't need to happen or at the very least, could've waited until next week. There didn't really feel like there was much of a need to have King appear on the show at all in the first place, and it was made even more pointless by the fact that it didn't really contribute to any ongoing or potential storyline.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

Given the fact that Kenny Omega, Swerve Strickland, Hangman Page, Samoa Joe, and virtually everyone in AEW is gunning for MJF and his AEW Men's World Championship (as they should, it's literally the top prize in the company), Bandido really didn't stand a chance going into the Maximum Carnage edition of "AEW Dynamite." If anyone had money on Bandido walking out of Phoenix, Arizona with the Triple B, you probably need some guidance on how spend your money because there was a less than zero chance of him winning the title tonight. However, if you had money on Bandido and MJF having an excellent match together, you would be rolling in the cash right now.

One of the big problems that a lot of people have with Maxwell Jacob Friedman and the way his main event matches go is the overbooking. Bryce Remsburg usually takes a bump just by looking at him. The Dynamite Diamond Ring usually makes an appearance, low blows, foreign objects, and everything in between is stuffed into MJF's matches, making them feel bloated and not very watchable at times. That is the most frustrating aspect of MJF as a wrestler because when he's allowed to just go and have a straight match with someone, he reminds everyone why he calls himself a generational talent.

The story of the match was the arm. Both men were targeting the arms and shoulders of each other as their main weapons rely heavily on those body parts. Bandido was more than happy to take a number of risks with his beautiful dives to the outside, but he would routinely go for MJF's arm to prevent the chance of being locked in a submission later on. MJF, on the other hand, knew that Bandido's strength is one of his keys to victory, and if he can soften the arm up just enough, he could not only prevent the 21-Plex, but make the Salt of the Earth Armbar be even more effective.

That aspect was told brilliantly, especially in the closing stages, as Bandido, fighting through the pain of being worked over by MJF, hits the 21-Plex but can't bridge immediately into a pin, which would have surely earned him the victory. The momentary pause in action allowed MJF to take a moment, grab the arm of an exhausted opponent, and grind whatever energy was left in Bandido out of him to retain the title. I know a lot of people weren't excited for another MJF title reign, but if he sticks to this style of match rather than what we've seen from him in the past, his second reign as AEW Men's World Champion could be very exciting.

Written by Sam Palmer