AEW Dynamite - 2/4/2026: 3 Things We Loved And 3 We Hated

Another "AEW Dynamite" has come and gone, and it was a night of shocking eliminator upsets, "F*** ICE" chants, and plenty of other Las Vegas shenanigans.

With results already taken care of by our fastidious results page, it's time to get into our feelings and break down the good, bad, and downright ugly of Wednesday's show. There were dizzying highs, like the brief, impactful main event, and there were worrisome lows, like whatever is going on with Toni Storm right now. We've left the what happened to the results, and instead will be keeping things strictly subjective. Objectivity is for things like science and law, not professional wrestling, especially when looking at it in hindsight.

Enough of my weird bloviating, let's talk what we loved and what we hated.

Brody King has been on something of an upswing lately. Between his hard-hitting offense and his outspoken politics, he's become something of a black metal alternative to Hangman Page.

On Wednesday, heralded by a sea of "F*** ICE" chants from the Vegas crowd, Brody King walked into his AEW Title Eliminator Match with MJF and completely decimated the world champion. Our own Sam Palmer timed it at 1 minute 17 seconds. King didn't just earn a title shot against MJF, he made a massive statement. Eliminator matches have become something of a forgone conclusion, but King didn't read that memo. He made MJF look like, for lack of a better term, a punk b****. It was a beautiful little moment that broke the ceiling that has held guys like Brody back from the main event.

It will be seen if Brody can repeat the success at Grand Slam: Australia, but no matter what happens down under, AEW fans will always have that one crazy night in Vegas, where the impossible seemed possible.

Written by Ross Berman

Darby Allin and Gabe Kidd's match at AEW Worlds End on December 27 felt like the perfect place to put the storyline between them to rest once and for all, as it had been going on for quite some time up to that point. While I'm sure that there will be those out there who are excited to see that it doesn't look like things between the two men aren't over just yet, I have to admit that I am not one of those people.

There isn't really any good reason for Allin and Kidd to continue their feud at all, especially since it hasn't been addressed much on AEW television as of late. It feels like it's just being brought back for the sake of bringing it back, and while I can appreciate this being used as a means of giving Clark Connors a proper introduction to the AEW fanbase, I also think that there's no shortage of other ways that can be done (such as himself and Kidd simply just hijacking the production truck to take over the show and take out everyone in sight). It's just not a storyline I'm super excited to see continue on, and it's time for Allin and Kidd to get some new rivals for them on a roster that has plenty of talent available to fill that position.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

There was a lot to like on "Dynamite" tonight, but one small thing that really stuck out to me, and a lot of people on social media, from what I'm seeing, as the short, 75-second video is trending on X, is the fact that AEW ran a short video vignette teasing the return of one "Aerial Assassin." I think many of us expected him back for All In: London at the end of August, or at least a bit before to build up to the event, so seeing a return video in February was a bit of a surprise.

Sure, we knew that he showed up at Hiroshi Tanahashi's retirement over in Japan, but it wasn't like he got physical in the ring or anything. That did, however, start reports that Ospreay may be good to go earlier than expected, and it was revealed a few weeks ago that he was backstage to begin the process to get cleared. That obviously must have gone well for him, as I don't think AEW would be airing anything if he weren't close to returning.

I also highly doubt this is going to turn into months and months of Ospreay video packages and teasers, a la WWE's infamous Veer Mahaan, so now, I'm wondering if fans get Ospreay back as a surprise as soon as AEW Revolution next month. A simple, just-over-a-minute, well-produced teaser video has sparked plenty of conversation and speculation about where he fits into the already pleasantly crowded world championship scene. But, if Ospreay's coming back soon, maybe he doesn't need to be up there immediately, with months to go before All In.

Speculation on all that aside, it was a nice, emotional video that took particular care to highlight Ospreay's connection with the fans, with him repeating how much they meant to him. I especially loved this due to how surprising I found it, as I really didn't expect to see anything about Ospreay for another few months.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Now, don't get me wrong, I am enjoying the partnership between Orange Cassidy and "Timeless" Toni Storm. They are two of the most unique characters in all of wrestling and are adored by the AEW fans whenever they show up. Just look at the social media numbers the two put up for slow dancing at AEW Worlds End in December. Having said that, I feel like that clip from Worlds End didn't go as viral as it did; this team wouldn't be going right now, which is why I'm starting to see why people have a bit of a problem with them.

Storm and Cassidy had another mixed tag team squash match on the February 4 edition of "AEW Dynamite," putting another W in the win column as they march on towards the Hair vs. Hair Tornado Tag Match against Wheeler Yuta and Marina Shafir of the Death Riders at Grand Slam Australia. Afterwards, they cut a fun promo for the crowd and left it at that, but it got me thinking as to where both of these performers were not that long ago.

For Cassidy, he's kind of needed a shift in character for a while. Whether he moves down the card and fully embraces the comedic side of his character that got him over in the first place, or up the card to finally have a real go at the world title picture, remains to be seen, but something needs to shift. Cassidy was putting on good matches in the Continental Classic, but he was AEW World Championship material just over two years ago, and I feel like he can get back to that point with a few tweaks here and there, but this partnership isn't going to get him there.

As for Storm, she was arguably the most popular performer in AEW towards the end of last summer, to the point where people were calling for whatever pay-per-view match she was involved in to main event the show. Changing the AEW Women's World Championship picture around is a good thing as it allows more women to shine, and taking people like Storm and Mercedes Mone puts more focus on Kris Statlander and Thekla, who are holding down the fort right now. However, Storm's booking away from the world title picture has almost made her feel like a midcarder, which seemed inconceivable just a few months ago, which is more a criticism of Tony Khan and how he can't book his women's division without titles being involved.

It was fun while it lasted, but for the benefit of both characters, Cassidy and Storm need to go their separate ways when they come back from Australia.

Written By Sam Palmer

If you had said way back in 2021 when Andrade El Idolo first got to AEW that at one point in time, we were going to see him wrestle Kenny Omega on free television, I probably would have believed you since they did less pay-per-views then. But if you told me that we would get Andrade vs. Omega on TV in 2026, and Andrade was going to win, that's where I would have been calling the police on you, but sure enough that's exactly what happened on the February 4 edition of "AEW Dynamite."

Having seen their original match from AAA TripleMania XXIX in 2021, I knew going into this that Omega and Andrade had good chemistry with each other, but both men walked into this one with a different level of fire under them. You really do believe Omega when he says he is feeling the best he has in years just by the way he moves through the ring, and as for Andrade, that man is just operating on a level right now, more motivated than ever before partly due to the money he's getting from Don Callis, and the attention he's getting from the ladies at ringside.

It's that extra motivation from both of them, combined with the stakes of the match that made this one so enjoyable. The winner would move on to face Hangman Page at Grand Slam Australia, with the winner of that match facing the AEW Men's World Champion at Revolution on March 15. Everyone would naturally point to another chapter in the famed Omega/Hangman saga, but Andrade has been booked so well since he's come back that there was always some doubt in every near fall which is crucial in getting people invested. If the result is self-explanatory, you don't care, but when you don't know which way it's going to go, you are immediately hooked.

After topping what they did back in 2021, it was Andrade that picked up the win, and sure, the finish wasn't exactly the cleanest, but that means that Andrade has pinned both Swerve Strickland and Kenny Omega in back-to-back weeks, making him a legitimate threat to Hangman Page in Australia. With the way he's been booked, don't be surprised if Andrade is challenging for the title at Revolution, and that would truly be an inspired booking decision as it's different, fresh, and opens up a number of opportunities. For Omega, he now has a date with Swerve Strickland lined up in his future, which isn't the worst dance partner to have in this day and age given his star power in AEW. A great match with a great outcome. What more could you ask for?

Written By Sam Palmer

I've never been a huge fan of eliminator matches on AEW programming, and tonight, that nagging dislike came back into the forefront of my mind, despite "Dynamite" being an overall solid show. Both Brody King and MegaBad deserve the title opportunities they've earned, but I don't exactly know if the AEW Women's Tag Team Championships really need eliminator matches, especially right at this point in time in the company.

The main AEW men's title is obviously the main focus of the show right now, which I don't have any complaints about. The scene is stacked, from Swerve Strickland, to Kenny Omega, Andrade El Idolo, "Hangman" Adam Page, and obviously King, who won his eliminator match in quick fashion tonight. At this point, with the scene so packed with talent raring to challenge MJF, eliminator matches make more sense, in my mind at least. Whoever's the best can prove it by beating the champion once, then hopefully they can again. But, if that's going to be the case, I feel like that needs to be the only title scene that has those kinds of matches, or the show starts to get a bit confusing.

While I love the AEW women's roster and I will always say how I think they deserve more, I don't think eliminator matches are really doing anything here for the tag titles. Megan Bayne and Penelope Ford just should have gotten a shot at The Babes of Wrath, Willow Nightingale, and Harley Cameron, off their win over the Timeless Love bombs. I don't think we needed to see them beat Cameron and Nightingale, then go on to a title match to beat them again, or worse, lose after already proving themselves in a non-title match.

Their upcoming title match would have been great, just simply set up via backstage or in-ring promos, beatdowns, or whatever, with MegaBad getting another victory or two as a team or even in singles competition, ahead of Grand Slam: Australia. And, while I doubt this goes on the card for Grand Slam, as that's filling up quickly, it would have been cool to see those championships defended on a big show, in Cameron's home country.

That all being said, I feel like Eliminator matches make things a bit redundant, and if AEW is going to run them, they should be limited to one major title at a time.

Written by Daisy Ruth