AEW Dynamite – 1/14/26 (Maximum Carnage)

By / / Television Reviews

The 2026 “Maximum Carnage” edition of AEW Dynamite featured MJF defending the AEW World Championship against Bandido, Kris Statlander teaming with the Babes of Wrath against the Triangle of Madness, Darby Allin vs. Pac, the return of Kenny Omega, and a four-way tag match for a future shot at the AEW Tag Team Champions.

Highlights:

  • Kicking off the night Darby Allin and Pac wrestled around the crowd and ringside area, including Pac throwing Darby into the metal steps with an overhead belly-to-belly release suplex, before eventually making it back to the ring where Darby picked up the win. This was a match full of Darby taking sick spots from Pac (and possibly setting up an injury angle for the Deathrider who got his ankle snapped by his opponent).
  • After an earlier backstage segment where Samoa Joe hired Bryan Keith (back in his bounty hunter gear) to take out “Hangman” Adam Page, Hangman took on Keith with Big Bill at ringside. Nice little match helping to reestablish Keith’s bounty hunter character, while still keeping him tied to Bill, but the outcome (even with Bill’s interference which was countered by the sudden appearance of Swerve Strickland) was never in doubt. Hangman cut a promo after the match threatening to “take everything” from Samoa Joe and Swerve called out the champ.
  • Immediately following the Hangman and Swerve promos, with both men still in the ring, Kenny Omega made his return confirming his intention of going after the AEW World Championship (news which Hangman took with more grace than Swerve). Following the other men’s exits, with Kenny still in the ring, Don Callis arrived to offer some competition for Kenny by setting up a match for Kenny against Josh Alexander.
  • In a terrific main event, MJF successfully defended the AEW World Championship against Bandido. Amazing match to cap off the night that really highlighting everything Bandido does well and further established him as a main eventer. Following the match, MJF admitted Bandido took him to the limit and then attacked him after the match leading to Brody arriving to make the save.
  • For a future shot against FTR for the World Tag Team Championships the team of Mark Davis and Jake Doyle beat JetSpeed, the Young Bucks, and Gates of Agony (and looked great while doing so). Lots of fun action here with the two high-flying teams fighting the beefier boys before it becoming an every team for themselves sprint. Jack Perry arrived late to chase off Ricochet who left the announce desk to break-up a pin. FTR came to the ring afterwards to confront the contenders leading to a brief scrum broken up by officials.
  • The six woman tag featured Kris Statlander teaming with the Babes of Wrath (Harley Cameron and Willow Nightingale against the Triangle of Madness (Julia Hart, Skye Blue, and Thekla). Crowd eventually got into the match, but it suffered a bit by being placed after the spot-heavy four-way tag match. Thekla gets a bit of a surprise win by pinning Statlander, likely setting up a title shot for the Toxic Spider.

Less Notable:

  • Jon Cruz interrupted Brody King‘s interview in the back with Renee Paquette leading to Brodie making short work of Cruz in a standby match.
  • SkyFlight with Zayda Steel cut a backstage promo setting up their matches on Collision
  • On a positive note, Bryan Danielson‘s run on the commentary desk continues. However, AEW should never let Ricochet back on commentary again.
  • JetSpeed got some love in the back, first some kind words from Swerve and later by Hangman who drafted the pair to help him beat the Opps on Collision and win the Trios Titles. Following the commercial break, we got a short package reminding viewers that Hangman has teamed (successfully) with JetSpeed before.
  • It appears Penelope Ford will be returning to in-ring action this weekend (great news, but it got a bit lost among the announcement of so many future matches).
  • Announcement that The Rascalz are coming to AEW
  • Promo setting up the main event
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