Mile High Madness was the main event for AEW Dynamite (Feb. 25, 2026) from The Mission Ballroom in Denver, CO. The ten-man bout lived up to its name with glorious chaos. The broadcast also featured the official stipulation for the world championship bout between MJF and Hangman Page at Revolution, Swerve Strickland embracing evil, Darby Allin doing skateboard tricks on Gabe Kidd’s back, a women’s tag team title defense, a hoss fight, and more.
Mile High Madness was high-octane fun. AEW put the Young Bucks, Jack Perry, and the Rascalz on one side against FTR, Ricochet, and GOA on the other side. Anything goes. This main event was similar to Anarchy in the Arena. It even started with Perry’s theme song playing on repeat. The action was non-stop chaos. Buckle in for a taste of the highlights.
Stokely Hathaway was used as a wheelchair battering ram to knock Nick Jackson down the stairs.
Toa Liona tackled Perry over the timekeeper table.
Myron Reed, who was the odd Rascal out, saved Dezmond Xavier from being tossed off stage. Reed ran wild to leap over the ropes for a cutter on Liona. Reed is my favorite member of the Rascalz, so I was excited to see him get some shine without being in the match. I think Reed has the highest potential down the line.
The fight had a fire extinguisher, a dusty vacuum cleaner, trashcan violence, and tables. So many tables. The Rascalz teamed for a double Spanish Fly to Ricochet off the barricade through a table.
Liona had a devastating back body drop to send Perry over the ropes crashing through a table. Perry got payback with the help of the Bucks to superkick Liona into a powerbomb through a table.
In the end, the herd thinned. FTR were smashed through a table. The Rascalz landed Hot Fire Flame on Bishop Kaun. Perry hit a destroyer on Ricochet, then the Bucks added a BTE Trigger. Perry closed with a running knee on Ric for the win.
That match was certified madness in the Mile High City. This was the type of bout AEW would have on PPV, so it was a treat to experience it on Dynamite. The pace was gangbusters with so many highlights that I didn’t include them all. From a story perspective, Perry picking up the pin on Ricochet plays into the national title feud. The Young Bucks targeted FTR after they hit a piledriver on their brother last week on Collision. Since the victory was more for Perry’s story, it left plenty on the vine for the Bucks to pick their revenge in the PPV tag title bout at Revolution. The Rascalz and GOA added plenty of sizzle. I wouldn’t say Mile High Madness increased my desire for the title stories, but the match itself was a blast.
Let’s jam through the rest of Dynamite. Catch up on all the details with excellent play-by-play from Claire Elizabeth.
Jon Moxley defeated El Clon. I think this was an eliminator match, but I’m not certain. Clon was awesome in this contest. His strange style kept Moxley on the back foot. Clon showed ingenuity in this sequence to flip on a springboard moonsault then go forward for a suicide dive and a moonsault off the barricade.
Clon also had a nasty edge. This subtle move was devious. He back kicked the middle rope into Mox’s throat. Moxley had an answer with a hefty lariat. That shows how Moxley had success when turning this into a rugged fight.
Back to more flying from Clon for a wild moonsault outside.
In the end, Moxley escaped Clon’s finisher to counter for a DDT and finish with the Death Rider.
Exciting opener with a clash in styles. Moxley handled business, but my takeaway was a great performance from Clon. He stepped up against the best of the best in AEW. Clon continues to pull out new twists to his game. He fits in well with the Callis Family villain vibe on the little things like choking Moxley with the corner rope and that back kick into the throat.
Most Dangerous Man in AEW. Swerve Strickland interrupted commentary to explain his misdeeds from last week. Swerve felt no guilt. He blamed Kenny Omega for what happened. Swerve was insulted that Omega had the nerve to get in his way of the world title. He also felt angry that Omega called someone else the most dangerous man in AEW. Swerve leaned into his heel attitude, even though, a portion of fans still cheered him. He once told Hangman that he had regrets for his past evil in the quest to become world champion. Swerve reflected on that by changing his tune. He will now live life with no regrets to get what he wants. Swerve warned the locker room that anybody in his way will be clipped.
That was a nice piece of character explanation from Swerve. He went back to full heel mode, and the reasons make sense from his point of view. This isn’t a lazy flip flop turn for the sake of it. The story pieces support his motivation.
Brody King will be the man to put Swerve to the test.
Brody King defeated Mark Davis. Hoss fight! King and Davis were throwing meat to the satisfaction of all. This was a collision of lariats and suplexes. King outlasted Davis by hammering a lariat for the win. More hoss fights, please. AEW’s roster of athletic beefers provides a different type of enjoyment than the rest of the matches. After the contest, King called out Swerve for Revolution, and Bandido’s open challenge for a PPV match was answered by Andrade. Yes and yes! A battle of the most dangerous men in AEW should be intense. The luchadores have talent to steal the show. With hindsight, it was smart story execution how King versus Swerve was set up using little promo quotes from the past few weeks coming together to complete the picture. I appreciate the effort in detail from AEW.
Gabe Kidd defeated Orange Cassidy. Kidd mauled Cassidy.
OC rallied with reversals and flurries of offense.
On the finish, Cassidy countered a powerbomb into the Beach Break. When Cassidy went for the superman punch, Kidd pulled the referee in the way. OC stopped short, and Kidd gouged the eyes deep to set up a piledriver to win. Afterward, Clark Connors stomped Cassidy. Darby Allin made the save for a Code Red on Connors. He landed a skateboard trick on Kidd’s back.
Kidd is quickly growing into someone I want to see in AEW more often. I loved his aggression. It worked especially well against the unique character of Cassidy. We don’t get to see bruisers steamroll Cassidy enough. The sound of impact on Kidd’s lariats drove home the pain. The tainted victory protects Cassidy and plays into Kidd’s demented persona. Allin provided sizzle to keep his feud with the War Dogs running hot.
Kevin Knight defeated Mansoor. Lots of action in a short amount of time. Knight won via UFO splash. The bigger takeaway was Knight on the mic with confidence that Hangman Page will win the world title from MJF. Knight asked for the first crack when the cowboy has gold. This continues the idea that Knight is ready now for big things.
World championship stipulation. MJF and Hangman met for a promo to determine the stipulation for their AEW World Championship bout at Revolution. Hangman preferred Texas Death. MJF wanted one-way no disqualification, which meant he could do whatever he wants but Hangman has to fight clean. On top of this, there is the stipulation that Hangman will never challenge again for the world title if he loses. MJF wanted to be fair, so he did a coin toss. MJF won, but Hangman was no dummy. The trick was that it was a double-sided coin. As MJF tried to escape with the evidence, JetSpeed and Brodido corralled that cheater to face justice. Tony Schiavone announced that Tony Khan made the PPV match into Texas Death as punishment for MJF’s caper.
In hindsight, this was a funny way to trap MJF into Texas Death. There is no way he would agree to that on his own, so this scene provides the logic through the professional wrestling lens. Hangman’s promo was a good hype job at the danger MJF will experience in this type of fight. Using JetSpeed and Brodido in cameos was a nice touch that makes sense in story context.
AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championship: Babes of Wrath (c) defeated MegaBad to retain the titles. Hot tag to Willow Nightingale running wild with a spinebuster on Megan Bayne. After a few more power moves on offense, Willow went to finish with the gutwrench grip. Bayne powered her opponent into the corner. Lena Kross entered the ring to wallop the champion with the title belt. DQ result.
There’s not much to take away from this result, because it appears to be a call on the fly to cover for an injury to Penelope Ford. That was the angle from commentary’s analysis. If this is an audible, then it is a smart move. It either protects Bayne from a pin in the loss, which is Ford’s job, or it protects the Babes from losing 2-on-1 and possibly having to strip Bayne of the titles due to injury to her partner. Let’s hope whatever happened to Ford isn’t serious.
Notes: Thunder Rosa challenges Thekla for the AEW Women’s World Championship next week. On Collision, Thunder and Kris Statlander will wrestle the Sisters of Sin. Statlander warned Thunder to be careful against the Toxic Spider. When pressed by Renee why Statlander is so concerned, she shook her head and dismissed the question. I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean. Perhaps that little moment is setting up for Thekla to wreck Thunder in a stretcher job.
During Cassidy’s entrance, there was a missing poster for Roderick Strong, who hasn’t been seen on TV since ditching OC.
The Brawling Birds were in the mood for a pint after beating the piss out of their opponents.
Protokada! Okada threw shade at Takeshita while also encouraging his best friend Kyle Fletcher to unite for a tag match on Collision. I don’t care about Okada vs Takeshita any more (AEW stalled out momentum on that feud), but I do care when Okada says Protokada. Also, Fletcher dumped on Tommaso Ciampa coming back for the TNT title. Fletcher renamed Silvey into Pinky.
Stud of the Show: El Clon
Standout performance from a rising talent against a top star.
Match of the Night: Mile High Madness
Solid show with a banger main event to leave me feeling high.
Share your thoughts about AEW Dynamite. How do you rate it? What were your favorite moments from the show? Who impressed you the most?