AEW Dynamite on February 18, 2026, from the Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento, California, reportedly underwent significant last-minute changes due to illness and injuries within the roster following Grand Slam Australia.
According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, the show operated with what he described as a “skeleton crew,” as a widespread sickness bug impacted both talent who traveled to Australia and those who remained stateside.
“I don’t know the names, but I was told in the afternoon that this show was completely rewritten. Not completely, I mean, Omega/Swerve was exactly what it was going to be, and I think that the four-way women’s TBS Championship was what it was going to be. There were a lot of illnesses, both people from Australia, and I think there were some injuries too. There were a lot of illnesses from people, some in Australia, but a lot who didn’t go, so the feeling was that somebody must have been sick last Wednesday, and a lot of people got it, because people who were not in Australia also got sick all at the same time. So it was like a skeleton crew in a lot of ways…..I know Mortos was not scheduled for the show, to wrestle on the show. He was a replacement,” Meltzer said.
Despite the chaos behind the scenes, two major matches remained intact: the four-way TBS Championship bout and the main event between Kenny Omega and Swerve Strickland.
Strickland defeated Omega in their first-ever singles encounter and followed up with a decisive heel turn. After the match, he attacked Omega and delivered a vertebreaker off the ring steps through the announce table, repeatedly stating, “I needed this.” The bout was moved up to this episode rather than taking place at Revolution due to Omega’s scheduling conflict with the Capcom Cup 12 esports tournament in Japan.
In the TBS Championship match, Willow Nightingale successfully defended her title against Mina Shirakawa, Megan Bayne, and Marina Shafir.
Other results from the night included Kevin Knight defeating The Beast Mortos with a UFO Splash, Tomohiro Ishii stepping in as a replacement for Roderick Strong to team with Orange Cassidy against Clark Connors and Gabe Kidd, and Jon Moxley defeating Mark Davis in a Continental Championship Eliminator match via Bulldog Choke after Davis injured his hand striking a ring post.
Jamie Hayter and Alex Windsor also made their televised debut as The Brawling Birds, securing a victory over Viva Van and B3CCA.
Despite the internal setbacks, AEW managed to deliver a full broadcast, though reports suggest the behind-the-scenes scrambling was far more dramatic than what viewers saw on television.
