AEW Dynamite Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights from July 22

All Elite Wrestling returned to holding a regular episode of Dynamite this week after the last three Wednesday's featured special shows for Fyter Fest and Fight for the Fallen.

Cody Rhodes looked to continue his reign as the TNT champion with another open challenge this week, but the longer he goes, the harder it will be for him to keep up this pace.

AEW hyped several segments ahead of Wednesday's show, including an appearance from Brian Cage and Taz, a match featuring MJF, a tag bout between Jurassic Express and The Inner Circle's Chris Jericho and Jake Hager, and The Young Bucks vs. The Butcher and The Blade.

Let's take a look at everything that happened on this week's episode of AEW Dynamite.

AEW wasted no time getting to the action. Cody was already in the ring with Arn Anderson for his open-challenge TNT Championship match. His mystery opponent was Eddie Kingston.

The indie veteran gave a passionate promo before the match talking about how much he has had to work to get to where he is. He made a few threats to Anderson and challenged Cody to make this a no-disqualification match. The champ agreed.

Kingston attacked him as the bell rang and immediately took him out of the ring to deliver a series of chops. Cody fired back and eventually hit the Disaster Kick followed by a suicide dive.

The challenger appeared to twist his knee early in the match and began to favor it after hitting a side suplex. If it wasn't planned, they did a good job making it part of the story.

Cody began focusing on his knee, but Kingston used a low blow to keep him at bay. He powerbombed the champ into a pile of thumbtacks. The American Nightmare fought back and got the win with a Figure-Four.

Grade: B

Analysis

Starting the night with the TNT title match was smart. It was chaotic and gave Kingston more national exposure than he has ever had before.

The smashmouth style of Kingston was a nice change of pace from the other challengers Cody has faced in recent weeks who favored high-flying or technical offense.

This was a solid match, but it fell a little short of some of Cody's other recent encounters. It was more hardcore, but that doesn't always make things better. It was nice to see Kingston get an opportunity like this.

MJF faced a jobber by the name of Griff Garrison. The Salt of the Earth gave him a few seconds to talk and mocked him several times.

After being reminded of his loss at Fyter Fest, MJF attacked him with the microphone. The ref called for the bell, and the holder of the Dynamite Diamond Ring started beating his opponent down.

After a commercial break, MJF grabbed the mic and reminded everyone that he has never been pinned or submitted. He forced his opponent to say he was undefeated, and it almost led to Garrison rolling him up for the win.

MJF quickly finished him off with his finisher to make sure he didn't lose again.

Grade: C+

Analysis

MJF is one of the biggest heels in the company. Facing enhancement talent should be what management does to get Wardlow over, not somebody who is already over.

Garrison seemed nervous but played his part well. He took a beating and made his opponent look good in the process. That is all a jobber has to do.

This was top-notch heel work from MJF, but as far as the actual match is concerned, it was a typical squash.

This Falls Count Anywhere match began backstage in a kitchen area. The Bucks found The Butcher and The Blade handling some raw beef for some reason.

Nick and Matt Jackson went right after them, but the brawlers took control using the environment to their advantage. They fought into the parking lot, and Matt ended up being thrown into the back of a production truck.

From that point forward, this match was a series of spots using different weapons and parts of the building. They made it all the way to the ring and used some tables and chairs as part of their offense.

The Butcher drove Matt through a table, but before he could capitalize, Nick hit him in the face with a steel chair. This allowed The Young Bucks to use some of their trademark tag team combos.

Nick and Matt jumped off the stage to put both opponents through tables and get the pin at the same time.

Grade: B-

Analysis

There was a lot to like about this match, but it lacked any kind of cohesive story. We knew why they were fighting, but the fight itself felt a little too choreographed.

People were visibly waiting for the next spot sometimes, and they seemed more concerned with how many objects they could use than with winning.

The match got better as they worked their way to the ring and began using more traditional weapons. The Butcher and The Blade looked great against one of the top tag teams in the business, but there were a few times when it would have made sense to go for the cover, and they just ignored it.

The match earned a decent grade for the creative offense but suffered a bit from a lack of logic at times.

Diamante has only had a handful of appearances in AEW, so this was a big opportunity for her to get some exposure. Ivelisse was making her debut in this bout.

The former Tough Enough competitor attacked Diamante before the bell, but she wasn't able to keep the upper hand for long.

Most of their offense was made up of strikes. There wasn't much in the way of technical wrestling, but that is not always a bad thing if the strikes look good.

Diamante scored the win to continue her recent winning streak.

Grade: C

Analysis

It's great to see AEW adding more women to the division, but we are going to need to get to know these wrestlers a little more before any of them get a title shot.

This is where a couple of video packages would be useful. Unless you have followed both of these women before AEW, you might not have any idea who they are, and that could lead to people switching the channel to see what NXT is up to.

This was a physical matchup that showed off how tough both competitors are, but it only scratched the surface of what they are capable of.

Alan Angels of The Dark Order was out after the break to take on one-half of the AEW tag team champions, Adam Page.

The Hangman ducked a roundhouse kick and almost looked impressed before he decked the man known as 5 right in the face. The rest of The Dark Order showed up on the stage minus Brodie Lee as the show went to a commercial.

Angels was able to get in a few moves before Page hit a fallaway slam and a running elbow to regain the upper hand. He finished off the masked man with a powerbomb into a matchbook cover.

Lee and Colt Cabana joined the rest of the group on the stage. They offered him a spot in The Dark Order and promised never to leave him alone like his tag team partner. Page turned down the offer, and it led to a huge fight. FTR and Kenny Omega showed up to clear the ring.

Grade: C

Analysis

This was an easy win for Page and more of an excuse for him to show off than anything else. Angels barely got in any offense at all.

There wasn't much in the way of storyline behind this bout, but it looks like The Dark Order may have its sights set on recruiting The Hangman or going after the tag titles. It will be interesting to see where this goes in the coming weeks.

The main event of the night featured The Inner Circle's Jericho and Hager taking on Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy in tag team action. Jericho was wearing the same jacket Orange Cassidy ruined last week.

Hager and Luchasaurus began for their teams with an exchange of lefts and rights. The undefeated MMA fighter managed to take control with some help from the former Le Champion.

Jungle Boy and Jericho picked up the pace when it was their turn in the ring. Marko Stunt, Santana and Ortiz got involved, but it didn't do much to affect the match until later.

As time went on, Jericho and Hager looked more and more dominant as Jungle Boy expertly played the underdog. A hot tag to Luchasaurus saved the match for Jurassic Express.

With a little help from Santana and Ortiz, Jericho was able to hit the Codebreaker on Luchasaurus for the win. Sammy Guevara returned from suspension to help The Inner Circle, but Best Friends and Orange Cassidy came out to even the odds.

Grade: B+

Analysis

The early exchange between Hager and Luchasaurus was a great hoss fight that helped get the match off to a good start. Hager looked especially impressive with his quickness.

Jungle Boy and Jericho continued their previous feud during this bout. The former AEW champion always does a great job making young talent look good, and this was no exception.

While the outside interference made sense, it happened one too many times. Thankfully, it was part of a bigger storyline that will play out next week.