The Inner Circle's Jake Hager has emerged as the next challenger for the TNT Championship.
Cody Rhodes faced Private Party's Marq Quen in the main event of AEW Dynamite this week, and (unsurprisingly) retained the title after debuting a new leg-lock submission move. After the match, Hager made his way to the ring and put his hands on Arn Anderson, prompting Cody to attack. The MMA fighter was able to shrug off The American Nightmare's offence, however, and only relented when Private Party returned to the ring with Matt Hardy and a couple of steel chairs.
When Hager's backup arrived in the form of Santana and Ortiz and Sammy Guevara, a brawl ensued that was only broken up when AEW officials ran to the ring. Cody then grabbed the mic and told Hager he could have a title shot at Fyter Fest.
While this will no doubt be a terrific match, AEW needs to be careful not to diminish Hager's credibility with another clean loss after he already failed to defeat Jon Moxley for the AEW Championship. There's a chance he could win the title, of course, but something tells us Cody is going to hold on to the gold for a good while longer.