Cody Rhodes and WWE's, AEW's Early Winners and Losers of 2023

It is still very early on in 2023, but in WWE and All Elite Wrestling, there are indisputably stars who have emerged as winners and losers thus far.

Cody Rhodes is one of them: an industry giant and revolutionary star whose journey to WrestleMania 39 dominated headlines in WWE.

As, too, did his loss to Roman Reigns and his failure to finish his story.

Does that necessarily make Rhodes a loser, though? Or is does he top the list of winners through the first three-plus months of the year?

Find out which side of the argument The American Nightmare lands and who joins him with this look back at some of the top (and not so much) stars of WWE and AEW in early 2023.

Winner: Cody Rhodes (WWE)

Cody Rhodes may be coming off a controversial loss in the main event of WrestleMania 39 but that does not make him a loser, especially when so much of WWE's creative focus was on The American Nightmare during the lead-in to the event.

Undeniably the top babyface in the company, he has developed an enormous fan following in the company.

Sure, it would have made for an unforgettable moment in Los Angeles had WWE gone ahead with the title change and finished Rhodes' story, but it also would have limited where he could go from there. Now, he has a redemption story that fans can follow and invest in for the next six-to-12 months before he finally does what most expected him to do this year: dethrone The Tribal Chief and take the top prize in the industry.

That story begins with battling Brock Lesnar, a match that appears poised to take place in Puerto Rico at Backlash, a sure-fire main event that keeps the second-generation star at the top of the card even without the championship.

It may be easy, and somewhat understandable, to look exclusively at the WrestleMania main event and classify Rhodes as a loser because he was, as some believe, "let down" by the creative powers that be.

We are about to find out, though, that Rhodes is going to remain a focal point as WWE's top babyface and one of the characters around whom entire story arcs are built, proving that notion incorrect.

Loser: Finn Balor

Finn Balor may be the leader of The Judgment Day, but his booking far from reflects it.

At Elimination Chamber in Montreal, he and Rhea Ripley lost a Mixed Tag Team Match to Edge and Beth Phoenix when he ate the pinfall. At WrestleMania, he paid off his months-long feud with The Rated R Superstar by breaking out The Demon persona and...losing.

Balor is one of the most influential professional wrestlers of the last 20 years and a future Hall of Famer, and it continuously seems as though the only people who do not know it are the ones with creative power.

The Demon is a genuine attraction: a persona that is only dusted off for the biggest of matches and moments. It also once carried an aura of an unbeatable force. Then Roman Reigns conquered it in a controversial fashion at Extreme Rules 2021, and Edge defeated it clean and in the center of the ring at WrestleMania.

Balor appears to be playing second or third fiddle to Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley, looking like a leader without a role. That has to change. Given Triple H's relationship with the Irishman dating back to NXT, it is somewhat surprising that it has not already.

Some will point to the high-profile Hell in a Cell match on the grand stage as proof that Balor is valued, but until he is allowed to win big-time matches in big-time situations, he will be little more than a heel foil for the more prominently featured babyface to overcome.

He is better than that and, more importantly, has earned better than that.

Winner: Kenny Omega

After spending most of his comeback in the trios division working alongside The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega is again in a place of prominence in AEW.

It started with a show-stealer against El Hijo del Vikingo, continued with a successful IWGP United States Championship defense against Jeff Cobb and is moving forward, with his allegiances to The Elite and Don Callis about to be front and center.

Callis has been a master manipulator, attempting to keep Omega focused on singles action and reclaiming his spot at the top of the company, while Omega has been preoccupied with the well-being of The Young Bucks and a potential reunion with Hangman Page.

AEW has gone all-in, pun intended, on refocusing its creative efforts on Omega and ensuring that one of its top stars is treated as such.

That bodes well for Omega and, according to the reaction to what he has been involved with over the last two months or so, for the company as well.

While it appears as though Omega is going to be kept busy in the immediate future with a war between The Elite and Blackpool Combat Club at Double or Nothing on May 28 in Las Vegas, fans should not count out the possibility of a showdown with MJF over the AEW World Championship that would be one of the biggest one-on-one matches the company could present.

Loser: Swerve Strickland

Things finally started to look up for Swerve Strickland on Friday night's Rampage with the announcement that he had merged Mogul Affiliates with Ring of Honor's The Embassy, but that does not make up for what had been a disappointing 2023 for the talented former tag champion.

Strickland developed into one of the best and most engaging performers in AEW, especially as his partnership with Keith Lee disintegrated. The introduction of his Mogul Affiliates faction appeared to be his ticket up the card, but injuries to Parker Boudreux and Trench left the group off television and Strickland without any showcase for his talents.

That is not at all where you want a guy who was beginning to build momentum and establishing himself as a top-tier heel entering the new year.

Strickland is good enough to overcome the issues that have presented themselves in his pursuit of singles stardom in AEW, and it appears as though Tony Khan has reinvested in him.

Now, it will be up to Khan to put forth the effort to make sure he stays consistently featured on AEW television and does not fall into the background.

Winners: Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens

Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens are the perennial underdogs in professional wrestling. Their look, size and background were not at all representative of the kind of wrestlers who have succeeded in WWE, but there they were throughout the first quarter of 2023, thriving as top babyfaces.

Their journey together culminated at WrestleMania 39 with them doing as they promised and dealing a blow to The Bloodline by defeating The Usos for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship.

It was a defining moment for both men and the culmination of the best storyline in professional wrestling, fueled by Zayn's commitment to his character, the work of those in The Bloodline and the long-established friendship between the former indie darlings.

They will enter the spring and summer months as champions, riding the greatest momentum of their careers. Where that takes them remains to be seen, but if the creative leading into (and coming out of) WrestleMania is any indication, they figure to be at the center of Triple H's creative direction.

And rightfully so, as the response to their victory at WrestleMania was reflective of two guys the fans care about and genuinely want to follow.