The 10 Underrated Stars of WWE and AEW in 2023

As 2023 draws to an end, much will be made of the competitors in both WWE and AEW who helped define the year for those companies and create some of their most unforgettable moments and matches.

In each promotion, there is an entire roster away from the highly touted, most celebrated stars, each brimming with performers who helped make 2023 a standout year in professional wrestling but did not necessarily receive the attention of their peers.

In celebration of their contributions to Raw and SmackDown, or Dynamite and Collision, these are the most underrated stars in pro wrestling's two most prominent promotions.

10. The Creed Brothers

Whether it was as part of NXT or during their call-up to Monday Night Raw, Julius and Brutus Creed spent 2023 impressing fans with their raw power, speed, and athleticism.

The siblings are a badass combo, with Julius giving off Kurt Angle vibes while Brutus is a powerful wrecking ball capable of tossing an opponent across the ring or sailing through the air with a grace not typically meant for guys of his size.

They contributed great matches on NXT, including bangers against Tony D'Angelo and Stacks, and Gallus, before making the jump to the flagship. On the Dec. 18 episode of Raw, they fell just short of dethroning Finn Balor and Damian Priest for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship but along the way, proved they would remain in contention for those titles, and win them, before long.

So good are the brothers, at such an early time in their career, that it is almost easy to forget that they are so relatively new to the industry. It is almost taken for granted, rendering their work underrated by fans who find something new to love about the tandem every time they appear.

9. Skye Blue

Skye Blue is one of those competitors who, if you watch her work back from January, and then follow it up with some of her more recent in-ring exploits, you will see a young competitor that has improved by leaps and bounds over the last 12 months.

A young, happy-to-be-there babyface at the start of the year, her work became crisper but midway through the calendar, she discovered her intensity. Part of that can be attributed to the black mist sprayed on her face by Julia Hart but even before that, her strikes looked better and she found that babyface fire.

Now seemingly aligned with Hart, she is going to end 2023 as a heel presenting her with the challenge of evolving herself even more than she already has.

One of the brightest young stars in the women's division, Blue has a bright future ahead of her, even as she turns to the dark side.

8. Alpha Academy

Chad Gable and Otis easily could have been recognized as one of the top underrated acts of 2022, thanks to their work with the likes of RK-Bro, among others.

In 2023, as babyfaces, they continued to prove an ability to work well with every other team. More importantly, they added a new element to the act in Maxxine Dupri, who shook off relative on-screen inexperience to be a fun new piece of the puzzle and an underdog worth rooting for.

Gable had an unforgettable Intercontinental Championship encounter with Gunther and Otis continued to be one of the most entertaining big men in recent memory. The trio of stars developed into one of the more fun midcard babyfaces acts on the Raw roster en route to another productive year.

7. Shinsuke Nakamura

Shinsuke Nakamura's turn to the dark side in 2023 unleashed a side of him fans of WWE had never seen before. Colder, more calculating, and dangerous, it was a version of the competitor that the audience had never seen before.

Conducting subtitled promos via pre-tape, attacking top babyfaces like Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes, and being presented as their equals rather than the villain of the month, he rose to a level of competition this year that we had not seen since his NXT days.

It was long overdue, too.

As great as he was, and as many championed the change in character, it still felt as though Nakamura slid under the radar more than he should have this year.

Wrapping up 2023 by feuding with Rhodes should help elevate his star entering the new year and, hopefully, further his status as a top contender on Monday nights.

6. Chelsea Green

Chelsea Green reigned as Women's Tag Team Champion over the second half of 2023 and further established herself as one of the stars of the women's division's future, thanks in large part to an enormous personality.

Green has been great as the "Karen" character; a ruthless complainer who rushes to management whenever she doesn't get something she wants. Of course, given her tenuous relationship with Adam Pearce, that rarely helps, but she is damn entertaining along the way.

Together, she and Sonya Deville, then Piper Niven, brought a consistent heel presence to the tag division and more importantly, a consistency it badly needed after fans and wrestlers alike joked about the titles being cursed, thanks to the injuries suffered by competitors holding the gold.

A quality worker who has the personality to succeed in wrestling's most prominent company, it is not a stretch in the slightest to imagine her holding a singles title in WWE by the time next December rolls around.

5. Toni Storm

Toni Storm's evolution from single competitor to one-third of the doomed Outcast trio and, finally, to the delightfully absurd "Timeless" throwback certainly made 2023 an interesting year to say the least.

The Aussie's ability to adapt after the mess that was her partnership with Ruby Soho and Saraya, and develop into this 1940s-era film star who is so over the top that the screen turns a dramatic black and white whenever she arrives, has been nothing short of extraordinary.

When you add to those two reigns as women's champions, it is difficult to deny her claim to the status of MVP of the AEW Women's Division.

Even with increased television time by way of pretaped vignettes, and the titles she has won, she still feels underrated.

Hopefully, she has the opportunity to continue evolving the "Timeless" character because it is hella original and boatloads of fun. More importantly, one can only hope that it does not overshadow her ability to highlight her skills between the ring because when left to perform between the ropes, Storm has already proven that she is one of the best in the company.

4. Orange Cassidy

Orange Cassidy is one of two potentially controversial entries on this list, if only because of the sheer amount of television time he received this past year.

As the AEW International Champion, he appeared on Dynamite or Rampage nearly every week, defending his title, and therein lies why he is on this list.

Cassidy was a workhorse for the company, working 61 matches in 2023 and winning 53 of them. Along the way, he told the story of a character beaten down, his body gradually failing him amid injuries, before finally dropping the championship to Jon Moxley in the main event of All Out.

By year's end, he regained the goal by defeating Rey Fenix and avenged the loss to Moxley by beating him at Full Gear.

A guy who proved he was more than a comedy act outwrestling opponents of all styles and backgrounds, Cassidy was a legitimate unsung hero for AEW and a guy who should absolutely earn Wrestler of the Year consideration.

3. Athena

Athena became the first women to compete in the main event of consecutive Ring of Honor shows as the brand's women's champion and, in many ways, its face.

The hard-hitting, ruthlessly aggressive competitor not only starred in the ring but also flexed her character muscles this year as the merciless trainer of minion Billie Starkz.

Whether she was participating in segments with Starkz and bestie Lexy Nair, defending her title against competitors such as Allysin Kay or Willow Nightingale, or embracing her star pupil after the ROH Final Battle pay-per-view, few stars in either company performed at as high a level, or as consistently, as Athena.

She earned her placement here. Now, it will be interesting to see how soon and what impact Athena will have moving forward.

And how long it will take Tony Khan to get her on AEW TV and contribute as much as she did for ROH this year.

2. The Miz

There are few professional wrestlers alive today who can host a talk show, host WrestleMania, take an improvisational People's Elbow from Snoop Dogg, and still have enough credibility left after a year of losing, to get the fans behind him for a high-stakes Intercontinental Championship match against the seemingly unstoppable Gunther.

The Miz is one of them.

Maybe the only one.

A one-of-a-kind performer who can enrage an audience simply by raising his hand, he is also talented enough to play the role of the unlikely underdog who fights from underneath and battles against adversity.

More importantly, he can transition from one to the other seamlessly, making him an invaluable asset to WWE's creative efforts.

He has done it for so long, though, that fans have almost forgotten how good he is. Sure, they'll sit up and take notice when he has a great match with Gunther, or cuts an impassioned promo, but they move on quickly.

Miz has earned better than that. He is one character who has put in the work and does deserve your attention and admiration.

Not only is the Hollywood A-Lister one of the most underrated of 2023, but he may very well be the most underrated WWE Superstar to lace a pair of boots when all is said and done, and that is not hyperbole.

That. Is. Awwwwweeesome.

1. The Judgment Day

Like Cassidy, The Judgment Day may be a tad controversial given the immense amount of television time they received, but there is no denying that the faction put in the work in 2023.

Damian Priest, Finn Balor, Dominik Mysterio, and Rhea Ripley's stock rose exponentially this year, with their roles increasing on Monday nights with every passing week until they were routinely working with main event stars like Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, Jey Uso, Sami Zayn, and Kevin Owens.

Were they a wee bit overexposed come November? Sure, but that was bound to happen on a three-hour show.

Were they underrated by fans based on their contributions, not to mention overshadowed by the megastars they shared the screen with? Absolutely.

Individually, they had stellar years in their own right.

Priest worked a Match of the Year candidate against Bad Bunny in San Juan, Puerto Rico at Backlash before winning Money in the Bank. Balor was the glue that held the group together and the most unsung of the competitors, his selflessness given his stature applaudable. Ripley was in one of the best matches of 2023 against Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania, in which she won the Women's World Championship, and her presence as the leader of Judgment Day elevated both her own star as well as the credibility and legitimacy of the faction.

Then there was Mysterio, whose in-ring work improved with every week and whose venomous reaction from fans never waned. He was the most hated man on WWE programming all year and relished it, growing into his role as a performer and playing off Ripley extremely well.

When fans see someone so often or become conditioned to expect them, it is almost easy to forget how good they are or to take into consideration their body of work. Judgment Day was extremely important to Raw in 2023, not only as in-ring competitors but as the perfect heel counterparts to the more celebrated babyfaces they battled.

They earned their flowers this year and, while 2024 will hopefully bring a new layer to the group or storyline development if nothing else, they rise above all others to claim this spot.