WWE and AEW's Early Winners and Losers of 2022

As the wrestling world prepares for the always busy WrestleMania season, fans who watch WWE and All Elite Wrestling are already starting to notice the performers in each company that are the year's early winners and losers.

While some performers have started the year tearing up the top shows on each brand, other fan-favorites have been booked poorly or relegated to secondary segments. All hope is not lost, but a rough start to the year will force them to dig out of a hole.

Here are the wrestlers who have shined bright and fallen short to start 2022.

     

WWE Winner – Brock Lesnar

Even more so than Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar is WWE's biggest winner of 2022 so far thanks to his monumental win at the Royal Rumble and his championship victory at Elimination Chamber last month.

In addition to all of his victories so far this year—including a big moment at Madison Square Garden—Lesnar is set to main event Night 2 of WWE's biggest event of the year, WrestleMania 38.

While the odds are likely that Reigns is the one who walks out of Dallas as the unified champion, the fact that Lesnar has dominated everything put in front of him should mean that he is the one to dethrone the Tribal Chief.

Win or lose, though, Lesnar is WWE's biggest winner so far in 2022.

     

WWE Loser – The New Day

The New Day is still one of the most entertaining parts of any episode of WWE TV, but the booking of the trio and some bad luck has resulted in a terrible start to the year for Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods.

The issues started at the Day 1 pay-per-view, where Big E was forced to drop the WWE Championship in an unceremonious fashion. Shortly after, King Woods was injured and has been out of action ever since.

At the Royal Rumble, instead of booking Big E to win, Lesnar stole the show, and Kofi's annual elimination spot was ruined. The company followed it up by putting Kingston and Big E together as a tag team again and forcing them into secondary feuds.

Add in Big E's broken neck on SmackDown, and the New Day is the most mistreated and unlucky group in all of wrestling this year.

     

AEW Winner – Jade Cargill

In AEW, there has been no performer booked as strongly over the last three months as TBS champion Jade Cargill. With a 7-0 record and five consecutive title defenses, her success is undeniable.

Cargill won the championship on January 5 in a stellar match against Ruby Soho and went on to successfully defend it against the likes of Anna Jay and Tay Conti. With true star power oozing from her pores, the 29-year-old is one of AEW's biggest stars already.

With PPV wins stacking up and a long-term title reign underway, the key for Tony Khan will be to continue lining up tough challengers who can help Cargill look strong. If they can keep up her momentum, the TBS champion should become the crossover star the company needs.

     

AEW Loser – FTR

Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood are two of the best tag team wrestlers in the world, but they have been an afterthought for much of 2022 because of the abundance of talent and depth in the tag team division.

The duo has been in four televised matches this year, losing in two multi-man bouts and taking the loss to the combination of Jon Moxley and CM Punk. The only victory came against Brock Anderson and Lee Johnson in January.

With the duo dumping Tully Blanchard as their manager, the team has hit rock bottom.

All is not lost, though, as there are rumors that Wheeler and Harwood could find themselves with wrestling legend Bret Hart as their manager. If that's the case, the second quarter of 2022 could be FTR's re-ascension to the main event scene.

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