6 huge Superstars WWE lost to their competition 

#1 Cody Rhodes

Cody is one of the stars behind AEW, a new promotion that already has huge names attached.

In May 2016, Cody Rhodes felt his role as Stardust was going nowhere, and pitched having Stardust and the Cody Rhodes character be portrayed simultaneously.

After being denied, Rhodes requested his release and was granted it on May 21st.

Hoping to prove his value elsewhere, Cody took a ton of independent bookings, quickly becoming one of the most popular stars on the scene. His break-out role has been joining the Bullet Club, and has represented the elite group in promotions such as Ring of Honor and New Japan.

The former Intercontinental Champion has even hosted his own show, ALL IN, which he co-organised with The Young Bucks.

ALL IN was the biggest independent show of all time, selling out a major arena in Chicago, Illinois, and drawing a very substantial pay per view audience.

At the show, Cody won the NWA Heavyweight Championship from Nick Aldis, the same title his legendary father, the American Dream Dusty Rhodes won over 30 years ago.

Even though Cody and co probably aren’t, and won’t become a meaningful competition to WWE, the company surely would prefer having Rhodes work for them, or at least, not working against them.