Cody Rhodes wins major award outside of WWE

Cody Rhodes dominated WWE throughout 2023 and has now closed the year with a major achievement from outside of the company.

The American Nightmare kicked off the year by returning from an eight-month absence to win the Royal Rumble. He then headlined WrestleMania 39 but came up short against Roman Reigns with the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship on the line.

Rhodes' 2023 has included significant wins over Finn Balor and Brock Lesnar, among others. He held the Undisputed Tag Team Championship once with Jey Uso and led his team to a WarGames win.

The former AEW star has just been named ESPN's Male Wrestler of the Year for 2023. ESPN uses a 17-person panel of voters for their annual pro wrestling awards. Sportswriter Greg Wyshynski, who is also on the panel, looked at Cody's feuds, accolades, and storylines from the past year and gave a preview of his 2024.

"Rhodes was the pivot point for the WWE's biggest storylines of 2023, the company's biggest face and a heck of a worker in the ring. Looming on the horizon: another (potentially final) showdown with Reigns to give the fans, and the Rhodes family, the catharsis they want. There will be plenty to talk about in 2024," wrote Wyshynski.

Rhodes is currently feuding with Shinsuke Nakamura, who he defeated by DQ on the December 11 episode of RAW. The 38-year-old future WWE Hall of Famer has already announced his spot for the 2024 Men's Royal Rumble Match.

WWE and AEW stars in three-way tie for Male Wrestler of the Year Runner-Up

Cody Rhodes was named the Male Wrestler of the Year by ESPN, but there was a three-way tie for the runners-up.

Roman Reigns represented WWE in the runner-up tie, while MJF and Will Ospreay represented AEW.

The Tribal Chief continued his historical reign as Undisputed WWE Universal Champion in 2023. He only worked eleven matches this year, and suffered two losses, but both were tag team matches. Reigns had 2023 victories over Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn twice, Cody Rhodes, Rey Mysterio twice, Jey Uso, and LA Knight.

The Salt of The Earth captured the AEW World Championship at Full Gear 2022 and held the title through this year with wins over Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole, Samoa Joe, Kenny Omega, and others. MJF held the Dynamite Diamond Ring for the fifth consecutive year and won the ROH World Tag Team Championship with Adam Cole.

The Commonwealth Kingpin was on the NJPW roster for most of 2023 but signed a full-time deal with AEW to begin in 2024. Ospreay's year included matches with NJPW, AEW, ROH, Impact, RevPro, PROGRESS, and others. He dropped the IWGP United States Championship to Kenny Omega, but won it back six months later.

What do you think of Cody Rhodes' 2023? Who had the better year - Roman Reigns, MJF, or Will Ospreay? Sound off in the comments below!