Matt Hardy picks WWE star as Babyface of the Year ahead of AEW's MJF
Matt Hardy recently named his 2023 Babyface of the Year in the wrestling business. Although he has nothing but praise for MJF, the AEW star believes Cody Rhodes was the bigger fan favorite over the last 12 months.
Rhodes began the year by returning from injury to win the 2023 Men's Royal Rumble match. The 38-year-old went on to unsuccessfully challenge Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 39. He also recorded a statement-making win over Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam.
On The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, Hardy selected Rhodes as the top babyface in wrestling ahead of AEW World Champion MJF:
"MJF, once again, honorable shoutout, but I think at the end of the day I'm still gonna go with Cody as being the best babyface in wrestling even though he didn't, unfortunately, win the title at WrestleMania. He had an amazing year as a top babyface in WWE." [54:56 – 55:12]
Rhodes is currently feuding with Shinsuke Nakamura on RAW. On January 27, 2024, he will attempt to win back-to-back Royal Rumble matches to book his spot in a second successive WrestleMania main event.
Matt Hardy names other worthy Babyfaces of the Year
In AEW, Hangman Adam Page has been one of the top fan favorites throughout 2023, alongside Adam Cole and MJF.
Matt Hardy believes Page and RAW star Jey Uso are also candidates to be the most popular good guys in wrestling right now:
"It's unthinkable almost that MJF became such a beloved babyface during his time here, so hats off to MJF for doing such great work. I'm a fan of what Hangman Adam Page is doing right now, actually. I thought the stuff that he did with Swerve [Strickland], I thought that made him a great babyface in many ways. I think you gotta have Jey Uso in that conversation. You have to have Cody Rhodes in that conversation." [52:06 – 52:39]
In the same episode, Hardy revealed which male superstar he selected as the WWE Wrestler of the Year.
Do you think Cody Rhodes is the 2023 Babyface of the Year? Let us know in the comments section below.
Please credit The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.