Unlocking characters through the campaign only unlocks them in the campaign mode. Outside of it they are all ready to go. If you hate the campaign mode so much, theres no reason to force yourself to play it. Hell, you can even earn money in basically any other mode of play.

On that note, I've done decently with both Lili and Dragonov online. Won a few matches, lost a few. More so then what I won saddly.