10 Years That Featured The Most 5-Star Match Ratings From Dave Meltzer
One man has stood as a constant authority on the quality of wrestling matches for decades: Dave Meltzer. Although he has had his own fair share of drama with stars like CM Punk, as the founder and editor of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Meltzer has been providing fans with his expert analysis and ratings of wrestling matches for over three decades.
Since 1982, Melzter has awarded 5 stars (or above) to over 220 matches on his famous 5-star scale. Some years have featured many 5-star matches, while others, like in 2001 and 2002, did not receive a single perfect rating from Melzter. This list will examine the 10 years with the most 5-star matches.
10 1987 - 7 Five Stars (Or Above) Rated Matches
1987 was the first year that Dave Meltzer handed out more than five 5-star matches in a single year. Highlights of this year include NWA's The Great American Bash '87 (FL) event featuring the WarGames match between Animal, Dusty Rhodes, Hawk, Nikita Koloff, and Paul Ellering against Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, Ric Flair, The War Machine, and Tully Blanchard. NJPW held Spring Flare Up 1987 - Day 21 featuring Keiji Muto and Shiro Koshinaka winning against Akira Maeda and Nobuhiko Takada in a 5-star match. And Ric Flair defeated Barry Windham in a match on WCW Worldwide.
9 2017 - 10 Five Stars (Or Above) Rated Matches
2017 ended up being the year of Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada. The pair wrestled a 6.25-star and two 6-star matches against each other that year. Tetsuya Naito had three 5-star matches. Will Ospreay received the first 5-star singles match in his career in 2017. Donovan Dijak and Keith Lee battled in a 5-star match in PWG as well.
8 1994 - 10 Five Stars (Or Above) Rated Matches
1994 was the first year that the WWE received a 5-star match from Meltzer. There were actually two 5-star matches awarded to WWE in that year, as Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels received a 5-star rating at WrestleMania X, and Owen and Bret Hart wrestled a 5-star cage match at SummerSlam.
Outside WWE, AAA Wrestling saw future icons receive 5-star matches. Rey Mysterio and Juventud Guerrera competed in a 5-star match. Los Gringos Locos (Art Barr and Eddy Guerrero) battled El Hijo Del Santo and Octagón in a 5-star match at When Worlds Collide.
7 1995 - 11 Five Stars (Or Above) Rated Matches
Rey Mysterio and Psicosis received their second 5-star match for AAA in 1995. No American promotion received 5-star matches and most were abroad in Japan. Manami Toyota was a part of five different 5-star matches for AJPW. It might come as a shock to some that Johnny Ace, also known as John Laurinaitis, has a handful of 5-star matches under his belt. One noteworthy instance took place during a tag team match in 1995, where Ace teamed up with the legendary "Dr. Death" Steve Williams to face off against the formidable duo of Kobashi and Misawa.
6 2020 - 12 Five Stars (Or Above) Rated Matches
2020 saw a pandemic, the rise of AEW, and the start of FTR's reign atop the tag team division. Walter (GUNTHER) battled Ilja Dragunov in a five-star match on NXT UK. Kenny Omega and Adam Page battled The Young Bucks in a 6-star match at AEW Revolution. FTR and The Young Bucks also had a 5.25-star match at AEW. Will Ospreay and Hiromu Takahashi had a 5.5-star match at Wrestle Kingdom 14.
5 1993 - 14 Five Stars (Or Above) Rated Matches
Kenta Kobashi received 23 matches with a 5-star rating or above from Dave Meltzer. In 1993, Kobashi was a part of five matches that received perfect marks from Meltzer. All 14 matches were awarded outside of the United States and other stars who received the distinction in that year include Bull Nakano, Manami Toyota, and Dynamite Kansai.
4 2021 - 20 Five Stars (Or Above) Rated Matches
2021 featured the highest-rated Cage Match of all time by Meltzer. The Young Bucks battled the Lucha Brothers in a steel cage match that was worthy of a 5.75-star rating.
Bryan Danielson and Kenny Omega fulfilled a 5-star dream match on AEW Dynamite. Ilja Dragunov and Walter wrestled a 5-star match on NXT. Will Ospreay battled in four 5-star (or above) matches abroad. Seven of the twenty 5-star matches happened in AEW.
3 2022 - 21 Five Stars (Or Above) Rated Matches
Will Ospreay wrestled in seven 5-star (or above) matches in 2022. That's more 5-star matches than Rey Mysterio, Eddie Guerrero, Kurt Angle, Steve Austin, and Bret Hart received COMBINED. 2022 saw El Hijo del Vikingo battle in two 5-star matches. Cody Rhodes became the first person to receive a 5-star match in the WWE and AEW in the same year.
2 2019 - 21 Five Stars (Or Above) Rated Matches
2019 saw New Japan, WWE, AEW, PWG, and Over The Top Wreslting all feature matches with a 5-star rating (or above). Some of the most highly rated matches include Kenny Omega vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 13, Shingo Takagi vs. Tomohiro Ishii at G1 Climax 29 Night 16, and Kota Ibushi vs. Jay White at G1 Climax 29 Finals. Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano battled each other twice and received perfect marks in both major matches. Kenny Omega and Hiroshi Tanahashi also put on a classic at Wrestle Kingdom 13.
1 2018 - 21 Five Stars (Or Above) Rated Matches
The highest rating Dave Meltzer ever gave a match in wrestling happened in 2018. At NJPW Dominion 6.9 In Osaka-Jo Hall, Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada battled in a 2 Out Of 3 Falls Match. It received a 7-star rating and set a high standard for a big year. Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho battled in a 5-star match at the Tokoyo Dome. At New Japan, Hiroshi Tanahashi competed in five 5-star matches. Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, and Kota Ibushi all battled in 5-star matches in this year as well.
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