The True Story of Dave Meltzer’s 5-Star Wrestling Matches

[@broceratops1337]

I really hope this isn't taken as a backhand compliment. Jack, the past year or so you've been on a tear as a presenter and writer. From your video essays that are all over Cultaholic and your on screen charisma has been just A+. Been following the group since the what culture days and I'm really impressed with how much more confident, charismatic, and comfortable you have become. It shows brother 🎉 keep kicking ass and best of luck to everyone at cultaholic. 👏

[@Guysmith7]

Yeah it's been so cool to see them go from passionate fans a having a go to genuinely polished broadcasters!

[@paulsletten8985]

I will agree.

[@jonesjones3678]

Yep, from annoying to admirable.

[@brandongordon2392]

That ain’t backhand.. you are right, he has grown so damn much

[@shootboxpodcast]

Jack's a true main eventer these days!

[@Ippydon]

So if Flair Steamboat was worth 10 and a quarter stars, and Wikipedia has it down as 6 stars, and the Philadelphia match was 4 and three quarter stars, what percentage chance has Samoa Joe got of beating Scott Steiner, if Kurt Angle doesn't even try?

[@Kurze1988]

Ask Professor Pump I'm sure he will calmly walk you through the odds

[@JoKu2311]

Eversince the 5* line was overstepped it just seems completely random. I‘m not following the ratings too much but back when I was younger, a match getting 5* was a big deal. Nowadays, you look at the ratings and think "ah there‘s another 5.75* match".

[@Brahasol2408]

Same here. I only think it feels more interesting when wwe gets one these days.

[@bobsucks9647]

True but to be fair the workrate nowadays is leagues ahead of what it used to be.

[@mattloveskelly1]

When I found out Kurt Angle has 0 5* matches I never cared about them.

[@JoKu2311]

@@bobsucks9647 that’s a fair point. On the one hand, it rewards the extremely good matches we have nowadays which is a good thing. On the other hand, old classics are kind of dragged down a bit and lose a bit of their status by now "only" being 5*. It’s a double-edged sword but it’s a matter of opinions and in the end it’s just a rating from someone. Anybody can have their own ratings and your own opinion should be the only one that matters to you in this regard anyway.

[@artirony410]

the 5 star line was passed in 1989 when he gave Flair vs Steamboat 6 stars

[@DanParker933]

The greatest travesty to ever come from Uncle Dave's rating system is that Undertaker vs Michaels at Mania never got 5 stars

[@Bigunk-hc2ri]

25 or 26? Hell both deserved it

[@DanParker933]

@@Bigunk-hc2ri I prefer the first but that’s literally only because we’d seen it before the second time around; honestly the first match and Savage vs Steamboat are my top two favourite matches ever

[@BiG-JuPO1O1]

Ikr it reached at the standards Dave wanted for a five star match.

[@Bigunk-hc2ri]

@@BiG-JuPO1O1 then you see some of the ones since he’s given 5* to like the parking lot brawl on dynamite?

[@ferox965]

Not enough flippy shit.

[@SajoMt]

wrestling fans: Meltzer's rating dont matter! also wrestling fans: how could meltzer not give my favourite wrestler 5 stars????

[@CulEdz]

I think people say that more to ridicule the star ratings. “How is Adam Cole and The Bucks vs Christian Cage and Jurassic Express 5 stars but Taker vs HBK at WM 25 isn’t?” Ya feel me? 😅

[@theazureknight9399]

They really don't matter, but a huge portion of the internet wrestling community sees his newsletter as gospel. Be it the match reviews or his "insider scoops", many people think that Uncle Dave is never wrong about anything. That's why we mock him and those people so much. It's not just him either, all the dirtsheets are nothing but unfunny parodies of real reputable news sources. They're wrestling tabloids.

[@HEagle72]

Wresting fans are really...really stupid dude. There's a reason Vince McMahon became a billionaire off of them despite his show sucking for 30 years and them hate watching.

[@charlesbaker7505]

@@HEagle72 but it didn’t suck for 30 years though, that’s why most peoples memories of wrestling and the existence of the casual fan is off the back of Vince McMahons shows

[@GinkgoPete]

@@charlesbaker7505 it only sucked for like 10-15 years

[@nolilado5452]

Was at least hoping Norman Dooley being mentioned as Meltzer's inspiration for the Wrestling observer somewhere in the video.

[@Kev54Kev]

Good Work! I really enjoyed the Video. I think the reason why there are so few 5 Star Matches in the 2000s is, that Meltzer covered more MMA at that time.

[@AlexTheRed1985]

I would rate this video 6 stars, but it wasn’t made in the Tokyo Dome. So 5 stars!

[@undertakernumberone1]

4.5 Stars, you mean. *looks at WM Taker VS Michaels*

[@undertakernumberone1]

@@XXX_XI_MM Both 4 3/4

[@Rando1975]

Ok Bruce. 😉

[@grimbelfix2648]

I use Meltzer‘s ratings like i use movie reviews, when i see that a match got a good rating i put it on my watchlist and check it out later, people getting up in arms about his ratings is one of the silliest things in wrestling and that covers a lot of ground.

[@noelchristian8373]

He barely give any 5 stars to WWE. Even they had dozens.

[@Falconesports2025]

Same I don’t think I can bring up a time where I saw a high rated match and it flat out sucked, if anything Meltzer has been stingy with the stars and that’s fine.

[@duckmercy11]

​@@noelchristian8373 5 stars in WWE = 4.5 stars in NJPW.

[@Soydegoat]

​@@noelchristian8373 wwe matches are mid compared to njpw

[@matthewevans3543]

Dave is secretly a closest otaku, that's the only way to explain his love for Japanese Wrestling

[@Loganedward29]

Japan wrestling for a long time was putting on better stuff. We remember the big matches over here like taker and Shawn but the stuff in Japan was riding high each night. The rise of the bullet club basically was incredible and the matches we got from it have been among the best.

[@wrestlingislife3861]

I mean let's be honest, Japanese wrestling was decades ahead even in the 90s like the Misawa kobashi 1999 one and Misawa Kawada 1994. WWE even till this date has nothing that matches such classics

[@bernarddoherty2303]

I think it's a combination of it actually being good and him trying to draw attention to it in America

[@nathanglennie]

Nah I used to think this way but since I got into NJPW and went back to watch the classic they’re just way better.

[@yachtysworld]

​@@wrestlingislife3861lol come on WWE has countless most memorable and classic matches compared to jap wrestling. This is just weeb talk.

[@michaelreich4827]

it's easy to see why there are so many 5+* matches from the 90s on... The access to match tapes became more prevalent. The internet also made it easier to instantly tell people "Hey! check out this match!"

[@Herbert_Rudolf]

Not really. Because you forget that the 2000s almost had no five star Matches

[@KingYahshua]

If it weren’t for Meltzer shedding light on Okada and Omega’s feud in NJPW, I wouldn’t have gotten back into wrestling in 2017. People do give journalists too much flack and forget that we are all autonomous individuals with our own different sensitivities and subjective logics. I’m just glad to have discovered and learned so much about wrestling history through a guy who has basically dedicated his whole entire life to documenting the industry. Align with their opinions or not, Meltzer and Cornette deserve at least a little admiration. Like the vid said, people hate to be told what to think and journalists are always the scapegoats against the folks who refuse to do their own critical thinking 🤷‍♂️

[@niteporter]

Misawa ..... what a great worker. If you've never seen his matches. Watch his 90s work. You'll be thanking me

[@CobaltT9]

It would've been great if you briefly mentioned that Disgraced Johnny Ace has *TWO* five star matches in his career. Otherwise, an amazing video as always, Jack.

[@nothingmusic42]

Jonny Ace has 2, Kurt Angel has zero. and that's why i take Meltzer with a grain of salt.

[@starrcade6709]

Every five star match or even every acclaimed match Johnny Ace was apart of, he was surrounded with some highly talented stars. Two of his five star matches were tag matches where he was teaming with Steve Williams fighting Misawa and Kenta and the second was against Misawa and Akiyama. A ton of his greatest matches all featured a Pillar or tag with Williams.

[@Bigunk-hc2ri]

I saw one match he tagged in once

[@djpaul8705]

John Ace is a disgrace?

[@CobaltT9]

@@djpaul8705 His association with Vince during that publicized scandal a few months ago is the reason for that title.

[@Brando-Lee3725]

Cornette and Weasel Dooley actually invented it . Its ironic now Jim and Dave have fallen out . Meltzer DID turn me on to some stuff in Japan i was only vaguely familiar with in 90 or 91 . NJPW i knew enough to keep up with a bit . But the AJPW stuff blew me away when i finally got my hands on some tapes of the matches he raved about . IDC ! He was right on a LOT of those 90s AJPW matches ! I still watch those all the time . They dont get old to me and stand the test of time !

[@Herbert_Rudolf]

Its also interesting that it seems like Cornette and Meltzer who have been Friends have COMPLETLY different taste in Matches

[@Kr4ShSkeL]

And weasel dooley already broke the 5 stars scale in the 80's, but Cornette is mad at Meltzer for doing the same thing

[@Brando-Lee3725]

@@Kr4ShSkeL True . But they never took it as seriously as Dave ! It was just for fun .

[@Kr4ShSkeL]

@@Brando-Lee3725 did you watch the video ? He doesn't take it seriously either, it's just a dude giving his opinion on matches The fans take it too seriously

[@kidfurygoku7280]

Honestly I’ll look at Dave Ratings for me to what match I should watch and his ratings did get me into Japanese wrestling

[@Tormund_Giantsbrain]

danielson didn't have 5 star matches because meltzer wasn't giving 5 stars in the 2000s because of WWE monopolization and Danielson wasted the 2010s doing cartoon stuff in wwe. on the other hand Meltzer gave Danielson "WON Technical Wrestler of the Year award" so many times that the award is literally named after Danielson. So Meltzer wasn't all that off.

[@andreafresca9869]

People give more importance to the ratings than dave himself does these days It's just not that serious if a match has 4.5 stars instead of 5 for example, it still means it's a kickass match that you should check out if you didn't see it live That's how i use them

[@Matt-cr4vv]

It’s less so that people find them important. More so that non-Meltzer fans get annoyed by them because a niche audience segment browbeats people using his ratings to back it. Ex: The Bucks and Kenny largely entered the talk of “top guys” in the IWC because of the star system. That niche audience claims they’re some of the all time greatest and it’s largely influenced by the star system. I don’t think people would ever genuinely talk of them as all time greats if there was never a system of measurement like this. And people get peeved at the disparity in his ratings system. I.e. how the Bucks have had nine but an HBK has one I believe or a Kurt Angle has none.

[@BiscoWho]

It doesn't mean that it's kick ass. It can easily mean that it's shit. He has rated women's wrestling matches as high as the best men's matches of all-time. Therefore, it literally means nothing if he rates a match highly. Not even the best women's wrestling matches should be rated anywhere remotely close to even average men's matches. If they had their own separate scale that he rated them with, then maybe you could say that his higher ratings mean you should at least check something out. But, since that's not the case, a highly rated match from him is just as likely to be dog shit as it is to being average as it to being good.

[@djpaul8705]

When comparing Will Osprey and Randy Orton, Dave asked, "who has more 4+ star matches"? He got us on that one. Dave gave Will many many more 4 star matches than he gave to Randy. Therefore.......

[@everyonesidol9731]

I like using Meltzer and Cagematch as a guide to watch good matches

[@sebasfv5705]

Same

[@artirony410]

yeah I don't always agree with Meltzer's ratings but generally I find them to be a good guide to get you started one what to look for. This is of course excepting the 2000s because that's like the Meltzer dark age

[@KatarHero72]

Usually anything 4 and above is worth a watch. That's kinda the way to look at it.

[@sebasfv5705]

@@KatarHero72 That was before. Now the 4 stars is average, 3 stars is below average/mediocre and 2 stars is bad

[@Herbert_Rudolf]

@@sebasfv5705 No the Scale has never changed. 0 stars and less is awful. 1 star is bad. 2 stars is average. 3 stars is good, 4 stars is great and 5 stars is perfect

[@darshin95]

NJPW was the best promotion in the 2010's. Tanahashi, Nakamura, Okada, Omega, Styles, Naito.

[@SS4519]

I was fortunate enough to see just one of Meltzer's 5+ star matches in person. Young Bucks vs. Lucha Brothers at All Out 2021.

[@michaeldeeping2452]

Best tag team match of all time imo

[@Bigunk-hc2ri]

I was at takeover New Orleans

[@Gabenfinn]

Another great long form piece of work from Cultaholic. Whether it be Jack, Sam, All-Jaoan's very own Ross or anyone else, you're all delivering so consistently at the minute. Can't tell you much your content on here and twitch gets me through the day. Thank you P.s..if Tubman has edited this in Japan, it would be a 6 star video for me

[@VorpalBender]

I honestly had no clue that Dave Meltzer was around the wrestling industry for that long. This was a very insightful video, great job as always, Jack!

[@noelchristian8373]

Man has watched more wrestling than any other human.

[@KamilKapala]

Dave Meltezer's star rating in nutshell: Ospreay, Omega, Okada, Young Bucks - exist Dave - Instant 5 star

[@Nbflowers1989]

I love these editorial bits! Mad props as always to Cultaholic!

[@redmangc]

Man though that Shamus Gunther match was a perfect 5/7

[@DuUbermensh]

This video is LEGENDARY. Future generations will use this video to understand Dave Meltzer’s rating system

[@wbcwinnipegbeltcollector]

I'll always say my thoughts as a 10 year old reading wrestling magazines in the 711 "Who the fuck is Dave Meltzer and why do we care what he thinks" lol I see I was wise beyond my years then

[@just_a_tepig3611]

Its important to remember these ratings arent based on anything objective and are just how they felt about the match at the time

[@leiflohne3096]

I have never EVER read DM's ratings and I have been watching since Survivor Series 89

[@thebrood138]

He lifted the 5star scale from Weasel Dooley/Cornette who lifted it from TV Guide.

[@johnface3474]

The REAL TRUE story but no one will acknowledge because they are cowards

[@mrdethbuzzard4885]

Acknowledge Weasel Dooley!!

[@thebrood138]

@@mrdethbuzzard4885 I live in his hometown. We need to find him!

[@cjq23]

This video is very interesting. I use Meltzer as a recommendation scale, for example, “ok, he thinks this match is 5*? I’ll give it a watch.”

[@arthurdaffos1490]

To me its 50/50, either its non stop spots either its really really good.

[@cjq23]

@@arthurdaffos1490 that’s true, I tend to look at the participants in the match as well as the ratings. If the participants are people I enjoy watching, I’ll 100% watch it, if not, I might not be inclined to give it a chance

[@gunnardsippert4094]

Fantastic work, Jack and a fantastic edit too.

[@PaperSmiles]

I wouldn’t still be a wrestling fan if it wasn’t for Meltzer. His 7 star rating for Omega - Okada introduced me to NJPW (and AEW as a result), around the time I was giving up on WWE (after only having gotten back into wrestling the Wrestlemania before that).

[@mxmschae]

Theres a reason we say "5 stars in the Tokyo Dome"

[@heyiamnick4144]

Personally there is just SOOOOO much wrestling at the moment that I can’t keep up, I don’t have enough time to watch like 5 shows a week and ppvs on weekends. Matches that interest me or I think will be good I’ll watch those, but for other matches where I’m not sure, I’ll just wait for the ratings to see if it’s worth the time. In the end you should always form your own opinion on the match but the ratings for me personally work really well as recommendations, I’ve watched a lot of matches that didn’t interest me or I didn’t know about but because they received a good rating I was checked them out. Basically put the ratings into brackets and it becomes much easier 0-2 bad matches just a waste of time 2-3 mediocre not really worth it either 3-4 solid matches but nothing special 4-5 good to great matches definitely watch those

[@deckzone3000]

I don't care if it's a 10 star match, if I don't even know who the two wrestlers are, I'm not gonna watch it.

[@duckmercy11]

​@@deckzone3000 You could easily learn who they are with this cool little thing called Google.

[@Kr4ShSkeL]

Flair vs Stemboat definitely was the first 6 stars match, Dave said it himself when he was talking about Ospreay vs Omega, but he retro actively changed this rating to 5 stars, and he did the same thing for the Misawa vs Kawada from 94

[@neonprotegewrestling9147]

They forget to say that Rey was 18 at his first 5* match?

[@neonprotegewrestling9147]

This making him the youngest 5* wrestler ever

[@RainSennin_ismyAlt]

That's amazing

[@Reject101Personal]

I've not been to many live wrestling shows, (7,8 and only 2 of em really meant anything) but I now take joy in finding out I've seen a 5 star match.

[@kenyonroyster2524]

I about died when you said, "Neptune Pro." 😂

[@SheltonHull]

Best Jack the Jobber video EVER. Really well-done!

[@freakfoxvevo7915]

As long as we know about the 5 star matches, now we gotta hear the story about the Minus 5 Star matches

[@artirony410]

I've seen a couple of his -5 star matches and they're truly something lol

[@derickvera573]

I looked up a list and saw they have Mr. T vs Piper and Hogan vs Warrior WCW as the 2 -5 star matches, just hilarious to think about.

[@spsawyer22]

MINUS 5 STARS

[@derickvera573]

@@spsawyer22 first thing that came to mind reading this comment

[@spsawyer22]

@@derickvera573 was that the Rebel v Shelly match that started that soundbite or Jenna vs Sharmell? Note to anyone...both those matches are horrific

[@Stark_Legend]

He openly said his ratings are purely subjective. So if you have similar taste, you'll agree with him. That's it. There are people who take these ratings as facts and on the other side, there are people who call him trash cause they disagree. It's annoying really. Just watch what you like.

[@vb2806]

What similar taste? He once said it was based on crowd reaction, when people asked why Hogan vs Rock didn't have a 5 star he had no answer. It's not just subjective it's downright biased.

[@Stark_Legend]

@@vb2806 Of course it's biased like the rest of us. That's why we shouldn't take his ratings that seriously, whether we agree with him or not.

[@oldemonteef]

maybe he should learn how to spell.

[@vb2806]

@@Stark_Legend I don't take it seriously, it's just annoying when some fanboy says "it was a five star match, if you don't like it then you don't like good wrestling*

[@Stark_Legend]

@@vb2806 That I can agree

[@kevinwilliams6889]

It was the 4th Okada-Omega match and all the noise it generated that got me turned on to NJPW.

[@SeaBeast902]

This video is 5 ***** Enjoyed learning about some blind spots like AJW and Noah

[@MohoesWithMojo]

The Bushwhackers getting a 5 star and -5 star match just reminds me of Sandra Bullock winning best actress and worst actress lol

[@bitterbatterdog]

The important thing is that Meltzer isn't wildly off on his scores. A 4< star match is considered good by 95% of the wrestling populace and because of that, it is a useful score. And you may be asking "Doesn't that mean most wrestling fans could do his job". Yes, if they had a back catalog and coverage, they could. But Dave Meltzer is just the person who has it. He's the star guy. If someone were to ask you for a shortlist of great matches in 1998, using that system as a reminder of matches would likely be a good starting point.

[@IveGotAMatch]

Fantastic video Jack! I really owe it to myself to watch some of these AJPW matches; I’ve never watched a single one currently!

[@novairahmed7411]

Shawn vs Taker at wrestlemania 25 is easily the greatest match of all time for me.

[@BlackWind-rx5il]

That's a great match but I get why it didn't get 5 stars. It's because of the dive botch. I remember watching it live it took me off the match for a bit, as I was focus on trying to understand if Taker was fine, because I genuinely was afraid he had broke or hurt his neck and everything could have gone to shit from a moment to the next. Then of course they pulled me back with the insane last part of it, with some of the nearest of falls to that point of the streak, but I was still worried Taker was hurt and just fighting through it. I had to watch it back knowing Taker was fine to appreciate it as much as it deserved.

[@novairahmed7411]

@@BlackWind-rx5il you have a point but i don't understand's dave unbiased towards wwe. I mean i could give you 20 more matches which deserved 5 stars but didn't.

[@novairahmed7411]

Shawn vs Kurt (WM 21) Kurt vs Brock (Ironman Match) Zayn vs Nakamura (Takeover Dallas) Owens vs Zayn (Battleground 2016) Styles vs Cena (SS 2016, RR 2017) Banks vs Bayley (Both Matches) Austin vs Bret (WM 13) Bret vs Taker (SS 1997) Austin vs Rock (WM X7) Triple Threat Tlc (WM X7) And the list goes on and on.

[@parisg4053]

It’s funny that Meltzer probably just does this out of pure fun and enjoyment and people take it as seriously as they do.

[@gmayo114]

29:11 literally how I've always used them. Great video

[@johnnybernie3061]

I can understand for Wrestlers, a 5 Star rating for their match is like for actors getting a certified Fresh for their movies.

[@oldemonteef]

except the star rating comes from one person and rotten tomatoes aggregates many reviews, so no.

[@HEagle72]

It's not even remotely the same thing dude.

[@johnnybernie3061]

@@oldemonteef “there was an attempt”

[@isaacs.9383]

I don't always agree with Meltzers opinions or ratings, but as a wrestling fan it has introduced me to more than one type of wrestling growing up in an era where WWE was the only thing I had access to.

[@wyzeguy6]

This was really well done! Kudos to everyone involved on this video! This finally gave me the interest to go back and watch some of these 5+ star matches. Finally watched Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada in '94 for the first time. Fantastic match! While Meltzer's opinions are his and his alone, they are a pretty good gauge as to some absolute classic matches that fans should check out!

[@themodelrailwayman5470]

Idk if you Cultaholic folks still do them, but theres absolutely a "Every Dave Meltzer 5*+ match ranked" video you could do

[@elijahspeller6796]

Johnny Ace has more 5 star matches than Kurt Angle and Randy Savage... Let that sink in

[@duckmercy11]

Only tag matches.

[@neighslayer768]

Don't worry Jack. This year's G1 only had maybe three 5 star matches (Ospreay/Shingo, Ospreay/Naito, Ospreay/Okada)

[@migi8840]

while i dont worship the 5-star system as much as i did years ago, i think its a pretty great reference for essential matches you have to see at least once. doesnt have to be a complete five star. even four stars are enough to draw intrigue. this is especially the case if youre just trying to get out of the wwe bubble.

[@mjhg-c6h]

急に星の数がインフレしたように感じる人もいるかもしれないな。21世紀になってから10年間便秘してのが一気に出たみたいな。 いや、誰だか知らねえけど、このおっさんすげえわ。少なくとも日本のプロレスに関して言えば、星の数が業界の栄枯盛衰と絶妙に一致してる。

[@bilalsadain]

Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 25 didn't get 5 stars. Since then I stopped giving a shit about Meltzer's ratings

[@snapwilson316]

Illustrative of the point made that other people care more about Dave's ratings than Dave probably does. Very interesting look at these matches.

[@dumpling1960]

Im watching this in 2080 and the Neptune Pro (NPW) disrespect is laughable now, they've eclipsed New Japan with 900+ 5 star matches awarded by Dave Meltzer (he's still alive)

[@pandaplayz4146]

Fun Fact: Horace Hogan has more Meltzer rated 5 star matches than Kurt Angle

[@lonewrestling]

Who?

[@pandaplayz4146]

@@lonewrestling Hulk Hogans nephew... who wasn't very good at all. Had a run in WCW and did basically nothing there. Somehow has a 5 star in FMW though.

[@lonewrestling]

@@pandaplayz4146 oh. Thanks for letting me know

[@Herbert_Rudolf]

Fun Fact: John Laurinaitis has more 5 Star Matches than Kurt Angle, The Undertaker, Randy Orton, John Cena, Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, Mr. Perfect and The Rock COMBINED.

[@pandaplayz4146]

@@Herbert_Rudolf Both have 2

[@patrickdare5356]

You failed to mention the Tokyo Dome effect. hahaha

[@RainSennin_ismyAlt]

The Budokan got more 5 stars than the Tokyo Dome, just saying

[@patrickdare5356]

@@RainSennin_ismyAlt You failed to see the sarcasm/humor in my statement, I see.

[@Rampy470]

There's at least one thing we can all agree on about Meltzer. He needs to CLEAN HIS FUCKING ROOM.

[@davefogle7747]

Beautiful work as always Jack

[@Kr4ShSkeL]

4:47 complete BS it's not his fault if WWE barely produced any good matches in the last 10 years, it's just the nature of the product they don't give a damn about great matches while AEW wants to have great matches on a regular bass

[@mikecline2304]

Any video or story about "the true story of Dave Meltzer's five star wrestling matches" that doesn't at least mention Norman Dooley's "Weasel’s World of Wrestling" doesn't seem complete.

[@gazp9145]

Yet another quality vid Jack and team 👌🏻

[@TheCubicleReview2]

No mention of cornette's role in the rating system?

[@jp6046]

Dave Meltzer is the Mel Kiper of wrestling. He should have his own big board every year.

[@leatherface70]

Five star matches typically emphasize the fighting spirit which is why Japan gets a lot of them and the WWE very really does. five star match usually resembles Rocky 1,2and4 The WWE wrestlers are capable of doing it .they just don’t book matches that way.Are usually in the main event of a Tokyo Dome match

[@EmperorMAR]

The main issue w his ratings are that some wrestlers cater to his opinions

[@Wurzelknecht]

Man, the hate in the comments for Dave makes me think that none of you actually watched this video and listened to what Jack said, or just refuse to listen to reason: Not even Dave himself thinks his opinion is the be all end all. But it's a good guideline to find good matches. Which is especially helpful in an era where there's so much wrestling going on at the same time, and you just don't have the time to watch it all. So when I'm looking for a good match to watch, I usually look at what Meltzer rated 4 and higher. Chances are high that I'm going to like it.

[@landanthompson7056]

One of my favorite matches of all time was Angle vs Shane McMahon (KotR) I mean it was a massive spot-fest with some misses but for Angle's wrestling style and Shane's in ring experience it was a good show

[@Tochallengethesun2003]

Ranking every match rated 5 stars or higher match by Dave meltzer

[@anibal5845]

I wouldn't say his opinion carries weight in regards to ratings, at the very least not anymore. Everyone can see how arbitrary they are.

[@Darashiva]

I've always just found it odd how some people get angry or annoyed by matches that go above five stars according to him. I'm really not sure what is so awful or confusing about them.

[@brygs767]

ocd probably. You're grading out of 5 and go over the top score.

[@Matt-cr4vv]

Because it eliminates any guides of consistency and there’s no rationale for why something is 6 or 7. His original rationale made sense way back when. Once he broke the system the rationale he once had in a sense was gone.

[@Darashiva]

@@Matt-cr4vv His first over five star match is from the late 80s, so by that logic his star ratings haven't made sense for roughly 35 years now. It should also be noted that the scale that inspired Meltzer to start rating matches originally went up to four stars, and they broke that one in the early 80s. Nothing about the original scale has changed after going past five stars. 4 stars is still an excellent match, and anything over 4.5 is a MotY contender. Anything beyond that is just an exceptional match regardless of the rating. I don't see anything complicated or inconsistent there.

[@Kr4ShSkeL]

25:14 You missed A VERY IMPORTANT POINT HERE, big dave said multiple times that the only reason this match got 7 stars is because of the 3 previous matches between Omega and Okada, because it paid off so many things that they built during the other matches, he said that this match would not have been 7 stars if the 3 previous matches didn't exist 🤷‍♂

[@82gamerprincess31]

Akiyama reminds me of Scotty Pippen. Someone who was insanely good, but not Jordan. That AJPW/NOAH crew was stacked to the gills with Pippen level guys.

[@MiztarBriteCide]

I've witnessed two 5 star matches with my own eyes. WALTER v Tyler Bate @ Takeover Cardiff & the Celtic Warrior v the Ring General @ Clash at the Castle I also think WALTER vs Devlin @ OTT ScrapperMania is a good shout. One of the best matches I've ever seen live.

[@sallygoldner2302]

The effort that goes into these true stories videos is amazing (dare I say "five star" :) ) - seriously, thanks Jack and Cultaholic team.

[@tonimaestre96]

A lot of the old Roh matches should be 7 star matches. El Generico vs Kevin steen, cesaro vs zayn in nxt, low ki vs danielson vs daniels in first ever roh show

[@SomeGuy-rc2lc]

That Flair/Steamboat secret match bit was starting to sound like Steiner Math. Lol.

[@bigstan5705]

Shoutout Weasel Dooley

[@Donarrrghh]

Sad that Ireland’s first and only 5 star match is sullied, was wondering if it was going to be mentioned. Entirely understandable that it wasn’t

[@eDOTrekt]

I was at Arthur Ashe last year for Grand Slam. I felt like Onega/Danielson started out pretty damn slow and felt a little repetitive towards the middle by the time Danielson went for a repeat of the kick/chop/kick/chop spot from earlier in the match. But the latter half of the match was pure magic. I'm going back next week. I hope the finals could hold a candle to that match.

[@deadmansgulf911]

The fact that there are no Kurt Angle or Chris Jericho matches on his list make it a joke

[@dashtoroya2838]

Chris Jericho has a 5 star match against Kenny Omega in 2018 tho.

[@darkk-kj9je]

Jericho has 2 5* matches as for Kurt well that’s kinda dumb

[@labbaby189]

I equate Meltzer's 5 star rating to a magazine's 5 star album rating... more in particular The Source, whose 5 mic ratings once held credibility in the hip hop community. If I told you Illmatic is better than any Drake album, that 5 mic rating would be my only argument you would agree with if you never grew up listening to Nas. As a casual wrestling fan, I don't consume as much wrestling as a practitioner in the business... at least not enough to properly rate a match. To me, Dave's list is a collage of great wrestling matches a wrestling fan should watch at least once. Someone's favorite match might not make that list, and I don't think it's Dave's job to put it there if he has to compromise his own opinion. Besides, none of those matches have anything on the Vengeance '03 bar room brawl match.

[@Adyman182]

Wild fact: G1 Climax 29 in 2019 had more 5 star matches rated by Dave (8) than the ENTIRE DECADE of the 00's, with August 2019 alone equalling that number (7), as well as the previous G1 in 2018 with 7. I think something caused Meltzer to up his scale beginning in the 2010s, as there were no five star matches in five years between March 2006 and July 2011. If you take the scale down a star, you get a reasonable five 5 star matches since the 2010s as of March 2021: Okada vs Omega at WK11 in '17 Okada vs Omega at Dominion in '17 (+.25) Okada vs Omega at G1 in '17 Okada vs Omega at Dominion in '18 (+1) Omega and Page vs Young Bucks at AEW Revolution in '20 I think that would make Meltzer's Tokyo Dome and Omega stanning look a bit more reasonable.

[@Drummer8282]

Bret vs Bulldog SS’92 IC championship match didn’t get 5-stars?!? Meltzer’s ratings don’t mean much.

[@tristanirby6272]

Hulk Hogan vs Macho Man, Hulk Hogan vs Ultimate Warrior and Bret Hart vs British Bulldog were 5 Star Matches too

[@darkk-kj9je]

Bro u high or something bro those matches ain’t even close to 5 stars you really think hulk hogan deserve a 5* man u crazy

[@tristanirby6272]

@@darkk-kj9je No I’m perfectly sane. Those matches were great. I liked them a lot. Now if u don’t hey that’s u man. These my personal favs

[@patrickmitchell9068]

One thing I think that people take his star rating so serious and then people GET angry at said system, is that Metzler is maybe the only person at his level in the industry who does ratings, where other people voice there opinion, no one puts them down on such an imperial system. So, since there no one else is "competiting" with Dave, people hyper focus on the star rating. Look at TV and Movies where rating system by is much more common, we never see people hyper focus on singular critic like they do Dave and so we don't get this weird argument around ratings. In the end people need too see star system as just an opinion and move on.

[@deckzone3000]

Only person at his level. lol Still a low level. I started watching WWF in 1997 and didn't learn about the guy until last year.

[@vampman87]

I'm a huge fan of the Undertaker, arguably the biggest fan of his in the midwest, and Taker vs Shawn 1 is a great match, don't get me wrong, but I always believe the botch of Taker crashing into the camera man and knocking himself out prevented it from being 5 stars. In my own opinion Taker vs Shawn 2 was the better match. No botches, higher stakes, and the finish was arguably the most emotional I saw in a Taker match up to that point, only to be outdone by the Taker vs HHH Hell in a Cell match 2 years later (though that, in terms of technical wrestling, wasn't as good as the HBK clashes.) I will forever say that Taker vs Shawn Michaels 2 was Taker's only PERFECT match.

[@chandrabhanukandiath3012]

But that botch added to the beauty of the match with streak almost being loosen by count out but taker crawled inside the ring at 9 that actually told the story better than any promo could have

[@ThePlotToBlowUpTheEiffelTower]

Dave melzter is the anthony fantano of wrestling

[@ThePlotToBlowUpTheEiffelTower]

@urbaindelva7869 my username is the name of a band I listen to Anthony fantano is a music reviewer but he's known for his terrible takes on any kind of music.

[@christhornycroft3686]

A match that has a lot of athletic moves and looks hard hitting isn't necessarily a 5 star match. All a 5 star match requires is psychology. The 2 people involved know who their characters are and what the story is that they're trying to tell in the ring and being able to convey that in a believable way that has fans almost believing in what they're seeing. AEW has replaced that with guys just smacking each other as hard as they can for real and when I see 2 guys ending a match with their chests all red, I'm asking, why? They just like 2 idiots trying to one-up each other for no reason. The best wrestlers are the ones who can do the moves and tell stories with them. What I see a lot in modern wresting at best are 2 guys doing something that looks somewhat coordinated. It doesn't look like a competition between 2 guys who hate each other who can tell me through the match why they hate each other. Wrestling today is like watching a James Bond movie where the Bond girl is intelligent and capable for the first half of the movie, and then because the writers don't know where to go with the story, suddenly she pulls a 180 and she's a dumbass in distress who needs James Bond to do her make up for her. And that in modern wrestling is supposedly "dramatic." MJF is an example of someone who doesn't typically do that. He knows his character and doesn't usually do anything completely out of character. It's fine to break the 4th wall in wrestling, but knowing when to do it and whether it's in character for that wrestler is key. That's why the best match I've ever seen was Bret vs Stone Cold at Wrestlemania 13. Another great one is practically every Bret/Curt Hennig match. The problem is that Uncle Dave thinks he loves his New Japan stuff. Unfortunately, I don't think he speaks Japanese, so to him it's not about storytelling. It's about guys actually hurting each other. That's the difference between ECW from 1994 to 1998 and ECW after that. In the early days of Extreme, it was all storytelling, because they had the talent to do it. After that, when they got on TNN especially, it became less about storytelling because guys didn't know what they were doing. They just did dumb, juvenile skits followed by guys hitting each other with kitchen appliances. I don't think Dave Meltzer understands wrestling storytelling. I guarantee he'd put a Kenny Omega match ahead of a Bret Hart match and that should disqualify him from anything wrestling related.

[@duckmercy11]

New Japan absolutely does storytelling, but they mostly tell the story in the ring using the moves themselves.

[@jacohenn42]

208 matches? You know what that means, get Adam on the rankings

[@atharvdevgan5124]

In my opinion kurt angle vs shawn Michaels at wm deserved 5 stars

[@Artwr]

Star rating in wrestling was created by Cornette and his friend :)

[@dashtoroya2838]

Yep, he suggested the star rating and he is regretting now.

[@josephgleeson8122]

OTT has Ireland's 🇮🇪 only 5 star match. Just a pity we can't talk about it anymore cos of fucking David Starr

[@darkk-kj9je]

What did he do