Since the creation of his publication, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter in the 1980s, journalist and sports historian Dave Meltzer has assigned his ratings to professional wrestling matches. In April 1983, he named his first 5-star match. Meltzer's ratings have become a significant benchmark for evaluating the quality of professional wrestling matches, with his five-star system being particularly coveted by wrestlers and fans alike.
The first match rated more than five stars by Meltzer was Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat in 1989, which received a six star rating. The highest-ever rating is seven stars, awarded to Kazuchika Okada vs.
There have been 310 matches awarded 5 or more stars, of which Will Ospreay has by far the most individual matches with 54.
Here's a list of some of the matches that received a five-star rating:
- Ric Flair vs. Dynamite Kid
- Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi
- Bruiser Brody and Stan Hansen vs. Jumbo Tsuruta and Genichiro Tenryu
- Lioness Asuka vs. Chigusa Nagayo
- Ric Flair vs. The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers)
- Ric Flair vs. Chigusa Nagayo
- Akira Maeda and Nobuhiko Takada vs. Paul Ellering, The Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal), and The Super Powers (Dusty Rhodes and Nikita Koloff) vs. The Four Horsemen (Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, and J. J.
- Paul Ellering, The Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal), and The Super Powers (Dusty Rhodes and Nikita Koloff) vs. Chigusa Nagayo, Mika Suzuki, Mika Takahashi, Yachiya Hirata, Yumi Ogura, and Yumiko Hotta
- Genichiro Tenryu and Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta
- Genichiro Tenryu, Toshiaki Kawada, and Samson Fuyuki vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, and Kenta Kobashi
- Ric Flair vs. Jumbo Tsuruta
- Ric Flair vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
- Jumbo Tsuruta and Akira Taue vs. The Four Horsemen (Barry Windham, Larry Zbyszko, Ric Flair, and Sid Vicious) vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, and Kenta Kobashi
- Big Van Vader vs. Mitsuharu Misawa
- Kyoko Inoue vs. Takako Inoue vs. El Samurai vs. Dangerous Alliance (Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, Larry Zbyszko, Rick Rude, and Steve Austin) vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, and Kenta Kobashi
- Kenta Kobashi and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Manami Toyota vs. Shinobu Kandori vs. Manami Toyota and Toshiyo Yamada
- Bull Nakano vs. Akira Hokuto
- Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, and Jun Akiyama vs. Aja Kong, Kyoko Inoue, Takako Inoue, and Sakie Hasegawa vs. The Holy Demon Army (Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue) vs. Manami Toyota and Toshiyo Yamada
- St. Manami Toyota and Akira Hokuto vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, and Giant Baba vs. Razor Ramon vs. The Great Sasuke vs. Bret Hart vs. Kyoko Inoue and Takako Inoue vs. Los Gringos Locos (Art Barr and Eddy Guerrero) vs. Aja Kong
- Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera vs. Mitsuharu Misawa and Jun Akiyama vs. Jun Akiyama and Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kaientai DX (Dick Togo, Men's Teioh, Shiryu, Shoichi Funaki, and Taka Michinoku) vs. Holy Demon Army (Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue)
- Bret Hart vs. Koji Kanemoto vs. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Shawn Michaels vs. The Holy Demon Army (Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue)
- Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Mitsuharu Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Masanobu Fuchi and Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi vs. Samoa Joe vs. Joe vs. Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe
- Joe vs. Cima, Masato Yoshino, and Naruki Doi vs. CM Punk vs. Davey Richards vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Tomoaki Honma vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Kazuchika Okada
- Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega vs. Superkliq (Adam Cole, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson) vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Kushida vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito vs. Donovan Dijak vs. Walter
- Kenny Omega vs. Andrade "Cien" Almas vs. Golden Lovers (Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi) vs. Will Ospreay vs. Adam Cole vs. EC3 vs. Killian Dain vs. Lars Sullivan vs. Ricochet vs. Johnny Gargano vs. A-Kid vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Taiji Ishimori vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven and Tyler Bate) vs. Kenny Omega
- Hirooki Goto vs. Kenny Omega vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kenny Omega vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Chaos (Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi and Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Adam Cole vs. Will Ospreay vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Johnny Gargano
- Shingo Takagi vs. Dragon Lee vs. Kota Ibushi vs. Jon Moxley vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Bandido, Flamita, and Rey Horus vs. Sanada vs. Tetsuya Naito vs. Shingo Takagi vs. Kota Ibushi vs. Kota Ibushi vs. Walter vs. Lucha Brothers (Pentagón Jr. and Rey Fenix) vs. Bandido
- David Starr vs. Will Ospreay vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega and "Hangman" Adam Page vs. Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent) vs. Shingo Takagi vs. Kota Ibushi vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Walter vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) vs. Go Shiozaki
- Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito vs. Shingo Takagi vs. Kota Ibushi vs. Kenny Omega vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Will Ospreay vs. Will Ospreay vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) vs. Will Ospreay vs. Syuri vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Ilja Dragunov vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) vs. Lucha Brothers (Pentagón Jr.
- Tomohiro Ishii vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Lucha Brothers (Pentagón Jr. and Fénix) vs. Superkliq (Adam Cole, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) vs. Kenny Omega vs. "Hangman" Adam Page vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Will Ospreay vs. Will Ospreay vs. Shingo Takagi vs. Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe)
- Jericho Appreciation Society (Chris Jericho, Daniel Garcia, Jake Hager, Angelo Parker and Matt Menard) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) vs. Cody Rhodes vs. FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) vs. Shingo Takagi vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay vs. United Empire (Will Ospreay, Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis) vs. Gunther
- FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) vs. Rey Fenix vs. Laredo Kid vs. Will Ospreay vs. FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) vs. Shingo Takagi vs. Will Ospreay vs. Death Triangle (Pac, Penta El Zero M and Rey Fenix) vs. "Hangman" Adam Page vs. MJF vs. Kenny Omega vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn vs. Gunther vs. Drew McIntyre
- Shingo Takagi vs. Master Wato vs. Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta) vs. Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli) and Shota Umino vs. Kenny Omega vs. Kento Miyahara vs. FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) vs. Tetsuya Naito vs. Tetsuya Naito vs. Will Ospreay vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Kenny Omega
- Will Ospreay vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Will Ospreay vs. "Speedball" Mike Bailey vs. Will Ospreay vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Swerve Strickland vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Máscara Dorada vs. Jon Moxley vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Josh Alexander vs. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Michael Oku vs. Will Ospreay vs. Will Ospreay vs. Will Ospreay vs. Cody Rhodes
- Masa Kitamiya vs. Hechicero vs. Swerve Strickland vs. MJF vs. Konosuke Takeshita vs. Will Ospreay vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Will Ospreay vs. CM Punk vs. Konosuke Takeshita vs. Will Ospreay vs. Konosuke Takeshita vs. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kyle Fletcher vs. Darby Allin vs. Will Ospreay vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega
- Cosmic Angels (Saori Anou, Tam Nakano and Natsupoi) vs. Yota Tsuji vs. Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay vs. Kevin Owens vs. Saya Kamitani vs. Toni Storm vs. Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay vs. Will Ospreay vs. Iyo Sky vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) vs. DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa) vs. Saya Kamitani
- Kenny Omega, Willow Nightingale, Swerve Strickland and The Opps (Samoa Joe, Powerhouse Hobbs and Katsuyori Shibata) vs. "Hangman" Adam Page vs. Kosei Fujita vs. Will Ospreay vs. Bandido vs. CMLL vs. Bandido and Hologram vs. Sareee vs. Taichi vs. Bandido vs. Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland vs. "Hangman" Adam Page vs. Neón vs. Kyle Fletcher vs. Cody Rhodes
- Will Ospreay, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Darby Allin and Golden Lovers (Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi) vs. Bandido vs. Team Mexico (Ángel de Oro, Atlantis Jr., Difunto, Máscara Dorada, Neón, Místico, Templario, Titán, Volador Jr. and Zandokan Jr.) vs. Místico vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Konosuke Takeshita vs. "Hangman" Adam Page vs. Konosuke Takeshita vs. Brodido (Bandido and Brody King)
- Darby Allin, The Conglomeration (Mark Briscoe, Orange Cassidy and Kyle O'Reilly) and Roderick Strong vs. FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Máscara Dorada vs. "Speedball" Mike Bailey
It's important to note that Meltzer's ratings are subjective and reflect his personal opinion. However, they have become an influential part of wrestling culture, driving discussion and shaping perceptions of match quality.
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The landscape of professional wrestling continues to evolve, with new talents emerging and classic rivalries reigniting. Dave Meltzer's ratings provide a valuable historical record and a continuing source of debate for wrestling fans worldwide.
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