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Shortly after Wrestle Kingdom 11 went off the air, esteemed wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer gave the main event match between Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada 6 Stars out of 5. Now most fans are discussing whether or not this spectacular match truly was the greatest match of all time.
Right now, this 6-Star rating is based solely on Meltzer’s own opinion and on first viewing, so a lot can change. After all, he has gone back and viewed other famous matches and has given them new ratings.
Now, while these star ratings are based on Meltzer’s own opinion, they do carry a considerable amount of weight these days. Meltzer’s an objective journalist, meaning that he isn’t swayed by influence from this promotion or that promotion to be kinder in his recognitions.
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As such, any match that gets such high praise from Meltzer should definitely be on any fan’s radar as a must-see match.
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Excluding the above 6-Star match, 81 matches on TV and Pay-Per-View since 1983 have achieved the ultra-rare recognition of 5-Star match. The vast majority of these matches have taken place in Japan, with only a small handful occuring in WWE or ROH, and only one in TNA.
These 5-star Japanese wrestling matches can be found in two clusters.
The first was in All Japan Pro Wrestling between 1990 and 2000, and mostly involved the foursome of wrestlers known collectively as the ‘Four Pillars of Heaven’: Akira Taue, Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi, and Mitsuharu Misawa (Misawa’s currently the record-holder for most 5-Star matches of any single wrestler, at 26).
The second cluster has been in New Japan Pro Wrestling since 2012, with Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada and Shinsuke Nakamura putting on the best performances (Tanahashi and Okada both have had 6 5-star matches since 2012).
For a match to be awarded five stars, it has to be a match that’s ahead of its time, make an impact on the wrestling business, or simply tells a fantastic story with amazing wrestling psychology.
The ten matches highlighted here are the ones you absolutely need to see, both for their high quality and impact on the wrestling industry as a whole.
#10 Dynamite Kid. Vs. Tiger Mask I, April 23, 1983
This was the first match to ever be rated 5-Stars by the Wrestling Observer, and it wasn’t hard to see why at the time. Back then, wrestling matches were still technique and ground-based affairs, with a lot of emphasis on Greco-Roman grappling and little in terms of high-flying.
That’s why this match was considered so ahead of its time that Meltzer and others couldn’t help but sing its praise.
The long-term consequences of this match cannot be overstated. This was the match that gradually led to the shift in mentality towards smaller wrestlers. Thanks to the amazing efforts of both men in this match, both Japan and the wrestling world at large started to pay more attention to the faster, more flexible junior heavyweights.
This would eventually lead to a major change in wrestling overall, as the dropkick now became more important than the Greco-Roman hold.
#9 John Cena vs. CM Punk – Money In the Bank 2011
It has been very difficult for a WWE match to reach that elusive 5-Star level. For the most part, Meltzer hasn’t rated a WWE match this high, most likely because WWE’s style is too unrealistic for his liking. This can be frustrating for many WWE fans, as many WWE superstars can and do perform at an elite level worthy of such recognition.
But whenever Meltzer does rate a WWE match 5-Stars, that means that WWE did everything perfectly with that match. Such was the case with Punk vs. Cena at Money in the Bank 2011.
For the first time in many, many years, there was a match to be held in a WWE ring whose outcome could not be predicted by anyone. There were too many factors at play for anyone to make a proper guess as to who’d win between Cena and CM Punk.
But the Chicago crowd made their voices heard throughout this match, cheering more loudly than they had for arguably any other match since the Austin Era.
It wasn’t hard to see why they were so loud. Not only was the in-ring action between Cena and Punk so great, but story going into it was put together perfectly.
Punk’s ‘pipebomb’ promo and realistic approach to selling the PPV were amazing, and for the first time in ages, there was a WWE match that everyone needed to see. And when the match ended, boy was the reaction seismic.
It really doesn’t get better than this in WWE.
#8 Kota Ibushi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura – Wrestle Kingdom 9
NJPW’s wrestle Kingdom IX will forever go down as one of the best wrestling PPVs in years. From the opening match to the main event, it set the bar extremely high for 2015.
Out of the eleven matches on that card, one stood head and shoulders above the rest: the IWGP Intercontinental Championship match between Shinsuke Nakamura and Kota Ibushi.
It was a beautiful display of the valiant challenger trying to defeat the wily champion Ibushi, who had spent his career as a junior heavyweight, had a major glass ceiling to break through in order to be taken more seriously as a competitor.
Nakamura, meanwhile, came to WK9 to show that he was a superstar like no other in New Japan.
Needless to say, both men succeeded in turning heads with this match. The action was mind-blowing, and the audience loved every minute of it. But fans weren’t the only ones to sing the praises of this match. Here’s what Chris Hero said after watching this match:
#7 Kenta Kobashi vs. Samoa Joe – ROH Joe vs. Kobashi 2005
Samoa Joe has been in two 5-Star matches during his career, and both of them took place in 2005.
The more recent match was an outstanding Triple Threat match in TNA against A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels. The earlier (and better) one was a few months before that, in Ring of Honor, when Joe took on the legendary Kenta Kobashi in singles competition.
The match was twenty minutes of non-stop, hard-hitting action. Both guys absolutely destroyed each other with their stiff offence and powerful moves that kept the audience on their feet throughout the match.
Speaking of audiences, that was the deciding factor in this match being not only a 5-Star contest but also WON’s Match of the Year for 2005. The match took place in front of maybe 1,000 or 2,000 fans in a much smaller venue than what both of them were used to.
That said, these fans were incredibly loud throughout the match, cheering wildly for every single move that was executed. They weren’t those fans that try to get themselves over either; these were entertained wrestling fans roaring in approval for every chop, every throw, every pin and kick-out.
It was one of those rare matches that didn’t even need commentary to be awesome.
#6 Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada – the series
This is the John Cena vs. Randy Orton rivalry of Japan. Except both men, in this case, have the wrestling abilities of Shawn Michaels or Eddie Guerrero.
From 2009 until about 2012, New Japan was very much in the hands of Hiroshi Tanahashi. He proved himself an outstanding wrestler, capable of putting on good matches with any and all opponents.
Then, in early 2012, Kazuchika Okada, rechristened as ‘the Rainmaker’, defeated Tanahashi in an upset equivalent to Brock Lesnar defeating the Undertaker at WrestleMania XXX.
From then on, these two would meet several times in singles competition, and each one of these matches expanded on their legendary rivalry. Tanahashi won some matches, Okada won some matches. But in the end, these two men would battle it out on several true 5-Star classics.
So instead of choosing one out of many, here are three must-watch 5-Star Tanahashi-Okada matches, in chronological order:
Tanahashi vs. Okada – Invasion Attack 2013
Tanahashi vs. Okada – King Of Pro Wrestling 2013
Tanahashi vs. Okada – Wrestle Kingdom 9 (OK, so this was rated 4.75 Stars, but it’s too damn good to miss)
Tanahashi vs. Okada – Wrestle Kingdom 10 (When Okada proved at last that he was the new Ace of New Japan)
Go see these matches. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
#5 Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker – Hell in a Cell - Bad Blood 1997
The first-ever Hell in a Cell match in WWE was absolutely phenomenal. It reached new heights in terms of drama, brutality and the lengths wrestlers were willing to go in order to win.
For almost thirty minutes, Shawn Michaels & The Undertaker destroyed one another with their brutal offence, which included HBK being thrown from the side of the cell onto the announcer’s table. By 1997 standards, it was very shocking and high-risk, which is why it got such high praise.
Match aside, this event will also be forever remembered for Kane’s spectacular debut.
It couldn’t possibly get any better than this. Kane appeared after months of hype, ripped the door off the Cell, and Tombstoned his brother, setting up a feud that would be revisited time and again for years. All in all, a perfect end to an otherwise perfect match.
#4 Manami Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue – May 7, 1995
I have watched many women’s matches and was one of the many that loved it when the Four Horsewomen were tearing it up in NXT in 2014 and 2015. But as good as those women were/are, they aren’t anywhere near the same level as the joshis that took part in this jaw-dropping match.
THIS is what women’s wrestling should look like: women putting on the same kind of exhausting, high-risk, insane wrestling that’s typically reserved for their male counterparts. But that’s exactly what the legendary Kyoko Inoue and Manami Toyota did in this hour-long bout for the WWWA Championship.
Yes, that’s right; two women wrestled for one full hour, and there was nonstop action throughout the entire thing.
The things these two women did to each other were unbelievable. They executed Piledrivers on the unprotected floor outside the ring.
They did a German Suplex off the top rope. They executed more finishers than ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin & The Rock did at WrestleMania X-Seven. It was brutal, it was exciting, and the crowd sounded like they were transported straight from an NXT TakeOver event.
So for those of you out there that hope that women’s wrestling can be truly taken seriously, that won’t happen in WWE until we see something like this in Vince’s promotion.
#3 Bret Hart vs. ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin – Submission Match – WrestleMania 13
Not only was this awesome match awarded 5-Stars, but it was also named Match of the Year by both the Wrestling Observer AND Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Few matches have ever achieved such a distinction.
But that’s what you’d expect when you had Bret Hart, arguably the best in-ring worker in North America during the 1990s, facing ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, a take-no-prisoners brawler whose anti-authority gimmick was winning the hearts of fans everywhere. When they clashed, it was as close to wrestling perfection as you could get.
The funny thing about this match was that Austin was supposed to be the heel going into it and Bret the babyface. But the match was so good and the audience loved both wrestlers so much that you couldn’t hear any boos.
Fans were cheering both men equally, which added to the match’s atmosphere in a big way. If only crowds live at WWE events today were as loud and excited for the matches as they were during this masterpiece of a match.
#2 Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. The Holy Demon Army (Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue) – July 9, 1995
Not only do some observers still consider this the best tag team match of all time, but up until WK11, it was arguably the best match of any kind of all time. With this match, you get the best of puroresu combined with the dramatic storytelling elements that made pre-WWE wrestling so beloved around the world.
In a rare twist, this match has distinct babyfaces and heels. On the face side, you have Misawa, the company’s ace; and Kobashi, the gutsy, never-say-die underdog partner that’ll do anything to help his partner.
On the heel side, you have Kawada, Misawa’s archrival that was still trying to beat the Emerald Emperor; and Akira Taue, a master of tricks and underhanded techniques.
Together, these four men, known collectively as the Four Pillars of Heaven, put on a spectacular tag team match the likes of which has not been seen or replicated since it took place.
This is, for all intents and purposes, a perfect wrestling match. You have several overlapping storylines that come together to create a match that actually makes you stay and focus on every move, despite the match being over 40 minutes long.
You have Kobashi acting as the ultimate babyface trying his best to help Misawa as he gets attacked several times by his opponents. You have Taue and Kawada trying to destroy Kobashi’s taped-up leg.
You have two wrestlers desperately trying to become tag team champions. But most importantly, you have Kawada trying to finally achieve the one goal that has eluded him for over five years: pinning Misawa.
All of these separate stories come together in a truly beautiful match that defines the term, ‘the art of wrestling’.
#1 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada – June 3, 1994
Before the aforementioned 6-Star match between Omega and Okada took place, this was widely considered the greatest singles match in wrestling history. In fact, Meltzer himself considered this to be the first match of any kind that he gave 6 stars to.
From the opening bell to the very end, the Japanese audience (known to be normally very quiet and respectful) is as loud as any North American audience. In fact, this audience is probably louder than any WWE event in recent memory.
They cheer for every move, every reversal, every transition. They are fully immersed in a classic story of one man (Kawada) trying to prove he’s a better wrestler than the Standard Bearer for All Japan, Misawa.
And boy, is the action in this match ever intense. The strikes are insanely stiff, the actual moves used are incredibly painful-looking (including a terrifying match-ending Tiger Driver ‘91), and the psychology and storytelling are both superb.
Every move has the potential to be a match-ending manoeuvre, from a simple elbow strike to the sickest of Powerbombs.
Though it isn’t very ‘big-move-heavy’ by today’s standards, it still holds up well as a must-see match. I don’t know what else to tell you; but despite all that has happened these past twenty-two years, this could still very well be the best wrestling match of all time.
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