10 5-Star Matches you absolutely need to know about

#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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