10 5-Star Matches you absolutely need to know about

#9 John Cena vs. CM Punk – Money In the Bank 2011

This was the first WWE match in over a decade to be rated 5-Stars

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.