List of professional wrestling matches rated 5 or more stars by Dave Meltzer

Professional wrestling journalist and sports historian Dave Meltzer has assigned ratings to professional wrestling events since the creation of his publication, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter in 1982, and named his first 5-star match in 1983. Receiving a 5 or higher star rating is considered by many to be a great achievement.^[1]

Dave Meltzer

The first match rated more than five stars by Meltzer was Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat in 1989. The highest-ever rating is seven stars, awarded to Kazuchika Okada vs Kenny Omega at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall in June 2018.

There have been 217 matches awarded 5 or more stars; Mitsuharu Misawa and Will Ospreay are tied for the most individual matches with 25 apiece.

Matches

1980s

	Date	Match	Promotion	Event	Rating	Ref.
1	April 7, 1982	Ric Flair vs. Butch Reed^[a]	CWF	Miami Beach show	5	^[2]
2	April 21, 1983	Dynamite Kid vs. Tiger Mask	NJPW	Big Fight Series II Night 19	5	^[3]
3	December 5, 1984	Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Nobuhiko Takada	UWF	Year-End Special Day 10	5
4	December 8, 1984	Bruiser Brody and Stan Hansen vs. Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk	AJPW	Real World Tag League Night 15	5	^[4]
5	March 9, 1985	Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Tiger Mask		85 Gekitoh! Exciting Wars Night 14	5
6	August 22, 1985	Lioness Asuka vs. Jaguar Yokota	AJW	Summer Night Festival in Budokan	5
7	January 28, 1986	Jumbo Tsuruta and Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu and Yoshiaki Yatsu	AJPW	New Years War Super Battle Night 25	5
8	February 14, 1986	Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham	CWF	Battle of the Belts 2	5	^[3]
9	April 19, 1986	The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers) vs. The Sheepherders (Butch Miller and Luke Williams)	JCP	Crockett Cup	5
10	January 20, 1987	Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham		World Wide Wrestling	5	^[4]
11	February 26, 1987	Chigusa Nagayo vs. Lioness Asuka	AJW	Kawasaki show	5
12	March 20, 1987	Akira Maeda and Nobuhiko Takada vs. Keiji Mutoh and Shiro Koshinaka	NJPW	Spring Flare Up Night 21	5
13	April 11, 1987	Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham	JCP	Crockett Cup	5
14	July 4, 1987	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. Dillon)		The Great American Bash	5	^[3]
15	July 31, 1987	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, The War Machine, and Tully Blanchard)		The Great American Bash	5	^[5]
16	December 6, 1987	Chigusa Nagayo, Mika Suzuki, Mika Takahashi, Yachiya Hirata, Yumi Ogura, and Yumiko Hotta vs. Etsuko Mita, Kazue Nagahori, Lioness Asuka, Mika Komatsu, Mitsuko Nishiwaki, and Sachiko Nakamura	AJW	Unknown	5	^[4]
17	December 16, 1988	Genichiro Tenryu and Toshiaki Kawada vs. Stan Hansen and Terry Gordy	AJPW	Real World Tag League Night 23	5	^[3]
18	January 28, 1989	Genichiro Tenryu, Toshiaki Kawada, and Samson Fuyuki vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Yoshiaki Yatsu, and Masanobu Fuchi		New Year Giant Series Night 17	5	^[6]
19	February 20, 1989	Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat	WCW	Chi-Town Rumble	5	^[3]
20	March 18, 1989			Landover, MD show	6	^[7]
21	April 2, 1989			Clash of the Champions VI	5	^[3]
22	May 7, 1989			WrestleWar	5
23	June 5, 1989	Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu	AJPW	Super Power Series Night 18	5
24	November 15, 1989	Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk	WCW	Clash of the Champions IX	5

1990s

		Date	Match	Promotion	Event	Rating	Ref.
25	1	January 31, 1990	Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Naoki Sano	NJPW	New Year Golden Series	5	^[4]
26	2	June 8, 1990	Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa	AJPW	Super Power Series Night 19	5	^[3]
27	3	September 30, 1990	Jumbo Tsuruta and Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada		October Giant Series Night 2	5	^[8]
28	4	October 19, 1990	Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, and Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Masanobu Fuchi, and Akira Taue		October Giant Series Night 16	5	^[9]
29	5	January 4, 1991	Akira Hokuto vs. Bull Nakano	AJW	Korakuen Hall show	5	^[10]
30	6	February 24, 1991	The Four Horsemen (Barry Windham, Larry Zbyszko, Ric Flair, and Sid Vicious) vs. Brian Pillman, Sting, and The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner)	WCW	WrestleWar	5	^[3]
31	7	April 20, 1991	Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, and Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Masanobu Fuchi, and Akira Taue	AJPW	Fan Appreciation Day	5	^[9]
32	8	August 9, 1991	Big Van Vader vs. Keiji Mutoh	NJPW	G1 climax 1991 Night 2	5	^[3]
33	9	April 24, 1992	Kyoko Inoue vs. Manami Toyota	AJW	Wrestlemarinepiad	5	^[11]
34	10	April 30, 1992	El Samurai vs. Jushin Thunder Liger	NJPW	Explosion Tour Night 13	5
35	11	May 17, 1992	The Dangerous Alliance (Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, Larry Zbyszko, Rick Rude, and Steve Austin) vs. Sting's Squadron (Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, Ricky Steamboat, and Sting)	WCW	WrestleWar	5	^[11]
36	12	May 22, 1992	Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, and Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Masanobu Fuchi, and Akira Taue	AJPW	Super Power Series Night 6^[12]	5	^[9]
37	13	May 25, 1992	Kenta Kobashi and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. The Can-Am Express (Doug Furnas and Dan Kroffat)		Super Power Series Night 8	5	^[11]
38	14	July 5, 1992	Kenta Kobashi and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Masanobu Fuchi and Yoshinari Ogawa		Summer Action Series Night 2	5
39	15	August 15, 1992	Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada	AJW	Mid Summer Typhoon	5
40	16	April 2, 1993	Kyoko Inoue and Takako Inoue vs. Cutie Suzuki and Mayumi Ozaki		Dream Slam I	5	^[13]
41	17		Shinobu Kandori vs. Akira Hokuto			5
42	18	April 11, 1993	Manami Toyota and Toshiyo Yamada vs. Dynamite Kansai and Mayumi Ozaki		Dream Slam II	5
43	19	April 18, 1993	Bull Nakano vs. Devil Masami	JWP	Korakuen Hall show	5	^[14]
44	20	April 25, 1993	Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada	AJPW	Champion Carnival	5	^[15]
45	21	July 2, 1993	Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, and Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshinari Ogawa and The Holy Demon Army (Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue)		Summer Action Series Night 1	5	^[9]
46	22	July 29, 1993	Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen		Summer Action Series Night 22	5	^[11]
47	23	July 31, 1993	Aja Kong, Kyoko Inoue, Takako Inoue, and Sakie Hasegawa vs. Cutie Suzuki, Dynamite Kansai, Mayumi Ozaki, and Hikari Fukuoka	JWP	Thunder Queen Battle in Yokohama	5	^[16]
48	24	August 31, 1993	Kenta Kobashi vs. Steve Williams	AJPW	Summer Action Series II Night 10	5	^[17]
49	25	December 3, 1993	The Holy Demon Army (Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue) vs. Kenta Kobashi and Mitsuharu Misawa		Real World Tag League Night 18	5	^[11]
50	26	December 6, 1993	Manami Toyota and Toshiyo Yamada vs. Dynamite Kansai and Mayumi Ozaki	AJW	St. Battle Final	5	^[18]
51	27	December 10, 1993	Manami Toyota and Akira Hokuto vs. Toshiyo Yamada and Kyoko Inoue		Tag League The Best	5	^[19]
52	28		Manami Toyota and Akira Hokuto vs. Toshiyo Yamada and Kyoko Inoue			5
53	29	January 29, 1994	Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, and Giant Baba vs. Masanobu Fuchi and The Holy Demon Army (Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue)	AJPW	New Year Giant Series Night 20	5	^[20]
54	30	March 20, 1994	Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels	WWF	WrestleMania X	5	^[11]
55	31	April 16, 1994	The Great Sasuke vs. Wild Pegasus	NJPW	Super J-Cup Final	5
56	32	May 21, 1994	Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi vs. The Holy Demon Army (Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue)	AJPW	Super Power Series Night 6	5	^[9]
57	33	June 3, 1994	Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada		Super Power Series Night 16	6	^[11]
58	34	July 8, 1994	The Great Sasuke vs. Jushin Thunder Liger	NJPW	Summer Struggle	5	^[21]
59	35	August 29, 1994	Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart	WWF	SummerSlam	5	^[11]
60	36	October 9, 1994	Kyoko Inoue and Takako Inoue vs. Manami Toyota and Toshiyo Yamada	AJW	Wrestlemarinpiad	5	^[22]
61	37	November 6, 1994	Los Gringos Locos (Art Barr and Eddy Guerrero) vs. El Hijo Del Santo and Octagón	AAA	When Worlds Collide	5	^[11]
62	38	November 20, 1994	Aja Kong vs. Manami Toyota	AJW	Doumu Super Woman Great War	5
63	39	November 30, 1994	Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera	AAA	Matamoros show	5	^[23]
64	40	January 19, 1995	Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada	AJPW	New Year Giant Series Night 14	5	^[24]
65	41	January 24, 1995	Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi vs. The Holy Demon Army (Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue)		New Year Giant Series Night 17	5	^[9]
66	42	March 4, 1995	Kenta Kobashi and Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Johnny Ace and Steve Williams		Excite Series Night 12	5	^[11]
67	43	April 15, 1995	Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa		Champion Carnival Night 19	5
68	44	May 7, 1995	Manami Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue	AJW	G*Top 2nd	5
69	45	June 9, 1995	Kenta Kobashi and Mitsuharu Misawa vs. The Holy Demon Army (Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue)	AJPW	Super Power Series Night 15	5
70	46	June 27, 1995	Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong	AJW	Zenjo Movement Night 40	5
71	47	June 30, 1995	Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, and Satoru Asako vs. Tamon Honda and The Holy Demon Army (Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue)	AJPW	Summer Action Series Night 1	5	^[9]
72	48	July 23, 1995	Manami Toyota vs. Mima Shimoda	AJW	Japan Grand Prix Night 8	5	^[25]
73	49	August 30, 1995	Kyoko Inoue and Takako Inoue vs. Manami Toyota and Sakie Hasegawa		WWWA Champions Night	5	^[26]
74	50	September 2, 1995	Akira Hokuto vs. Manami Toyota		Destiny	5
75	51	September 22, 1995	Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psicosis	AAA	Mexico City show	5
76	52	March 9, 1996	Juventud Guerrera vs. Rey Misterio Jr.	ECW	Big Ass Extreme Bash	5	^[27]
77	53	May 23, 1996	Mitsuharu Misawa and Jun Akiyama vs. The Holy Demon Army (Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue)	AJPW	Super Power Series Night 5	5	^[9]
78	54	June 7, 1996	Jun Akiyama and Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Johnny Ace and Steve Williams		Super Power Series Night 15	5	^[11]
79	55	October 10, 1996	Kaientai DX (Dick Togo, Men's Teioh, Shiryu, Shoichi Funaki, and Taka Michinoku) vs. Gran Hamada, Gran Naniwa, Masato Yakushiji, Super Delfin, and Tiger Mask IV	Michinoku Pro	3rd Anniversary	5	^[28]
80	56	December 6, 1996	The Holy Demon Army (Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue) vs. Jun Akiyama and Mitsuharu Misawa	AJPW	Real World Tag League Night 16	5	^[11]
81	57	March 23, 1997	Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin	WWF	WrestleMania 13	5	^[29]
82	58	June 5, 1997	Koji Kanemoto vs. El Samurai	NJPW	Best of the Super Juniors IV Night 17	5
83	59	June 6, 1997	Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada	AJPW	Super Power Series Night 16	5
84	60	October 5, 1997	Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker	WWF	In Your House 18: Badd Blood	5
85	61	December 5, 1997	The Holy Demon Army (Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue) vs. Jun Akiyama and Mitsuharu Misawa	AJPW	Real World Tag League Night 15	5
86	62	June 27, 1998	Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka	RINGS	Fourth Fighting Integration	5	^[30]
87	63	October 31, 1998	Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa	AJPW	26th Anniversary Show	5	^[29]
88	64	June 11, 1999	Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi		Super Power Series Night 14	5
89	65	October 23, 1999	Mitsuharu Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Burning (Kenta Kobashi and Jun Akiyama)		October Giant Series Night 11	5	^[31]

2000s

		Date	Match	Promotion	Event	Rating	Ref.
90	1	December 14, 2000	Masanobu Fuchi and Toshiaki Kawada vs. Takashi Iizuka and Yuji Nagata	NJPW	Judgment Day	5	^[32]
91	2	March 1, 2003	Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi	Noah	Navigate For Evolution	5	^[29]
92	3	July 10, 2004	Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama		Departure	5
93	4	October 16, 2004	Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk	ROH	Joe vs. Punk II	5
94	5	September 11, 2005	Christopher Daniels vs. A.J. Styles vs. Samoa Joe	TNA	Unbreakable	5
95	6	October 1, 2005	Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi	ROH	Joe vs. Kobashi	5
96	7	March 31, 2006	Cima, Masato Yoshino, and Naruki Doi vs. Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi, and Ryo Saito		Supercard of Honor	5

2010s

		Date	Match	Promotion	Event	Rating	Ref.
97	1	July 17, 2011	CM Punk vs. John Cena	WWE	Money in the Bank	5	^[29]
98	2	March 31, 2012	Davey Richards vs. Michael Elgin	ROH	Showdown in the Sun	5
99	3	October 8, 2012	Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki	NJPW	King of Pro Wrestling	5
100	4	April 7, 2013	Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada		Invasion Attack	5	^[33]
101	5	August 4, 2013	Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii		G1 Climax 23 Night 4	5
102	6	October 14, 2013	Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi		King of Pro Wrestling	5
103	7	September 21, 2014	Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata		Destruction in Kobe	5
104	8	January 4, 2015	Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kota Ibushi		Wrestle Kingdom 9	5
105	9	February 14, 2015	Tomoaki Honma vs. Tomohiro Ishii		The New Beginning in Sendai	5
106	10	August 16, 2015	Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura		G1 Climax 25 Final	5
107	11	November 1, 2015	Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Shingo Takagi	Dragon Gate	Gate of Destiny	5
108	12	January 4, 2016	Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi	NJPW	Wrestle Kingdom 10	5	^[33]
109	13	August 6, 2016	Kazuchika Okada vs. Tomohiro Ishii		G1 Climax 26 Night 13	5
110	14	August 13, 2016	Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito		G1 Climax 26 Night 18	5
111	15	September 3, 2016	Superkliq (Adam Cole, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) vs. Matt Sydal, Ricochet, and Will Ospreay	PWG	Battle of Los Angeles Night 2	5
112	16	January 4, 2017	Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega	NJPW	Wrestle Kingdom 11	6
113	17	February 11, 2017	Tetsuya Naito vs. Michael Elgin		The New Beginning in Osaka	5
114	18	April 9, 2017	Kazuchika Okada vs. Katsuyori Shibata		Sakura Genesis	5
115	19	June 3, 2017	Kushida vs. Will Ospreay		Best of the Super Juniors Final	5
116	20	June 11, 2017	Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega		Dominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall	6.25
117	21	August 11, 2017	Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito		G1 Climax 27 Night 17	5
118	22	August 12, 2017	Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega		G1 Climax 27 Night 18	6
119	23	August 13, 2017	Tetsuya Naito vs. Kenny Omega		G1 Climax 27 Final	5.75
120	24	September 3, 2017	Donovan Dijak vs. Keith Lee	PWG	Battle of Los Angeles Night 3	5
121	25	October 21, 2017	Walter vs. Zack Sabre Jr.		All Star Weekend 13 Night 2	5
122	26	January 4, 2018	Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho	NJPW	Wrestle Kingdom 12	5	^[34]
123	27	January 27, 2018	Andrade "Cien" Almas vs. Johnny Gargano	WWE	NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia	5
124	28	March 25, 2018	Golden Lovers (Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)	NJPW	Strong Style Evolved	5
125	29	April 1, 2018	Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll		Sakura Genesis	5
126	30	April 7, 2018	Adam Cole vs. EC3 vs. Killian Dain vs. Lars Sullivan vs. Ricochet vs. Velveteen Dream	WWE	NXT TakeOver: New Orleans	5
127	31		Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa			5
128	32	April 14, 2018	A-Kid vs. Zack Sabre Jr.	La Triple W	Total Rumble 8	5
129	33	May 4, 2018	Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi	NJPW	Wrestling Dontaku	5.5
130	34	June 4, 2018	Taiji Ishimori vs. Hiromu Takahashi		Best of the Super Juniors Final	5.5
131	35	June 9, 2018	Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega		Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall	7
132	36	July 11, 2018	Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven and Tyler Bate) vs. The Undisputed Era (Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong)	WWE	NXT	5
133	37	July 15, 2018	Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito	NJPW	G1 Climax 28 Night 2	5
134	38	July 19, 2018	Hirooki Goto vs. Kenny Omega		G1 Climax 28 Night 4	5
135	39	July 21, 2018	Hirooki Goto vs. Tomohiro Ishii		G1 Climax 28 Night 6	5
136	40	August 4, 2018	Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii		G1 Climax 28 Night 14	5.5
137	41	August 10, 2018	Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada		G1 Climax 28 Night 17	5
138	42	August 11, 2018	Kenny Omega vs. Kota Ibushi		G1 Climax 28 Night 18	5.5
139	43	August 12, 2018	Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi		G1 Climax 28 Final	5.75
140	44	September 23, 2018	Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada		Destruction in Kobe	5
141	45	September 30, 2018	Chaos (Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii) vs. Golden Lovers (Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi)		Fighting Spirit Unleashed	5
142	46	December 15, 2018	Hiroshi Tanahashi and Will Ospreay vs. Golden Lovers (Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi)		Road to Tokyo Dome Night 2	5
143	47	January 4, 2019	Kenny Omega vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi		Wrestle Kingdom 13	5.75^[b]	^[35]
144	48	March 24, 2019	Kazuchika Okada vs. Sanada		New Japan Cup Final	5
145	49	April 5, 2019	Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano	WWE	NXT TakeOver: New York	5.5
146	50	May 23, 2019	Bandido vs. Will Ospreay	NJPW	Best of the Super Juniors Night 8	5
147	51	May 25, 2019	Cody Rhodes vs. Dustin Rhodes	AEW	Double or Nothing	5
148	52	June 1, 2019	Johnny Gargano vs. Adam Cole	WWE	NXT TakeOver: XXV	5.25
149	53	June 5, 2019	Shingo Takagi vs. Will Ospreay	NJPW	Best of the Super Juniors Final	5.75
150	54	June 9, 2019	Dragon Lee vs. Will Ospreay		Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall	5
151	55	July 18, 2019	Kota Ibushi vs. Will Ospreay		G1 Climax 29 Night 5	5
152	56	July 19, 2019	Jon Moxley vs. Tomohiro Ishii		G1 Climax 29 Night 6	5
153	57	July 20, 2019	Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay		G1 Climax 29 Night 7	5.75
154	58	July 26, 2019	Bandido, Flamita, and Rey Horus vs. Black Taurus, Laredo Kid, and Puma King	PWG	Sixteen	5
155	59	August 3, 2019	Sanada vs. Kazuchika Okada	NJPW	G1 Climax 29 Night 13	5
156	60	August 4, 2019	Tetsuya Naito vs. Shingo Takagi		G1 Climax 29 Night 14	5
157	61	August 8, 2019	Shingo Takagi vs. Tomohiro Ishii		G1 Climax 29 Night 16	5.5
158	62	August 10, 2019	Kota Ibushi vs. Kazuchika Okada		G1 Climax 29 Night 17	5
159	63	August 12, 2019	Kota Ibushi vs. Jay White		G1 Climax 29 Finals	5.5
160	64	August 31, 2019	Walter vs. Tyler Bate	WWE	NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff	5.25
161	65		Lucha Brothers (Pentagon Jr. and Rey Fenix) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)	AEW	All Out	5.25
162	66	September 22, 2019	Bandido vs. Dragon Lee	PWG	Battle of Los Angeles Night 3	5
163	67	October 26, 2019	David Starr vs. Jordan Devlin	OTT	5th Year Anniversary	5

2020s

		Date	Match	Promotion	Event	Rating	Ref.
164	1	January 4, 2020	Will Ospreay vs. Hiromu Takahashi	NJPW	Wrestle Kingdom 14 Night 1	5.5^[c]	^[35]
165	2		Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi			5.5
165	3	January 5, 2020	Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito		Wrestle Kingdom 14 Night 2	5^[d]
167	4	February 14, 2020	Will Ospreay vs. Zack Sabre Jr.	RevPro	High Stakes	5
168	5	February 29, 2020	Kenny Omega and Adam Page vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)	AEW	Revolution	6
169	6	September 16, 2020	Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent) vs. Santana and Ortiz		Dynamite	5
170	7	September 27, 2020	Shingo Takagi vs. Will Ospreay	NJPW	G1 Climax 30 Night 5	5
171	8	October 10, 2020	Kota Ibushi vs. Minoru Suzuki		G1 Climax 30 Night 13	5.25
172	9		Kazuchika Okada vs. Shingo Takagi			5.25
173	10	October 29, 2020	Walter vs. Ilja Dragunov	WWE	NXT UK	5
174	11	November 7, 2020	The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) vs FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood)	AEW	Full Gear	5.25
175	12	December 6, 2020	Go Shiozaki vs. Takashi Sugiura	Noah	The BEST ~Final Chronicle 2020~	5
176	13	January 4, 2021	Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay	NJPW	Wrestle Kingdom 15 Night 1	5.25	^[36]
177	14		Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi			5
178	15	January 5, 2021	Shingo Takagi vs. Jeff Cobb		Wrestle Kingdom 15 Night 2	5
179	16		Kota Ibushi vs. Jay White			5.25
180	17	January 6, 2021	Kenny Omega vs. Rey Fenix	AEW	New Year's Smash Night 1	5
181	18	January 30, 2021	Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shingo Takagi	NJPW	The New Beginning in Nagoya	5
182	19	March 14, 2021	Will Ospreay vs. Zack Sabre Jr.		New Japan Cup Night 8	5
183	20	March 21, 2021	Will Ospreay vs. Shingo Takagi		New Japan Cup Night 13	5.5
184	21	April 14, 2021	The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) vs. Death Triangle (Pac and Rey Fenix)	AEW	Dynamite	5
185	22	May 4, 2021	Will Ospreay vs. Shingo Takagi	NJPW	Wrestling Dontaku 2021 Night 2	6
186	23	June 12, 2021	Syuri vs. Utami Hayashishita	Stardom	Tokyo Dream Cinderella	5.5
187	24	July 25, 2021	Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shingo Takagi	NJPW	Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome	5
188	25	August 22, 2021	Ilja Dragunov vs. Walter	WWE	NXT TakeOver 36	5.25
189	26	September 5, 2021	The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) vs. Lucha Brothers (Pentagón Jr. and Rey Fenix)	AEW	All Out	5.75
190	27	September 18, 2021	Tomohiro Ishii vs. Shingo Takagi	NJPW	G1 Climax 31 Night 1	5.5
191	28	September 22, 2021	Bryan Danielson vs. Kenny Omega	AEW	Grand Slam	5
192	29	October 9, 2021	Lucha Brothers (Pentagón Jr. and Fénix) vs. Jinetes del Aire (El Hijo del Vikingo and Laredo Kid)	AAA	Héroes Inmortales XIV	5
193	30	November 13, 2021	Superkliq (Adam Cole, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) vs. Christian Cage and Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus)	AEW	Full Gear	5
194	31		Adam Page vs. Kenny Omega			5.5
195	32	December 15, 2021	Adam Page vs. Bryan Danielson		Winter is Coming	5
196	33	January 5, 2022	Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay	NJPW	Wrestle Kingdom 16 Night 2	5.75
197	34	January 26, 2022	Cody Rhodes vs. Sammy Guevara	AEW	Beach Break	5
198	35	January 29, 2022	Will Ospreay vs. Michael Oku	RevPro	High Stakes	5
199	36	March 21, 2022	Will Ospreay vs. Zack Sabre Jr.	NJPW	New Japan Cup Night 13	5
200	37	March 26, 2022	Shingo Takagi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.	NJPW	New Japan Cup Night 14	5
201	38	April 1, 2022	Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe) vs. FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood)	ROH	Supercard of Honor XV	5
202	39	May 29, 2022	Jericho Appreciation Society (Chris Jericho, Daniel Garcia, Jake Hager, Angelo Parker and Matt Menard) vs. Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley), Eddie Kingston, Santana and Ortiz	AEW	Double or Nothing	5
203	40	June 3, 2022	The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) vs. Lucha Brothers (Penta Oscuro and Rey Fenix)		Rampage	5
204	41	June 5, 2022	Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins	WWE	Hell in a Cell	5
205	42	July 23, 2022	FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) vs. Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe)	ROH	Death Before Dishonor	5
206	43	August 6, 2022	Shingo Takagi vs. Will Ospreay	NJPW	G1 Climax 32 Night 12	5.5
207	44	August 18, 2022	Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay		G1 Climax 32 Night 20	5.75
208	45	August 21, 2022	Will Ospreay vs. Ricky Knight Jr.	RevPro	Tenth Anniversary Night 2	5	^[37]
209	46	August 24, 2022	United Empire (Will Ospreay and Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis)) vs. Death Triangle (Pac and Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero M and Rey Fenix))	AEW	Dynamite	5	^[38]
210	47	September 3, 2022	Gunther vs. Sheamus	WWE	Clash at the Castle	5	^[39]
211	48	October 2, 2022	FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) vs Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis)	NJPW	Royal Quest II Day 1	5
212	49	October 15, 2022	Rey Fenix vs El Hijo del Vikingo	AAA	Triplemanía XXX	5
213	50	October 23, 2022	Laredo Kid vs El Hijo del Vikingo	AAA	Showcenter Championship Final Round	5
214	51	November 5, 2022	Will Ospreay vs. Tetsuya Naito	NJPW	Battle Autumn '22	5
215	52	December 10, 2022	FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) vs. Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe)	ROH	Final Battle	5.5
216	53	December 19, 2022	Shingo Takagi vs. Taichi	JTO	50th Anniversary for TAKATaichi Together	5
217	54	January 4, 2023	Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega	NJPW	Wrestle Kingdom 17 Night 1	6.25

Wrestlers with the most 5-or-higher-star matches

As of January 6, 2023.

Rank	Wrestler	No. of ≥5★ matches	Highest rating
1	Mitsuharu Misawa	25	6
	Will Ospreay	25	6.25
3	Kazuchika Okada	23	7
	Kenta Kobashi	23	5
5	Toshiaki Kawada	21	6
6	Kenny Omega	20	7
7	Hiroshi Tanahashi	15	5.75
	Akira Taue	15	5
	Shingo Takagi	15	6
10	Kota Ibushi	13	5.75
	Manami Toyota	13	5
12	Ric Flair	12	6
13	Matt Jackson	9	6
	Nick Jackson	9	6
	Tetsuya Naito	9	5.75
	Tomohiro Ishii	9	5.5
17	Jumbo Tsuruta	8	5
	Kyoko Inoue	8	5
	Rey Fenix	8	5.75
20	Jun Akiyama	7	5
	Masanobu Fuchi	7	5
22	Zack Sabre Jr.	6	5
	Toshiyo Yamada	6	5
24	Ricky Steamboat	5	6
	Pentagon Jr.	5	5.75
	Cash Wheeler	5	5.5
	Dax Harwood	5	5.5
	Adam Cole	5	5.5
	Walter/Gunther	5	5.25
	Akira Hokuto	5	5
	Barry Windham	5	5

Wrestlers with the most higher-than-5-star matches

As of January 6, 2023.

Rank	Wrestler	No. of >5★ matches	Highest rating
1	Kazuchika Okada	11	7
2	Kenny Omega	10	7
3	Will Ospreay	9	6.25
4	Shingo Takagi	7	6
5	Kota Ibushi	6	5.75
6	Matt Jackson	4	6
	Nick Jackson	4	6
8	Hiroshi Tanahashi	3	5.75
	Tomohiro Ishii	3	5.5

Promotions with the most 5-or-higher-star matches

As of January 6, 2023.

Rank	Promotion	Abbreviation	No. of ≥5★ matches	Highest rating
1	New Japan Pro-Wrestling	NJPW	81	7
2	All Japan Pro Wrestling	AJPW	35	6
3	All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling	AJW	19	5
4	World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment	WWF/WWE	16	5.5
	All Elite Wrestling	AEW	16	6
6	World Championship Wrestling	WCW	7	6
7	Ring of Honor	ROH	7	5.5
8	Jim Crockett Promotions	JCP	5	5
	Pro Wrestling Guerrilla	PWG	5	5
10	Asistencia Asesoría y Administración/Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide	AAA	6	5
11	Revolution Pro Wrestling	RevPro	3	5
	Pro Wrestling Noah	Noah	3	5
13	World Wonder Ring Stardom	Stardom	1	5.5
	Total Nonstop Action Wrestling	TNA	1	5
	Professional Wrestling Just Tap Out	JTO	1	5
	Over the Top Wrestling	OTT	1	5
	Extreme Championship Wrestling	ECW	1	5
	La Triple W (White Wolf Wrestling)	WWW	1	5
	Fighting Network Rings	RINGS	1	5
	Championship Wrestling from Florida	CWF	1	5
	Universal Wrestling Federation (Japan)	UWF	1	5

Promotions with the most higher-than-5-star matches

As of January 6, 2023.

Rank	Promotion	Abbreviation	No. of >5★ matches	Highest rating
1	New Japan Pro-Wrestling	NJPW	27	7
2	All Elite Wrestling	AEW	5	6
3	World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment	WWF/WWE	4	5.5
4	World Championship Wrestling	WCW	1	6
	All Japan Pro Wrestling	AJPW		6
	World Wonder Ring Stardom	Stardom		5.5
	Ring of Honor	ROH		5.5

See also

• Professional wrestling in Canada
• Professional wrestling in Japan
• Professional wrestling in Mexico
• Professional wrestling in the United Kingdom
• Professional wrestling in the United States
• Professional wrestling match types

Notes

1. Occurred before the creation of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter
2. Originally 5.5, but later revised
3. Originally 5.25, but later revised
4. Originally 4.75, but later revised

References

1. Hart, Bret (2009). Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling. Grand Central Publishing. p. 214. ISBN 978-0-446-54528-0.
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4. "Meltzer's Classics". RamblingsAboutWrestling.com.
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6. "In Search of Five Star Matches Part Two". PlaceToBeNation.com.
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8. Observer Staff (August 21, 1991). "August 21, 1991 Observer Newsletter More WWF steroid troubles, Billy Graham lawsuit". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
9. "Hall of Fame season: The best matches of Akira Taue". F4WOnline. September 22, 2015. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
10. Observer Staff (February 25, 1991). "February 25, 1991 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Full Wrestlemania card released". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
11. "Dave Meltzer 5 Star Matches List (1983 to 2019) – Page 2 of 6". IWNerd.com. January 1, 2018.
12. Kreikenbohm, Philip. "AJPW Super Power Series 1992 Tag 6". Cagematch.net. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
13. Observer Staff (January 17, 1994). "Jan. 17 1994 Observer Newsletter: The 1993 Wrestling Observer Reader Awards issue". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
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16. Observer Staff (August 30, 1993). "August 30, 1993 Observer Newsletter: Wrestling recovery?, Terry Gordy collapses,Gene Okerlund leaves WWE". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
17. "Kenta Kobashi vs. Steve Williams". Cagematch. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
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19. Observer Staff (March 7, 1994). "March 7, 1994 Observer Newsletter: Lawler case finished, WWE leaks finish that didn't end up the finish". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
20. Observer Staff (March 21, 1994). "March 21, 1994 Observer Newsletter: Tonya Harding and wrestling, Hogan/WCW, Mania X preview, more". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
21. Observer Staff (August 8, 1994). "August 8, 1994 Observer Newsletter: Back to business after trial, a huge week for pro-wrestling internationally, new promotion starting up, tons more". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
22. Observer Staff (December 19, 1995). "Dec. 19, 1994 Observer Newsletter: Epic Rickson Gracie vs. Yoji Anjoh story which ultimately led to the creation of PRIDE, UFC IV set, Real World Tag League tournament, tons more". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
23. Observer Staff (January 30, 1995). "Jan. 30, 1995 Observer Newsletter: 1995 Royal Rumble, angle to bring Ric Flair back to WCW, "Nu Jack" legal issues, business trends of past three years, more". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
24. "Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada". Cagematch. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
25. Observer Staff (October 23, 1995). "Oct. 23, 1995 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Bill Watts already gone from WWE after three weeks, New Japan/UWFi update, Ultimate Ultimate tournament pairings, tons more". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
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27. Observer Staff (January 13, 1997). "Jan. 13, 1997 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: 1997 Annual Awards Issue, a look at all the major shows of the year, tons more". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
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34. "Dave Meltzer 5 Star Matches List (1983 to 2019) – Page 5 of 6". IWNerd.com. January 1, 2018.
35. "Dave Meltzer 5 Star Matches List (1983 to 2020) – Page 6 of 6". IWNerd.com. January 1, 2018.
36. "Dave Meltzer 5 Star Matches List (1983 to 2021) - Page 7". IWNerd. January 2018. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
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39. "Dutch Mantell sugiere a WWE preste mayor atención al uso de Gunther". IWNerd. Retrieved September 9, 2022.

External links

• Official website
• Top 100 Matches on Cagematch
• Top Rated Matches of All Time on The Internet Wrestling Database