Every WWE Five Star Match Ranked From Worst To Best

The Best Of The Best.

Gargano Ciampa FIVE STARS
WWE

Since the 1983 inception of his Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer has rated just seven WWE matches with the elusive, not-quite-maximum ***** rating.

To deflect the incoming jokes, WWE has in fact presented shows at the Tokyo Dome - even one in which North American Meltzer favourite Bret Hart wrestled five-star meteor shower Mitsuharu Misawa under his Tiger Mask. Perhaps the formula is missing a variable. Perhaps two Japanese performers must wrestle at the Tokyo Dome in order to earn all five stars. Or perhaps the meme is pure trash.

Still, this list doesn't include, to the dismay of many, Bret Hart Vs. Owen Hart from WrestleMania X, Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle Vs. Rey Mysterio & Edge from No Mercy 2002 or, most controversially, The Undertaker Vs. Shawn Michaels from WrestleMania 25. But this isn't a pedantic list, at least not in terms of what subjectively should have made the grade.

What follows is an exercise in pedantry pitched as an excuse to celebrate the best of the best of the WWE canon in this absolutely atrocious post-WrestleMania season, Bobby's Sisters, ugly propaganda and all...

7. Bret Hart Vs. Owen Hart - Steel Cage SummerSlam 1994

Gargano Ciampa FIVE STARS
WWE.com

A novel approach to the traditional steel cage match, that novelty may have accounted for Uncle Dave's maximum praise. He seemed more impressed by the ability of the Hart brothers to work around what was at the time a literally fenced-in stipulation, as opposed to the content of the match itself. The cage, assembled only to settle the most personal of grudges, required claret to resonate with an audience conditioned to expect brutality.

Or at least it did, until brothers Bret and Owen innovated a new dramatic layer: suspense.

This did lead one to suspect the psychology, since this was a blood feud without the blood and perhaps should have been a fight, as opposed to a retreat - but the urgent and expertly-timed escape and thwart attempts were done so well that anybody watching, even those years later, even those rewatching equipped with knowledge of the result, must experience genuine, full-on palpitations. They were also done a bit too much, leading to a slightly repetitive middle act.

The outlier in WWE's canon of classics, it was nonetheless a hugely inventive and at times unbearably dramatic match sold to perfection with a frantic desperation and exhaustion.

 
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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and surefire Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!