10 Wrestlers With The Most Five Star Matches
Though they're far from objective, who has wrestling's most special snowflakes?
There's no way of objectively proving that something is "good" or "bad" within a subjective artform. Wrestling is no different to music or film in that regard: if you think a match is great, then it's great, regardless of whether the taste-makers agree or not.
Another person's opinion should never be taken as gospel, even if that person happens to be the most respected journalist in his field. That being said, there's no denying that Dave Meltzer's star ratings can be a good judge of quality. His scale is best used as a guideline, not an infallible authority, and fans should ultimately make up their own minds, but if the Wrestling Observer throws ***** at something, it tends not to suck
Achieving perfection is incredibly difficult. Shawn Michaels, widely regarded among the best of all time, managed the feat just twice, and The Undertaker once. Regardless, some of their peers (particularly those on the opposite side of the Pacific) earned perfect scores many times throughout their careers, with some even stretching into double figures.
Again, it's all opinion, but if star ratings are your thing, these individuals are the undisputed kings and queens.
10. Jumbo Tsuruta - 7
Jumbo Tsuruta was a towering pillar of a man. Standing at 6'6" and tipping the scales at close to 300lbs, the former Olympian didn't just bring immense size to the table, but outstanding athleticism, technique, and a staggeringly high ring IQ.
His feud with Genichiro Tenryu was instrumental in dragging All Japan Pro Wrestling towards its 1990s heyday, and also formed the basis for one of the most important matches in puroresu history. AJPW's shift away from the plodding NWA-esque grappling of the '70s towards the bruising King's Road style it'd become famous for was gradual, but Tenryu & Tsuruta's June 1989 clash rubber-stamped the promotion's changing identity.
It was the third five-star match of Jumbo's career, and he'd follow it up with another top-rated singles bout against Mitsuharu Misawa the following year, with the rest of his ***** awards coming in tag action.
Match quality aside, Tsuruta was the man who unified AJPW's three major championships to create the company's famous Triple Crown belt, and a wrestler who always adapted with the times, whether grappling with Jack Brisco as a fiery rookie in the '70s or putting Misawa over as the next guy up in 1990. He was a pioneer, and deserves to be remembered as such.