Tony Khan Upset THIS AEW Match Didn't Get Five-Star Rating
AEW chief Tony Khan was looking for ***** from Dave Meltzer on this banger.
Chris Jericho has revealed that AEW founder and CEO Tony Khan was "mad" that Dave Meltzer didn't award a five-star rating to the Canadian's 10 August 2022 match with Jon Moxley.
Jericho stated as much when going through the bout on the 'AEW Dynamite 200 - The Favorite Matches of The Ocho' episode of Talk is Jericho this week. Taking place on AEW Dynamite's 'Quake by the Lake' special, the bloody, hard-hitting AEW Interim World Title match saw Moxley successfully defend the belt against Jericho, with both stars earning plaudits for their efforts.
Meltzer ended up awarding the match ****3/4 in the next edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. On Talk is Jericho, 'The Ocho' acknowledged that ****3/4 and ***** are "pretty much the same thing," but Khan was "mad" (h/t Inside the Ropes):-
"I remember Tony was mad that Meltzer didn’t give us five stars, he gave us four and three quarters like it was pretty much the same thing. But it was a five star match in my book, one of my favourites, and I’ve always had great chemistry with Mox because we’d like beating the sh*t out of each other. It’s that simple. We really have no boundaries when it comes to working together. Just the same thing I used to say to Benoit, don’t break my nose and don’t snap my teeth, other that hit me as hard as you can. So just a great match with great chemistry.”
Dave Meltzer has rated 23 AEW matches ***** or above since the promotion's 2019 inception, the most recent of which was the 15 July *****1/4 bout between FTR and Bullet Club Gold.
The Wrestling Observer chief has repeatedly said the following of the difference between ****3/4 and *****:-
If you think it was 5 and I said 4 3/4, it means we agree. Rule of thumb is a full star is basic agreement and within a 1/2 star is total agreement. https://t.co/dqw5WQb43x
Advertisement— Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) July 5, 2023
Chris Jericho vs. Jon Moxley (10 August 2022) currently has a Cagematch rating of 8.42/10 to go with its ****3/4 from Meltzer.