WWE Gets First 5-Star Match Rating In Seven Years

And only the sixth ever.

By Michael Sidgwick /

WWE

Razor Ramon Vs. Shawn Michaels, WWF Intercontinental Title Ladder Match, WrestleMania X.

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Bret Hart Vs. Owen Hart, Steel Cage Match, SummerSam 1994.

Bret Hart Vs. Steve Austin, Submission Match, WrestleMania 13.

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The Undertaker Vs. Shawn Michaels, Hell In A Cell Match, In Your House: Badd Blood.

John Cena Vs. CM Punk, WWE Title Match, Money In The Bank 2011.

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Until now, those were the only WWE matches Dave Meltzer, of the Wrestling Observer, deemed worthy of the uppermost echelon of his divisive star rating system - excepting, of course, the ultra-rare 5+ feats of Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, Kenny Omega, Kazuchika Okada and Tetsuya Naito.

At NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia, Andrade 'Cien' Almas retained his NXT Title at the expense of Johnny Gargano in a spellbinding effort from which the latter emerged as wrestling's greatest pure babyface in a ridiculously dramatic match built on convoluted sequences, advanced athleticism, and rich, escalating emotion. It was impossible not to invest, in your writer's opinion, such was Gargano's black-lipped, catatonic plight at the apex of a match structured to drain the audience of every last ember of support. Meltzer was similarly unable to resist holding this masterpiece in the highest (well, nearly) of esteem.

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Whether you hold Meltzer himself in such esteem is another matter entirely - some see his ratings as an authoritative entry point into the diverse international scene, others see in it an inherent bias/preference with a compass pointing directly to the East. Regardless: many wrestling talents strive for the commendation, and Bret Hart is on record as taking pride in the venerable journo's praise.

Congratulations, then, to the two men involved - in order to break a dubious record, it must have been something special.

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