10 Wrestlers Who Achieved The Impossible

6. Kenny Omega: Seven Star Machine

Cody Competed With WWE
NJPW1972.com

Dave Meltzer maintains that there was never a limit to his star rating system. Like WWE storyline continuity, it was made to be broken.

Jerry Lawler and Terry Funk were the first to do so by wrestling the first ever ***** match in 1981; previously, the Roger Ebert-inspired scale devised by Jim Cornette and Norm Dooley stretched to ****. Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat reached the ****** level in a mythical 1989 house show match. Six stars was like the Burning Hammer of star ratings - a beast as brilliant as it was very rarely-sighted - and, in the years since, bar the odd weird '+' symbol, only Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega matched it. They also transcended it on June 9, 2018.

Meltzer maintains that there was never a limit to his star rating system. But still: seven stars is utterly insane, and even Meltzer himself never thought he would award a match with such a rating. He did so only because, to his mind, he will never see a match as good as that ever again.

That match was the best of the best of the best; the best match itself, between the two best wrestlers, followed the best title reign and the best redemptive babyface character arc. It was something well beyond special, and even if you don't rate the rating system, the prospect of it being broken can only result in something actually impossible.

In this post: 
Cody Rhodes
 
Posted On: 
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 current Undisputed WWE 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!