10 Wrestlers With The Most Five Star Matches
7. Toshiyo Yamada - 9
Though never as revered as some of her joshi counterparts, Toshiyo Yamada ended her career with a lengthy collection of five-star matches nonetheless. This is partly through association, as each of these nine bouts featured the great Manami Toyota, and only two were singles contests.
That isn't to say that Yamada was a slouch between the ropes though. You can't earn this volume of ***** ratings without being a good worker, regardless of opposition/tag partners, and while Yamada's shortcomings were often exposed in one-on-one situations, she was an excellent tag worker. Her and Toyota's April 1993 bout with Dynamite Kansai and Mayumi Ozaki won the Wrestling Observer's Match of the Year award, and later that year, Yamada, produced two five-star bouts in the same evening while teaming with Akira Hokuto.
The hair vs. hair clash with Toyota in August 1992 stands as Yamada's strongest singles match. A fast-moving suplex-fest, its format of move, pinfall, kickout, repeat brings it down a couple of notches in 2017, but it's still very much worth a watch. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite match the best work of Toyota's career, as we'll soon find out.