10 Wrestlers You Won't Believe Never Had A Five Star Match

6. Randy Savage

Kurt Angle The Rock
WWE

Randy Savage was a beacon of realism in the exaggerated, cartoonish Golden Age of the WWF. He was athletic. He was intense. He was such a method professional wrestler that he sold his elbow immediately after striking an opponent with it. Selling wasn't a halfhearted routine for Savage, something to do before taking his turn to do a move. It was essential to his craft.

He wrestled a number of classics throughout his glorious run, even when he was past his mercurial best in WCW. He wrestled what many even refer to as the greatest wrestling match of all time. Meltzer is not one of them.

Closest Candidate: Randy Savage Vs. Ricky Steamboat, WrestleMania III.

It was awarded ****1/2 by the Observer, but Savage Vs. Steamboat is so widely regarded as a masterpiece that it might as well have been given the full five stars. But is that conventional wisdom entirely correct?

With its preordained layout, breathless pace and convoluted sequences of counters and reversals, it tore up the in-ring language of the WWF and informed essentially everything (good) that came after it - and the wider storyline is paid off beautifully with Savage going after Steamboat's throat - but it's not on the emotive and nuanced level of Steamboat's matches with Ric Flair.

Savage was a five star worker, but sacrilegious as it may be to some, this is not a five star match.

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!