21 WWE Matches That Almost Got 5 Stars
A lot of WWE fans will insist these deserve 5 stars, but there's no changing the past.
Dave Meltzer can be a controversial figure in certain parts of wrestling fandom. Even though his star rating system is strictly opinion-based and never to be held as sacrosanct, people will take his ratings a definitive statement of quality, and thus, an attack on their character if they hold a match in higher regard than he does.
It's especially ugly when he rates a match the dreaded 4.75 stars. To most people. that's an extremely high rating, and it applies to matches we should most certainly check out. However, to insane people, it means that Dave hated the match, and is trying to destroy its reputation. It's a lot like those idiots who take Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes scores very seriously, and will do anything to uphold their integrity (mainly by yelling at the people who criticize their game or film of their choice).
There have been 21 matches in WWE history that have been rated 4.75 stars. We hope to prove that just because they didn't rate 5 stars according to Uncle Dave, they shouldn't most definitely be considered must-watch affairs.
21. Shawn Michaels Vs. Marty Jannetty (Monday Night RAW 1993)
I hope you're ready for endless gushing about how amazing Shawn Michaels is, because spoiler: this guy is gonna show up on this list several times. Of course, when he can almost get 5 stars for a match on RAW in 1993, can you really be surprised?
In the early days of Monday Night RAW, there wasn't that much of a focus on in-ring action. A typical episode mainly consisted of promos with jobber squashes sprinkled throughout. However, in July of '93, Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty defied convention, opening RAW with what was, at the time, considered one of the best title matches in history, when HBK defended his IC belt against his former tag partner.
Though not up to the standards of modern WWE matches, this high-flying, fast-pasted encounter was still a far cry from the usual plodding squashes audiences were used to at the time. And hey, when Randy Savage says only a few minutes in that it's one of the best matches he's seen in his life, clearly, you're doing something right. Dave Meltzer agreed, giving this match 4.75 stars.