Every Wrestler With 10 Or More Dave Meltzer 5 Star Rated Matches
2. Kenta Kobashi - 23 Matches
The penultimate piece of the Super Generation Army and the penultimate entry on this list, Kenta Kobashi is probably best known for inventing wrestling's most devastating finishing move, the Burning Hammer. However, he only used this move seven times in his whole career, whereas he would have a 5 star match 23 times.
Kobashi pulled out three 5 star matches in 1992, five in 1993, five in 1995, and was one of only two wrestlers to have more than one 5 star match in the 2000s, one of which was against Samoa Joe of all people. Kobashi was among those who helped put All Japan on the map and was one of the few to stay with the company following the mass walkout that led to the formation of Pro Wrestling NOAH.
Hard-hitting, freakishly strong, and absolutely terrifying to watch, Kobashi embodied everything that Meltzer wanted in a wrestler in the 1990s; a time where realism was a totally foreign concept in the West.
A true legend, Kobashi came within touching distance of topping this list. Alas, he finished just behind another All Japan icon and a man Kobashi knew very well...