The NXT brand of WWE has received more five-star matches in recent years than the main roster – and for good reason.
While they are considered to be the developmental brand of WWE, for years Triple H was given free rein to put his own spin on it.
He began to hire all the top independent talent in the world, creating his own “super indie” that looked more like PWG than WWE.
Top stars like Kevin Steen, Prince Devitt and WALTER all came and went, becoming huge stars on the way to the main roster.
They are now known as Kevin Owens, Finn Balor and Gunther, and are some of the most popular stars in WWE, partly in thanks to their five-star matches in NXT.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer is the man whose ratings are taken most seriously by the fans. When he gives a match five stars, you know you need to see it.
It is the five-star NXT matches as reviewed by Dave Meltzer that we will be looking at in this article.
Let us know in the comments section below what you think about his ratings, once you’ve finished reading this article about the NXT five star matches.
(Please note that this list does not contain matches from the NXT UK brand, which was a completely separate promotion.
Please click the link below to read about every 5-star match from NXT UK.)
Ilja Dragunov vs WALTER – NXT Takeover 36
Dave Meltzer Star Rating – 5.25 Stars
Cagematch Rating – 9.63
Adam Cole vs Johnny Gargano – NXT Takeover XXV
Dave Meltzer Star Rating – 5.25 Stars
Cagematch Rating – 9.13
Adam Cole vs Johnny Gargano – NXT Takeover: New York
Dave Meltzer Star Rating – 5.5 Stars
Cagematch Rating – 9.16
Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong vs. Trent Seven & Tyler Bate – NXT 11/7/18
Dave Meltzer Star Rating – 5 Stars
Cagematch Rating – 9.22
Johnny Gargano vs Tommaso Ciampa – NXT Takeover: New Orleans
Dave Meltzer Star Rating – 5 Stars
Cagematch Rating – 9.41
Adam Cole vs. EC3 vs. Killian Dain vs. Lars Sullivan vs. Ricochet vs. The Velveteen Dream – NXT Takeover: New Orleans
Dave Meltzer Star Rating – 5 Stars
Cagematch Rating – 9.16
Andrade Almas vs Johnny Gargano – NXT Takeover: Philadelphia
Dave Meltzer Star Rating – 5 Stars
Cagematch Rating – 9.65