Putting on great matches is what wrestling is all about. People want to pay money to see their favorites wrestling great matches, and the better a match is, the more buzz a wrestler gets.
When your match gets given a five-star rating, it’s a big deal. When it gets given a six-star rating, then you truly are something special.
Dave Meltzer’s match ratings have meant that a lesser known company putting on a great match will get eyes on them simply by him giving them his five-star rating.
Many wrestlers including Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay have said they value his opinion and look out for his given star ratings after their matches.
While you should not take Meltzer’s rating as gospel, they are handy to see which matches are good and which are bad. If you have similar opinions to him then his ratings will be helpful to you. If not, there are other ways to find good matches.
Cagematch.net is one site where users rate matches, and it aggregates that into a score. This is also good to use to find out good, or bad, matches to watch that may align with your opinions of wrestling.
In this article, we will be looking at which matches Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer has rated six-stars or more.
This rating truly represents matches that are the greatest of all time, and are near-perfect representations of what wrestling should be.
Dave Meltzer Six-Star Matches
There have been eleven matches in wrestling history to have been rated six-stars or more.
The first was an untelevised WCW match from 1989, while the most recent was a 2023 encounter between two of the best wrestlers in the world.
It’s clear from this that “breaking the scale” is not something that has happened recently. The six-star match has been around for years, so awarding matches the rating now does not mean Meltzer is “jumping the shark”.
There have also been three matches that have been rated above six-stars, which will be included in this list.
11. Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat (NWA House Show)
The first ever six-star match rated by Dave Meltzer was one that was never actually televised.
The bout was at an NWA house show, and was actually one of two matches they wrestled in that very same day.
The bout was said to have been incredible, as the pair battled for 32-minutes in front of a rabid crowd at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland.
Ricky Steamboat pinned Ric Flair to win the six-star match, retaining his NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship, much to the delight of the crowd.
- Dave Meltzer Star Rating –
- Cagematch Rating –
10. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaka Kawada (AJPW Super Power Series 1994)
When two of the legends of All Japan Pro Wrestling clash in a huge bout like this, there is only one outcomes – six stars.
Two of the absolute greatest of all-time beat the absolute tar out of each other for nearly 40 minutes.
Everything here is high-stakes when Misawa and Kawada step into the ring together.
Great reversals, great cinematography, great attention to detail & references to previous matches.
It truly encapsulates what was great about 1990s AJPW, and is a must-watch for any fans of Japanese wrestling.
- Dave Meltzer Star Rating – 6 Stars
- Cagematch Rating – 9.72
9. Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega (Wrestle Kingdom 11)
The first encounter between Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega truly changed professional wrestling.
Their titanic clash had been highly anticipated for months, ever since Kenny Omega won the G1 Climax.
Both men were considered the best wrestlers in NJPW, and the battle between the two of them was sure to be incredible
However, nobody could have predicted just how good it would be.
The match was perfect. They told a perfect story with wonderful psychology, mixed with some fast-paced action and high spots that keep you engaged and on the edge of your seat for the entire bout.
While this was the first six-star match of either man’s careers, it certainly would not be the last.
- Dave Meltzer Star Rating – 6 Stars
- Cagematch Rating – 9.80
8. Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega (NJPW Dominion 6.11 In Osaka-Jo Hall)
The second battle between Omega and Okada somehow eclipsed the first.
The drama was amped up, the action was more fast-paced and violent, and the callbacks to their previous clash just added to the match.
These incremental changed bumped this match up to the 6.25 star mark, becoming the first match to go above and beyond the legendary six-star match rating.
This match ended in a 60-minute time-limit draw, setting up a third clash down the line.
- Dave Meltzer Star Rating – 6.25 Stars
- Cagematch Rating – 9.66
7. Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega (NJPW G1 Climax 2017)
Kenny Omega finally defeated Kazuchika Okada for the first time, although this time in a non-title bout.
The pair battled in the 2017 G1 Climax, with the winner of the tournament going on to wrestle in the main event of the Tokyo Dome.
Many have called this their best encounter, with the 30-minute time limit forcing them to up the pace and bring the best out of one-another.
However, they still managed to have a better match, with their fourth and final encounter ranking six-stars or above.
- Dave Meltzer Star Rating – 6 Stars
- Cagematch Rating – 9.71
6. Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega (NJPW Dominion 6.9 In Osaka-Jo Hall)
This match surpassed the six-star rating and earned itself the iconic seven-star rating from Dave Meltzer.
In their fourth and final encounter, Kenny Omega finally defeated Kazuchika Okada to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship – but he had to work for it.
Fought under 2 out of 3 falls rules, Kenny Omega wrestled Kazuchika Okada in a 90-minute bout that blew any and all expectations away.
Simply, no other match can match this. It had fantastic storytelling, incredible selling and brilliant callbacks to the previous bouts between the two. A true modern classic.
- Dave Meltzer Star Rating – 7 Stars (Highest Rated Match Ever)
- Cagematch Rating – 9.78
5. Adam Page & Kenny Omega vs The Young Bucks (AEW Revolution 2020)
AEW’s first addition to the list of six-star matches is the only six-star tag team match in the history of wrestling.
In an incredibly emotional affair, Kenny Omega and Adam Page defended their AEW Tag Team Championships against their Elite teammates, The Young Bucks.
Tensions had been high between Hangman and the other three over the months, with him becoming paranoid and pushing his friends away.
This helped create a fantastic story in the ring, which saw tag teams try to stay together despite the best efforts of the other duo.
In a 40-minute classic, all four men rightfully earned the six-star rating from Dave Meltzer.
- Dave Meltzer Star Rating – 6 Stars
- Cagematch Rating – 9.67
4. Shingo Tagaki vs Will Ospreay (NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2021)
Despite the lack of crowd participation due to the pandemic, Will Ospreay’s battle with Shingo Tagaki will go down as an all-time great bout.
Will Ospreay defended his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Tagaki in the main event of Wrestling Dontaku 2021, in a match that lasted an astonishing 45 minutes.
In that time, these two put everything they had on the line to put on an absolute classic that blew every other match that night out of the water.
It was a slow-paced brawl that picked up exactly when it needed to, and thoroughly earned the six-star rating it thoroughly deserved.
- Dave Meltzer Star Rating – 6 Stars
- Cagematch Rating – 9.32
3. Kenny Omega vs Will Ospreay (Wrestle Kingdom 17)
Kenny Omega earned the record for most six-star matches in history with his Wrestle Kingdom 17 clash with young English star Will Ospreay.
It completely overshadowed the main event, which saw Jay White lose his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship to beloved wrestler Kazuchika Okada.
The two Gaijan’s put everything on the line to prove two different points to themselves – Omega, to prove to Ospreay he’ll never be as good as him, and for Ospreay to knock the traitorous Omega down a peg.
It flew by at 35 minutes but felt like a 10 minute classic. This is a testament to both men’s incredible wrestling ability, managing to keep the fans enthralled for the entirety of this modern classic.
- Dave Meltzer Star Rating – 6.25 Stars
- Cagematch Rating – 9.77
2. Kenny Omega vs Will Ospreay (Forbidden Door 2023)
The latest six-star rated match was the rematch from the last, as Kenny Omega wrestled Will Ospreay at Forbidden Door 2023.
Will Ospreay avenged his loss at the Tokyo Dome earlier this year with one of the greatest performances wrestling has ever seen.
He and Omega had an innate chemistry that you cannot team. Every move was crisp, perfectly executed and fit exactly in the story where it needed to be.
TIGER DRIVER ’91!!! #AEWxNJPW #ForbiddenDoor https://t.co/hBJXT0imWt pic.twitter.com/DBCSASTXdV— SirLARIATO (@SirLARIATO) June 26, 2023
Despite interference from Don Callis, the match was perfect. The interference even helped the match, even if the referee did not do his job correctly .
The match was awarded six-stars by Dave Meltzer, making it one of the best AEW matches of all time.
- Dave Meltzer Star Rating – 6 Stars
- Cagematch Rating – 9.58
1. Will Ospreay vs Tetsuya Naito (G1 Climax 33)
Despite being knocked out near the end of the match, Tetsuya Naito put on his first ever six-star match against Will Ospreay at the G1 Climax 2023.
A miscommunication at the end of the fantastic match seemed to knock out Naito, who struggled to even stand to finish the match he was supposed to be winning.
Ever the professional, Will Ospreay managed to command the ring and put Naito into position to defeat him.
Ospreay even managed to perform Naito’s finisher, while he was a deadweight, multiple times in increasingly impressive fashion, helping Naito win the match after the gruesome kick.
This was arguably more impressive than if Ospreay had won the match, although I’m sure he’d have preferred the main event of Wrestle Kingdom instead.
This also gave Will Ospreay his third 6-star match of 2023, and one of the best matches of his career so far.
- Dave Meltzer’s Star Rating – 6 Stars
- Cagematch Rating – 9.60