AEW’s Dustin Rhodes has recently appeared on Chris Jericho’s podcast and spoke about his legendary match against Cody Rhodes, that earned a whopping five stars from Dave Meltzer. The Wrestling Observer journalist is famous for his weekly match ratings and has been scoring wrestling bouts for over 40 years at this point.
Many wrestlers see it as a badge of honour to be rated highly by Meltzer. Stars like Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay have used his ratings to increase their popularity and reach in places where they may otherwise not have any. Meltzer rated Will Ospreay vs Ricochet highly, which gained both men interest across the world and greatly impacted their careers, so he does have some influence with his star ratings.
Speaking on Talk is Jericho, Dustin Rhodes revealed it was “Cool” to get a five star rating from Meltzer, the first of his career. He also noted that he was previously warned off talking to the journalist, but in recent years has come to know him better. Chris Jericho also revealed Dustin Rhodes was the oldest man to get a five-star match rating, beating out Jericho’s match against Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 12.
Jericho: “I don’t know if you follow this, but it was given a five star rating by Meltzer. It made you the oldest wrestler to get a five star match, against Kenny [Omega] at the Tokyo Dome“
Rhodes: “Early on, a lot of the guys said “you don’t need to be talking to Meltzer” so you kinda ave this viison of Meltzer being this evil character. But then I got to talk to him and know him a little differently. He’s been around a long time and seen a lot of good stuff, whether he’s biased or not, that’s fine I don’t care.
But it was cool to receive a five star“
Dustin Rhodes has been contemplating retirement in recent weeks and has only intermittently been wrestling for AEW, instead jumping headfirst into his coaching role with The Nightmare Factory.