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WWE and 5-star ratings do not always go hand in hand. A 5-star rated match is one of the greatest honours a wrestler could ever achieve in their career. It’s extremely rare for a match to be given a perfect 5-star rating, even in this day and age when there’s such a variety of wrestlers and wrestling styles.
The star rating system was popularised by Dave Meltzer and his Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Even though he’s not perfect, and his match ratings are expressions of his own opinion, many people take those ratings quite seriously. However, even Meltzer’s star-rating system has its biases.
The overwhelming majority of matches rated 5 stars come from outside WWE, and of these, there was a very high concentration of 5-star matches in All Japan Pro Wrestling during the 1990s, with such wrestlers as Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi, and Mitsuharu Misawa.
In WWE, 5-stars are even rarer. The last time a 5-Star match took place on the WWE main roster was when John Cena fought CM Punk at Money in the Bank in 2011. Since then, we’ve seen an explosion of great matches, with some NXT matches getting an illustrious 5-star rating. However, not a single one on the main roster since Punk/Cena has earned this rare distinction.
Here are seven wrestlers that, somehow, have NEVER had a match rated 5-stars.
#1 Finn Bálor
It's common for many indie legends to have 5-star matches before they join WWE (eg: AJ Styles) or for many WWE superstars to have 5-star matches after they leave the company (eg: Daniel Bryan and Chris Jericho). However, Finn Bálor has never had a 5-star match in his entire career.
While Dave Meltzer's partiality against WWE matches can explain the inaugural Universal Champion not having a 5-star match, the fact that Bálor worked quite a few years in Japan and had amazing fights there is what makes him a surprising entry on this list.
#2 Randy Orton
Randy Orton has been one of WWE’s biggest stars of the past decade. He has had around 2400 matches (live events included) throughout his career. While some of Orton's feuds have been very interesting, he has never really set the world on fire with his matches. Most of them have followed the same "methodical" formula that involves some slow movement, frequent stomping, and an unhealthy obsession with headlocks.
Because of this, Orton has never had a 5-star match. He has surpassed the 4-star mark a few times, but that was on rare occasions. Simply put, Orton is a sports entertainer, but not an over-the-top wrestler who executes dangerous moves to get a 5-star rating.
#3 WWE Hall of Famer Triple H
Triple H has been around for seemingly forever. He has been in WWE’s main event scene since 2000s and has had his fair share of spectacular matches with heavy emphasis on storylines. Despite the many criticisms levelled against him, Triple H has had some very good matches over the years.
After all, who can forget his fantastic war with Mick Foley/Cactus Jack, his great matches with ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, and The Rock, or his legendary Hell in a Cell bout with The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVIII?
However, Triple H has never had a 5-star match in his entire career. Many of his matches since 1998 have reached the 4.5-star level, and a few have even reached the 4.75-level, which is so close to a perfect 5-star rating. With Triple H announcing his retirement from in-ring competiton, he’ll have to live with the fact that he never had a 5-star rated match in his career.
#4 Roman Reigns
Time and again, Roman Reigns has been positioned in the most important of matches and the biggest of roles. And each time thus far, some fans have done whatever is possible to hinder his successes. Though Reigns has indeed put on some good matches, and even a handful of great matches, he has never had a 5-star match.
One of the criteria for a match to have 5-stars is for the crowd to be hot, or interested, in the story that’s being told in the ring. If the audience is reacting in the wrong way than what’s intended, or if they’re not reacting at all, that lowers the overall quality of the match. In Reigns’ case, fans have booed him so much that his match ratings have had to pretty much be determined on their quality alone.
Despite the crowd reaction issue having been sorted ever since Reigns defeated Leukemia and turned heel, The Tribal Chief hasn't been able to have a 5-star rated match yet.
#5 Kevin Owens
Kevin Owens has been one of the finest wrestlers of the past decade. He’s an excellent brawler with a wide arsenal of vicious wrestling moves that make him a dangerous opponent. These attributes were all demonstrated in his various feuds and matches in WWE ever since he first arrived some three years ago.
Owens has been in many great matches against the likes of John Cena, Finn Balor, Sami Zayn, and Roman Reigns, just to name a few. Many of these matches have been truly fantastic, and have helped Owens solidify his status as a main-event-level wrestler.
Oddly, though, none of his matches have received a 5-star rating. Many of his matches have reached 4.5 stars: his WWE Universal title match against Reigns at Royal Rumble 2017, battle with Sami Zayn at Battleground 2016 and the Intercontinental Championship Fatal-4-Way among others.
What Owens really needs is the opportunity to wrestle a true match against someone that can match him move-for-move. Who knows, Kevin Owens might become the wrestler that gets the WWE main roster its first 5-star match in more than a decade.
#6 Brock Lesnar
Brock Lesnar has been a part of many big matches during his career. He main-evented WrestleMania in his first year in WWE. He ended "The Streak" and has been featured prominently on several occasions as a special attraction. Yet none of his big matches have ever reached 5-stars.
The closest Lesnar has gotten was 4.75 out of 5 stars in his Triple Threat Match against John Cena and Seth Rollins at the 2015 Royal Rumble PPV (tagged above). The match was spectacular, yet despite all the action, drama and great storytelling, the match failed to reach Meltzer's threshold needed to make this a 5-star match.
#7 Seth Rollins
While ’The Shield’ were still together, Rollins was the workhorse and the technical master of the group. That hasn’t changed, as Rollins has proven himself to be a fantastic wrestler on several occasions. His matches against John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, and many others have all been fantastic matches worthy of praise and revisiting in the future.
So why has Rollins, one of the best wrestlers active today, never earned a 5-star rating? This is probably because he suffers from "WWE syndrome". This refers to the standard main-event style WWE match that looks like an obviously choreographed back-and-forth dance as opposed to an actual athletic contest.
This is in stark contrast to the styles seen in Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling, where, in the most matches, the wrestlers aren’t having a choreographed dance with repeated moves. They’re, in Meltzer’s own words, "working a fight." Until Rollins has a match in which he "works a fight", he won’t be recognised as a 5-star wrestler or have a 5-star match.
