Dave Meltzer Fires Back At AEW Star’s Ludicrous Star Rating Claims
One AEW star thinks too many wrestlers are performing solely for Dave Meltzer’s star ratings, but Meltzer thinks it’s another audience of one they’re competing for.
AEW star MVP recently hit out at the idea of star ratings in a message aimed at his fellow wrestling stars. The Hurt Syndicate member was emphatic in telling wrestlers that the true measure of their success is the response they elicit from the crowd and not an arbitrary star rating.
Dave Meltzer Says Wrestlers Competing For Audience Of One
Dave Meltzer is the most well-known purveyor of star ratings in his Wrestling Observer, and speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer responded to MVP’s comments:
MVP was talking today and said the big problem with wrestling is that everyone is performing for an audience of one. Now the audience of one, he said, was me. The funny thing, when I read that, is the funniest thing about wrestling is that – and nobody talks about it, I think some people know it but most don’t – is that, in fact, it’s always been an audience of one. And it’s absolutely not me.
He goes they’re not performing for the fans, they’re performing for star ratings, and obviously, that’s ludicrous. Most wrestlers do perform for the fans, that’s how they get the response, and that’s what it’s all about. But the reality is that the fans have a lot to do with it because if they don’t react or they react to someone in the middle and not going anywhere, it absolutely helps; it never hurts.
Occasionally, I think it hurt guys when they’ve got a really big response and the person in charge didn’t think they were that good. Then you’ve got pushback of the fans are responding, but the fans don’t know. But at the end of the day, you’re still performing for the audience of one because the fans will impact Tony Khan, who is the audience of one in AEW and Paul Levesque, who is the audience of one in WWE. At the end of the day, that’s who you’re performing for.
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