Dave Meltzer Gives Wrestle Kingdom 17 Match Second-Highest Rating Of All-Time
One of the matches at Wrestle Kingdom 17 surpassed its already high expectations.
The penultimate match at Wrestle Kingdom 17 saw Will Ospreay defend his IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against a returning Kenny Omega.
The two stole the show with their high-intensity war and incredibly high-risk offense. They fought for 34 minutes before Omega put Ospreay down with the One-Winged Angel to win the match and the title.
And according to Dave Meltzer, it was such a great match that, in this week’s edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, he gave it a 6.25-star rating.
This is the second match to ever achieve such a high rating from Dave Meltzer, with the first being Okada vs. Omega II at Dominion 2017.
The current highest-rated matches according to Dave Meltzer are as follows:
7-Stars:
6.25-Stars:
- Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega II – NJPW Dominion 6.11 2017
- Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega – NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17
6-Stars:
- Ric Flair vs. Ricky ‘the Dragon’ Steamboat ‘1.5’ – the Landover, Michigan live event, March 18th, 1989
- Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada IX – AJPW, June 3rd, 1994
- Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega I – NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11
- Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega III – NJPW G1 Climax 2017
- The Young Bucks vs. Kenny Omega & “Hangman” Adam Page – AEW Revolution 2020
- Shingo Takagi vs. Will Ospreay – NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2021
5.75-Stars:
- Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito II – NJPW G1 Climax 2017
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi – NJPW G1 Climax 2018
- Kenny Omega vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi – NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13
- Shingo Takagi vs. Will Ospreay – NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 2019
- Kazuchika Okada vs. Wil Ospreay IV – NJPW G1 Climax 2019 –
- The Young Bucks vs. The Lucha Brothers – AEW All Out 2021
- Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay VII – NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16, Night Two
- Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay VIII – NJPW G1 Climax 2022
5.5-Stars:
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika X – NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2018
- Hiromu Takahashi vs. Taiji Ishimori – NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 2018
- Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii – NJPW G1 Climax 2018
- Kenny Omega vs. Kota Ibushi – NJPW G1 Climax 2018
- Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano – NXT TakeOver: New York
- Shingo Takagi vs. Tomohiro Ishii – NJPW G1 Climax 2019
- Jay White vs. Kota Ibushi – NJPW G1 Climax 2019
- Will Ospreay vs. Hiromu Takahashi – NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14, Night One
- Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi – NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14, Night One
- Shingo Takagi vs. Will Ospreay – New Japan Cup 2021
- Syuri vs. Utami Hayashishita – STARDOM Tokyo Dream Cinderella Special 2021
- Shingo Takagi vs. Tomohiro Ishii – NJPW G1 Climax 2021
- Kenny Omega vs. Adam Page – AEW Full Gear 2021
- Shingo Takagi vs. Will Ospreay – NJPW G1 Climax 2022
- FTR vs. The Briscoes – ROH Final Battle 2022
5.25-Stars:
- Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano – NXT TakeOver XXV
- Tyler Bate vs. WALTER – NXT TakeOver: Cardiff
- The Young Bucks vs. The Lucha Brothers – AEW All Out 2019
- Kota Ibushi vs. Minoru Suzuki – NJPW G1 Climax 2020
- Kazuchika Okada vs. Shingo Takagi – NJPW G1 Climax 2020
- FTR vs. The Young Bucks – AEW Full Gear 2020
- Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay V – NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 15, Night One
- Jay White vs. Kota Ibushi – NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 15, Night Two
- WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov – NXT TakeOver 36