Dave Meltzer Defends Never Awarding Five Stars To Any Kurt Angle Matches

Dave Meltzer's match rating system frequently inspires debate in the wrestling community, but some people have taken umbrage with the fact he's never awarded five stars to any of Kurt Angle's matches. Now, the veteran wrestling journalist has explained why that is.

On the latest edition "Wrestling Observer Radio," Meltzer explained that his match ratings tend to bring out the worst in some people. Additionally, he believes that there isn't much difference between five-star matches and Angle's highest-ranked efforts.

"People who get mad at a quarter star in a match from 30 years ago or 15 years ago or last week is so stupid. It means we f***king agree... The funny part about the whole thing is the only match anyone ever brings up with Kurt is the [Chris Benoit] match. 'You could give that five stars.' I gave it four and three-quarters."

According to Meltzer, his five-star bouts tend to be reserved for match-of-the-year contenders. Angle came close to receiving the highest marks on some occasions, but the lack of five-star bouts on Meltzer's rating system shouldn't be interpreted as a knock against the WWE Hall of Famer's ability.

"I don't know if Kurt ever won a match of the year, and that's the deal. That doesn't mean Kurt's not a fantastic wrestler if he never won a match of the year. He got all kinds of matches that have been highly rated throughout his career. It's not about five-star matches. If you're gonna do that you can count up four-star matches, and Kurt had a whale number of four-star matches."