According To Dave Meltzer, The Greatest WWE Match Ever Occurred During WrestleMania Weekend
Do you agree?
We know, we know - how one person feels about a wrestling match may not reflect your own personal feelings. If you think Giant Gonzalez vs. The Undertaker from WrestleMania 9 was a 12-star match, hey - it is.
But there are people out there who put a lot of stock into Dave Meltzer's admittedly-subjective grades, and it turns out that Matt and Nick's Uncle Dave felt that one particular match from WWE's WrestleMania weekend haul was the company's greatest match ever.
And it came from NXT TakeOver: New York.
The two-out-of-three falls match for the vacant NXT Championship between Johnny Gargano and Adam Cole earned a five-and-a-half star rating from Meltzer, the most he's ever given to any match from under WWE's umbrella.
Previously, nine other WWE matches achieved an exact five-star rating in Meltzer's eyes, three of which occurred on NXT TakeOvers in 2018 - Gargano vs. Andrade in Philadelphia, Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa in New Orleans, and the six-man North American title ladder match, also in New Orleans. Another was the NXT Tag Team title match pitting Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong against Moustache Mountain from last summer.
The other five were main roster fare, including Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels (WrestleMania 10), Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (SummerSlam 1994), Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin (WrestleMania 13), Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker (Badd Blood 1997), and John Cena vs. CM Punk (Money in the Bank 2011).
Meltzer also stated that TakeOver: New York: "...when it comes to just match quality, was the best major event in WWE history."
But there are people out there who put a lot of stock into Dave Meltzer's admittedly-subjective grades, and it turns out that Matt and Nick's Uncle Dave felt that one particular match from WWE's WrestleMania weekend haul was the company's greatest match ever.
And it came from NXT TakeOver: New York.
The two-out-of-three falls match for the vacant NXT Championship between Johnny Gargano and Adam Cole earned a five-and-a-half star rating from Meltzer, the most he's ever given to any match from under WWE's umbrella.
Previously, nine other WWE matches achieved an exact five-star rating in Meltzer's eyes, three of which occurred on NXT TakeOvers in 2018 - Gargano vs. Andrade in Philadelphia, Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa in New Orleans, and the six-man North American title ladder match, also in New Orleans. Another was the NXT Tag Team title match pitting Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong against Moustache Mountain from last summer.
The other five were main roster fare, including Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels (WrestleMania 10), Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (SummerSlam 1994), Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin (WrestleMania 13), Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker (Badd Blood 1997), and John Cena vs. CM Punk (Money in the Bank 2011).
Meltzer also stated that TakeOver: New York: "...when it comes to just match quality, was the best major event in WWE history."
Written by Justin Henry
In addition to writing lists and commentaries for Cultaholic, Justin is also a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine, and is co-author of the WWE-related book Titan Screwed: Lost Smiles, Stunners, and Screwjobs.
