Tony Khan Was 'Mad' Over Dave Meltzer Not Awarding An AEW Match 5 Stars

Dave Meltzer's star ratings in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter are widely discussed across the wrestling world, with some placing great importance on if a match earns the hallowed five stars dished out by Meltzer, while others like Seth Rollins disregard Meltzer's ratings entirely. 

Tony Khan seemingly looks out for Meltzer's star ratings and the AEW CEO wasn't very happy when an AEW match failed to earn five stars, with Chris Jericho revealing on Talk is Jericho that Khan was "mad" after Lionheart's Interim AEW World Title match with Jon Moxley in August 2022 was awarded four and three-quarter stars. 

Speaking about Moxley and the match, Jericho stated: 

"He's such a great performer, such a great wrestler, and I legit hit my head on the steel ring post, I took the turnbuckle pad off and I hit the ring post, and I legit got hit, I still have a nasty scar in the middle of my forehead from that cut, and very jagged. That's why it's nasty because it was really from the turnbuckle pad. So it was just covered in blood and it was actually the only time anybody's ever kicked out of the Judas Effect, you know, because I figured this is the time to do it. 

"And it was such a great match. I really, really loved it. I remember Tony was mad that Meltzer didn't give us five stars, he gave us four and three-quarters like it was pretty much the same thing. But it was a five-star match in my book, one of my favourites, and I've always had great chemistry with Mox because we like beating the sh*t out of each other. It's that simple. We really have no boundaries when it comes to working together. Just the same thing I used to say to Benoit, don't break my nose and don't snap my teeth, other than that hit me as hard as you can. So just a great match with great chemistry."

Jon Moxley would ultimately retain the Interim AEW World Championship over Chris Jericho, before the BCC member transitioned to a feud with the returning CM Punk.

Both Moxley and Chris Jericho remain featured performers on AEW TV. Jon Moxley recently kicked off a programme with Orange Cassidy, while Chris Jericho has been teasing an alliance with Don Callis. 

H/T to Inside The Ropes

Cultaholic Wrestling has an account on Threads! Follow us here.