The Meltzer Effect: Good, bad, ugly and unfortunate

After this chaotic weekend in wrestling mainly in AEW I felt it was time to drop this after contemplating when the right time was, and the answer was now. In today’s world of professional wrestling, certain individuals have an impact on the product as much as the wrestlers. They form the views, takes and perception of the sport overall. At the forefront of those individuals is long time wrestling journalist/historian David Meltzer. But over his decades-long run, Meltzer’s influence has arguably had a negative impact on the sport.

Just to get this out there and up front I am not a fan Meltzer when it comes to his approach, take journalist tact he has when covering the current product at the time because there is undeniable slant towards one thing and clearly against another that has come more to light over the last few years. However, I am a fan of Meltzer as a wrestling historian as he is one of the very best, but containing my discontent basically of his lack of journalist integrity when covering wrestling unbiased has just reached a point where enough is enough, so at the end of this piece you can tell me if I have a valid point or am I as the cool kids say today “out of pocket”.

In wrestling journalism, Meltzer’s impact is unparalleled. He is beloved and despised equally; with an ability to shape the perspective on matches, wrestlers, promotions, and just professional wrestling overall. Over the years, his famous or now infamous ‘star rating system’ has become a benchmark for match quality across the industry. But this where you can find perhaps the largest portion of his negative influence, as well as where if you do a little digging (Google folks) you can see a clear and present slant towards one portion or style of wrestling and one against another regardless of how good it is considered amongst wrestling fans entirely.

While the Meltzer star rating system originally served as a vehicle or reference for to seek out good matches it has become a simple way to express his personal likes of a wrestling match’s quality, which over time for better or for worst has turned into an unofficial stamp of excellence or inferiority. With those subjective takes they have transformed into a reliable scale in the mind of a significant portion of wrestling fans and insiders or IWC (Internet Wrestling Community).

By doing so this has turned impressionable opinions to the industry standard way of deciding what is a good or bad match entirely. When covering the current product Meltzer throughout the years has shown his disdain for just about anything WWF/WWE while going out of his way to overpraise events and even sometimes stars who made their name in Japan or alleged close friends of his. With this generation of talent looking to get that coveted five-star rating, has led to us seeing more of certain style of match across the board which seems to be a lot of action at frantic pace that can easily be viewed as reckless but is the flavor of wrestling that get Meltzer’s praise.

Here’s some information that may clear the picture a little bit more, since 1982 to this writing the WWF/WWE in that time has gotten a total of 18 matches that were rated five star or better while AEW in its 5 years existence already has 23 matches more than WCW, ROH, Jim Crockett Promotions, and ECW combined. While New Japan Wrestling (NJPW) has a staggering 83 matches since the inception of this rating system does that seem leveled or tipping the scales just a little bit?

To break it down a bit more over the years Dave Meltzer personally anointed AEW founding fathers Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks as the future of pro wrestling honestly can be considered the catalyst that led to the creation of AEW. But Omega who some considered the best to ever wrestle at this moment has 24 matches of five stars or better (Will Ospreay is number one with 26) but with that total Omega has more 5 star or greater matches than Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Bryan Danielson, Bret Hart, CM Punk and Sting combined.

To show more uncertainty of the system John Cena, Undertaker, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, and AJ Styles only have one 5-star match while Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, Mr. Perfect, Edge, Triple H, Rob Vam Dam and Macho Man Randy Savage have zero, no that is not a typo yes zero (0) matches of five star or better notice a trend at all? Despite those concerning bits of information Meltzer continues to influence wrestling across the world. Even with his extraordinary wealth of wrestling knowledge, Meltzer’s singular influence does prevent any form of unbiased, honest, and diverse views therefore stunting any chance of growth when it comes to fans/viewers.

Then there is the certain type of journalism he uses to get his preference out that has created a large wedge between various sections of wrestling fandom and has taken some of the essence away from wrestling itself. Today the intrigue about what is happening behind the curtain, actual beef and blurring that line that we all have fallen to has created a new wave of fans and the view of wrestling altogether. While reporting on backstage conflicts and situations is captivating for some and adds to his effect on wrestling, it does give detractors and critics the ammunition they have always wanted to look down on wrestling while creating some intense ill will between wrestlers, fans, and management alike.

At the end of all this my issue is the lack of honest and unbiased reporting by a writer with this immense influence on the very thing he loves to cover is horrible and has done more harm than good to the sport and its passionate fans. No question Dave Meltzer with extensive knowledge, strong impact on certain sections of wrestling fandom has some value to it with exposing fans to wrestling they normally don’t see or know is out there. But his star rating system is greatly flawed dare I say hypocritical, as well as overshadowing the simpler aspects that made professional wrestling great in the first place.

The propaganda of his journalism has had a negative impact and divided fans to a point where their missing potential good wrestling they would enjoy. As someone who hopefully can make a living/career doing something I enjoy like writing sports, the disregard of unbiased integrity and responsibility that comes with being a journalist can’t be ignored or quiet about for it is doing something bad to a thing I or should I say we love and enjoy watching while trying to get people back or into it altogether.

The wrestling community would do wonders if it acknowledged these issues, attempt to form an honest view on what they watch and realize that putting so much stock into this particular match rating system is harmful, possibly laughable, and at the core of it is just the personal preference of one wrestling fan that is clearly biased, professional wrestling is in a good spot but yet here we are trying do everything to ruin it and not enjoy this period as a whole.