How to Rate a Wrestling Show: A Fan's Guide to Star Ratings

Everyone who watches wrestling has an opinion on how good a show was, and rating it is half the fun. There's no single correct score, but there are habits that make ratings more useful, and a long tradition behind the star system.

Where star ratings come from

Rating matches out of five stars was popularised by Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer Newsletter, and the scale stuck. Five stars is reserved for the rare matches that critics regard as all-time great; the great majority of good matches sit somewhere between two and four. Over the years fans and critics have used fractions of a star to separate a very good match from a great one.

Stars are about a match, but fans also rate whole shows. A show is more than the sum of its matches: pacing, storyline development, crowd and the booking decisions all count.

What to look at

• The in-ring work: how well the wrestlers perform, how the match is paced, and whether the finish feels earned.
• Storytelling: did the match build on a rivalry or tell a story of its own? A match with a good story can feel better than a technically stronger one without one.
• The crowd: a hot audience can lift a match, and a flat one can drag it down.
• Booking and pacing across the whole show: a strong card in the wrong order, or a segment that drags, affects how the night feels.
• Whether it delivered on its promise: a big event that fails to land a long-awaited payoff will often be marked down even when the matches are good.

Tips for rating fairly

• Rate what you saw, not what you hoped for. It's easy to mark a show down because the result wasn't the one you wanted.
• Keep your scale consistent. If every show is a four, the number tells you nothing.
• Give a show a day to settle if you can. The ending can colour how you feel about everything before it.
• Don't be afraid of the middle. Most shows are decent, and a three is a fine score.

How ratings work on Wrestl

• You rate a show from half a star to five stars, and you can change or clear your rating whenever you like.
• You don't need to make an account: ratings are tied to an anonymous sign-in, and you can link a Google account to keep them across devices.
• Each show page shows the community average and how many people have rated it.
• Shows appear in the Top rated list once they have at least three ratings, so one person can't put a show at the top on their own.
• Recent weekly shows and events stay open for rating for a while after they air; older ones close.

Ready to score something? Head to the Rate page, and read premium live events explained for what to expect from the big shows.