Tony Khan ‘Mad’ Dave Meltzer Didn’t Give This AEW Match Five Stars

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AEW star Chris Jericho has revealed that Tony Khan was ‘mad’ that Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer didn’t give a certain match a five star rating.

Dave Meltzer’s rating system is a prominent yet controversial measuring stick for matches. While some fans dismiss Meltzer’s ratings as subjective opinions, they carry a lot of weight to others, following Meltzer’s extensive experience covering wrestling.

Speaking on Talk Is Jericho, Chris Jericho recalled his match against Jon Moxley for the interim AEW World Championship at the August 10, 2022 ‘Quake by the Lake’ special edition of Dynamite.

While this bout was rated four and three-quarter stars by Meltzer, Jericho stated that Tony Khan was unhappy with Meltzer’s rating for the bout.

Jericho said:

“All right after that August 10 2022. It was Jericho vs Moxley for the title. Punk was hurt at this point in time and And we had a blast.

“It was in Minneapolis and this is where Mox had the idea for me to come back as Lionheart which I thought was a really cool concept and a cool thought.

“I came out to the White Zombie music and I had the old school Lionheart inspired tights. They weren’t the original Lionheart tights, I went to look for them in my storage unit, and I couldn’t find the exact ones.

“So I thought, well, if KISS was going to do a replica of their 1977 costumes, they wouldn’t wear the same ones. They would get new ones made. So I got new tights made that look like the Lionheart.

“Tony was so impressed because I had lost so much weight from my pulmonary embolism. He’s like, You look like you did you know when you were actually the Lionheart in 96.

“And actually, I did look kind of similar in a lot of ways. We had just a hard hitting match, I love working with Mox.

“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’d 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 that hit me as hard as you can. So just a great match with great chemistry.”

MJF currently holds the official AEW World Championship, defeating Moxley for the gold at Full Gear 2022.

He is set to put his title on the line against Adam Cole at the August 27 All In pay-per-view from Wembley.

Meanwhile, CM Punk currently holds what he and AEW have dubbed the ‘Real World Championship’ since he was never actually beaten after winning the AEW World Championship at All Out 2022, but rather had to vacate it due to being suspended. Punk looks likely to defend that belt against Samoa Joe at All In.

Check out the announced card for the upcoming show right here. 

Transcription via Inside The Ropes. 

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• star rating
• dave meltzer
• tony khan
• AEW

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