Wrestlemania weekend Meltzer ratings.

NXT
Ladder match - 5
Women's title - 3.25
Tag title - 3.25
Men's title - 4.25
Unsanctioned match - 5

WM
Men's battle royal - 1.5
Cruiserweight title - 3
Women's battle royal - 1.5
IC title - 3.5
SD women's title - 4
US title - 2.75
Mixed tag - 4.25
SD tag title - 2
Taker/Cena - 1.25
Bryan/Shane vs Owens/Zayn - 3.5
Raw women's title - 2.75
SD men's title - 3.75
Raw tag title - 1
Raw men's title - 3

I find the five-star rating for the ladder match surreal.

But I’m proud of him for not giving Nakamura/Styles four stars.

Yeah, that was a very good ladder match, but not a contender for GOAT ladder match.

I'd say most of WM is about a quarter to a half-star too high across the board. Probably more for Brock/Roman.

Gargano with 5* matches in the last two NXT Takeover shows. Not bad. Living up to the nickname of Johnny Wrestling.

What if a "perfect" rating nowadays is ******1/4 now though? Perhaps these are *****/******1/4

Backlash ratings:

Rollings vs. Miz: ****1/4
Nia vs. Alexa: *1/4
Jeff vs. Randy: **1/4
Bryan vs. Cass: **
Caramel vs. Charlotte: *
AJ vs. Shinsuke: ***1/4
Bobby/Braun vs. Kami: *1/2
Joe vs. Roman: *1/2

Ratings seem alright. I didn't enjoy Seth/Miz that much but whatever. Roman/Joe should be a DUD. I wouldn't even mind putting Carmella/Charlotte as negative stars as it was really really bad.

Meanwhile, two days prior in NJPW:
Okada vs. Tanahashi ***** 1/2 (5.5)
KUSHIDA vs. Ospreay ****3/4

Only saw Miz/Rollins (4.25 sounds about right) and Roman/Joe (which was definitely below one star).

LOL 5.5

I think AJ/Shinsuke being north of three stars is pretty damn generous.

I think Miz-Rollins is rated a little high too, but it was certainly my favorite on the card.

Okada-Tanahashi 5.5 stars is just freaking dumb. Maybe 4.5. Maybe.

I haven't watched KUSHIDA-Ospreay yet.

FYP

NXT Takeover Chicago

Tag Titles: 4.75 - This was incredible. Burch and Lorcan gained the approval of the fans after not having it earlier. Four guys just beating the **** out of each other.

Ricochet/Dream: 3.75 - Not quite as good as I was hoping, but a fun spotfest.

Women's Title: 2 - Just really disappointing. Shayna just doesn't put on matches that are very good. Ending was stupid.

Men's Title: 3.5 - Most of the match was pretty good, but my god that botch.

Street Fight: 5 - Or am I supposed to say 7 now?

Meltzer on Extreme Rules:
Almas/Sin Cara - 2.5
Sanity/New Day - 2.75
Raw Tag Titles - 2
Balor/Corbin - 2.25
SD Women's Title - 1.25
US Title - Not rated
Cage Match - 2.5
SD Tag Title - 3
Reigns/Lashley - 3.5
Raw Women's Title - 2.5
WWE Title - 4
Iron Man - 3.25

Also he gave Undisputed Era vs Mustache Mountain 5 stars for their 7/11 match on NXT TV. (First 5 star WWE tag match in history)

Sorry KO, getting thrown off the top of a cage through a table just doesn't rate 4.5 stars like it used to.

(I don't disagree with Meltzer's rating on that match, which is all the more reason it's absurd to take that bump.)

Resurrecting this because the greatest WWE match of all time happened last Friday!!! NXT: NY is the highest avg rated show ever from Da Meltz.

The War Raiders vs Aleister Black & Ricochet for the NXT Tag Team Championships - **** 1/2

Velveteen Dream vs Matt Riddle for the NXT North American Championship - **** 1/2

WALTER vs Pete Dunne for the WWE United Kingdom Championship - **** 3/4

Shayna Baszler vs Io Shirai vs Kairi Sane vs Bianca Belair for the NXT Women’s Championship - *** 3/4

Adam Cole vs Johnny Gargano in a 2-out-of-3 falls match for the vacant NXT Championship - ***** 1/2


Rasslemania ratings:
Wrestlemania Women’s Battle Royal
Rating: 2.25 stars

Buddy Murphy vs Tony Nese for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship
Rating: 3.5 stars

Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
Rating: 1.5 stars

The Revival vs Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins for the RAW Tag Team Championships.
Rating: 3 stars

Brock Lesnar vs Seth Rollins for the WWE Universal Championship
Rating: 3.5 stars

AJ Styles vs Randy Orton
Rating: 3.25 stars

Samoa Joe vs Rey Mysterio for the United States Championship
Rating: Not Rated

The Usos vs the Bar vs Rusev & Shinsuke Nakamura vs Aleister Black & Ricochet for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships.
Rating: 3.75 stars

Sasha Banks & Bayley vs The IIconics vs Nia Jax & Tamina vs Beth Phoenix & Natalya for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships.
Rating: 1.25 stars

Shane McMahon vs the Miz
Rating: 1.75 stars

Daniel Bryan vs Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship
Rating: 4.5 stars

Roman Reigns vs Drew McIntyre
Rating: 2 stars

Triple H vs Batista in a No Holds Barred Match
Rating: 2 stars

Kurt Angle vs Baron Corbin
Rating: 1 star

‘Demon’ Finn Balor vs Bobby Lashley for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
Rating: 1.25 stars

Ronda Rousey vs Becky Lynch vs Charlotte Flair for the RAW & Smackdown Women’s Championships
Rating: 3 stars

Actually don't have a problem with most of these ratings. Only a few exceptions.

As I expected, Cole/Gargano is just absurd, even under this new system of 6 and 7 star matches.

Both battle royals deserved a star less. I wish I didn't go back and watch them. They both sucked and were booked terribly.

Not sure why Brock/Seth gets 3.5. The match got the job done, but it wasn't really that good.

1.25 is too harsh for the women's four way. I'm not saying it was a great match or anything, but it wasn't that bad.

Pleasantly surprised by the awful ratings for Shane/Miz, HHH/Batista and Balor/Lashley.

I wonder what hurt the main event more, the fact that it took place after midnight, or that goofy botched ending.

I meant to mention that Seth/Brock match. Even as a complete mark for Brock, that match was entertaining enough but not something I'd throw a good rating on. I'd give that 2* at the most.

For me, the thing that hurt the main event the most was it never really felt like it got out of second gear and then there was an abrupt ending. There was no drama to it, at all.

I went back and watched the main event in a context where I hadn't been watching wrestling for 7 straight hours and thought it was pretty good. It felt like a fight, they got some pretty good spots in (Becky's dropkick to Ronda was sweet) and I think they did what they could to get the crowd into it.

It was hurt by the botched finish and the crowd just wasn't living or dying with every Becky pin/submission attempt like they probably would have been at the halfway point of the show. But I still think it was the second best match behind Kofi/Bryan.