Michael Oku reflects on receiving his first five star match rating from Dave Meltzer.
When talking about the best matches of 2022, many fans will point to the critically acclaimed bout between Michael Oku and Will Ospreay, which took place at Revolution Pro's High Stakes event in January of that year.
The match was significant for Oku in many ways, with one of those ways being that it was Oku's first match to receive a five star rating from wrestling critic Dave Meltzer.
In a new interview with Fightful's Grapsody podcast, Oku said that Meltzer's match ratings do have meaning, as he felt a change in his career after the match happened.
"Oh, it 100% matters. There’s a lot of people putting in their opinions about whether his star ratings matter. I can nearly tell you that they objectively matter. Because I could feel the change in my career from when the match happened to people talking and getting loads of buzz about it to then when he watched it and then gave it the five stars to then how many different promoters were then messaging me after I got that star. So no matter what people want to say, people hold his opinion in high regard. So as a young wrestler, one that’s not decades in the game that’s already a millionaire or whatever, to get that recognition from someone who has such a wide reach, did me a lot of favors, 100%."
Oku went on to elaborate on how discovered F4WOnline before stating that many wrestlers are subscribed to the website and are friends with Meltzer.
"I used to listen to his stuff and I’d always peak and see what he’s saying in terms of news outlets. When I was younger and starting to learn about the inner workings of wrestling, there was a website called NoDQ.com. They’re still there. That’s where I’d get my news. I’d be reading the TNA section, ‘Oh, someone isn’t liked.’ But then I notice that it’d always say ‘source’ on the bottom and say like F4WOnline. I was like, ‘Well, I learned in school, you go to the source,’ right? The primary source. Well, what’s all this second hand thing? So that’s when I found out about him and I found out about the ratings and then the newsletters and all the awards that happened. There are wrestlers that are subscribed to, but they just keep it secret because they don’t want to be judged. There’s are so many that not only know him or are subscribed, but are friends with him. It’s just a funny thing that you still have to keep hush-hush. That’s how I first learned about him. So my friend would send me a thing where like, ‘Oh, hey, here’s a clip of a podcast of him talking about you for 10 minutes.’ ‘What’s going on? What’s going on?’ So it’s a cool thing. Then I met him and it’s just cool. It’s just funny."
Elsewhere in the interview, Oku reflected on competing in the 2023 PWG BOLA tournament. Fans can learn more by clicking here.
Fans can see Fightful's full interview with Michael Oku in the video linked above.
