| Dave Meltzer |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT DAVE MELTZER | |
| american journalists | |
| meltzer, dave | |
| people from san jose, california | |
| professional wrestling journalists and columnists | |
| 1961 births | |
| living people | |
| wrestling observer | |
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EARLY LIFE Meltzer was born in San Jose , California . He showed an interest in pro wrestling early on in his life. Dave wrote several publications that predate ''WON'', dating back to 1971 . Meltzer states that he was just "a fan" at first and started a tape trading newsletter. The ''Observer'' started from Dave wanting to keep his friends in college "in the loop" for his tape trading as well as the happenings in the business. He started writing the ''Observer'' full time in 1987 . ( {Link without Title} ) ''WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER'' The ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' started off as a way to keep fans informed of various wrestling regions that readers may not have been aware of or had no access to. The ''Observer'''s earlier years were also founded in breaking insider news and various behind the scenes happenings in the industry. Since major wrestling promotions would never acknowledge the existence of any Dirt Sheet s, Meltzer had to find other ways to advertise his newsletter. Adverts were often posted in kayfabe and semi-kayfabe publications such as '' Wrestling Main Event '' magazine and '' Wrestling Eye '' magazine. Meltzer was also able to advertise his publication during various guest appearances on wrestling Radio Show s and guest editorials in various national newspapers. With the ubiquitous emergence of the internet and wrestling web sites that are able to provide news in real time, today's ''Observer'' differs in the way it covers the wrestling scene in that it provides more of an Editorial on the news and what impacts it could have on the business. Wrestlers have noted seeing copies of the ''Observer'' on Vince McMahon 's office desk and it is believed many, if not most of the biggest stars in WWE and other major promotions are subscribers, although few would admit it publicly. Meltzer's newsletter has led to a loyal fan following, radio shows, and even a brief stint working for the WWE ( {Link without Title} ). IMPACT Steroid scandal Due to the WWF Steroid scandal in the early 1990s , Meltzer came into the national spotlight. It was due to the fact that Vince McMahon criticized Meltzer during this time due to his critical coverage of the WWF that Meltzer began appearing in Newspaper Column s and TV Talk Show s. Rating system Meltzer pioneered the "star rating" system (originated by Jim Cornette & Norm Dooley), which rates matches on a scale of one to five stars in a similar manner to that used by many movie critics. As in the field of film, a rating is a largely subjective affair that may take into account the amount of action, as opposed to restholds (" Workrate "); the difficulty and variety of moves used; the past history of the workers and their feud; the development of an in-match storyline based on the wrestling moves and how they affect the wrestlers, and the overall reaction of the crowd. One of the classic examples of a "five-star" match was the battle between Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada on June 3, 1994 in All Japan Pro Wrestling . Five star matches are extremely rare, and even rarer in the vs. A.J. Styles vs. Christopher Daniels at the ''Unbreakable'' pay-per-view on September 11 , 2005 . No WWE Match has been given five stars since 1997 . Four WWE matches have been given five stars by Dave Meltzer:
Impact on workers Despite the history of recurring tension between those employed in the wrestling business and those who cover the field as reporters, by most accounts, numerous people in the business regularly read ''WON''. Mick Foley credits a writeup in ''WON'' for boosting him from a "no-name independent" wrestler to one whom a national federation would consider. ''WON'' HALL OF FAME Insofar as wrestling has a " Hall Of Fame ", the ''WON'''s Hall of Fame is probably the closest thing to it. The ''WON'' HOF is not a physical place, but nonetheless, it has earned respect for its attempt to cover all areas of wrestling fairly and equally. The WWE does have a Hall of Fame, but it does not really fulfill that function for wrestling at large, as its voting system is unknown and it has often passed over workers who have a bad relationship with the WWE company. ''WRESTLING OBSERVER LIVE'' Dave Meltzer currently hosts ''Wrestling Observer Live'', a popular wrestling radio show. Co-hosting the show with Dave is channel, eYada.com. EYada closed its doors on July 9, 2001, with ''Wrestling Observer Live'', its highest rated show, being the last show to broadcast on the station. ''Wrestling Observer Live'' was picked up by Sports Byline on March 17, 2002, and has stayed in its current position ever since. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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