During the 2024 WWE Backlash PLE, Cody Rhodes defeated AJ Styles to retain his WWE title. The match received a “five-star” rating from longtime wrestling analyst Dave Meltzer, the first for a Styles match in WWE.
Meltzer’s only other five-star Styles match was Styles vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Samoa Joe at the 2005 TNA Unbreakable PPV.
Meltzer mentioned the following about the match:
“The match was made for that very reason, to give Rhodes a clean win over a wrestler who they don’t have qualms beating but could start the Rhodes era off with a great match.”
“This match was a better wrestling match than the [Roman] Reigns match, actually by a pretty great margin, but that match had its impact and history thing going for it. But this was probably WWE’s best match so far this year.”
Here were the full Meltzer star ratings for Backlash:
Kevin Owens & Randy Orton vs. Solo Sikoa & Tama Tonga: 4.75
Bayley vs. Naomi vs. Tiffany Stratton: 4.5
Damian Priest vs. Jey Uso: 3.5
Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill vs. Kabuki Warriors: 3
AJ Styles vs. Cody Rhodes: 5
