Dave Meltzer Biography
Dave Meltzer is an American anchor, reporter, and sports historian who reports on professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. He has also written for the Oakland Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, and Yahoo!
Dave Meltzer Career
Meltzer began his career as a journalist for the Wichita Falls Times Record News and the Turlock Journal after graduating from San Jose State University with a degree in journalism. He showed early on that he was interested in professional wrestling and that he approached it as a writer. Meltzer authored multiple periodicals about wrestling before WON, going back to 1971. Among them was the California Wrestling Report, published between 1973 and 1974, which provided information on the National Wrestling Alliance regions that were still in existence and were based in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter started in 1980 when Meltzer started a yearly survey of professional wrestling among the people he communicated with. Meltzer claims that initially, he was merely a fan. Soon afterward, he started up a tape-trading list and from time to time sent updates on news and match outcomes in addition to tape updates. Meltzer explained that the popular wrestling magazines aimed at a slightly younger audience, and he wanted to keep his college classmates “in the loop” about his tape trading and business goings-on.
Meltzer has been the editor and publisher of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (WON) since 1983. In addition, he has contributed articles to SI.com, Yahoo! Sports, the National Sports Daily, the Oakland Tribune, and the Los Angeles Times. Since UFC 1 in 1993, he has covered mixed martial arts extensively. He also writes about the sport for SB Nation. Frank Deford of Sports Illustrated referred to him as “the most accomplished reporter in sports journalism”.
Meltzer’s writing has been criticized by PWInsider Dave Scherer. Following their 1990s collaboration, Meltzer published a separate piece, although Scherer claimed that he had provided him with first-hand information. John Bradshaw Layfield, a former WWE wrestler, added that WWE provided Meltzer with misleading material, which he then published.
Dave Meltzer Salary
Meltzer earns an annual salary of about $100,000-$500,000.
Dave Meltzer Net Worth
Meltzer has an estimated net worth of about $1 Million – $7 Million which he has earned through his career as an anchor, reporter, and sports historian.
Dave Meltzer Age
Meltzer was born on October 24, 1959, in New York City, United States. He is 64 years old as of 2023 and he celebrates his birthday on the 24th of October every year.
Dave Meltzer Height and Weight
Meltzer stands at a height of 5 feet 8 inches and weighs 78 kg. He has not disclosed his weight. However, this information will be updated when available.
Dave Meltzer Family
Meltzer was born David Allen Meltzer to Herbert and Sharon Meltzer, in upstate New York to a Jewish family. He later moved with his family to San Jose, California at the age of 10. He has not disclosed the names of his siblings. However, this information will be updated when available.
Dave Meltzer Wife and Children
Meltzer met Mary Anne Mirabal, his wife, at Gold’s Gym in the late 1990s. Mary Anne was already employed by AT&T, Kaiser Permanente, Hawaiian Tropics, and Bud Light as a spokesmodel by that point. They chose to advance their relationship later on as their friendship continued to grow. On July 17, 1991, the pair was married, and they now have two kids together. Their daughter Carly was born in 2009, and their son Cody—named after the son of renowned wrestler Dusty Rhode—was born in 2002.
Dave Meltzer Ratings | Dave Meltzer 5-Star Matches
Meltzer popularized the star rating system, which was developed by Jim Cornette and his childhood friend Norm M. “Weasel” Dooley. The system ranks bouts similarly to how many movie critics do, with a range of zero to five stars (often reaching as low as five stars for extremely terrible matches). Additionally, Meltzer has awarded ratings higher than five stars. The first six and six-half-star matches (according to Dooley’s ratings, not Meltzer’s) happened in 1981. His greatest rating to date was seven stars, which he awarded to Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada for their June 2018 Dominion 6.9 match at Osaka-jo Hall. Pro wrestlers like Bret Hart have expressed their pride in receiving recognition for their work in the WON. Other critics of the system, including Dave Scherer of PWInsider and Seth Rollins, have criticized Cornette for being overly subjective.
Dave Meltzer Books
- Tributes: Remembering Some of the World’s Greatest Wrestlers (Winding Stair Press, 2001, Hardcover)
- Tributes II: Remembering More of the World’s Greatest Wrestlers (Sports Publishing, 2004, Hardcover)
Dave Meltzer Social Media Platform
Meltzer is very active on his Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook pages. He has 308.6k followers on Twitter 608.4k followers on Instagram, and 385.2k followers on Facebook.