"The Greatest High Flyer"

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

A few weeks ago Josh Mathews called Rey Mysterio the "greatest high flyer the WWE has ever seen". I just want to know what the forums think of that statement. Is Rey Rey the greatest high flyer the WWE has ever seen? Is he the greatest high flyer the wrestling industry has ever seen?

---

My personal opinion is that Mysterio is the best modern high flyer we've seen. THe term "high flyer" has changed quite a bit over the years though. Back in the 80s Ricky "the dragon" Steamboat was a high flyer because he jumped off the top rop a few times every match. He was fast and agile, and he wasn't a muscular monster like most of the other wrestlers. In my opinion he was the best high flyer of his era. If you compared the careers of the two, I would definitely have to give it to the Dragon though. Now understand that I am NOT a Rey Mysterio fan. I think the product and injury have turned Rey from the innovator of action to a 1-2-3 by the book superstar with a small handful of moves. He's become boring, even when he's jumping around the ring. Tune into TNA and check out MCMG if you want to see some insane high flying action. ROH also has a few crazy cruiserweights of their own. Even Smackdown's Kofi Kingston and Raw's Evan Bourne are the two high flying geniuses of the modern WWE product. So there are people better than Mysterio in today's product, but if you look at the entirety of their careers, Mysterio will retire as a main event player who has been World Champion, competed in WWE, ECW, WCW, and a handful of other promotions and been successful in everything he's done. Again, I'm not a Mysterio fan, and his title reigns are generally what make me tune out of Smackdown for a few months, but I think the statement stands true in his case.

 

[jacdnwarrior]

I'm sure there are have been high fliers in Japan, Mexico, all over the world long before it became over in North America. My favourite was Randy Savage. Imo, he was the complete package, he could wrestle on the mat, use the aerial maneuvers, everything. I loved watching him drop the axe handle and no one ever did the flying elbow better than him. There have been many imitators but no one has ever done it better than he did. A performer who I always thought was underrated as a performer and high flier, Too Cold Scorpio. That four fifty splash, and the moves he did in the ring, were great to watch. He never really got the opportunity to take his career to the next level and he was totally wasted in WWE. But hey that's just imo.

 

[Disturbed]

I don't think Mysterio is the greatest high flyer of all time. I got one argument that pretty much proves that wrong. Shawn Michaels may be the best all around wrestler of all time. HBK as a high flyer style so I guess that makes him a high flyer too and everyone knows Rey Mysterio is definately not on the same level as Shawn Michaels. As far as modern day goes, I think AJ Styles is a better high flyer than Rey Mysterio. I would love to see them go at it, one on one. The best high flyer of all time is this years HOF inductee, Shawn Michaels. The best in WWE at the moment is Rey Mysterio. The best in TNA is AJ Styles, like HBk he is good all around. I didn't include MCMG because they are a tag team.

 

[red ass skull muhfukkah]

I think it's hard to argue against Rey Mysterio. Someone mentioned Shawn Michaels, but he hasn't been an out and out high flyer his whole career the way Rey has. Shawn relied heavily on his technical and brawling skills as much, if more, than his high flying abilities, especially in the later years of his career. While Rey's size forced him to work a quicker paced match and use more aerial maneuvers.


Whether you like him or not, Rey is the only pure high flyer to become World Champion in WWE history. You can say he was given the title the first time because of Eddie's death and the second time because there was no one else on SmackDown! to carry the title, but a World Champion is a World Champion nonetheless. Plus the level of popularity he has reached in his career is astounding. Ask most young kids who their favorite wrestlers are and they'll say either Rey or Cena more times than not. He is so easily marketable because of the underdog gimmick, his size, and just his overall nice guy personality, and he has been this way for years now.

Add to that he has had many great matches and feuds. His in ring ability, quickness, and making use of every aspect of the ring is matched by no one in WWE currently and very few in the past. He has had memorable feuds with Batista, Eddie, Jericho, Punk, JBL, the list goes on.

You can say there are better high flyers in the indies, TNA, and WCW's Cruiserweight division. For example I thing Pac is probably one of the most rirdiculous wrestlers I've ever seen, there's a reason they call him the Man that Gravity Forgot. But very few of them have worked in WWE never mind being one of its most popular wrestlers and a two time World Champion.

I can see arguing for Shawn Michaels because he no doubt had the better career and contributed more to the business as a whole, but I'm going with Rey because he is one of the best, most well known, and most accomplished out and out high flyers in history.