Why are High-Flyers great?

[Dwayne_Jason]

No, this isn't a hate thread.

I, personally, love high flyers and anyone who calls them "spot monkeys" don't seem to understand that term.

Spot: A great move to incite the crowd

Monkey: In colloquial language, a person who acts like a doofus/entertains.

Let me remind people who DO call many high flyers spot monkeys. They are. But that's a good thing. Know why? Cause it's in sports entertainment. ENTERTAINMENT. If you're a Cena-Hater a monotone, tattooed, bad guy clone (Orton) isn't the alternative. It's high flying Spot Monkeys like Morrison and Mysterio (to some extent, when he ups his game), and Kofi Kingston.

High flyers do unpredictable moves , entertain the crowd like no one does. While the big bad men do powerful moves, high flyers take risks and possible either botch so bad it might end their career, or injure them for life (Imagine if John Morrison botched the Royal Rumble spot. He didn't and looked like a super star. Imagine if he botched SEVERAL spots on Raw. You talk about a spider-man reboot...)

These guys really are Spot Monkeys, in doing moves so high-octane and energized you'd have to be Christopher Reeve to not be entertained (Yeah, I said it. Someone, eventually, had to ).

But I'm not a Mark (and niether am I a smart-ass smark) So, the downside is usually High-Flyers are in upper to high mid carders and very rarely do they make it up in main event. Most of them aren't the greatest promo workers either 'cept for Y2J. Plus the speculation that VKM likes his meat thick, doesn't help high-flyers too much either.

Nevertheless, I love 'em. And besides being a sorta-mark for Cena, I love the high-flyers.

So, what are your reasons to love them or hate them?

Be advised "They suckz!" or "They rockz" aren't answers. Give me a reason why and give me a downside. If you hate them, give me a reason why and give me an upside. It doesn't HAVE to be a paragraph but make a sentence. ONE we can read and make sense.

Discuss.

 

[The_Reptile_]

Oh, nonononono. There is a distinct difference between a high flier and a spot monkey. A high flier is simply a guy that uses high risk aerial moves regularly. A Spot Monkey is a high flier that has absolutely no idea how to sell a match. They could take or hit a move that should, in kayfabe, make them physically incapable of moving for a little bit, but instead bounce back as if nothing happened and hit an even more ridiculous maneuver. Alternatively, they could sell the match, but when it's over they act like nothing ever happened.

Examples of good high fliers are Rey Mysterio an Morrison.
Examples of Spot Monkeys are Jeff Hardy and RVD.

 

[Ferbian]

Personally I don't hate, nor love high flying wrestlers really.

There's some high flyers that makes me want to watch them more than others, and that's not specifically about the fact that they're simply high flyers, but because of the fact that I just like to watch them. A guy like John Morrison bores me, and that's not because he's a high flyer or because he isn't something else, but it's simply because he bores me and I find him to be rather shit to be honest.

If I have to take a specific liking to any sort of high flying, it has to really be the variation. A guy like Shawn Michaels who had his share of high flying moves, but were still as much of a ground wrestler. The same can be said for Chris Jericho in his earlier days. Both of these guys really appeal to me in terms of their in-ring styles, and they present the sort of high flying mixed with catch wrestling sort of wrestler that I like.

 

[itbewilly]

High Flyers opened the door for smaller guys who weren't in the gym body building non stop or popping steroids. Before guys like Rey Mysterio and the Guerrero's and all the lucha libre style wrestlers became a big hit in ECW and WCW here in America(thats right Heyman...not Bischoff discovered most of them) it was rare that you seen anyone under 200 pounds get any kind of t.v time.Managers were about the only exception.When the Cruiserweight division blew up i think wrestling started to change as a whole.Bigger was still preferred but proved to not always be better. In turn it opened the door for the smaller guys to shine.The Jericho's and the CM Punk's in the pre-cruiser weight division would have been stuck mid to low card at best.

 

[TheMaskedNewton]

I believe there should be room for each type of wrestling style and even a merger of few styles. There should be these brawlers, technical wrestlers, high-flyers and any other types...that would be entertaining.

I personally like to see two high-flyers wrestling because then it becomes a complete entertainment, I mean the whole match becomes entertaining with their various moves. This can also be said about two technical wrestlers going at it. I hate to see 2 brawlers at once though...that is not entertaining.

 

[Find'er Woo'er Ryder]

I like high-flyers but to a point. See there are high-flyers like Alex Shelly and Chris Sabin, who are really fast paced and take a risk to be sure to make an impact. And then there are high-flyers like Rey Mysterio and Evan Bourne, who just because they are crusierweights they are assumed to be high-flyers. Bourne can do some pretty amazing stuff in the ring as a finisher and a signature move but other than that he gets his ass kicked or he kicks at his opponents legs until they get the upper hand. I don't know if that's just WWE's version of high-flyers but that's how most cruiserweights and light-heavyweights are in the ring. TNA has competitors jumping off the ropes with springboard attacks and really hardcore action in the ring. I'm not the biggest fan of high-flyers because now days they don't do anything spectacular in the ring unless it's in a stipulation match like ladder or falls count anywhere match. Other than that, most of their matches are pretty boring.

 

[jellmoo]

I think there is a big distinction to make between what one would consider a "high flyer" and a "spot monkey". I doubt there is any rel definition, so I'll go with what I think.

High Flyer: Incorporates aerial and risky moves into his repertoire. Is capable of a high degree of athleticism. Is comfortable performing moves off the top rope, and other situations where he dives onto his opponent. However, this is only part of what he does. He still has a good grasp of ring psychology, and can tell a story. He will beat an opponent down rather than start the high flying while his opponent stands there looking stupid. His moves are not all high risk, he can actually bring in some great fundamentals as well. The two best examples of this style I can think of are Shawn Michaels and Randy Savage.

Spot Monkey: Often has some similar qualities as a high flyer, but it is not always the case. This is the type of wrestler that simply incorporates flashy move after flashy move, with no other substance involved. There is no real progression to the match, instead of going from point A to B to C, the spot monkey tosses out flashy move after flashy move in an attempt to get over. Examples of this are guys like John Morrison and a good chunk of the ROH roster.

 

[TheMaskedNewton]

Some of the high-flyers are large athletes/reasonably large athletes. However, most of them are small in size. Being small in size, they NEED to incorporate mostly the high-flying maneuvers only. That is their only strength. One can't expect them to bring wrestling skills against opponents double their size, that would be impossible for them. They can rely only on kicks and jumps because they can not lift their opponent, they can not grapple their opponent with any strength, and mostly they can not even put their opponent in some sort of submission hold as the opponent can easily reach to ropes because of the low weight of the high-flyers and their own heavy weight. So even if though those small high flying wrestlers may have a lot of 'what they say' mat wrestling skills, it will look untrue if tried on a larger wrestler.

They can, however bring these skills against a same-sized wrestler.

 

[The_Reptile_]

Well, Morrison used to be a spot monkey. He's starting to add some actual wrestling in between his spots. Granted he's not exactly a technical genius, but he puts out a much larger effort than most Monkeys.

 

[Tech N9ne]

I do not like every "high flyer" and I do not hate every "high flyer".

Whatever a wrestler's style is, does not make me like him decisively. It is usually just part of the reason someone appeals to me. Sure you like some wrestlers because of their style or whatever. If mat wrestling is my favorite style to watch, that does not mean I like every mat wrestler out there.

Here is an example as far as "High Flyers" go...

When I would watch wrestling as a kid, and would see The Rockers, I HATED Marty Jannetty and loved Shawn Michaels. They basically had the exact same style. But Michaels' had other differences that separated him from Jannetty. Charisma being one of them.

Do I think the high flying style is entertaining? Yes. Do I wanna watch "High Flyers" every single match? No.

Overall, I respect any athlete's athleticism, but I prefer to watch a little bit of everything.

 

[ABMorales787]

The high flying style is fast paced action that excites the crowd. Why? Because you wish you could spin around the ring like that. The amazing agility required to wrestle the Lucha Libre-esque style is truly remarkable and it's a draw by itself because of it. That's why WCW always opened PPV's. That's why TNA does it and that why Smackdown used to do it. (Even in abundant failure.) To get the crowd excited for the show and to set the mood. They are always a handy bunch. However don't confuse them with spot monkeys. Totally different.

 

[FSWWE]

Everybody loves high-flyers, of course, they can really do things that surprise every single one of us. (Like JoMo at RR2011)

But, I dont want to see HF in every match, of course not, we are in a time, that jumping for high heights, and kicks in the back of the head, is cool, but the thing i like the most in WWE isn't the fights, is the storyline that they put i the fights, and if an High Flyer has a little bit of Charisma and can be at a lot of storylines, i would love to see him.

My Idea is John Morrison is good
But Randy Orton is GREAT!

i'm more for the clever ones, has Edge, Drew, Ziggler, Orton, CM Punk, Barret and Bryan.

 

[CleverName51]

I like high flyers in that they are entertaining and they are entertaining. But there's also a limit to how cool it is before it's just boring and repetitive and to illustrate this point; I will refer to 2 high flyers one of whom entertains me and one of whom bores the hell out of me.

Entertaining High Flyer: John Morrison

JoMo does original spots and does them with a crispness and dexterity that makes them come off as believable. He also eliminated his one botch high flying move; Star Ship Pain is out as his finisher instead replaced by the Flash Kick and the inside knee to the face to a sitting opponent.

Boring High Flyer: Jeff Hardy

Jeff since the TLC matches of the 2000-01 ended Jeff has had one spot. Swanton Bomb off higher things and through something: examples include off a ladder through a table,off a taller ladder through a table, off an even taller ladder through the announce table and off the titantron, off a ladder through a ladder set up laterally from ring apron to barricade...get the idea.

An entertaining high flyer comes up with and original ways to incorporate their moves rather then going back to the same well.

 

[mrbrownstone]

I am indifferent to them I guess, that isn't really the right word but it's the one I'm using. What I am trying to say is, it depends very much on the wrestler, I am not going to say every single high flyer is amazing nor am I going to say every high flyer sucks. It depends very much on the wrestler in question and what other qualities he possesses other than his ability to do flips.

However, as a general rule I like high flyers more often than I hate them. Why? Because they are fun to watch. Sometimes it is just good to see someone go out there and just do a bunch of amazing looking spots and not really worry too much about telling a story or psychology, don't get me wrong those things are great too but sometimes your just want a fun match without worrying about those things. I mean how can you not be amazed seeing a guy jump off something high up and do a 450 splash, it is just cool to watch.

So yeah, most of the time I like high flyers but by no means all of the time.

 

[Zangash]

In general, I don't like any wrestler based on his in ring style. Hell, The Miz is one of my favorite wrestlers and he only has three or four moves outside of punches and kicks in his moveset, including his finisher!

However, I do like a couple of high fliers. Evan Bourne and Justin Gabriel are really entertaining, not just because of their finishers, but because they can wrestle in the ring, too. Both of them have some really sweet kicks when going off on guys bigger than them. That's entertaining to me.

But then, there are fliers I can't stand. Such as Rey Mysterio. Guy can't wrestle in the ring, all his moves seem to set-up for the most unbelievable move in the WWE, and his finisher is actually the splash that comes AFTER his "finishing move". Then, there's John Morrison... I liked him as a heel, when he used the corkscrew neckbreaker (The moonlight drive, if you didn't know) and was teaming with Miz, but after his random face turn after getting drafted to SmackDown he's turned into a major spot monkey. Hell, his finisher is even pure spot monkey. When I feel like I could probably kick out of a guy's finisher it definitely looks weak.

 

[Jackal960]

I personally love high flyers. However you don't see them maineventing much. The reason is to be a high-flyer you need to be cruiser-weight. It won't look so good even if a heavy-weight does high flying moves all the time. It would just look weird. When you think of the great high-flyer wrestlers their physique are average at best. So down the mat, even if they make a strong move, it won't look beleivable. Shaemus hitting a wrestler and Jo-Mo hitting a wrestler won't look the same in any match. If you judge by how the move looks, i don't care how high you fly, if Batista gives you a power bomb, you don't have a chance. So unfortunately, as great as their moves look, they won't be able to look strong and become credible world champions in todays heavy-weight wrestling. That is the unfortunate part in their wrestling style.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I enjoy watching high flyers, in their matches you can get excited very quickly by a spectacular innovative move and they are always very fun to watch. Some of the moves these guys can pull off astound me, their athleticism is incredible.

However, as great as they are you often find in matches between two high-flyers, that the psychology of the match is often not as great as you would find in a showdown between two technical greats, where the excitement eventually reaches the same level, but is more of a slow burner as the 2 wrestlers attempt to gain the upper hand.

There are 2 types of aerial wrestlers though, the HIGH FLYER who uses aerial moves in his exciting arsenal, but can also wrestle- see Shawn Michaels, AJ Styles and Eddie Guerrero, and also SPOT MONKEYS who can be incredibly exciting but offer little ring psychology and just do move after move with wrestling- see Teddy Hart, Jack Evans and Jeff Hardy

I think wrestling does certainly need high flyers, it is an important style which offers something different compared to the powerhouses, the technical submission based wrestlers, and the hardcore brawlers. I always enjoy seeing high flyers do their thing.

 

[Dave]

The reason why High-flyers draw the ire of the IWC, is because they really don't have any substance and the management of any respective company, especially the WWE, do not have any faith in them to perform on a consistent and productive level without getting injured. I mean, look at Evan Bourne right now. Bourne was on his way up the ladder with a few big wins over Sheamus and Chris Jericho. However, just as the WWE were seeing promise in him, he got injured and that was that. Someone else got his push and Evan Bourne will need to re-convince people that he has the goods to deliver when he returns.

However, on the other side of the spectrum, you have Rey Mysterio. Not only is Rey Mysterio one of the best high-flyers in the history of wrestling, he has been in and around the main event for the better part of a decade now. One could argue that he was “lucky” to be so close to Eddie Guerrero because he really managed to capture the hearts of the fans who were pining for Guerrero and won the Championship. Since then, he has been one of the most consistent performers in the WWE and he gets rewarded as such.

High-flyers, in general, don't really have the opportunities that muscle guys do in the WWE specifically. Look at Mason Ryan right now for instance. He looks as though he is going to be a big thing for the WWE and it is because Vince likes his looks. Would Mason Ryan beat Rey Mysterio in a legitimate fight? Of course he would. The reason High-flyers are so great is because they have the ability to suspend belief. In the WWE they can pull off so much more entertaining moves that the muscle guys and people gravitate towards that.

Well, that is personally why I like them.

 

[Wrestlingfan100]

I like high-flyers but to a point. See there are high-flyers like Alex Shelly and Chris Sabin, who are really fast paced and take a risk to be sure to make an impact. And then there are high-flyers like Rey Mysterio and Evan Bourne, who just because they are crusierweights they are assumed to be high-flyers. Bourne can do some pretty amazing stuff in the ring as a finisher and a signature move but other than that he gets his ass kicked or he kicks at his opponents legs until they get the upper hand. I don't know if that's just WWE's version of high-flyers but that's how most cruiserweights and light-heavyweights are in the ring. TNA has competitors jumping off the ropes with springboard attacks and really hardcore action in the ring. I'm not the biggest fan of high-flyers because now days they don't do anything spectacular in the ring unless it's in a stipulation match like ladder or falls count anywhere match. Other than that, most of their matches are pretty boring.

Evan Bourne/matt Syadl is an extremely well rounded wrestler, he has 88 moves in his moveset( I have a list) and 20 which are cut. He's a great catch-hand wrestler too and has been in the biz for 11 years.
He's 5ft9 & 183 lbs and no rock or miz on the mic but i've heard some
promos and he does better then rey mysterio. Evan Bourne i'm kind of
a smark for but I can back it up, Randy Orton's family scouted him
when he began to train, he's gotten recognition from Jim Ross, John Cena, Chris Jericho, Chavo, Rey Mysterio, Ricky Steamboat and Bret Hart. He's obviously a hardworker, he can either be given a random ppv
match and have instant chemistry with whomever he works with and give a 4-5 star match or sell a beating. When he returns he has SO many options. He has a kayfabe relationship with each important member of the raw roster. He's had a rivalvry with miz since 2008 and there characters are complete polar opposites. feuded with morrison in 2009, is an allie to john cena, cm punk put him out and both of them have had 4 matches with eachother once in 2004 and 3 times on raw.
Has been a victim to nexus.

He said in the november issue of wwe magazine that he has new moves that can take out 3-4 people at once, he's played a great cocky
heel on the indies and on wrestling society x and has been with wwe
since 2007 and onscreen since 2008, he's paid his dues.

 

[Tiedye]

I personally love the high fliers. They do the moves that none of us would dare even try a tamed version of, hell what 95% of society would dare try to do a tamed version of. It is eye popping and astounding to see human biengs take such risks just to get a gasp or two or an applause that might be forgotten lter on as they continually try to one up themselves and other high fliers.

I seriously don't see anything wrong with high flying spot monkeys.

 

[RatedRockstar]

This is ana awesome thread, but i love them because of the different ways they can excite you, you want exciting spot with moves youve never seen before they have that, you want great matches with risky moves and great selling and high octane action, they have that too, they bring a lot to the table and its a retreat from the typical matches between overly buff guys that only do power moves. I think more high flyers should be in the main event i mean RVD and Rey (despite the hate) put on great matches and cause some great moments, JoMo is pretty much ready for the main event, he can cause all of that, another one is AJ styles, i mean the guy is probably the best wrestler today and he is a high flyer also

 

[vermilion]

The only thing that bothers me about high-flyers, and most of the ones guilty of this are more spot monkeys, but the lack of selling. RVD is HORRIBLE for this. People can beat on him mercilessly for an entire match and there is he, springboarding up to the top for the 5-star. Leg is hurt? Who cares, I have a finisher to hit. It's not that I don't think he could hit the move while hurt, as a last desperation move or something, but the fact that he does it, the Rolling Thunder, etc, with such ease, no selling whatsoever of the beating he just took. High flying doesn't mean no psychology if you do it right, unfortunately very few can.

 

[Alastor]

High fliers excite the crowd. Smaller wrestler can tell the story of knowing that they are unable to match up with the bigger wrestler so they sacrifice their body to do the damage. High fliers can also use aerial moves to signal the belief that they are better than the opponent and go for the exclamation point instead of focusing on winning. Heels can use it to show their arrogance, faces can use it to entertain the crowd. The cons are the moves are unrealistic, and most people can notice the wrestlers preparing to take the hit from aerial moves, breaking the belief that it is fight and realizing it is more of a choreographed sequence of moves.