May 13, 20204 min read

30 Day Wrestling Challenge - Day 25 Favourite High Flyer

High flying wrestling has been evolving through the years - from those mad springboards on the apron, to Lucha to the hybrid of styles we see today. But who are our picks for favourite high flyer?

Let's see what the WSBF nerds picked!

DOM - AMAZING RED

Amazing Red was my gateway to independent wrestling. Before TNA started on Aussie TV, they ran some highlights packages on a loop on the PPV channel to hype their debut. Red’s style stood out so much in the highlight videos for their X Division that he was the only reason I wanted to order their weekly shows.

In literally 20 seconds of highlights, I was so intrigued by this style of wrestling that I hadn’t seen before, that I had to learn more.

I used my dial up internet connection to seek out more information on this mystery man and the TNA X Division and that’s how I stumbled across Ring of Honor for the first time in 2003.

The rest is history for me, if you have followed the daily write ups; you would know. I have been a massive fan of ROH and Indy wrestling ever since and I have the Amazing Red and his eye-catching, innovative style to thank for an identity defining period in my life.

This journey all came full circle for me last year when I finally got to see the great man himself wrestle live, for the first time at York Hall, in RPW’s Best of the British Super Juniors Tournament.

He’s still got it and even if he may now have been surpassed as far as athleticism, he will always by my favourite high flyer.

BRUM - WILL OSPREAY

I've been lucky enough to watch lucha live at at the fabled Arena Mexico for one of CMLL's Super Viernes shows. Even luckier, I was there for the final of the Reyes Del Aire 2016 final between El Barbaro Cavernario & Volador Jr.

It's comfortably one of the best matches I've ever seen live. The 5,000 in attendance were red hot and both lads did a cracking job.

However, my natural wrestling predilections drag me in the opposite direction: towards the King's Road and Strong Style genres of Japan or European catch and its bastard progeny.

These styles have a more intense and physical feel which a lot of lucha lacks. The athleticism and choreography of lucha is beautiful, but without the snap and sweat of its cousins across either ocean, it sometimes fails to swell my loins.

This is not a blanket assault on traditional lucha. As in my opening salvo, I witnessed brilliance in a lucha ring and there are many advocates of the style who have phenomenal matches. Dragon Lee is one of the most physical performers around and guys like Bandido & Fenix are dropping classics all over the place.

This is a long and boring way of saying that I like high flying wrestling as long as it has purpose and physicality. The guy that embodies this is Will Ospreay.

I can't write much about Will that hasn't been written before. On average match quality, he's been the best wrestler in the world for 2 years. My favourite trait of Will's though is best described in contrast to another wrestler: his old foe Ricochet.

I'm not about to shit on Ricochet. The man is obscenely talented and he's the smoothest high flyer I've ever seen. However, for my tastes, (in the words of Andy Townsend) he is almost too smooth, Clive.

Watching Ricochet (the cliché dictates) is like watching a video game. That is impressive, but it has its downsides. When moves are too pretty, they feel less real.

Ospreay, on the other hand, makes it feel like he's in a real fight. Granted, I've never seen someone do an Essex Destroyer through a table at The Swan after closing, but Will makes me believe that I could.

Finally, he managed to get a classic match out of the pervy dad at a Taproot gig himself, Lance Archer. If that doesn't declare him a wrestling genius, then I don't know what can.

BRUCIE BONUS - THE DREAM MATCH