World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is known for many great wrestlers and a wide variety of wrestling skills, but one thing that always gets fans on their feet is a top rope maneuver. Throughout history wrestlers have flown off of the top rope to crush their opponents below and some of these moves have had a huge impact on the WWE and affected how future wrestlers use the ropes. Here is a look at the best top rope finishers.
Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka: You can tell right from his name that Jimmy Snuka was a high flyer in the WWE. In fact, he was one of the first wrestlers to ever have a finishing move off of the top rope. He always wrestled barefoot and he climbed to top rope with ease as he performed a body splash to his opponent on the mat below. He has famously performed this move dozens of times and started a revolution of high fliers in the WWE.
“Macho Man” Randy Savage: During his prime, Randy Savage was one of the greatest wrestlers that the WWE has ever had, and one of the moves that made him popular was his flying elbow drop from the top rope. He actually used this move more than three times on the Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania VII and was the basis for what Shawn Michaels elbow drop is now. He could fly far across the ring and plant his elbow into opponents, something he has done many times throughout his wrestling career.
Jeff Hardy: Jeff Hardy made waves as part of the tag team the Hardy Boyz and when he became a singles competitor, he soared to new heights in popularity. Hardy is naturally a high flyer in the ring, bouncing off of ropes, guard rails, and ladders on many occasions. His finisher is the most impactful though, and known as the Swanton Bomb. With his opponent laying flat on the mat, Hardy climbs to the top rope and flips onto his back, landing across his opponent. One of the most memorable occurrences of this was when he climbed the Raw Titan Tron and performed the Swanton Bomb right onto Randy Orton.
Rob Van Dam: Rob Van Dam performed many crazy moves and stunts during his time with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and he brought many of those moves over with him to the WWE. One of the biggest and most popular is the Five Star Frog Splash. The Frog Splash has been used by many superstars like Eddie Guerrero, but none were perfected like Rob Van Dam’s was. Van Dam actually turns his body in mid air to land on an opponent and it usually does not matter how far they are across the ring. Sometimes he even hurts himself more than other opponents, but will almost always get the victory.
Vandaminator: Rob Van Dam makes this list twice because his second move is just as impactful and memorable. With his opponent laid out in the parallel corner and a chair placed over their face, Rob Van Dam launches himself across the ring and dropkicks the chair right into the opponent’s face. Sometimes he is actually holding the chair and places it in front of feet right before he lands. This move has also been performed by Shane McMahon on a couple of occasions.
High Flying moves will always be a part of the WWE and as more risk takers enter the ring, a wider variety of moves will be seen.
