Impact Wrestling: Top 10 off the Top Rope Moves Today
On Thursday, I made a slideshow entitled The 15 Best Finishing Moves in IMPACT Wrestling Today. If you look back, you'll notice something that almost every move listed has in common. Only one of them is off the top rope.
Well, today I'm going to make slideshows fully devoted to aerial moves.
Every fan loves to see a wrestler go high risk. Go to the top rope and take a leap of faith. With high risk comes high reward anyways.
Fans love to see the top-rope moves. Be it Frog Splash or Moonsault, we love it. Here are the top 10 off-the-top-rope, aerial moves today.
Here are all the other Summer slideshows:
Special Mention: Kurt Angle
1 of 11Kurt Angle will not be on the list because it is very rare that he attempts any high-risk moves. When he does, they make for amazing spots.
Kurt Angle did a moonsault off a steel cage at Lockdown two years in a row.
In 2010, he hit Mr. Anderson with one. In 2011, Jeff Jarrett suffered the same fate as Ken Anderson.
Kurt Angle is an amazing wrestler just to be able to do this stunt.
Special mention goes out to Kurt Angle. His moonsaults off the cage are awesome.
10. Alex Shelley: Frog Splash
2 of 11Alex Shelley is one of my favorite wrestlers today.
Why?
He shows personality in the ring, backstage, on the mic, he seems like a "real person." Alex Shelley isn't so bad in the ring either.
Shelley is a former X Division Champion and Tag Team Champion.
Shelley is also a top face in the X Division and high flying moves like this Frog Splash help get love and support from the fans.
Yes, that is Shelley vs. Sabin in the video.
9. Shannon Moore: Mooregasm
3 of 11Shannon Moore is an odd fellow.
He worships the book of D.I.L.L.I.G.A.F (Does it look like I give a...you finish the rest) and loves to down moonsaults during matches.
Watch his Ultimate X match at Destination X and count how many he does.
Moore's moonsaults are nice but his finisher, The Mooregasm, is cooler.
It's a front-flipping neck-breaker and has a pretty cool name.
Mooregasm.
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8. AJ Styles: Flying Forearm
4 of 11Who doesn't love watching AJ Styles?
He can do it all.
Who doesn't love watching a perfectly executed, patented Flying Forearm?
AJ Styles can really fly and really delivers 100 percent with his forearms. This move is definitely one of my favorites in AJ's arsenal.
He gets some hang time, huh?
7. Mickie James: Lou Thesz Press
5 of 11Mickie James has to be in everybody's top 10 favorite female wrestlers. If not, watch the video, then think about it.
Mickie loves to go to the top rope and hit a beautiful Lou Thesz press on her opponent and we love her for doing it. She does her Thesz press so perfectly.
A Knockout jumping off a cage? A Knockouts match as a main event on IMPACT?
That's killing two birds with one stone and both are a first in TNA.
There will only be one Mickie James.
6. Rosita: Moonsault
6 of 11What female wrestlers today can do a moonsault off the top rope? Not many come to mind.
I believe this was Rosita's first match too.
First impressions mean everything and Rosita definitely made a statement with her moonsault that night on IMPACT.
5. Jeff Hardy: Swanton Bomb
7 of 11Okay, okay, so Jeff Hardy isn't exactly in IMPACT Wrestling at the moment but he's still under contract and on their roster page so I'll count it.
Jeff's legal troubles are what turned Hardy fans away from him but maybe a good Swanton Bomb can win them over again.
No?
How about one off the IMPACT Zone set and through a table?
He did it for you, the fans.
4. Zema Ion: 450 Splash
8 of 11To see Ion's 450 Splash skip ahead to 12:44.
When Zema Ion wrestled his first match on IMPACT, I instantly became a fan. He had the look of a champion and his 450 Splash made his win that much better.
Good to see that IMPACT officials bought some stock in young Zema Ion and signed him to an IMPACT contract.
Look for Ion and his 450 in the X Division gauntlet match next episode of IMPACT.
3. Rob Van Dam: Five Star Frog Splash
9 of 11The slideshow started with Alex Shelley's version of a Frog Splash but nobody does a Frog Splash better than "The Whole F'n Show" Rob Van Dam.
RVD can hit a Frog Splash off any turnbuckle if he wanted.
We've seen him hit Frog Splashes on guys that were half way across the ring.
RVD can just twist his body in mid-air to the perfect angle for a perfect Frog Splash. The video is evidence.
2. Daniels: BME
10 of 11Daniels' BME comes in at a close second.
You know what BME stands for?
Best moonsault ever.
Just watch the video because the name speaks for itself. It is truly the best moonsault ever.
Listing this move at second was a very close call. The BME comes in at a close second, if not a tie for first.
1. AJ Styles: Spiral Tap
11 of 11Earlier, we've seen AJ Styles' flying-forearm springboard move. Now it's time for a move he does less often: The Spiral Tap.
This is a video from Victory Road where AJ and Matt Hardy squared off in a great match.
Watching AJ twist and spin in the air is amazing. It's hard to describe this move in words. AJ just moves so quick through the air and it's hard to see just how many spins he can do.
AJ Styles takes the number one spot again.
First on the best finishers slideshow, now on the top aerial moves.
It goes to show, he is truly phenomenal.
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