Best Flyer

Award Description:

To be given to the wrestler who did the most and the best high-flying
maneuvers throughout the year. In 1994, this award was split into two: North
American and Non-North American.  In 1998, it was recombined.

Previous Winners:

  1991: Jushin Liger
  1992: Jushin Liger
  1993: 1-2-3 Kid (Lightning Kid)
  1994: (NA)     1-2-3 Kid
  1994: (non-NA) Jushin Liger
  1995: (NA)     Sabu
  1995: (non-NA) Jushin Liger
  1996: (NA)     Rey Mysterio, Jr.
  1996: (non-NA) Jushin Liger
  1997: (NA)     Rey Mysterio, Jr.
  1997: (non-NA) Taka Michinoku
  1998: (Billy) Kidman
  1999: Jeff Hardy

**2000**: Jeff Hardy

565 first place votes
548 second place votes
538 third place votes

330 88 45 2004   Jeff Hardy
 31 61 53  444   Super Crazy
 32 51 34  381   Kid Kash
 20 45 51  337   Essa Rios
 15 63 26  316   Matt Hardy
 12 21 43  209   Lita
 10 19 24  155   Rey Mysterio Jr.
  9 18  8  115   Yoshihiro Tajiri
  7 12 15  101   Rob Van Dam
  6 12 16   98   Eddie Guerrero
  7  7 19   94   Taka Michinoku
 13  7  2   90   Jodie Fleisch
  4 14 14   90   Edge
  6  8 13   80   Psicosis
  3 11 16   80   Christian
  7 12  4   79   Dragon Kid
  2  9 19   75   Billy Kidman
  1 12 15   71   Chris Jericho
  9  4  1   59   Ricky Marvin
  6  7  3   57   Great Sasuke
  2  8  9   52   Mike Awesome
  2  7  7   45   Juventud Guerrera
  3  5  6   42   Christopher Daniels
  0  7  6   33   Shannon Moore
  2  3  6   31   Cima
  2  4  4   30   Nova
  1  2  9   29   Kaz Hayashi
  4  0  3   26   Asian Cougar
  1  1  9   26   Shane Helms
  1  4  1   19   Onryo
  2  0  3   16   General Rection (Hugh Morrus)
  0  0  7   14   K-Krush
  2  0  1   12   Hayabusa
  1  2  0   11   D'Lo Brown
  1  2  0   11   Ayako Hamada
  0  2  2   10   Tiger Mask IV
  0  3  0    9   Sean O'Haire
  1  1  0    8   Trent Acid
  1  1  0    8   Chapparita Asari
  1  0  1    7   Magnum Tokyo
  1  0  1    7   Kaoru
  0  1  2    7   Shane McMahon
  0  2  0    6   Shawn O'Haire
  0  2  0    6   Jamie Howard
  1  0  0    5   Yun Yang
  1  0  0    5   Tony Mamaluke
  1  0  0    5   Sumo Fuji
  0  1  1    5   Jerry Lynn
  0  1  1    5   FM-Taro
  0  1  1    5   Blitzkrieg
  0  0  2    4   Sabu
  0  0  2    4   Molly Holly
  0  0  2    4   Genki Horiguchi
  0  0  2    4   EZ Money
  0  0  2    4   Crowbar
  0  0  2    4   Crash
  0  1  0    3   X-Pac
  0  1  0    3   Suwa
  0  1  0    3   Spike Dudley
  0  1  0    3   Ric Blade
  0  1  0    3   Chris Kanyon
  0  1  0    3   Chris Daniels
  0  1  0    3   Chris Benoit
  0  0  1    2   Triple H
  0  0  1    2   Tony Kozina
  0  0  1    2   Test
  0  0  1    2   Shark Boy
  0  0  1    2   Rikishi
  0  0  1    2   New Jack
  0  0  1    2   Masato Tanaka
  0  0  1    2   Lt. Loco
  0  0  1    2   Kid Dragon
  0  0  1    2   Kevin Nash
  0  0  1    2   Kane
  0  0  1    2   Jushin Liger
  0  0  1    2   Fantastik (Shiryu 2)
  0  0  1    2   Elix Skipper
  0  0  1    2   Darkness Dragon
  0  0  1    2   Chappinger
  0  0  1    2   Bull Buchanan
  0  0  1    2   Brian Christopher
  0  0  1    2   Barry Hardy
  0  0  1    2   Al Snow
  0  0  1    2   Akino

REJECTED

  4  0  4        "Tie" votes

C. JOSEPH HOFFMAN: Edge gets third despite the 15 foot high off the ladder
spear on 9-25 RAW on TNN?

HIRO: Edge is only here because of that awesome midair Spear he did to
Jeff Hardy. Essa Rios could've been number one if only he had more airtime
either on TV or PPV. Jeff is the same old crazy high-spot junkie, though
he did tone his act a bit. The top ladder Swanton Bomb on Buh Buh Dudley
on a table at WM 2000 was really the highlight of the match. I'm surprised
Rikishi didn't get a nomination because of his top cage Superfly Splash at
Fully Loaded.

OTTO HEUER: Best Flyer--This was one of the hardest to narrow down to
three, but I finally ended up with:  1st: Kid Kash (Just about every match
leaves me with my jaw on the floor wondering how he's still alive)  2nd:
Kaz Hayashi (for getting zero push, this kid lays his life on the line)  
3rd: Jeff Hardy (there's a reaosn he won last year) Honorable mention to
Shawn O'Haire, Mike Awesome, Tony Mamaluke, Psicosis, Super Crazy, Tajiri,
etc

DEAN RASMUSSEN: This year, I started turning more against high-flyers who
couldn't actually work- so to hell with Dragon Kid and Jody Fleish. Asian
Cougar rules the world. He can work a match and knows how to set up his
highspots and his mostly leg-drop variation highspots are all
breathtakingly skull-crushing. He's got energy and intensity that puts him
above the rest. FM-Taro has a real sleazy Japan indie vibe that makes the
really graceful highflying pop out like big jelly doughnut amidst a bunch
of plain glazed. Plus he will actually land on his shoulder wrong more
often than the fucking crazy ONRYO. ONRYO is fucking crazy, but folks
forget that he is a really good worker too. He is definately more than
just his highspots. It's a cool gimmick too.  And he died and died and
died for your pleasure this year. Between ONRYO and Bio-Franken, it was a
big year for the living dead.

ROBERT STRUPP: Both Hardyz are amazing. Jeff gets the nod, as he has a bit
more in his arsenal. Shannon and Shane are a bright spot in WCW, taking
the places of Rey Jr. and Juvi.

CHANCE BIDELMAN: I can't really put one Hardy over the other as best
flyer, they both deserve it esp. from wrestlemania 2000.

EDC: Jody Fleisch is the greatest Unknown Flyer in the world. I wonder if
there will ever be a CW division like WCW pissed away that would allow him
to appear on TV ever again...

DANIEL HERMAN: All the best flyers now are working Japanese indies,
although I haven't seen enough Lucha to say that definitively

SCOTT W.: Super Crazy is the best flyer I have seen.  TAKA is good too,
but some of you may not know that with his lack of a push.  Jeff Hardy
takes 3rd with that awesome tope con hilo he hit on Benoit on SamckDown a
few months back.

CHANCE50JR: Judging by the pop he got at No Mercy and the fall return, I
gotta go with Stone Cold Steve Austin.  Second is Kurt Angle, who quickly
developed into a favorite just by being him.

MARCUS SPARKS: Watching Kid Kash live gave me a whole new appreciation for
his ability. He's insane in a way rarely seen, and I point to the
Superhurancanrana he did on EZ-Money as proof.  Matt Hardy is as reckless
with his body, but has gotten very stale doing the same spots time and
time again. Super Crazy isn't the insane luchador for nothing.

JOHN C.: No doubt about it, Jeff Hardy takes this award. The guy is insane
when it comes to the things he does in the ring although one has to worry
about his future if he continues this reckless pace. While Rey Mysterio
was the best flyer a few years ago he really has slowed his pace down so I
had to go with Kid Kash and Christian as my other two. Had I seen more of
Essa Rios he probably would have been here too but because of his push
being stopped in the spring I really couldn't judge him based on that.

GREG NECASTRO: Jeff is great, but he needs to tone it down or he's going
to have a short career.

JOSEPH MICELI: With nobody decent to wrestle Mysterio, Jeff is about the
only high flyer left in the mainstream

ANDY P. GOSS: For any woman to be able to do a moonsault is amazing, and
Lita is by far the most over woman in competition in *years*.  Any human
being who can and does do a shooting star press on a regular basis
deserves a vote.  And General Rection does one of the better big man
moonsaults since Vader.

JON WALTON: Essa Rios's well timed highspots are one of the many reasons
WWF Metal and Jakked are actually fun to watch.  His timing since his days
as Aguila has improved 100% as well making him an easy choice.

JONAH ROSCH: It's amazing how things change. It doesn't seem that long ago
when the top flyer would have had a great dropkick. And now, you have to
look at which daredevil goes to a new level of moves and death-defying
maneuvers.  I'm going with Super Crazy. Nothing against the Hardy boys,
but Super Crazy is a more complete flyer, and not just a wrestler who has
some lunatic flying spots. He's a tremendous athlete.

DEWEY: Shane probably isn't the third best flyer in wrestling, but any
part owner of a company who busts ass as hard as he does in matches
deserves some kind of vote for something!

JAMES HOWARD: Essa Rios, Kid Kash and Jeff Hardy will now step up to the
podium and recieve their oh *shit* HEY! GET DOWN FROM THER-

JOE GAGNE: The few times I saw Ricky Marvin, he blew me away, especially
with the springboard corkscrew plancha.  This could be the guy that
carries lucha libre in the future.  I'm not a big fan of Kid Kash, but he
does get serious air with his moves.  Jeff Hardy still has problems making
contact with his big moves, but he?s still amazing to watch.

C READ: This award was pretty much meaningless...Hardy was an obvious
choice, Kidman basically never uses high-flying wrestling anymore so hey,
who cares??

JEREMY SORIA: The Hardyz and Edge, basically by default, get the top spots
here. With Steve Austin returning to his wrestling roots, perhaps we could
get more wrestlers to get high spots without having to do a lot of jumping
off of top ropes.

NATHAN LONEY: Jeff Hardy.  Omega?  Apropo, in my opinion, because he is a
alpha and omega of flyers, at least in the WWF.  Psicosis can pull off
some wicked shit through the air... at least he's still healthy, unlike
Rey Rey, to do what he's best at.  Super Crazy eeks out TAKA for the third
place spot, because TAKA had a tough year, while Crazy keeps on flying.  
I've always been greatly entertained by Crazy.  He can carve up the air
over an ECW ring like an expert snowboarder carves snow.

BILL LEHECKA: Jeff Hardy is a bump machine. The moves he does are
absolutely insane, and the crowd loves him for it.

NATE PATRIN: Tentative Special Honors to K-Krush/Kwick. Here's hoping
he'll only get better- and ditch Road Dogg for someone- ANYONE else.

BLAZEJ SZPAKOWICZ: Jeff Hardy is simply insane, which is usually a good
indication that a guy should get the top spot in this category. Super
Crazy is an easy second, based on what little I've seen of him this year
(caring about ECW is just not my forte.) Essa Rios gets third; he still
not particularly well rounded, but he flies beautifully. I think his
moonsault alone would be enough to net him this spot, if there weren't a
couple guys who were just that little bit better.

OCTAVIAN: No one outclasses Jeff Hardy in death defying spots/sheer
stupidity

LAWRENCE BENEDETTO: Both of the Hardyz should be dead. That's why they're
the best.

TANVIR RAQUIB: Nova made everything. Including the air he flies in. Stop
looking at me funny. HE FLIES!

RAVI MISRA:  It's amazing to watch the human pretzel known as Jeff Hardy
and even more amazing is the fact that he can still walk.  Now if he could
only throw a punch...

TOM CRUZ: With Rey Jr. a shadow of his former self, Juvy hopped up on
goofballs, and Super Crazy off working Mexican indies somewhere, there's
been a real dearth of lucha-type flyers in wrestling this year. Sure,
Shane Helms, Shannon Moore, Essa Rios, et al. are flyers, but Rey and Juvy
were just on a completely different level.

JEFF "FRO" WAHLMAN: Not really any great new flyers in the US this year,
so Jeff Hardy gets the nod again.  Psicosis is crazy and Esse Rios gets
major airtime on his highspots.

JBELL55146: I fear for Jeff Hardy's life sometimes.