10 Greatest High-Flyers Of The Pre-Attitude Era
9. The Great Sasuke
Trained by the legendary Tiger Mask, Satoru Sayama, The Great Sasuke was one of the wildest, messiest, and perhaps most intriguing high-flyers to come out of Japan.
His style wasn't very polished, but what he lacked in crisp execution he made up for with reckless abandon. Consider him the Jeff Hardy of Japan (Hardy has cited Sasuke as a big influence).
Sasuke best exemplified the high-risk, high-reward approach of guys like Hardy and Sabu, launching himself to the outside of the ring off the top turnbuckle hoping to connect with flying kicks or a moonsault. And there's no hyperbole involved when I say this guy's moonsault was as rapid-fire and exciting as they come.
Sasuke spent a very brief amount of time in the WWE toward the latter part of his career, engaging in a feud with Taka Michinoku that culminated at Canadian Stampede in 1997.
But probably the greatest feud of his career was against fellow daredevil Jushin Thunder Liger, who consistently put on the types of matches that would rival Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage at WrestleMania III.
Really, he just needed someone with a bit more precision opposite his occasionally sloppy techniques to reign him in a bit. When that happened, he was pure gold in the ring.