10 Greatest High-Flyers Of The Pre-Attitude Era
7. Ricky Steamboat
Ricky Steamboat wasn't just the definitive high-flyer of the late 80s, he was one of the best all-around wrestlers in the business.
The greatest thing about Steamboat wasn't that he performed moves that made the crowd feel as if they'd just witnessed a magic trick, it was that he knew to use them sparingly, so he could give the crowd time to process each maneuver and highlight its daringness.
Because of that, his work rate wasn't quite as high as some of the other guys on this list. But taking points off for utilising big, flashy moves as a way to embolden already technically excellent matches seems a little cheap.
Besides, he was one of the first guys to make sprinkling in dashes of martial arts moves along with top top maneuvers, setting the stage for people like X-Pac and Chris Jericho to thrive later on.
Steamboat could go toe-to-toe with just about anybody because of his sound grappling skills, as he proved in his legendary matches with Ric Flair, Randy Savage, and Rick Rude.
That made Steamboat one of the few "safe bets" as far as risk-takers were concerned, and put him in a position to pave the way for future generations of high-flyers.