10 Most Explosive Wrestlers Of All Time

8. Shingo Takagi

AEW PAC
NJPW

If the Undertaker was the greatest ever to run the ropes, Shingo Takagi is the best to do it now. Really, he, not Bray Wyatt, is the Undertaker's spiritual successor.

It probably was a plot hole, but Gedo's decision to debut Shingo as a Junior Heavyweight was also a masterstroke: he looked the like Dragon he markets himself as opposite the smaller, slighter competitors in the division. That awe-inspiring Pumping Bomber lariat looks gruesome enough, when it fails to decapitate Tomohiro Ishii; when he dislodges the skull of a SHO, it makes for proper, pulsating, gladiatorial pro wrestling.

He is as good soaring through the sky as they are, too, which again was perfect booking on Gedo's part: just beating Shingo, in one match, elevated Will Ospreay to Ace status in the Best Of The Super Juniors final earlier this year. In that match, Shingo cannoned off the ropes before crashing into Ospreay with a somersault plancha so impossible that the guardrail punished him for defying physics.

His legs got tangled up in the steel because his propulsion was such that he could barely control the landing.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!