4. Jushin 'Thunder' Liger/Evan Bourne - The Shooting Star Press
To this day, the Shooting Star Press remains one of the most visually-stunning maneuvers in wrestling. A prime example of the notion of gravity-defying aerial skill, theres something exciting to see a wrestler perform a forward backflip in midair and land on top of their opponents. However, like all good things, the Shooting Star Press comes with a downside; because of its difficulty in mastering, it can be extremely dangerous as well, leading to serious injury when performed incorrectly. Brock Lesnar attempting to dive too far attempting to hit Kurt Angle at WrestleMania XIX and Billy Kidman screwing up his rotation and landing on Chavo Guerrero knees-first, giving him a serious concussion, are just two of the ways that this maneuver can be performed incorrectly. Nevertheless, Jushin Liger was an innovative wrestler who changed how Japanese wrestlers performed internationally. Before him, they had to get bigger and become heavyweights if they ever wanted to be considered top draws. But Liger, with his Shooting Star Press, proved that the smallest wrestlers can make the biggest impacts. You can almost guarantee that when someone uses this move, the crowd will go wild.
Alexander Podgorski is a writer for WhatCulture that has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was 8 years old. He loves all kinds of wrestling, from WWE and sports entertainment, to puroresu in Japan.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University in Political Studies and French, and a Master's Degree in Public Administration. He speaks English, French, Polish, a bit of German, and knows some odd words and phrases in half a dozen other languages.
