5 Divas who use top-rope moves effectively

The last Litasault

Top rope manoeuvres are one of the best aspects of wrestling. They are exhilerating to watch and they are tough to perform as it hurts both the one lying down and the one taking the leap.

High flyers always stay memorable because of how spectacularly they execute their moves from the top rope or in a few rare cases, from the top of the titantron. It is one thing to fly but it is another to do it effectively, which essentially means avoiding any major injuries and looking spectacularly great while doing it.

It’s even better seeing women pull it off as there aren’t many who are known to add such manoeuvres in their arsenal.

Here are the 5 divas who use top-rope moves effectively-

5.Charlotte

We’ll start with the baby in this list. Charlotte is the newest sensation in the WWE and one of the MVPs in NXT. The kind of improvement she displayed in a matter of a few months after her debut in NXT was nothing short of stellar.

Her major USP is her presence and the lineage she represents. In her relatively young career, she has pulled many moves spectacularly. And some of them have been from the top rope.

Just take a look at the flying senton- a move she’s performed both in NXT and WWE Main Event. It first looks like she’s going for a moonsault but she regains her balance and then flips over her opponent. Then there is the top rope gourd buster and top rope natural selection. All of which were performed on the Boss Sasha Banks.

4.Eve Torres

Now we move on to a Diva who competed in an era with many of the worst divas matches. Eve Torres represented a division which was focussing on pretty faces than trained wrestlers. But Torres was relatively better and improving in the ring.

Her jiu jitsu training helped in making her in- ring work a little different. The problem with Eve was that when she was involved in decent matches, her character was stale and when her character became effective, WWE didn’t make her compete against an equally compelling character and then she left too soon.

Apart from the top rope rear choke her jiu-jitsu training came into factor when she pulled off that awesome looking submission move from the top rope called the rolling armbar. Then, there was the Evesault- which was essentially a moonsault. She looked great doing it but she was second to just one ( who will come later in this list)

And then there is this moment- she took a Glam Slam from the top rope at Survivor Series 2011. More than Beth Phoenix delivering this, it was effective precisely because Torres took it.

3.Victoria/Tara

She was the woman who carried the division for some time after Lita and Trish left. She was also the woman who after her debut in the WWE, became a kryptonite for Trish Stratus.

Victoria is a veteran in this industry. She has wrestled for a great many years and yet looks as young as ever performing all her moves. She’s also an effective high flyer. Space man plancha, slingshot crossbody, a moonsault, slingshot summersault leg drop and top rope suplex are some of the moves we’ve seen her pull off night in and night out in the WWE and in TNA.

She was someone who could act on cue and wrestle a great match. Her best run in the WWE was when she was a heel. Her babyface run was cool but she was much more effective and noteworthy as a heel.

2.Gail Kim

Gail Kim, arguably, tops the list of the most underutilized divas in the WWE. She’s even called Vince McMahon sexist lately in one of her tweets. She won the Women’s Championship on her debut but that remains the only memorable detail from her career. Despite how good she was, she was never allowed to be great in the WWE.

Her repertoire includes a wide range of moves. There is probably nothing that Gail Kim hasn’t done. But she looks the most spectacular when she executes a move from the top rope.

Those moves include- top rope hurricanrana, diving crossbody, a dropkick from the top rope, guillotine leg drop, diving senton, Avalanche Frankensteiner from the top of a cage, moonsault to the outside of the ring amongst many others. TNA utilized her talents in better matches than WWE ever did.

1.Lita

She was always going to top this list. Even if Victoria and Gail Kim perform more high flying moves on a regular basis, Lita gets the benefit for starting a revolution.

She was the first woman who effectively and seamlessly performed a diving hurricanrana and a moonsault. And she looked so cool doing them. This made her the coolest female performer in the WWE at the time.

These moves elevated her to the top of the division and made her one of the most popular babyfaces amidst the likes of The Rock and Stone Cold. She exuded toughness with panache. The moonsault may synonymously be called the Litasault.

She even went through a table from the top of a ladder. There has been no one quite like Lita.