The Masters of the Bump - wrestling style

Wrestling Digest, Oct, 2001 by Steve Anderson

We proudly present wrestling's top risk-takers, the Sweet Bumping 16

WHEN AN ASPIRING wrestler walks through the doors of a training school, his first days are spent doing something that will provide the most benefit to his career: bumping.

Bumping is a valuable skill romanticized by Mick Foley in his autobiography, "Mankind: Have A Nice Day!" Learning to fall while distributing your weight so as not to cause injury is key to a wrestler's longevity. However, Foley and others have taken bumping to a new art Falling off the ropes or flopping on the mat qualifies as "Bumping 101." Today, the art of the bump has been elevated, both figuratively and literally.

The wrestlers who fall from me heavens and crash onto their opponents' bodies, onto the mat, or splinter a nearby table have become a specialized, unique breed. These "Sweet Bumping 16," in no particular order, do what they do not for their health, but to thrill the arena fans.

JEFF HARDY

Jeff Hardy is a true combination of subtle grace followed by brutal impact The former WWF intercontinental champion's swanton bomb, which requires a flip in the air, remains one of the most dangerous, career-shortening moves in the business. He dives head-first and tucks and rolls at the crucial last moment. Hardy has attempted that move from the top of ring ropes and other elevated points. He showed the true risk of that at Wrestlemania X-Seven on April 1, 2001, when he flew from the top of a 20-foot ladder and crashed through a table on top of Rhyno and Spike Dudley.

MIKE AWESOME

WCW may have wrapped him in polyester and the Canadian flag, but Mike Awesome represents a rare breed: a super-heavyweight who will take to the air. Disregard the WCW gimmickry. His stint as Extreme Championship Wrestling world heavyweight champion and his early tenure in WCW featured Awesome defying gravity and propelling his muscular body inside and outside the ring. Usually, he was crashing through tables stacked on top of each other, taking his opponent with him. While some of the heavier set plod in the ring and stay on the mat, Awesome reinvented the stereotypical style of the big man and bumped like a light-heavyweight wrestler.

EDGE

Rhyno may have "gored" his way into the WWF. Bill Goldberg "speared" himself to the WCW world heavyweight title. However, Edge has taken his spear to a new and very elevated level. While his shoulders have met his opponents' many times, his finisher nearly finished the careers of himself and Jeff Hardy at Wrestlemania X-Seven. From the top of a 204-foot ladder, Edge jumped and met the falling Hardy Boy, connecting with his spear in mid-air. Edge has taken the ground move used by so many others and added an aerial twist.

RIC FLAIR

While currently inactive, the "Nature Boy" is the king of old-school bumping. Whether tossed off the top turnbuckle by a babyface or whipped into the ropes only to flip out of the ring to meet a clothesline, no one did it like Flair. In the latter stages of his career, the bumping routine may have seemed a bit repetitive, but his fans considered it a "blast from the past." While wrestlers are more closely associated with their famous finishers, Flair's "whip, flip, and fall" became part of WCW lore and the legacy of the "Nature Boy."

SPIKE DUDLEY

Size isn't everything. If the diminutive Dudley Boy were judged on his physical stature, he would never rise above the rank of independent star. The acid drop, his ECW finisher, has now been sanitized and renamed the Dudley Dog in the WWF. The name may have changed, but the move remains the same. Similar to other famed finishing moves, Dudley takes to the air and crashes his opponents' skulls to the mat--if they're lucky, that is. Lately, particularly with Albert, "Li'l Spike" has used his variation on the bulldog to force his foes off the ring apron and through a nearby table.

NEW JACK

For the "Original Gangsta," the higher the balcony--or structure of his choosing--the better. The move may seem simple: A single leap into the air, forcing his body into that of his opponent Two things that ECW fans could always count on when New Jack entered the arena were various accouterments to be used in the match and a suicidal dive from atop a balcony. The latter would generate the larger pop. While not a flashy move, it has become a trademark for the legendary brawler. No flips. No somersaults. Just the beefy body of New Jack proving gravity right.

SHANE MCMAHON

Shane-O-Mac ripped the silver spoon from his mouth and entered the WWF ring wars in 1999. Not content to be a non-wrestler, the younger McMahon honed his craft in the ring. No one would mistake him for Lou Thesz, but McMahon could entertain the crowd just as well. He gained fame for sick and suicidal bumps from the ring ropes to the broadcast table, from the ring ropes to the business end of a garbage can, and from the Titantron to the stage far below. His free fall at Backlash on April 29, 2001, is now the stuff of legend and makes Foley's famous bumps look downright tame.