Barry Windham Shoot Interview Page 2
Knoxville- Blackjack
bought the Knoxville territory and brought him with him. They were so similar
personality-wise that they couldn't get along that well. He talks about how his
training is lax today because Blackjack made him train so hard as a kid, doing
thousands of Hindu squats each day, running miles, etc. They covered from
Fisherville, VA down to Athens, GA. They made their own TV and he learned more
of the business-side of wrestling by having to meet with TV station executives
and so forth. They just did a straight hour of TV instead of planning it as a
cost-cutting measure, so he had to learn how to improvise. He says that being
able to cover up a mistake is a true sign of a professional.
Teaming with Ron Bass-
They'd teamed in Florida after he'd stopped teaming with Blackjack. Talks about
how his hair had a skunk-stripe for months because the black dye Blackjack had
made him use didn't wash out well. He decided after the black FINALLY left that
he'd just start dying it blonde.
Wrestling Flair in Florida
for the first time- Dusty's idea. Flair had seen him before and agreed to do it,
and they even brought Barry into Mid-Atlantic to challenge Flair because it
worked out so well. Talks about how they were grooming several future NWA
champions at the time, although he only mentions himself and Magnum TA.
Talks about how Flair would do an hour broadway (time-limit draw) in one city
then would fly into another to wrestle that night. They did a LOT of hour and
90-minute broadways, and talks about how good of shape they had to be in because
they had to keep moving in those matches. Talks about how Flair's got a great
mind for the business.
He and Dusty used to pull
stuff on each other and bounce ideas off each other. One night, they randomly
made a bet that Barry couldn't run a mile after wrestling an hour broadway.
Barry got Dusty's Rolex for a week because of that.
Jake Roberts-
Smart, sharp, real crafty, quick-tongued. They worked a lot together and,
despite not watching his matches back and rating them (he liked to be able to
mix it up every week), they had some great ones considering how green they were
compared to the other guys in Florida.
Working with Jos LeDuc-
Hard worker in the ring, but was very stiff. He thinks he's had the most
stitches in his career from LeDuc because LeDuc was capable of drawing blood
hardway.
Big John Studd-
Good friend. A bit of a father figure. Studd chewed his ass one night because he
was wearing his street boots in the ring and wanted him to keep his opponent's
welfare in mind.
Teaming with Mike Rotundo
in 1983- One of his best friends ever in addition to being his brother-in-law.
(Mike and Barry's sister even named their oldest son Windham) Dusty paired off
Mike and Barry and they started meshing well, then Mike started seeing Barry's
sister. Mike's very formal on certain things, and made sure to ask Blackjack's
permission to date Barry's sister. Blackjack respected him for it. They always
keep in touch, even when Mike's touring with All Japan.
Harley Race-
Harley took him to school in the ring and he respects him for it. Harley used
him as a broomstick, but it was a learning experience when he was carried by
him. Harley was a great ring psychologist and was capable of getting everyone on
their feet.
Ending up in the WWF the
first time- Dusty ran a show in the Orange Bowl in Miami and management's
numbers came back lower than the actual attendance, so Dusty left Florida and
took Mike Rotundo, Ron Bass, and Barry with him to Mid-Atlantic. The towns in
Mid-Atlantic were on their asses at the time, so Dusty had to work hard on the
storylines as well as getting guys to work hard in the ring, but promoter Jim
Crockett wasn't taking care of the guys monetarily. Barry got a check for $134
for two weeks of wrestling, so he bailed on Crockett and it caused a large rift
between him and Dusty. Blackjack hooked him up with George South, who was
Vince McMahon's booker at the time, and Vince gave him a tryout which
lead to a job. He ended up making $6000 in his first week, but is unsure if
Vince did that for everyone to get their attention or if he did it in his case
because he knew the chickenfeed Barry had gotten paid in Mid-Atlantic.
Locker room atmosphere in
the WWF- He wasn't really accepted into the power clique of Hulk Hogan, Roddy
Piper, and Paul Orndorff, but Orndorff did like him and took him
under his wing. He ended up hooking Rotundo up with a job in the WWF, but
Rotundo did it in his usual formal way and gave his two-week notice to Dusty and
Crockett before leaving. He thinks Pat Patterson came up with the US
Express concept and talked about how they were getting thousands of dollars each
week and made about $200,000 a year in 1985.
Winning the tag belts from
Dick Murdoch and Adrian Adonis- He'd known Murdoch all his life and
Murdoch was a true character. He was happy-go-lucky 95% of the time but you'd
KNOW if it was that other 5% of the time. Adrian Adonis was a guy he didn't
really understand. Adonis didn't like the idea of putting them over, so he
refused to put them over for the belts one night. Murdoch eventually talked
Adonis into working the match. Adonis and Murdoch were probably the biggest
opposites he'd seen in the business and thinks it's horrible that Adonis died
like he did (car accident), but he never really knew him well because Adonis
didn't want to know him.
Early impressions of
Vince- He was always treated well. He doesn't have any problems with Vince, but
Vince has a LONG memory, which bit Barry in the ass years later. After having a
96-day run on the road, Rotundo eventually flipped out and disappeared. It
turned out that he used one of the open-ended plane tickets Vince had given them
and flew home to Florida, which Barry found out from his sister when he got back
to the hotel. The next night, Barry went off HARDCORE on George Scott, Chief
Jay Strongbow, and a few others, talked about how he was done in the WWF,
then went home to Tampa and disconnected all his phones. Considering that they
were criss-crossing the country and flying all the time instead of making
regional loops and driving a few hours from town to town, it sounds HORRIBLE. He
figures Vince would have worked with him if they'd talked, but he was too far
gone. Rotundo, on the other hand, flew back a few nights later and just started
working again. Around this time, something to the effect of "Aw FUCK!"
came out of Barry mouth because he'd burned QUITE a few bridges when he'd walked
out. Dan Spivey ended up in his spot eventually because Vince figured
that he could clone Barry.
Greg Valentine
and Brutus Beefcake- Valentine was PISSED that they didn't get a
big-money run against them before winning the belts.
Kendall entering the
business- He figures Kendall got involved in the business around 85 or so
because of the Windham family angle in Florida. He went down and helped train
Kendall along with Hiro Matsuda. Kendall was working hard every day and, when
they thought he was ready, they threw him out there to be used as cannon fodder
in the Windhams' feud with Kevin Sullivan's "family".
Talks about how people
think he's older than he is because he's just been in the business so long.
Lex Lugar-
Didn't know how to work. "Bob Roop did what he could with Lugar"
but Lugar was too "mechanical". Windham got paired off with him and
had to train him in the ring, and has at least one scar because of it that came
at the beginning of a 45-minute match. He asked the referee Bill Alphonso
how bad he was busted open and Fonzie said "Oh, MAN, you're not going to
believe it." Lugar was freaking out the whole time because of the giant
friggin' hole on Barry's head. Barry went to a doctor who had previous
experience with Windham's unusual injuries, who sewed it up so he could work
that night.
The previous time he'd
seen him was when he and Steve Kiern were traveling together and Barry
had just bought a new pistol. They were shooting at stuff and Kiern dropped the
gun after firing, which fired again and shot Barry in the leg. Barry decided to
use his pocket knife to dig the bullet out of his leg, then tied a bandanna
around his leg to stop the bleeding. (He makes a lot of jokes about Kiern
shooting him) The next day, he went to see the doctor, who started freaking out
because it was a gunshot wound. Barry's response was "Uh... I was running
through the woods when I fell and a BIG stick poked me hard.", so he got
out of it without the doctor having to report it to the police. He STILL went
out and wrestled that night with a gunshot wound on his leg.
Working for Jim Crockett
again- Magnum TA had his accident in 1986. Barry had been sitting around Florida
working with Bob Roop, Lugar, and Great Muta, who was in his first few
years in the business. Barry talked about how he was keeping in touch with
everyone through his car phone at the time. He found out about Magnum's crash
the day after it happened, then he immediately jumped in the car and drove up to
Charlotte. He stops for a second to collect himself while thinking about how
tough Magnum had been to make it through that. Magnum begged Dusty to let Barry
come back and he did it, despite antimosity towards Barry over ditching him for
the WWF.
Working with Ronnie
Garvin- Dusty brought him back in a low position on the car and had him work
his way back up in case Barry decided to flip out and leave for the third time
in his career. Talks about winning the US tag belts. After Dusty regained his
confidence in him, Barry started rising back up the card.
Working with the Midnight
Express- Bobby Eaton's one of the best workers in the business and
was one of the most likeable guys in the business. Dennis Condrey was a
really good worker, too. They'd go out and improvise matches because this was
while kayfabe was still alive and they couldn't be spotted talking to each other
outside the ring.
The
45-minute TV draw with Flair- "I think I've done more than one..." The
Fayetteville one was supposed to be an hour, but was shorter than that due to
cuts before it was aired. They knew each other very well, so they knew what each
other could do and what the other was thinking. Randomly talks about "doing
hour matches with Sgt. Slaughter of all people."
Working with Tully
Blanchard- He wrestled him at the time that the Horsemen started. He talks about
how people think he was one of the original Horsemen, instead of being in the
third lineup after Ole Anderson and Lex Lugar had been in the group. He
joined the group when he, Crockett, and Dusty realized that it was the perfect
time for him to turn on Dusty, as well as his ability to lead a match making him
a great heel (heels control most of the match, with the babyface's comeback
usually being the limit of their involvement in the match's direction). He and
Lugar were partners against Tully and Arn Anderson when he turned. Since Lugar
was the #2 face at the time, it meant that Dusty, as the #1 face, was the next
guy who'd face Windham after the Horsemen destroyed Lugar. (Typical Dusty
logic... sacrifice someone to make a new guy, then use them to keep yourself
over).
Nervous about the heel
turn? No, because he'd get more control over the match as a heel (which was
truer back then than it is now). Since he was able to work with the babyfaces
who were getting stale facing the other Horsemen, he was able to inject some new
life into the promotion. He then talks about how it was a major image change
becoming a Horsemen, as he had to put his blue jeans and cowboy boots aside for
nice suits and $1000 shoes. However, the timing was right for the turn so it was
all good.
Working with the Road
Warriors- Worked with Rotundo against them at the Orange Bowl show mentioned
earlier. Both teams were tentative at first but things started working out when
Windham decided to play heel and start calling the match, at which points things
took off and it turned out well.
Working as a heel against
Dusty- It was during Dusty's heyday. "He's still capable of getting over in
the ring and on TV" (I challenge this because Dusty's old fat ass wouldn't
be over) Talks about how Dusty always won.
Nikita Koloff-
Worked his gimmick even with the boys, very stiff as well. Had working ability
but was just a big strong guy. "When he hit you with something, you knew it
was there."
"Dr.
Death" Steve Williams- One of his
good friends. Steve's first son is also named Windham. Talks about how wrestlers
use many different styles in the business and that some people didn't want to
work some, but he would work them all. He's had bones broken by Steve before...
one night in Alexandria, LA, Steve blew a belly-to-back suplex which separated
Windham's shoulder. He still finished the 45-minute match even with this injury
coming in the first 5 minutes. "He's like a gorilla, so strong and
everything." After that injury, Steve started to work his legs instead and,
luckly, didn't break one of them.
Eddie Gilbert-
Good pals when they worked together. Outstanding in-ring ability, knew his craft
very well, and came from a similar background. He worked hard to get into the
business. Outrageous sense of humor, which made them start cracking jokes and
such with each other mid-match and nearly break out laughing. Put over his mind
for the business and booking ability.
Ricky Steamboat-
"Probably the best babyface of his era, and possibly of all time."
Nothing but a gentlemen, and has his total respect. (Another common thread...
every guy in one of these who's talked about Steamboat puts him over HEAVILY as
a person and as a wrestler.)
Was he contacted to go
with Tully and Arn Anderson to the WWF? No. Talks about how the Horsemen
angle had run its course and egos were clashing, so it was probably for the best
that they jumped to the WWF. Doesn't think that their move turned out as good as
it should have.
The locker room's reaction
to Tully, Arn, and Ronnie Garvin jumping all around the same time? He thinks
that Crockett's business had already peaked and was on its way back down, and
Turner was in the process of buying the company. Talks about the cyclical nature
of the business and how the wrestling fad had run its course at that time. Guys
weren't getting the pay they were used to, so they jumped to the WWE. Guys were
also starting to get guaranteed contracts at the time. Tully and Arn weren't
offered contracts because Crockett was too busy dealing with the Road Warriors'
contracts, so that probably entered into it (which, according to Tully, was a
big deal in this situation). The Road Warriors got what he feels was too much
(about $500,000 each a year), and that it hurt morale in the locker room because
no one was making much at the time.
Bam Bam Bigelow-
Huge guy, great worker for a guy that size, and loaded with personality when
he's in the locker room. "I don't want to compare him to Bobby Jaggers..."
but he's got the bigger fish story for everything. Talks about doing a superplex
with him, which broke the center timber of the ring, stopping the show until
they could jerry-rig something to fix it.
Sting-
Worked with his at first when he (Barry) was a face. He said that you could feel
that he had "it", which he described as incredible charisma. Sting
learned as he went along and, while not one of the greatest workers ever, he was
still pretty good. Doesn't think Sting was comfortable in his character at the
time (bleach-blonde flattop Sting from pre-1996, not the later Crow Sting),
which hurt his performances at times. He was one of the most over faces of all
time.
Going to the WWF in 1989-
He was one of the last guys to get a guaranteed contract, and Jim Herd
didn't want to deal with him. He knew he wasn't making what other people on top
were making, and it upset him because he was playing ring general to several
sub-par workers. He doesn't name names, but says that some very over guys
couldn't work and you could tell it when they faced each other. Talks about how
Pat Patterson was living near Tampa at that time and had been talking to him,
and had said that Vince had forgiven and forgotten about what happened in 1985
(he says that Vince NEVER forgets, though). He called Vince himself and then
gave his notice to Jim Herd, citing that Herd wasn't willing to work with him on
a contract.
Becoming the Widowmaker-
Vince said he had a spot for him, so he flew him up to Stamford to discuss it.
Says that the Widowmaker gimmick was basically his normal self, except his hair
was slicked back in a ponytail, and that he was named after a famous bull that
had gored a lot of different cowboys, including some fatalities. He says he was
in the biggest and best condition of his life at the time, at about 330 pounds,
and that was what Vince liked, except the gimmick died a quick death because of
his family's legal troubles.
Blackjack and Kendall's
counterfeiting bust- They got arrested in 1989 or early 1990 while Kendall was
wrestling for WCW and Blackjack was a road agent there. Barry went to Vince and
convinced him to give him a release to save the company face when the Secret
Service started trying to tie him into it. Says that Blackjack and Kendall had
made a mistake in judgement and had trusted the wrong people, and got a minimum
sentence out of it, but the authorities kept trying to tie him into it. Claims
it was like being under house arrest because he was constantly harrassed over
it, but the grand jury didn't indict him, but that the shadow of it was over him
for about 4 years. He says about how he normally doesn't like to talk about it,
but that he's being honest and that he only discussed it because it was
connected to certain career decisions he made.
All Japan- He went
overseas to work at that time and AJ's owner, Giant Baba, had told him
that he'd always have a job there if he wanted it. Herd tracked him down while
he was there. "Jim Herd is not one of the most soft-spoken people on the
planet." (Now THERE'S an understatement) Herd basically cussed him out for
dodging people and for working in Japan when he could be for WCW. He said that
the locker room was pressuring Herd to bring him back, so he told Baba and
headed back to the US.
Jim Herd- He didn't even
call Barry into his office at the time he came back and asked him what it would
take to keep him satisfied. He was over-polite to him because he thinks it
pissed people off if you won't show them you're upset. He says he made a fair
offer of a three years at $300,000 and a a fourth year at $400,000. Herd
responded so quick that he mentally went "Aw crap, I should have asked for
twice that." He handled business in a VERY rude manner, which may have
worked in his other businesses but not in wrestling. (NO ONE who's worked for
Herd in WCW can stand him. Terry Funk and Jim Cornette go off on long
diatribes about what an jerk he is while Ricky Steamboat, being the gentleman
everyone always describes him as, just politely refuses to talk about Herd.)
The Black Scorpion-
He denies that he was supposed to be the Scorpion when he was brought back in
during 1990.
Sid as a Horsemen- He was
still rough in the ring but was very impressive physically. Soft-hearted guy but
had a reputation for being flighty, like he has. Never got to be friends with
him because he was never really around it, but Rotundo is great friends with
Sid. Working with him was a bit rough, but he learned and made a lot of money in
the business.
Flair jumping in 1991
while still the champion- It was a lot like the Tully and Arn situation. He has
two opinions of Ric... one in which he grew up around him and was great friends
with him. The other was that Ric was unprofessional because he was supposed to
win the belt from him at the Bash, and he ended up leaving with the belt
instead. (This is contrary to MOST stories, in that Lugar is usually said to be
the guy Flair refused to job for) Talks about how Flair broke the lineage of the
title and messed up how the business was supposed to work. He knows Herd wasn't
a people person, so Ric probably had contract problems with him and handled it
wrong in his opinion. Talks about how the belt was abused badly in the WWF and
lost a lot of respect over it, and that Windham got passed over for the title
for Lugar because it was thought to be better for business.
Brian Pillman-
They and Mike Graham used to go out drinking a lot. Both he and Pillman had a
reputation for partying all night and still being able to bring it in the ring
the next day. Lots of good memories of him.
Dustin Rhodes-
He's hard to be friends with. He is Dustin's best friend, and Dustin is a LOT
like Dusty. Dustin doesn't have a lot of friends because of the Dusty-like
qualities.
Steve Austin- He saw
potential in him and thought he left over contract issues and not for other
reasons. Said that Austin came up to him and said that Barry looked exactly like
what he wanted to be. When he worked with him, he saw a lot of ability in him.
(This viewpoint on Austin's departure from WCW is contrary to the story Austin's
told, where he got fired via an answering machine message left by Eric
Bischoff's secretary.)
Kip Frey-
Kip was a different kind of guy from Jim Herd. He was a bright guy, but thinks
he wasn't suited for the job and didn't want it. Too nice and didn't understand
the business.
Bill Watts-
"Almost a clone of Jim Herd." He'll say what's on his mind and doesn't
care what people think of it. Thinks he could run another company successfully,
but needs serious counseling in how to deal with people. He could talk to him
but MANY people would run to avoid him. Tells a story of how he was in a tag
match against the Miracle Violence Connection (Terry Gordy and
Steve Williams), and the finish didn't go as planned. Afterwards, Watts bitched
him out because he was the senior member in the ring. Windham told him that he
was the wrong guy to bitch at because he made the best of a bad situation, and
that he should bitch at the guys who forgot the finish. They got close to what
Watts wanted with the finish he called, but weren't quite there. He was helping
Watts book at the time, and quit over it because he wasn't getting paid anything
extra for all the abuse Watts was subjecting him to.
Mick Foley-
Craziest bump-taker ever next to Terry Funk. Very successful at creating his own
character in addition to imitating Funk. When they worked together, they had
fantastic matches because they both had the ability to adjust to each other's
styles. They didn't go out of their way to be pals with each other, but Barry
respects him a lot for what he's done in the business.
Most overrated wrestler in
the business- Barry has to take a break before answering that and, about half an
hour later, he comes back and says that it's probably him because he's always
been told he has so much ability but there he was sitting at home for so long.
Working with the Japanese
guys- He was the worker, so he got put with certain guys in order to pick up
their style. Puts over Muta heavily for his ring ability but says his heart
wasn't always into it because he was so far away from home most of the time.
Talks about how Muta has re-invented himself over the years and he even passed
him in the hall a few weeks ago at a Tokyo Dome show and didn't even recognize
him. Talks about how Muta will get so over as a heel that he'll loop back around
to being a face, much like Steve Austin.
Leaving WCW briefly-
Doesn't remember exactly. Talks about the injuries he's had, including having
one knee redone three times and the famous wrist injury which was done
story-wise by having a car door closed on it at the pre-show for Halloween Havoc
91. He actually broke it giving a guy a bulldog at a house show. Talks about the
surgery on his hand, where certain bones were shortened and others were removed,
and how he didn't rehab it like he was supposed to. He taped it for every match
for about 4 years, until both his knees blew out and he forgot about the wrist.
Drugs in the industry- He
took painkillers while injured, and there's a reputation for guys in the
business to abuse them. "You take a beer and a Vicodin and you're havin'
fun." He, however, has legitimate bone and joint conditions which mean that
he could legally have them prescribed if he chose to ask for them. Talks about
people passing out on Soma tablets because the recommended dose is 1-2 pills and
guys would take a handful of them at a time.
Talks about how he had one
of his knees completely replaced (MCL, PCL, ACL, meniscus, etc. all at the same
time) using cadaver parts. The first time he had it done, he just wore a kneepad
over it in a match against Flair instead of a brace and tore it up 5 minutes
into a 40-minute match. He did it while pivoting after hitting the ropes.
He talks about how they still tried to do as much as they could in the match. He
claims that when he went in for the MRI after that, all the cadaver parts had
died and it was only the cartilage and the hamstring holding the knee together.
The next time he had a different surgery in which his patella tendon (kneecap)
was reworked to put his knee back together. Around that time he went to the WWF.
Going to the WWF in 1996-
His contract in WCW ran out the day before he blew out his knee again, and Eric
Bischoff quit taking his calls after promising to take care of him. They
paid for the surgery, though. After that, he figured he'd try the WWF instead
and called up Vince. He was the biggest he'd ever been, 365 pounds, at that time
and had trained hard to get back down into the mid-200's because the business
now wants guys who look healthy rather than "hosses" like his dad,
Blackjack. When he came back, Vince sat him down and had a talk with him over
his habit of leaving unexpectedly, and gave him the Stalker gimmick as a
result. He says that Vince could have used him as Barry Windham, but decided to
put him in camoflage instead. He went through with it, but slowly started doing
a little less camoflage each time and slowly returning back to his own image.
Vince called him on it one night, he didn't give a response to Vince's
satisfaction, and got sent home and paid his downside until they made him and Bradshaw
the New Blackjacks.
New Blackjacks- This was
Vince's true revenge for Barry leaving in 1985. They put him against Bradshaw,
to prepare for the gimmick, in what was supposed to be an 8-minute dark match,
but it ran closer to 20 minutes. When they got back to the dressing room, Vince
gave them the cold shoulder and got Jay Stongbow to send him right back out to
do another match against Tony Anthony (SMW's Dirty White Boy, I
think). He figures it was Vince's way of telling him "get in shape, fatass."
He was sent home for a few months to get in shape, then he got called into a TV
taping. When he got there, Vince chewed his ass and Bradshaw's ass for not
looking like the original Blackjacks. They had to go out and find someone to cut
all the hair off then dyed each other's hair. They looked like crap because that
dye turned the skin around their hair black as well. Barry got a rep as
"the little Blackjack" because he had to cut down on his weight again
to work properly while Bradshaw was about 320 pounds. Guys would tell Bradshaw
"Please tag in the little one" because he was so stiff. Eventually
Vince quit booking them, so he got them booked in the All Japan tag tournament,
which surprised the hell out of Vince because AJ didn't use his guys often.
West Texas
Rednecks- When he came back to WCW, they
put him in that gimmick and they got to have a lot of fun with it. It was Jimmy
Hart's idea, and was the result of an off-hand comment he'd made about Barry
and Kendall. Then, without the knowledge of himself, Kendall, or Bobby Duncum
Jr, Curt Hennig went to Florida with Jimmy Hart and recorded the
Rednecks song. The next week, he was expected to know how to play the drums and
Kendall was expected to be playing the guitar in sync to the music, and says
that the segments they were in were usually the highest rated ones of the show.
He isn't sure why the gimmick was killed, but that he wasn't sure it was Hogan.
He figures it was the overly-PC guys at CNN Center in Atlanta who had control
over WCW who killed it off because they thought it was too racial (IIRC, they
were the heel nemesis of Master P's rap stable).
Hogan- Straight-forward
guy. They'd never worked together for whatever reason back in the day, and they
had a long talk about it once in WCW. Hogan told him that he was one of the four
guys in the business that he'd wanted to work with, but never got the chance to
work with him.
Kevin Nash-
Likes him. Known him years before he got into the business, when he was a
bouncer at a club he used to go to. They've had an off-and-on friendship because
something Kevin would go "off on his own plan." He met Scott Hall
about the same way, and helped Scott start out in the business. They were both
straightforward, though.
Eric Bischoff- Didn't hire
him back when he said he would, and avoided his calls. After leaving the WWF
(the first time he EVER got fired instead of jumping to a different territory),
he went home and sat around until Vince paid the $120,000 he owed him in his
contract buyout.
Favorite match- He's
wrestled for so long that he can't pick *A* match, as much as favorite
opponents. His favorite opponents include Harley Race, Ric Flair, etc. in those
old hour-long and 90-minute broadways.
Anything he wants to say
to his fans? He's had to swallow his pride, but thinks he has something left to
offer the business. He can still entertain people, and says that part of the
appeal to the business is that people wonder "Man, did he potato him or did
he miss by an inch?" because they still want to believe it's real. People
today take it too seriously now and it's all about money.
Matches- I'm just going to
list what matches and/or promos are on here instead of reviewing them.
The first is Barry vs. Steve
Corino in Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling in 2000 or 2001.
The second is an OLD
Windham-Flair match, showing highlights of one of their broadways with Buddy
Colt and Gordon Solie on commentary. I'm not sure if this is from
Florida or a different territory, though.
The third is a promo with
Kendall and Barry from probably Florida in 1986, with Barry challenging Ron
Bass.
The fourth is a match
between Barry and Terry Funk commentated in Spanish. This one turns into a
classic Funk brawl, complete with piledrivers on the cement floor outside the
ring.
The fifth is another
Flair-Windham match commentated by Gordon Solie. This one is from Florida.
The guys making this shoot
may or may not have picked the best Flair-Windham stuff, but those two were
capable of pulling ****+ matches out of their asses against each other, so their
matches should all be fairly interchangable.
Comments: Barry's rather
honest and isn't shy about admitting some of his mistakes. He also says that he
only discusses some stuff because it's true rather than to brag about it, which
may or may not be true. The only problems with this interview are subject-based
rather than the quality of his interview, as most of the old-school NWA stuff he
discussed had already been covered by other guys, such as Tully Blanchard, Arn
Anderson, Jim Cornette, the Road Warriors, etc, and Barry had very little to add
to it. His version does coincide with what they've said, though, so it's pretty
much established that what they've all said is true. The stuff about his three
runs in the WWF is pretty entertaining though.
Recommended.