Barry Windham

[Matt D]

You shouldn't. I don't think Dibiase has ever had a WWF match that's been pimped in our circles as much as Bossman/Barbarian and I'm not even sure that's his best WWF match.

[Dylan Waco]

I like Ted v. Virgil and Ted v. Dustin a lot, but the idea of Bossman being better in the WWF really doesn't seem that odd to me.

[El-P]

You shouldn't. I don't think Dibiase has ever had a WWF match that's been pimped in our circles as much as Bossman/Barbarian and I'm not even sure that's his best WWF match.

I don't think DiBiase had a better match than Bossman vs Perfect either.

[JerryvonKramer]

The idea that Bossman was "better than Ted in the WWF" to me is insane and one I will neither countenance nor debate. This is not the thread for it either. If anything, it's a very good example of why matches shouldn't be your only metric when judging a worker's time in a company. But this thread is about Barry Windham.

[shoe]

The Bossman argument seems very valid.

[JerryvonKramer]

If the conclusion is that Bossman had a greater number of good to great matches in WWF than Ted, I can accept that as a conclusion.

 

If the conclusion is that Bossman was a better worker than Ted in WWF I do not accept it and think it is an absurd claim to make.

[Matt D]

If you pick apart the little things he does, I think Bossman might be better in his WWF matches too.

 

I honestly believe this is a strong possibility after watching a lot of matches.

[goodhelmet]

Create a Bossman thread or start talking about Barry Windham.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Everyone getting Parv wound up about Bossman being better than DiBiase was hilarious.

 

O Barry, did anyone ever have a worst case of "ants in the pants" than Barry. If this dude could have just stayed in one place long enough, he could have been a big deal. US Express in WWF '85, leaves Crockett in '87 for Mid-South, leaves WCW in '89. Was the grass always greener on the other side? By the time he comes back to WCW in mid-90, he never was able to make good on that potential until his almost breakout in 1993 then an injury finally did him in. Sad story.

 

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ron Simmons & Barry Windham vs Jake Roberts & Babarian w/Cactus Jack - WCW Saturday Night 9/26/92

 

I was hoping for a hidden gem, instead just got a solid build to Halloween Havoc. For all this push about Ron Simmons as this big-time power wrestler, this is a bit of a problem when he is the smallest guy in the match. Windham and Roberts tower over him and Barbie is visibly bigger. You see why Simmons would not have made it in the NFL given his stature. This is a basic fundamentals match with Windham controlling Roberts early with arm work -> power showdown between Simmons/Barb -> Windham FIP -> Simmons house a fire -> Melee ending. Roberts is good at the little things in wrestling, but he tends to bore me. Barbarian was more interesting in the control segment. It is amazing how athletic Windham is given how tall he is. They tease the DDT, but Windham back drops out of it. Simmons is a good fired-up babyface with some great shots. I think they could have done better by him by putting him in a babyface tag team. I guess Windham/Rhodes was the hot babyface tag team, but you could slide Windham back up the card to be 1a to Sting's ace. The Snake breaks up the pinfall attempt after the spinebuster. Barbie gives Simmons the big boot and Cactus comes in to lay the boots on Simmons. Barbarian leaps off the top rope and delivers a diving headbutt. Dustin Rhodes & Van Hammer (?) make the save. It is a predictable tag match that is serviceable in hyping the Simmons/Barbie match. Bruno was on commentary, which is just so weird.

[Tim Cooke]

Windham was a full time Crockett guy from January 87 - February 89. He never wrestled in Mid South.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Was the match with Murdoch a one-off?

 

I remember his tag team with Garvin then it just goes blank in my head until Starrcade '87. I thought he was in the UWF during the dying days.

[Tim Cooke]

He wrestled a few times for UWF after Crockett purchased it. That's where the Murdoch match comes from.

[Superstar Sleeze]

I see said the blind man.

[Mr. B.B. Rogers]

Will's Windham comp was the first one I bought from him; I was just so excited that someone had painstakingly recreated the career of a wrestler I liked so much as a kid. So in a sense, Barry also deserves credit for inspiring me to send so much money to Will over the years that I've surely furnished a room of his house.

I just bought my first 3 comps from Will, including the Windham set. I'm currently working through the Dangerous Alliance stuff, but reading this thread has me very excited to get into the Windham stuff, who was one of my favorite all-time workers for sure.

 

Did anyone every do a better, smoother superplex?!?!?

[Wolfman]

I have Windham in my top ten ever. Amazing wrestler and I loved his Horseman run. His matches against Flair and Arn are some of my favorite ever.

[rainmakerrtv]

Will's Windham comp was the first one I bought from him; I was just so excited that someone had painstakingly recreated the career of a wrestler I liked so much as a kid. So in a sense, Barry also deserves credit for inspiring me to send so much money to Will over the years that I've surely furnished a room of his house.

I just bought my first 3 comps from Will, including the Windham set. I'm currently working through the Dangerous Alliance stuff, but reading this thread has me very excited to get into the Windham stuff, who was one of my favorite all-time workers for sure.

 

Did anyone every do a better, smoother superplex?!?!?

 

One of the reasons I loved his short lived tag team with Ron Simmons, they had the two smoothest "finisher to pin" transiitions in wrestling.

[Mr. B.B. Rogers]

Will's Windham comp was the first one I bought from him; I was just so excited that someone had painstakingly recreated the career of a wrestler I liked so much as a kid. So in a sense, Barry also deserves credit for inspiring me to send so much money to Will over the years that I've surely furnished a room of his house.

I just bought my first 3 comps from Will, including the Windham set. I'm currently working through the Dangerous Alliance stuff, but reading this thread has me very excited to get into the Windham stuff, who was one of my favorite all-time workers for sure.

 

Did anyone every do a better, smoother superplex?!?!?

 

One of the reasons I loved his short lived tag team with Ron Simmons, they had the two smoothest "finisher to pin" transiitions in wrestling.

 

When did they team? I assume it was 91-92 during the Sting's Buddies vs. Dangerous Alliance run, but I have no real recollection of that.

[NintendoLogic]

I had a dream the other night that Barry Windham was my uncle. I was really bummed when I woke up.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Was your dad, Mike Rotundo?

[rainmakerrtv]

Will's Windham comp was the first one I bought from him; I was just so excited that someone had painstakingly recreated the career of a wrestler I liked so much as a kid. So in a sense, Barry also deserves credit for inspiring me to send so much money to Will over the years that I've surely furnished a room of his house.

I just bought my first 3 comps from Will, including the Windham set. I'm currently working through the Dangerous Alliance stuff, but reading this thread has me very excited to get into the Windham stuff, who was one of my favorite all-time workers for sure.

 

Did anyone every do a better, smoother superplex?!?!?

 

One of the reasons I loved his short lived tag team with Ron Simmons, they had the two smoothest "finisher to pin" transiitions in wrestling.

 

When did they team? I assume it was 91-92 during the Sting's Buddies vs. Dangerous Alliance run, but I have no real recollection of that.

 

Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko vs. Barry Windham & Ron Simmons (Pro 11/9/91)

 

Barry Windham & Ron Simmons vs. Jake the Snake & Barbarian (Sat. Night 9/26/92)

 

Pretty sure they had a couple of fun squash matches as well. They weren't a long term or particularly regular tag team but I always loved them when they did team up.

[Mr. B.B. Rogers]

Will's Windham comp was the first one I bought from him; I was just so excited that someone had painstakingly recreated the career of a wrestler I liked so much as a kid. So in a sense, Barry also deserves credit for inspiring me to send so much money to Will over the years that I've surely furnished a room of his house.

I just bought my first 3 comps from Will, including the Windham set. I'm currently working through the Dangerous Alliance stuff, but reading this thread has me very excited to get into the Windham stuff, who was one of my favorite all-time workers for sure.

 

Did anyone every do a better, smoother superplex?!?!?

 

One of the reasons I loved his short lived tag team with Ron Simmons, they had the two smoothest "finisher to pin" transiitions in wrestling.

 

When did they team? I assume it was 91-92 during the Sting's Buddies vs. Dangerous Alliance run, but I have no real recollection of that.

 

Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko vs. Barry Windham & Ron Simmons (Pro 11/9/91)

 

Barry Windham & Ron Simmons vs. Jake the Snake & Barbarian (Sat. Night 9/26/92)

 

Pretty sure they had a couple of fun squash matches as well. They weren't a long term or particularly regular tag team but I always loved them when they did team up.

 

Ok, I initially read it like they were a regular team for a bit, but clearly they were not. In watching back over the DA stuff, it really does seem like Simmons was setting up to be a huge part of "Sting's buddies" until Koloff came into the picture. I wonder if there is a story behind it, or if the bookers just felt like the Koloff-Sting story made too much sense not to run with it, so they bumped Simmons.

 

Be interested to know that one...

[rainmakerrtv]

Ok, I initially read it like they were a regular team for a bit, but clearly they were not. In watching back over the DA stuff, it really does seem like Simmons was setting up to be a huge part of "Sting's buddies" until Koloff came into the picture. I wonder if there is a story behind it, or if the bookers just felt like the Koloff-Sting story made too much sense not to run with it, so they bumped Simmons.

 

Be interested to know that one...

That was always my assumption with that, they straight swapped out Koloff with Simmons because there was more storyline juice. I know Simmons was nursing a hand injury after his Halloween Havoc match with Luger (that was the reason given for him being out of Starrcade) but he was back in the mix and a part of several matches with the DA up until Clash 18. After that, he was in one more match with the DA but seemed to spend his time fighting with Cactus Jack and his pals, including that odd tag match at Wrestle War with him and JYD against Cactus Jack and Mr. Hughes that ended up being a singles match with Simmons and Hughes. Add in his out-of-nowhere US tag title reign with Big Josh and that was what Simmons was up to until they brought him back into the spotlight with the World Title win, by which point Watts was de-emphasizing the Dangerous Alliance.

[funkdoc]

it still amuses me that the old washed-up windham has a pinfall win over HHH

 

speaking of which, that run got real creepy when he stopped wearing the facepaint yet still went by "The Stalker". especially since he was a babyface, lol

[Goodear]

Windham is one of my favorites based on a lot of different things. I think his best attribute was his fluidity which you can see in his lariat and superplex. Austin on one of his podcasts mentioned you could see how athletic the guy was just by how he could get in the ring in one big stride.

 

In a lot of ways he was in the middle ground between a guy like Ric Flair who could main event around the country and a guy like Arn who was an all time great lead in act. He would have excelled in the US title area a lot more if Luger didn't have such a stranglehold on the strap and if the belt was on a face more often. You could easily picture Barry as the US Champion like Luger who would get frequent shots at Steamboat or Sting but never quite get the job done. Barry was also an underrated tag guy who gelled very well in short runs with Arn, Pillman and Hennig but never was in a team long enough for it to reach big time status like we saw with Arn and Tully or Pillman and Austin.

 

It was a shame how much the knee injuries took out of him as he never looked worse than the title shot against Flair as Col. Parker's mystery man. The guy just looked Chris Hero levels of out of shape and was just poured into his tights in a very unflattering way.

[Memphis Mark]

How was Barry's run in CWF ? I have not seen much of Florida. Windham feuded with Don Muraco and worked as The Yellow Dog against Ron Bass . I have not seen the matches , can anyone enligfhted me ? Thanks.