Old School Profile - Barry Windham

The word legend is thrown around a lot when it comes to old school wrestlers. That term is very fitting for this subject of "The Old School" profile one Barry Windham. Definitely a future Hall of Famer, Windham has had a great career that has spanned more than 20 years and him holding titles on every organization he has ever been involved with.

Windham was a 2nd generation wrestler before it was fashionable to be one. He is the son of the legendary Black Jack Mulligan. His brother Kendall also became a professional wrestler and his brother in law is Mike Rotunda. Barry has held tag team titles with both men.

Barry started his career in 1979 and was trained by his father and the legendary Harley Race. He made his debut at 19 years old against his future manager J.J Dillion in Odessa, TX. The early part of his career was spent in the Championship Wrestling from Florida. He had some success with his brother in law Mike Rotunda as the tag team winning the NWA Florida United State titles a few times.
In 1984 both Rotunda and Barry made the jump to the World Wrestling Federation(WWF). There they became known as the US Express during the beginning of when the Federation was really begin to take off. They became tag team champions in the WWF 2 times while they were there. Even defending the belts at the 1st Wrestlemania against The Iron Sheik and Nikolia Volkoff.

After leaving the WWF, Barry went back to Florida as a singles wrestler for short stint. Where he feuded with Ron Bass for the NWA Florida Heavyweight title. He also wrestled in the main event of Battle of the Belts II for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Ric Flair during that stint.

His career really took off when he made the jump to Jim Crockett Promotions. There Windham started off as a prominent babyface and feuding with The Nature Boy for the World Title. With a lot of the matches ending in 60 minute time limit draws. After some tag team runs with Ron Garvin and Lex Luger, Barry made the move that would define his career. He became a member of the exclusive 4 Horsemen. The most legendary faction in the history of pro wrestling. The incarnation of Windham, Flair, Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson is considered by many wrestling fans as the best combination of Horsemen ever.

After a brief stint in the WWF as the Widowmaker and a short time in Japan, Barry returned to Jim Crockett which now called WCW. He rejoined the Four Horsemen which at that point consisted of Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Sid Vicious, and Ole Anderson, who was only semi-active at the time and permanently became their manager once Windham joined. During this time Windham mostly teamed with either Arn Anderson and Sid Vicious in tag matches against Horsemen adversaries.

In 1992 Windham then had another face turn as the Horsemen disbanded for a short time again. Windham reached the height of his singles career in January 1993 and pursued the NWA World Championship held by The Great Muta. He defeated Muta for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at SuperBrawl III for the only World Title of his career. He would eventually drop the belt to Ric Flair at Beach Blast in 1993.

Barry Windham vs Ric Flair

From 1996 to 2001 Barry would go back and forth between WWF and WCW. He was apart of different stables and wrestled mostly as a tag team wrestler. Forming the New BlackJacks with Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw(JBL). An ode to the legendary tag team that his father was once apart of. After 2001 Barry enjoyed a semi retirement as an in ring performer.

Windham worked as a producer for WWE. In 2007, he appeared on the Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen DVD. Barry was also apart of the Ric Flair Hall of Fame induction and was apart of the following good bye ceremony the next night on Raw.

Recently this legend had health scare after heart attack and some liver issues. He is still in the hospital. All reports say that Big Barry is getting better.

Titles Held By Windham
NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ron Garvin
NWA Western States Heritage Championship (1 time)
NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
NWA (Mid-Atlantic)/WCW World Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Lex Luger (1) Dustin Rhodes (1), Curt Hennig (1), and Kendall Windham (1)
WCW World Television Championship (1 time)
WWF World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Mike Rotunda