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

No PPV just Straight Up Wrestling 10/31 by Ringtimeprowrestling | Blog Talk Radio

No PPV just Straight Up Wrestling 10/31 by Ringtimeprowrestling | Blog Talk Radio

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Keith and Keshia experience a some major tech difficulty in this episode.... We will post up a new show today to make up for this. Thanks for listening.

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Indy Report for 10/27

Chikara is a independent promotion based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their major events each year include the King of Trios tournament between February and March, Aniversario in May, Young Lions Cup tournament held between June and August, and the Torneo Cibernetico held between September and November.

Chikara currently runs a wrestling school by the name of the Chikara Wrestle Factory. It was founded in 2002 by Mike Quackenbush and Reckless Youth. The wrestle factory offers training to prospective professional wrestlers, managers, valet, and referees, and is based in The Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[1] Former guest instructors include Jorge "Skayde" Rivera, El Pantera, Terry Funk, CM Punk, Marty Jannetty, and many others.[1] It offers training in all styles like Pro Wrestling, Lucha Libre, Puroresu, Lancashire, Catch, and among others. It claims to be the only such training center in the United States.

http://www.chikarapro.com/


Latest Episodes of Ring Time Pro Wrestling Podcast

Scott Hall ESPN Piece

After watching the Scott Hall ESPN E:60 piece I gave it a week to digest. I thought it was actually well put together and was not too slanted in one way or the other. The segment did not do any favors for the wrestling business. We got to see the ultimate scum promoter who put Hall out there to crash and burn in front of the world. We heard how drugs and alcohol are the norm in the business. To be fair we did get to see that Scott still does have genuine friends like Kevin Nash and Sean Waltman that still care about him. The did also highlight that the WWE has paid a lot of money to try to help Hall out with his issues.

As a wrestling fan it hurt to see this and as a human it hurt a little more. At the end of the day I hope he gets it together for his children. I don't look at this as a tragic case in pro wrestling but just as a life tragedy. The good thing is that he has a chance to turn it around.

The Entire Scott Hall Segment

Wrestling Nigeria

Professional wrestling reaches people all over the world. What I recently discovered is that they love their pro wrestling in the wonderful country of Nigeria.

I was listening to Colt Cabana's Art of Wrestling podcast and it featured Cliff Compton (Domino)former WWE superstar from the Smackdown Brand. He had just finished a tour of Nigeria and he faced the legendary Great Power Uti. The story intrigued me enough to check out the Nigerian wrestling scene.

A big draw is for promotions to bring over wrestlers from the United States. The Universal Pro Wrestling Federation brings over names like Bobby Lashley, Val Venis and Shelton Benjamin to wrestle top stars in Nigeria. In Nigeria kayfabe is very much alive the people love to cheer for their hometown favorites.

Link to UPWF

The Great Power Uti

Wrestlers aspire to reach the heights of Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin or even a John Cena. Nigeria has all of that rolled up into one with the Great Power Uti. For more than 20 years Uti dominated Nigerian wrestling scene. He now devotes most of his time to his missionary work. Before Uti there was the Great Power Mike and he passed the torch down to Uti.

The Latest Episode of Ring Time Pro Wrestling

Preview for WWF Vengeance PPV 10/20 by Ringtimeprowrestling | Blog Talk Radio

Preview for WWF Vengeance PPV 10/20 by Ringtimeprowrestling | Blog Talk Radio

The Ring Time Pro Wrestling Crew does a special mid week episode to talk about the upcoming WWF Vengeance PPV and breakdown the last RAW. We will also talk some indy wrestling...

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Check Out 1/2 of the Ring Time Crew on the WrassleCast with the Cold Slither Podcast
http://coldslitherpodcast.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/csp-wrasslecast-october-17th-wwf-raw-from-mexico/

Weekly DVD Suggestion- Card Subject to Change

This weeks selection I actually discovered on Netflix. "Card Subject To Change" takes a look at the world of independent wrestling. This is one of the more balanced looks at the indy circuit. It follows several wrestlers and show how they get prepared for shows and what goes into putting on a promotion.

We get to see legendary veterans like Kamala and Kevin Sullivan teach young wrestlers the ropes. The movie profiles a young up and coming Rhett Titus (ROH). There are also interviews with legends like Terry Funk, Jim Cornette and former WWF and current TNA Talent Developer Tom Prichard.

Also we get to see the life of an independent promoter as we see Johnny Falco of National Wrestling Superstars out of New Jersey. We see how Johnny got started out and all he goes through to put on 40-60 events a year. Falco puts out flyers clips tickets and deals with the talent.

Card Subject to Change also follows the late Trent Acid and shows a match between him and Billy Kidman. They talk about his 11 year career on the indy circuit which started when he was 14 years old. You also get a glimpse into the drug problem that unfortunately took his life. Another late wrestler featured in the film is Hall of Famer Sherry Martel. The ups and downs of wrestling before the possible fame and riches.

Wrestling needs 2 Bobby Heenan's Right Now

The original title of this post was "The WWF needs 2 Bobby Heenan's". Then I realized that the entire business would benefit from the Brain being a part of the mix. Why 2 do you ask? In addition to being one of the greatest manager (if not the greatest) Heenan was followed it up with a top notch career as a broadcaster. His insights during the match and chemistry with the late Gorilla Monsoon will never be reduplicated.

Right now wrestling is in a transition phase and the business is looking for new stars. Bobby Heenan was a star maker. He can make any heel 10 times more hated and if a babyface feuded with any of his charges he became that much more loved.

Classic Heenan Promo's