Barry Darsow
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Barry Darsow (born October 6, 1959 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an American former professional wrestler who worked for the NWA, WWE and WCW.
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Overview
He is best known for his portrayal of Smash in the popular 1980s WWF tag team, "Demolition". Under this character, he won the WWF World Tag Team title three times from 1988-1990. After the breakup of Demolition, he was retooled as Repo Man a wrestling repossession expert, portrayed as a shifty, suspicious figure complete with a black bandit mask.
He also wrestled in WCW in the late 1990s as the Blacktop Bully and "Hole in One" Barry Darsow, a professional golfer gimmick which gained a cult following among Internet wrestling fans.
Career
On the Indy Circuit
Barry Darsow started wrestling in 1984 for Mid-South Wrestling as Krusher Darsow, a turncoat American who was now a Soviet sympathizer. He won the Mid-South Television Title from Terry Taylor on May 2, 1984 but lost it back to Taylor on June 16, 1984. Darsow moved on to Florida Championship Wrestling where he teamed with Jim Neidhart as Krusher Khruschev. They won the Florida United States Tag Team Titles on October 11, 1984 from Hector Guerrero and Cocoa Samoa. They held them until December 1984, when they lost them to Mark and Jay Youngblood.
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Jim Crockett Promotions
Krusher moved on to the National Wrestling Alliance to work for Jim Crockett Jr. in December 1984. He was awarded a third of the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship with Ivan Koloff and Nikita Koloff. The Koloff's had already won the NWA World Tag Team Championship and Ivan declared that any two of them could defend the titles.
They feuded with the Rock 'N Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) and the Road Warriors. On July 9, 1985, he and Ivan lost the NWA Tag Titles to the Rock 'N Roll Express. At StarrCade, on November 28, 1985, Krusher won the vacant NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship by defeating Sam Houston. On January 11, 1986, Krusher was wrestling Houston on TBS and severely injured his knee. He lost the title to Houston and had to take almost six months off to recover.
When Krusher returned, Nikita was in a hot feud with Magnum T.A. for the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship. Krusher helped Nikita win the title in the final match of a best of 7 series by holding the referee while Nikita used his "Russian" chain on Magnum.
Krusher and Ivan targeted the vacant NWA United States Tag Team Championship that were going to be in a tournament. They reached the finals and defeated Dutch Mantel and Bobby Jaggers with Nikita's help to win the titles. In October, Magnum T.A. had a horrible car wreck that ended his career and Nikita turned on Ivan and Krusher to team with Dusty Rhodes.
Krusher and Ivan feuded with Nikita briefly but primarily defended their titles in rematches against Mantel and Jaggers. On December 9, 1986, they lost the US Tag Titles to Ron Garvin and Barry Windham.
Darsow's contract ran out and he left Jim Crockett Promotions.
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World Wrestling Federation
Darsow next went to World Wrestling Entertainment, then known as the WWF. He became Smash with Bill Eadie as Ax. Together they were the team known as Demolition. At first, they were managed by Johnny Valiant, but he was soon replace by Mr. Fuji. Their initial feuds involved Ken Patera and Billy Jack Haynes and "Strike Force", comprised of Tito Santana and Rick Martel. On March 27, 1988 at Wrestlemania IV, they defeated Strike Force to win their first WWF World Tag Team Titles. They soon lost Mr. Fuji as he left to manage their newest rivals, the Powers of Pain, The Barbarian and The Warlord.
They lost the WWF Tag Titles to Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, known as The Brain Busters, on July 18, 1989.They won them back from them on October 2, 1989. They lost them to The Colossal Connection, Haku and André the Giant, on December 13, 1989. They won them back from them on April 1, 1990. Demolition was joined by Crush, who was really Brian Adams, making them a 3-man tag team. Ax became less active in the team. They feuded with the Road Warriors and then lost the titles to The Hart Foundation, Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart. In 1991, Crush left the WWF and Darsow saw his gimmick changed again.
He became The Repo Man, a sneaky heel character. He had feuds with Tito Santana, Virgil, the returning Crush and Tatanka. He was managed most of that time by Ted DiBiase.
Post WWF
In 1993, Darsow left for the IAW promotion whre he teamed with Paul Roma to win the IAW Tag Team Title on February 4, 1993. They held them until July 24, 1993, when they lost them to Iron Sheik and Brian Costello.
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World Championship Wrestling
Darsow went to WCW in 1994 and was always seen in the front row with a blowhorn making noise and berating the faces (good guys) while they wrestled. He was soon "arrested" for pushing Dustin Rhodes. Col. Rob Parker bailed him out and he became The Blacktop Bully, with Parker as his manager. He feuded with Runnels but was fired after the Uncensored PPV when he and Runnels bladed (cut themselves to appear busted open) after they were told by management not to.
From there, he went to Pro Wrestling America in Minnesota to feud with Wahoo McDaniel and Tom Zenk. He next appeared in the AWF, Tito Santana's promotion. He had Jimmy Valiant's wife Big Mama, as his valet. The AWF folded at the beginning of 1997 and Darsow disappeared until October 1997, when he returned to WCW as "Mr. Hole-In-One" Barry Darsow. He feuded with "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan and Chris Adams during this time. His golfing gimmick was able to keep him in WCW until the end of 1999, when he left for the WXO promotion run by Ted DiBiase. He feuded with Mike Enos until it folded shortly after.
Darsow made one last appearance at Wrestlemania 17 in 2001 for the gimmick battle royal as the Repo Man.
Championships/Accomplishments
World Wrestling Federation
- 3-Time WWF World Tag Team Champion (with Ax twice and Crush once)
National Wrestling Alliance
- 2-Time NWA World Tag Team Champion (with Ivan Koloff)
- 1-Time NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Champion (with Ivan & Nikita Koloff)
- 1-Time NWA United States Tag Team Champion (with Ivan Koloff)
- 1-Time NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion
Other Titles
- 1-Time Mid-South Television Champion
- 1-Time Florida United States Tag Team Champions (with Jim Neidhart)
- 1-Time IAW Tag Team Champion (with Paul Roma)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) ranked him # 297 of the best 500 singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003. He was also ranked # 59 of the best tag teams of the "PWI Years" with Ax as Demolition.
Miscellaneous
Darsow attended high school in Minneapolis with five other future wrestlers: Curt Hennig, Richard Rood (Rick Rude), Tom Zenk, John Nord, and Nelson Simpson (Nikita Koloff).
Darsow played football with Simpson in high school.