Why don't people talk much about Art Barr?

[autisticgeordie]

I mean, I get that he's been deceased for quite a while, but people, quite rightly, go on about how damn good Eddie was, as they should, but it seems like nobody really talks about his Los Gringos Locos partner Art Barr, AKA The Love Machine.

I first heard about Art from Jericho's first book where he mentioned that Art seemed like an outright asshole (considering his 'Love Machine' nickname apparently was a "joke" on his sexual assault charge (which is every single shade of f***ed up.) I can believe that he was an asshole to most people.)

But then I heard the name pop-up again when Brian Zane did his "Top 8 Favourite Wrestlers." where he also listed Buddy Rose (and that's also how I became a fan of Buddy Rose's work, too.) and people like that. But that compelled me to go and see some of Art's work on YouTube and I was blown away. 

The dude not only was as smooth as butter in the ring, but he was fantastic at being this shithead heel, his wild facial expressions and manic eyes made him almost seem like a Brian Pillman style loose cannon and his hair vs. mask match teaming with Eddie against El Hijo De Santo and Octagon was one of my favourite matches of Eddie's catalogue as well. 

It's just weird how Art was so instrumental in helping Eddie, one of the greatest of all time, (hell, I believe Art was even using the Frog Splash before Eddie was.) that it's weird that nobody gives him any real recognition. It just seems like Art is really underappreciated.

[Deleted]

Talk about Art Barr!

[realist]

Honestly, I think that he would be talked about more if he wasn't a convicted sex offender. I'm not trying to be a dick; I honestly think that is the reason why his career isn't brought up more. It's easier to praise others without that stigma surrounding them.

[cassonova]

On the surface, some of the lack of recognition is due to him not working for a major American company outside of a brief stint in WCW as the Juicer.
I also believe that some of his...ahem...hobbies and proclivities made some American promoters hesitant to use him outside of the Pacific Northwest. Add to that, that those issues were public, and folks aren't readily willing to heap praise no matter how good he may have been.

[autisticgeordie]

Dec 3, 2019 10:24:52 GMT -5 realist said:

Honestly, I think that he would be talked about more if he wasn't a convicted sex offender. I'm not trying to be a dick; I honestly think that is the reason why his career isn't brought up more. It's easier to praise others without that stigma surrounding them.

You're not being a dick...like, if anything I was more of a dick because I was basically saying 'let's talk about this convicted sex offender who I marked out for just because he's a good wrestler.' if anything, that makes me look like the dick.

I just want to say that I obviously don't overlook Art's sexual assault issues just because I enjoy watching him wrestle, it's like Dynamite Kid, I don't care how good of a snap suplex he had, that guy was pure evil. No joke, I genuinely feel guilty know because I've just marked out over a dude with a serious and horrific conviction against him.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Dec 3, 2019 9:44:50 GMT -5 autisticgeordie said:

I mean, I get that he's been deceased for quite a while, but people, quite rightly, go on about how damn good Eddie was, as they should, but it seems like nobody really talks about his Los Gringos Locos partner Art Barr, AKA The Love Machine.

I first heard about Art from Jericho's first book where he mentioned that Art seemed like an outright asshole (considering his 'Love Machine' nickname apparently was a "joke" on his sexual assault charge (which is every single shade of f***ed up.) I can believe that he was an asshole to most people.)

But then I heard the name pop-up again when Brian Zane did his "Top 8 Favourite Wrestlers." where he also listed Buddy Rose (and that's also how I became a fan of Buddy Rose's work, too.) and people like that. But that compelled me to go and see some of Art's work on YouTube and I was blown away. 

The dude not only was as smooth as butter in the ring, but he was fantastic at being this shithead heel, his wild facial expressions and manic eyes made him almost seem like a Brian Pillman style loose cannon and his hair vs. mask match teaming with Eddie against El Hijo De Santo and Octagon was one of my favourite matches of Eddie's catalogue as well. 

It's just weird how Art was so instrumental in helping Eddie, one of the greatest of all time, (hell, I believe Art was even using the Frog Splash before Eddie was.) that it's weird that nobody gives him any real recognition. It just seems like Art is really underappreciated.

Eddie’s Frog Splash was a tribute to Art.

[autisticgeordie]

Dec 3, 2019 10:30:48 GMT -5 Cranjis McBasketball said:

Dec 3, 2019 9:44:50 GMT -5 autisticgeordie said:

I mean, I get that he's been deceased for quite a while, but people, quite rightly, go on about how damn good Eddie was, as they should, but it seems like nobody really talks about his Los Gringos Locos partner Art Barr, AKA The Love Machine.

I first heard about Art from Jericho's first book where he mentioned that Art seemed like an outright asshole (considering his 'Love Machine' nickname apparently was a "joke" on his sexual assault charge (which is every single shade of f***ed up.) I can believe that he was an asshole to most people.)

But then I heard the name pop-up again when Brian Zane did his "Top 8 Favourite Wrestlers." where he also listed Buddy Rose (and that's also how I became a fan of Buddy Rose's work, too.) and people like that. But that compelled me to go and see some of Art's work on YouTube and I was blown away. 

The dude not only was as smooth as butter in the ring, but he was fantastic at being this shithead heel, his wild facial expressions and manic eyes made him almost seem like a Brian Pillman style loose cannon and his hair vs. mask match teaming with Eddie against El Hijo De Santo and Octagon was one of my favourite matches of Eddie's catalogue as well. 

It's just weird how Art was so instrumental in helping Eddie, one of the greatest of all time, (hell, I believe Art was even using the Frog Splash before Eddie was.) that it's weird that nobody gives him any real recognition. It just seems like Art is really underappreciated.

Eddie’s Frog Splash was a tribute to Art.

What finisher was Eddie using before that?

[Aceorton]

Dec 3, 2019 10:32:09 GMT -5 autisticgeordie said:

What finisher was Eddie using before that?

"I believe it was the Flying Chimichanga."

"I'm gonna have you taken out of here, Brain."

[petef3]

Just to clarify, since people here seem to be dancing around it and misinformation has spread elsewhere before, Art's case was not a case of "I thought she said she was 18" or anything like that. He straight-up raped a woman in a stairwell after a show in Oregon.

[autisticgeordie]

Dec 3, 2019 10:24:52 GMT -5 realist said:

Honestly, I think that he would be talked about more if he wasn't a convicted sex offender. I'm not trying to be a dick; I honestly think that is the reason why his career isn't brought up more. It's easier to praise others without that stigma surrounding them.

I've just realised. If Art was a convicted sex offender, how the f*** did the Americans let him over the border to wrestle in Mexico? Surely, with that charge, you'd just be told that you're not going south of the border?

[SmashTV]

Dec 3, 2019 10:30:08 GMT -5 autisticgeordie said:

I just want to say that I obviously don't overlook Art's sexual assault issues just because I enjoy watching him wrestle, it's like Dynamite Kid, I don't care how good of a snap suplex he had, that guy was pure evil. No joke, I genuinely feel guilty know because I've just marked out over a dude with a serious and horrific conviction against him.

I hear you; when Dynamite passed away recently, while it was sad to lose a gifted performer from my youth, I couldn’t feel too much sorrow due to the person he was.

[The Thread Barbi]

I knew nothing of him till Eddie's death. Only became aware due to the Eddie tribute videos WWE put out.

I wonder if it's the same for most folk? A non-mainstream wrestler, best known for a distant past association with another well known wrestler?

[Mozenrath]

Eddie's tribute frog splash is odd in that Art I think used the split version that D'lo, Lio Rush, etc, use, rather than how Eddie and RVD do it. I wonder if Eddie just felt more comfortable doing it that way.

[Deleted]

The sexual misconduct makes him hard to praise.He never made it big in a national promotion.His biggest run was a brief period of time in Mexico when there was no internet or youtube so most people didn’t see it.Him dying like 2 weeks after his breakthrough match in 94.A lot of people weren’t alive or were incredibly young when he died 25 years ago.

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

Dec 3, 2019 10:30:48 GMT -5 Cranjis McBasketball said:

Dec 3, 2019 9:44:50 GMT -5 autisticgeordie said:

I mean, I get that he's been deceased for quite a while, but people, quite rightly, go on about how damn good Eddie was, as they should, but it seems like nobody really talks about his Los Gringos Locos partner Art Barr, AKA The Love Machine.

I first heard about Art from Jericho's first book where he mentioned that Art seemed like an outright asshole (considering his 'Love Machine' nickname apparently was a "joke" on his sexual assault charge (which is every single shade of f***ed up.) I can believe that he was an asshole to most people.)

But then I heard the name pop-up again when Brian Zane did his "Top 8 Favourite Wrestlers." where he also listed Buddy Rose (and that's also how I became a fan of Buddy Rose's work, too.) and people like that. But that compelled me to go and see some of Art's work on YouTube and I was blown away. 

The dude not only was as smooth as butter in the ring, but he was fantastic at being this shithead heel, his wild facial expressions and manic eyes made him almost seem like a Brian Pillman style loose cannon and his hair vs. mask match teaming with Eddie against El Hijo De Santo and Octagon was one of my favourite matches of Eddie's catalogue as well. 

It's just weird how Art was so instrumental in helping Eddie, one of the greatest of all time, (hell, I believe Art was even using the Frog Splash before Eddie was.) that it's weird that nobody gives him any real recognition. It just seems like Art is really underappreciated.

Eddie’s Frog Splash was a tribute to Art.

And that's the extent that most people know about Art Barr, if they know anything at all.

[XIII]

Gringos Locos were a great team that was white hot, but from what I’ve seen Eddie was a significantly better wrestler and I honestly think that him being the son of Lucha legend and former partner of Santo, Gory Guerrero is what really helped to heat up their run. Art Barr was good, but I never really saw him as an amazing wrestler. Maybe I’m wrong and just haven’t seen enough but that’s my analysis.

[Slingshot Suplay]

I don't think he was exposed enough on tv in the u.s. to be talked about. He spent a small amount of time in wcw and for the most part was in Portland, where the only time you heard anything about him was through the apter mags. His stint in Mexico was his best, but how many people in the u.s. saw it? I know growing up in new York, I didn't see anything of his beyond the Juicer.

[ogreknee]

He raped a 17 year old and was a drug addict.

Good rudo heel though.

[agent817]

I mostly know of Art Barr because Mike Tenay mentioned him in commentary at Bash at the Beach 1998. He made a reference that When Worlds Collide PPV that happened in 1994.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Dec 3, 2019 16:20:14 GMT -5 YAKMAN is ICHIBAN said:

Dec 3, 2019 10:30:48 GMT -5 Cranjis McBasketball said:

Eddie’s Frog Splash was a tribute to Art.

And that's the extent that most people know about Art Barr, if they know anything at all.

That covers about what I know. Also he was friends with Jericho.