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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Dec 15, 2013 21:58:20 GMT -5
I've been watching a lot of 1980s NWA action lately and one guy who got a lot of attention for singles matches was Barry Windham. I remember he held tag team gold in the 1980s WWF with Mike Rotunda and had a forgettable return as a tag wrestler in the WWF in the mid to late 1990s. However, looking back on his old NWA word he seems like a guy who would be right up Vince's alley as a singles wrestler.
There was only two things I could see working against him as a performer to Vince:
1. He was tall and built, but just a little bit lanky in the 1980s. Oddly enough in late 1990s he would get quite paunchy.
2. His long blonde hair and size gave him a look a bit too similar to Hogan. Although there was plenty different between Windham and Hogan I'm thinking Vince wouldn't want any wrestlers with similar looks taking eyes off of his main attaction.
Anyway, what are your thoughts?
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Post by molson5 on Dec 15, 2013 22:14:08 GMT -5
The timing was never quite right. I think he would have pushed him in the mid-80s, but Windham split and had his prime elsewhere. (It seems like the WWF wasn't expecting him to leave - they kept the US Express team going and just replaced Windham with Dan Spivey). They tried to push him as the Widowmaker in the late 80s - even mentioning him as a potential rival for Hogan in some of his early squashes, but then this father and brother went and got busted counterfeiting money and that was the end of that. By the time of his third WWF run in the mid-90s, he was obviously way past his prime.
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Dec 15, 2013 22:21:29 GMT -5
The timing was never quite right. I think he would have pushed him in the mid-80s, but Windham split and had his prime elsewhere. (It seems like the WWF wasn't expecting him to leave - they kept the US Express team going and just replaced Windham with Dan Spivey). They tried to push him as the Widowmaker in the late 80s - even mentioning him as a potential rival for Hogan in some of his early squashes, but then this father and brother went and got busted counterfeiting money and that was the end of that. By the time of his third WWF run in the mid-90s, he was obviously way past his prime. I forgot all about his run as the Widowmaker. Didn't the WWF even have a card of him in their trading card packs? I think I had one of those...actually probably a few haha. Anyway, I looked it up on Wikipedia and it looks like Windham left in October and then asked for his release. Windham then returned about seven months later to WCW. I wonder how things would have changed for him if he went back to the WWF or just never left. As mentioned he had a look I could see Vince digging while at the same time not looking really roided up. After the mass exodus of talent (at which point Windham would have had a couple years or so behind him) I could see Windham doing at least decent.
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Post by mysterious on Dec 15, 2013 23:18:54 GMT -5
I think he never could get over with WWF fans because he was seen as an old school talent from the deep south. His look, style and personality was more suited for the old NWA. He was also seen as a heel and during his run as the Widowmaker they already had Rude, Hennig, Savage and Dibiase as top heels to challenge Hogan and Warrior. Wrong place, wrong time.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2013 23:23:23 GMT -5
weren't his knees pretty well shot by the time he was the Widowmaker?
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Post by Display Name on Dec 16, 2013 2:40:05 GMT -5
Widowmaker = By far his best look.
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Post by molson5 on Dec 16, 2013 2:58:33 GMT -5
Widowmaker = By far his best look. I thought so too. Sometimes that gimmick is mocked but it really stood out in that era for its simplicity. The big tough Texan guy is a tried and true wrestling staple that the WWF hadn't utilized in a long time at that point, I could easily have seen them built him up at least to feed him to Hogan in some house show main events, per the typical fate of heels of the day. Maybe that would have done well in the Southern cities where Windham was a big deal. It would have been interesting to see those guys work together.
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Post by The Masked Heel WAS WRONG on Dec 16, 2013 3:15:40 GMT -5
Yeah they obviously had plans to push Windham hard in 89, he was going to be on Savage's Survivor Series team that year.
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Capt Lunatic
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Post by Capt Lunatic on Dec 16, 2013 4:04:39 GMT -5
If he had stayed during his original run, I could see WWF giving him a Bret Hart deal. He was already tag champ, another couple years he would have been IC champ. Then a main event push.
But he was right in going to the NWA.
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TGM
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Post by TGM on Dec 16, 2013 14:22:04 GMT -5
There was so much going on in 1996/1998 there wasn't really a place for him. Bear in mind his best work was long behind him and I doubt Vince had any major plans.
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Madagascar Fred
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Post by Madagascar Fred on Dec 16, 2013 14:57:57 GMT -5
Widowmaker was his big chance to make a name for himself in the WWF. too bad about that incident! he fit in well in 89 when WWF started getting more talented guys
Imagine feuds/matches vs Savage, Hogan, Bret, Perfect, DiBiase, Steamboat or Rude in 89-91
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Post by thegame415 on Dec 16, 2013 16:26:09 GMT -5
I always wondered if there were any plans to push the "NWA" stable as a group of traditionalists against either Austin or DX in 1998.
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Post by Slingshot Suplay on Dec 20, 2013 10:15:28 GMT -5
Barry Windham was awesome. Very underrated wrestler who very quietly won every belt in the NWA.
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Post by toodarkmark on Dec 20, 2013 12:27:59 GMT -5
Windham wasn't as muscle bound as McMahon would have wanted. He looked a lot "bigger" when he did the Widowmaker gimmick, and tanned. But when he got back to the NWA, he was back to pale and not as "big". Maybe he wasn't into being.. you know..
Zah Alot of WWF workers at the time looked much "bigger" then they did before and after their run in the WWF orian.
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Post by jason1980s on Dec 21, 2013 8:51:26 GMT -5
I was just about to write that it was sad Barry was done after 1994 but then I remembered he came back to both WWF and WCW. IMO, he never stayed any one place for long. WCW was probably the longest from 1990 to 1993. But he never stayed long in WWF. I guess he was one of those guys that just preferred one particular company over the others. It didn't help being stuck with a crappy gimmick in 1996 WWF as the Stalker. It was all downhill and boring from there which is upsetting because he was a major talent.
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Post by cabbageboy on Dec 21, 2013 11:14:00 GMT -5
Windham to me just lacks that It Factor that makes someone more than just a solid guy. He was perfect for a US or tag run but he lacks charisma and mic skills and thus isn't really ideal for main events. Being that US title guy under Flair in the Horsemen was a good role for him, or maybe an occasional world title shot, but I wouldn't build around Windham.
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Post by horsemen4ever on Dec 23, 2013 11:25:03 GMT -5
So the Widowmaker was he like IRS in that never acknowledged his past as a fromer WWF tag team champion with the U.S. Express? Was he just the Widowmaker, or was he the Widowmaker Barry Windham like the early days of Mr. Perfect Curt Henning?
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andrew8798
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Post by andrew8798 on Dec 23, 2013 22:27:05 GMT -5
Was like how they did Mr. Perfect Curt Henning
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2013 9:31:40 GMT -5
Widowmaker = By far his best look. I thought so too. Sometimes that gimmick is mocked but it really stood out in that era for its simplicity. The big tough Texan guy is a tried and true wrestling staple that the WWF hadn't utilized in a long time at that point, I could easily have seen them built him up at least to feed him to Hogan in some house show main events, per the typical fate of heels of the day. Maybe that would have done well in the Southern cities where Windham was a big deal. It would have been interesting to see those guys work together. Galoob must have liked that look, because when he went back to WCW and they made a Barry Windham wrestling figure, they gave him that same appearance with the hair tied back. It's a part of my Four Horsemen collection.
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Post by molson5 on Dec 24, 2013 15:23:37 GMT -5
So the Widowmaker was he like IRS in that never acknowledged his past as a fromer WWF tag team champion with the U.S. Express? Was he just the Widowmaker, or was he the Widowmaker Barry Windham like the early days of Mr. Perfect Curt Henning? I've seen squashes of him announced as both "The Widowmaker", and "The Widowmaker Barry Windham". But, in the squash where he went by Windham, Vince still talks as if he's seeing him for the first time (even though he was in the company as Barry Windham 4 years earlier.). I guess at that time, the fanbase was so young, and so growing, that a lot of the fans weren't even around 4 years earlier. Even Mr. Perfect got the "this guy comes in the company with big credentials" billing. Windham didn't get that, instead the announcers just marveled at his size and performance in squash matches
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