Barry Hardy

On February 15, 1987, he made his WWF debut appearing on *WWF Superstars* with Barry Horowitz against WWF World Tag Team Champions Demolition (Ax and Smash) in Binghamton, New York. He would appear three more times teaming with Sonny Austin against The Bushwhackers (Bushwhacker Butch and Bushwhacker Luke) in Rochester and losing to The Ultimate Warrior in Niagara Falls, New York on June 27 and Jake "The Snake" Roberts in Wheeling, West Virginia on October 2, 1989. On October 3, he and Alan Reynolds lost to The Rockers in Toledo, Ohio.

Hardy and Duane Gill had matches on *WWF Prime Time Wrestling* against The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal), The Orient Express, The Rockers (Marty Jannetty and Shawn Michaels) and "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan and Sgt. Slaughter between 1990 and late 1991. On June 5, 1990, he and Gill faced WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition in Rochester, New York. They also faced Rhythm and Blues (The Honky Tonk Man and Greg Valentine) in Hershey, Pennsylvania on August 28. As well as teaming with Gill, Hardy occasionally teamed with different partners such as with Paul Perez against WWF World Tag Team Champions The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) and with Ross Lindsay against Power and Glory (Hercules and Paul Roma). Hardy also faced a young Shane Douglas in Syracuse, New York on December 23, 1990.

During mid-1992, he faced Bret Hart, Crush, Bob Backlund and Lance Cassidy. During his matches with Backlund and Cassidy, Doink the Clown played practical jokes on his opponents after the match, setting up Backlund to slip on a banana peel and putting a "kick me" sign on Cassidy's ring jacket. When Cassidy put the jacket back on after the match, Doink kicked him. Hardy later appeared in single matches against Tatanka and "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith on *WWF Superstars* and teamed with Kato of the Orient Express losing to The Bushwhackers on May 5, 1992.

He and Gill also participated in two of three 40-man battle royals held that year. The first, on June 2, included Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and IRS), The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags), The Beverly Brothers (Beau and Blake Beverly) and High Energy (Koko B. Ware and Owen Hart) as well as Sgt. Slaughter, Bret Hart, British Bulldog, Virgil, Tito Santana, Rick Martel, "The Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich, Skinner, Repo Man, Jim Powers, Jim Brunzell, Glenn Ruth, Phil Apollo, Barry Horowitz, Bobby Star, Dublin Destroyer, Rick Johnson, Al Hunter, Bob Knight, Rick Danger, Jerry Davis, Scott Antonio, Tony Ulysses, Bruce Mitchell, Joe Milano and several others. The battle royal was later featured on *WWF Rampage '92*.

The second battle royal took place two months later. He and Gill (as The Executioners) took part in a 40-man battle royal won by Tatanka and which included Tito Santana, Bret Hart, Sgt. Slaughter, Col. Mustafa, Shawn Michaels, Crush, Kerry Von Erich, Virgil, Skinner, Repo Man, Barry Horowitz, Jim Powers, Brooklyn Brawler, Reno Riggins, Dale Wolfe, Brian Costello, Chuck Casey, Dom Jones, Burt Spears, Thor Anderson, Tom Cumberland, Mark Kordis, Legion of Doom, Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and IRS), The Beverly Brothers (Beau and Blake Beverly), The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags), High Energy (Koko B. Ware and Owen Hart) and The Natural Disasters (Earthquake and Typhoon). The battle royal was the first and largest held in WWF history. He made his last WWF appearances on *WWF Prime Time* losing to Davey Boy Smith on September 28 and Bret Hart on October 5, 1992.

He and Gill would begin wrestling in the World Wrestling Federation as The Executioners in early 1993. On March 9, he and Gill also made an appearance as the Toxic Turtles. Their match was later taped for *WWF Wrestling Challenge*. In singles matches, Hardy faced Tito Santana in his last WWF television appearance and was pinned by Santana in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania on July 6, 1993. He wrestled against Tatanka, Jim Duggan, Virgil, Mr. Perfect, and Razor Ramon as well as teaming with Reno Riggins, the Brooklyn Brawler, Bert Centeno and Barry Horowitz.

Appearing on *Monday Night Raw* throughout the year, he and Gill would face The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott Steiner), The Quebecers (Jacques and Pierre) and Men on a Mission (Mo and Mabel). They had previously faced Men on a Mission in their WWF debut on *WWF Challenge* several months before splitting up with Gill in 1995. Prior to their breakup, they also faced The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) in a non-sanctioned match. Hardy himself soon left the WWF after losing to The Steiner Brothers in a tag team match with Mike Khoury on April 18, 1994.

Hardy returned to the WWF for a short time facing The Bushwhackers, The Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu) and The Smoking Gunns (Bart and Billy Gunn) with various tag team partners before leaving in 1995. During this time, he also wrestled single matches against Davey Boy Smith and Jim Neidhart.

Early the next year, Hardy appeared in World Championship Wrestling with he and Marcus Watson taking on then WCW United States Champion Big Van Vader in a handicap match in Orlando, Florida on February 5, 1995. Later that month, he and Scott Armstrong faced Colonel Robert Parker's Stud Stable (Bunkhouse Buck and "Dirty" Dick Slater) on February 25. Two months later, Hardy faced Meng in Atlanta, Georgia and was knocked out in 39 seconds after a superkick. On May 13, Hardy teamed with Chris Speaker and lost to Stars and Stripes (Marcus Alexander Bagwell and The Patriot) on *WCW Saturday Night*.

Hardy wrestled for Extreme Championship Wrestling, facing Mikey Whipwreck in Buffalo, New York on July 27, 1997. He also teamed with Super Nova against The Dudley Boyz (Bubba and D-Von Dudley) on August 2 and later faced Super Nova in a single match later that month.