Barry Horowitz

Barry Hart

Horowitz made an initial television appearance in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in October 1981, as an enhancement talent named **Barry Hart**, losing to King Kong Mosca.

Horowitz officially joined the World Wrestling Federation in 1987 as **Barry Horowitz**. Wearing suspenders and a vest with an outline of a handprint on the back, which he patted as a self-congratulatory measure, he spent three years in the WWF as an enhancement talent (primarily against up and coming babyfaces). Horowitz occasionally teamed with another preliminary wrestler, Steve Lombardi. Although Horowitz's win years later over Bodydonna Skip was viewed as his first victory, he did have multiple pinfall victories during his first WWF run. The first was in Kitchener, Ontario, on July 22, 1987, over Brady Boone. That year he would gain three more victories, pinning Lanny Poffo, David Sammartino, and Jerry Allen. Horowitz also gained multiple wins in tag team action as he partnered with Lombardi. They defeated the team of Lanny Poffo and Scott Casey on January 26, 1988, in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The match would later air on an episode of *Prime Time Wrestling* on February 19, 1988.

In 1988, he registered fifteen singles victories, defeating Allen, DJ Peterson, Jose Luis Rivera, Mike Sharpe, and Poffo. Horowitz finished his initial WWF run registering fourteen victories in 1989, including an improbable pin over a young Ken Shamrock in Greensboro, North Carolina, on July 29. Barry's final match was a loss to Mark Young in Waco, Texas on April 22, 1990, after which he departed for World Championship Wrestling.

Horowitz made his debut in WCW a little over a month later at a television taping on May 23, 1990 in a match with Brian Pillman. He would wrestle in over fifty matches that year, registering one victory (a pinfall of Tommy Angel at a television taping in October). His only pay-per-view appearance was in a dark match at Halloween Havoc, where he was defeated by Tim Horner. His last appearance came on December 7 at a house show in St. Joseph, Missouri, where he wrestled twice, losing to The Juicer and Sam Houston in subsequent matches.

Horowitz also returned to the WWF in late 1991, where he was once again used to help put talent over. His first match back came on October 21 at a *WWF Superstars* taping in Fort Wayne, Indiana, when he teamed with Brian Costello to face The Bushwhackers. For the remainder of 1991, Horowitz only appeared on televised events and came out on the losing end in matches against Legion of Doom, Greg Valentine, and then-Intercontinental Champion Bret Hart. This continued through the first half of 1992, and Horowitz would face and lose to Kerry Von Erich, Owen Hart, Tito Santana, and others at *WWF Superstars* and *WWF Challenge* tapings.

On June 5, 1992 in Chicago, Illinois, Horowitz rejoined the house show circuit, substituting for the departed Colonel Mustafa in a series against Kerry Von Erich. He also faced Tito Santana, coming out winless on each occasion. In September he began teaming with Skinner in a house show program against High Energy (Koko B. Ware and Owen Hart). Horowitz would remain winless in his WWF return until September 21, 1992, when he finally secured his first pinfall victory by defeating Brad Holman in a dark match at a *WWF Superstars* taping in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It would be his only victory of the year.

In Phoenix, Arizona, he teamed with Reno Riggins against The Smoking Gunns on April 5, 1993 in the latter's debut. Horowitz would later lose to Riggins in a *Wrestling Challenge* dark match on June 14 in Columbus, Ohio. On July 5, 1993 he gained his second victory, defeating Phil Apollo at a *Monday Night Raw* taping, then followed it up two days later by pinning Chuck Williams in a dark match taping at *Wrestling Challenge*. After several more losses, Horowitz appeared at SummerSlam when he lost to Owen Hart in a dark match. A month later, Horowitz gained another pair of victories in television dark matches, defeating Mike Davis and Scott Taylor. In November, Horowitz made his pay-per-view debut under a mask at the 1993 Survivor Series as the **Red Knight**, teaming with Shawn Michaels (who was substituting for Jerry Lawler) and the Black and Blue Knights to lose to Bret, Owen, Keith, and Bruce Hart. Following the pay-per-view, Horowitz began teaming with his old partner, Steve Lombardi, as The Red and Black Knights on the house show circuit, losing to Men on a Mission multiple times in December.

Despite his status as a jobber, Horowitz would occasionally wrestle in matches of greater prominence. He was instrumental in starting the feud between reigning WWF Tag Team Champions The Quebecers, and the 1-2-3 Kid. The Quebecers were set to defend their titles against Horowitz and Riggins, but Horowitz brought in the Kid as a last-minute replacement partner. Though the Quebecers prevailed in the match, the Kid would continue to challenge for the tag team titles, albeit with changing partners and without Horowitz. Horowitz would return to teaming with Riggins during 1994, facing The Smoking Gunns and Men on a Mission on multiple occasions. Despite numerous defeats, Horowitz did gain two victories in 1994 by defeating Ben Jordan and Mark Thomas. He also faced Thurman "Sparky" Plugg in the latter's first WWF match.

Horowitz entered 1995 still mired in the preliminary ranks. However, Bodydonna Skip was the catalyst for a career turnaround that summer. Horowitz's schedule began to pick up and he wrestled Henry Godwinn, Mantaur, Shawn Michaels, and others. On the March 13, 1995 episode of *Monday Night Raw*, Horowitz received a shot at Jeff Jarrett's Intercontinental Championship. It was a competitive match, but Horowitz lost via submission to Jarrett's figure-four leg lock. On May 25, 1995 in Manitoba he began a house show series against Skip of the Bodydonnas, losing to him all seven times.

Finally, on the July 9, 1995 airing of *Wrestling Challenge*, Horowitz received the first push of his WWF career, beginning with pinning Bodydonna Skip to gain his first win over a WWF star on television, leading to commentator Jim Ross shouting "Horowitz beat him!" into his microphone in disbelief. Horowitz faced Skip on the August 5 episode of *WWF Superstars* after the Bodydonna said that Horowitz could not last ten minutes in a match. Horowitz avoided a pinfall for the ten minutes, leading to a third televised match between them at SummerSlam 1995. Horowitz won this encounter, gaining his first ever pay-per-view victory. These wins led to Horowitz becoming a popular underdog with WWF fans. During this time, the WWF played up Horowitz's Jewish heritage, introducing a Star of David on his wrestling trunks and making his entrance theme an upbeat version of the Jewish folk song "Hava Nagila". The character was also developed with the portrayal of Horowitz as a stereotypical nerd when not wrestling, showing Horowitz with large glasses, dress shirts buttoned up all the way, and a pocket protector. Horowitz formed a tag team with the newly turned face Hakushi–whom he attempted to Americanize (as shown in a series of vignettes with Horowitz describing American culture and institutions to Hakushi) after beating him in another upset. At the 1995 Survivor Series, they teamed with Bob Holly and Marty Jannetty in a loss to Skip, Rad Radford, Tom Prichard, and The 1-2-3 Kid. A month later at In Your House 5, Horowitz teamed with Hakushi and The Smoking Gunns to defeat The Bodydonnas, Yokozuna, and Isaac Yankem in a dark match. He closed out the year teaming frequently with Fatu and Hakushi and coming out victorious over Skip, Kama, and Yankem on the house show circuit.

Horowitz appeared in the 1996 Royal Rumble match, as the 25th entrant, where he was eliminated by Owen Hart. However, despite his elevation in the roster, Horowitz quickly returned to a long losing streak, being defeated by Stone Cold Steve Austin, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Duke Droese, and Savio Vega in January and February. He rebounded to defeat Isaac Yankem in Hartford, Connecticut on March 15, but then entered another losing streak that would not end until May 28, when he upset Owen Hart after the referee reversed the decision. Horowitz then went on another long streak, falling to Faarooq, Goldust, and Salvatore Sincere. His final televised match came on April 7, 1997 when he teamed with Freddie Joe Floyd against The Headbangers on *Monday Night Raw*. His last WWF match was in Kuwait City, Kuwait on April 12, 1997 against Floyd.

Horowitz's contract was not renewed by the WWF in 1997, and he rejoined World Championship Wrestling in October 1997, wrestling Disco Inferno on *WCW Saturday Night*. He signed a two-year contract and wrestled primarily on *Saturday Night*, but also had numerous house show appearances. He sustained losses to Disco Inferno, Wrath, Chris Adams, Alex Wright, Vincent, and others during 1998. He was also part of Bill Goldberg's undefeated streak, losing to him on January 10, 1998 on *WCW Saturday Night* and later on May 27, 1998 on *WCW Thunder* - where he had his first and only shot at the WCW United States Championship. On January 17, 1998 on *WCW WorldWide*, he beat Hardbody Harrison. On October 20, Horowitz gained his second victory in his WCW return, albeit via disqualification in a match against Barry Darsow at a television taping in Mankato, Minnesota. On November 22, 1998 he made his first pay-per-view appearance, wrestling in the three ring, sixty man battle royal at World War 3. Horowitz did gain meaningful victories on house shows.

In early 2000, he began his first feud in WCW after losing to Allan Funk on the March 11 edition of *Saturday Night*. Funk defeated Horowitz using a handful of tights. A week later on *Saturday Night* during a match between Fidel Sierra and Funk, Horowitz came out to the ring and distracted Funk, allowing Sierra to win. Horowitz's final WCW appearance came at the last ever taping of *Saturday Night* on March 29, 2000 in Beaumont, Texas. He faced Jim Duggan and was defeated after Allan Funk came out and interfered. He left WCW soon after.