“I wonder if there’s any Barry Windham matches from the 1980s that belong on my recommended matches list.” That’s the thought that came up in my mind that spawned this column. I’ll explain. Back in the mid-1990s when I was a teenager who had just really started getting more obsessed with pro wrestling, I was soaking everything I learned about pro wrestling up like a sponge. Of course, these were humble beginnings, as I had only been exposed to WWF’s sports-entertainment, and later some WCW ‘rasslin.’ I was watching every WWF Coliseum Home Video cassette I could get my hands on. And during the early days of the Internet, I started reading about a lot of 1980s and early 1990s wrestling from all over the world. I would hear about the famous Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair feud, but I felt it was overrated once I ordered and watched the VHS cassette that featured the feud (which was one of my first video tape orders ever, first of many). Of course, I used to think I was supposed to think it was a great feud, so I told myself that it was, lol. But, around that time, I also found out about Barry Windham being a member of the Four Horsemen in the late ‘80s, and how he was a babyface feuding with the Horsemen prior to that. Windham was also on some of that early video footage I ordered, and Windham caught my attention because of his charisma and likability and enthusiasm. Of course, during those early years, I just mainly watched for fun, and because I was drawn to the overall idea of what pro wrestling was all about. I think teenage me was way more able to get into these ‘80s wrestling matches than the current me, mainly because of the limited amount of wrestling I’d seen by that point (so I was more easily impressed by rather generic wrestling), and also because wrestling has simply evolved so much in the past 30 years (and in modern-day society, we have so much more access to online videos than ever before, making it very easy nowadays to view a wide variety of wrestling product… so the current me watching an excellent modern match that is just a click away feels less special than teenage me waiting for my VHS cassette to arrive with 5th generation copies of potentially good wrestling).  To further illustrate how highly I thought of Windham, when I was a teenager obsessed with my TNM simulator league, in the early days of my fantasy booking, Windham was my first-ever Intercontinental champion.

Let’s fast forward to the present era. I am still a wrestling fan, but not in the same way as when I was a kid. Now, I care about watching a great variety of wrestling from all over the world and from different eras. Since I’m obsessed with lists, this usually involves me making lists of the best matches and best wrestlers, etc. I try to be as good of a middle-aged wrestling historian and expert as I can. I have watched lots and lots of Japanese pro wrestling, Mexican pro wrestling, Canadian pro wrestling, American pro wrestling and even British pro wrestling over the past three decades. And I have changed opinions on a lot of things in the meantime. But, whenever I think back about wrestlers, like, let’s say Tatanka or Bam Bam Bigelow or Crush or Earthquake or Rick Martel or the Quebecers, I realize that they were just top wrestling names in the mind of the kid version of me. I might smile and have fond memories of watching them on Coliseum Home Video, but I don’t actually think any of them should be considered among the greatest wrestlers of all time or anything. However, in recent years, whenever I had been thinking back about Barry Windham matches from the 1980s, I know that I had always thought highly of his work when I was a teenager. However, what I didn’t know up until writing this article is how well, or not so well, that would hold up viewed through the lens of my current wrestling mind. Especially since there was a big possibility that I simply carried the memories I had stored in my mind as a 15-year old fan with me for all those years without ever updating them.

And that’s what this column is about. I recently picked a couple of days to spend some time on watching as many 1980s Barry Windham matches as I possibly could to find out what the current version of me thinks of him. And also, perhaps more importantly, I was trying to find out if there’s any Windham matches from the ‘80s that should go on my recommended matches list. Like, obviously, it’s more than perfectly fine if it turns out that ‘80s Windham being excellent doesn’t align with my current mind. Anyway, the matches I watched for this column were merely a selection of matches that were easily available. I didn’t go deep diving as much as in other projects. Like, let’s not confuse this for a Hall of Talent article. And for those of you who are wondering, Windham’s work from the 1990s will be reviewed in the year in review articles (for example, Windham was praised quite a bit in the 1991 Year In Review article I did, highly recommended reading for those interested in early ‘90s wrestling). The intention for this ‘Redefine’ article was purely to redefine ‘80s Barry Windham for the wrestling fan I am today. Now, let’s have a look at a selection of Barry Windham matches from the 1980s…

CWF 8/17/83 Tampa, FL: Barry Windham vs. Harley Race 11:34. Harley Race, probably the greatest NWA World Heavyweight Champion ever, was in the middle of his seventh reign as the Heavyweight Champion of the World and battled the young up-and-coming second-generation star, son of Blackjack Mulligan, Barry Windham. This TV match was a non-title bout, but it was obviously a tremendous opportunity for Windham, who had been wrestling since November 1979, to show what he was made of. 50-year-old Race wrestled like the veteran champion that he was, firm and determined. He was more than willing to sell for the 23-year old Windham, though, especially since Race had nothing to lose, as he had more than established himself as a legendary champion. As the traveling heel champion, it was Race's job to put over the local stars and make them look good, but Race did a better job of it than most. Windham, the young worker from Sweetwater, Texas, had been wrestling in Florida ever since 1980, very early in his career, so, in this territory, he had proven himself worthy of facing the Heavyweight Champion of the World. What I like about this type of early 80s territory wrestling is that it looked very organic and professional, it didn’t look as manufactured, watered-down and templated as a lot of American wrestling would later become. The wrestling was fairly straightforward, but the participants were telling a story through their performance that evoked emotion and admiration. Race, the wily veteran, was so good at doing the right thing and being in the right place at the right time in this bout, which enabled Windham to show that his naturally gifted wrestling mind was able to act accordingly. At some point, Windham juiced, which is always a plus when portrayed right. And in this case, it did indeed add to the drama of this attention-grabbing bout. One of the best things about this match was that they kept things going at all times, as there was no stalling and no time-wasting of any kind. Everything they did felt like it added something to the increasing build of the match. Both men sold in a very appropriate manner, which showed their great understanding of wrestling psychology. Race took some big tumbles over the top rope, but it never looked comical. This was about as good as it gets for 1983 heavyweight wrestling. Of course, there were some very exceptional junior heavyweight workers active in Japan (especially Dynamite Kid and Satoru Sayama, of course), but when it comes to some good ol’ ‘rasslin’ from that time period, this battle between Windham and Race was top-notch. Both men worked hard, and it was more about how they did things than what they did. Gordon Solie needs to be mentioned as well, as his great commentating certainly was outstanding during this bout. The finish of the match was awesome, and felt like a climactic scene. This match is a great example of why Harley Race was the greatest NWA World Heavyweight Champion of all time. Excellent match. **** 

AJPW 11/25/83 Osaka, Real World Tag League: Barry Windham & Ron Fuller vs. Stan Hansen & Bruiser Brody 9:02. Yes, that’s right, Barry Windham participated in the Real World Tag League (which was actually a mistranslation of World’s Strongest Tag Determination League). Ron Fuller was a wrestler from Tennessee, and he was the older brother of Robert Fuller (a.k.a. Col. Robert Parker). Windham had been in the ring with Bruiser Brody and Stan Hansen before, so he knew what he could expect here. The highlight of the match was probably Brody, who was super over in Japan, getting the crowd to chant “huss!” with him. The wrestling was very generic, mostly striking with nothing fancy. Okay match. **¼ 

AJPW 12/8/83 Sendai, Real World Tag League: Barry Windham & Ron Fuller vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu 7:48. This was at least the fourth time that Barry Windham wrestled Tenryu. They had a disappointing nothing-happening type of match on 12/5/83. This was the first time Windham was in the ring with Jumbo Tsuruta, who looked like a regular-sized wrestler next to the tall Southerners. Windham executed a nice back suplex. Windham and Ron Fuller threw some crude-looking dropkicks. Windham sold Tsuruta’s jumping high knee so well that even Tsuruta looked surprised. All in all, this was a match that’s fun enough to watch once, but it’s not like you have to go out of your way to see it. It was all just kind of standard stuff, especially by today’s standards. Windham & Fuller would end up finishing sixth out of eight teams. Decent match. **½ 

WWF 3/31/85 New York City, NY, WWF Tag Team Title: Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo vs. Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff 6:55. This was from the first-ever WrestleMania. The U.S. Express was the team Barry Windham formed with his brother-in-law Mike Rotundo (Mike Rotunda a.k.a. Irwin R. Schyster). The U.S. Express defended their tag team title against the main evil foreign heel team in WWF at the time. Nikolai Volkoff is one of the worst bumpers ever. He was good at being a Croatian pretending to be a Soviet dude, though. Iron Sheik always benefited from being an Olympic Iranian, which made him a natural heel in America. This wasn’t a bad match by any means, but the main event that featured Mr. T of all people may have been slightly better, which says a lot about the lack of quality of the heel team in this match. At least Barry Windham got to throw a beautiful dropkick before getting pinned by Volkoff. For whatever it’s worth, I used to think this match was quite fun back when I was a kid who was just watching WWF Coliseum Home Video cassettes, lol. Of course, nowadays, this isn’t the type of match I would consider fun anymore. Mediocre match. *¾ 

AJPW 1/14/86 Kagoshima: Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo vs. Giant Baba & Genichiro Tenryu 11:31. A rare appearance by the U.S. Express in Japan. It was weird seeing Mike Rotundo with a mustache. Rotundo looked like he got beat up pretty badly, as his forehead was taped up and his right eye was swollen. That must have happened earlier in the tour. Rotundo worked a lot harder than he would in his Irwin R. Schyster days later on in his career. Giant Baba’s selling of Barry Windham’s offense was cool, albeit somewhat comical. Windham returned the favor when he oversold for Baba’s weak-looking chops. Tenryu was just kinda there, he wasn’t bad, but he didn’t do anything interesting. Overall, this was definitely not a good match. The execution and selling was generally subpar. Baba loved booking double count-out finishes at that time, so it was no real surprise that we got one here. Mediocre match. *¾

CWF 2/14/86 Orlando, FL, NWA World Heavyweight Title: Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham 41:45. Battle of the Belts II. This match is a great example of why Ric Flair has to be one of the ten most overrated pro wrestlers of all time. All they relied on in this match was selling the fact that it was 40 minutes long. So, basically, they were trying to push the idea that no matter if they basically didn’t do anything, it would still be great just based on the idea that it was a 41-minute match. Like, it wasn’t an actually really bad match or anything, but it was just dull and overly long with very, very little substance. That being said, Barry Windham should have become the NWA World Heavyweight Title holder here. Okay match. **

CSP 9/19/86 Ponce, Puerto Rico, WWC Universal Heavyweight Title Tournament Round 1: Barry Windham vs. Terry Funk 14:26. Capitol Sports Promotions. Terry Funk was in his middle-aged and crazy phase, but that made this match way more entertaining than it would have been otherwise. Even the security guards were, like, WTF is wrong with this guy? Barry Windham was his usual solid hand self, but it was Funk who made the match spectacular, albeit in a crazy way. While Ric Flair’s overrated and exaggerated buffoon-like overacting style is dated, Funk’s middle-aged and crazy act isn’t exactly all-time great stuff either, but at least it’s more like a wildman who has gone nuts, which makes it more plausible for a wild wrestling brawl type of situation like this. Good match. ***

JCP 1/20/87 Fayetteville, NC, NWA World Heavyweight Title: Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham 31:00 of 45:00. This match took up the entire episode of NWA World Wide Wrestling. By this point in time, these two had wrestled each other nearly 30 times, so they were obviously very familiar with each other. For a match this long, they did a surprisingly good job keeping the pace relatively high. Other than that, it’s pretty much just another American title match. At least it was better than their dull 2/14/86 match. Decent match. **½ 

JCP 4/11/87 Baltimore, MD Arena, NWA World Heavyweight Title. Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham 26:01. NWA Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup. Ric Flair relied way too much on character work to the point it was taking away from the match. You could say that about pretty much every Flair match ever, though, as he endlessly repeated all aspects of his schtick. Barry Windham played his role as babyface quite well. He was likable and enthusiastic. The unfortunate thing was, Windham didn’t bring enough to the table in the form of an actual moveset that was going to make this interesting. So, this was all just about storyline and selling. That works for someone in the ‘80s maybe, but viewed through modern eyes, this seems quite dated. Okay match. **¼ 

UWF 10/87, NWA Western States Heritage Title: Barry Windham vs. Eddie Gilbert 17:00. The match progressed nicely with a solid build up early on. After some feeling out and a bit of stalling, they went to the mat and tried to make this part as least boring as possible, as they weren’t just sitting in a hold, they tried to move, apply more pressure and sell what they were doing in general. Windham’s main focus of attack was Gilbert’s left arm. They tried to tell the story of the match mainly through selling. The pace of the match was quite slow, though. They tried to switch things up by going to the floor and getting the ringside table involved a bit. Like, this wasn’t anything groundbreaking, but I certainly appreciate that the effort was there, which really helped staying interested in the match all the way through. The fact that I consider myself a fan of these guys and yet still not giving it a 3-star rating means it’s actually a disappointing match, though. Decent match. **¾ 

CWF 11/14/87 Sarasota, FL, NWA Western States Heritage Title: Barry Windham vs. Dory Funk Jr 20:00. Barry Windham had wrestled Dory Funk Jr. several times over the years, but this would be the last time he’d wrestle him. Dory Funk Jr. was 46 years old at the time, and had been wrestling for 24 years. It was all average stuff. Not bad, but nothing to write home about either. Okay match. **¼ 

JCP 2/26/88, Television Title: Mike Rotundo vs. Barry Windham. This was worked at a relatively high pace. The moves were all quite basic, though. And the storytelling was executed in an average manner, as they gave the viewer very little reason to care for all these random moves. But, the main problem with this match really was that Mike Rotundo was so bland and boring. At least when he became Irwin R. Schyster, we were actually supposed to dislike him. Barry Windham sold quite well for his brother-in-law and former tag team partner here. The match ended when Rick Steiner and Kevin Sullivan attacked Windham on Rotundo’s behalf. Lex Luger came just in time to save Windham from strangulation. Decent match. **½

JCP 4/88: Barry Windham & Steve Williams vs. Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard 15:00. Arn Anderson and especially Tully Blanchard were a little bit too exaggerated and goofy in their cowardly heel act. Not quite buffoon-level like Ric Flair or anything, but still comical enough for it to drag the match down. Okay match. **

JCP 9/7/88 Albany, GA, NWA U.S. Title: Barry Windham vs. Sting 21:14. NWA Clash of the Champions 3. Sting had so much energy, and he was able to get so much energy flowing in the crowd. Barry Windham was focusing on being the cool and cocky heel. There was a big disconnection between the two in terms of speed, as Sting wanted to go fast, but Windham wanted to slow things down. If all you cared about was ‘80s American wrestling, this would be considered an actual good match. By modern international standards, this was better than average, but not quite an actual good match. Decent match. **¾

WCW 11/22/88 Charlotte, NC: Barry Windham vs. Bobby Fulton 13:40. Bobby Fulton was a highly regarded tag team wrestler. He was mainly known for being one half of the Fantastics (w/ Tommy Rogers), one of the most underrated tag teams in pro wrestling history. Fulton was energetic, and it was interesting to see him in a singles match setting. Barry Windham was a Horseman and acted cocky and heelish. He did bump in a big way and sold a lot for his smaller opponent, though. Windham was a tall heavyweight who didn’t necessarily wrestle like a big guy, and that helped the flow of the matches, since that means we could avoid all the big guy tropes. He wrestled like an open-minded brawler type of heavyweight and not like a powerhouse type of heavyweight. However, this match was overall a disappointment. Maybe Windham really wasn’t nearly as good as 15-year old me thought he was, lol. Okay match. **¼

WCW 12/12/88 Atlanta, GA: Barry Windham vs. Eddie Gilbert 19:00. This was a fun and effective TV bout that was a good length. They were focused and kept things going for the most part, while still making sure they were selling appropriately and changing the pace of the match slightly when needed. It wasn't a super exceptional match, but it was actually better than most of Windham's ‘80s matches that I have seen. The moves were basic, and even though there were still some minor execution issues in spite of that, most of the action was executed well enough. The finish was slightly disappointing, but, all in all, the match served its purpose in further getting the viewer interested in these characters and the overall product, thanks to the energy and effort shown by these two wrestlers. Good match. ***

WCW 12/26/88 Norfolk, VA, NWA U.S. Title: Barry Windham vs. Bam Bam Bigelow 16:17. This match was on the level of the matches Barry Windham had with Ric Flair, yet nobody talks about Bam Bam Bigelow being the greatest of all time, which shows you how overrated Flair is (one of the ten most overrated wrestlers of all time). Bigelow was quite agile for a man of his weight class, but this was still quite basic stuff overall. Windham mainly focused on being a cocky heel and putting Bigelow over as a credible challenger at the same time, which he did quite well. Windham really was a solid hand as a worker. Definitely one of the more notable workers if all you’d care about was American wrestling. Of course, there were far more interesting matches happening in Japan and Canada around this time, but not everyone was aware of that. Decent match. **½

WCW 1/4/89 Atlanta, GA: Barry Windham vs. Eddie Gilbert 13:00. Fans who are puroresu elitists will not like this. But, for those who enjoy some good ol’ North American wrestling, this is some good stuff… or should I say, hot stuff? After all… ‘Hot Stuff’ Eddie Gilbert was one of the more entertaining workers in NWA at the time. His matches with Brian Pillman and Cactus Jack are worth watching, and his feud with the Horsemen turned out to be quite important, even if it wasn’t Gilbert who got to reap the rewards. Barry Windham had joined the Four Horsemen by this point, so his approach was heelish and more sluggish. That’s okay, though, because that’s simply what he needed to do as part of that role he was portraying. Even though he's more interesting as a babyface, he’s still a more interesting heel than most heels, if that makes any sense. This was a rather simple match, but it was pretty good for what it was until Ric Flair had to steal the spotlight and interfere. The best part of the match was the one woman screaming her lungs out for a large part of this match, lol. That woman had a good taste in wrestlers. Decent match. **¾

WCW 1/18/89 Atlanta, GA: Barry Windham & Ric Flair vs. Eddie Gilbert & Ricky Steamboat 15:14. This is the famous match that saw Ricky Steamboat, who had recently left WWF, return to the NWA. The angle was that Eddie Gilbert had found a mystery opponent to help him fight the Horsemen. By the way, Jim Ross claimed that Ric Flair was considered by all experts the greatest NWA World Heavyweight Champion of all time. I guess he never asked us, or Lou Thesz. Anyway, this was a fun match, and it was probably more interesting than the actual Steamboat vs. Flair matches, one of the most overrated series of matches in history. Flair and Gilbert looked and acted like they had snorted several lines prior to going on the air, which made their performances even more intense and animated. Windham did his part, but he was the bumping and selling secondary heel, as it was about getting Steamboat vs. Flair over. This was a fun match that is mainly recommendable for Steamboat fans. Good match. ***

WCW 2/20/89 Chicago, IL, NWA U.S. Heavyweight Title: Barry Windham vs. Lex Luger 10:43. WCW Chi-Town Rumble. Barry Windham was managed by Hiro Matsuda. Lex Luger had a lot of energy, which made the early part of the match exciting. Other than energy, Luger had little to offer, so the match wasn’t too interesting otherwise. Windham was solid in his role as heel champion. Decent match. **½

WWF 8/29/89 Springfield, MA: The Widowmaker vs. Tim Horner 4:55. WWF Prime Time Wrestling. ‘The Widowmaker’ Barry Windham was only in the WWF briefly. Here he took on the underrated Tim Horner, who was so underrated that he was actually a jobber here. Horner delivered a couple of tremendous dropkicks. Windham sold for a few more moves until going for the kill. Windham must have respected Horner a lot, and rightfully so, because he allowed Horner once again to fight back before finishing him off completely. Good while it lasted, which wasn’t very long, unfortunately. This would have been way better if it was longer and if Horner wasn’t positioned as a jobber. Okay match. **¼ 

Final conclusion:

If 1980s American wrestling is all you’re focusing on, then Barry Windham was a very notable name. However, if you’re interested in pro wrestling in general, then Windham’s role in the 1980s should be remembered as just a solid hand who wasn’t even close to being a top-level quality wrestler. This isn’t a Hall of Talent column, so I’m not going to specify things too much, but I’d say that it looks like Windham’s best years were actually the early 1990s before he hurt his knee, for whatever it’s worth (especially based on what I watched for the 1991 year in review article, so check that out if you’re interested in some of Windham’s best work). As far as 1980s Windham goes, Windham showed plenty of potential, and he was a good worker, but he wasn’t an excellent or great one. He was purely a brawler, but he tried to be one who would enhance the overall quality of the match. I’d say he was a good brawler, as it never felt like it was just only about him being a brawler. It was more, like, he was an ‘80s American wrestler who happened to be a brawler. He didn’t have a very interesting moveset, but how he did things and how he understood the flow of the match made him good. His execution and selling were generally good. However, it appears that there certainly wasn’t any year during the 1980s in which he would be a contender for a top five workers list or anything like that. Windham becoming a heel and a member of the Horsemen didn’t help matters either, as that pretty much eliminated all the good aspects of his work that he showed as a fiery, enthusiastic and eager babyface worker.

My current idea of top-level ‘80s pro wrestlers are more workers, like, Dynamite Kid, Johnny Saint, Mark Rocco, Marty Jones, Satoru Sayama, Owen Hart, Chigusa Nagayo, Lioness Asuka and Itsuki Yamazaki. Barry Windham definitely doesn’t belong in that list. Of course, very few people belong in that list, so there’s no shame in that. However, I’ll have to disappoint the 15-year old version who was an ‘80s Windham fan even more, because, as far as recommendable matches go, there really wasn’t much I could find. I really did enjoy the match against Harley Race from 1983 a lot, though, so I’m glad I got to watch that one. That match definitely deserves to be on my recommended matches list. And I have a newfound respect and admiration for Harley Race’s work. Other than that match, there wasn’t much to write home about, and that’s okay. I can see why 15-year old me was a fan, but I also can see why the middle-aged version of me will simply move on and focus on other wrestlers. My current opinion of ‘80s Windham now is that he was a likable decent worker, and I’m happy to know that 1991 Windham was an actual good worker. I think ‘80s Windham always had the tools, but it’s just that ‘90s WCW TV wrestling was done in such a way that it managed to bring out the best of him as a worker. In closing, I think this research session served its purpose, as it helped me redefine ‘80s Windham and re-align ‘80s Windham with my current wrestling-viewing mindset.