American professional wrestler (born 1960)
Barry Clinton Windham (born July 4, 1960) is an American retired professional wrestler. The son of wrestler Blackjack Mulligan, he is best known for his appearances with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
In NWA/WCW, he was a one-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, a one-time United States Heavyweight Champion, a one-time Television Champion, a one-time Western States Heritage Champion, a four-time NWA (Mid Atlantic)/WCW World Tag Team Champion and a one-time NWA United States Tag Team Champion with Ron Garvin. In the WWF, he was a two-time World Tag Team Champion with his brother-in-law, Mike Rotunda. Windham was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame twice, first in 2012 as a member of The Four Horsemen and then again in 2024 as a member of The U.S. Express.
Professional wrestling career.
Early years (1979–1984).
Windham was trained by his father Blackjack Mulligan and world champion Harley Race. He debuted on November 27, 1979, against J.J. Dillon in San Angelo, Texas when he was 19 years old. Much of his early career was in the NWA's Championship Wrestling from Florida territory where Gordon Solie was the head announcer. He was a fan favorite for most of the early and middle periods of his career, having great success in singles and tag action. Windham had notable feuds with Kevin Sullivan and his army. With his brother-in-law Mike Rotunda, Windham formed a tag team in 1984. The duo captured the NWA Florida United States Tag Team Championship three times between March and May 1984.
World Wrestling Federation (1984–1985).
Rotunda and Windham were signed by World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in October 1984. They debuted in WWF as babyfaces on the November 17, 1984 edition of "Maple Leaf Wrestling" defeating Mohammed Saad and Bobby Bass. Their tag team was named "The U.S. Express". They quickly made impact in WWF's tag team division as they beat North South Connection (Dick Murdoch and Adrian Adonis) for their first WWF Tag Team Championship on January 21, 1985, at a house show in Hartford, CT. At the first-ever WrestleMania, US Express dropped the titles to The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff. On the July 13 edition of "Championship Wrestling", they beat Sheik and Volkoff for their second and final WWF Tag Team Championship, which they lost to Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake) in Philadelphia at The Spectrum on August 24.
Championship Wrestling from Florida; American Wrestling Association; (1986–1987).
After departing from the WWF, Windham worked in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s territory Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) as a babyface, where most notably he wrestled in the main event of Battle of the Belts II for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Ric Flair, and feuded over the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship with Ron Bass. Windham and Rotundo also wrestled at WrestleRock 86 show in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) where they defeated The Fabulous Ones.
Jim Crockett Promotions (1986–1989).
Early appearances (1986–1988).
In the fall of 1986, Windham shifted to NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) territory as a babyface where he had many memorable matches with "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. These included matches going to 60 minute time limit draws and even some extending beyond an hour of action. He then shifted back to the tag team division, forming a successful pairing with Ron Garvin. On December 9, 1986, Windham and Garvin defeated Ivan Koloff and Khrusher Khruschev. for the U.S. tag team championship. Their biggest feud as a team was with The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane), managed by Jim Cornette.
The Midnight Express were never able to beat Windham and Garvin for the titles. Windham and Garvin eventually lost these titles to Ivan Koloff and Dick Murdoch in the spring of 1987, shortly before the annual Jim Crockett Memorial Tag Team Tournament (also known as the Crockett Cup). After Koloff and Murdoch were stripped of the titles, however, the Midnight Express were able to beat Windham and Garvin in the finals of the subsequent tournament to fill the title vacancy. At this time, Windham also formed an alliance with Lex Luger, who would turn his back on Windham shortly afterward when Luger had aspirations of joining The Four Horsemen. Rather than enter the tournament as a team, Windham and Garvin were split up. Ronnie Garvin instead teamed up with his kayfabe brother Jimmy Garvin (Ronnie was Jimmy's legit stepfather). Rather than have Windham partner up with someone in the tournament, he was booked to face Ric Flair for the NWA World Championship in what would be another classic match between the two. Flair defeated Windham with a controversial pinfall after a little over 25 minutes of action.
Windham spent the rest of 1987 in midcard status. On June 20, 1987, Windham defeated Black Bart in a tournament final to win the short-lived NWA Western States Heritage Championship, becoming first champion. He defended the title against the likes of Rick Steiner, Big Bubba Rogers. The title was also recognized by Bill Watts' Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF). He began climbing up the ranks of UWF. At JCP's first pay-per-view (PPV), Starrcade 1987: Chi-Town Heat, he lost to UWF Heavyweight Champion "Dr. Death" Steve Williams. In 1988, Windham began rising in the JCP ranks again. He started off by dropping the Western States Heritage Title to Larry Zbyszko at Bunkhouse Stampede.
The Four Horsemen (1988–1989).
In early 1988, Windham reunited with Luger and together they formed a tag team called "The Twin Towers". On March 27, 1988, at "Clash of the Champions I" they won the NWA World Tag Team Championship from Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard. A few weeks later, on April 20, in Jacksonville, Florida, a swerve took place where Windham betrayed Luger causing the team to lose the titles back to Blanchard and Anderson. Windham turned heel and joined Ric Flair's stable, the Four Horsemen (which also consisted of Anderson and Blanchard) and his heel turn was considered shocking at the time. In addition, he began using a black glove as well as the clawhold as his finisher, which was a signature move of his father Blackjack Mulligan. He went back to singles competition and defeated Nikita Koloff in a tournament final to win the vacant NWA United States Heavyweight Championship after then-champion Dusty Rhodes was suspended. Windham was a dominant US Champion, who reigned for nine months. He defended the title against the likes of Brad Armstrong, Dusty Rhodes, Sting and Bam Bam Bigelow before dropping it to Lex Luger at Chi-Town Rumble in February 1989. His contract expired in March 1989.
World Wrestling Federation (1989).
Windham returned to the WWF in June 1989 as the Widowmaker. Despite the nickname, Windham did not change his image much, portraying a heel cowboy type character. He went undefeated for four months and was to have been on Randy Savage's Survivor Series team, but was replaced by the Earthquake as Windham left the company in October due to his family's involvement in a counterfeiting scandal.
World Championship Wrestling (1990–1994).
The Four Horsemen (1990–1991).
On May 5, 1990, Windham made a surprise return to World Championship Wrestling, interfering in a match between US Champion Lex Luger and World Champion Ric Flair. Following the appearance he re-united with the Four Horsemen which at that point consisted of Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Sid Vicious, and Ole Anderson. At the time, Ole Anderson was only semi-active and permanently became their manager once Windham joined. The first match back for the former United States champion came fifteen days later when he teamed with Ric Flair and Arn Anderson to defeat Rick Steiner and The Road Warriors at a house show in Atlanta, GA.
He defeated Doug Furnas on June 13, 1990 "". He spent most of the time that year in tag team matches with the other Horsemen as partners.
At Halloween Havoc 1990, Windham was involved in a controversial match between Sid Vicious and then NWA World Heavyweight Champion Sting. Vicious appeared to pin Sting and win the championship, but it was actually Windham who was dressed like Sting. Once the hoax was noticed, the match was restarted and the real Sting defeated Sid Vicious. Windham spent the rest of the year teaming with Arn Anderson in the continuation of a feud between the Four Horsemen and then NWA World Tag Team Champions, Doom. At Starrcade 1990: Collision Course, Windham and Anderson wrestled Doom to a no contest in a Street Fight when a member of each team was pinned.
In 1991, Windham continued teaming with Arn Anderson and Sid Vicious. Windham feuded with Brian Pillman in the spring of 1991, culminating in a taped fist match at SuperBrawl I: Return of the Rising Sun, which Windham won.
As the middle of the year approached, controversy erupted when WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Ric Flair, was fired by the company, causing the title to be vacant. Windham was then elevated to the number 2 contender spot and faced Lex Luger in a steel cage match to declare the new champion. At The Great American Bash 1991, Windham lost the match to Luger in a double turn as Luger became the top bad guy of WCW and Windham becoming one of the most popular, due to Luger's cheating tactics and his involvement with heel manager Harley Race. This, and Windham's dogged determination to win the belt after years as a perennial upper-mid carder got Windham over in terms of popularity with the fans again despite still not winning the world championship. It's rumored that Flair was going to drop the title to Windham at a TV taping in Columbus, Georgia, but was fired before it could happen.
Championship reigns; various feuds (1991–1992).
In October 1991, Windham formed a tag team with Dustin Rhodes and feuded with WCW World Tag Team Champions The Enforcers (Arn Anderson and Larry Zbyszko). At Halloween Havoc 1991: Chamber of Horrors, Anderson and Zbyszko slammed a car door on Windham's hand, breaking it, and putting him out of action for a while (including that night's Chamber of Horrors match). That also led to Ricky Steamboat stepping in as the mystery partner for Rhodes at Clash of the Champions XVII that November. Steamboat and Rhodes won the titles. Windham, meanwhile, would come back a couple of months later to feud with Anderson, Zbyszko, and the rest of what was now the Dangerous Alliance. Windham would feud with TV Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin in the spring of 1992. On the May 9, 1992 edition of "Saturday Night", he defeated Austin in a two out of three falls match to win the WCW World Television Championship. He dropped the title to Austin on the June 13 edition of "WorldWide".
On a taped edition of "Saturday Night" on September 2, Windham teamed with Dustin Rhodes to defeat Steve Williams and Terry Gordy for the unified WCW World Tag Team Championship and NWA World Tag Team Championship (their NWA title reign is not recognized by NWA); the match would air on October 3. They held the belts for about two months before losing them to Steamboat and Shane Douglas in a memorable match on November 18 at "Clash of the Champions XXI". Windham turned heel on Rhodes after the match when Rhodes refused to pin Steamboat after an accidental low blow.
At the end of the year, Windham teamed with Brian Pillman, who had also turned heel, to pursue the titles he and Rhodes lost, but ended up losing to Steamboat and Douglas at Starrcade 1992: Battlebowl/The Lethal Lottery II.
NWA World Heavyweight Champion (1993–1994).
Windham became a full-time singles wrestler in January 1993 and pursued the NWA World Championship held by The Great Muta. He defeated Muta for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at SuperBrawl III. Ric Flair, who returned to WCW that night, tried to present Windham with the belt, but when Windham saw it was Flair trying to put the belt around his waist, he took the belt and walked away. Flair and Anderson tried to recruit Windham to join the Horsemen again, but Windham declined and became the "Lone Wolf," feuding with Flair and Anderson. He successfully defended the title against Anderson at Slamboree 1993: A Legend's Reunion.
After a successful title defense against 2 Cold Scorpio, Windham dropped the NWA belt to Flair at Beach Blast, while injuring his knees and then disappeared from wrestling for almost a year, where he took on Flair again at Slamboree