Barry Darsow on Memoir, Storied Career & WWE Hall of Fame Possibilities for Demolition

From Krusher Kruschev to Smash in Demolition to the Repo Man and everything in between, Barry Darsow entertained professional wrestling fans for the better part of 30 years. The legendary performer looks back at his storied career through “Sickles, Studs & Stolen Cars: The Many Faces of Barry Darsow.â€Given the title of the memoir, published through Titan Insider Press, you donâ€t have to be a historian to know the 66-year-old has lived quite the life.Â

“I kind of got away from the business for a long time and then I got back with Bill Eadie, Ax. We started traveling around the country again. It was almost like I was back on the road working again,†Darsow said. “I always told Bill, ‘You know I donâ€t want to do a whole lot of these things, going out of town and doing autographs and all that.â€I loved meeting all the people and seeing them all again.

He continued: “Then after doing a few of them I said, ‘Letâ€s really start doing this.†All of a sudden now we get calls from everywhere and so many people say, ‘you ought to write a book.†‘Who is going to buy that,†I thought. Then I thought, ‘what the heck? I have a lot of great stories.†Itâ€s not like you can tell all the stories in one book. But I put a couple of them out there. I talked to my wife and asked her what she thought about it and she said, ‘yeah, you ought to write a book.†Thatâ€s how it started.â€

Meeting fans and being back on the road again reminded him why he got into the business in the first place. It fueled his motivation to sign a legends contract with WWE last year. In the past Darsow found himself in previous lawsuit filings.

“Everyone thinks I had a falling out with them, but I never had a falling out with them,†Darsow said, hoping to set the record straight. “When youâ€re done with them, and they donâ€t need you anymore, they donâ€t call you. I was never someone who called the office and talked to people. I just did my job whatever was asked of me, and thatâ€s what I did. When Bill and I go out two or three weekends a month all the time. Weâ€re booked up to a year in advance, so I never really even wanted to get a legends contract with WWE because weâ€re making great money without them. When they finally contacted us and said, ‘we would like to put you under a contract,†we really had to think about whether we really want to do this. But when I was talking to Bill, we had to get back in the thick of things and see everybody and money is not everything.

He further explained, “when they asked us to do it, we signed the contract. Right away, we were asked to go to the Hall of Fame ceremony and WrestleMania. The year before that they asked us to, but we already had our schedules set. When we got to the Hall of Fame, we got off the elevator Bruce Prichard was right there, and I love Bruce. He sat down and talked to us. CM Punk ,who was unbelievable.I had never met CM Punk before. It was like he knew us. I really have some respect for him. He was just a good guy. We saw The Undertaker and ‘Stone Cold†[Steve Austin] and it was almost like we never left there. We were friends with all these guys and they took us right in. It was worth signing the contract just to go back and see the guys and say hi to everyone again.â€

The book, written alongside Graham Johnson, features a forward written by Darsowâ€s longtime partner Eadie. For Darsow, it was a fun trip down memory lane from growing up with his mom doing all she can to support him. He was among Robbinsdale, Minnesota natives who went on to become top names in the industry including Curt Hennig, Rick Rude, and The Road Warriors Hawk and Animal.

“What was so unbelievable is when youâ€re in the locker room and there are 30,000 people out there,†Darsow said. “Here you are with all your buddies back in the dressing room, laughing and talking, and playing cards and doing everything. Youâ€re kids again on the playground and right now in the dressing room laughing and ribs on everybody like I said Iâ€m the luckiest guy in the world.â€

Darsow takes pride in all he accomplished inside and outside the ring. Unfortunately, his career came to an unexpected turn after being let go from WCW after his controversial “King of the Road†match against Dustin Roades. The two rivals battled on a caged trailer on a  moving truck. Their firing was reportedly done due to breaking a no-bleeding policy in place during the 1995 event ironically called Uncensored.

“Everything I put in the book was just thoughts I had. It wasnâ€t to really get even with anybody and that stuff. It was just the story. When that match happened in the truck with Dustin, when we were all done with that match, we both hugged and were on the field and there was blood, horse manure, we were covered with everything and were laughing,†Darsow, then working as the Blacktop Bully.

“That match went on for an hour it seemed like. We thought we had the greatest match of all-time. Then that next morning I got a call from Eric Bischoff. He said, ‘Barry, I have good news and bad news.†I said, “what’s the good news?” He said, “well, you had a hell of a match. The bad news is youâ€re fired.†I donâ€t think a lot of people knew what happened. We got fired because we were bleeding in the match. We were told to bleed. A lot of the blood wasnâ€t blood we did. It was hitting barbed wire and fencing and all that stuff. What was incredible was Mike Graham, Dustin, and myself, we were the only three who got fired. It was like why didnâ€t the camera crew get fired. Why didn’t anyone else get fired? I never did find that out, but what do you do? They are the bosses and youâ€re just workers. Thatâ€s one thing I learned in my life. Youâ€re a worker bee and they’re the bosses and you do what they say otherwise youâ€re gone.â€

Darsow said he never really sat down with Eric and talked about what happened all those decades ago. He hoped to down the line, feeling there was more to the story on the other side of things. Looking back, it begs the question what would have happened to Darsow had he continued in WCW as it entered the boom period. Would he have been part of the nWo? Darsow popped up again in the promotion adding the “Mr. Hole-in-One†to his list of personas.Â

“I thought the Blacktop Bully was a great gimmick. I thought it was going to take off and really do something,†he said. “I think I could have been one of those semi-main event, main event guys. I really thought in that part of my career that would be the last gimmick I had and I was going to get a big push and be there for a while. That was going to be me. Then when that shut down, that was the end of it. That was kind of when I wanted to be done with the business.

“ When I came back, Eric promised me a job, and I got a job. I got paid real well for hardly doing anything. I felt so guilty about doing the trade that was my whole life, and I thought I was good at it. It was weird making money and not working. Thatâ€s now how I grew up. I knew that was the end of my career at that time. I thought for sure Blacktop Bully was going to be something. It was changing of the guard, and I wasnâ€t part of that clique. I wasn’t in the nWo clique. It was a tough situation.â€

Darsow is excited to have the book out for readers to enjoy. With this bringing all his accomplishments back to the forefront combined with the reacclimation into the WWE Universe, is a WWE Hall of Fame induction finally going to come for the iconic Demolition?

“There hasnâ€t been any discussions at all. I would love to be in there,†Darsow answered. “It is a huge honor, especially when you look at how big WWE is now. Itâ€s unbelievable. If you could have that under your belt, the Hall of Fame, it would be huge. There are so many people. I always thought they should have more than one tag team. Maybe two or three tag teams because there were so many people. How are they going to induct everybody in there that should be in there?…It would be nice to be inducted in there when you can enjoy it with your family and friends. Hopefully, it will be soon, but you never know.â€

Darsow remains one of the most underrated talents during an era filled with comic book-like characters. In many ways, what he did with every one of those personas he tackled, itâ€s a lost art.

“When I grew up watching wrestling, I watched Harley Race, The Crusher, The Bruiser, Baron Von Raschke, they were larger-than-life to me when I was a kid,†he said. “…To me, the gimmicks I thought were a great time of the wrestling business. I think that is what brought a lot of people into watching wrestling. All the kids are watching it now. I think they need to get into a few more of the gimmicks, less talking, more wrestling, and I think thatâ€s probably going to be the next thing. It all goes back into wrestling…â€

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