Barry Darsow Was Fired By Eric Bischoff After One-Of-A-Kind WCW Match
There have been many types of professional wrestling matches over the years, but there's only one that took place in a moving truck. Called the "King of the Road" match, it took place at WCW Uncensored 1995, and featured AEW's Dustin Rhodes battling Barry Darsow, then going by the name Blacktop Bully. The match is frequently remembered as one of the more ludicrous matches in history, and a fitting encapsulation of Uncensored 1995, a show considered among the worst WCW ever put together.
But despite the match's reputation, Darsow revealed during a recent appearance on "83 Weeks," that he not only fondly looks back on the Blacktop Bully character, but the match itself, with him and Rhodes both believing it came off well. Alas, both Darsow and Rhodes were fired by WCW executive, and "83 Weeks" co-host Eric Bischoff soon after. Darsow detailed the call he and Bischoff shared over his firing, and seemed to confirm the reason he was fired wasn't because of the match quality, but because he and Rhodes bladed in the match.
"The next morning, the phone rings and it was Eric on the phone," Darsow said. "And Eric says to me, he says 'Barry, I've got good news and I've got bad news for you.' I said 'Well Eric, what the heck? Give me the good news.' He says 'You had one hell of a match last night.' I said 'What's the bad news?' He says 'You're fired.' I said 'Fired? Fired for what?' And he said 'Well, you guys bled in that match. And the office did not want that. And you guys did that.'
"And I tried to explain to him 'Well, that's what Mike Graham had us do.' And my whole career, whatever the boss wanted me to do, I did. So anyways, Eric said to me, he says 'Please don't give me any grief about this or anything. I promise I'll hire you back.' He says 'If you can just do this and leave on good terms and everything, I'll hire you back later on.' I said 'Eric, if that's what you've got to do...I'm with you. Alright.'"
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "83 Weeks" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription