Barry Horowitz Recalls Ultimate Warrior’s Reaction After Knocking Out Enhancement Talent
Pro wrestling legend Barry Horowitz was on a recent episode of The Wrestling Inc. Daily. He and Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman talked about Horowitz not being in the WWE Hall of Fame. During that discussion Ultimate Warrior came up, and later in their conversation, Hausman asked Horowitz what it was like to work with Ultimate Warrior.
"When I first met the Dingo Warrior, when I first worked with him at the Old Keele Auditorium in St. Louis, made famous by [Ric] Flair, Bob Geigel and Harley Race, this is a mecca building, he was polite," Horowitz recalled. "He listened. He was nervous. He was stiff. He was talking to me after the match. I thought he was respectful, and then as that Warrior thing grew and he's hanging around with Dynamite [Kid], and Davey Boy [Smith] and other people, making too much too soon in the wrestling business is not good. It creates a monster. A monster that can't work, and he got disrespectful.
"He didn't like the locker room. He didn't like the business. He liked to have roid rages at diners. I was there. I'm calling it like it is. I've seen him hurt people. My biggest memory and I'll never forget this, it was somewhere in Indiana. Brian Costello, he's a friend of mine. He runs unbelievable shows in Mishawaka for 20 years. He worked for Vince, and that stupid Warrior clotheslined him in the face. It knocked him out. Brian came back and collapsed. Tony Garea was like, 'Are you alright? Are you all right?' And I felt bad, and Warrior walked by and looked at him and shook his head then kept on walking like 'you piece of crap'. And he was stiff in the ring, but I knew how to work around that. That didn't bother me. I don't give a crap. I didn't like his attitude. I didn't like him, and I watched some of his YouTube."
Horowitz continued as he spoke on Ultimate Warrior's strong adherence to keeping kayfabe.
"I don't know where this dude's coming from, maybe too much acid or black heroin, listen, I'm going to show you a good worker. It's just like a good movie actor, Tom Cruise or DiCaprio," Horowitz described. "Barry Horowitz, Mr. Technical, when he gets off the plane and he gets to the building, that's who he is. When I get back to my family, I'm Barry Horwitz, separate the two.
"Don't tell me you have to live your freaking gimmick. You don't have to. A good worker could separate them and that makes a freaking artist. He's coming off with these stupid things, and every time he talks, he acts like he's angry at people. I don't know what his deal is. Can you not talk normal? And then to knock Hulk Hogan... who and the f**k are you Jim Helwig?
"You're a smartened up bodybuilder. That's what you are. You're a dime a dozen. In today's world, in Japan, you'd be sent home that night, and if you want to go with bodies and work, Batista blew your ass away. Had a hell of a run, Batista looks good. His intro was good. He was limited, but he was way better than Warrior. At least I saw the man arm drag and dropkick, and he's doing well in Hollywood so props to him."
Hausman also asked Horowitz if he's ever been tipped out for making someone look particularly good in the ring during an enhancement match.
"I have been tipped out. It was multiple times from the same two, Don Morocco and Roddy Piper," Horowitz said. "Tipped out at TV in Allentown, PA when Vince Sr. was there and Hamburg, PA, which I have not been to that building since I was 21. The lighting that is there, that Vince Sr. paid for, is still up, and Allentown, I've been back for Vince, multiple independent groups but Hamburg Fieldhouse, I've never been back there.
"Those two buildings, I was tipped out by Piper and Morocco, and I was only 21. I stayed with Vince Sr. for a year, year and a half, but I didn't know what was going on. I didn't understand, and then people explained it to me and I felt, to this day, 'wow, I really did my job right,' so to speak. That is super old school."
Horowitz later named his enhancement talent Mount Rushmore.
"I would put Reno Riggins up there," Horowitz stated. "I would put Brady Boone. There was a kid named Ben Jordan out of Nashville. He only got to the Memphis territory. Duane Gill, of course. Barry Hardy. There's not a lot of good, qualified enhancement and really, I don't like put myself over but nobody does, I really think I was the best."
You can find Barry on Cameo HERE and follow his Facebook page HERE. The full audio and video from part two of Barry's interview can be found below.
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