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"Mr. Saturday Night, Michael Barry" Graphic Designer?s Moonlighting Becomes Mainline

Posted: Jul 1st 2008 By: mikeiles

"Ladies and gentlemen, now entering the ring, Mister Saturday Night."

Those are the words Barry Linduff hopes to hear as he commits himself full time to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

Mild-mannered graphic designer by day (and by education), Linduff is leaving the standard career path to explore his options in this growing field of entertainment.

?The great thing about wresters is that we don?t want to grow up,? says Linduff. ?We want to go out on weekends and be superheroes, dress up in tights and play games.?

Linduff, a product of Quapaw, OK, says he lived the standard life of a small-town youth, attending school and watching television. He did not wrestle in high school, but he did watch World Wrestling Federation matches (changed to WWE after a challenge from World Wildlife Federation for the WWF abbreviation).

His fascination with entertainment wrestling grew steadily. Enrolled in classes at Missouri Southern State University in 2001, Linduff juggled cheerleading, bartending, and studying with travelling weekends to throw his body into this exhibition sport.

?When you start out, you really need another job, because you can?t get paid enough. You take the pay you can get,? he says. For him, that meant accepting $10 for a weekend match in Arkansas or Kentucky.

He began ?learning the ropes? in 2001 on a pay-per-view program in Texas. ?I thought it was the coolest,? he says. So, he started surfing the Internet for more information and discovered a wrestling school right here in Joplin. Although the school didn?t stay open for long, the instructor taught Linduff the basics and gave him the opportunity to wrestle at Joplin?s Memorial Hall and ?at a flea market in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in front of 10 people,? he recalls.

In the years while in college earning his graphics communications degree (which he completed in 2006), Linduff wrestled with the Arkansas-based Mid-States Wrestling program, and then traveled to St. Joseph, MO, to train with Sonny Myers, a 14-time national champion. From there, he continued expanding his range, traveling to Kansas City, Topeka, San Antonio, and other larger markets.

When he hooked up with WWF/WWE?s Harley Race in Nashville, TN, Linduff was still dividing his schedule four ways. He was nearing graduation from MSSU, so he knew he had to make a decision. He had met a lot of other people in the entertainment circuit by 2007 and was encouraged to apply for positions.

?Last year, I sent a tape in to the Ohio Valley Wrestling (WWE) program in Louisville, Kentucky,? he says. ?There were rumors that they were going to start a new company in Florida and close their Ohio Valley program,? which was a farm league.

While he waited for something to happen there, Linduff heard from a friend in Colorado Springs, CO, who had started a ?really good show? in Asylum Championship Wrestling.

?That?s how this came to be, my going to Colorado to wrestle,? says Linduff.

He recently left his day job at the Joplin Globe to begin preparing for his wrestling move, which included a trip to Japan.

Linduff?s persona has been modified over the years. He maintains both a good and a bad persona. ?The best personalities are the ones that are your own personality with the amp turned up to 10,? he remarks.

?I started as a bad guy, mainly, for four years,? he says. ?I had good success. But the good guy always wants to do better than the bad guy.

He describes his bad persona as a ?runaway egotistical rollercoaster.? His good persona is ?Mr. Saturday Night, Michael Barry,? a more traditional super hero-style of entertainment wrestler.

Linduff says he buys new gear about every six months, ?the most colorful they make.? He laments that more and more wrestlers ?don?t put the time or craft into their image. I spend $500-600 putting together costumes; others will go to the store and buy a ready-made outfit.?

It?s that super-hero image Linduff wants to retain. ?I don?t know a single wrestler who isn?t a huge comic book fan,? he notes. ?They all believe in good against bad.?

How long can he expect to wrestle? He says it depends on ?how smart you wrestle. Doing dumb moves will shorten your career.?

Although Linduff participates in matches that include barbed-wire-wrapped ropes, cages, and ladders as both tools and weapons, he says, ?I?ve has worse injuries in cheerleading than in wrestling.?

Linduff can be reached by adoring fans at barry_linduff@hotmail.com.

Tags: Michael Barry, WWE, WWF, ACW, Sonny Myers