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Recap of interview with Barry "Krusher Khrushchev" Darsow

Posted: Sep 4th 2006 By: mikeiles

Barry Darsow has had a storied career. Most wrestling fans of our age group have fond memories of Mr. Darsow from his time in the business. This interview is for those fans.

Relive and get an inside perspective from the man who lived the memories we share. Hear everything from his take on Demolition being called a "Road Warriors knock off" all the way through the Repo Man, WCW, AWF, and so much more.

You can hear this interview in its entirity at www.WrestlingEpicenter.com. Simply click the "Interviews" tab once you arive and the audio awaits you!

"Smash of Demolition" Barry Darsow Interview -
Interview Conducted by James Walsh, Patrick Kelley, Brian Luquette and
Chris Furguson.

3 Count Wrestling would like to thank Matthew Campbell of New Path Productions for his help in getting this interview. They can be found at www.newpathproductions.com and at Barry's new wrestling based website at www.barrydarsowwrestling.com.

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In addition to being "Smash" from Demolition, The Blacktop Bully, Krusher Kruschev and "Mr. Hole-in-One," Barry Darsow reminds us that he was also the Repo Man and Man Mountain Darsow among ten others.

Barry Darsow, after the end of WCW, started a printing and promotional business, then got into real estate and is doing quite well. He's also been in contact with the WWE, trying to get a booking or writing job with them.

"It's hard to stay away from this business," Barry adds.

The next topic is Barry's appearance on the "Road Warriors" DVD. Barry says he has a good relationship with the WWE.

Barry mentions his training with Eddie Sharkey and several eventual legends of the business, including Wayne Bloom (one of the Beverly Brothers), John Nord, Curt Henning, the Road Warriors, Brady Boone (Battle Kat), and others. Darsow later mentions that, as a bouncer,
he and the other bouncers would see how far they could throw unruly patrons out of the door and down the hill into the river!

One of Barry's many tag team partners, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, was the subject of a recent 3CW interview. Barry goes into how Jim's trademark goatee was inspired by Barry's look as "Krusher Krushchev."

James mentions how the look could have been inspired by ZZ Top, and Barry jokingly mentions how KISS stole Smash's red tongue!

Patrick Kelley (of the Weekend Warriors of Wrestling) asks Barry about teaming with Ivan Koloff. Barry has nothing but praise for Ivan Koloff.

Patrick then gets into how Barry was into bodybuilding and how that revolutionized wrestling.

We start the Demolition questions with how Barry got into the then WWF. Darsow was working for Jim Crockett, and was promised a certain amount for a match and didn't get it (more on that later). Barry quit the company, and Earl Hebner got him an interview with the WWF.

At the same time, Bill Eadie was telling Vince McMahon that the Demolition gimmick wasn't going to work because too many people were recognizing Randy Culley as "Moondog Rex." So, they brought in Barry specifically to be Smash!

The "Road Warriors" DVD is mentioned again, and Barry says that Demolition wasn't a knock-off. The original plan, according to Barry, was to bring in the Road Warriors and do an angle together.

Darsow isn't offended that he was the only person on the DVD to defend Demolition.

There was a time when Demolition and The Road Warriors were in the WWF together, but there wasn't a big match between. Barry was excited at the prospect of a match, but believes that some people in the WWF didn't want a Demolition/Road Warriors match to headline Wrestlemania.

Barry calls Mr. Fuji the "King of the Ribbers" and adds Curt Henning and Dynamite Kid to the list of master ribbers. He also mentions that you never did anything to one of them for fear of reprisal from all of them. Barry also mentions a prank that Mr. Fuji played on Sheik Adnan Al-Kaisee that needs to be heard to be believed!

To quote Darsow: "You never messed with Fuji."

Although Darsow and his Demolition partner Bill Eadie were good talkers, having Fuji around to help the team win made them heels.

Barry, again, has nothing but praise for Tito Santana and Rick Martel, whom Demolition won their first tag titles off of. "Good, good guys."

Barry doesn't know why the WWE edits out Demolition's "Pain and Destruction" theme music during recent WWE 24/7 broadcasts of their matches.

Survivor Series '89 is brought up. Barry tells a story about how Jake Roberts had a 28-foot snake he wanted to use, but was told not to. Jake put the snake in a trunk and left it behind after the show. The snake eventually got out and had complete run of the Rosemont Horizon until
a maintenance man found it and almost had a heart attack!

Arn Anderson is one of Barry's best friends to this day, but Barry didn't like Tully Blanchard much. Barry tells of a time when Tully smacked him with a chair and knocked out a couple of teeth and chipped a bone in his neck!

Every wrestler back in the day has a story about Andre the Giant and Barry's involves a trip to Japan, a narrow flight of stairs to a restaurant and Andre being completely "smashed..." on beer! The ending needs to be heard to be believed!

Barry agrees with just about everyone that Haku was the toughest guy in the WWF. He also adds that Haku was the nicest guy in the world but if you pissed him off, you'd be in serious trouble!

Barry liked having Crush (Brian Adams) as a partner. Ax was being phased out because of a serious allergic reaction to shrimp.

The Wrestlemania VII match against Genichiro Tenryu and Koji Kitao was an attempt to push Demolition out of the company. Barry also mentions that they had a match in Japan together. In addition to Tenryu and Kitao, Demolition also faced Giant Baba and Andre the Giant at the Egg Dome in Japan, which Barry says was probably the biggest match of his career!

Barry confirms that Bill Eadie tried to sue the WWE over the Demolition name and gimmick, which really hurt Barry, personally.

The Repo Man gimmick was supposed to eventually become a babyface so Barry could do hospital appearances and the like.

Barry left the WWF because it wasn't as much fun as it used to be.

If the AWF, whom Barry wrestled for after the WWF, had the financial backing, it would have worked and been another place for wrestlers to go.

Comparing WWF to WCW, Barry says that Vince was all about making money everywhere, including house shows. WCW, on the other hand, was strictly a TV show.

Talking about the "King of the Road" match with him and Dustin Rhodes, Barry says "Is that a bummer or is that a bummer?" Barry further explains the best 10 minutes were cut from the match, that he and Dustin had the time of their lives and that they were both fired after
the match!

Barry says that he's one of the only guys in wrestling who is willing to do what the bosses say and still got fired more than anybody!

"Mr. Hole-In-One" Barry Darsow came about because Barry told Terry Taylor about playing in golf tournaments. Terry said "you should make that a gimmick" and they did.

Barry also says there were elements in WCW that didn't want him to get over with the people, which he's fine with, "so long as the check clears!"

Barry thinks that tag teams could be big if the promoters just pushed them.

Best Gimmick for Barry: Smash
Most Fun Gimmick: Repo Man
Most Important to his career: Krusher Khrushchev
Least Favorite: "Mr. Hole-in-One"

Word Associations:

Mr. Fuji: "THE GREATEST GUY IN THE WORLD! Don't ever cross him!"

Rick Martel: "What a gentleman."

Road Warrior Hawk: "One of the biggest hearts you could ever run across that nobody knew he had."

Road Warrior Animal: "Animal is a good friend."

Hulk Hogan: "Hulk Hogan was the icon."

Bret Hart: "One of the greatest technicians."

Curt Henning: "Oh, I love Curt Henning."

Marty Jannetty: "He's a good guy and a lot of fun to go out with!"

Jim Crockett: "A weasel." Barry then goes into the story about how he got into a fight with Crockett concerning The Great American Bash and money.

Vince McMahon: "Vince McMahon is a genius."

Dusty Rhodes (concerning the polka dot gimmick): "I think they thought they would bring him down to nothing, but he turned it around and made it work. That's how good he is!"

Barry's last words for us: "The wrestling business is the greatest business in the world and the friends that you meet in wrestling are life long friends and if anyone has a chance to get into wrestling, get into it."

Barry ends the show with a promo for 3 Count Wrestling.