Barry Horowitz Reveals His Original WWE Plans, Why He Left WWE For WCW
If there was a Jobber Hall of Fame, Barry Horowitz would be one of the first inductees. From the late 1980s through 2000, Horowitz was one of the most notable jobbers in both WWE and WCW.
Horowitz spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast about the original plans for his WWE character and why he didn't initially think he would be a jobber.
"At the time [in 1987] I was using Barry Hart as my name and then it got switched to Jack Hart and I thought maybe I'd be in the mix with the Harts," said Horowitz. "But I wasn't. I realized my role was enhancement and bottom line is, take it or leave it. And you're a fool if you leave it unless you got an ego problem about winning or losing. If you're worried about that, you need to sign up with UFC."
Horowitz was one of WWE's most prominent jobbers during the 1990s and then he jumped ship to WCW during the height of the Monday Night Wars in 1997. He explained why he left for WCW.
"It was a neck injury and the roster was full," Horowitz said of WWE. "So, I had to go elsewhere and had to go to WCW."
John Oliver recently made headlines when he called out WWE for them not providing insurance to wrestlers, and Horowitz said he was pretty much left on his own following his neck injury.
"They were paying me somewhat [in terms of salary] and I also had insurance," Horowitz said before adding that the best insurance was not going out and running up bar tabs. He stayed away from the bar scene and treated wrestling as his career.
"I treated my career very serious and intense and almost like a shoot. It worked for me. You get done with your match, it's time to shower and clean up and then go to bed.
"I don't know how these other guys did it but I had to stay focused."
Horowitz started the 1990s in WCW and after going to WWE also finished out the decade in WCW. He talked about the differences between the two promotions.
"I wrestled less and got more money [laughs]... I guess that's why they're out of business," Horowitz said of WCW. "I only did Nitros and Thunders and Saturday Night tapings and then some house shows here and there. You would work more for WWF."
Horowitz also said he had much less of a relationship with Eric Bischoff than he had with Vince McMahon. "I really only spoke to Eric maybe one time. That was it."
As a jobber, Horowitz had the opportunity to work with most of the top stars. He spoke kindly of lots of them and rattled off many names of who he enjoyed working with: "Armstong Family, Lenny Layne, the Patriot Del Wilkes, Bob Backlund, all the Samoans, Owen and Bret Hart...
When asked who was the nicest he worked with, Horowitz said Backlund, Hulk Hogan and "Superstar" Billy Graham – "a very kind gentleman."
Barry Horowitz will be appearing at the Legends of The Ring convention in Monroe, NJ on June 1st. More information can be found here. His full interview with Wrestling Inc was included in today's episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player below.
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