Barry Allen Darsow[2] (born October 6, 1959)[1] is an American retired professional wrestler who performed as Smash, one half of the tag team Demolition.
Darsow attended high school in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, with six other future wrestlers: Curt Hennig, Richard Rood (Rick Rude), Brady Boone, Tom Zenk, John Nord (The Berzerker), and Scott Simpson (Nikita Koloff).
[3] He then moved later that year to Mid-South Wrestling as Crusher Darsow, a turncoat American who was now a Soviet sympathizer and a tag team partner of Nikolai Volkoff.
[2] They won the Florida United States Tag Team Titles on October 11, 1984, from Hector Guerrero and Cocoa Samoa.
He was awarded a third of the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship with Ivan and Nikita Koloff after they fell out with their former partner Don Kernodle.
At Starrcade 1985, on November 28, Khruschev won the vacant NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship by defeating Sam Houston.
After helping Nikita defeat Magnum, Khruschev and Ivan targeted the new NWA United States Tag Team Championship, which was to be awarded to the winners of a tournament.
They reached the finals, held on September 26, 1986, and defeated the Kansas Jayhawks (Dutch Mantel and Bobby Jaggers) with Nikita's help to become the first US Tag Team Champions.
Kruschev and Ivan briefly feuded with Nikita and Rhodes but primarily defended their titles in rematches against Mantel and Jaggers.
Darsow was tabbed as the new Smash after Colley, who wore face paint like Eadie did as part of his character, was deemed too recognizable even in disguise due to fans chanting "Moondog" at him whenever Demolition wrestled.
Their initial feuds involved the team of Ken Patera and Billy Jack Haynes, and Strike Force (Tito Santana and Rick Martel).
On March 27, 1988, at WrestleMania IV, they defeated Strike Force to win their first WWF World tag team title, which they held for a record 16 months.
Originally, they were the heels in their rivalry with the Powers of Pain; however, as a result of the incident at the Survivor Series, Demolition became full-fledged babyfaces.
Demolition conclusively won the feud with their ex-manager and his new team when they defeated the Powers and Fuji in a five-man handicap tag match at WrestleMania V. They lost the WWF Tag Team Title to The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard) on the July 29, 1989 Saturday Night's Main Event XXII.
[17] After a feud with Legion of Doom, the team dropped down the card and would disband in the spring of 1991, with Crush leaving the WWF for a year and Smash wrestling as a singles wrestler,[6] primarily in house show undercards, where he was used to elevate other stars, such as Kerry Von Erich, Greg Valentine and Ricky Steamboat.
He also appeared under a mask as an unnamed man hired by Ted DiBiase to wrestle Virgil on the August 18, 1991 SummerSlam Spectacular special.
Following the August 24 house show defeat to Davey Boy Smith, Darsow retired the Demolition gimmick and was off the road for three months.
[22] He also appeared at WrestleMania VIII, teaming with The Mountie and The Nasty Boys to be defeated by The Big Boss Man, Virgil, Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Sgt.
By August, he began appearing in the front of events with a blow horn, making noise and berating the faces while they wrestled, and would sometimes be kicked out of arenas by security.
[1] On the April 24, 1999, edition of Worldwide, Darsow dropped the golfer gimmick, returning to his given name and wearing a black singlet.
[2] That same year, Darsow made a special WWF appearance at WrestleMania X-Seven for the gimmick battle royal as Repo Man.
[30] Alongside Ax and One Man Gang, he competed in the Chikara King of the Trios Tournament in 2008, but were eliminated in the second round by "The Fabulous Three" (Larry Sweeney, Mitch Ryder and Shayne Hawke).
Their match against Tony DeVito and Ralph Mosco went to a no contest when local commentator and manager Larry Dallas came out and said his men wanted revenge.
[2] He was also good friends with Curt Hennig, Rick Rude (both of whom he attended high school with), Brady Boone, Dino Bravo, and Brian Adams.
[2] Japanese band Aural Vampire produced a song called "The Repoman" and use video footage of Darsow and other wrestlers in live performances.
At one match in 2007, at the pay-per-view taping for Driven, against Takeshi Morishima, Pearce pulled a mask similar to the Repo Man's out of his tights and put it on to the delight of the crowd.