On Brand Segunda Caida: More Dirtbag Era Barry Windham

Barry Windham vs. Owen Hart WWF Raw 3/9/98

ER: This match shouldn't have been as underwhelming as it was, the only Owen/Windham singles match that ever happened. There were several Hart Foundation/Blackjacks tags in 1997 but this was the singles match. And I don't know how else to describe it, other than as a hard worked match from two men who worked like they were on muscle relaxers. Is it possible to lazily work hard? You watch this match and ask that question. Barry Windham takes so many bumps during this match and they didn't stop for a single hold, 5 minutes of exchanges that kept the same pace front to back. At the same time, they both had this thousand yard stare and it's like they were doing moves to each other without making eye contact, making it feel like a hyper-realistic THQ/AKI demo. Windham looked tired and sluggish, but his timing was right on point and he was active the entire time. He threw suplexes and a nice DDT, had a great looking dropdown into his diving lariat, got up for back suplexes and backdrops and bumps to the floor. But he also throws his punches at half speed and just walks into offense multiple times. You watch Barry Windham slowly walk directly towards an Owen Hart dropkick and then tell me these two aren't actually a simulation. This was during the three month stretch where Owen got his nuts bashed in every week by Chyna, and that gives Barry Windham the count out victory, his last ever WWF win. We were this close to a Dirtbag European Champion. He could have worn black and white striped shirts and change his name to Beret Windham.

Barry Windham vs. Eric Sbraccia NWA New England 9/20/98

ER: Here's a fun glimpse at Barry Windham - same age as my present age - wrestling an indy show in between his WWF and WCW stints. Erich Sbraccia was a Good 90s Indy Wrestler, coming out with goons like Tony Rumble and Knuckles Nelson, all of them looking exactly how all Late 90s East Coast Indy Wrestlers were supposed to look. And man I wish this match went longer. It's only 7 minutes, a real shame, as they clearly had material to work longer. The crowd was hot and reacting to Barry like it was 1993. Sbraccia throws some armdrags to surprise Windham, then slams him (looks like Barry came in expecting an armdrag so Sbraccia had to muscle him into a slam, which looked impressive). And of course then Barry comes back with the same and it's great seeing Windham throwing fast armdrags. I said Sbraccia was good, and he did a lot of basic things I like out of my guys: There's a fast rope run exchange where he really swings low and for the fences on a missed lariat, and he takes a really great backdrop bump; later he eats a couple nice punches from Windham and takes a wonderful pratfall bump onto the apron, his boot getting hung up on the top rope. Windham was really hustling too, taking a fast bump to the gym floor and landing with a thud, and really whipping off the ropes with his diving lariat. The finish is all mumbo jumbo run in from Knuckles, and it was annoying in that way you can tell a match is going home a minute before they arrive home. This delivered as a 7 minute match, but it really could have been a great match with 14 minutes. Both guys seemed game, but this was just about the end of Indy Windham. Indham.