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Barry W. Hardy (born July 5, 1962) is an American professional wrestler and trainer who has competed in North American independent promotions since 1987, including East Coast Wrestling, Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation, the National Wrestling Alliance, New Millennium Wrestling and Larry Sharpe's World Wrestling Association.
Hardy also had stints in Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation, most notably as one half of "The Lords of Darkness" and the second incarnation of The Executioners with Duane Gill from 1990 to 1995.
They also began appearing on WWF television, although used as preliminary wrestlers, he and Gill had matches on WWF Primetime Wrestling against The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal), The Orient Express, The Rockers (Marty Jannetty and Shawn Michaels) and Jim Duggan and Sgt. Slaughter between 1990 and late 1991. On June 5, 1990, he and Gill faced WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition at the War Memorial Auditorium in Rochester, New York. They also faced Rhythm and Blues (The Honky Tonk Man and Greg Valentine) in Hershey, Pennsylvania on August 28. As well as teaming with Gill, Hardy occasionally teamed with different partners such as with Paul Perez against WWF World Tag Team Champions The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) and with Ross Lindsay against Power and Glory (Hercules and Paul Roma). Hardy also faced a young Shane Douglas at the Onondaga War Memorial in Syracuse, New York on December 23, 1990.
The following year, Hardy and Gill defeated Cream Team (Dino Casanova and Rip Sawyer) to become the first MEWF Tag Team Champions on August 2, 1991. In the WWF that year, he also wrestled "Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich, Big Bully Busick and Million Dollar Champion Virgil.
In March 1992, Hardy appeared at a "Live" St. Patrick's Day special for MCW Wrestling where he and Denny Kass defeated The Nightmares (Daniel Briley and Ken Wayne). He also faced "Dirty" Dan Kanareck in a singles match and was pinned after using a neckbreaker. Held at the Continental Cable studios in Madison Heights, Michigan, these matches were later aired on the promotion's weekly television show.
During mid-1992, he faced Bret Hart, Crush, Bob Backlund and Lance Cassidy. During his matches with Backlund and Cassidy, Doink the Clown played practical jokes on his opponents after the match setting up Backlund to slip on a banana peel and putting a "kick me" sign on Cassidy's ring jacket. When Cassidy put the jacket back on after the match, Doink kicked him. Hardy later appeared in single matches against Tatanka and "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith on WWF Superstars and teamed with Paul Diamond of the Orient Express losing to The Bushwhackers on May 5, 1992.
He and Gill also participated in two of three 40-man battle royals held that year. The first, on June 2, included Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Mike Rotunda), The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobs and Jerry Sags), The Beverly Brothers (Beau Beverly and Blake Beverly) and High Energy (Koko B. Ware and Owen Hart) as well as Sgt. Slaughter, Bret Hart, British Bulldog, Virgil, Tito Santana, Rick Martel, "The Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich, Steve Keirn, Barry Darsow, Jim Powers, Jim Brunzell, Glenn Ruth, Phil Apollo, Barry Horowitz, Bobby Star, Dublin Destroyer, Rick Johnson, Al Hunter, Bob Knight, Rick Danger, Jerry Davis, Scott Antonio, Tony Ulysses, Bruce Mitchell, Joe Milano and several others. The battle royal was later featured on WWF Rampage '92.
The second battle royal took place two months later. He and Gill (as The Executioners) took part in a 40-man battle royal won by Tatanka and which included Tito Santana, Bret Hart, Sgt. Slaughter, Col. Mustafa, Shawn Michaels, Crush, Kerry Von Erich, Virgil, Skinner, Repo Man, Barry Horowitz, Jim Powers, Brooklyn Brawler, Reno Riggins, Dale Wolfe, Brian Costello, Chuck Casey, Dom Jones, Burt Spears, Thor Anderson, Tom Cumberland, Mark Kordis, Legion of Doom, Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and IRS), The Beverly Brothers (Beau and Blake Beverly), The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobs and Jerry Sags), High Energy (Koko B. Ware and Owen Hart) and The Natural Disasters (John Tenta and Fred Ottman). The battle royal was the first and largest held in WWF history and was later profiled in WWE Magazine. These were considered the largest battle royals held at a professional wrestling event until the introduction of the annual three ring 60-man battle royal at World War III three years later. He made his last WWF appearances on WWF Primetime losing to Davey Boy Smith on September 28 and Bret Hart on October 5, 1992.
On January 23, 1993, Hardy and Gill lost the WWA Tag Team titles to ECW Tag Team Champions The Super Destroyers in an interpromotional event between the World Wrestling Alliance and Eastern Championship Wrestling at the Radisson Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, they briefly regained the titles before losing them to Chris Candido and Chris Evans and left for the WWF shortly after.
Appearing on WWE Raw throughout the year, he and Gill would face The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner), The Quebecers (Jacques Rougeau and Pierre Oulette) and Men on a Mission (Mo and Mabel). They had previously faced Men on a Mission in their WWF debut on WWF Challenge several months before splitting up with Gill in 1995. Prior to their breakup, they also faced The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) in a non-sanctioned match for the SMW Tag Team Championship at a special co-promotional event hosted by the WWF. Hardy himself soon left the WWF after losing to The Steiner Brothers in a tag team match with Mike Khoury on April 18, 1994.
Early the next year, Hardy appeared in World Championship Wrestling with he and Marcus Watson taking on then WCW United States Champion Big Van Vader in a handicap match at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida on February 5, 1995. Later that month, he and Scott Armstrong faced Colonel Robert Parker's Stud Stable (Bunkhouse Buck and Dick Slater) on February 25. Two months later, Hardy faced Tonga Fifita at the Center Stage Theater in Atlanta, Georgia and was knocked out in 39 seconds after a superkick. On May 13, Hardy teamed with Chris Speaker and lost to Stars and Stripes (Buff Bagwell and The Patriot) on WCW Saturday Night.
In early 2000, he began wrestling for the promotion New Millennium Wrestling where he was an instrumental part of bringing independent wrestling back to the Rochester, NY area. He teamed up with Mike "Rose" Rosario, a student Hardy had trained at "Bad Boy's House of Pain. They became known as the tag team Vain and Insane and won the first tournament to become the first NMW Tag Team Champions. Vain and Insane were stripped of their tag team championships and in the next tournament Killer Kowalski, Jr single handedly became the only one man tag team champion. After the breakup Hardy defeated Jason Atlas to become the NMW Heavyweight Champion (which Hardy still defends today).He has defended the title against some of the top wrestlers on the independent circuit including his former tag team partner Duane Gill and Killer Kowalski, Jr., the kayfabe son of Killer Kowalski, whom he defeated in a no-holds-barred street fight. He later left NMW after a dispute, forfeiting the Heavyweight Championship. Months later he wrestled alongside Kowalski Jr. in New York Championship Wrestling (NYCW), based out of Syracuse, NY.
After promoter Zane Allen folded NYCW, Hardy wrestled with Kowalski Jr a few times in Toronto and then relocated to Florida where remained fairly inactive, until returning to Rochester, on March 14, 2009 Hardy returned to Rochester, defeating Eric Everlast for Pier 6 Wrestling. Hardy also wrestled in NEW Niagara on April 4, 2009. On that night, Hardy and his son were defeated by the Emanon Boyz in a gauntlet match. Recently Hardy was listed #494 in the Pro Wrestling Illustrated 500. He thanked wrestling journalist Scotty Bender for rejuvenating his career. On the August 6, 2011 edition of Rochester, NY based Pier 6 Wrestling "Shakedown TV", Barry was defeated by "The Righteous One" JC Money by disqualification. Hardy wrestled in Ohio for American State Wrestling Alliance from 2011 to 2017.
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