I would first like to thank our very Rick Del Santo, who`s interview with Barry Horowitz, gave me a lot of the information that I am using for this piece.

Barry Horowitz was a state champion when he wrestled in high school in Florida, where he was teammates with college All-American and professional wrestling star Buzz Sawyer. Horowitz went on to wrestle at Florida State University, before being trained as a professional by Boris Malenko. Horowitz started off wrestling on independent shows in Florida, before calling Gorilla Monsoon and getting himself booked for the WWF, where Horowitz put over the companies stars as Barry Hart. Horowitz asked the company if they could send him somewhere where he could get a push. The company originally tried to get Horowitz a job for Pacific Northwest wrestling owned by Don Owens. Owens didn’t have a spot for Horowitz, so the company got him a job for Mid-Atlantic wrestling for Jim Crockett Jr.

It was for Mid-Atlantic wrestling, where Horowitz wrestled as Brett Hart, the same name as the legendary WWF superstar. Horowitz beat veteran Gary Royal on Mid-Atlantic TV,  despite beating Royal on TV, Horowitz lost most of his TV matches to veteran stars. Even though Horowitz usually lost on TV, it was in Mid-Atlantic wrestling where Horowitz received his first push. Horowitz usually wrestled on the first or second match on the house shows, where he won his matches regularly. At the height of his Mid-Atlantic push, Horowitz was winning around 60-70% of his matches on the house shows.  In Mid-Atlantic Horowitz teamed semi-regularly with Sam Houston, Brickhouse Brown and Keith Larson, winning matches with all three partners. While wrestling for Mid-Atlantic, Horowitz sent to Georgia for A match, when he teamed with Vinny Valentino in a loss to Ivan Koloff and Don Kernodle.

After his time in Mid-Atlantic ended Horowitz went home to Florida, where he wrestled as Jack Hart and got his first big push on TV.  When Horowitz first got to Florida he won a handful of matches on the house shows, but he always lost on television. Horowitz TV losing streak gave him the name winless Jack Hart, and Hart was brought into Percy Pringle`s (Paul Bearer)stable, because his mother thought that Hart had potential. While wrestling in Pringle`s stable, Hart started loading up his glove, and went on a huge winning streak on television. Hart won his first title, when he beat Mike Graham in a tournament final for the vacant Florida Championship. Hart defended the title at the first battle of the belts, when he lost the title to Kendal Whindham. While wrestling for Florida Championship wrestling, Hart made an appearance for Mario Savoldi`s ICW wrestling on an ICW Florida show, that featured wrestlers from ICW,AWA, Florida Championship wrestling and Global wrestling from Florida.

Horowitz next stop was Memphis where he continued to wrestle as Jack Hart. Horowitz run in Memphis was short, but he had good success there. While wrestling  in Memphis, Hart teamed with Chic Donavan where they beat Rocky Johnson and Soultrain Jones(Virgil) for the companies tag team titles.

In 1987 Barry Horowitz returned to the WWF wrestling under his given name. Early in his WWF return, Horowitz wrestled the Ultimate Warrior on A series of opening matches, around the time the Warrior started wrestling for the company.  For the next few years, Horowitz won some matches on the road shows, but his main role was putting over the companies superstars at the WWF tapings.  Horowitz was a regular on WWF TV and at he house shows, until he suffered a shoulder injury in 1990.

Horowitz arrived in WCW during 1990, where Horowitz was brought in to wrestle in A similar role, that the WWF used him in. During Horowitz first WCW run, he spent most of his time losing to the companies top stars. It was in WCW where one of the major two wrestling companies in the United States, saw that Horowitz could potentially be a star in their company. Horowitz was given A small push on WCW TV during October of 1990. On WCW TV in October that year, Horowitz interfered in match between Terry Taylor and Moondog Rex, this led to Taylor and Tommy Rich beating Horowitz and Rex on TV the next week. That month Horowitz also teamed with the Freebirds to beat the Renegade Warriors and Allen Iron Eagle on WCW TV, when Horowitz pinned Iron Eagle. The following week Horowitz pinned Tommy Angle in a singles match on WCW TV. Following his win against Tommy Angle, Horowitz brief push ended, and he went back to losing to the companies top stars on TV every week.

Around the time Horowitz returned to the WWF in 1991, Horowitz enjoyed success in many different places. Horowitz was brought into Herb Abrams UWF by Sunny Beach, where he received a small push again beating Tommy Angel on TV. In Gordon Scozzari`s short lived AWF, Horowitz was put in a tag team with cowboy bob Orton. Horowitz also went to Global wrestling on ESPN, where he was given the name the winner Barry Horowitz. It was in Global where Horowitz twice won the companies light heavyweight title, once from Jerry Lynn and once from Ben Jordan.  In that time period Horowitz also had a lot of success overseas.

Horowitz received a push in the country of India. Horowitz wrestled for Otto Wanz and the Catch wrestling in Austria and Germany. While wrestling for Otto Wanz, Horowitz won the companies middleweight title from Frans Schuhmann. Horowitz also was signed by all-Japan where he got a big push. It was while wrestling for All-Japan, where Horowitz teamed with Abdullah the Butcher, Steve Williams, Stan Hansen, Johnny Ace and All Perez.

From 1991-95 Horowitz established himself as a very respected utility player for the WWF. During this period, Horowitz wrestled on WWF TV, putting over the company`s biggest stars. Horowitz teamed with the Skinner losing a series of house matches to High energy(Koko B Ware and Owen Hart) On an early episode of Monday Night Raw Horowitz teamed up with the 123 Kid, challenging The Quebeckers for the WWF tag team titles in A losing effort. During that period Horowitz often filled in during tag team matches, when one of the members of A tag team was injured. On house shows Horowitz teamed with Tom Pritchard, Timothy Well and Blake Beverly on house shows when their partners were injured, although all of these matches were losses.

At the 1993 Survivor series, Horowitz received his biggest break with the company up to that point in time, when he replaced Terry Funk as the Jerry Lawyer`s Red Night, when they took on the Hart family. After Lawyer`s Knights of the squared circle lost at the Survivor series, Horowitz teamed up with the Brooklyn Brawler as the Knights of the squared circle on house shows, losing to the Smoking Guns and Men on A Mission. During This period Horowitz continued to be unselfish, doing jobs on TV for Jim Cornette`s Smokey Mountain. Horowtiz also did a good job In Memphis for Paul Diamond, when Diamond was working out his Max Moon gimmick, before he debuted it for the WWF.

In 1995 Horowitz`s fortune turned around when he Upset Skip at A WWF TV taping. Fans will remember Jim Ross yelling over and over “Horowitz wins! The upset was not a one time thing, Horowitz WWF push was in full motion. The match led to a full out feud with Skip at the house shows, where the two of them would trade off wins. Horowitz continued his wining ways, he pulled off another upset on TV when he beat Hakushi. The win led to Hakushi turning good, with Horowitz becoming Hakushi`s team partner and spokesman. In six man tag matches Horowitz, Hakushi and Fatu would beat Skip, Issac Yankeem and Kama in house shows all over the country, and later Horowitz and Fatu beating Bob Backland and Skip in A series of tag matches. Horowitz would also wrestle in house show programs with Yankeem, Sir Mo and Sweet Daddy Falcone, where Horowitz won all of his matches in these programs.

It was also in 1995, when Horowitz had biggest moment ever in Professional wrestling. At survivor series 1995, Horowitz was team captain for the Underdogs in their match at the Survivor Series. The underdogs and their team leader lost their match at the  Survivor series, but Horowitz being team captain of a team at the Survivor series, was his shining  moment as a professional wrestler.  Horowitz would continue to get a push with the WWF until he left the company in 1997.

Horowitz  would next enter WCW in 1997. After beating Hardbody Harrison on TV shortly after his debut, it looked like Horowitz was going to be in the mix at WCW. After beating Harrison, Horowitz push ended quickly and he was used to put other talent over, until he left the company in 2000. When discussing his time at WCW with Rick Del Santo, Horowitz told Del Santo that he enjoyed wrestling for WCW in the late 90`s.  He explained that the money was great, and he didn’t have to wrestle or travel all that often.

After leaving WCW Horowitz would go on to win Florida`s FOW hardcore title from Rusty Brooks and 500lb Maximum Capacity. He also won the MEWF mid-Atlantic championship from Bob Starr, and he would wrestle in Canada winning the BCW CAN-AM tag team titles with Otis Apollo. Horowitz retired from wrestling full-time in 2003.  Before resurfacing in 2022 to beat Joey Janella. That same year Horowitz faced Atsushi Onita, Colt Cobana , Juice Robinson and The Rock N Roll Express in a ten man tag team match. In 2023 Barry Horowitz made his Impact wrestling debut, beating Johnny Attitude on Impact television.

Barry Horowitz remains a beloved figure in wrestling today. Horowitz combination of talent, professionalism and willingness to stick with it, led him to getting a push in the largest wrestling company that was ever created. Horowitz is a great example of the cream rising. A very well respected wrestler, who just went out and performed every night, until he finally got his big break, and once he got his big break, Horowitz made the very most of it.