Former pro-wrestling star Manny Fernandez talked about coming up with Barry Windham and the challenges Barry faced to be a big star on the latest edition of his “No BS with The Bull” podcast on VOC Nation. Hear his full thoughts on the subject, including other topics like Abdullah The Butcher and Terry Funk, below.
On how crazy Abdullah The Butcher was:
“He’s so crazy; he never wanted to keep it in the ring. He wanted to tear up (the stands) and fight all over the place, tip people merchandise tables over, that was a lot of fun… I’ve never seen Abby not bleed… I’ll tell you what, Abby could work. The day he surprised me at (Starcade) when he took a suplex and a monkey flip from me, I thought he was nuts when he called that. But Abby could work when he (wanted) to work, and if he liked you he busted his butt for you, and that’s what he did for me… Not many people get a chance to suplex Abby.”
Talks Terry Funk working stiff to protect the business:
“Terry was stiff all the time. That’s how (he) worked. That didn’t bother me because I already knew going into it. If you’re going to get stiff in the chest and the back and the legs and the arms and you can’t take it, well then you’re in the wrong business. (He) knew how to lay it in and when to lay it in to make it look real. To be real, they had to be real – especially if they were outside the ring near the fans back in the day, they had to get stiff; they were going to lay it in.”
On Barry Windham:
“Barry was born into the business and he went everywhere with his Dad, Blackjack… He (grew up) around Ric Flair and he used to go to Ric Flair’s house and party when he was in high school… Barry was very fortunate to (grow up) around the business; he became a natural. When me and him started going around Amarillo together and working out in the ring, you could tell he was a natural because it was in his blood. Barry was one of the greatest workers in that era.”
How Ric Flair would always moon everyone at the end of a party:
“He always threw crazy parties. At the end, he’d always drop his pants and show his butt. He did that everywhere… He’d get drunk at the end and just drop his drawers and moon everybody. That was his big skit.”
Says Dusty Rhodes was a jealous person and that affected his booking:
“Dusty was a booker, but he also was a jealous person. If he thought you were getting over more than him, then he put the clamps on you… You couldn’t be bigger than Dusty; Dusty had to be the biggest (star)… Dusty had to be bigger than the promotion; it was all about Dusty. Every angle was about Dusty… After a while it gets on your nerves…it’s ego.”
Full episode can be found below: