Art Barr

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Arthur Leon Barr
Data
Ring name Art Barr
Beetlejuice
The Intruder
Love Machine
The Juicer
The Witcher
height 185 cm
Fighting weight 110 kg
birth October 8, 1966
Portland, Oregon
death November 23, 1994
Springfield, Oregon
Trained by Sandy Barr
Roddy Piper
debut April 2nd 1987

Art Barr (born October 8, 1966 in Portland , Oregon , † November 23, 1994 in Springfield , Oregon; real name: Arthur Leon Barr ) was an American wrestler, who mainly through his work in the Mexican league Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) became known, but was also active for World Championship Wrestling (WCW).

Life

Arthur Leon Barr grew up the son of Sandy Barr, a well-known face of the Portland wrestling scene. His older brother Jesse Barr (actually Ferrin Barr Jr.) was also a wrestler. In his youth, Barr befriended Rowdy Roddy Piper , who was performing regularly in Oregon at the time. While studying at Oregon State University , Art Barr was a wrestler and four-time district and two state champions. However, he dropped out prematurely to support his wife, who was pregnant.

To support his family, Bar worked in a steel mill, but at night he trained with his father, brother and Matt Osborne to become a wrestler. He had his first match on April 2, 1987 at Pacific Northwest Wrestling (PNW), where his father also appeared as a wrestler and referee. After initially appearing under his real name, on the advice of Piper it was finally named "Beetlejuice" after the title character of the 1988 film of the same name . He also wore facepaint and bleached hair. In the PNW he became a crowd favorite.

On July 16, 1989, on the sidelines of a PNW show in Portland, he had sexual intercourse with a 19-year-old woman who later accused him of rape. Barr initially described the sex as consensual, but admitted in a polygraph test that the woman disagreed, but was convinced he had persuaded her. Barr managed to reach an understanding . Although he was fined and did community service for sexual assault , he was able to avoid jail time. Barr was certain he had been wrongly convicted, but his employer advised him not to pursue the case as the PNW feared it would suffer further damage if defeated. After the trial, PNW had to end its cooperation, not only because of the conviction, but also because Barr was caught with cocaine . Since he kept this secret in the then usual licensing procedure, his wrestling license was not extended and he was no longer able to wrestle in Portland.

Jim Herd , then President of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) hired him in 1990. The plan was to use his character, renamed "The Juicer", to appeal to a more youthful audience in order to catch up with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), which was successful in this area at the time . However, Art Barr only stayed with WCW a year since his conviction was made public. In addition, his rather small stature did not match the more muscular, tall wrestlers of the rest of the Rosters.

After the WCW he tried a fresh start in Mexico. From 1991 to 1992, thanks to the mediation of Konnan , he competed for Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL). There he appeared masked as The American Love Machine until he lost his mask to Blue Panther as the star of an event in the Arena México in front of 18,000 fans (and 8,000 fans in front of the hall) .

Shortly afterwards, he accompanied Konnan to his newly founded promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración, where he founded the legendary La Pareja del Terror tag team together with Eddie Guerrero , the second and final AAA / IWC World Tag Team Champions , a forerunner of the AAA World Tag Team Championship. The tag team was one of the most hated tag teams in Lucha Libre , which soon became a faction and had Konnan, Black Cat, Louie Spicolli (as Madonna's Boyfriend) and Jake Roberts among others . His most famous match was a Hair vs. Mask Match at the Pay Per View When Worlds Collide on November 6, 1994. There La Pareja del Terror competed against El Hijo del Santo and Octagón . The match received one of its rare five-star ratings from Dave Meltzer.

During this very successful time for Art Barr, which was especially financially very positive, the private problems increased, as Barr's wife and child stayed in Oregon. During this time Barr developed an alcohol and drug addiction. On November 23, 1994, Barr died unexpectedly of heart failure at his home in Springfield, Oregon. Whether it was a drug overdose could never be entirely determined.

At the time of his death, Extreme Championship Wrestling , New Japan Pro Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation , among others, expressed interest in Art Barr and his partner Eddie Guerrero. In 2016 he was posthumously inducted into the AAA Hall of Fame .

Eddie Guerrero adapted the Frog Splash, invented by Barr, as his finishing move as a tribute to his late partner.

successes

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Art Barr profile . Online World of Wrestling. Archived from the original on September 21, 2008. Retrieved October 12, 2008.
  2. ^ A b c John Molinaro: Art Barr: What could have been; Looking back at Love Machine's career . In: Slam! Sports . Canadian Online Explorer . Retrieved October 12, 2008.
  3. ↑ Pacific Northwest # 31. Kayfabemeomories.com, accessed August 8, 2018 .
  4. ^ A b Dave Meltzer : Wrestling Observer Newsletter , December 5, 1994
  5. ^ A b Scott Williams: Hardcore History: The Extremely Unauthorized Story of ECW . Pp. 45-46. SportsPublishingLLC, 2006
  6. ↑ Eddie Guerrero. Slam! Sports , accessed August 8, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Barr, Art
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH October 8, 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH Portland, Oregon
DATE OF DEATH November 23, 1994
Place of death Springfield