Demolition Smash

[6.0] "I only followed Barry during his WWF run. I loved Demolition, and Smash by far carried the team in my estimation. Solid wrestler and performer. I'm glad they got their title runs because it was well-deserved. But at the end of the day, I'm not sure we needed Smash to survive. Rating will reflect."

[8.0] "Absolutely underrated. Played some of the best characters of all time including Krusher Kruschev Smash Repo Man Blacktop Bully and my fav Hole in One Barry Darsow. Was a multi tag team champion in the biggest federations and could hold his own in singles matches. He was the best utility player in all of wrestling doing what was ever asked and performed at a high level for many years."

[8.0] "Generally underrated, he was a solid mechanic in an era where that was an invaluable resource, and also had a batty, over the top charisma that was hard to match when he found a gimmick to work with."

[9.0] "Edited for clarity & errors: Excellent in Mid South. Man Mountain Darsow is good mid 80's babyface material but he grew by leaps and bounds as Crusher Darsow & once christened "Krusher Krushev" via Nikolai Volkoff things really took off. His time in Mid Atlantic was strong as well, consistently solid tag work with any North American (or Croatian) portraying a Russian. Once he became "Demolition Smash", his career skyrocketed to legendary/iconic status. I still LOVE Demolition and to heck with anyone saying they aged poorly. The best WWF tag team period, underrated golden era GOLD! The Repo Man was the beginning of the end and that gimmick was hot garbage. Unfortunately, WCW wasn't exactly the greatest place to be for Barry. While Blacktop Bully is an underrated character and run, that match in the back of a truck with Dustin Rhodes really is one of the worst things in wrestling history. Then he was a golfer. No no he didn't retire to become a golfer. He became a wrestling golfer (long before Chavo was forced to become "White"). Yikes. There is a double edged sword when you're A) really to exceptionally good at wrestling & are able to get a good solid match out of almost anyone and B) nice: you maintain employment by becoming enhancement talent. He became enhancement talent. While I really truly endlessly adore and mark out for Demolition, outside of that things can be shaky. However, even with all of the "no one could ever possibly want to watch this" that defines the second half of his career, it's still an 8.75 rounded up because prior to 1994, you had one of the better big man workers."

[7.0] "He is most known as the member of Demolition Smash but he was also a lot of other characters like Repo Man. He did his best to get all these characters over but that is not always possible when you are given garbage. In the ring he was good for his time period and was a great tag team wrestler."

[6.0] "Went through a lot of gimmicks in his time. In Demolition, he had the stronger in ring ability, but weaker mic skills, so the many different gimmicks he went through didn't really land at all for me. Solid jobbing wrestler, but never found the time to come into his own outside of Demolition."

[7.0] "Barry Darsow was a great character based wrestler. Every time that he was on screen as a character, whether it was Smash of Demolition, Repo Man, Blacktop Bully, or as I first saw him Krusher Kruschev, you knew he was going to put his all in to the role, and check all of the boxes that needed to be checked for that said character (promos, in ring work, etc). The only thing he never found success at that hindered his latter career was being himself. He was too nice of a guy to be able to find or tap in to an extension of himself to put on television after wrestling took more of a reality based turn."

[4.0] "Demolition is literally the only interesting thing Darsow has done that's interested me. I am seriously struggling to come up with anything besides the match in the semi bed."

[6.0] "Great tag wrestler as part of Demolition and is still one of my favorites from that era. Unfortunately for him, once Demolition broke up, nobody had anything for him but crappy gimmicks, but I guess a paycheck is a paycheck."

[6.0] "Great mid-carder. Underrated overall talent and had some meh to good gimmicks. Repo Man - MEH gimmick. Krusher Kruschev - Good gimmick. Smash was where he really shined IMO."

[7.0] "Pretty inconsistent, but he was a great lowcarder. Kinda okay in the AWA, great in Demolition, okay as Repo Man and pretty okay in WCW. His wrestling skills are also incosistent, sometimes he can get to a good match, sometimes he can be pretty boring. He pretty much disappeared after being a booker in WXO"

[5.0] "He had many gimmicks. He was okay as Smash in Demolition. They were a popular tag team, even though they were kind of a dull and generic '80s tag team when you look back at the footage. When he became Repo Man, his career went downhill, because it seemed he was no longer booked as a serious character. He had a few gimmicks after that, but that? s when his run as a upper midcard guy was pretty much done"

[6.0] "Enjoyed him a lot as part of Demolition, but never really stood out when going solo. I don't doubt he could've gone further with the right support and push, but that never came."

[8.0] "Repo Man was one of my favorite wrestlers when I was a kid. He was like the Hamburgler, or the Noid, but instead of stealing burgers or pizza, he stole your car."

[6.0] "Solid as a big guy in Demolition but wasn't exactly destined to go anywhere other than the tag team scene."

[7.0] "Barry Darsow was a very solid worker, nothing outstanding in his repertoire but he could be relied upon to hold up his hand of a match and angle."

[8.0] "Underrated wrestler and a very nice man. I have met him. Too bad about the terrible gimmicks he had such as the Repo Man and the gimmicks in WCW. His wrestling style is great to watch. Like the Russian gimmick he had as Krusher Krushev and Demolition Smash. I think Darsow should have had a better push in his career."

[6.0] "Credible worker. Nothing special in the ring or on the mic. A point is added for the multiple characters he could play."

[9.0] "OK, yes this guy was nothing to write home about in terms of in-ring work. Yes he was good but nowhere in the class of the greats. What makes him great was his ability to adapt to whatever character he was given. Be it a Russian follower, one half of Demolition or a Repo Man he could pull it off better than anyone."

[8.0] "Best-known as half of Demolition, Barry Darsow had a knack for putting his all into whatever gimmick he was playing, no matter how silly, and making it truly entertaining. Over the years he not only played Smash of Demolition, but also mid-'80s Russian stereotype Krusher Kruschev, corny early '90s character Repo Man, and an evil golfer in late-'90s WCW. Whatever he was doing he made fun to watch, and you knew he was going to break somebody's stinkin' arm."

[7.0] "Very underrated bigger guy. He could talk, was an integral part of one of the best tag teams ever, and make a wrestlecrap gimmick in Repo Man entertaining. Darsow was good."