Profile #317: Barry Horowitz

To my knowledge, Horowitz was the first [and only?] openly Jewish wrestler in history. Despite his Semitic weakness, Horowitz made it to the "big league" and landed a gig with the WWF in early 1987. Unfortunately, he wallowed in opening matches, where he was summarily pinned in under 5 minutes. This would become his trademark, and he was one of the pioneers of the "lifelong jobber" gimmick.

Horowitz graduated from Florida State with a degree in sports nutrition. Naturally, this led him to pursue a career in an industry where barbituates and pain killers were popped like Pez. Horowitz was a sound wrestler with a penchant for getting caught in hip-tosses and high back-body drops. Despite his collegial background, Barry never seemed able to adapt to his opponents' offense. His own offense consisted mostly of punches and kicks, and the occasional body slam or atomic drop---though his supreme confidence never waivered. A neck injury forced him to sit out nearly 10 months, and when he returned to action Vince McMahon informed him that his services were no longer needed.

Horowitz wrestled in Jim Cornette's fledgling Smokey Mountain Wrestling for a time, offering his services as a jobber to pock-marked Tennessee inbreds like Tracey Smothers [See Profile #4,265], Bobby Blaze [See Profile #9,211], and "White Lightnin'" Tim Horner [See Profile #8,132]. Unfazed, Horowitz soldiered onward and eventually would re-sign with the WWF in the mid-'90s, where he'd become even more demonstrative by sporting a faux-silk vest with a hand-print on the back. Horowitz would come to the ring and, literally, pat himself on the back.

That hand-print back patting maneuver is probably what most people remember about him. But I remember him more for breaking the invisible barrier pro wrestling had against Jews.

Well....that AND the hand-print back patting.

Where is he now? Horowitz is currently a nutritionist, working in Florida.