Barney Irwin

Professional wrestling career

Mid South beginning of The Super Destroyers/The Long Riders (1977–1987) Trained by his brother Scott Irwin & Verne Gagne (who he claims to have not been part of his official training), Bill Irwin began wrestling in 1979 in the National Wrestling Alliance's Central States territory and in Mid South Wrestling and World Class Championship Wrestling, winning the NWA Central States Tag Team Championship in 1979. He wrestled for a short period in MSW in 1982, teaming with his brother Scott as the masked tag team The "Super Destroyers", who were managed by Skandor Akbar. The team would later become known as The Long Riders, in NSW.

Irwin would then depart WCW, not returning until the Clash of the Champions XII on September 5, 1990 in Asheville, NC. Facing Tommy Rich, Irwin fell in defeat. He gained his first win of his comeback four days later in Fort Worth, TX, defeating Dave Sierra in a house show. Irwin would occasionally wrestle under a mask as The Black Scorpion, an angle that saw a variety of masked wrestlers (also including Dave Shelton) face WCW World Champion Sting during the fall of 1990. Wrestling as the Scorpion, Irwin would face Sting in numerous house show matches. Wrestling without the mask, Irwin made his PPV debut at Halloween Havoc 90, losing to Terry Taylor. He concluded the year by defeating TC Carter in a dark match at the Starrcade 90 PPV.

Irwin opened 1991 with a house show defeat at the hands of The Junkyard Dog on January 1 in Corpus Christi. After facing Brad Armstrong and Terry Taylor in house show matches he concluded his second WCW run with a match against Tim Horner on January 31, 1991 in Norfolk, VA.

He would return just over two years later on February 21, 1993, facing Davey Boy Smith in Smith's WCW debut at SuperBrawl III.

Various promotions (1991–1996) Irwin would eventually go on to form a new tag team with Black Bart in the Global Wrestling Federation from 1991 to 1992. During his short tenure, he faced various wrestlers such as Marc Mero, Flash Funk, Barry Windham, Jake Roberts, and The Undertaker. His gimmick did not last long, as he left the company a few months after arriving, in March 1997.

Late career (1997–2014) Upon leaving the WWF, Irwin wrestled on the independent circuit. A year later after leaving WWF, he returned in 1998 for two appearances teaming with Kit Carson as they were defeated by D'Lo Brown and Mark Henry on WWF Shotgun Saturday Night on February 16. He was also defeated by Tiger Ali Singh on June 16 in a dark match for Shotgun. In 2001, Irwin returned to the WWF for one night, resuming the gimmick of "The Goon" for the gimmick battle royal at WrestleMania X-Seven, which was ultimately won by The Iron Sheik. On Raw XV, the 15th-anniversary WWE Raw special on December 10, 2007, Irwin, wrestling as "The Goon" once again, and sporting a thick moustache, participated in the 15th Anniversary Battle Royal. He was eliminated by the Repo Man, and Ted DiBiase went on to win the royal. He retired in 2014.

Championships and accomplishments All Japan Pro Wrestling World's Strongest Tag Determination League Fighting Spirit Award (1989) - with Terry Gordy Big D Wrestling Big D Heavyweight Championship (2 times) Big D Brass Knuckles Championship (1 time) Continental Wrestling Association AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (1 time) AWA Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Larry Latham Georgia Championship Wrestling NWA National Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Scott Irwin Global Wrestling Federation GWF Brass Knuckles Championship (1 time) GWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Black Bart Lutte Internationale Canadian International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Scott Irwin NWA Big Time Wrestling / World Class Championship Wrestling NWA American Tag Team Championship (5 times) - with King Kong Bundy (1) and The Super Destroyer #2 (4) NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship (1 time) NWA World Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (2 times) - with Frank Dusek (1) and Bugsy McGraw (1) WCCW Television Championship (7 times) Pro Wrestling Illustrated PWI ranked him # 311 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the PWI Years in 2003. Steel Domain Wrestling SDW Television Championship (1 time) Universal Wrestling Federation UWF World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Leroy Brown