Growing up as a fan of professional wrestling, whenever I saw Barry Horowitz wrestle, I had two immediate thoughts. First, that guy is probably going to lose the match. Second – based on his name and my pre-teenage assumptions – that guy is Jewish.
Wrestling is not often associated with Judaism, hence Barry Horowitz seeming like a rarity within his field. Yet if you read enough of my features for the Jewish Journal, you may also recall recent interviews with the likes of Maxwell Jacob Friedman (“MJF”), Scott Levy (“Raven”) and Colt Cabana, who are all M.O.T. and have all wrestled extensively on television.
Horowitz, who was initially trained by the not-universally-known-to-be-Jewish wrestler named Boris Malenko (real name Lawrence Simon), got his start in wrestling in the late 1970s and still remains ring-ready these days. Prior to landing within the WWF (now WWE) ranks in the 1980s, Horowitz was the holder of the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship. And of course, his decades in the ring have pitted him against many of the most popular wrestlers of all-time, including The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Bret Hart, The Ultimate Warrior, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Bill Goldberg, Dusty Rhodes, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Mick Foley, Triple H, and Rowdy Roddy Piper.
Bringing things up to the present, the man known as “Mr. Technical” is currently off the road from appearances and signings due to the Coronavirus pandemic. However, Horowitz does keep busy as a trainer and schooled nutritionist, and does have a Pro Wrestling Tees online store.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Barry Horowitz by phone on April 6, and the audio from that conversation is embedded below for your listening pleasure. We explored Horowitz’s Jewish roots and plenty more within that chat.
More on Barry Horowitz can be found here.
