John R. Barend (March 27, 1929 – September 20, 2011), better known as "Handsome" Johnny Barend, was an American professional wrestler.

Early life

Born in 1929 in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located i ...

, Barend started wrestling as an amateur at the age of eight. After graduating from Thomas Jefferson High School in Rochester in 1944, he served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and wrestled while in the service.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1949–1962)

He was trained to wrestle professionally by Ed Don George and made his professional debut on November 1, 1949, defeating Faro Rinaldi. In 1956, he started teaming with Gene Dubuque, who was wrestling under the name, Magnificent Maurice. Barend's original manager was Ernie Roth, then using the name Mr. Kleen. Roth would gain fame in the WWWF as the Grand Wizard of Wrestling during the 1970s. Barend and Maurice went on to win many tag-team championships. Barend first appeared in Hawaii with 50th State Big Time Wrestling in September 1955.

Capital Wrestling Corporation / World Wide Wrestling Federation (1962–1963)

In 1962–1963, Barend was a regular tag team partner with NWA/WWWF world champion Buddy Rogers. The duo won the Capital Wrestling Corporation's United States Tag Team Championship on July 5, 1962, holding it for 245 days. Barend would hold the NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship a number of times with a variety of partners as well as the San Francisco version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship.

NWA Upstate (1963–1965)

Barend left the WWWF in September 1963. The following month, he returned to the New York-based NWA Upstate promotion. Over the following months, his regular opponents included Hans Schmidt, Ilio DiPaolo,

Karl Von Hess Karl Von Hess (born Frank George Faketty; May 18, 1919 – August 12, 2009) was an American professional wrestler. Early life Faketty was born in Michigan in 1919 to Hungarian immigrants, and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. Von Hess was a life ...

, and Moose Cholak. Barend left NWA Upstate in mid-1964 to wrestle for 50th State Big Time Wrestling in Hawaii. He returned to NWA Upstate in January 1965. During 1965, Barend regularly faced

Chris Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), N ...

and

John Tolos John Tolos, nicknamed "The Golden Greek", (September 18, 1930 – May 28, 2009) was a Canadian professional wrestler, and professional wrestling manager. Professional wrestling career Tolos was born on September 18, 1930, in Hamilton, Ontar ...

, as well as opponents such as Hans Schmidt, Johnny Powers, and The Beast. In December 1965, Barend left NWA Upstate once again to return to Hawaii.

50th State Big Time Wrestling (1964, 1966–1972)

Barend wrestled Dory Funk, Jr. in 1969 for the

NWA World Heavyweight Championship The NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship is a world heavyweight professional wrestling championship owned and promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), an American professional wrestling promotion. The current champion is Tyrus, who is ...

. He retired from wrestling in 1972.

Professional wrestling style and persona

Barend usually played the part of the "heel" or bad guy. He would enter the ring wearing his customary hat and sunglasses an unlit cigar gracing his lips and would goad fans with his soliloquies. During his time in Hawaii, he came up with the phrase, "Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat" which was later "borrowed" by

Jesse Ventura Jesse Ventura (born James George Janos; July 15, 1951) is an American politician, actor, and retired professional wrestler. After achieving fame in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), he served as the 38th governor of Minnesota from 1999 to ...

Personal life

Barend married Annie Lum in 1967 in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the islan ...

. The ceremony took place during a wrestling show at

Honolulu International Center The Neal S. Blaisdell Center is a community center near downtown Honolulu, Hawaii. The complex has a multi-purpose arena, concert hall, exhibition hall, galleria, meeting rooms, Waikiki Shell and others. Constructed in 1964 on the historic ...

with Jim Hady serving as Barend's

best man A groomsman or usher is one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony and performs the first speech at the wedding. Usually, the groom selects close friends and relatives to serve as groomsmen, and it is considered an honor to be s ...

. The two men wrestled in a tag team match together later in the show, with Annie at ringside.

Death

Barend died on September 20, 2011 in Avon, New York. He reportedly died peacefully in his sleep from natural causes after refusing a visit to the hospital as suggested by his doctor.

Championships and accomplishments

* 50th State Big Time Wrestling **

NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship The NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance and is defended in the US state of Hawaii. The title, which is still currently defended, began in 1935. From February ...

(

2 times "2 Times" is a song co-written and recorded by British Italian-based singer Ann Lee. It was released in 1999 as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999). The single entered and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Outsid ...

) ** NWA North American Heavyweight Championship ''(Hawaii version)'' (

) ** NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship ( 7 times) – with Sandor Kovacs (1), Ripper Collins (2), Hans Mortier (1), Jim Hady (1), Magnificent Maurice (1), and Billy Robinson (1) ** NWA United States Heavyweight Championship ''(Hawaii version)'' ( 1 time) *American Wrestling Alliance (Indiana) **AWA Indiana World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Magnificent Maurice * Capitol Wrestling Corporation/World Wide Wrestling Federation ** WWWF United States Tag Team Championship (

) – with Buddy Rogers ** WWWF United States Heavyweight Championship (

) *Midwest Wrestling Association (Ohio) **MWA Ohio Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **MWA Ohio Eastern States Heavyweight Championship (2 times) **MWA Ohio Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Magnificent Maurice *

NWA Detroit Big Time Wrestling (also known as NWA Detroit) was a professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Detroit, Michigan in the United States. History Professional wrestling debuted in Detroit in the 1920s when Nick Londos began promoting eve ...

** NWA World Tag Team Championship ''(Detroit version)'' ( 1 time) – with Magnificent Maurice * NWA Hollywood Wrestling ** WWA International Television Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) - with Bill Melby *

NWA San Francisco NWA San Francisco was a professional wrestling promotion headquartered in San Francisco, California in the United States. Founded in 1935 by "The Utica Panther" Joe Malcewicz (1897–1962), the promotion joined the National Wrestling Alliance i ...

** NWA World Tag Team Championship (''San Francisco version'') ( 1 time) – with

Enrique Torres Enrique Torres (July 25, 1922 – September 10, 2007) was an American professional wrestler, the oldest three Torres brothers in wrestling, and a major star in the late 1940s and 1950s. Personal life Torres was married to Maria in 1938. They h ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barend, Johnny 1929 births 2011 deaths American male professional wrestlers Professional wrestlers from New York (state) Sportspeople from Rochester, New York United States Navy personnel of World War II 20th-century professional wrestlers