| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Roger Barnes (1945-03-30)March 30, 1945 (age 80)[5] |
| Family | Jimmy Garvin (stepson)[7] Patricia Williams (stepdaughter in law) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Ronnie Garvin[1] Mr. Eau Gallie[1] Mr. Knoxville Roger Barnes[2] Ron Garvin[1] |
| Billed height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)[3] |
| Billed weight | 242 lb (110 kg)[3] |
| Billed from | Montreal, Quebec, Canada Charlotte, North Carolina[4] Knoxville, Tennessee |
| Trained by | Pat Curry |
| Debut | 1962[5][1][6] |
| Retired | 2014 |
Roger Barnes (born March 30, 1945) is a Canadian formerprofessional wrestler, better known by hisring name, "Rugged"Ronnie Garvin. He is best known for his appearances withMid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and theWorld Wrestling Federation in the late-1980s and early-1990s.Championships held by Garvin over his career include theNWA World Heavyweight Championship.[1][6] He headlined theStarrcade 1987 pay-per-view event.
Barnes started wrestling in 1962 under his birthname. In the mid-1960s he adopted the ring name "Ron Garvin" and formed atag team withTerry Garvin, who was billed as being his brother.[7][2] The pair competed together in the late 1960s and early 1970s, taking home multiple regional tag team titles. They were managed by their other "brother,"Jimmy Garvin (actually Ron's stepson in real life).[5] In the mid 1980s, Ronnie and Jimmy had a heated feud with the Rougeaus in International Wrestling in Montreal, Garvin's hometown. He made a name for himself as a singles wrestler in theGeorgia,Alabama,Kentucky, andTennessee territories in the late 1970s after splitting with Terry and Jimmy. Garvin wrestled in theRon Fuller (Welch)-owned Knoxville promotion (Southeastern Championship Wrestling) where he (in)famously threw the championship belt off of the Gay Street Bridge. He later wrestled inAngelo Poffo'sInternational Championship Wrestling promotion where he was best known for his heated rivalries withRandy Savage andPez Whatley. One of Garvin's best-known ICW moments was where he knockedOx Baker'sdentures out of his mouth, after which Garvin stomped on the dentures.[5] Garvin is well known in the Southeast, he had feuds with such wrestlers asAndre the Giant,Bob Orton Jr., and Tony Charles. For a time, Garvin used agimmick known as Mr. Knoxville and formed atag team with Charles, but soon Garvin turned on him and started teaming with Orton, turning heel in the process. Garvin held the NWA Georgia Television Title (also known as the National TV Title) 5 times, including a feud with thenLegion of Doom member,Jake "The Snake" Roberts. At one point during the storyline, Jake Roberts held the TV title and refused to give Garvin a rematch. Garvin had to mortgage his house to come up with $10,000 to pay Roberts for a rematch. Garvin would go on to win the rematch and once again become the NWA National TV champion.[8]
Garvin had competed for theNational Wrestling Alliance'sJim Crockett Promotions periodically beginning in 1968, but as he mostly focused on other NWA territories, he was usually considered a jobber to the stars, whether alone or teaming with Terry Garvin.
Garvin returned to JCP in 1984 and began the road that would achieve his greatest success. He became known as "The Man With the Hands of Stone." He feuded withTully Blanchard andBlack Bart. He also formed a tag team withBarry Windham and the duo won theNWA United States Tag Team Championship fromIvan Koloff andKruscher Kruschev before losing the belts to Koloff andDick Murdoch. In particular, Garvin feuded withJim Cornette's "Midnight Express" team of"Lover Boy" Dennis Condrey and"Beautiful" Bobby Eaton.[5] AtStarrcade '85 Garvin teamed withJimmy Valiant to face the Midnight Express in anAtlantaStreet Fight; for this match Garvin wrestled indrag as "Miss Atlanta Lively." Garvin also had a singles feud with Cornette's bodyguard,Big Bubba Rogers[5] to whom he lost a Street Fight atStarrcade '86. In 1987 Windham and Garvin feuded with Cornette's Midnight Express (still composed of Condrey and Eaton) over the United States tag titles. During one televised match, after Cornette threw fire in Garvin's face, Garvin's "brother""Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin came to his rescue, turning both himself and his valetPreciousbabyface in the process. The Garvin "brothers" teamed for a while against the Midnight Express. In May 1987 Windham and Garvin reached the finals of a tournament for the vacant United States tag team titles but lost to the new Midnight Express lineup of Eaton and"Sweet" Stan Lane. The two teams continued to feud over the titles, with the Garvins getting pinfall wins in non-title matches, or DQ wins when the titles were on the line. Ron Garvin also got his revenge on Jim Cornette by defeating him in a series of cage matches where the Rock & Roll Express would run in and keep the Midnight Express from interfering.
The Garvins next entered in a feud with NWA World ChampionRic Flair in 1987 over Flair's lust for Precious. On one occasion when Flair defeated Jimmy to win a date with Precious, he was instead ambushed by Ron Garvin once again in drag as Miss Atlanta Lively. During this feud, Flair once stated that Garvin had "hands of stone," This eventually led to Garvin having the moniker, "The Man With the Hands of Stone." The two had intense matches that sold-out arenas. The two traded victories, with Garvin winning non-title matches and getting DQ wins on title matches, and Flair getting victories when the title was on the line. The feud with Flair took a new twist on September 25, 1987, when Garvin was able to defeat Flair for the title.[9] With the NWA holding the 1987Starrcade the same day that the rivalWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) was holding its firstSurvivor Series, Crockett chose to face the strong WWF competition by having Flair win the title. Flair therefore had to lose the title first and whoever beat him would only be a placeholder champion. Most wrestlers declined the offer, but Garvin, assuming that at 42 it may be his last chance to hold the major NWA title, agreed to fill the role.[5] Indeed, Garvin held the title for two months before losing it back to Flair at Starrcade.[9]
After the title loss, the Garvins entered into a feud withKevin Sullivan and hisVarsity Club. At theGreat American Bash, the brothers teamed withThe Road Warriors andSteve Williams and defeated Sullivan,Mike Rotunda,Al Perez, Russian Assassin andIvan Koloff in aTower of Doom match. Later that night however, Ron Garvin shocked fans when he became aheel by knockingDusty Rhodes out with a punch to keep him from winning Windham's U.S. Title, thus reuniting the former US tag team champions as heels. Garvin was managed byGary Hart but left after only a few months as a heel before the August 12th card in Norfolk, VA after a disagreement, putting an end to 20 years in a Jim Crockett Promotions about to becomeWorld Championship Wrestling.[5]
Still as a heel, Garvin wrestled in theAmerican Wrestling Association in late 1988 and feuded withGreg Gagne over theAWA International Television Championship. He also feuded withCarlos Colon over theWWC Universal Heavyweight Championship during trips toPuerto Rico.[10]
Garvin next went to theWorld Wrestling Federation, where he began to wrestle in November 1988 as afan favorite under the name "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin. At theRoyal Rumble (1989) he competed in the Royal Rumble match, but got eliminated byAndré the Giant. He lost toDino Bravo atWrestleMania V on April 2, 1989.
Garvin went on to feud withGreg Valentine. After a televised match between the two on April 22, 1989, which Garvin won, Valentine was interviewed immediately afterwards and challenged Garvin aretirement match the next week, which Valentine won. Garvin soon started portraying a referee, but during matches, he would fight with the wrestlers who would not listen to his orders, such asDino Bravo and theBrooklyn Brawler. Despite warnings by WWF presidentJack Tunney, Garvin punched Valentine during his match againstJimmy Snuka, which led to him being banned from refereeing.[5] AtSummerSlam, Garvin served as special ring announcer for Valentine's match againstHercules. Garvin stated during his foe's introduction that Valentine was underweighing himself by 30 pounds, and had two left feet. When Valentine pinned Hercules with his feet on the ropes, Garvin announced Hercules as the winner. Valentine knocked him out of the ring, but Garvin came back and punched him out.[11] Irate at Garvin's antics, Valentine asked that Garvin be reinstated so that he could get his hands on him. For the next four months the two had house show matches all over the country, trading victories in the process. The two then battled at the1990 Royal Rumble in aSubmission match, which Garvin won to end the feud. AtSurvivor Series (1989), Garvin competed in a 4-on-4 Survivor Series elimination match where he was a member of The 4x4s (Jim Duggan, Bret Hart, Garvin and Hercules) but they were defeated by The King's Court (Randy Savage, Canadian Earthquake, Dino Bravo and Greg Valentine).
After his feud ended with Valentine, Garvin was about to feud withRick Martel. They cut promos on each other, but a televised match between the two never happened. They did, however, wrestle at house shows, with Martel winning most of the encounters. Garvin left the WWF in November 1990.
Garvin returned to WCW in a house show in Knoxville, Tennessee, on March 8, 1991 when he lost toRick Steiner, but was not given a contract.[12] He thus returned to the World Wrestling Council in 1991 and reignited his feud with Carlos Colon over the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship, winning it for a second time on February 2, 1992.[13] He moved ontoJim Cornette'sSmoky Mountain Wrestling promotion where he feuded withPaul Orndorff andKevin Sullivan, among others. From 1995 to 2001, Garvin ran his own promotion in Knoxville, Tennessee, called Tennessee Mountain Wrestling. In 2001 he sold it to former SMW associate Tony Anthony and Bob Orton Jr., who ran it for two more years[14] He continued making appearances for independent promotions on a semi-retired basis well into the 2000s. In 2011, he competed in a legends battle royal at aJuggalo Championship Wrestling event.[15] On September 20, 2014, he wrestled a tag team match for Bruiser Wrestling Federation in his last recorded match at 69.[16]
Garvin owns several used car dealerships inGaston County, North Carolina.[5] Garvin is an accomplishedpilot (his stepson,Jimmy Garvin, became an airline pilot in his retirement from wrestling). He holds commercial and instrument ratings for single engine and multi engine aircraft.[17]
Barnes' stepson,Jimmy Garvin, is also a former professional wrestler.[18]
1This title was originally named the NWA Georgia Television Championship and was eventually renamed the NWA World Television Championship. However, in March 1985, World recognition is dropped by the NWA and the title reverts to the National Television Championship.
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