Ivor Anthony Patrick Barrett (March 11, 1936 – November 28, 2021), known as Pat Barrett, was an Irish

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

. During his career, which spanned from 1960 to the later-1980s, he wrestled in countries including Ireland, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States, appearing with promotions including the

National Wrestling Alliance The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion and former professional wrestling governing body operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA ...

and the

World Wide Wrestling Federation Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd. was an American sports promotion company. It was run by Vincent J. McMahon from 1953 to 1982. Operating as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC), the company was originally a professional wrestling and boxing p ...

Professional wrestling career

Barrett started wrestling in 1960 as Paddy Barrett in Ireland and in 1963, he joined the

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

where he joined the sanctioned body of promotions in the U.S.,

. He also toured

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

where he created a successful tag team with Tim Geoghegan. Barrett and Geoghegan defeated Art Nelson and Ivan Kameroff on 8 November 1965 to win the

NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship The NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship is a National Wrestling Alliance-sanctioned tag team professional wrestling championship based mainly in the Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling promotion, although the title has been contested for in the ...

. They lost their title to John Tolos and Black Terror on 4 January 1966 but defeated them back for the title on 28 February 1966. After Barrett and Geoghegan disbanded their team, Barrett created a tag team with

Don Leo Jonathan Don Heaton (April 29, 1931 – October 13, 2018), also known as Don Leo Jonathan, was an American-Canadian professional wrestler. Professional wrestling career Jonathan, nicknamed "The Mormon Giant" was a second generation star (his father was f ...

. On 22 July 1968, they defeated

Abdullah the Butcher Lawrence Robert Shreve (born January 11, 1941), better known by the ring name Abdullah the Butcher, is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. He has a reputation for being involved in some of the most violent and bloody hardcore wrestling matc ...

and Armand Hussain to win the NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship. After the pair separated, Barrett forged a singles career, and feuded with both Jonathan and Geoghegan. In 1974, he toured Australia where he created a gimmick of "Mr. Wrestling" and was sometimes known as "Mr. Wrestling of Australia". On 5 April 1974, he won a tag team tournament with

Tony Kontellis Antonios "Tony" Kontellis (Greek: Αντώνιος Κοντέλλης; born 1935), is a former Greek-Australian professional wrestler. Kontellis has worked for many wrestling promotions throughout his career, including WCW Australia and WWWF f ...

and won the

NWA Austra-Asian Tag Team Championship The NWA Austra-Asian Tag Team Championship was the top tag team professional wrestling title in the Australian World Championship Wrestling promotion from 1972 through the promotion's 1978 closure. WCW joined the National Wrestling Alliance in ...

. In 1975, he joined

under his real name. He battled

Bruno Sammartino Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino (October 6, 1935 – April 18, 2018) was an Italian-born American professional wrestler, best known for his work with the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF, now WWE). There, he held the WWWF World Heavywei ...

on 15 May 1975 for the

WWWF World Heavyweight Championship The WWE Championship is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, representing the Raw brand division. It is one of two world titles on WWE's main roster, alongside SmackDown ...

, but lost by count-out. In June 1975, Victor Rivera left WWWF while being the WWWF Tag Team Champion with Dominic De Nucci. De Nucci chose Barrett as his replacement partner. De Nucci and Barrett lost the title to

The Blackjacks The Blackjacks were a professional wrestling tag team. The team consisted of Blackjack Mulligan and Blackjack Lanza. After forming in the 1970s, they wrestled in a variety of professional wrestling promotions, including the American Wrestling Ass ...

on 26 August 1975. He returned to NWA in 1975 and started his second stint with NWA. On 15 August 1977, Pat Barrett and

Norvell Austin Norvell Austin (born March 9, 1951) is a retired American professional wrestler. Austin worked for most of his career in the Southern United States, most often in tag team competition. Norvell Austin is most famous for teaming with Sputnik Monroe ...

defeated

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of S ...

and

Buddy Roberts Dale Hey (June 16, 1947 – November 26, 2012) was a Canadian-American professional wrestling, professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Buddy Roberts. Primarily a tag team wrestler, Roberts is known for his appearances as one of The H ...

to win the

NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship The NWA Mid-America Tag Team championship was a tag team title promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion NWA Mid-America that ran more or less exclusively in Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky, United States, from the 1940s until 1 ...

. They re-lost the title to Jerry Brown and Buddy Roberts on 22 August. On 25 September, they defeated once again Jerry Brown and Buddy Roberts to win the NWA-Mid American Tag Team Championship for a second time. In 1979, he joined the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

-based

NWA Hollywood Wrestling NWA Hollywood Wrestling (sometimes referred to as NWA Los Angeles) was a professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Los Angeles, California in the United States that promoted professional wrestling matches throughout Southern California. It ...

, and on 8 August, Barrett defeated

Bull Ramos Manuel Ramos (August 3, 1937 – May 27, 2006) was an American professional wrestler, better known as Apache Bull Ramos. From his debut in 1956 until the 1970s, he primarily worked as a heel and had notable feuds with Bruno Sammartino, Dutch Sava ...

to win the

NWA Americas Heavyweight Championship The NWA Americas Heavyweight Championship was the top singles championship in the National Wrestling Alliance's Los Angeles territory, known officially as NWA Hollywood Wrestling, from 1968 until the promotion closed in 1982. The title was first es ...

. As the NWA Americas Heavyweight Champion, he feuded with Bull Ramos,

Walter Johnson Walter Perry Johnson (November 6, 1887 – December 10, 1946), nicknamed "Barney" and "The Big Train", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year baseball career in Major League Baseball as a right-ha ...

Chavo Guerrero Salvador Guerrero IV (born October 20, 1970) better known by his ring names Chavo Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero Jr., is an American professional wrestler. He has previously worked for World Championship Wrestling (WCW), World Wrestling Federatio ...

, Johnny Mantell,

Roddy Piper Roderick George Toombs (April 17, 1954 – July 31, 2015), better known as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, was a Canadian professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, and actor. In professional wrestling, Piper was best known to international audiences for hi ...

Ron Starr Bobby Eugene Nutt (April 3, 1951 – June 8, 2017), better known by his ring name Ron Starr, was an American professional wrestler. Starr was a mainstay for numerous wrestling territories throughout the 1970s and 80s, capturing almost three doze ...

, and Pat Patterson. In November, he lost the title to Patterson. In late 1979, he left NWA Hollywood Wrestling to tour the

Pacific Islands Collectively called the Pacific Islands, the islands in the Pacific Ocean are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of se ...

. On 2 January 1980, Barrett unsuccessfully challenged Lee Osbourne for the World Junior Heavyweight Championship but won a rematch for the title a week later. On 15 April 1980, he defeated Kerry Garvin to win the Pacific Area Heavyweight Championship. He feuded with Kerry Garvin and Lee Osbourne and defended his title against several wrestlers on the Pacific Islands. In 1981, Barrett toured

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. He created a tag team with the popular New Zealand wrestling star Pat O'Connor. He then formed a team with John Istaz and won the New Zealand Tag Team Championship. In 1984, he made his way to

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. He went on to win the Irish Heavyweight Championship and defended it against Irish wrestlers. In 1985, Barrett retired and became a trainer. On 27 August 2006, Pat Barrett made an appearance for the promotion

Irish Whip Wrestling Irish Whip Wrestling (IWW) is an Irish-owned independent professional wrestling promotion established in January 2002. The company is named after a wrestling move called the 'Irish Whip'. IWW runs shows Nationally throughout the whole of Ireland, ...

's show which was being held in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Ireland. In the 1990s he penned an autobiographical book called "Everybody Down Here Hates Me", which recounts real life stories from his wrestling career. In 2021, Pat Barrett died in Dublin where he was living at the time.

Championships and accomplishments

Continental Wrestling Association Continental Wrestling Association (later the Championship Wrestling Association) was a wrestling promotion managed by Jerry Jarrett. The CWA was the name of the "governing body" for the Championship Wrestling, Inc. promotion which was usually ref ...

AWA Southern Tag Team Championship The AWA Southern Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team title in the Tennessee area from the 1940s through the late 1980s. It was originally named the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Mid-America version)'' from its ince ...

(

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. Outside ...

) – with Norvell Ausin *

NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship The NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world championship in the National Wrestling Alliance. Created in 1945, the title is competed for by junior heavyweight wrestlers. History The first NWA World Junior ...

( 1 time) *

NWA All-Star Wrestling NWA All Star Wrestling (sometimes referred to as NWA Vancouver) is a Canadian professional wrestling promotion, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. All-Star Wrestling folded in 1989 but returned in 2007 no longer affiliated with the National Wr ...

** NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship ''(Vancouver version)'' ( 3 times) – with Tom Geohagen (2) and

(1) *

( 1 time) *

World Championship Wrestling (Australia) World Championship Wrestling was an Australian professional wrestling promotion that ran from 1964 until 1978. History The promotion gained publicity through television programs on the Nine Network, which were presented at noon on Saturdays and ...

¹ **

( 1 time) – with

** WWWF World Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with

Dominic DeNucci Domenico A. Nucciarone (January 23, 1932 – August 12, 2021) was an Italian-American professional wrestler and trainer better known under his ring name of Dominic DeNucci. He held over a dozen championships around the world in the 1960s and 197 ...

*Other Titles **Irish Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **New Zealand Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with John Istaz **Pacific Area Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **Pacific World Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time) ¹This promotion shouldn't be confused with

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nation ...

, a promotion once owned by

Ted Turner Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and philanthropist. He founded the Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour United States cable news, cable news ch ...

and later sold to

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

in 2001.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, Pat 1941 births 2021 deaths Irish male professional wrestlers Sportspeople from Dublin (city) 20th-century professional wrestlers NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champions NWA Americas Heavyweight Champions NWA Austra-Asian Tag Team Champions