8 Most Underrated Texas Wrestlers

Big Barry Windham must rank highly on the list of 'most underrated wrestlers ever'. For my money, there were fewer guys as good as Windham when he was 'on'. Trouble is,  the man from Sweetwater, Texas wasn't always 'on', and when he was off, it was noticeable. 

Windham played fiery babyface very well during the early years of his career, wrestling for the NWA between 1980 - 1984 and winning the Tag Team Titles with future brother-in-law Mike Rotunda, AKA IRS, AKA the father of Bray Wyatt and Bo Dallas. 

Like most wrestlers from the era, the WWF came calling and in 1984 Windham made the jump, debuting with Rotunda as the U.S. Express. They quickly won the WWF Tag Team Titles before dropping them to those dastardly foreign menaces The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff at the first WrestleMania. 

It was a successful year for the Express, but the success wouldn't continue as Windham decided to leave the company. He returned to the NWA where he worked his way up the card and had some very good matches with Ric Flair, many of which were sixty minute draws, before becoming a member of the elite Four Horsemen in 1988. 

This would be the peak of Windham's career and the reason he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2011 (as a member of the Horsemen). When his contract expired a year after joining Flair's group, he signed with the WWF once more and wrestled as 'The Widowmaker' but the run wasn't a success. 

His return to WCW would be a lot more rewarding and Windham had many great matches between 1990 and 94 against the likes of Flair, Brian Pillman and as a tag team with Dustin Rhodes. After undergoing knee surgery, Windham dropped off the map for a couple of years and resurfaced in the WWF as 'The Stalker'. 

Once again, it was not a success, and neither was his 'New Blackjacks' team with Bradshaw. His West Texas Rednecks days in WCW were a little better, but it was clear that Windham's best days were behind him. Still, his best days were pretty damn good indeed and I implored anyone unfamiliar with the man to check him out on the WWE Network. You won't regret it.