Line #27 Wrestling/TheBarbarian


1	[[quoteright:202:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thebarbarian_9944.jpg]]
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3	Sione Havea Vailahi (born September 6, 1958) is a UsefulNotes/{{Tonga}}n {{Professional Wrestl\|ing}}er best known for his work in the 1980s and 1990s as '''The Barbarian.''' He debuted in 1980 after having previously competed in Japan in sumo wrestling. He wrestled under the names '''Tonga John''', '''King Konga''' and '''Konga the Barbarian''' before settling on "The Barbarian." He competed in various Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance territories before settling into the Mid-Atlantic initially as a {{Face}}. He was turned {{Heel}} and teamed with the Warlord as '''Wrestling/ThePowersOfPain.''' He made his [=PPV=] debut in the steel cage battle royal that was the main event of ''NWA Bunkhouse Stampede,'' January 24, 1988, with Wrestling/DustyRhodes eliminating him to win. The POP surprised many people by jumping from the NWA to Wrestling/{{WWE}} in the summer. The team split in 1990, with the Warlord joining Wrestling/{{Slick}}'s stable and Barbarian joining [[Wrestling/BobbyHeenan the Heenan Family]]. He stayed around for another two years, leaving in February. He then briefly allied himself with [[Wrestling/MickFoley Cactus Jack]] in Jack's feud with [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-h.html WCW World Heavyweight Champion]] Wrestling/RonSimmons. He had a brief run in WWE in late 1994-1995 as "Sionne" of Wrestling/TheHeadshrinkers after Samu left. He and Warlord were briefly reunited under masks in WCW in late 1995 as "The Super Assassins" before Warlord left. Barbarian joined the Wrestling/DungeonOfDoom and teamed with Wrestling/{{Meng}} as '''The Faces of Fear''' until that team split. Barbarian and Meng would alternate between teaming and feuding in 1998 and 1999. He has also competed for Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}}, Wrestling/JuggaloChampionshipWrestling, Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling and many independents around the world. Among his in-ring achievements, he is a former [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/midatlantic/nwa/ma-nwa-6.html NWA World 6-Man Tag Team Champion]] and he and Dick Slater were the [[LastOfHisKind last-ever]] [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-us-t.html WCW United States Tag Team Champions]].
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5	!! "Barbaric Tropes":
6	* TheBrute: Often played this rule.
7	* DavidVersusGoliath: Played straight at ''Wrestling/{{WrestleMania}} VII'' when the Rockers (Wrestling/ShawnMichaels and Wrestling/MartyJannetty) defeated Haku and Barbarian. Inverted when the Faces of Fear defeated Wrestling/ChrisJericho and Wrestling/EddieGuerrero on the February 4, 1997 ''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro.''
8	* DeathFromAbove: 6'2, 300 lbs. of solid muscle and, while he wasn't precisely a high flyer, one of his finishing moves was a diving clothesline off the top rope and another was a diving headbutt off the top.
9	* DemotedToExtra: In WCW, he went from a World Heavyweight Title challenger to a lower tier mook in the Dungeon of Doom and then, after a brief monster push, the least important member of the First Family.
10	* TheDreaded: Much like his partner Meng, he was another wrestler who people knew better than to mess with.
11	* CombinationAttack: After Meng's backdrop, he would catch the opponent and then power bomb them. Less often, Meng would hit a Manhattan Drop to set up the Kick of Fear.
12	* FacialMarkings: During his early 90s WCW run, as seen in the page image.
13	* FinishingMove: Barbarian never had a finishing move with the staying power of, say, the Stone Cold Stunner. His finishing moves and trademark moves were exchanged and switched around regularly. At various times he used the Diving Headbutt, Top Rope Clothesline, Kick Of Fear, Piledriver, and Powerbomb as finishers. While tag teaming with Meng, one of their tag finishers was for Meng to back drop someone into Barbarian's arms and he'd powerbomb them out of midair.
14	* GarbageWrestler: Averted even though WCW did put him in the Hardcore division for a time in 1999 - he was a power wrestler primarily and a brawler secondarily.
15	* HatesEveryoneEqually: From the 1992 Wrestling/RoyalRumble match:
16	-->'''[[Wrestling/GorillaMonsoon GORILLA MONSOON]]''': (Ominously) Barbarian doesn't like [[Wrestling/RicFlair Flair]].
17	-->'''[[Wrestling/BobbyHeenan BOBBY "THE BRAIN" HEENAN]]''': Barbarian doesn't like anyone. When I managed him, he barely liked me! Why do you think they call him The Barbarian? He's not a hairdresser on his days off, you know.
18	* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Started as a face, turned heel, the POP were brought into WWE as face, did the FaceHeelDoubleTurn with Demolition at ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 1988'', stayed heel the rest of his time in WWE, a heel in WCW, a face again in WWE as a member of the Headshrinkers, heel again in WCW...
19	* ImAHumanitarian: Referred to this way at times in WCW. During the Tag Team Street Fight between [[Wrestling/{{TPE}} The Public Enemy]] and [[Wrestling/BillDeMott Hugh Morrus]][=/=]The Barbarian on the June 15, 1998 ''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro'', Heenan said, "Barbarian thinks these guys are lunch."
20	* LesserStar: [[InUniverse ]]Barbarian's turn on Meng was sparked because he was tired of being seen as the inferior half of the Faces of Fear.
21	* ManiacTongue: Barbarian would often snarl at his opponents or the fans to intimidate them, and he often stuck his tongue out when he did so. It's depicted on the page image.
22	* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Well, let's just say they didn't call him The Barbarian because he was a hair dresser when he wasn't wrestling
23	* NoSell: When wrestling jobbers, a lot. Sometimes he'd no-sell for his legitimate opponents early on so they'd look more badass when they started hitting him hard enough to make him sell later.
24	* PartsUnknown: Billed from there at times.
25	* PowerStable:
26	** Paul Jones' Army
27	** The Heenan Family
28	** The Dungeon of Doom
29	** The Alliance to End Hulkamania
30	** The First Family (led by Wrestling/JimmyHart in 1998-1999 WCW)
31	** Darkside (in USA Championship Wrestling in Tennessee)
32	* RingOldies: Although his full time wrestling career ended when WCW released him in mid-2000, he's been wrestling part time in the indies ever since - and as of 2018, he's still going. He was born in 1958.
33	* StarterVillain: In WCW it wasn't unusual for someone to beat The Barbarian to set up a match between them and Meng, which would in turn set up a match between the person and whoever Meng was Dragoning for.
34	* TagTeam: The Powers of Pain with The Warlord (also known for a time as the Untouchables or under masks as the Super Assassins)
35	** The New Headshrinkers (with [[Wrestling/{{Rikishi}} Fatu]], first appearing as a replacement for Samu and then permanently replacing him)
36	** The Faces of Fear (with Meng)[[note]]They first teamed together in WWF while stabled together in The Heenan Family, but didn't adopt The Faces of Fear name until WCW[[/note]]
37	* [[WildSamoan Wild Tongan]]: [[Wrestling/TheWildSamoans Afa]] does not count him as part of the family though, even though he has teamed with wrestlers (Fatu, Haku/Meng) who are.
38	* TheWorfEffect: He was Wrestling/{{Goldberg}}'s second televised victim, on the September 29, 1997 ''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro.'' A few dozen matches into Goldberg's streak, he and Hugh Morrus lost a ''handicap'' match against Goldberg, giving him far less trouble than either of them did in their singles matches against him. He also worfed for Tank Abbott on his final ''WCW Nitro ''appearance.
39	* WrestlingFamily: His niece is Wrestling/LeiDTapa, who competed for Wrestling/ImpactWrestling in 2013 and 2014.

Context Wrestling / TheBarbarian