A Barn Owl Soars Toward Victory

By Kari Williams

Gary the Barn Owl soared into the hallowed ring of professional wrestling before he was even old enough to spread his wings and take flight.

Back in high school, Peter Townsley, Pierre Abernathy and Gary “used to always want to be wrestlers and we just jumped around in the backyard like a bunch of idiots.”

Townsley, who, at the time, worked at the Gravois Grill in Fenton, MO, ran into Jordan Lacey, his wife, Dawn, and Hellraiser.

“We got the flyer, called the number and ended up wrestling out in a field doing God-knows-what, basically we had no clue what we were doing, and then we eventually met Nick Tyson and Adam Raw and then it kind of snow-balled into the LWA, which snow-balled into us training,” Gary said.

His initial training began with Lacey and the XWA and was then followed up by Raw and Tyson. Under those two, Gary trained every Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday for approximately a year and half, until he officially began his career.

However, his passion for the sport was born long before he ever set foot in a wrestling ring.

“I can just remember everybody used to like football, and then I just did not want to watch football because I just thought it was boring… I remember seeing Macho Man, his hat was pretty shiny; I liked it,” Gary said.

Flying around the Midwest for nearly four years, Gary notes one simple detail that intrigues him the most about stepping between the ropes.

“I like the physicality. For some odd reason, I’m a glutton for getting my ass kicked. I love it; it’s a good time, and I just like entertaining people,” Gary said.

Along with Evan Gelistico, Jordan Lacey and Billy McNeill, Gary helps to form The Bearded Men From Space Station Eleven—a group that Gary has associated himself with for as long as he can remember.

“When I was born I had a beard. I was the wierdest looking kid, I can show pictures but people will kind of laugh and gawk, so I just keep those at home. So, honestly, ever since I was born I’ve been a member [of the Bearded Men]. My mom has a beard, that’s really awkward, but she’s momma. Momma from Space Station Eleven,” Gary said.

The group formed because the Submission Squad was ganging up on Gary, and he needed help, so he joined forces with Gelistico, who was having his own problems within the Sexual Dynasty, of which he was a part. Lacey and McNeill—who is credited with naming the faction—enlisted as well, and the Bearded Men have been going strong for nearly two years.

Gary and Gelistico flew the coop, so to speak, and returned with AWA-PPW Tag Team Titles, which are from Indiana. On his own, Gary currently holds the U-30s belt, from IWA-Texas, based out of the San Antonia and Dallas area.

Despite the plethora of gold he currently holds, Gary’s greatest feat thus far was his LWA championshp reign.

“My biggest accomplishment is probably being the LWA champion…because I started off as just a trainee here, and they gave me the ‘Gary the Barn Owl’ gimmick, and at first I didn’t like it, and I started really warming up to it and getting in to it. Just basically, becoming from say your opening card guy and now I can main event, open a show, I can do anything because obviously I’m the greatest thing ever. Not really, but you know,” Gary said.

Locally, Gary can be seen wrestling for Lethal Wrestling Alliance (LWA). However, for one keen on travelling, he can be spotted in promotions such as NWA-CSW (Kansas and Missouri), IWA-Texas, PWI-Texas and PPW-Indiana, among others.

Gary the Barn Owl Fast Facts:

Most Important Lesson From Wrestling: Wrestling has taught me respect. That’s the biggest thing. A lot of people might say it, or not, but just respect, and how much you put in and how much you get out of it, you have to work really, really hard to make it to the point where you’re making it a living. So, those guys on TV, even if you don’t like them or you don’t like them because they’re not good or bad, those guys bust their ass, and I give them all the credit for it.

Favorite Match: (One of three favorites) I wrestled Mike Quackenbush and Evan Gelistico in February. That was a really fun match. Evan and me go way back. We met when the XWA/LWA started. We used to hate each other. But now we’re cool. We’re like brothers. He’s like a brother from a different mother—or alien, I really don’t know. We wrestled Quackenbush in a three way, and that’s just overall learning experience was fantastic. Mike Quackenbush is a great athlete, has a really good mind for wrestling and he brought a whole different style to what we were used to.

Dream Matches: I’d say A.J. Styles from TNA. Out of anybody in WWE, I’d wrestle Paul London because I really like Paul London. Either him or Brian Kendrick. It’d be really cool if it was Brian Kendrick and London verus me and Evan, that’d be a good match. Let’s see, anywhere on the indies, I’m a really big fan of El Generico, I don’t know why, I just really like El Generico’s work.

Who Has Taught Him the Most: I’ve learned the most from Nick Tyson, he’s the one that really got me focused because it’s hard to get me focused on certain things. But, he really drilled it in my head the respect thing, and just you can go out and have a good match, and he’d tear me apart. We’d watch it, and he’d tear it up, and about the small things that make things look even better, that I don’t notice it, but the fans notice or other people notice.