Smash debuted in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in December 1984 as Krusher Kruschev, a Russian gimmick. He was awarded a third of the WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship with Ivan and Nikita Koloff after they fell out with their former partner Don Kernodle. The Koloffs had already won the WCW World Tag Team Championship and Ivan declared that any two of them could defend the titles. They feuded with The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) and The Road Warriors. On July 9, 1985, he and Ivan lost the WCW Tag Titles to the Rock 'n' Roll Express. The Koloffs subsequently regained and defended the belts without Khruschev's participation.
At Starrcade 1985, on November 28, he was in the Koloffs' corner as they lost their Tag Team Titles back to the Express in a cage match with Kernodle in the Express's corner. On January 11, 1986, Khruschev severely injured his knee in a match with Sam Houston.
When Khruschev returned, Nikita was feuding with Magnum T.A. for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship. On August 17, 1986, Khruschev helped Nikita win the title in the final match of a best-of-seven series by holding the referee while Nikita used his "Russian" chain on Magnum. After helping Nikita defeat Magnum, Khruschev and Ivan targeted the new WCW United States Tag Team Championship, which was to be awarded to the winners of a tournament. They reached the finals, held on September 26, 1986, and defeated the Kansas Jayhawks (Dutch Mantel and Bobby Jaggers) with Nikita's help to become the first US Tag Team Champions.
In October 1986, Magnum T.A. had a car accident that ended his career, and after admitting that he respected his one-time rival, Nikita turned his back on Ivan and Khruschev to team with Magnum's good friend, Dusty Rhodes. Kruschev and Ivan briefly feuded with Nikita and Rhodes but primarily defended their titles in rematches against Mantel and Jaggers. On December 9, 1986, they lost the US Tag Titles to Ron Garvin and Barry Windham. Kruschev's contract eventually ran out and he left WCW in 1987.
Kruschev next went to the World Wrestling Federation. He was brought into the company to be part of the tag team Demolition, which had originally consisted of Ax and Randy Colley as Smash. Kruschev was tabbed as the new Smash after Colley was deemed too recognizable even in disguise due to fans chanting "Moondog" at him whenever Demolition wrestled. At first, they were managed by Luscious Johnny V, but he was soon replaced by Mr. Fuji. Their initial feuds involved the team of Ken Patera and Billy Jack Haynes, and Strike Force (Tito Santana and Rick Martel).
On March 27, 1988, at WrestleMania IV, they defeated Strike Force to win their first WWF Tag Team Championship, which they held for a record sixteen months. During this reign, they fell out with Mr. Fuji as he turned on them to manage their arch-rivals, The Powers of Pain (The Barbarian and The Warlord). This double turn at Survivor Series '88 was the solution to the massive popularity being enjoyed by Demolition. Originally, they were the heels in their rivalry with the Powers of Pain; however, as a result of the incident at the Survivor Series, Demolition became full-fledged babyfaces. Demolition conclusively won the feud with their ex-manager and his new team when they defeated the Powers and Fuji in a five-man handicap tag match at WrestleMania V.
They lost the WWF Tag Team Titles to The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard) on the July 29, 1989 Saturday Night's Main Event XXII. They regained the titles on October 2, but lost them to The Colossal Connection (Haku and André the Giant) on December 13. They defeated the Connection at WrestleMania VI on April 1, 1990 to become the third full-time team to win three titles in WWF history. The duo was joined by Crush later in 1990, making them a three-man tag team. Ax began appearing in a managerial role which was to eventually lead to the phasing out of the character. Demolition lost the titles to The Hart Foundation at SummerSlam '90. After a feud with the Legion of Doom, the team dropped down the card and would disband in the spring of 1991, with Crush leaving the WWF for a year and Smash wrestling as a singles wrestler, primarily in house show undercards, where he was used to elevate other stars, such as Kerry Von Erich, Greg Valentine and Ricky Steamboat. His only victories during this run came over Jim Powers and Shane Douglas. He also appeared under a mask as an unnamed man hired by Ted DiBiase to wrestle Virgil on the August 18, 1991 SummerSlam Spectacular special. His final recorded match as Smash would occur on August 24, 1991, getting pinned by The British Bulldog.
In late 1991, Smash was repackaged as Repo Man, a ubiquitous, sneaky heel character who delighted in repossessing items such as cars from people when they were late on (or unable to make) their payments. As Repo Man, he wore a black domino mask and an outfit decorated with tire tracks. He always carried a tow rope that he would tie up opponents with after defeating them and then assault them after.
Shortly after his debut, he was hired by Ted DiBiase to help him defeat Virgil for the Million Dollar Championship, leading to a series of matches with Virgil. At the This Tuesday in Texas pay-per-view, Repo Man and DiBiase defeated Virgil and Tito Santana. Repo Man made a memorable appearance at the 1992 Royal Rumble, sneaking to the ring and eliminating Nikolai Volkoff and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine before eventually being eliminated by The Big Boss Man. He also appeared at WrestleMania VIII, teaming with The Mountie and The Nasty Boys to be defeated by The Big Boss Man, Virgil, Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Sgt. Slaughter.
Repo Man's most notable feud was with The British Bulldog in mid-1992, sparked by Repo Man hanging the Bulldog over the ring ropes with his tow rope on the May 3, 1992 episode of Wrestling Challenge. The two had a series of house show matches as well as a match on Prime Time Wrestling, all of which saw Bulldog come out victorious. Repo Man lost a match to former partner Crush at SummerSlam, though it was never acknowledged on television that Repo Man was actually Smash. He also worked against Jim Duggan on house shows during this period. Repo Man also had a short feud with Randy Savage in January 1993 when he repossessed Savage's hat on an episode of Monday Night Raw. The two had a match the following week, which Savage won. Repo Man made his final pay-per-view appearance at the 1993 Royal Rumble, where he was eliminated by Savage. His final recorded match in the WWF would be on March 28, 1993, a loss to Typhoon.
In 1994, Repo Man signed with WCW and began appearing in the front of events with a blow horn, making noise and berating the faces while they wrestled, and would sometimes be kicked out of arenas by security. He was eventually kayfabe arrested for pushing Dustin Rhodes.
Col. Rob Parker bailed Repo Man out from jail, after which point he became known as The Blacktop Bully, with Parker as his manager. He feuded with Rhodes but was fired after Uncensored 1995, when he and Rhodes both bladed during a "King of the Road" match in the back of a moving flatbed truck.
He returned to WCW under his real name, Barry Darsow, on October 6, 1997, teaming with John Nord to defeat Mike Enos and Wayne Bloom in a dark match prior to WCW Monday Nitro. For the following year, he appeared in the undercard as a heel, mostly on WCW's tertiary and quaternary shows WCW Saturday Night and WCW WorldWide. He also notably lost to Goldberg on the March 9, 1998 edition of Nitro and the April 16, 1998 edition of WCW Thunder.
On the October 17, 1998 edition of Saturday Night, he was repackaged as "Mr. Hole-In-One", Barry Darsow, a villainous golf player. He often entered the ring in casual wear and a flat cap as if ready to golf and, prior to matches, would offer his opponents a victory if they could make a putt in the ring, often only to sneak attack the opponent. Darsow feuded with "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan and Chris Adams during this time, typically on Saturday Night.[1]
On the April 24, 1999 edition of WorldWide, Darsow dropped the golfer gimmick, returning to his given name and wearing a black singlet. On August 28, 1999, Darsow teamed with Bobby Eaton in a loss to Harlem Heat on Saturday Night. After Booker T pinned Darsow, Harlem Heat hit Darsow in the head with their WCW World Tag Team Championships. Due to the blow to the head, in the following weeks, Darsow took on an amnesia gimmick, wherein he would reprise a different one of his past gimmicks every week.
On the September 18, 1999 edition of WorldWide, Darsow reprised his Krusher Kruschev gimmick, and then returned to "Mr. Hole-In-One" on the September 18, 1999 edition of Saturday Night. On October 2, 1999, he returned to his Blacktop Bully gimmick, which he used for the remainder of his time in WCW. His final match was a loss against Steven Regal on the December 18, 1999 edition of WorldWide.
Darsow made a special WWF appearance at WrestleMania X-Seven for the gimmick battle royal as the "Repo Man".
On Raw XV, on the 15th-anniversary WWE Raw special on December 10, 2007, a bald Darsow participated in the 15th Anniversary Battle Royal under his "Repo Man" persona.