David Barry (born June 2, 1970) is a retired Canadian professional wrestler, trainer, and booker, best known by his ring name Quinson Valentino, who was a star on the independent circuit in eastern Canada and the Maritimes during the late 1990s and 2000s. He also formed successful tag teams with Jerry Martell, Derek St. Holmes, and Cody Deaner, and is widely considered to be one of Ontario's best "heel" performers.
In his career, Barry wrestled for various wrestling promotions: All World Wrestling League, Great Lakes Championship Wrestling, MainStream Wrestling Entertainment, Pure Wrestling Association, Rage Wrestling Entertainment, Rough Wrestling International, and World Class Canadian Wrestling. In the US, he has also made appearances for AWA Superstars, specifically AWA Brew City Wrestling in Wisconsin and AWA Mid-Atlantic in North Carolina, and the National Wrestling Alliance. He has also made brief guest appearances for World Wrestling Entertainment, in addition to a considerable number of other independent wrestling promotions in the Great Lakes region.
Early life
David Barry was born in Chatham, New Brunswick. He was involved in physical contact sports at an early age, particularly martial arts, and started kickboxing at age 19. He had a total of 13 amateur fights and 4 professional fights before leaving the sport. Though he had an undefeated record, he later cited the negative attitude necessary to have when facing opponents was the major reason for giving up professional fighting.
Professional wrestling career
Early career in the Ontario independents
After giving up kickboxing, Barry turned to pro wrestling. He spent five months in the gym lifting weights and working on his conditioning before walking into a wrestling school. Barry originally trained under Ernie "The Executioner" Moore in Burlington, Ontario, but later studied with Steve Keirn and Tom Prichard in the United States. After eight months of training he made his pro debut July 4, 1999, at the Leander Boat Club in Hamilton. He and his opponent, Jerry Martell, later formed a tag team called the East West Connection 2K1.
It was in the Hamilton-based Empire Wrestling Federation where Barry made his debut as "Quinson Valentino", a cocky egotistical star from Beverly Hills, California. EWF promoter Bob Woods had planned a different "gimmick" for Barry, however, the young wrestler disliked the idea and improvised his own ring character on the fly. A childhood fan of Jesse Ventura, Ric Flair, Bruiser Brody, Rick Rude and Randy Savage, Barry incorporated some of their personalities and wrestling styles into his new in-ring persona. His finisher, for example, was a modified version of Rude's "Rude Awakening" neckbreaker. These creative differences, as well as a disagreement over the direction of his career, caused a real-life falling out between the two men and resulted in Barry leaving the promotion.
Great Lakes Championship Wrestling
Shortly after leaving the EWF, Barry joined Scott Chase's Great Lakes Championship Wrestling in Brantford, Ontario. He helped Chase as a booker during its first few months but decided to leave the position, around the time he won the promotion's heavyweight championship, so as not to create a bad atmosphere among the roster.
Barry won the GLCW Heavyweight Championship in late-2003 and spend the next several months feuding with the top babyface Scott Chase. Their feud extended to other Ontario-based promotions as well with Barry challenging Chase for the Canadian Grand Prix Wrestling heavyweight title in Cornwall on March 5, 2004. Another highlight in their feud occurred one week later when Barry teamed up with "The Real Deal" Magnus and "As Seen On TV" Notorious T.I.D. in a 6-man tag match to face Scott Chase, JQ Publik and "Mr. USA" Tony Atlas in Chase's hometown of Brantford. His time in GLCW established himself as one of the top heels on the Ontario independent circuit and was one of several GLCW stars to go to World Wrestling Entertainment.
Camp Martell
While working for GLCW, he and Jerry Martell, Flexx Falcone, Morgan Storm started "Camp Martell", a wrestling school associated with their home promotion. In August 2002, Barry was involved in a car accident with other members of Camp Martell. Though he himself was not injured, he was traveling in a second vehicle and witnessed the accident in his rear view mirror. Barry later helped the injured wrestlers, Flexx Falcone, DWK, and Luke Slater, get medical assistance in Moncton.