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I am sorry to report the passing of Tom Hirschman, who was a very colorful heel for Combat Zone Wrestling in the earliest incarnation of that promotion's history as Z-Barr.
A close friend of then-CZW lead announcer Eric Gargiulo, Hircshman broke into the business training at CZW's original training school and was immediately thrust into the middle of the promotion. While working for CZW, Hirschman, billed as "The Ultraviolent Manwhore" would often play lackey or secondary heel to the prominent heel stables of the era, including Rockin' Rebel's Army.
Coming out to Madonna's Dress You Up To My Love and emblazoned with zebra striped tights and a robe, Barr would rile up the audience with his charismatic arrogance before taking bumps and often being the one completely emasculated and tormented by CZW's stars who would have to get through him for a shot at the higher-level heels he was representing. As Z-Barr, he was an important piece of the CZW product at the time but was also likely way in over his head being so young and being tasked with so much responsibility so quickly.
Hirschman had a great aptitude for playing a heel character and getting heat outside the ring. He played a great second banana and at times showed a lot of future potential that sadly never played out. A knee injury, bad timing and his ability to get himself heat in the locker room all played against him. He was among the talents who departed CZW to wrestle for Johnny Kashmere's Pro Wrestling Unplugged and also worked for The Wild Samoans' WXW in Pennsylvania, as well as countless other independent promotions of the era.
While in CZW, Barr also teamed as one half of the Softcore Connection with Nick Berk. The CZW connection led to Barr touring for Big Japan Wrestling in 2002, which was something he carried like a badge of honor, wrestling against Winger, Kintaro Kanemura and others. Once he toured Japan, he routinely wore a Ribera's jacket as a way to get heat among fans who saw those jackets as a status symbol worn by "real" stars who had "made it" in Japan.
In recent years, he had relocated to Florida and occasionally wrestled there but after 2012, he talked of making comebacks but had not regularly performed. He had been dealing with health issues, including bouts of depression and issues with blood clots of late. On his social media, he railed against those he felt weren't there for him when he needed someone to listen to.
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On a personal note, a long time ago in 2001, in the wake of ECW closing, I attended a Jersey All Pro Wrestling event at the ECW Arena. It was (if memory serves right) the first independent wrestling event there after the death of ECW. I intended to go to just to see the venue one last time as I couldn't imagine still going there for wrestling again without ECW existing.
That night, Tom and the late Trent Acid cornered me in the ECW Arena one night and pestered the hell out of me (in a funny way) until I agreed to go to my first Combat Zone Wrestling show. That night was the first time I recall meeting Tom and I remember cracking up at him, because he was so genuinely funny. Two weeks or so later, I went to CZW for the first time in Sewell, NJ.
Tom went out of his way that night to make sure I was taken care of and we were able to do live coverage online, which in 2001 meant he personally ran phone wire 200 feet all the way across the venue so I could plug into a hard line telephone line to dial into AOL. He also went well out of his way to find me a place where I could see the show, which as it turned out was sitting on chairs on top of a makeshift shed designed to be a ticket office and he disappeared to find and bring a ladder to the venue to make that work. That CZW show was genuinely amazing - the promotion was building towards its apex at the time - and it led to me covering CZW regularly, which put me at ground zero to cover the Philly indy wars to come, which provided a bounty of blessings for me as I grew as a reporter.
Had Tom and Trent not pushed me to come to CZW, certainly the story of my journey as a wrestling writer would have been completely different. As I noted, I expected the death of ECW would be the beginning of the end of my interest in pro wrestling. Instead, it was a new beginning and Tom and Trent were the ones who helped point me towards that next chapter. I will always appreciate them for that.
I always liked Tom and I wish things had gone better for him. There was a point in time I thought he would rise up to become the top arrogant heel in the area - sort of similar to a role MJF has now in AEW, but for whatever reason it was not meant to be.
On behalf of everyone at PWInsider.com, I send my deepest condolences to Tom's family, friends and fans.
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