The Barbarian

Simon Francis Barnes (August 3, 1978 - March 4, 2020) was a heavy metal singer and retired professional wrestler, known by his ringnames The Barbarian and The Knight.

￼Early Life
Simon was the firstborn of 12 children to Thomas and Kimberly Barnes.

He was heavily into rock music, notably Queen and Toto. Barnes also enjoyed The Beatles, Bee Gees and Nirvana.

He initially did not want to become a professional wrestler, and aspired to become a rock/metal singer, though he did partake in high school wrestling out of curiosity,  and followed into professional wrestling with his brothers.

School
Barnes was a highly uninterested student, often skipping class and smoking marijuana, classifying himself as a hippy. He was occasionally bullied for his long hair and glasses, so much to the point of breaking them and throwing them in a trash can.

While his brothers Curt and David were notorious trouble makers, Simon avoided trouble and shied away from trouble at all costs, though he enjoyed skipping school and would often beg to stay home and listen to vinyl.

Wrestling Career (1998 - 2010)
Simon, after reluctantly joining East End due to the opportunity of following through Curt and David's peer pressure, debuted in late 1998, and became The Knight, a 16th century British ￼knight gimmick. He cited that he had mimicked The Beatle's accent to adjust to his gimmick.

Debut (1998)
Simon debuted as his The Knight persona, against Big Bad Wolf in mid 1998. He won the title after suplex-tossing Wolf out of the ring, and performing a moonsault that lead to wolf losing to a Pinfall.

￼Career as The Knight
The Knight was often shown to be a chivalric face, and often won due to his sheer strength and technical style,  though Simon hated technical.

In reality, Simon disliked The Knight gimmick due to the persona not fitting in with him well, as the Knight was an undesirable, soft spoken gentleman who often bragged about "The Queen" during promos, while Simon was more of a hyperactive rockstar individual.

Rivalry against The Jazz (1998 - 2002)
In late 1998, Simon's brother Curt debuted as The Jazz, a 1940s dressed man with a tendency to make "music" with the kayfabe injuries he gave his opponents.

Immediately after his debut, the two demanded a match against eachother, which lead to Jazz annihilating Knight and stating, after winning by KO,  that "God save the queen, eh?  Some Knight you were."

Following this, the Knight interfered with The Jazz's match against Awesome Josh by knocking down ￼Jazz and pulling out two fake swords, tossing the second one to Jazz, and saying "Curt 'Jazz' Barnes, I challenge you to a duel."

Jazz got up, but attempting to cheaphot Knight by swinging ￼horizontally towards Knight's head, but he ducked and rammed into Jazz and swung at him,  which Jazz countered by hitting Knight's sword, the two continued to duel until Jazz's sword was knocked out of his hand, causing him to retreat cowardly.

This incident lead to Jazz sabotaging Knight's theme, playing 1920's jazz music instead, and Knight's false sword, which he used in finishers, was turned into a drum stick.

Teaming up with Caden and Kyle Barnes (May 10, 2002)
After Simon's little brother, Caden ￼debuted in March 2002, he was approached with the idea of a superhero themed stable. Simon happily agreed to the idea, and the two searched for canidates, but an agreement that the Barnes Family would make wrestling mostly family related, they looked for a sibling.

While Simon picked Steve, since he figured Steve was more competent and enthusiastic, Caden picked his older brother, Kyle, due to his closer relationship, and the fact that Steve was too stubborn about making a face gimmick.

After Kyle made his debut, the tag team formed and would go on to be a huge face stable, and the three were very successful together.

Career with The Heroes
Simon was given a new gimmick, The Barbarian, a rockstar themed Barabrian with powerhouse style, which he strongly enjoyed, despite his lack of interest in wrestling.

The trio won nearly all of the matches they competed in, usually won by Simon, though the biggest loss was a ￼rematch against the SkipJacks in August 2002, when Seven Skip body slammed Barabrian￼ and pinned him, with Scuba and Smart restraining Caden and Kyle until the pinfall was over.

Barbarian went on to become one of the best and most iconic wrestlers in East End, and strongly enjoyed participating in matches with his brothers, enjoying the values of family.

Injury and Retirement (April 5, 2010)
Simon was in a match against Autumn Gibson, an amateur wrestler, and while attempting to perform the military press, Gibson countered it into a backbreaker, but misjudging the weight and quick maneuver, had his left knee penetrate under Barne's spine.

While it appeared Barnes was okay, Gibson pushed him aside, but upon hearing him say the emergency phrase, stopped the match.

After being rushed away on a stretcher, Barnes was miraculously brushed off by the injury, but was recommended to retire, which he immediately agreed to, mainly due to his lack of interest in the business following the recent deaths of brothers David and Steve Barnes in 2007 and 2009.

He had mentioned he was not mad about being injured by Gibson, even going as far as to joke about it being "A hell of a burn." though, he voiced concerns to the administration for giving Gibson pointed knee-pads, which were given to most wrestlers to cushion maneuvers, instead of being￼ flat-round, it was slightly pointed, which contributed to his injury.

Semi-Retirement (2010 - 2014)
Simon had settled into becoming an announcer and manager for his brothers, assisting both Caden and Lance's stables, despite the kayfabe rivalry, and helped contribute to the intro music for them, playing rock instruments.

After the semi-retirement of the Barnes family, Simon officially left East End.

Personal Life
Barnes met Brianna Keaton in 2002 in a post match fan greeting, and the two became heavily interested afterwords, and married in 2004. The couple have two children, Michael (Born 2005)  and Christy (Born 2007).

￼Simon plays small time gigs as a rock and heavy metal singer. In 2018, he began requiring a cane, most likely due to his previous back injury in 2010.

Health Problems and Death
Simon has been known for his history of alcohol and painkiller abuse since 2010, according to him, his back and legs have a "crackling and burning feel,  like lightning in my muscles" which he admits to crying from pain often.

It was confirmed that he has been battling type two diabetes since August 2018, and it was revealed that he now uses a wheelchair and has an amputed right leg as a result of his diabetes, since September 2019.

Simon has made the the unfortunate announcement during his January 2020 Hall of Fame induction that he may not have much longer to live, but until the very end, he will continue to entertain his fans, and that his legacy as The Barbarian shall always be remembered.

Simon was found dead in his sleep in the morning of March 4, 2020. The cause of death is unclear, but is presumed to be a cause of his diabetes complications.

On March 7, 2020, Barnes was given a ten-bell salute, and the show was given a speech on the life and career of Barnes, and was free of charge. (concession funds would be donated to his family and funeral)

Kyle was the first to acknowledge his death on Twitter, stating that Simon had lived an extraordinary and iconic life.