| Michael Hayes | |
|---|---|
 Hayes,c. 1985 | |
| Birth name | Michael Seitz |
| Born | (1959-03-29)March 29, 1959 (age 65) Pensacola, Florida, U.S.[1] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) |
|
| Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)[2] |
| Billed weight | 255 lb (116 kg)[2] |
| Billed from | Badstreet U.S.A. inAtlanta, Georgia |
| Trained by | Afa Anoa'i[1] Sika Anoa'i[1] Mike Boyette[1] |
| Debut | 1977[1] |
| Retired | 1999[1] |
Michael Seitz (born March 29, 1959) is an American retiredprofessional wrestler and formermusician. Seitz is best known for leadingThe Fabulous Freebirds under thering nameMichael "P.S." ("Purely Sexy")[3]Hayes and for his role as an announcer under the name "Handsome"Dok Hendrix in theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF). He is employed with WWE as Vice President, Creative Writing & Booking and is also a seniorproducer.
Hayes started wrestling in 1977 in theTennessee regionalpromotions. In 1978, he wrestled his first tour overseas in Germany forCatch Wrestling Association.
In 1979, wrestling forMid South Wrestling at the suggestion ofBill Watts he formed atag team withTerry "Bam Bam" Gordy winning theMid South Tag Team Championship 3 times and became the wrestling faction calledThe Fabulous Freebirds. Hayes became Michael "P.S." Hayes, and they strutted their way to many tag team titles along withBuddy "Jack" Roberts. Hayes also started moonwalking in the ring likeMichael Jackson used to do at his concerts.[4] The Freebirds spent 1980 through 1982 in theNWA'sGeorgia Championship Wrestling area, where they won theNWA National Tag Team Championship a few times, split and feuded, then mended fences.[4]
In 1982, they left forWorld Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), where they had one of their most famousfeuds. Hayes was chosen by the fans to be the special guest referee during theRic Flair-Kerry Von ErichNWA World Heavyweight Championshipsteel cage match atChristmas Star Wars. Hayes at one point knocked Flair out so Von Erich could get the pin and the title. Von Erich refused to pin him after the dirty deed which ultimately led to Gordy slamming the cage door on Von Erich's head. As this later cost him the title, it triggered the legendary feud betweenThe Fabulous Freebirds andThe Von Erichs and ended a good respectful friendship between both groups. The Freebird-Von Erich feud ended for good in 1993 during a memorial card in tribute toKerry Von Erich.[4] Hayes was always the leader of the group with his exceptional mic skills and he recorded the team's new theme song,Badstreet USA, in 1983. The video to the song features all three of The Fabulous Freebirds as well as Jimmy Garvin, who was often considered the fourth Freebird. They had used theLynyrd Skynyrd song "Free Bird" andWillie Nelson's version of "Georgia on My Mind" up to that point and would on occasion in the future.[4]
In 1984, The Freebirds had a brief stint in theWWF but left when management wanted to split them up. The Freebirds then spent a few months in theAWA in 1985, feuding withThe Road Warriors over theAWA World Tag Team Championship, winning the belts temporarily at the inauguralSuperClash event before the AWA overturned the decision. The Freebirds interfered in the match where the Warriors lost the belts toJimmy Garvin andSteve Regal, and subsequently returned toTexas.[4] In 1986, Hayes appeared in the opening credits ofHighlander alongsideThe Fabulous Freebirds, working his Purely Sexy gimmick on the turnbuckle while writhing free of his ring robe.[4]
The Freebirds also spent several months in theUniversal Wrestling Federation in 1986 and early 1987 with Sunshine as theirmanager. There they feuded with The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton andTommy Rogers) and with"Dr. Death" Steve Williams.[4] In 1986, Hayes' partner in the Freebirds, Terry Gordy, became the first holder of the UWF heavyweight title. After losing the title by default toOne Man Gang, the Freebirds engaged in a major heel vs heel feud withSkandor Akbar's Devastation Inc. group. The feud continued even after Akbar double-crossed Gang and helpedBig Bubba Rogers win the title from him, and saw the Freebirds form an alliance with their former enemy Williams against Devastation Inc.[4]
After the breakup of the Freebirds, Hayes became a full-fledged babyface and remained in the UWF, which was later sold toJim Crockett Promotions (JCP) on April 9, 1987.[5] At the JCP/UWF co-promoted pay-per-view eventStarrcade '87, Hayes teamed with Jimmy Garvin (also now a babyface after reconciling withkayfabe brotherRon Garvin) andSting to face the team ofEddie Gilbert,Rick Steiner andLarry Zbyszko whom they wrestled to a time-limit draw. He later challengedNWA World ChampionRic Flair and frequently teamed with Jimmy Garvin.[4]
Hayes returned to World Class Championship Wrestling to find that his former Freebird partners Gordy and Roberts, in alliance withIceman Parsons andThe Angel of Death, had resumed their feud with the Von Erichs. After Gordy and Roberts helped Parsons win the World Class heavyweight title from Kerry Von Erich by bashing Kerry with socks loaded with weights while the arena lights were mysteriously turned off, a disgusted Hayes allied himself with the Von Erichs against his former Freebird 'brothers'.[4] At the1988 Parade of Champions, Gordy defeated Hayes in a hair vs hair "triple dome of terror" (three vertically stacked cages) match. After the match, however, Gordy refused to cut Hayes' hair and instead turned babyface on Roberts and cuthis hair. Subsequently, Hayes and Gordy reunited as babyfaces and feuded with Roberts and hisSamoan Swat Team as well as old Freebird enemies Devastation Inc, of whom Parsons was now a member.[4]
While all this was going on, Hayes continued with his music career, often playing concerts with his Badstreet Band at theDallas Sportatorium, World Class's main arena. Inevitably, the music career overlapped with World Class' storylines when, at one such concert, Roberts appeared onstage and hit Hayes over the head with a guitar. Hayes also formed a new tag team with"Do It To It" Steve Cox and together they twice briefly beat the Samoan Swat Team for the World Class tag team titles, on September 12–16, 1988, and October 15–17, 1988.[4]
In 1989, Hayes went toWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW) (formerly JCP) where he wrestled as aface. Heturned onU.S. ChampLex Luger during a match withHiro Matsuda's "Yamazaki Corporation" and joined them. Thestable includedRic Flair,Barry andKendall Windham, andButch Reed. Hayes feuded with Luger and won the U.S. Title from him after Terry Gordy surprised everybody and interfered in the match. Luger later regained the title from Hayes and The Freebirds entered the tournament to crown newNWA World tag team champions.[4] AtClash of the Champions VII, on June 14, 1989,Jimmy Garvin showed up as the newest Freebird and he and Hayes won the tournament and titles (thus reuniting their old tag team from JCP circa 1987).[6] The new champions immediately feuded withThe Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton andStan Lane). Gordy left in late 1989 and Hayes and Garvin feuded withThe Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton andRobert Gibson).[4]
In 1991, The Freebirds feuded with "The Young Pistols" (Steve Armstrong andTracy Smothers). They soon added another Freebird, the maskedBadstreet.[4] He helped them win the U.S. Tag Team Titles and they all won the Six-Man Titles.[7][8] They also had two managers briefly,Big Daddy Dink andDiamond Dallas Page. Once Badstreet departed from the group in late 1991, The Freebirds were left with no real direction. The Freebirds turned face, and Garvin's wifePrecious became their on-screen manager. Although they won the U.S. Tag Titles again, The Freebirds disbanded by late 1992.[4] Hayes then turned heel again and started managingArn Anderson andBobby Eaton, who were still members of theDangerous Alliance. He became a member of sorts and even helpedPaul E. Dangerously in his feud withMadusa. In 1993, Hayes became a fan favorite again and feuded withPaul Orndorff over the TV Title and then briefly teamed (and later feuded) withJohnny B. Badd and also did some commentating before quitting WCW in January 1994, after being offered a $75,000 a year contract (Hayes would make one final appearance in WCW atSuperBrawl IV in February).
He went back to Dallas to theGlobal Wrestling Federation and reunited with Garvin and Gordy as The Freebirds, whom he managed them to win their Tag Team Championship, before the company folded that September.[4] After the GWF folded, Hayes remained in Dallas for theNational Wrestling Alliance's stay in Dallas, which lasted until April 1995.
Michael Hayes received a tryout match with theWWF on February 21, 1995, at aWWF Superstars taping in Augusta, Georgia. Wrestling in a dark match, Hayes competed as a face and defeated Ken Raper.[9] However he retired from active competition due to a serious back injury he suffered while in WCW and after the NWA's Dallas promotion ended, and debuted on April 14 instead as Dok Hendrix,WWF Action Zone co-host withTodd Pettengill.[4] As Dok Hendrix, he interviewed wrestlers before their matches and initially acted more like a heel, though that was later dropped. Among other interviews, it was Hayes who conducted the interview withSteve Austin atKing of the Ring 1996 where Austin first used the "Austin 3:16" catchphrase. Hayes also worked as a color commentator in 1995 with Vince McMahon onWWF Superstars and on theIn Your House 1 and the1995 King of the Ring pay-per-view events and replacedJerry Lawler for the last two matches atSummerSlam 1995.
Hayes returned to active competition in 1999 forPower Pro Wrestling, where he won the promotion's title. He soon came back to WWF TV as the manager forThe Hardy Boyz (Matt andJeff Hardy). He competed in a couple of matches with the Hardyz againstThe Brood. The Hardy Boyz lost theTag Team Titles toThe Acolytes atFully Loaded when Hayes was pinned in ahandicap match. Hayes defeatedTracy Smothers onShotgun Saturday Night July 17 episode.[10] He was fired by them in August.[4]
He then became a backstageroad agent (producer) andcolor commentator for the WWF. Initially appearing for one night on the September 23, 1999 broadcast ofSmackDown!, Hayes became acolor commentator onSunday Night Heat alongsideMichael Cole andKevin Kelly from 2000 to 2001, although he was mostly used on the international broadcasts of that show.
AtWrestleMania X-Seven on April 1, 2001, he competed in thegimmick Battle Royal, but was eliminated by theOne Man Gang.[11] During the December 5, 2005 episode ofRAW, he became involved in verbal sparring withEdge in which Hayes attacked Edge's lack of main event experience and the details of his love life (with regard to Matt Hardy andLita). Hayes was later attacked by Edge.[12]
In October 2006, Hayes became the head creative writer for theSmackDown brand after Alex Greenfield's departure from the company. He can be seen on the second season ofWWE Classics on Demand seriesLegends of Wrestling. Hayes made occasional appearances on WWE programs: on the December 7, 2007 episode ofSmackDown, Hayes was a guest ofMVP'sVIP Lounge. Hayes promoted the newTriumph and Tragedy ofWCCW DVD and reinforced itsanti-drug message. However, Hayes ended up being attacked by MVP before being saved byRey Mysterio Jr.[13] On the June 28, 2010 episode ofRaw, Hayes was one of several Legends who accompaniedRicky "The Dragon" Steamboat, who was out to promote his new DVD. Hayes and the other legends were later attacked by theNXTseason 1 graduates, collectively known asThe Nexus.[14] On the May 12, 2011 episode ofWWE Superstars, Hayes accompaniedTyson Kidd to the ring but turned on him a week later after Kidd lost his match toYoshi Tatsu. Hayes hit Kidd, stating he had better things to do than hang around losers.[15]
In October 2013, Hayes took a leave of absence from WWE for personal reasons,[16] but he returned to work on December 2, 2013.[17] On August 1, 2014, Hayes appeared in a short segment on the online seriesJBL and Cole Show in which he stared at a "Free Birds, call to enquire" flier.[18] In February 2015, Hayes partook in a WWE.com interview alongsideArn Anderson withMichael Cole to discussTriple H andSting's match atWrestleMania 31.[19] On April 2, 2016, Hayes was inducted into theWWE Hall of Fame with the Fabulous Freebirds. Hayes accepted the award alongsideJimmy Garvin.
Hayes took a hiatus from his position on the creative team in November 2024 reportedly for personal reasons, until he was named in an amended lawsuit in January 2025 involvingMcMahon and a former female WWE employee, Janel Grant who McMahon ordered her to create explicit content for Hayes and backstage personnel back in September 2020.[20][21]
In 1998, Hayes returned to the ring for the first time in four years working in the independents reuniting with Terry Gordy at Bad Boys of Wrestling in Wyoming. He defeatedThe Honky Tonk Man on May 8, 1999, at Superstars of Wrestling. On January 21, 2000, Gordy and Hayes wrestled for Oklahoma Pro Wrestling when they lost toThe Hardy Boyz.
In 1987, on the back of the popularity of the "Badstreet USA" theme, Hayes recorded and released an album,Off The Streets. He also performed live concerts to promote the album with his backing band, the Badstreet Band. The July 1988 issue ofPro Wrestling Illustrated (written circa March 1988) contained a (possiblykayfabed) column by writer Dave Rosenbaum in which he visited the box office for a Badstreet Band show and surveyed what sort of people would actually go to Hayes' concerts.[22] In 1992, Hayes performed a duet with music producer Darwin Conort called "Freebird Forever" on the WCW album,Slam Jam 1.[23] In 2011, Hayes paid tribute to his Freebird brother Terry Gordy, who died of aheart attack caused by ablood clot in 2001, with a song entitled "Freebird Road" produced with Darwin Conort, based on Johnny VanZant's "Brickyard Road" (with permission). His music video was an emotional and stirring trip down memory lane as a Freebird and shows shots of him at Gordy's grave.[24]
Track list:[41]
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| International | |
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| National | |
