| Fabulous Freebirds | |
|---|---|
 Left to right: Gordy, Hayes and Roberts, circa 1985 | |
| Stable | |
| Members | Michael Hayes (leader) Buddy Roberts Terry Gordy Jimmy Garvin |
| Name(s) | The Freebirds The Fabulous Freebirds |
| Debut | 1979 |
| Disbanded | 1994 |
| Years active | 1979–1994, 1999–2000, 2017 (reunions) |
TheFabulous Freebirds were aprofessional wrestlingtag team who attained fame in the 1980s, performing into the 1990s. The team usually consisted of three wrestlers, although in different situations and points in its history, just two performed under the Freebirds name. The Freebird lineup of Hayes, Roberts, and Gordy was inducted into theProfessional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2015, and members Hayes, Roberts, Gordy, and Garvin were inducted into theWWE Hall of Fame in 2016.[1]
The Fabulous Freebirds started performing together in 1979 whenMid South Wrestling promoterBill Watts put together the duo ofMichael "P.S." Hayes andTerry "Bam Bam" Gordy. Though originally meant to be a tag team, he soon added formerHollywood BlondBuddy "Jack" Roberts into the mix, and they became a "three man gang" type of tag-team—an unusual concept at the time. They invented a concept that is now called the "Freebird Rule" in their honor, in which any two of three members can defend the team's championships. They usually worked asheels, but also had severalface runs as well.
After wrestling for Watts in Mid South, they worked forMemphis basedContinental Wrestling Association (CWA) where they feuded withJerry Lawler andBill Dundee.
In late-1980, the Freebirds moved toGeorgia Championship Wrestling, where they won the National Tag Team titles in the Omni, fromMr Wrestling 1 and2. Throughout the first half of 1981, the 'Birds had some of the biggest feuds and most legendary matches in the history of GCW. In one famous match shown onWTBS (now known as the piledriver match), Gordy gaveTed DiBiase four consecutive piledrivers, which led to Dibiase being taken away in an ambulance. In mid 1981, Roberts left GCW. Gordy and Hayes then had a falling out, and a subsequent feud against each other, with Hayes as the hero, and Gordy as the villain. Hayes and Gordy eventually patched up their differences, and reformed the Freebirds as a duo. They feuded withOle Anderson andStan Hansen over the NWA world tag team titles, throughout the summer of 1982.
The group next wrestled in the Dallas-basedWorld Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) territory, where they had a legendary feud with theVon Erichs (David,Kevin,Kerry,Chris andMike).[2] This feud was ignited by an infamous incident in which Gordy slammed Kerry Von Erich's head in a steel cage door, inciting a riot. During this feud, as the Von Erichs would wave theflag of Texas, the Freebirds started using theflag of Georgia, which contained theConfederate battle flag, as a group symbol to counter it.[3]
They also performed in theNWA-affiliatedGeorgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) andWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW), theAmerican Wrestling Association (AWA), and the Oklahoma-basedUniversal Wrestling Federation (UWF). While in the AWA they feuded primarily withThe Road Warriors, costing them the World Tag Team Titles in a match against long time Freebird allyJimmy Garvin and his partnerSteve Regal.
They had a very brief run in theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1984, where they were a part of theRock 'n' Wrestling Connection period. In the WWF, they wrestled under the guidance ofCyndi Lauper's manager David Wolff,[4] but soon left the promotion after an altercation withAndré the Giant, who was upset when the Freebirds arrived late to a show.[5]
The group then moved on to their AWA run, returned to World Class, and then started a stint in the UWF where Gordy became the promotion's champion, Roberts held its TV title, and Hayes usually acted as their manager or served as a heel commentator on television broadcasts. When Gordy lost the title toOne Man Gang, the Freebirds feuded with Gang's stable,General Skandor Akbar's Devastation, Inc. After JCP purchased UWF in 1987, Hayes wrestled for JCP, teaming with Garvin andSting atStarrcade '87 to wrestle Eddie Gilbert, Rick Steiner and Larry Zbyszko to a draw.
The rest of the Freebirds went to World Class intending to continue their feud with the Von Erichs. When Hayes arrived in the territory in early 1988, he announced his intention to bury the hatchet with the Von Erichs, putting himself at odds with Gordy, Roberts and their new ally,Iceman Parsons. After Gordy interfered to help Parsons defeat Kerry Von Erich for the World Class championship after the Dallas Sportatorium lights mysteriously went out, Hayes wrestled Gordy in a hair vs hair match at the 1988 World Class Parade of Champions. Gordy won, but afterwards refused to cut Hayes hair and instead turned on Roberts and cut his hair. This left Roberts, alongside Parsons, feuding with Hayes, Gordy and the Von Erichs. In retaliation, Roberts brought in theSamoan SWAT Team to eliminate his former fellow Freebirds.Gordy also wrestled on the independent circuit and began spending most of his time inJapan, and Roberts began to wind down his career.
Hayes and Garvin were paired as the Freebirds in WCW in 1989, enjoying several reigns as World and United States tag-team champions, and were joined by Gordy for a while as well. They later employed the services of masked third partnerBrad Armstrong (under the name Badstreet) and managersDiamond Dallas Page,Big Daddy Dink,Little Richard Marley andPrecious (Garvin's real-life wife and longtime valet). The Freebirds were last together when Hayes, Gordy, and Garvin worked for theGlobal Wrestling Federation (GWF) in 1994,[6] ending the group after 15 years.
In 1999, Gordy and Hayes reunited as they foughtGlen Kulka andJR Smooth to a no contest forPower Pro Wrestling on May 28, 1999.[7] On January 21, 2000, Gordy and Hayes wrestled for Oklahoma Pro Wrestling when they lost toThe Hardy Boyz.
Gordy died of aheart attack, caused by ablood clot on July 16, 2001, at age 40 while Roberts died on November 29, 2012, at the age of 67, ofpneumonia and on November 1, 2012, Armstrong died of a suspectedheart attack making Hayes and Garvin the only living members of the Freebirds.[8][9] Hayes (who retired from in-ring competition shortly after the Freebirds disbanded) is currently the head of the road agents/producers within WWE, while Garvin retired from wrestling shortly after disbanding and has become anAirline Transport Pilot.
On April 2, 2016, The Fabulous Freebirds (Hayes, Gordy, Roberts, and Garvin) were inducted into theWWE Hall of Fame byThe New Day.
The Freebirds concept was heavily derived from theLynyrd Skynyrd song "Free Bird" and the image of "Southern pride" evoked by the band. For most of the team's early existence, the song was used as their entrance music, in both television and live appearances. On occasion, they would also enter the ring toWillie Nelson's rendition of "Georgia on My Mind". The Freebirds are sometimes credited as the first wrestlers to use entrance music for their entrances, although others includingGorgeous George's use of "Pomp and Circumstance,"Big Daddy's use of "We Shall Not Be Moved" andChris Colt's use of "Welcome to My Nightmare" byAlice Cooper all predate the Freebirds.
During the mid-1980s, a number ofNorth American wrestling promotions who licensed copyrighted music faced difficulties in continuing those licenses. Other promotions which did not license music were under scrutiny for the practice. Promotions began looking for solutions. The WWF, which hiredJimmy Hart andJim Johnston in 1985, used their talents to write and produce music under which the copyrights could be controlled by the company. Around this same time, Hayes recorded the song "Badstreet USA" and released a music video, which included the other Freebird members, as well as a cameo by a young Jim Ross. This song would largely be used as the entrance music for the Freebirds from that point forward, though they would use the other songs on occasion.
During the Freebirds' career in the NWA, they won several of its regional tag-team championships. While holding the title, promoters added a sub-gimmick to the team – "The Freebird Rule" – which allowed any two of the three members of the team to defend the title on any given night.[10]
This rule has been re-used by a number of other promotions when a three (or more) member team captures a tag team championship.[11] Examples include:
In some cases, the Freebird Rule has been applied to singles titles:
A slight variation of the Freebird Rule exists where a team or stable declares themselves as co-champions but the promotion only recognize the individual(s) who won the title as the official champion:
TheBlackbirds were formed in 1988 inWorld Class Championship Wrestling byIceman Parsons. He had just teamed withTerry Gordy andBuddy Roberts as the "Blackbird" in their feud withMichael Hayes. He teamed up with Perry "Action" Jackson and Harold T. Harris to form the Blackbirds. They also wrestled as the Blackbirds in theGlobal Wrestling Federation in 1992.
TheExtreme Freebirds were formed inNWA Wildside and the NAWA by the son of Terry Gordy,Ray Gordy. He teamed up with Tank and Iceberg in 2004 to form this group.
The original three Freebirds briefly appear in a match againstGreg Gagne,The Tonga Kid, andJim Brunzell during the opening sequence of the1986 fantasy filmHighlander,[21] which occurs at a show inMadison Square Garden (although the scene was actually filmed at theBrendan Byrne Arena across the river).
Championship (1 time) – Hayes
The trio defended the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Titles, officially held by Adam Page and the Young Bucks, under "Bullet Club Rules", allowing any three members to defend the titles.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
