Fabulous Freebirds
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The Fabulous Freebirds were a groundbreaking professional wrestling tag-team that 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.
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[edit] History
The Fabulous Freebirds started performing together in 1979 when Michael "P.S." Hayes, Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy and Buddy "Jack" Roberts decided to try a ' 3-man gang'-type tag-team -- an unusual concept at the time. They worked as heels (i.e., 'bad guys'), and were basically the first U.S. act of their time to incorporate theme music into their ring entrances (one of the few known to have done that before was the legendary Gorgeous George). Their original theme was Lynyrd Skynyrd's song "Free Bird"; later, Hayes recorded his own theme song for the team, which achieved cult status among many wrestling fans: Badstreet USA. They wore the colors of the Confederate States of America, rebel flags adorned their ring attire.
When asked on camera where they were from, they replied "Badstreet, USA" -- often elaborating that this street they lived on was the toughest to survive in. How tough? so tough that the further down the street one got, the progressively tougher the street became; and, they lived on the last house on the right.
They wrestled in the Dallas-based World Class Championship Wrestling territory, where they had a legendary feud with the Von Erichs (David, Kevin, Kerry and Mike).
They also performed in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)-affiliated Georgia Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling; the American Wrestling Association (the upper Mid- and Mountain-West); and the Oklahoma-based Universal Wrestling Federation. They had a very brief run in the World Wrestling Federation in 1984, but left when WWF officials wanted to split the team up. The Freebirds were last together when Hayes, Gordy and "Georgeous" Jimmy Garvin worked for the Global Wrestling Federation in 1994.
[edit] Freebird Rule
During the Freebirds' run in the NWA, they won its tag-team championship. While holding the title, promoters added a sub-gimmick to the team: the (unofficial) "Freebird Rule", which allowed any two of the three members of the team to defend the title on any given night. This "rule" has been re-used by a number of other companies when a three- (or more) man team captures a tag-team championship. Examples include Triple X in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling; the Jersey Triad in World Championship Wrestling; and, in World Wrestling Entertainment, both Demolition and the Spirit Squad. In rare cases, the rule has been applied to singles titles, such as when Three Count won the WCW Hardcore Championship, or Chris Jericho and Chyna co-held the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
[edit] Members
- Michael Hayes - the defiant leader and charismatic spokeperson of the group. Around the time of their UWF run (1986-1987), had nicknamed himself "P.S." ("Pretty Sexy").
- Terry Gordy - the big brute of the group, called "Bam Bam". The most successful of all Freebird members, in terms of his solo career.
- Buddy Roberts - the veteran of the group; called Buddy "Jack", due to his penchant for Jack Daniel's whiskey.
- Jimmy Garvin - a member in WCW, and an occassional ally in World Class and the AWA. Him and Hayes reunited in the AWF Warriors of Wrestling show as well, and hinted that more Freebirds would be joining as well, but AWF closed before that happened.
- Badstreet - the masked member in WCW, and the group's light heavyweight/cruiserweight. Originally appeared as "Fantasia", but WCW changed the name to Badstreet to avoid a legal confrontation with Disney.
- Big Daddy Dink - the Freebird alias of manager Sir Oliver Humperdink; in keeping with the Freebirds' 'frustrated rock & roll band' gimmick, he was referred to as their "tour manager" in WCW (1990-91).
- Little Richard Marley - WCW jobber Rocky King, who as "Little Richard Marley" served as a ringside pest to Freebird opponents in 1990.
- Diamond Dallas Page - manager in WCW (1991).
[edit] Famous Quotes
"My momma always told me, 'Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat!'" - Hayes
"Heaven don't want us and Hell's afraid we'd take over" - Hayes
[edit] Championships/accomplishments
- 1-Time NWA World Tag Team Champions (Hayes & Garvin)
- 3-Time NWA National Tag Team Champions (Hayes & Gordy)
- 1-Time NWA Georgia Tag Team Champions (Hayes & Gordy)
- 1-Time NWA United States Heavyweight Champion (Hayes)
- 1-Time WCW World Tag Team Champions (Hayes & Garvin)
- 2-Time WCW United States Tag Team Champions (Hayes & Garvin)
- 1-Time WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Champions (Hayes, Garvin & Badstreet)
- 1-Time WCCW American Tag Team Champions (Hayes & Gordy)
- 5-Time WCCW Six-Man Tag Team Champions (Hayes, Gordy & Roberts)
- 1-Time WCCW Television Champion (Roberts)
- 1-Time UWF Heavyweight Champion (Gordy)
- 1-Time UWF Television Champion (Roberts)
- 1-Time Mid-South Tag Team Champions (Hayes & Gordy), (Gordy & Roberts)
- 2-Time Mid-American Tag Team Champions (Hayes & Gordy)
- 1-Time GWF Tag Team Champions (Gordy & Garvin)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated ranked them # 3 of the 100 best tag teams during the "PWI Years" in 2003 (Hayes & Gordy).
- They won the 1981 PWI Tag Team of the Year Award (Hayes, Gordy & Roberts).
[edit] Offshoots
[edit] Blackbirds
The Blackbirds were formed in 1988 in World Class Championship Wrestling by Iceman Parsons. He had just teamed with Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts as the "Blackbird" in their feud with Michael Hayes. He teamed up with Perry "Action" Jackson and Harold T. Harris to form the Blackbirds. They also wrestled as The Blackbirds in the Global Wrestling Federation in 1992.
[edit] Extreme Freebirds
The Extreme Freebirds were formed in NWA 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.
[edit] Other Appearances
The original three Freebirds briefly appear in the opening sequence of Highlander (1986) (which occurs at an arena-based wrestling show in Madison Square Garden), as wrestlers in-action.
