Terry Gordy

Terry Ray Gordy Sr. (April 23, 1961 – July 16, 2001) was an American professional wrestler.

Gordy appeared in the United States with promotions such as Mid-South Wrestling, Georgia Championship Wrestling, World Class Championship Wrestling, Jim Crockett Promotions/World Championship Wrestling and the Universal Wrestling Federation as a member of The Fabulous Freebirds.

He also appeared in Japan with All Japan Pro Wrestling as one-half of The Miracle Violence Connection.

Gordy held many championships throughout the course of his career, including the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, AJPW World Tag Team Championship, WCW World Tag Team Championship, NWA World Tag Team Championship, UWF Heavyweight Championship and SMW Heavyweight Championship.

He has been posthumously inducted into the Wrestling Observer, Professional Wrestling, and WWE Hall of Fame.

Gordy was a standout high school football and baseball player at Rossville High School, but dropped out of high school following his freshman year.

Trained by Archie Gouldie, he started wrestling at the age of 13 in 1974 as "Terry Mecca" for the International Wrestling Association.

In early 1979, Gordy began wrestling under his real name and formed the Fabulous Freebirds with Michael Hayes, with Buddy Roberts later added to the group.

Gordy and Hayes had met while training in Mississippi the year prior.

In 1980, the Freebirds moved to Georgia Championship Wrestling, where they won the territory’s tag team championship.

The Fabulous Freebirds had feuds while there, including those against Tommy Rich, Junkyard Dog, Kevin Sullivan, Austin Idol, and Ted DiBiase, and became one of the first acts to use entrance music.

One match on the Saturday night WTBS Georgia Championship Wrestling show saw the Freebirds take on the Junkyard Dog and Ted DiBiase, where towards the end of the match, Gordy gave DiBiase 4 consecutive piledrivers, which led to DiBiase being taken away in an ambulance.

In 1981, the Freebirds split up when Buddy Roberts left the area.

Michael and Terry then had a falling out, which led to a feud against each other.

Terry and Michael eventually put their differences aside, and reformed the Freebirds as a duo in 1982 when they feuded with Ole Anderson and Stan Hansen.

In late-1982, the Freebirds went to the Dallas, Texas-based World Class Championship Wrestling promotion and had a feud with the Von Erichs (David, Kevin, Kerry and Mike), which kicked off when Gordy slammed the cage door on Kerry during his cage match on March 15 at WCCW Star Wars against Ric Flair, where Michael Hayes served as the special guest referee, inciting a riot among fans attending.

They traded the six man title back and forth a few times over the years.

Gordy was also at one time one half of the WCCW American Tag Team Champions.

While in WCCW, Killer Khan taught Gordy how to perform the Oriental Spike, which he dubbed the Asiatic Spike.

Gordy teamed with Stan Hansen beginning in 1983 in All Japan Pro Wrestling.

Gordy later teamed with Steve Williams as The Miracle Violence Connection.

During his time there, he also held the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship on two occasions.

The Freebirds spent a brief time in the World Wrestling Federation in 1984, but were fired after missing a show and showing up late and drunk.

In 1986, when the Freebirds were in Universal Wrestling Federation, the former Mid South Wrestling, Gordy became the first person to win the UWF Heavyweight Championship and held it for six months, before losing it via forfeit to the One Man Gang, after an angle the same night in which Gordy was injured in an auto accident by "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, whom he feuded with.

During this time, Gordy and the Freebirds had an ongoing feud with Hacksaw Jim Duggan, in which Duggan and Gordy squared off, usually ending in a disqualification because of outside interference.

The Freebirds spent some time in the National Wrestling Alliance's Jim Crockett Promotions where they split to feud briefly, but later reunited.

In 1989, Gordy helped Hayes to reform the Freebirds, with Jimmy Garvin, in the NWA, which became World Championship Wrestling in 1991.

Later, he and Steve Williams defeated the Steiners to become World Tag Team Champions.

After World Class folded in 1989, Gordy wrestled in various promotions.

He started working for United States Wrestling Association (USWA).

In 1991, he worked for Universal Wrestling Federation where he feuded with Don Muraco.

Gordy and Williams returned to World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1992 and won the WCW World Tag Team titles.

At that point, they were considered the most dominant team in wrestling, making $10,000 to $15,000 a week.

They also won the NWA World Tag Team titles in a tournament at the Great American Bash card in Albany, Georgia, one week later, and unified the titles.

Their feud with Rick and Scott Steiner in Japan was hyped as a feud between the best foreign teams of the two top Japanese promotions (the Steiners were competing for rival New Japan Pro-Wrestling at the time).

Despite advances by New Japan, Gordy and Williams, out of loyalty to the AJPW founder and promoter, Giant Baba, refused to compete for the promotion (which had business ties with WCW at the time), leading to Gordy's departure from WCW before Halloween Havoc and Williams' departure after Starrcade.

On August 18, 1993, while traveling from the United States to Japan for a tour, Gordy took an overdose (from which he almost died of three years earlier) of pain medication and slipped into a five-day coma, ultimately suffering permanent brain damage.

As a result, he had to relearn how to talk, walk, and wrestle.

He returned to action later that year, but never received a shot at the Triple Crown again or possessed the skills he once had.

In 1994, Gordy had a small reunion with Hayes and Garvin as the Freebirds in the Global Wrestling Federation where he and Garvin won the GWF Tag Team Titles.