411’s Dark Side of The Ring Report: “Terry Gordy: Final Flight of The Freebird”

-Welcome to our third episode for this season. This week it’s all about Terry Gordy! Let’s get to it!

-The tease shows Mick Foley, Jim Cornette, Jimmy Garvin among the talking heads this week. I assume no Michael Hayes as nobody with the WWE pops up on this series.

-As a reminder, Chris Jericho us our narrator!

-We start by meeting Miranda Gordy, Terry’s daughter and she is a pro-wrestler. We see her working some independent shows. She notes people expect her to be a great as his, and that’s not the case. She says they are enormous boots to fill.

-Next it’s Ray Gordy, Terry’s son, and he talks about how big Terry’s shoes are to fill. For those who don’t know, Ray used to be in the WWE as Jesse (of Jesse and Festus) and Slam Master J. I remember Jesse, but don’t remember Slam Master J. Apparently, he was Slam Master J in the WrestleMania XXVI pre-show battle royal that Yoshi Tatsu won. I was at the show, and don’t remember him being there with that gimmick at all. He didn’t want to use his father’s name in WWE because he didn’t feel he could live up to it. His dad told him that once you learn how the business works, you will never want to do anything else.

-Terry was born in Georgia and was barely a teenager when he started in the wrestling business. His children go through old pictures and report cards. There were some Fs and Ray notes the days his dad was marked absent was because he was on the road. We get some video of a 14 year old Terry wrestling on TV.

-Jim Cornette up next and he first met Terry when he was 16 and he had already been a wrestler for a few years. Cornette says Terry was a prodigy and a natural. Mick Foley backs up the idea that Terry was a prodigy, but he also worked very hard at getting better. What Terry lacked in traditional schooling, he picked up an education on the road. Cornette says Terry was an all around performer and very few could touch him.

-Terry meets Michael Hayes in Mississippi and Cornette mentions if you hand Michael a microphone he can talk forever. Find the story of HHH and Stephanie’s wedding reception! Jimmy Garvin: “His mama must have had a really hard time with him.” Jimmy is a member of the Freebirds and a WWE Hall of Fame Member (Houston and I was there for that ceremony).

-Michael would talk and piss people off, but he knew he had Terry Gordy in his corner. They had a natural chemistry together and were soulmates as far as friends go. Cornette says Michael, like most Southerners, was a fan of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and pitched the idea of calling their team, The Freebirds. They play the song here as Cornette talks about them using the song for the first time and how it was different than anything else as using music wasn’t a common thing.

-Buddy Roberts joins the group as the veteran and the three-man combination worked perfectly. Foley says together they were bigger than the sum of their parts and got over everywhere they went.

-They head to WCCW and their legendary feud with The Von Erichs start. Kevin Von Erich notes they wanted bad asses in WCCW and The Birds were tough. It was a marriage made in heaven! David Manning (promoter, booker, and ref in WCCW) says the promotion caught fire in the 80s when The Birds and Von Erichs went to war. It started a State War between Texas and Georgia according to The Birds, but The Von Erichs preached it was good vs. evil. Ray notes he didn’t want his dad to get beat up, but he was a fan of The Von Erichs.

-Cornette says The Birds started to get their own fans and Foley says they were the original cool heels. They ran the feud all over the South and made all kinds of money. They had a 6 Man Match headline in Texas Stadium and the money continued to flow for two years as they battled each other.

-The Birds would drink all night and then sweat the booze out in the ring. They would tell people wrestling was the best cure for a hangover. Miranda talks about a bar fight where Terry went crazy because a guy was hitting on his wife. The police only made matters worse as Terry dented the hood of a cop car with his head trying to keep from being cuffed. Ray notes looking back on it from today’s perspective, it was out of control nearly every night. He isn’t sure when it went from marijuana and booze to a pill problem.

-Commercials!

-In 1984 The Birds head to the WWF (yep, it happened). Cornette asks if it even lasted a week. Jimmy says that Terry was hung over and feel asleep and that didn’t get over well with Vince. They flamed out quickly though we get some footage to show it really happened. I believe there is a show on The Network that has The Birds on a WWF card.

-Terry Gordy went over to Japan and became the next Monster American like Brody, Abdullah, Hansen, etc. Terry loved the hard, physical style in Japan and became one of the biggest stars to every work there. They discuss the toll it takes to work that style in Japan. Ray knew that his dad was having knee issues and Cornette notes that Terry tore both of his ACLs.

-Gordy had double knee surgery and was told to lose weight, so he contacted Richard Simmons and slimmed down to 265 lbs. His daughter says when you see the skinnier Gordy, you can blame Richard Simmons.

-June 1, 1991: Gordy vs. MISAWA. Ray says it is one of the Top Five Matches of All Time! He puts over the little things that his father did that people don’t notice as they are focused on all the power moves. Mick says that Terry made everything he did mean something and puts over how great his punches looked. He was the first American to win The Triple Crown Championship.

-Also in Japan he formed a team with Dr. Death Steve Williams and The Miracle Violence Connection is born. Cornette says if aliens invaded the Earth, you would pick Dr. Death and Terry Gordy to represent Earth in a fight to the death. Well, if Bart Gunn is there, I don’t know if I am taking Dr. Death. That gets said about Haku and Brock Lesnar a lot as well.

-Jimmy Garvin was added to The Birds to cover for when Terry was in Japan. When not in Japan he was back in the US with The Birds and his kids felt that schedule was way too much. Miranda says life was good for some time, and Terry tried to do everything he could to be with his kids.

-Richard Aslinger, Richard Slinger in Japan, is Terry’s nephew and says Terry hated being away from his kids. He would be in a depressed state while in Japan as his missed his wife, kids, and mom. It sucked being on the road 360 days a year. Richard says your mind never has time to reset and relax.

-Cornette brings up the pills to help you sleep when you switch from time zone to time zone. Foley says it is a short step from use as needed to use liked. Terry suffers an overdose on Halcion while in Japan with Steve. They did CPR and took him to the hospital, and once awake, Doc had to fill in the gaps for him about what happened. He tried to help Terry get clean.

-Terry is heading back from Japan and Doc (old interview) says he had to push Terry onto the plane in a wheelchair because he had so many pills in his system. They are 30 minutes from landing and “he is dying on me.”

-Commercials!

-Terry had stopped breathing and was on the verge of swallowing his tongue. Doc says he was able to usually slap him hard enough to wake him out of it, but this time it didn’t happen. Doc started CPR to keep his heart going until he could get off the plane and into an ambulance. Terry was in a coma for a couple days, and Richard was there by his side. Terry was able to wake and needed help to get to the shower. He was very quiet and couldn’t carry on much of a conversation. He had lost a lot of his motor skills and had to relearn a lot of things. There was some permanent mental and physical damage.

-Cornette says it erased something in his brain. A local promoter gave them a key to a gym, and Richard was the one training Terry how to wrestle again. They were all hopeful he would kick out and just be Terry Gordy again.

-Cornette had heard that Terry was working independent shows and thought he if he was anything close to what he was, it would be amazing to have him in Smokey Mountain Wrestling. They brought Terry in, and he wasn’t the same obviously. He couldn’t do a promo anymore and they all kept thinking it would come back to him. Jim mentions that Terry would just stand around and Jim would ask him if he needed anything, “Jim, I was just wondering if you would want me to do the powerbomb?” Terry had the same frame, and could do the moves but it was going through the motions with no life. What made him a personality was gone!

-IWA King of The Death Match! Terry and Cactus Jack face off in the first round. Mick says that Terry’s punches were no longer there, so Mick told him out of respect he needed to bring the punches legit. Mick says that to his credit, Terry didn’t have to be told twice. Mick says they did pretty good and Terry delivered his greatest post-accident promo and they turned back the hands of time that show. There was a thought they had figured things out, but it wasn’t meant to be.

-Commercials!

-Miranda says that Terry continued to wrestle after the accident because that’s all he knew how to do. We see him pop up in ECW and again, the idea was that maybe it would come back. His daughter mentions he had so much life in his eyes, but after the accident it was gone.

-In 1998 Terry does a shoot interview and fans can see the change. Miranda was angered when she first saw the interview. That had to be rough for his children. The interviewer just kept hounding him with questions, and it pissed her off as she just wanted them to leave him alone.

-We jump back a few years as Michael Hayes helps Terry get a job in WWF. They put Terry under a hood as The Executioner. Miranda is glad they put him under the hood as it was a sign of respect. They weren’t going to put Terry Gordy out there as Terry Gordy when he couldn’t be Terry Gordy. I am glad his children note that they were happy with the respect the WWF showed their father, and I am sure Hayes was trying to help a friend get some money with a new job.

-We see The Executioner blast Taker with a shovel to help Mankind in the Buried Alive Match. Mick says that part of Terry’s charm was that he was a man child but still a man’s man. He wasn’t that anymore in WWE and that don’t work in a Main Event feud with The Undertaker. His nephew notes how sad it was and Miranda says it was heartbreaking to watch. Cornette says Taker made the call that this wasn’t going to work. They all loved Terry, but he wasn’t there anymore.

-Foley mentions a story of Terry talking to a woman on a plane and asking her if she had any extra pills. He was at a point where he was taking anything no matter if he knew what it was. He would go from coherent to under the influence within minutes at times. Mick says this is all hard for him to say as he looked up to Terry and he showed him great kindness when he was breaking into the business. They would have to track Terry down when they couldn’t find him in his hotel, and they (Paul Bearer and Mick) knew this wasn’t going to be a long term thing.

-Commercials!

-Terry’s run in the WWF comes to an end and he is back on the Independent scene in Tennessee and Georgia. Miranda was at those shows and says it was sad. Mick saw Terry at a show and nobody was going into the ring after the show to get Terry’s photo or autograph. Mick had his own signing and he felt guilty and wanted to yell at the fans that there was a legend in the ring and they needed to meet him, but times had changed.

-Terry redirects his focus and is home more often. Ray says he got to see his dad more than he ever got to see him in his entire life. As rough as it was for Terry and the family, for Ray he got to know his dad finally and calls them the best years of his life. They became best friends and he is so grateful for that time.

-Back to the shoot interview as Terry apologizes to his fans and he is sorry about going to Japan and overdosing.

-Terry was going to do a show and asked his son to be his partner. Ray couldn’t go and the next day he gets a call from Richard, who tells him to get on his knees and start praying as his dad has stopped breathing.

-Commercials!

-Next week it’s Brutus Beefcake!

-Terry is found unresponsive in his home the night after a show. They were doing CPR and Richard tried slapping Terry in the face like Doc used to do, but he was already gone. Miranda breaks down as she says her mom screamed on the phone and had to tell her that Terry had passed.

-July 16, 2001: Terry dies from Congestive Heart Failure due to a blood clot at 40 years old. Ray is amazed that his dad didn’t die from an overdose. Cornette wonders if Terry would be okay with people telling his story in hopes it would save other guys. He thinks Terry would be fine with it and wouldn’t care how it made him look if it could help someone else.

-They all talk about how great Terry was. Cornette: “If you liked wrestling, Terry did it better than nearly everyone else.” His son notes that Terry did more for this business than people realize. Miranda has taken away from wrestling how much people loved her dad. Mick says that Terry’s influence can be seen on wrestling every week including any variation you see of a powerbomb.

-We close with some words from Terry talking about how great it feels to sit on top. “Don’t it feel good.”

-I knew this one was going to be tough as it always is when it involves someone who dies young. I knew of Gordy and The Birds but as I have noted, I grew up on WWF in the 80s. I completely missed anything World Class, but I heard of The Von Erichs. Most of the stuff I saw growing up from Gordy was post the drug overdose. I have gone back and watched many matches from his glory days, and he was great and a forerunner of what we now call HOSS FIGHTS. The show was sold this week and all the talking heads were strong. Cornette is always good on these shows as the man is a talker and obviously knows his history. Hearing from the family is always tough, and I hope they have all found peace. Next week with Beefcake should be something! Thanks for reading!