Jim Ross on Bringing Terry Gordy in as The Executioner, Whether It Was a Mistake To Do So

– On the latest Grilling JR, Jim Ross discussed the decision to bring Terry Gordy in 1996 as the Executioner following Gordy’s drug OD and coma in 1993. Gordy had suffered permanent brain damage as a result of his overdose on pain medications in Japan, and his short run from October 1996 to January of 1997 saw him put under the hood so that his legacy wouldn’t be damaged. It didn’t pan out and proved to be his last run in a major wrestling promotion before he died of a heart attack caused by a blood clot in 2001 at the age of 40.

Highlights from the discussion, and the full podcast, are below:

On bringing Gordy in as the Executioner: “Well, I think we underestimated his mental faculties a little bit. You know, I got a lot of feedback from some of the agents and some of the boys that Terry’s not the same, and he wasn’t laughing and joking. And he seemed a little darker. Maybe he sometimes [seems] like he’s confused. It just wasn’t — you know, it was a favor done for Michael Hayes and others. A lot of guys were pulling for Terry Gordy, for God’s sake, including me. So that was kind of that. And I just, it’s one of those deals where I feel, I’m glad that we gave him some paydays. But past that, I don’t know how many favors we did him. He just — but I didn’t know, and that’s another problem. I knew his work at one time was as good as it was. Best wrestling big man, 300 pounder, I ever saw. But man, he just wasn’t that same guy. And it’s sad, it’s heartbreaking. So I’m glad that he got out of there without hurting himself or anybody else.”

On Gordy keeping his All Japan schedule: “To be honest with you, Conrad, I remember talking to Vince about this. I don’t know that it was ever gonna be an issue, because I wasn’t confident that Terry was gonna be able to make it. I mean, travelling and getting that whole thing going again and what plane, where’s baggage claim, where’s this, where’s that. You know, his senses were dull from that overdose. And you know, his brain was inactive for a while.”

On whether they should have even hired Gordy at that point: “Now if you hear the story, you’d say ‘Well, they should have never hired the guy.’ You’re probably right. We probably just shouldn’t have. It was doing an old timer, a veteran, a favor who needed a break and needed a payday. And that was the only way we knew how we could help him other than just gift it to him. And so he wouldn’t have liked that either, he wanted to earn his money. So, I don’t know, it was tough. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t, seriously on this matter. But if I did it all over again — if we had thought he was a danger to the guys he was working with than we would have not ever even thought about it. We didn’t sense that. It was outside the ring that was our concerns, if you understand what I’m saying. He wasn’t going to be as crisp, or as fleet of foot, or as agile, hostile, and mobile as Bam Bam Gordy was. But he still was a big athletic body that on the best days he could have was very fundamentally sound. And he could still take care of business and fulfill the role of what his role was for. And that was to get other people over. We gave him Paul Bearer just to give him a little juice on the hopes that he was gonna be able to be Terry Gordy again. And unfortunately, that didn’t happen.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Grilling JR with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.