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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.

Contents

History

Freebird Rule

Members

Championships and accomplishments

Offshoots

Blackbirds

Extreme Freebirds

Other Appearances

Further Reading

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').
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; 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 "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin worked for the Global Wrestling Federation in 1994.
Their name was inspired by the Lynyrd Skynyrd song "Free Bird," which would be their theme song until "Badstreet USA" (sung, composed, and co-wrote by Hayes) replaced it in the mid-80s. It is often claimed that the Freebirds were the first to use entrance music for their ring introductions in October 1980, though in reality, entrance music had been used as far back as Gorgeous George.

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.[1]
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 the New World Order and the Jersey Triad in World Championship Wrestling; Triple X and 3 Live Kru in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling; and, in World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment, both Demolition and the Spirit Squad, as well as various teams on the independent scene including the Convertible Blondes and Swiss Money Holding. In rare cases, a similar 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.

Members

★ 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"/"road boss" 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.
Jimmy Garvin teamed with Steven Dane while Hayes was hurt as a watered down version of the Freebirds
Ray Gordy and Dok Hendrix (Hayes) formed a one night Freebirds in tribute to Terry Gordy.

Championships and accomplishments

★ 'Global Wrestling Federation'
:
★ GWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) - Gordy & Garvin

★ 'Georgia Championship Wrestling'
:
★ NWA National Tag Team Championship (3 times) - Hayes & Gordy
:
★ NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship (1 time) - Hayes & Gordy

★ 'NWA Mid-America'
:
★ NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship (2 times) - Hayes & Gordy

★ 'Pro Wrestling Illustrated'
:
★ PWI Tag Team of the Year award in 1981 for Hayes, Gordy & Roberts.
:
★ PWI Ranked Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy #'3' of the 100 best tag teams during the PWI Years in 2003.

★ 'Universal Wrestling Federation (Bill Watts) | Mid-South Wrestling'
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★ Mid-South Tag Team Championship (2 times) - Hayes & Gordy and Gordy & Roberts
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★ UWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time) - Gordy
:
★ UWF Television Championship (1 time) - Roberts

★ 'World Championship Wrestling'
:
★ NWA United States Heavyweight
Championship (1 time)¹ - Hayes
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★ WCW United States Tag Team Championship (2 times) - Hayes & Garvin
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★ WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship (1 time) - Hayes, Garvin & Badstreet
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★ WCW World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - Hayes & Garvin²

★ The Fabulous Freebirds had a WCW World Tag Team reign with a lenghth of -6 days, since the day they lost was taped before the day they won.

★ 'World Class Championship Wrestling'
:
★ NWA American Tag Team Championship (1 time) - Hayes & Gordy
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★ WCCW Six-Man Tag Team Championship (5 times) - Hayes, Gordy & Roberts
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★ WCCW Television Championship (1 time) - Roberts

★ 'Wrestling Observer Newsletter'
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★ Tag Team of the Year award in 1980. - Gordy & Roberts
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★ Feud of the Year award in 1983. - Freebirds vs. the Von Erichs
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★ Feud of the Year award in 1984. - Freebirds vs. the Von Erichs
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★ Worked Match of the Year award in 1984. - Freebirds vs. the Von Erichs, July 4, 1984, Fort Worth, Texas
:
★ Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2005) Hayes, Gordy, & Roberts
¹Hayes' reign as NWA United States Heavyweight Champion occurred after Ted Turner purchased Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling from Jim Crockett, Jr. in 1988, which resulted in renaming the promotion World Championship Wrestling. This was also prior to the title's name being changed to the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship and prior to WCW's withdrawal from the NWA.

²During Hayes and Garvin's first reign, the titles were known as the NWA World Tag Team Championships.

Offshoots

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.

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.

Other Appearances

The original three Freebirds briefly appear in action against Greg Gagne, Sam Fatu, and Jim Brunzell during the opening sequence of the 1986 film ''Highlander'', which occurs at an arena-based wrestling show in "Madison Square Garden" (the actual site was the Meadowlands in New Jersey, as they didn't take the Meadowlands banners down for filming but was said to be Madison Square Garden), as wrestlers in-action.

Further Reading

The Fabulous Freebirds’s history is covered in a chapter dedicated to the team in the book ''The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams''

★ The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams, Greg Oliver and Steve Johnson, , , ECW Press, 2005, ISBN 978-1-5502-2683-6