The Fabulous Freebirds were a groundbreaking professional wrestling tag team who 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.
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.
Michael Hayes
They were brutal in their tactics and also in their attitudes toward their opponents. It was those attitudes that helped them win the Six-Man Tag Team Titles six times and the NWA American Tag Team Titles.
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Roberts also became WCCW Television Champion and Gordy held the NWA American Heavyweight Title.
Formed in 1979, Michael “P.S.” Hayes, Terry “Bam Bam” Gordy and Buddy “Jack” Roberts ushered in a new era in sports-entertainment.
They invented a concept that is now called the "Freebird Rule" in their honor, in which any two of three members can defend the team's championships.
Never before had three competitors formed a tag team, thus when they won the NWA National Tag Team Titles in Georgia Championship Wrestling, “The Freebird Rule” was established.
In late-1980, the Freebirds moved to Georgia Championship Wrestling, where they won the National Tag Team titles in the Omni, from Mr Wrestling 1 and 2.
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Throughout the first half of 1981, the 'Birds had some of the biggest feuds and most legendary matches in the history of GCW.
In one famous match shown on WTBS (now known as the piledriver match), Gordy gave Ted DiBiase four consecutive piledrivers, which led to Dibiase being taken away in an ambulance.
In mid 1981, Roberts left GCW.
Gordy and Hayes then had a falling out, and a subsequent feud against each other, with Hayes as the hero, and Gordy as the villain.
Hayes and Gordy eventually patched up their differences, and reformed the Freebirds as a duo.
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Terry Gordy
The group next wrestled in the Dallas-based World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) territory, where they had a legendary feud with the Von Erichs (David, Kevin, Kerry, Chris and Mike).
After a string of successes in Georgia, The Freebirds moonwalked their way into the Texas-based World Class Championship Wrestling and embarked on a legendary rivalry with the revered Von Erich family.
The Fabulous Freebirds join the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2016
This feud was ignited by an infamous incident in which Gordy slammed Kerry Von Erich's head in a steel cage door, inciting a riot.
The Freebirds became a force to be reckoned with in WCCW.
They also performed in the NWA-affiliated Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the American Wrestling Association (AWA), and the Oklahoma-based Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF).
The Freebirds eventually returned to WCCW before Hayes and Gordy made their way to NWA/WCW.
It was during their time in WCW that Hayes and Garvin’s popularity as The Freebirds rose to new heights.
Hayes and Garvin were paired as the Freebirds in WCW in 1989, enjoying several reigns as World and United States tag-team champions, and were joined by Gordy for a while as well.
They later employed the services of masked third partner Brad Armstrong (under the name Badstreet) and managers Diamond Dallas Page, Big Daddy Dink, Little Richard Marley and Precious (Garvin's real-life wife and longtime valet).
Upon leaving WCCW, The Freebirds briefly joined WWE as part of Cyndi Lauper’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling Connection.
They had a very brief run in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1984, where they were a part of the Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection period.
Their tenure was short-lived and they competed in the AWA, followed by UWF (rechristened Mid-South Wrestling), where they twice captured the tag team titles.
The group then moved on to their AWA run, returned to World Class, and then started a stint in the UWF where Gordy became the promotion's champion, Roberts held its TV title, and Hayes usually acted as their manager or served as a heel commentator on television broadcasts.
The rest of the Freebirds went to World Class intending to continue their feud with the Von Erichs.
When Hayes arrived in the territory in early 1988, he announced his intention to bury the hatchet with the Von Erichs, putting himself at odds with Gordy, Roberts and their new ally, Iceman Parsons.
After Gordy interfered to help Parsons defeat Kerry Von Erich for the World Class championship after the Dallas Sportatorium lights mysteriously went out, Hayes wrestled Gordy in a hair vs hair match at the 1988 World Class Parade of Champions.
Gordy won, but afterwards refused to cut Hayes hair and instead turned on Roberts and cut his hair.
This left Roberts, alongside Parsons, feuding with Hayes, Gordy and the Von Erichs.
The Freebirds concept was heavily derived from the Lynyrd Skynyrd song "Free Bird" and the image of "Southern pride" evoked by the band.
For most of the team's early existence, the song was used as their entrance music, in both television and live appearances.
On occasion, they would also enter the ring to Willie Nelson's rendition of "Georgia on My Mind".
It is often claimed that the Freebirds were the first to use entrance music for their ring introductions, though this is not completely true.
The Freebirds were the first to use Rock 'n' Roll entrance music.
During the mid-1980s, a number of North American wrestling promotions who licensed copyrighted music faced difficulties in continuing those licenses.
Other promotions which did not license music were under scrutiny for the practice.
Promotions began looking for solutions.
The WWF, which hired Jimmy Hart and Jim Johnston in 1985, used their talents to write and produce music under which the copyrights could be controlled by the company.
Around this same time, Hayes recorded the song "Badstreet USA" and released a music video, which included the other Freebird members, as well as a cameo by a young Jim Ross.
Badstreet USA
Buddy Roberts, nicknamed "Jack" for his love of Jack Daniel's whiskey, was the speed of the group, who would often frustrate other wrestlers into chasing him, until Hayes and/or Gordy surprised them with a move.
Jimmy Garvin's association with the Freebirds began in 1983, as he had often teamed with Hayes, Gordy, and Roberts in WCCW and AWA.
He teamed with Hayes during a reignited WCW run between June 1989 and July 1992.
Eventually, The Freebirds disbanded, but their impact on sports-entertainment is extraordinary.
Not only did they revolutionize “The Freebird Rule,” later implemented by groups like Demolition, The nWo Wolfpac and The Spirit Squad and The New Day but they were also the innovators of using entrance music.
During the Freebirds' career in the NWA, they won several of its regional tag-team championships.