Sorry for the long break in between articles.  Football season is cranking and I coach a middle school team and have been spending a lot time working with them.  Well on to wrestling.  I said this month I would talk about the Freebirds and the Road Warriors.  I noticed that the second installment had a good story on the Birds but I will expand on that some.  The Birds debuted in Ga. on Thanksgiving night 1980 in a three-way match with Mr. Wrestling 1& 2 and The Assassins.  They won the Ga. Tag team title that night and would hold that belt until they were stripped of the titles a month later in match with Kevin Sullivan and Austin Idol.  A tournament was held and the Birds beat Stan Frazier and Robert Fuller to regain the title.  During this time GCW was expanding and touring around the nation.  During an interview with Gordon Solie, Michael Hayes in all his wisdom said that instead of the Ga. Champions they should be called the National tag team champions.  I do not know if it was a work or just one of those dumb ideas that stuck but a couple of weeks later they had new belts and were the National Tag Team Champions.

 The Birds were comprised of three members:  Michael "P.S" Hayes, Terry "Bam-Bam" Gordy, and Buddy "Jack" Roberts.  They were three good old southern boys that liked to fight, party, and have a good time.  Buddy Roberts was the oldest and ring general of the team.  As a kid watching the Birds I actually thought that he was the worst wrestler on the team but he was really the best ring technician of the three. Buddy wrestled with Jerry Brown as the Hollywood Blondes and was the GCW tag team champions in the 70s. He was a very solid wrestler and knew his way around the ring.  He was the glue that held team together.  Buddy would move the Birds to Texas and remained there as both a wrestler and later as a manger.  He was one of the founding workers behind the Wild West Wrestling that came out in Texas for a while.   

Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy was one of the best big men ever to hit the ring.  He started working at the age of 16 and by 20 was a superstar in the business.  Terry was a straightforward no-nonsense kind of guy.  He was a champion in every area he wrestled and in Japan he was idolized.  Terry was one of my all time favorites and a joy to be in the ring with our hanging out at a club with.  He passed away July 16, 2001. 

Michael "P.S." Hayes was the showman and talker of the team.  Like Terry he too broke into the sport at the young age of 16.  Working in the panhandle of Florida he got his break when he teamed with Terry and Percy Pringle.  After A few months the call came in and they were off to GCW.  Mike took the wrestling world by storm with his rock and roll looks and brawling style. Mike raised hell wherever he went and was always on the top of the area he was working in.  He has had a few baby turns but always goes back to that bad boy, southern hell raiser style. His stays in Texas and Mid South are infamous for the many feuds and wild things he did as the Freebirds leader.  He is now working for the WWE and done very well for himself as a talent scout and road agent.  

The Freebirds were a major part of the GCW for about two years.  They broke up for awhile and a bloody feud between Mike and Terry took place.  During this time Buddy just left the area.   Terry teamed with Jimmy Snuka while Mike teamed with Otis Sistrunk and they battled for a while.  These matches were okay but the matches with just Terry and Mike were very good.  The Birds had a brief face turn when Terry came to Mike's rescue while he was being attacked.  They went on to defeat The Super Destroyer and Big Jon Studd on July 2 1982 and held the belts for a month until getting beat by the Samoans and leaving the area.  From GCW they went to Texas and started one of the biggest feuds in the history of the sport. The Freebirds would come back to GCW from time to time lay a good old southern ass-whipping on someone and then leave.   

A look at the Road Warriors.