Michael Hayes went out quickly in the first round, battling to a double disqualification with Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Buddy Roberts, however, met with a considerable amount of success. Roberts won his first round match with Iceman Parsons, then defeated his archrival Terry Taylor to advance to the semifinals. Unfortunately for Freebird fans, “Dr. Death” Steve Williams downed Buddy Jack in the semis.

The Angel of Death, the Freebirds bodyguard, was also an entrant in the tournament. He did surprisingly well. In what I would considered a major upset, the Angel downed Chavo Guerrero in their first-round bout. Mr. Death defeated Savannah Jack to move on to the semifinals. The potential of a Freebird vs. Freebird final? Like Buddy Roberts, it was not destined for the Angel to get to the championship match, as the One-Man Gang handed him a defeat.

After recuperating from his accident, I believe that Terry Gordy went to Japan during December 1986 and part of January 1987. Before he disappeared from view for awhile, Brother Gordy and Michael Hayes exacted a bit of violent revenge on two common foes. Hacksaw Duggan and the One-Man Gang were scheduled for a Cage Match for the UWF World Heavyweight belt. Gordy and Hayes were still angry over having the title taken without Gordy ever having wrestled and argued with both Duggan and the Gang. This allowed the Gang’s fellow Devastation, Inc. members Leroy Brown and Wild Bill Irwin to jump and pulverize Duggan before the bout even started. As usual with many of these UWF thrillers, TV time ran out before the action subsided.

During Gordy’s brief absence, Michael Hayes and Buddy Roberts continued to work both in singles action and in tag tandems. On January 23, 1987, I saw Chavo Guerrero pin Buddy Roberts in a wild brawl at the Sam Houston Coliseum. In the main event, Ted DiBiase met Michael Hayes in a Glove on a Pole match. If I recall correctly, the Freebirds had jumped DiBiase a few weeks earlier and taken his infamous black glove. Pre-match, Michael Hayes ran down the Houston crowd as a bunch of “rednecks,” just like DiBiase was. Ted got the microphone, stated that the “P.S.” stood for “Prissy Sissy,” and Hayes flew into action, meeting a flurry of DiBiase punches. A great match ensued, with DiBiase ultimately beating Hayes and rendering him a bloody mess.

“Friday night they'll be dressed to kill
Down at Dino's bar and grill
The drink will flow and blood will spill
If the boys want to fight, you'd better let them”

The Freebirds could also send guys out of a promotion in violent style. The Fantastics left the company-to head back to World Class, I believe-in January 1987. To be quite honest, I did not like the fluffed-hair, teeny bop persona of Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers. Their considerable abilities notwithstanding, I always wanted to boo them! During some of their final match in the promotion, the Fantastics were pitted against the Freebirds. To mix my analogies, it was like making a match between Billy Ray Cyrus and Waylon Jennings. One pairing involved Michael Hayes and Buddy Roberts taking on the Sharp Dressed Men. The Angel of Death helped his Freebird brothers destroy Fulton and Rogers, bloodying them up badly. A match took place shortly thereafter which, if I recall correctly, was built up to be the Fantastics’ UWF send off. Well, Fulton and Rogers hardly got to say a glorious goodbye, as Terry Gordy, as part of a duo with Roberts, proceeded to powerbomb and piledrive the Fantastics right out of the UWF.

The Freebirds continued their tag and singles feud(s) with Steve Williams and Ted DiBiase. However, the third member of the UWF “face” triumvirate, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, dropped a series of loser-leaves-town matches in January and headed north to the World Wrestling Federation. This did not stomp Terry Gordy and Williams from battling in a truly brutal Texas Death Match at the Sam Houston Coliseum on February 6, 1987. Like their other epic clashes, the two big bulls traded holds, awesome power moves, and pure brawling in a bout that lasted nearly 45 minutes. On that Friday night in Houston, Williams managed to get the decision.

The next night in Fort Worth, yet another UWF tournament would take place. I have detailed this event in Installment #7. However, the tourney is worth a re-visit when chronicling the Freebirds UWF tenure. Jim Duggan and Terry Taylor had won the tag straps in December 1986. Since Duggan had left the promotion for the WWF, Watts promptly declared the titles vacant and the tournament, complete with NCAA-style bracketing, was to take place in one night.

The Freebirds odds of winning the belts seemed good. I believed this in part because the boys had yet to capture the tag titles and also because they had two teams entered-a “brute force” tandem of Terry Gordy and the Angel of Death and the old reliable duo of Michael Hayes and Buddy Roberts. The tournament’s second contest featured remaining co-tag team champ Terry Taylor and young Sam Houston against Gordy and the Angel of Death. By this time, Taylor was well established as a UWF mainstay and Houston, the son of Mid-South/UWF booker Grizzly Smith and the younger brother of Jake "The Snake" Roberts, had just entered the promotion. The youthful, exuberant and technically sound Taylor/Houston team made a good foil for the ominous menace of the Gordy/Angel duo. Still, it figured that any tag team with “Bamm Bamm” Gordy would be assured of at least a first round triumph. Wrong! In a good match, the Taylor/Houston team handed a surprising upset defeat to the Freebirds.

The fourth and final first round match pitted the eighth-seeded team of fellow WCCW expatriates Gentleman Chris Adams and Iceman King Parsons against the Fabulous Freebirds duo # 2 of Michael Hayes and Buddy Roberts. Adams’ credentials have been outlined in a previous installment. Adams, like Sam Houston, had debuted in the UWF just prior to the tag tournament. Parsons was a capable ring performer with a great sense of humor who carried a "rooty poo" stick (sound familiar?) Hayes and Roberts had to be considered the heavy favorites in this match involving former WCCW performers, but there was an undercurrent of dissension throughout the match between the ‘Birds. Adams and Parsons prevailed in a solid match and moved on to the second round.

The Freebirds were foiled again in an area of competition in which they were the masters. The winners of the tournament turned out to be the impromptu pairing of Chris Adams and Terry Taylor. Original partners Adams and Iceman Parsons had a falling out. Bill Watts ordered a coin flip, with the winner choosing a new partner. Adams won, chose Taylor and they went on to defeat Rick Steiner and Sting in the final.

So the Freebirds had yet again met with adversity. However, as I mentioned the last time we met, betrayal from within was soon to come for the brothers. They had break-ups before and dissension had been teased during the tag tournament, but the defection from their ranks to the enemy camp would provide the transition to a new “centerpiece” feud for the UWF.

“In the sixteenth century there was a French philosopher
By the name of Nostradamus
Who prophesized that in the late twentieth century
An angel of death shall waste this land”

“Angel of Death,” by Thin Lizzy from “Renegade” 

Okay, maybe Nostradamus wasn’t that big of a wrestling fan. I do know that Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy were big time rock and roll fans and fans more specifically of Thin Lizzy. Old Michael had to come up with the Angel of Death moniker from somewhere, right?

Anyhow, that’s it for now. Thanks for taking the time to read this installment. Stop on by the UWF Message Board here at Kayfabe Memories sometime. Continued thanks and appreciation to the folks who have e-mailed me with comments regarding my UWF memories. 

Until next time, try to stay cool and relax on Labor Day. My teaching job(s) begin again at this end of this month, in addition to my “regular” day job, so the days ahead will be pretty busy. I’ll still have time, however, to visit Kayfabe Memories and continue to share my remembrances with you. Take care! 

NEXT MONTH: 

The Freebirds vs. Devastation, Inc., Part II.