The Fabulous Freebirds in the WWF

The Fabulous Freebirds are one of the greatest wrestling tag teams of all time.  There were a few incarnations during their run from 1979 to 1994 with the primary players being Michael P.S. Hayes, Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy, and Buddy Jack Roberts and later in WCW with Jimmy "Jam" Garvin, Badstreet, and others.

In this post we are going to look at the short time that Hayes, Gordy, & Roberts spent in the WWF.  Originally brought in to be part of the Rock n' Wrestling Connection in fact David Wolff is the one that announced that they were coming in.

David Wolff was the manger of boyfriend of Cyndi Lauper when she and was instrumental in her coming to the WWF eventually managing Wendi Richter.  The Freebirds were to expand this connection and Wolff even appeared at ringside with the Birds.

On The August 4, 1984 episode of Georgia Championship Wrestling taped July 31st at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, NY David Wolff joined the commentary team of Vince McMahon & Tony Garea where he announced that the Fabulous Freebirds were coming to the WWF

August 4, 1984 Philadelphia Spectrum - Aired 8/19 on GCW
The Fabulous Freebirds: Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, & Buddy Roberts with David Wolff & Cyndi Lauper defeated Ron Shaw, Rene Goulet, & Charlie Fulton when Gordy pinned Fulton with a powerbomb

August 10, 1984 Kiel Auditorium, St Louis, MO - Aired 8/18 on GCW
The Fabulous Freebirds: Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, & Buddy Roberts with David Wolff defeated Jerry Valiant, Alexis Smirnoff, & Max Blue when Gordy pinned Valiant

August 25, 1984 Madison Square Garden - Aired 9/8 on GCW
Best 2 out of 3 Falls: The Fabulous Freebirds: Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, & Buddy Roberts with David Wolff defeated Butcher Vachon, Shaw, & Pete Doherty.  Gordy pinned Vachon with a cross body, Robert pinned Doherty with an elbow drop

August 29, 1984 Brantford, Ontario, Canada - Aired 9/29 on Maple Leaf Wrestling
The Fabulous Freebirds: Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, & Buddy Roberts defeated The Moondogs & Brian Mackney when Gordy pinned Mackney with a piledriver

September 8, 1984 Boston Garden
The Fabulous Freebirds: Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, & Buddy Roberts defeated The Moondogs

September 9, 1984 Manchester, NH
The Fabulous Freebirds: Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy defeated The Moondogs

September 10, 1984 Baltimore, MD
The Fabulous Freebirds: Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy defeated The Moondogs

September 11, 1984 Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, NY
Aired 9/22 on Championship Wresting
The Fabulous Freebirds: Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, & Buddy Roberts with David Wolff & Cyndi Lauper defeated Aldo Marino, Rusty Brooks, & "Iron" Mike Sharpe when Gordy pinned Marino with a piledriver

Aired 10/6 on Championship Wrestling
The Fabulous Freebirds: Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, & Buddy Roberts with David Wolff defeated Steve Lombardi, Carl Fury, & Bob Orton Jr when Hayes pinned Fury

September 16, 1984 New Haven, Connecticut
The Fabulous Freebirds: Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, & Buddy Roberts defeated The Moondogs

September 17, 1984 Columbus, OH
The Fabulous Freebirds: Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, & Buddy Roberts defeated The Moondogs

September 18, 1984 Struthers, OH
The Fabulous Freebirds: Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, & Buddy Roberts defeated The Moondogs

September 19, 1984 Erie, PA
The Fabulous Freebirds: Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, & Buddy Roberts defeated The Moondogs

September 22, 1984 Miami, FL
Michael Hayes defeated Rene Goulet

September 23, 1984 Minneapolis, Minnesota
Michael Hayes & Pat Patterson defeated The Moondogs
This match was advertised as The Freebirds vs. The Moondogs and The Spoiler

September 24, 1984 London, Ontario, Canada - Aired 10/13 on All Star Wrestling
Michael Hayes pinned Dave Barbie

September 28, 1984 Kiel Auditorium, St Louis, MO
The Fabulous Freebirds: Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, & Buddy Roberts defeated The Moondogs by count-out

September 29, 1984 Kansas City, MO
The Fabulous Freebirds: Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, & Buddy Roberts defeated The Moondogs by disqualification

September 30, 1984 Chicago, IL
The Fabulous Freebirds: Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, & Buddy Roberts defeated The Moondogs by count-out

The Freebirds lasted 57 days in the WWF wrestling 16 matches a unit including debuting at Madison Square Garden.  They appeared on four televisions show for the promotion, All Star Wrestling, Championship Wrestling, Maple Leaf Wrestling, and Georgia Championship Wrestling.

Rumor has it that the Freebirds left the promotion after Andre "fired" them for showing up late for a show and that Vince McMahon wanted to break the group up.  Whatever the reason the Birds didn't last long.

Michael Hayes returned to the WWF in 1995 as Dok Hendrix commentator and backstage interviewer.  He eventually started working behind the scenes in various roles still to this day.

Terry Gordy returned to the WWF in November 1996 for a two month run as the masked Executioner including wrestling The Undertaker at In Your House 12 "It's Time" in an Armageddon Rules Match.

On April 2, 2016 The Fabulous Freebirds: Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, Buddy Roberts, & Jimmy Garvin were inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page and while you're at it check out my weekly podcast The Wrestling Insomniac on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network. 

Until next time!

IWE Fairfield, Maine May 3, 2019

For the first time since August 2018 I managed to make it to the Fairfield Community Center for some IWE wrestling action.  I had been told that they had a new ring they had been using that was smaller than a pony ring, one of my friends doesn't even like going to the shows because of the ring, but this was the first time I had seen it and WOW!  This ring is like a ten foot, maybe twelve foot, and floor to top of ring post is about six feet.

In a night club, low ceiling, or smaller setting this would be a great ring, but in this building it just makes the ring look even smaller.  I will say this the ring sounded really good, which you might think is odd but I think is important.

Forty other fans joined me on this rainy night, including my buddy Phil, for what ended up being six matches headlined by an IWE Triple Crown Championship match.  The ring announcer for the night was The Handsome Mainer and they did not have a house microphone so he just yelled out the introductions and he did a respectable job.

Angel Cross with his bowl of fried chicken

The show opened with Adam Ricker coming to the ring announcing the main event and then The Street: Elite Terrell & Angel Cross came out for a promo, Angel Cross was eating fried chicken during this.  Their advertised opponents The Mutts were not there so Ricky Williams and JP O'Reilly came out to challenge them.  With no house mic you could only hear certain wrestlers that put in the effort to speak loud, Angel Cross didn't.

Cousin Larry pinned Jason Maverick with a fist drop

Maverick is new, Larry has been wrestling I think 20 years this year.  This was a short match Larry lit Maverick up with 20 chops in a row.  Finish was awkward Maverick either forgot or decided to not kick out.

Scott McGraw pinned Roadblock with Beavis Mae and The Guatemalan Prince
I've never seen McGraw, he has the Texan gimmick with cowboy boots and cowbell on bullrope.  Another super short match with McGraw getting the pin after a big boot.  Post match there was some awkwardness and Prince jumped in the ring which lead to...

Scott McGraw pinned The Guatemalan Prince with Beavis Mae

This match was also about four minutes with McGraw getting the pin with a tomikaze.  This match was more competitive than the previous one with the same result though.

The Street: Angel Cross & Elite Street defeated Canadian Penguin Alliance: "Mr. Canada" Ricky Williams & JP O'Reilly

Okay so JP comes out with a giant stuffed penguin named Punky, I'm not sure why he's adopted this as his companion but think Golga and his Cartman.  JP came to the ring without his stuffed Penguin and was quite upset about it.  So the Street, of course, were the ones that stole it and brought it to the ring with them.  O'Reilly was so mad that he went and stole The Street's Fried Chicken!  Yes I just typed those words.

The match itself was decent, I think the size of the ring hampered them and it's hard to cut off and work only one side of a ten foot ring.  Punky the Penguin was involved in the finish, Terrell hit a one man flapjack on O'Reilly and Cross threw Punky at his causing O'Reilly to fall on the plush toy.  Cross and Punky then pinned O'Reilly for the win.

I've never sat front row and been able to take a picture of the whole ring before

The Street then celebrated by reclaiming their fried chicken.

After 45 minutes of wrestling it was time for an intermission which ran for over 20 minutes.  I really can't stand an unnecessarily long intermission.

Elimination Match:  The Horror with The Captain defeated Frank Jaeger & Malik Logan with William Miles 3rd

Jaeger is getting better and he worked his ass off tonight.  He eliminated Logan with the Jaeger bomb and then The Horror pinned Jaeger with the world's strongest slam.  The match had a few decent moments.

Post match The Captain and The Horror stood around in the ring for a bit like they were waiting for something.  I think The Captain then cut a promo about someone not being there and something about tomorrow night in Brewer.  I'm not sure I couldn't understand him.

Triple Crown Champion: Jimmy Limits pinned "Boston Bad Boy" Jason Rumble

This was the best match of the night without question, but that shouldn't be a surprise.  I first saw Rumble back in 1998 for EWA in Lewiston and he can still go in the ring.  He pulled off and excellent Canadian Destroyer and got some wicked height with an elbow drop off the top rope.

During the match a thumb wrestling war broke out, Rumble won three straight falls.

After the destroyer Rumble went for a pin that Limits broke his foot on the ropes.  Limits later pinned Rumble who had his foot on the rope but the referee didn't see it and counted the three giving Limits the win.

The show ended at 9:25pm, considering it started late and had an intermission that ran over 20 minutes we are looking at about 80 minutes of wrestling which is kind of disappointing.  Did I get my $10, yeah I was entertained.  I guess my biggest hang up is the size of the ring, I'm not sure I can get used to it.

Not sure when IWE returns to Fairfield, probably first weekend in June but stayed tuned to the IWE Facebook page for more information.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page and while you're at it check out my podcast The Wrestling Insomniac on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network. 

Until next time!

IndyMania: Part 4 the Wrap Up

I took this photo at the Beyond show on night 1 and
it was so good I didn't bother trying to get a better one.

Here is the fourth and final post about my wrestling trip to New York City and IndyMania.  This is just the summary of the trip, you can read about the trip here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

The plans for this trip started way back in July 2018 and came to fruition almost 10 months later and it definitely lived up to our expectations.  The numbers:

Dates of the trip April 3 - 8, 2019

Travel, we drove 655 miles and spent 7 hours round trip on the Amtrak train going from Providence to Penn Station and back

We attended 8 wrestling related events including a two day convention, the AAA Press Conference at Madison Square Garden and six wrestling shows in 4 days in two different States.

Still from AAA promotional video of the press conference

We witnessed 54 wrestling matches with 185 different wrestlers, 101 of them was the first time I had ever seen them live, 9 wrestlers competed three times and 43 wrestled twice over the four days.  Our first show was at a hookah bar with a hundred people and the last show was at a sold out Madison Square Garden!

Best matches of the week for me were:

Friday April 5th Revolution Pro Wrestling
British Tag Team Champions: Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. vs Hiroshi Tanahashi & Will Ospreay

Sheer brutality on Ospreay who got his nose broke and was just beaten and stretched by Sabre and Suzuki.  We had front row for this and to see these guys live and this close was just unbelievable.

Saturday April 6th G1 Supercard
Kota Ibushi vs. IWGP Intercontinental Champion: Tetsuya Naito

These two have always had great matches, to be there for a true classic encounter is truly a special moment.  Like being there for Flair vs. Steamboat.

Friday April 6th Pancakes & Piledrivers III
Tessa Blanchard vs Rickey Shane Page

I cannot praise this enough!  Just go watch the match.

Thursday April 4th Wrestlecon Supershow
Dragon Lee vs. El Barbaro Cavernario

I had never seen Cavernario and not for nothing I wasn't expecting much but I was blown away!  These two guys absolutely killed it and gave everything they had and somehow more.

Saturday April 6th G1 Supercard
Kazuchika Okada vs. IWGP Heavyweight Champion: JayWhite

This gets the nod for the 5th spot simply because it's Okada regaining his championship in his style match.  

Thursday April 4th Wrestlecon Supershow
Will Ospreay vs. Bandido

This gets an honorable mention because this was a dream match and they tore the house down.  This was Bandido's last indy match he had on the books after signing with Ring of Honor.

I got my photo taken with twenty two wrestlers: Faby Apache, Minoru Suzuki, Katsuyori Shibata, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomohiro Ishii, Bob Backlund, Kai, Atsushi Onia, Pentagon Jr, Session Moth Martina, Blue Demon Jr, Konan, Scott D'Amore, Dave Meltzer, Will Osprey, Jushin Liger, Orange Cassidy, Taya Valkyrie, Johnny Mundo, Twisted Sisters, and Priscilla Kelly.

I also snagged a photo with New Japan English commentator Chris Charlton who was sitting behind us at the Wrestlecon Supershow.

My favorite photos of my are with Jushin Thunder Liger and Faby Apache because they are in full gear, but I loved getting pictures with the everyone that I did.

However my favorite photo op of the weekend was Jay with Minoru Suzuki!

I added 71 signed trading cards to my collection and you can view them here:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, & Part 7

My it's hard to pick favorite cards that I got because I got so many that I never thought that I would get signed like Faby Apache and all the Japanese wrestlers.  Also I love getting the NWA Wonderama card signed plus I got that sweet SCU All In card signed by all three members.

I'd have to say finally getting this card signed by the Iron Sheik was exciting.  I had gotten it signed by Nikolai Volkoff years ago and have tried many, many times to get Iron Sheik to sign it with no luck.  Sheiks health isn't the best and at 77 he doesn't make many appearances anymore. 

The AAA press conference was the unexpected surprise of the week as we went just to watch and were invited in.  The still I posted above was used in a promotion video of the press conference but I also saw it used last Friday in the opening video package for AAA's Conquista Total Circa 2019 show in Mexicali, Baja California.

Here is a video I made on my phone of us jamming out with Tanahashi during his entrance for Revolution Pro Wrestling.  The ringside photographer grabbed a photo of this and I'm still trying to find him.

This wrestling trip was amazing!  If I were to rate it on my past wrestling getaways as a whole I would put it at number 2 behind NWA Legends Fanfest in 2009.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page and while you're at it check out my weekly podcast The Wrestling Insomniac on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network. 

Until next time!

Wrestled Three Matches

Zack Sabre Jr

Will Ospreay

LAX: Ortiz & Santana

Aussie Open: Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis

Rey Fenix

Pentagon Jr

David Starr

Wrestled Two Matches

Minoru Suzuki

Jushin Thunder Liger

Hiroshi Tanahashi

Colt Cabana

Tomohiro Ishii

Jonathan Gresham

Roppongi 3K: Sho & Yoh

Ryusuke Tagushi

Rocky Romero

Bandido
Christopher Daniels
Frankie Kazarian
Scorpio Sky
Orange Cassidy
Session Moth Martina
Masato Tanaka

Puma King

Arez

Sammy Guevara

Flamita

Caleb Konley

Jake Manning

Dragon Lee

Shane Strickland

Chuck Taylor

Trent?

DJ Z

Bill Carr

Dan Barry

Brian Cage

AR Fox

Shigehiro Irie

Eddie Kingston

Wrestled One Match

The Great Muta

Kazuchika Okada

Kota Ibushi

Tetsuya Naito

Taiji Ishimori

Evil

Sanada

Toru Yano

Hirooki Goto

King Haku

Shingo Takagi

Bushi

Tama Tonga

Tanga Loa

Chase Owens

Jay White

Bad Luck Fale

Robbie Eagles

Yoshi Hashi

Juice Robinson

Jeff Cobb

Rush

Dalton Castle

Tracy Williams

PJ Black

TK O'Ryan

Vinny Marseglia

Delirious

Kenny King

Cheeseburger

Beer City Bruiser

Shaheem Ali

Rhett Titus

LSG

Brian Milonas

Will Ferrara

Flip Gordon

Mark Haskins

Bully Ray

Shane Taylor

Silas Young

PCO

Brody King

Mark Briscoe

Jay Briscoe

Matt Taven

Jay Lethal

Marty Scurll

Chris Dickinson

MJF

Alex Reynolds

John Silver

Mick Moretti

Gabriel Skye

Taijiri

Hurricane Helms

X-Pac

Zane Riley

El Barbaro Cavernario

Chris Brookes

Clark Connors

Karl Fredericks

Carlos Romo

A-Kid

Kid Lykos

Michael Oku

Ultimo Dragon

Black Taurus

Mr. Iguana

Shark Boy

Shigehiro Irie

Bestia 666

Tracy Smothers

Timothy Thatcher

David Arquette

Yoshihiko

Danshoku Dino

Antonio Honda

Maki Ito

Makoto Oishi

Mao

Sanshiro Takagi

Tommy Dreamer

Mike Babchik

Matt Striker

Johnny Impact

Joey Ryan

Sexy Eddie

Val Venis

Moose

Davey Vega

Mat Fitchett

Dezmond Xavier

Zachary Wentz

Ace Austin

JT Dunn

Clayton Gainz

Daga

Ian Maxwell

Arik Cannon

John Skylar

Kyle the Beast

Lance Anoa'i

Mance Warner

Trey Miguel

Matt Cross

Adam Brooks

Rich Swann

Chuck Mambo

Jacob Fatu

Larry D

Ace Romero

Dan Maff

Fallah Bah

Madman Fulton

Joe Gacy

Sami Callihan

Dave Crist

Jake Crist

Rickey Shane Page

Tessa Blanchard

Jessicka Havok

Taya Valkyrie

Priscilla Kelly

Scarlett Bordeaux

Kimber Lee

Kelly Klein

Mayu Iwatani

Kagetsu

Hazuki

Jenny Rose

Hana Kimura

Sumie Sakai
Stella Gray
Kris Statlander
Jordynne Grace
Samantha Heights
Diamante
Su Yung
Thunder Rosa
Holidead
Allie
Rosemary

Appeared but didn't Wrestle
Gedo

Jado

Taka Michinoku

The Boys

Velvet Sky

Angelina Love

Mandy Leon

Ayla Fox

Sonny Onoo