Terry Gordy

Terry Gordy
Ring name(s)	Terry Mecca Terry Gordy The Executioner Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy
Billed height	6 ft 4 in (195 cm)
Billed weight	278 lb (135 kg)
Born	April 23, 1961(1961-04-23) Chattanooga, Tennessee
Died	July 16, 2001(2001-07-16) (aged 40) Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee
Billed from	Badstreet U.S.A., Atlanta, Georgia
Trained by	The Mongolian Stomper
Debut	1975

Terry Ray 'Bam Bam' Gordy, Sr. (April 23, 1961 - July 16, 2001) was a professional wrestler who was best known in North America for being a member of the Fabulous Freebirds.

Career

Terry Gordy started wrestling in 1975 at the age of 14 as Terry Mecca for the I.W.A. In early 1979, he began wrestling under his real name and formed the Fabulous Freebirds with Michael Hayes. Buddy Roberts was later added to the group. In 1982, the Freebirds went to World Class Championship Wrestling and had a heated and memorable feud with the Von Erichs (David, Kevin, Kerry and Mike).

The Freebirds spent some time in the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions where they split to feud briefly, but later reunited. They also spent a very brief time in the WWF, but left after management suggested splitting them up.

In 1986, when the Freebirds were in the Universal Wrestling Federation, Gordy won the UWF Heavyweight title and held it for 6 months, before losing it via forfeit to The One Man Gang, after an angle the same night which saw Gordy injured at the hands of "Dr. Death" Steve Williams. During this time, Gordy and the Freebirds had an ongoing feud with UWF fan favorite Hacksaw Jim Duggan, which saw Duggan and Gordy frequently squaring off, usually ending in a disqualification due to outside interference.

In 1989, Gordy helped Hayes reform the Freebirds, with Jimmy Garvin, in Jim Crockett Promotions (which would become World Championship Wrestling in 1991.

After leaving JCP, Gordy teamed with Steve Williams as the "Miracle Violence Connection" in All Japan Pro Wrestling. During his time there, he also held the AJPW Triple Crown Championship on two occasions.

Gordy and Williams came to WCW in 1992 and won the WCW World Tag Team Titles. They would also win the NWA World Tag Team titles in a tournament at the Great American Bash card in Albany, Georgia one week later, and unified the titles. They feuded with Rick and Scott Steiner, which, in Japan, was hyped as a feud between the best foreign teams of the two top Japanese promotions (the Steiners were competing for rival New Japan Pro Wrestling at the time). Despite advances by New Japan, Gordy and Williams, out of loyalty to AJPW founder and promoter, Giant Baba, refused to compete for the promotion (which had business ties with WCW at the time), leading to Gordy's departure from WCW before Halloween Havoc and Williams' departure after Starrcade.

In 1993 Gordy, while traveling from the United States to Japan for a tour, overdosed on pain medication and slipped into a coma, as well as suffering permanent brain damage.^{[citation needed]} He returned to action later that year, but never received a shot at the Triple Crown again.

In 1994, Gordy had a small reunion with Hayes and Garvin as the Freebirds in the Global Wrestling Federation where he won the GWF Tag Team Titles with Garvin.

In 1996, Gordy showed up in Extreme Championship Wrestling to challenge Raven for the ECW World Heavyweight Title, as the "internationally recognized #1 contender." He had been working for the IWA promotion in Japan, wrestling deathmatches. He lost, but went on to team with Tommy Dreamer and later reunite with "Dr. Death" Steve Williams to wrestle The Eliminators.

He had a brief run in the WWF as The Executioner in 1996. He teamed with Mankind, both managed by Paul Bearer, and feuded with The Undertaker. The Executioner would come to the ring under a mask and carry a plastic axe. The Executioner made his TV debut at the In Your House pay-per-view, Buried Alive, where he interfered in The Undertaker's Buried Alive match with Mankind, hitting him with a shovel and burying him with the help of several other wrestlers. However, at In Your House 12: It's Time, The Undertaker made short work of The Executioner in an Armageddon Rules match, and Gordy left the promotion shortly afterwards.

In the summer of 2001 Gordy was tentatively booked by his old wrestling friend Rowdy Ronnie Russell to appear at the upcoming North Georgia event Rons Rumble XVII. The event was to occur on super Sunday in 2002. The appearance was never to be. Gordy died just weeks after the booking. A saddened Rons Rumble Committee moved on without him. Booked in his place was eventually Todd Elvis Allen. But, the Rumblers didn't forget their friend with the big heart. They named their MEA award after him that year. Ron himself said; "unlike some recent jobbers that we recently tried to book.....Terry didn't have a snobbish bone in his body". "But, I guess when you fish better than the finest deep sea fisherman even the lowest jobber can afford to be snobbish" Ron said in jest. The event left Gordys position unfilled until 2012 when they booked Wildfire Tommy Rich.

Gordy died of a heart attack, caused by a blood clot on July 16, 2001. He was 40 years old.

His son Ray has wrestled for WWE on the SmackDown! brand as Jesse and Slam Master J before being released in 2010.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • High angle belly to back suplex
  • Powerbomb

• Signature moves
  • Big boot
  • DDT
  • Dropkick
  • Lariat
  • Asiatic Spike (Thumb choke hold)
  • Piledriver
  • Running leg drop
  • Running powerslam
  • Samoan drop

• Managers
  • Sunshine
  • Paul Bearer
  • Jim Cornette

Championships and accomplishments

• All Japan Pro Wrestling
  • AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
  • AJPW Unified World Tag Team Championship (7 times) - with Stan Hansen (2) and Steve Williams (5)
  • World's Strongest Tag Team League (1988, 1990, 1991) – with Stan Hansen (1988) and Steve Williams (1990 and 1991)
• Georgia Championship Wrestling
  • NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Michael Hayes
  • NWA National Tag Team Championship (4 times) - with Michael Hayes (3) and Jimmy Snuka (1)
• Global Wrestling Federation
  • GWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Jimmy Garvin
• Mid-South Wrestling Association | Universal Wrestling Federation
  • Mid-South Louisiana Championship (1 time)
  • Mid-South Mississippi Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • Mid-South Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Michael Hayes (1) and Buddy Roberts (1)
  • UWF World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• NWA Mid-America
  • NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Michael Hayes
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (1986)
  • PWI Tag Team of the Year award in 1981 - with Michael Hayes
  • PWI Tag Team of the Year award in 1992 - with Steve Williams
  • PWI ranked him #36 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003
• Southeastern Championship Wrestling
  • NWA Alabama Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division) (1 time)
• Smoky Mountain Wrestling
  • SMW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• World Championship Wrestling
  • WCW World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Steve Williams
  • NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Steve Williams
• World Class Championship Wrestling | World Class Wrestling Association
  • NWA American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • NWA American Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Michael Hayes
  • NWA Brass Knuckles Championship (Texas version) (1 time)
  • NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (6 times) - with Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts (5) and Iceman Parsons & Buddy Roberts (1)
  • WCWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts ²

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
  • Best Brawler (1986)
  • Match of the Year (1984) with Buddy Roberts and Michael Hayes vs. the Von Erichs (Kerry, Kevin, and Mike) in an Anything Goes match on July 4
  • Tag Team of the Year (1980) with Buddy Roberts as The Fabulous Freebirds
  • Tag Team of the Year (1981) with Jimmy Snuka
  • Tag Team of the Year (1992) with Steve Williams as Miracle Violence Connection

¹Won while WCW was still affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance and prior to the NWA and WCW World Tag Team Championships being briefly unified.

²The Freebirds' 5th reign carried over after the title's name was changed to the WCWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship since they were the champions at the time the title was renamed.

External links

• Terry Gordy at Online World of Wrestling