Terry Gordy - 5 Great TV Hilights
by Marty Goldstein on 2001-07-18
I was 20 years old when I first worked on a wrestling show. Terry
Gordy was already a Main Event star. He was a year younger than
me. He had it right from the start, one of those gems that immediately
understand and get it. He was a legend both in and out of the
ring.
"When I saw Buddy Roberts take the mark by the arm out of the
Polo Park Inn (Winnipeg), I knew it was trouble." remembered Dan
Denton, then a youngster in the AWA. "I kept telling him to just
apologize to Roberts, because things could get ugly. He kept saying
f-u.I could see Gordy coming out of the bar towards us, but the
guy couldn't. If he had, he might have decided to apologize. Once
Terry got to him, that option was removed."
Here are 5 favorite TV moments and why Gordy was so great. I hope
I get the years correct.
1)World Class 1983- Gordy was to face NWA Champ Ric Flair at the
Sportatorium. That night a new wrestler had debuted straight out
of the Florida territory (where the Aptermags had given him a
monster push) with a new name. WCCW was going to do elevate Billy
Jack (with the Haynes now added in honor of his sick father) to
the top of the program.
(Trivia note- he defeated a very young and skinny Sean Michaels,
who was introduced as Sean Nickels, in a very funny 2 minute match).
As Marc Lowrence introduced them, Haynes came into the ring accompanied
by his manager, Sunshine. He asked to challenge the winner for
the NWA title. Gordy shook his hand. Flair waved him off and beckened
for Sunshine. In a hilarious speech, Flair said he'd always gotten
what he wanted - fly in jet planes,drive fast cars, beat the Von
Erichs (thunderous boos), but the one thing he always wanted and
never had was Sunshine." Just one kiss..." Meanwhile, Gordy watched
from the corner.
She agreed to kiss Flair, and when he asked how was it, she slapped
him. Flair sold it, the match started with Gordy afire and the
people really thought that the angle was going to lead to a Gordy
upset. In this bout, though too short, Gordy matwrestled with
Flair and did not look out of his league at all.
Gordy's frustration after being small-packaged while going for
the Figure Four on Flair told the story of a guy who had his chance
and got out-smarted by a rattled Flair. This was a wasted opportunity
because Haynes blew the territory after 2 weeks and thus the match
served as a backdrop to nothing.
2) Fall 1984 WWF Maple Leaf Wrestling The Freebirds vs Moondog
Spot Moondog Rex and Silent Brain Macnee.
This was also a big deal, the Freebirds were viewed as a major
signing with Dave Woolf in their corner music deals, New York,
New York... booked as babyfaces, the Moondogs were recent former
WWF champs and tried to keep from being eaten up, abandoning Macnee
to be pinned after a triple drop kick- yep,Hayes and Gordy and
Roberts too- knocked all 3 down like bowling pins. This WWF experience
lasted, I think, 1 week.
3)AWA TV Tapings 1985- The Freebirds had finally come to the AWA
and with babyfaces like Greg Gagne being shoved down the people's
throats who needs heels? Certainly not the fans of Winnipeg, who
were not unlike the Baltimore crowds in that they would reject
the booker very vocally, and did so in this case. When 3 jobbers,
one of whom was a well liked older rookie named Drew Tossel(who
looked like a skinny Mr. Clean), waited in the ring, the buzz
started in the school gym.
There was only 1 real 3 man team in the AWA, they had just gotten
to the AWA and YESSS the music came up and it was the Freebirds,
cheered like babyfaces despite being booked as heels. The crowd
was especially into the huge Gordy. The marks started screaming
for Tossel to "Abandon your team!Leave!Save yourself!". His partners
were not amused.
Roberts and Gordy were cracking up in the corner. Sure enough
Gordy got tagged in and the fans went nuts, turning it into a
hot tag. Gordy began beating on Tossel,and the fans chanted "not
him, not him."
Suddenly Baldy got tossed from the ring. The fans cheered Gordy
for not pinning Tossel but one of the other jobbers. The fans
saw the Freebirds as true superstars, and refused to boo them.
This was a sign the AWA was in serious trouble, as the fans wanted
tweeners and the AWA reserved that role for Mad Dog Vachon.
4) UWF Fall 1986- I think it was from Lake Charles, LA, in a prime
example of why UWF/Bill Watts was the best TV of the time. Scandor
Akbar called out Gordy, and with Michael Hayes screaming " Terry.
No" from the color spot beside Jim Ross, Bam Bam came down the
aisle and tore into One Man Gang. In this fued, the Freebirds
were in a promotion that understood tweeners, so when Jeff Gaylord
and Terry Taylor and the other babyfaces came out to quell the
brawl, the Birds could prolong it by punching everybody. Which,
of course, the fans loved.
5) June 1992 TBS CLASH - NWA Tag Team Tournament. Gordy and partner
Steve Williams were booked against Australian promoter Larry O'Day
and his son Jeff, in what was his maybe 10th match. The Australians
got in the tourney as a reward for voting with Bill Watts in his
NWA takeover.
This was not a good idea, if your name was O'Day. They actually
tried a double team move but it was not to be. Gordy and Williams
beat on the old man, who looked like 60, and beat the snot out
of the clearly scared second generation also-ran. It was the best
2 minutes of the nite, we laughed hysterically.
Truth be told, any WCW TV squash match from that era with Williams
and Gordy is a good lesson for all those young guys who don't
know how lucky they are to even be in a ring. They made everyone
believe. That is what made Gordy great.
I recommend Gordy vs. Raven in ECW 1996,it had a good backstory
and unreal crowd heat. It was booked to conceal Gordy's health
problems and Raven's broken foot. They had a million run-ins and
Gordy looked like Superman while still doing the job.
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