{"id":22,"date":"2015-10-12T23:49:15","date_gmt":"2015-10-12T23:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/desktop\/?p=22"},"modified":"2015-10-13T08:12:10","modified_gmt":"2015-10-13T08:12:10","slug":"25-years-of-bruce-mitchell-day-11-2001-titled-freebird-way-mitchell-reflects-on-the-life-and-death-of-terry-bam-bam-gordy-and-his-freebird-partners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2015\/10\/12\/25-years-of-bruce-mitchell-day-11-2001-titled-freebird-way-mitchell-reflects-on-the-life-and-death-of-terry-bam-bam-gordy-and-his-freebird-partners\/","title":{"rendered":"25 YEARS OF BRUCE MITCHELL &#8211; DAY 12 (2001): \u201cFreebird Way\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-2679552677\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">This month marks the 25th Anniversary of Bruce Mitchell becoming a Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter columnist. No single person has influenced the editorial tone and direction of the Torch brand over the years than Bruce, who brought a hard-hitting, supremely well-informed, speak-truth-to-power approach to his writing. He went after sacred cows out of the gate, such as the beloved among \u201csmart fans\u201d (today\u2019s \u201cInternet fans\u201d or \u201cIWC,\u201d I suppose) Eddie Gilbert and Jim Cornette. He also went hard after people in positions of authority and power who were abusing or misusing that power, or just not delivering a worthy product. He has also applauded and paid tribute to the greatest moments and movements in pro wrestling over the last 25 years, with a style of writing that has yet to be matched anywhere, I contend (despite Bill Simmons\u2019s arrogant and uninformed contention last year that no one wrote at a high level about pro wrestling until his \u201cMasked Man\u201d columnist came along).<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">To celebrate and highlight Bruce\u2019s stellar 25 years of influential and eloquent truth-telling about this fascinating industry, we\u2019ll be featuring a single column from each of the last 25 years each of the first 25 days this month. His long-form columns were a pioneer approach to pro wrestling journalism, and the next 25 years you\u2019ll experience a slice of what it is that has earned Bruce Mitchell widespread recognition within the industry over the years as being \u201cPro Wrestling\u2019s Most Respected Columnist.\u201d We began on Oct. 1st with his very first column, from Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter #89 (cover dated Oct. 5, 1990).<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Today we feature his column from the July 21, 2001 edition of the Pro Wrestling Torch Weekly Newsletter (#663) where titled \u201cFreebird Way\u201d in which Mitchell reflects on the life and death of Terry &#8220;Bam Bam&#8221; Gordy and his Freebird partners.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">NOTE: VIP members can access hundreds of Mitchell columns instantly in the BRUCE MITCHELL LIBRARY <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/members\/artman\/publish\/Mitchell_s_Take_41\/%E2%80%9Chttp:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/members\/artman\/publish\/cat_index_19.shtml%E2%80%9D\"><span class=\"s2\">here<\/span><\/a>, part of the massive unmatched online archives of insider wrestling coverage from over the past 28 years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">===<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><span style=\"line-height: 1.5;\"><br \/>\n&#8220;Play that dead band\u2019s song,<\/span>\u201cSweet home Alabama,<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">turn those speakers up full blast,<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">play it all night long&#8230;\u201d<\/span><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1111693733\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">&#8211; Warren Zevon<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Forget \u201cRolling, Rolling, Rolling\u201d or \u201cEnter Sandman\u201d or Kid Rock or Uncle Kracker.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">No wrestling act ever embodied the electric essence, the vulgar energy of rock\u2019n\u2019roll like the Fabulous Freebirds. Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, both barely in their 20s, and the veteran Buddy Roberts changed the sleazy face and sound of pro wrestling, changes that still echo twenty years after they first burst into stardom. Their costumes were wilder, their boasts were stronger, their entire act was just crazier than all the rest.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Other acts may have had the outfits, or the ring music, or even Rock\u2019n\u2019Roll in their name, but they didn\u2019t have it like the \u2018Birds. The Freebirds were loud and crude, and lived the Stars \u2018n Bars of Southern Rock\u2014the country funk of Marshall Tucker, the Allman Brothers, Wet Willie, and most of all, the iconic Lynyrd Skynyrd. They lived the drinking, drugging all night of their heroes, and while Hayes may have been the flashy mouth of the Freebirds, Terry Gordy, who died too young at the age of 40 last week, was their soul.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Curly brown hair waving as he accelerated across the ring, his Baby Huey body tensed to throw one of the best punches in the business, Terry \u201cBamm Bamm\u201d Gordy was a natural, in the words of Jim Ross, who worked with him for years, \u201ca prodigy.\u201d He was the epitome of Hardcore in the days when Hardcore meant explosive, bad ass kicking wildmen. He could stand in his prime with Stan Hansen, Vader, and Bruiser Brody as one of the best big men the business has ever seen. Even though he didn\u2019t need to do promos, because Hayes could talk as well as Gordy could work, Bamm Bamm had a way of barking a final line out of the corner of his mouth that was dangerous and instinctive as anything he did in a match.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Michael Hayes was too pretty and Terry Gordy was too mean, best friends and the perfect team. Hayes and Gordy seemed completely at home in the ring or in the bar, slurring their words either because of their Southern accent or because they were living their gimmick. Gordy had an energy and power that made it seem like even the most innocuous squash match was always on the verge of spinning out of control. From the beginning he had the knack\u2014the natural ability and energy to be in the right place at the right time\u2014that most wrestlers never quite master.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">You believed the Freebirds were volatile wildmen who loved to fight, because, well, they were volatile wildmen who loved to fight. The great wrestling acts aren\u2019t just acts, they lived their gimmicks. Sometimes, living the gimmick carried a very high price, particularly in the territory where they had their greatest feud: World Class Championship Wrestling.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The Freebirds were the wild ass villains of the cutting edge World Class territory, the perfect foil to the all American Von Erich Brothers. World Class was the outlaw territory where everything went, and if you got caught, Daddy Fritz could make make the problem go away. In the Wild West of World Class anything went.<\/span><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-356639433\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Until the day came when the bill came due, and no one else could pay it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Unlike the Von Erichs, who had to hide their debauchery behind a Christian curtain, The Freebirds were expected to drink more Jack Daniels, smoke more, snort more, pop more than anyone else. They were more than happy to oblige, to piss down any leg for a laugh. They were so wild they got kicked out of the WWF in record time, even when the WWF was a wild man refuge of its own.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">They came and went in New Orleans, in Dallas, and in Atlanta because the more popular they got, the more money came in, and the more money came in the harder they were to control.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Jeez, they were fun to watch in those days.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">They never stopped. There came a day, though, when Michael Hayes wasn\u2019t pretty anymore, just bloated and old before his time, when Buddy Roberts aged out, and Terry Gordy could make a better living working for Giant Baba\u2019s All Japan Pro Wrestling than dealing with the likes of Bill Watts or Jim Crockett. Working in All Japan was one of the best jobs in wrestling: high, steady pay, and an honest promoter who took care of those who were loyal to him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">He still lived the Freebird way, even though he was now part of another great tag team with \u201cDr. Death\u201d Steve Williams, feuding with the best wrestlers of the \u201990s in All Japan: Toshiaki Kawada, Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, Akira Taue, and Jun Akiyama.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The warnings began to come\u2014the incidents and the overdoses\u2014but Terry Gordy only knew one Way. He could afford it, though; he was stronger and made more money than all but a few wrestlers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Until the day came when even his big body could take no more, on a plane ride back to the States, when he overdosed and went into a coma for several days. The coma damaged him mentally and physically. He was no longer a natural in the ring. He couldn\u2019t remember what to do, or summon the energy to do it. It took him eight hours one sad day to cut a thirty second promo for a match. He lost his spot in All Japan and his big salary wrestling days were over. Medical bills ate up what was left of the money. He was only 32 years old. Friends tried to help, to take advantage of the name he had built during the years, but he couldn\u2019t sustain anything. Stints in ECW and the WWF went by quickly. He worked the garbage promotions in Japan, for a fraction of what he used to make. The next years were frustrating and depressing for a man to whom everything had once come so naturally.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">And then, finally, his heart gave out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Living the gimmick had once again cost a man everything. World Class Championship Wrestling had another tragedy to add to its pathetic story. It was a rock\u2019n\u2019roll clich\u00e9, but no band ever was devastated the way the stars of that promotion were:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Kerry Von Erich (suicide)<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">David Von Erich (overdose)<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Mike Von Erich (suicide)<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Chris Von Erich (suicide) <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Gino Hernandez (overdose)<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Bruiser Brody (murdered)<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Junkyard Dog<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Buzz Sawyer (overdose)<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Jeep Swenson<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2026Terry Gordy <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">===<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>CHECK OUT PREVIOUS YEARS&#8217; SELECTIONS OF BRUCE MITCHELL\u00a0COLUMNS OVER THE LAST 25 YEARS:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/desktop\/category\/opnionandanalysis\/opinion_stafftakes\/takes_mitchell\/\">CLICK HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-330833490\"><div id=\"pwtor-755346011\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>This month marks the 25th Anniversary of Bruce Mitchell becoming a Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter columnist. No single person has influenced the editorial tone and direction of the Torch brand over the years than Bruce, <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2015\/10\/12\/25-years-of-bruce-mitchell-day-11-2001-titled-freebird-way-mitchell-reflects-on-the-life-and-death-of-terry-bam-bam-gordy-and-his-freebird-partners\/\" title=\"25 YEARS OF BRUCE MITCHELL &#8211; DAY 12 (2001): \u201cFreebird Way\u201d\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[183,79,81,78,82,80],"class_list":["post-22","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-takes_mitchell","tag-25-years-of-bruce-mitchell","tag-bruce-mitchell","tag-buddy-roberts","tag-freebirds","tag-michael-hayes","tag-terry-gordy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/25-MITCHELL-2001_screencapture516-3x2.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":287,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22\/revisions\/287"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}