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00:00You're looking at the nastiest, steviest individual standing right here.
00:06Terry was a beast. He was a perfect goliath.
00:09A prodigy who broke into the business before he could drive.
00:12Just drove into the mat.
00:15Terry Gordy's skill in the ring was matched only by his legendary toughness.
00:20Terry had the ability to make just about anybody look good as long as they were willing to pay the price.
00:26He was 300 pounds and when he picked you upside down and dropped you on your head, you were pretty much done.
00:33Gordy's career skyrocketed as part of the fabulous Freebirds, a tag team trio that revolutionized the business with their in-ring theatrics and total commitment to their rock and roll lifestyle.
00:45Once the jack started flowing, the birds were ready to party with anyone or fight anyone.
00:51Do it the big boys now!
00:53They believe they are rock stars, so they act like rock stars.
00:58Gordy's no-holds-barred style would take him around the world, but also accelerate his self-destructive behavior.
01:06Terry was his own man. Terry did his own thing.
01:08The lifestyle that he led, he could have died a hundred different ways.
01:12You can go from being on top of the world and have it all taken from you in a moment.
01:18Until a flight on a routine trip to Japan would drastically alter his career and the man himself.
01:26Even though he came back, he didn't come back as a wrestler and he didn't come back as Terry.
01:31He was never the same. Never even remotely the same.
01:34You guys, first match, five minutes.
01:46My name gets me noticed.
01:48Like, oh, another second gen, Terry Gordy's daughter.
01:51Miranda Gordy!
01:55I am Miranda Gordy, and Terry Bam Bam Gordy is my father.
02:02There we go!
02:03There we go!
02:04They expect me to be just as good as him, and that's just not the case.
02:10So that's caused a little bit of pressure on me that I have got to fill those boots.
02:15Gordy, what a close line!
02:19Those are some big shoes to fill.
02:23Oh, the boot comes off. Gordy smashing on Bruiser Brody's head.
02:27My name is Ray Gordy, and I am the son of Terry Bam Bam Gordy.
02:32People would remember me as one half of Jesse and Festus and Slam Master Jay.
02:40The reason I didn't use my father's name in WWE is simply because I didn't feel that I could live up to it.
02:49Terry Gordy is fixing the best move.
02:51He told me one time that once you learn how this business works, you'll never want to do anything else.
02:59Here's Gordy from the ropes!
03:00And that was his mindset. He never seen himself doing anything else.
03:06Terry Gordy!
03:07Born in Rossville, Georgia, Terry Gordy is barely a teenager when he gets his start in the wrestling business.
03:17I have some early stuff of my dad. That is a report card. It looks like a couple of F's.
03:25Those days he was absent, he was on the road.
03:28This picture, that is a very young Terry Gordy.
03:34Because of Terry's size and his eagerness, by the time he was 14 years old, he was wrestling on television.
03:44I'm Jim Cornette. I've been involved in a variety of ways in professional wrestling over the last 40-something years.
03:51I first met Terry. He was 16 years old. He was already a professional wrestler and had been for a couple of years at that point.
03:57You could use the word prodigy. You could use the word natural. Whatever it was, he had it.
04:04He was a prodigy, but that doesn't mean he didn't work hard and study the game.
04:12My name is Mick Foley. I am a three-time WWE champion, and I am sometimes known as the hardcore legend.
04:20What he lacked in traditional schooling, he picked up with an education on the road, second to none.
04:28This young lad here is going to, I think, become a superstar. He has all of the makings.
04:33When you started getting the full Terry Gordy, not only the physical aspect, but the verbal, he was an all-around performer.
04:39There was almost nobody that could touch him.
04:41Brother, get your sister, get your daddy, get them all around the TV, because you thinks now I witnessed something.
04:48When Terry was in Mississippi, he met a guy named Michael Hayes.
04:53There it is, Michael Hayes.
04:55Michael was a natural talker. You hand Michael a microphone, and he could go on forever.
04:59When you want to talk to a lady, you say, hey, baby, why don't you put on some Teddy Pendergrass, close the door, let me do what I want to do,
05:07because all I want to do is what you want me to.
05:14His mama must have had a hard time with him.
05:16I am Jimmy Jam Garvin, and I am a member of the fabulous Freebirds, WWE Hall of Famer, and it's still not my fault.
05:24It's not my fault!
05:25Michael and Terry, I mean, they were just both live wires.
05:29Terry would almost know what Michael's thinking, you know, before Michael even said it, and vice versa.
05:33They were just tight.
05:35You've got Michael Hayes, who would come out, and he would piss people off.
05:40There's always a big conflict.
05:42He would talk himself right into the corner, but then, behind his back, you've got Terry Gordy.
05:49Here comes Gordy!
05:52As a team, they were just unmatched.
05:56They just were like soulmates as far as friends go.
06:01Michael was a big fan, as every Southerner was in those days, in the 70s, of the band Leonard Skinner.
06:08Michael had the idea, what about if we called ourselves the Freebirds?
06:15Monday night in Memphis, at the Mid-South Coliseum, I was a photographer at ringside, and all of a sudden, over the PA system, here comes Freebird.
06:25And then, out comes Terry and Michael, these silver robes flowing everywhere, and they're doing a slow-motion strut to match the beat of Freebird.
06:42There you hear the music in the family of Freebirds, Terry Gordy and Michael Hayes.
06:48This was back in the day, where if you went to an arena event, the bell rang, and the wrestlers walked to the ring, and they got introduced.
06:56There was no music.
06:59And I said, you know, I think this might catch on.
07:03The Freebirds soon join Mid-South Wrestling, where promoter Bill Watts pairs them up with Buddy Roberts, converting the tag team into a trio.
07:12You got the Freebirds' attention, and that just might be your downfall.
07:17Buddy was the veteran, Michael was the promo, Terry was the physical enforcer.
07:22Watch that hand, bite the dust!
07:25And that three-man combination made one of the most legendary tag teams in the history of wrestling.
07:31Together, they were bigger than the sum of their parts.
07:35And I think it's important to point out that this was not a case of lightning striking once.
07:40They got over everywhere they went.
07:43Three, two, three, and the ground very quickly.
07:47Three, three, three, four, three, four, three, four.
07:49The fabulous Freebirds are winners of the buck.
07:52The fabulous Freebirds got through with a victory.
07:55Welcome back to the wild and wonderful Freebirds.
08:01Ah, a new walk.
08:03Then, they had the natural three-on-three rivalry with the Von Erich boys in Dallas.
08:10Deep in the heart of Texas, world-class championship wrestling is dominated by the three eldest sons of promoter Fritz Von Erich, David, Kerry, and Kevin.
08:20The Von Erich boys were already popular, but the Von Erich boys had never been tested.
08:26We wanted badasses, and that's who the Freebirds were.
08:30Backbreaker across the knee of Michael Hayes.
08:34I'm Kevin Von Erich, and for years I've battled the Freebirds.
08:38They were legitimate rough guys, you know, and they didn't have any apologies for anybody.
08:44Oh, that fella hit the deck.
08:46But we had a common goal.
08:48We wanted to put the best wrestling match we could in that ring, and so it was just a marriage made in heaven.
08:54Here comes Kevin!
08:56Come on!
08:58Wrestling in the mid-80s in Dallas was the top of the game.
09:02We were selling out every venue, everywhere, every night.
09:06But the magic really hit when the Freebirds came.
09:09I'm talking about them Von Erichs.
09:11They don't stick their nose in the Freebirds business.
09:15My name's David Manning.
09:16I was the promoter, booker, and referee for world-class championship wrestling.
09:20The Von Erichs were like the good cowboy.
09:22And here was three guys that were obnoxious, rude to the fans.
09:28Well, let me tell you something, Texas.
09:31There ain't no place that I would rather be than in Georgia right now.
09:36Kevin referred to them as filth.
09:38Michael Hayes is bringing the flag.
09:40Terry and Michael come to the ring.
09:42They've got Dixie flying, and they're talking about Texas, and it just burned me up.
09:48And so I grabbed the mic, and I said, you got everybody in the world thinking this is a war between Texas and Georgia, and this is not.
09:53This is a war between decency and filth.
09:56There was so much love for the Von Erichs, but there was total hate for Michael Terry and Buddy.
10:01Go, go, freebirds! Go, go, freebirds!
10:04They could get a ton of heat because of the way they acted, the things they said, the things they did.
10:10What about your friend right here, boy? What you think about it?
10:13I didn't want my dad to get beat up, but I was still a fan of the Von Erichs.
10:19And it looks like a barroom brawl.
10:22Who didn't love the Von Erichs?
10:23Some of the guys who didn't like the Von Erichs because their girlfriends liked them,
10:30they're saying, well, look at these shit-kicking, Jack Daniels-drinking, flag-waving, southern assholes.
10:37So they started getting in the Freebird camp.
10:41I think the Freebirds were the original cool heels.
10:46Far more often, they were the cooler of the two teams in the ring.
10:49For the next two and a half years in every city in Texas, it was the Freebirds against the Von Erichs.
10:59I want Terry Gordian. I just don't want to just beat him. I want to hurt him.
11:06They'll take Terry across the ring.
11:08They main-evented in Texas Stadium, for God's sake.
11:12It was the most magic, three-on-three combination, perfect time, perfect place, perfect setup, perfect participants.
11:19And they drew nothing but money for two years.
11:22What we had created in the ring was phenomenal. Anybody would want that.
11:28But then when you got out of the ring, you had all the other problems, though, that came with the birds.
11:32They were trouble looking for trouble.
11:35You know, they just raised hell.
11:39They'd drink all night, and then they'd get in the ring, and they'd sweat all them booze out.
11:45They always told me that the best cure for a hangover was wrestling.
11:51Yeah.
11:52Terry's temperament was, like, so even until we drank.
11:56My parents were at a bar, and a man was hitting on my mom.
12:03My dad became very enraged, and there was a bar fight.
12:08The cops went to restrain my dad to calm him down, which I think did the opposite.
12:18He beat up a cop car with his hands cuffed behind his back.
12:26It was like you had taken a hammer about this big around and hit the hood of the car
12:32and knocked dents in it where he had headbutted it.
12:37He was kind of a real, spoiled kid.
12:40You know, that's Terry. He did stuff like that.
12:42Terry Gordy was not going to back up from anybody,
12:45nor was there anybody walking that was really going to make him back up.
12:49Do you think there was a point where, like, it got a little bit out of control as far as, like, the partying,
12:53or that's just the way it was in the 80s and early 90s?
12:56I mean, if you look back at it today from today's perspective, it got out of control at the very beginning.
13:03You know, having people throw different things at you, like,
13:06here, take a shot. Y'all are awesome.
13:08Or, here, you know, take this for your pain so you can sleep.
13:11Or, here, take this so you can stay up and drive eight hours to the next show.
13:16I don't know exactly when, um, the evolution happened from smoking marijuana, drinking booze,
13:24to more of a, um, a pill problem.
13:29Despite their wild reputation, in 1984, Terry Gordy and the fabulous Freebirds
13:42catch the attention of Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation.
13:46Was it a week? Did that last a week?
13:49They were in the meeting with Vince, hungover, still partially inebriated.
13:56Terry fell asleep.
13:57And that didn't get over with Vince too good.
14:04That was the only time that the Freebirds ever worked for the WWF.
14:10After wrestling a handful of matches, the Freebirds flame out at the WWF.
14:15But Terry has a chance to take his career in a new direction.
14:18That is my dad and Bruiser Brody.
14:24It's in Japan.
14:25My dad got the opportunity to go work in Japan.
14:29The Japanese wrestling is very different from what it is over here.
14:35When you get the Freebirds and more glitz and glamour,
14:38they see that and they're really not interested.
14:42They were more interested in Terry Gordy by himself.
14:45The monster American, the Abdullah the Butchers, or the Bruiser Brodies,
14:54or the Stan Hansons, or Terry Gordy.
14:57These giant guys that were just crazy and beat up everybody in their path,
15:02they became the darlings of the Japanese wrestling fan.
15:05And that's the kind of atmosphere that Terry could flourish in.
15:12He loved the hard...
15:13physical style associated with Japan.
15:18And that's why he became one of the biggest
15:22and best stars to ever cross the ocean
15:25and work there.
15:31It takes a big toll physically with the injuries.
15:36Putting your body through that, every bump is like a mild car wreck.
15:40I knew that he was having knee problems.
15:43One of my big concerns was my dad wasn't going to blow out his knees.
15:51He tore both of his ACLs.
15:55He was going to Japan six months a year,
15:58working as a main event star over there at a high level
16:01with no ACL in either knee.
16:03He had to have double knee surgery.
16:04But the doctor told him he had to take the weight off.
16:09So he contacted Richard Simmons.
16:12Yeah!
16:13Right?
16:14This huge 6'5 man just, you know, jazzercise,
16:19whatever Richard Simmons did.
16:21Come on, Terry, you got this.
16:23Yeah.
16:24Terry was like 300, 320,
16:26and then he pared down to like maybe 265,
16:30something like that.
16:31And then you see the more athletic, built-up, Terry Gordy.
16:34You can absolutely blame that on Richard Simmons.
16:38Now leaner and more powerful
16:40and working in a physical style that plays to his strengths,
16:44Terry's performance in the ring reaches new heights.
16:48Terry Gordy versus Misawa.
16:49Oh.
16:50June 1st, 1991.
16:51Yeah, in my opinion,
16:53that's one of the top five matches of all time.
16:56The Japanese crowd, traditionally,
16:59they will ooh and ah.
17:01This match, they tore the house now.
17:10Terry Gordy was a master of his craft.
17:13People look at him and they see this big monster
17:15doing all these power moves.
17:17But if you really watch,
17:20you'll see the little things that he done in the ring
17:24that people just don't do.
17:26Even down to the chin lock in this match,
17:29he's actually using his fingers
17:31to try to pry fingers away.
17:34And this is a work,
17:36but that little bit just adds so much more.
17:41Terry was a guy who made everything he did mean something.
17:44And when he threw a punch, brother,
17:47it was a thing of beauty.
17:48It was so animated.
17:50It connected.
17:51It looked great.
17:53He was just simply one of the best.
17:56He was the first American ever
17:57to win the Triple Crown Championship.
17:59He was the top guy in Japan at that time.
18:04It's great to be alive
18:06and it's great to be number one in Japan.
18:09In Japan,
18:10Terry starts working with Dr. Death,
18:12Steve Williams and a tag team
18:14known for their brutality,
18:16the Miracle Violence Connection.
18:18Double close line.
18:19If the aliens landed tomorrow
18:21and you had to pick two human beings
18:26to represent Earth in a fight to the death,
18:29pick Terry Gordy and Dr. Death, Steve Williams.
18:34Look at the strength of Dr. Death.
18:36They brought that Japanese style over to the U.S.
18:39In my opinion,
18:41they may be
18:42the best tag team in the world today.
18:45They're not resting up in between Japanese tours.
18:49They're taking on these very physical matches
18:51on a very regular basis.
18:53Terry and Doc did a lot of tours together.
18:58So to keep the Freebird thing going,
19:00they needed to replace Terry when he was gone.
19:03And that's what I did.
19:04We're not following no rules
19:06that we don't want to follow.
19:07Terry, when he wasn't in Japan,
19:09he would join us.
19:10That's a very heavy schedule.
19:12I honestly believe that it was too much.
19:16I mean, really, it was just part of life.
19:18Like, he would just be gone for a long time,
19:21and it was like a treat almost
19:24when he would be home.
19:26Miranda, smile.
19:28Life at one point was really good.
19:30We did normal family things.
19:33He took us skating.
19:35He taught me how to fish and ride a bike.
19:37All the dad stuff.
19:38He did that for us when he could.
19:40But it just wasn't a lot, unfortunately.
19:44Yeah, he hated to be separated from his family, man.
19:47My name is Richard A. Slinger.
19:49I went under the ring name of Richard Slinger in Japan,
19:53trained and lived over there.
19:55I'm the nephew of Terry Gordy.
19:57He would talk to me about being over there in Japan.
20:01He said I would go into a state
20:03of deep, dark, miserable depression.
20:06I know it wore on him.
20:07He looked tired.
20:10I know he missed being home,
20:12and he missed his own mom,
20:14and he missed his kids,
20:15and he missed his wife.
20:17Being on the road 360 days a year,
20:20that wears on you.
20:23You live in hotels, airplanes, rental cars.
20:29It's just constant go.
20:31Your mind never really has time to reset,
20:35to relax, to say,
20:37okay, where am I at in this life?
20:38A lot of times in those days,
20:41especially the well-seasoned travelers to Japan,
20:45they would take whatever pills that they took
20:50so they could sleep,
20:51and when they woke up,
20:52they'd be in Japan.
20:53The drugs can be seen as a necessary evil
20:57when you're going from time zone to time zone,
21:01when you're expected to be at your best on a nightly basis,
21:04when you feel far from your best,
21:06when you're worn down,
21:07and it is a very short step from use as needed
21:13to use as light.
21:18While on a tour with Steve Williams,
21:20Terry suffers his first serious overdose.
21:23First time, he dropped on me,
21:27accumulated too many pills,
21:30but it was halcyon.
21:31We went out that night,
21:33and he just dropped it,
21:34and I didn't see PR,
21:35and ambulance took him.
21:37He was in the hospital.
21:38He didn't remember what happened.
21:40When they brought me in,
21:41I had to refresh in his mind
21:43and tell him what he'd done and this and that.
21:45I tried to straighten him up from there,
21:47but Terry Gore, he had a problem with drugs.
21:51There's going to be a time
21:52where your body tells you,
21:53where your mind tells you
21:55that you need to stop,
21:58and I really believe that
22:00during that time,
22:02my dad was at that point.
22:05It's a tough business.
22:06You know, it's a heartless business.
22:10Set to return to Japan,
22:12Terry boards a flight
22:13that will change his life forever.
22:16Terry's accumulated so many pills
22:18that I'm having to push him
22:21with a wheelchair.
22:24He's out.
22:25You know, he's out.
22:26So 30 minutes before a plane lands,
22:30I look at him,
22:31and he's dying on me.
22:33Before a flight to Japan,
22:40Terry Gordy consumes an excessive amount
22:42of muscle relaxers.
22:44Dr. Death's Steve Williams
22:46notices Terry has stopped breathing.
22:47He's dying on me.
22:50I mean, he's turned blue,
22:51and he's sucking barely any air,
22:55like he was about to swallow his tongue.
22:58I used to be able to knock him back loose
23:00if I slapped him a couple times in the face
23:03or kick him out of it, you know?
23:05Just like if you put somebody in sleep,
23:07you hit him in the back,
23:08he'll knock him back out of it.
23:09Well, if I did it,
23:12he wouldn't come back alive.
23:13So right then, I knew he was dying.
23:19The stewardess got up, man,
23:20and they were all freaking out.
23:23And I was giving him CPR to keep him alive,
23:27to keep that heart going.
23:29As soon as we landed,
23:30the ambulance was right there.
23:33I had to get him off the plane,
23:36get him in the ambulance,
23:37and get him to the hospital.
23:39They just started emergency procedures,
23:42and what little bit of Japanese I spoke
23:44and what little bit of English they spoke.
23:46We were able to communicate
23:47about Terry's condition.
23:50The biggest fear that I might be losing
23:52my uncle Terry, you know, in there.
23:55He was in a coma for a couple days.
24:00I remember being right there behind the,
24:02pretty much the whole time,
24:04camping out beside his bed.
24:06When he woke up,
24:07he started calling my name, Richard.
24:09I'm like, yeah, I'm here.
24:12I'm here, I'm here.
24:15Eventually, he was able to be maneuvered
24:17with between me and the nurse
24:19into a wheelchair to go to the shower.
24:24You know, maybe a little bit of cold water.
24:28He might show that he still has the feeling.
24:33And he did.
24:34His face grimaced a little bit
24:36whenever I sprayed him with cold water.
24:39I was like, you know,
24:40we might have some luck here
24:41of getting him back to normal.
24:44They called my stepmother,
24:46and she flew over to be with him.
24:49And she got him home,
24:51and my mother was there to greet him,
24:54and she said that was a heartbreaker
24:56to see him coming off the airplane
24:59in a wheelchair.
25:00He couldn't really carry on
25:04that much of a conversation.
25:06He was very quiet.
25:10There was an obvious difference.
25:14He had lost a lot of his motor skills.
25:20He was very slow to react.
25:24He had to relearn a lot of things.
25:27He had some permanent physical
25:32and mental damage from that.
25:35He wasn't the same person anymore.
25:38Whatever happened,
25:39oxygen to the brain,
25:41he was unconscious too long,
25:42whatever all that medical hoo-hah is,
25:45it erased something in his brain.
25:48There's this local promoter.
25:50He was kind enough to give us the key,
25:52and we were training
25:54within a couple of weeks
25:55of me coming back from that tour.
25:59Ironic, you know,
26:00somebody's training me.
26:02Here I am.
26:03I'm teaching my uncle.
26:04You know, this is how it goes.
26:06Remember? Remember?
26:08There was progress,
26:10and we were all hoping
26:13that he would just miraculously
26:17kick out at some point,
26:20and it would all come back to him,
26:22and he would be Terry Gordy again.
26:26During the last year
26:27of Smoky Mountain Wrestling,
26:28we heard that he had started
26:30wrestling little independent shows,
26:32and I said,
26:34if Terry is anywhere back
26:36and anywhere near what he needs to be,
26:39my God,
26:39if we could get him up here,
26:40that'd be great.
26:41So I made the arrangements
26:42to have him come in.
26:44I have added another member
26:46to Cornette's Militia!
26:49Terry Gordy.
26:51Everybody in the locker room
26:53in Smoky Mountain
26:53had known him for years
26:55and liked him
26:55and was wanting to help,
26:57but he couldn't do a promo anymore.
27:01And I'm coming to show you, boy,
27:04that I'm going to take that title
27:06and I'm going to take it
27:07and there ain't nothing you
27:08or your old lady
27:09can do about it.
27:11And we kept thinking
27:12it'll come back to him
27:14or he's taking steps,
27:16but he'd just walk up to you
27:18and he'd just stand there.
27:20Then you'd look,
27:20oh, oh, Terry,
27:21do you need something?
27:22Yeah, uh, Jim,
27:24I was just wondering
27:26if you'd like me
27:27to do the powerbomb.
27:30Yes, Terry,
27:31if you'd like to, please.
27:33And there is Gordy,
27:34sets him up for that powerbomb.
27:36Because he had been
27:37such a great wrestler
27:39and he could still do these moves.
27:43And it was the same frame,
27:45but there wasn't any life in it.
27:50It was going through the motions,
27:53but the face,
27:54the expression,
27:55the intent,
27:57everything that makes you
27:58a personality,
27:59it just was gone.
28:02Because he wasn't there anymore.
28:05That was gone.
28:07Despite a challenging rehabilitation,
28:10Terry stages a comeback
28:11culminating in a legendary match
28:13against Cactus Jack
28:14at IWA's now infamous
28:16King of the Deathmatch tournament.
28:18You've become the King of the Deathmatch
28:20by kicking out of all the moves.
28:23Terry and I
28:24are going to face
28:25in the first round
28:26of what was known at the time
28:28as the Kawasaki Dream Match tournament.
28:31It's gone down in lore
28:32as being the King of the Deathmatch tournament.
28:34Three,
28:35two,
28:36one.
28:39One of the holes in his game
28:41since the accident on the plane
28:43was the punches
28:44were no longer there.
28:45And out of concern
28:47for his reputation,
28:49I said,
28:49Terry,
28:49I said,
28:50you're a legend here.
28:51I said,
28:52you've got to really bring those punches.
28:55To his credit,
28:56I didn't have to tell him that
28:57more than once.
29:01I've read letters
29:02that said
29:03Terry Gordy
29:04was the King of the Deathmatch.
29:06And all that happened
29:07after the accident.
29:08So I can only imagine
29:10full Terry Gordy
29:12having a Deathmatch.
29:16We did pretty good.
29:19And it resulted
29:21in what may have been
29:22the greatest post-match interview
29:24of Terry's career.
29:26Shit.
29:27It's a
29:28I felt like
29:33maybe we pushed
29:34the hands of time
29:35back just a little bit.
29:40But it was not meant to be.
29:48Despite an impressive performance
29:50at King of the Deathmatch,
29:51it's clear that
29:52Terry Gordy's overdose
29:53has changed him.
29:54I think that he
29:57continued to wrestle
29:59after the accident
30:00is because
30:01that's all he knew.
30:02That's all he ever did.
30:04He wasn't a cashier
30:06for a grocery store
30:07and then started wrestling.
30:08Like, he wrestled.
30:10There were a lot of people
30:11rooting for my dad.
30:13Terry Gordy
30:15who has been pronounced
30:16critically dead twice
30:18is making a comeback.
30:21He could work through a match.
30:23It just wasn't the same.
30:26I'm sure that was the hope
30:28that maybe
30:29if they just kept at it
30:30that he would eventually
30:32come to it.
30:33But it just
30:35it was never there.
30:37You can see it
30:37even in pictures.
30:38In his eyes
30:39he was full of life.
30:41And then
30:42you look at pictures
30:43after the coma
30:44and he looks like
30:45a deer in headlights.
30:47Terry Gordy
30:47probably one of the greatest
30:48tag team wrestlers
30:49of all time
30:50and of course
30:50a legendary heel
30:51and the member
30:52of the fabulous
30:53Freebird group.
30:54Probably the greatest heel
30:54trio in the business.
30:56In 1998
30:57Terry agrees to film
30:58an interview
30:59out of character
31:00and for the first time
31:02fans at home
31:02are able to see
31:03for themselves
31:04the change
31:05in his cognitive
31:06capabilities.
31:07I've seen parts
31:09of the shoot interview.
31:11The emotions
31:11when I first saw that
31:13I was
31:14enraged
31:16a little embarrassed.
31:19Do you have any
31:19good road stories?
31:23Yeah man
31:23there's a bunch
31:24in the area.
31:27What are some
31:27that stick out
31:28in your mind?
31:33I don't know.
31:34Seeing your dad
31:35like that
31:35he couldn't remember
31:37a lot of stuff
31:38from the past.
31:39The coma took
31:40a lot of his memories
31:41away.
31:42But in that
31:42they're just
31:43hounding him
31:43for all these questions
31:44and as his daughter
31:47you just want them
31:48to leave him alone.
31:49Now why was your
31:50stay so short
31:51in WCW?
31:54Was it Japan?
31:55You wanted to go back
31:55to Japan maybe?
31:56Oh yeah.
31:56Yeah I think so.
32:01As Terry attempts
32:02to get back
32:03into the spotlight
32:04his long time friend
32:06Freebird Michael Hayes
32:08convinces the WWF
32:09to add Terry
32:10to their roster.
32:13Vince put him
32:14under a hood
32:15as the executioner.
32:17Of course
32:18when I was a kid
32:18I'm like
32:19oh why would
32:20they do that
32:20and really
32:22it was to protect him
32:23and I'm glad they did.
32:24It was a good
32:25respect move
32:27on the part
32:28of WWE.
32:29They didn't want
32:30to destroy
32:33Terry Gordy
32:34by putting him
32:36on TV
32:37as Terry Gordy
32:39and him not
32:40being
32:41Terry Gordy.
32:42Michael Hayes
32:43was able
32:44to get him in
32:45with Terry
32:45as a menacing
32:47foreboding
32:48executioner
32:49with me
32:49and Paul Bearer
32:50we became
32:51kind of like
32:52a faction.
32:53As soon as
32:54mankind
32:55is buried alive
32:57the undertaker
32:58his hand
32:59will be raised
33:00by the official.
33:01Then the executioner
33:02came
33:02friend in need
33:04a friend in deed.
33:05Coming
33:06oh
33:06there
33:07part of what
33:10made Terry's character
33:12so intriguing
33:12is that he was
33:13like a man child.
33:16He breaks in
33:16at age 14 years old.
33:18He is a child
33:20among men
33:21but at the same time
33:22he's a man
33:23among men.
33:24When he gets
33:24to WWE
33:25there's still
33:26the ways
33:27of a child
33:28and that's
33:30not the way
33:30to succeed
33:31in a main event
33:32with the undertaker.
33:34Off the rope
33:34scoops him up
33:35what's he gonna do
33:36with him
33:36slams him down.
33:37It was pretty sad
33:38man
33:38pretty sad
33:39to watch
33:39my uncle Terry
33:42and he was
33:43once at his prime
33:44and from
33:45doing that
33:46to you know
33:47not hitting
33:48on all cylinders
33:49you know
33:50it was pretty sad.
33:52And I'm sure
33:52all the people
33:53that looked up
33:53to him
33:54and that he helped
33:54along the way
33:55in his career
33:56were just
33:57I don't know
33:59how else to describe it
33:59but heartbreaking
34:00just looking at someone
34:01that is like
34:03a superhero
34:04to you
34:05and just seeing
34:06I don't want to say
34:07helpless
34:07but he wasn't
34:09the same person.
34:11An undertaker
34:12had to say
34:13it won't work.
34:15And the executioner
34:16has been executed.
34:19Everybody loved him
34:20but you know
34:21he wasn't there anymore.
34:23It's also
34:24a bit sad
34:26to overhear
34:27a conversation
34:28he had
34:28with a woman
34:29on an airplane
34:30where she goes
34:32to take some medication
34:33and he goes
34:35got any extraes?
34:38She gave him
34:39a couple pills.
34:40So he was at a point
34:42where he was taking
34:42anything
34:43regardless of whether
34:45he knew what it was.
34:49We would be worried
34:50because he would go
34:51from being completely
34:52coherent
34:53to obviously
34:54under the influence
34:55of something
34:56seemingly within
34:57minutes.
34:58and so
35:01he had reached
35:02a pretty
35:04dangerous point.
35:07It's hard
35:08for me to say
35:09because
35:09I looked up
35:11to him
35:12and I will always
35:12appreciate
35:13the kindness
35:13he showed me
35:15when he was
35:16on top of the world
35:17and I was
35:19breaking in
35:19but you know
35:21we've got to be
35:22adults out there
35:23on the road.
35:25We look out
35:25for each other
35:26but you also have to
35:27look out for yourself.
35:30We would have to
35:31on a few occasions
35:33try to track him down
35:34when he was not
35:35in his hotel room.
35:36I think it was about
35:37the third time
35:38that Paul Bearer
35:39and I were
35:40searching the roads
35:42and making drives
35:44and calling his name.
35:46We realized that this
35:48was not going to be
35:49a long-term team.
35:59When Terry's
36:00short-lived stint
36:01in the WWF
36:02comes to an end
36:03he finds himself
36:04back on the indie circuit.
36:06It's hard to
36:07grasp as a kid
36:09what that was
36:10to see the downfall
36:11of him being
36:12on top
36:13to doing
36:14little independent
36:16shows around
36:17Tennessee and Georgia.
36:18I was at those indie
36:19shows.
36:21As a kid
36:22it was fun
36:22but looking back
36:25at that
36:25it's really sad.
36:29I think the last time
36:30I saw Terry
36:31was at an independent
36:33wrestling show.
36:35During intermission
36:35Terry's daughter
36:36was taking
36:37Polaroids
36:38of Terry
36:39and the fans
36:40in the ring
36:40and there were
36:43only about two people
36:44who made that trip
36:45into the ring.
36:47Seeing literal
36:48minutes go by
36:50with no one
36:51on that line
36:52no one getting
36:53into the ring
36:54just struck me
36:54as being extraordinarily
36:56sad.
36:57And I'm over
36:58in a different part
36:59of the building
36:59at a table
37:00and I'm signing
37:01autographs
37:01feeling guilty
37:02saying they should
37:04be on that line.
37:06That's the line
37:06they should be.
37:07There's the real
37:08superstar.
37:09There was part of me
37:11that wanted
37:12to get out there
37:13in the ring
37:13grab that microphone
37:14and start yelling
37:17at people
37:18trying to knock
37:19some sense
37:20into them
37:20don't you understand
37:21this is a legend
37:22he's here in your midst
37:24and you can see him
37:25you can get a photo
37:26taken with him
37:27and times
37:30had changed.
37:33As his wrestling
37:34career winds down
37:36Terry redirects
37:38his focus
37:38and embraces
37:40what matters
37:40to him most
37:41during this time
37:44he was home
37:46I got to
37:49see my dad
37:50more than
37:52I had
37:53ever seen him
37:54in
37:55my entire life
37:57I look back
37:58on that
37:59and as rough
38:01of a time
38:02as that was
38:03for him
38:05for him
38:05and
38:06our family
38:08it was the time
38:09of my life
38:10where I got
38:11to know
38:12my dad
38:13and become
38:15really great
38:17friends with him
38:18we would see each other
38:20every single weekend
38:21I'd go pick him up
38:23I'd take him
38:24to the gym
38:25we'd work out
38:26I'd take him
38:27home
38:28it was probably
38:30the best
38:31years of my life
38:32getting to hang out
38:34with my dad
38:34and really getting
38:35to talk to him
38:36and getting to know
38:37the person
38:38that he really was
38:39I'm really thankful
38:41for that time
38:43that he wasn't
38:44on the road
38:45that he was
38:46at home
38:47because
38:48yeah
38:48we became
38:49best friends
38:50we really did
38:51do you have anything
38:53you want to say
38:53to your fans out there
38:54that are watching
38:55this video
38:55I'm just
38:56I'm really
38:58really sorry
38:59you know
38:59that
39:00I'm sorry
39:07about
39:08I'm sorry
39:09about
39:09going to Japan
39:10you know
39:11the whole den
39:12and stuff
39:13you know
39:13he was actually
39:15doing a show
39:16and
39:17he
39:18asked me
39:19to go do
39:21the show
39:21with him
39:21and
39:23we were actually
39:25going to tag
39:25that night
39:26and
39:29I couldn't go
39:31next day
39:33I get a call
39:35from my cousin
39:35Richard
39:36and his
39:39exact words
39:40were
39:40Ray
39:42get down
39:44on your knees
39:45and start
39:45praying
39:46because your dad
39:48is on this mountain
39:49and he stopped
39:50breathing
39:50after wrestling
40:04an indie match
40:05the previous night
40:06Terry is found
40:07unresponsive
40:08at his home
40:09in Saudi
40:09Daisy
40:10Tennessee
40:10I got in a car
40:12as soon as I could
40:13and traveled
40:14to his home
40:15I was there
40:17before emergency
40:18services
40:19one of the boys
40:20that stayed
40:21with Terry
40:21the night before
40:22he was doing
40:22the CPR
40:23while he was
40:24doing chest
40:24compressions
40:25I was
40:25I still hate
40:27knowing this
40:29but Terry
40:29was already gone
40:30and I was
40:30trying to bring him
40:31back
40:32by slapping him
40:33in the face
40:33because I remember
40:34Doc
40:35telling me
40:36that's what he did
40:37to bring him back
40:37and I thought
40:38maybe this is
40:39one last
40:39thing I can resort
40:41to
40:41to
40:42you know
40:43bring Terry back
40:44there was a police
40:46officer standing
40:47in front of the door
40:48guarding the door
40:51and wouldn't let
40:51anybody in
40:52I put my hands
40:53on the police officer
40:54and told him
40:55he was going to
40:55let me in that door
40:56and that's when
40:57Richard grabbed me
40:58and told me
40:59that he was gone
41:00my mom knew
41:02that there was
41:03an emergency
41:03and they said
41:04to get to my
41:05granny's
41:05quickly
41:07and I just
41:08hear my mom
41:09scream
41:10no
41:10she had to
41:13tell us
41:13that he had
41:13passed
41:14on July
41:1716th
41:182001
41:19Terry Gordy
41:20dies of
41:21congestive heart
41:22failure
41:22caused by
41:23a blood clot
41:23he is only
41:2540 years old
41:26of all
41:30the stuff
41:31that my dad
41:32did
41:32and the
41:34lifestyle
41:34that he led
41:36and all
41:36the partying
41:37that he did
41:38it's amazing
41:40that it wasn't
41:41an OD
41:42it wasn't
41:43anything like
41:44that
41:45maybe his legacy
41:47is you can't
41:48push yourself
41:48too hard
41:49you can't take
41:50shit you're not
41:50supposed to take
41:51you can't do
41:52shit you're not
41:53supposed to do
41:53over and over
41:54on a regular
41:55basis
41:55if you sat
41:59Terry down
42:00if he was here
42:00right now
42:01and said
42:01hey Terry
42:02you think maybe
42:03if we tell
42:03this story
42:04it'll make
42:04some of the
42:05other guys
42:05stay away
42:06from it
42:07he probably
42:07would say
42:08yeah go ahead
42:08and tell it
42:09he wouldn't be
42:10worried about
42:10whether he
42:10looked good
42:11or not
42:11but if he
42:12could help
42:12somebody else
42:13you know
42:15it's just
42:16such a
42:16tragedy
42:17I mean
42:18the wrestling
42:19lost
42:19not only
42:20one of the
42:21best workers
42:21ever
42:22but
42:23he was a
42:24good guy
42:24why did
42:26Terry Gordy
42:26touch so many
42:27people's lives
42:28well with the
42:29wrestling fans
42:29it was easy
42:30because he was
42:30great
42:31he was great
42:31at what he did
42:32he was exciting
42:33to watch
42:33if you like
42:35wrestling
42:36he did it
42:36better than
42:37almost anybody
42:37else in it
42:38I'm not claiming
42:39to be the best
42:41wrestler in the
42:42world
42:43but you know
42:44something
42:44world champion
42:45this right here
42:47does
42:47he will never
42:53be forgotten
42:54he contributed
42:55so much
42:56to this business
42:58more than people
43:00realize
43:01putting on a
43:02clinic here
43:02what I've
43:10gotten most
43:10out of
43:11wrestling
43:11is how
43:13much people
43:14just really
43:14loved my
43:15dad
43:15so if I
43:16walk away
43:17with just
43:17that
43:17it's been
43:18a very
43:19healing
43:19experience
43:20but his
43:22influence
43:22can be seen
43:23almost every
43:24week
43:24on television
43:26whether it's
43:27the hyper
43:28realistic
43:29but theatrically
43:30enjoyable
43:31punches he
43:32threw
43:32or somebody
43:34winding up a
43:35clothesline
43:36before throwing
43:37it hard
43:37anytime you
43:40see any
43:40variation of
43:41a powerbomb
43:42that's Terry
43:44Gordy
43:44don't it feel
43:45good
43:46sitting up
43:46here
43:47I mean
43:47up at
43:48top
43:48looking down
43:50and everything
43:50don't it
43:51feel good
43:51you
43:55I'm
43:56you
44:00you
44:01you
44:01you
44:02you
44:04you
44:05you
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