The Not So Fabulous Freebirds Through the Years

Brian Damage

Hailing from Badstreet USA, the Fabulous Freebirds are widely regarded as one of the finest groupings in wrestling history. Today we look at all the men that rode with the group as they made their way to the top, from hangers on to management and everything in-between.

The Fabulous Freebirds are arguably one of…if not the greatest factions in all of professional wrestling. Sure, the Four Horsemen are up at the top of the list as well…but no question that the boys from Badstreet USA are right up at the top with the Horsemen. Their longstanding feud with the Von Erich boys in World Class Championship Wrestling in the 1980’s was one of the hottest battles of that particular era. Each of the three member team had a purpose and gelled together perfectly.

There was the worker in Buddy Jack Roberts..the mouthpiece in Michael ‘PS’ Hayes and the power in Terry ‘Bam Bam’ Gordy. Individually they all had there strengths and weaknesses…but together as one unit they were nearly flawless. Oh sure, they were headache at times to the various promoters they worked for. Their bad boy image wasn’t really an image at all, as they wrestled hard and partied just as hard. The thing was, promoters would often overlook their transgressions outside the ring because they filled arenas and made lots of money where ever they went.

Gordy, Roberts and Hayes were “heat magnets” and whether it was feuding with the Von Erichs or winning titles in the Georgia or Mid-South/UWF territories…the Fabulous Freebirds were all about success. They are immediately the three best remembered as the Freebirds…but in wrestling…things change..sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worst. This piece will look at the other not so well regarded versions and members of this infamous faction. Some fit in quite nicely…while others…well…they were like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

Jimmy Garvin

Let’s first start out with the individual often regarded as the fourth member of the team from almost the get go…’Gorgeous’ Jimmy Garvin. Garvin would often team with the ‘Birds in WCCW and other territories. He didn’t become a full fledged member until he and Hayes joined WCW back in 1989. Together, Garvin and Hayes won the WCW world tag team titles, the United States tag team titles and the WCW world Six man tag titles.

Badstreet

This member was originally nicknamed “Fantasia” until threats of legal action from Disney forced WCW to rename the masked character Badstreet. It was actually none other than Brad Armstrong under a mask. He was the third member of WCW’s version of the team and won the Six man tag titles with Garvin and Hayes.

The Angel of Death

The Angel of Death was the bodyguard to the Freebirds back in the mid 1980’s when the “boys from Badstreet” were competing in the old Mid South/ Universal Wrestling Federation run by Bill Watts. The Angel of Death turned on the Freebirds and joined Skandor Akbar’s Devastation Incorporated turning the Freebirds into babyfaces.

Diamond Dallas Page

Long before Diamond Dallas Page became an active wrestler…he was utilized as a manager and worked it as the manager of The Freebirds in WCW in 1991.

Big Daddy Dink

Sir Oliver Humperdink joined the Freebirds under the moniker of ‘Big Daddy Dink’ and was used as a co manager (along with DDP) and called a Road manager. In real life, Humperdink hated the gimmick citing that it never fit well with who he was as a pro manager and wound up quitting the company.

Steve Cox

Steve “Do It To It” Cox was a protege of Michael PS Hayes back in the mid 1980’s. He became a pseudo member of the group after that…often teaming with Hayes.

Iceman King Parsons

In 1987, Iceman King Parsons briefly replaced Michael Hayes as the mouthpiece of the trio while Hayes was in WCW. When Hayes returned to Texas…he began a feud with the “new” Freebirds.

Little Richard Marley

Little Richard Marley acted as a roadie/manager/valet to the Freebirds back in their WCW days. Marley was really WCW perennial jobber Rocky King who was repackaged in this new gimmick.

David Wolff

During the Freebirds extremely brief WWF run…they had David Wolff as their manager. Wolff was a real life manager of Cyndi Lauper and brought in along with Lauper during the WWF’s Rock N Wrestling era.

All in all, some of these choices if not all just didn’t compare to the original trio that wreaked havoc throughout professional wrestling from the late 1970’s to the 1980’s. As Michael Hayes eloquently stated in several promos…”Heaven don’t want us and Hell is afraid we’ll take over.”