BIO: Terry "Bamm-Bamm" Gordy

Real Name: Terry Ray Gordy

Hometown: Chattanooga, TN

Height/Weight: 6' 3"/297

Signature Moves: Oriental Spike, powerbomb, DDT, lariat and short-arm lariat

WCCW Titles Held: WCCW American Heavyweight Champion, WCCW Texas Brass Knuckles Champion, WCCW Six-Man Tag Team Champion (five times with Michael Hayes and Buddy Roberts, once with Roberts and Iceman King Parsons) and WCCW American Tag Team Champion (with Michael Hayes).

Need to Know Facts: Born on April 23, 1961, "Bam-Bam" was truly the "muscle" of one of professional wrestling's greatest tag teams.

Starting his career at the tender age of thirteen, Gordy debuted as a member of the Masked Scavengers tag team (with Eddie Griffin) in a 1974 telecast from the WRIP-TV studios in Rossville, Georgia.  He later worked as Terry Mecca for Angelo Poffo's ICW promotion, then in Mississippi where he held that state's heavyweight title in 1977-78.

Gordy first met "Lord" Michael Hayes (as he was then billed) after leaving Mississippi in 1978, and the pair teamed in matches throughout the South.  They ended up working for Nick Gulas in Memphis, where they first began to use Lynyrd Skynyrd's Southern rock anthem "Free Bird" as their entrance music.  Working for Jerry Jarrett in Memphis later in '78, Hayes and Gordy officially became The Fabulous Freebirds, but left for Georgia shortly afterward, where they added mat veteran Buddy Roberts, and were involved in a memorable feud with Ted DiBiase and Junkyard Dog.

However, as many wrestling fans know, the Freebirds catapulted to national stardom when they turned on the Von Erich clan in late 1982 shortly after their arrival in World Class, when Hayes and Gordy cost Kerry Von Erich a match against NWA World champion Ric Flair. The historic Freebirds-Von Erichs feud continued until the 'Birds left World Class in 1984 for brief stays in the WWF, AWA, Florida and the Central States territories.  They would return to WCCW for a few months beginning in late 1985.

Gordy would find solo success in Bill Watts' Universal Wrestling Federation, where he became the company's first world champion, beating Hacksaw Duggan in a May 1986 tournament in Houston. Gordy would forfeit the title to One Man Gang later that year following an auto accident.  After the UWF dissolved nearly 18 months later, Gordy again returned to World Class for a short time, then turned his attention to wrestling primarily in Giant Baba's All Japan Pro Wrestling, with former UWF arch-enemy Steve "Dr. Death" Williams as his frequent tag team partner. The pair was known collectively as The Miracle Violence Combination.

Terry Gordy was the first non-Japanese wrestler to win the All Japan Triple Crown, defeating Jumbo Tsuruta on June 5, 1990 in Chiba, Japan. Gordy would lose the titles three days later to Stan Hansen in Tokyo, but won them for a second time on July 17, 1990 from Hansen in Ishikawa, only to be stripped later that month when he was hospitalized following the first of two near-fatal drug overdoses.  He made a full recovery and continued to team with Williams in AJPW, and briefly in WCW during Bill Watts' tenure as president, where they unified the NWA and WCW Tag Team titles.

On August 18, 1993, while on a flight to Japan, Gordy took a massive overdose of Soma (a muscle relaxant) and could not be awakened after the plane landed.  He remained in a coma for nearly a week and,like Mike Von Erich following his bout with toxic shock syndrome, suffered brain damage which adversely affected his performances in the ring for the remainder of his life.

Gordy in his last few years would wrestle on occasion, including a short 1994 stint in the Global Wrestling Federation where he teamed with Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin as the Freebirds.  He appeared in the famed King of the Death Match tournament in Japan, losing to Cactus Jack.  In ECW, he feuded with Bam Bam Bigelow over the name "Bam Bam", and again teamed with Steve Williams for several matches.  His last major appearance was in WWE, where he teamed briefly with Mankind in 1996 as the masked Executioner.

Terry Gordy died on July 16, 2001, at the age of 40, from a blood clot in his heart. His son Ray has wrestled on the independent circuit since 2002, keeping the prestigious Gordy name alive in the professional wrestling industry.