10 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: Terry Gordy
VICE's deep dive into wrestling's grimmest personal stories hits hard with Terry Gordy.
Terry Gordy was a wonderful pro wrestler in his prime. He hit hard inside the ring, but partied even harder outside it, and that substance-soaked lifestyle would eventually catch up with him in the worst way. Now, fans get to see a unique side of Gordy's life and career they never knew existed thanks to VICE's latest doc.
This 'Dark Side Of The Ring' examines the no-frills explosiveness of Terry as a worker, but also lays bare his gentle side as a loving father and husband away from the matches. Addictions would cost him more time with those who loved him most, but the episode does a neat job of balancing Gordy's personal life with his professional one.
VICE deserve credit for that, and for picking the right talking heads; everyone from Terry's son Ray and his daughter Miranda to Mick Foley and Jim Cornette chip in with stories aplenty. Gordy's career took him from the regional territories of the 1970s and 80s to WCW, the WWF, ECW, Japan and almost everywhere else.
As usual, the producers managed to pack in a ton of content here. You'll learn about Terry's remarkable schoolboy lifestyle, his ill-fated run as The Executioner in the mid-90s, why one shoot interview angered his loved ones and more.
Here's everything gleaned from a dizzying look at this Fabulous Freebird.
10. Terry Skipped School To Wrestle
There's a fascinating scene early in the episode that has Terry's kids Miranda and Ray (both wrestlers) looking through some of their dad's old report cards from school. Gordy received a lot of 'F' grades, but not because he was an unruly wild child during classes. No, Terry would skip those classes to live out his wrestling dreams.
It's true.
Terry started working shows aged just 13/14, and school clashed with many of the dates he was booked for out on the road. So, rather than attempting to juggle education with wrestling, Gordy would favour the latter and go for headlocks over headmasters. He debuted as a wrestler back in 1974, and didn't look back.
Some of Terry's earliest matches were even televised, which is ridiculous to think about now. No 14 year old kid in 2024 would get away with skipping school to go wrestle on TV, put it that way. Things were different in the 70s though, so nobody back home saw Gordy's localised TV bouts elsewhere.