10 Great Wrestlers Whose Careers Were Cut Short

The Fabulous Freebirds' designated brawler was one of the best in the business throughout the '80s. Stiff and convincingly brutal between the ropes, Terry 'Bam Bam' Gordy was a heat magnet in the United States thanks to Michael Hayes' wild Freebird promos and a big hoss in Japan thanks to his merciless offence.

Impressed with his hard-hitting style, All Japan head booker Giant Baba put his coveted Triple Crown on Gordy twice, establishing him as a foreign monster star akin to Stan Hansen and Bruiser Brody. Sadly, Gordy was deeply entrenched in drug and alcohol abuse throughout this time. The combination ultimately lead to a brain damaging overdose in 1993.

The then-32 year old Gordy was never the same. Several attempts at a wrestling comeback ended poorly for the big man with both his work rate and professionalism now at an all time low. Having no-showed for multiple promotions, his reputation fell apart and he quickly found it hard to land work. Beyond a brief run as The Executioner in WWE, Gordy's career was completely over by 1999.

For a star poised to be one of the biggest of the '90s, Terry Gordy's fall from grace is nothing short of shocking. A victim of way too much hard-living, Gordy passed away in 2001at just 40 years old.