When you look back at the tremendous success the World Class Championship Wrestling territory enjoyed in the mid-1980s, you have to point to the Von Erich family and how incredibly over they were. For people who didnt witness it firsthand, the brothers from Texas were bigger than rock stars in their home state, and well never again witness the kind of excitement those boys elicited from a wrestling crowd. But without The Freebirds, the Von Erichs wouldnt have been nearly as popular, for every hero needs a villain, and there were none better than the boys from Badstreet. Michael Hayes, Buddy Roberts and Terry Gordy were the quintessential rabble-rousing southern rednecks, fueled by whiskey and rebellion, and they made their bones traveling from one territory to the next getting heat on the top babyfaces in the area. In addition to their long-running war with Fritz Von Erichs sons, theyre also notorious for blinding the Junkyard Dog in Bill Watts Mid-South promotion, an angle that set that organization on fire and made JYD one of the top stars in the country. The heat on the Freebirds was so intense they needed police escorts in and out of the arenas, and fans routinely tried to assault them. An aborted run in WWE deprived us of a chance to see what the trio could accomplish on the national stage. Later, a watered down version of The Birds featuring Hayes and Jimmy Garvin would not enjoy nearly as much success, but when the three original members were in their prime there wasnt a babyface around who didnt relish to money to be made from working with them.
Brad Hamilton is a writer, musician and marketer/social media manager from Atlanta, Georgia. He's an undefeated freestyle rap battle champion, spends too little time being productive and defines himself as the literary version of Brock Lesnar.
