16. Terry Gordy Passes Away
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Date: July 16th, 2001 As a founding member of The Fabulous Freebirds, Terry "Bamm Bamm" Gordy got to be a part of some great moments and some legendary feuds, particularly a multiple-year blood feud with the Von Erich family that blazed its way throughout Texas and the southern United States. A tough, "old school" wrestler, Gordy rose through the ranks of the business, even as a singles wrestler, and would go on to win the Universal Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Title, but a lot of his biggest success came in Japan. As a part of the Miracle Violence Connection (one of the greatest tag team names of all-time) with "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, Gordy captured All Japan Pro Wrestling's World Tag Team Titles on five occasions (and two more times with Stan "The Lariat" Hansen), and also won All Japan's prestigious Triple Crown Heavyweight Title twice. In 1993, Gordy fell into a coma after overdosing on pain medication, and ended up suffering from permanent brain damage as a result. He was never quite the same in the ring, even though he had minor successes in Texas and in ECW (followed by a forgettable stint as The Executioner in the WWF). He would die of a heart attack in 2001, and his death became another in a long line of wrestlers passing away far too early. Before his coma, there were people who said he was either one of the best wrestlers in the world, or well on his way to becoming one of the best. It's a shame we'll never know what could have been.