Already a wrestling star as a teenager, Terry Gordy's time with the renowned Fabulous Freebirds made him a living legend until an accidental overdose robbed him of everything.
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00:00You're looking at the nastiest, stevious individuals standing right here.
00:11Terry was a beast. He was a perfect goliath.
00:14A prodigy who broke into the business before he could drive.
00:17Just drove into the map.
00:20Terry Gordy's skill in the ring was matched only by his legendary toughness.
00:25Terry had the ability to make just about anybody look good as long as they were willing to pay the price.
00:32He was 300 pounds and when he picked you upside down and dropped you on your head, you were pretty much done.
00:38Gordy's career skyrocketed as part of the Fabulous Freebirds, a tag team trio that revolutionized the business with their in-ring theatrics and total commitment to their rock and roll lifestyle.
00:50Once the jack started flowing, the birds were ready to party with anyone or fight anyone.
00:56Do it to big boys now!
00:58They believe they are rock stars, so they act like rock stars.
01:03Gordy's no-holds-barred style would take him around the world, but also accelerate his self-destructive behavior.
01:11Terry was his own man. Terry did his own thing.
01:13The lifestyle that he led, he could have died a hundred different ways.
01:17You can go from being on top of the world and have it all taken from you in a moment.
01:24Until a flight on a routine trip to Japan would drastically alter his career and the man himself.
01:31Even though he came back, he didn't come back as a wrestler and he didn't come back as Terry.
01:36He was never the same. Never even remotely the same.
01:39You guys, first match, five minutes.
01:51My name gets me noticed.
01:53Like, oh, another second gen, Terry Gordy's daughter.
01:56Miranda Gordy!
02:02I am Miranda Gordy and Terry Bam Bam Gordy is my father.
02:06They expect me to be just as good as him, and that's just not the case.
02:15So that's caused a little bit of pressure on me that I have got to fill those boots.
02:20Gordy bonding in. What a close line.
02:24Those are some big shoes to fill.
02:28My name is Ray Gordy, and I am the son of Terry Bam Bam Gordy.
02:37People would remember me as one half of Jesse and Festus and Slam Master Jay.
02:45The reason I didn't use my father's name in WWE is simply because I didn't feel that I could live up to it.
02:54Terry Gordy is fixing the best move.
02:56He told me one time that once you learn how this business works, you'll never want to do anything else.
03:04Here's Gordy from the ropes!
03:06And that was his mindset.
03:07He never seen himself doing anything else.
03:11Terry Gordy!
03:16Born in Rossville, Georgia, Terry Gordy is barely a teenager when he gets his start in the wrestling business.
03:22I have some early stuff of my dad. That is a report card. It looks like a couple of F's.
03:29Those days he was absent, he was on the road.
03:33This picture, that is a very young Terry Gordy.
03:39Because of Terry's size and his eagerness, by the time he was 14 years old, he was wrestling on television.
03:48I'm Jim Cornette. I've been involved in a variety of ways in professional wrestling over the last 40-something years.
03:55I first met Terry. He was 16 years old. He was already a professional wrestler and had been for a couple of years at that point.
04:01You could use the word prodigy. You could use the word natural. Whatever it was, he had it.
04:09He's getting a couple of licks in.
04:10He was a prodigy, but that doesn't mean he didn't work hard and study the game.
04:16My name is Mick Foley. I am a three-time WWE champion, and I am sometimes known as the hardcore legend.
04:25What he lacked in traditional schooling, he picked up with an education on the road, second to none.
04:33This young lad here is going to, I think, become a superstar. He has all of the makings.
04:38When you started getting the full Terry Gordy, not only the physical aspect, but the verbal, he was an all-around performer.
04:44There was almost nobody that could touch him.
04:46Brother, get your sister. Get your daddy. Get them all around the TV.
04:51Because you thinks now I witnessed something.
04:53When Terry was in Mississippi, he met a guy named Michael Hayes.
04:58There it is, Michael Hayes.
04:59Michael was a natural talker. You hand Michael a microphone, and he could go on forever.
05:04When you want to talk to a lady, you say, hey, baby, why don't you put on some Teddy Pendergrass, close the door, let me do what I want to do, because all I want to do is what you want me to.
05:19His mama must have had a hard time with him.
05:21I am Jimmy Jam Garvin, and I am a member of the fabulous Freebirds WWE Hall of Famer, and it's still not my fault.
05:29It's not my fault!
05:30Michael and Terry, I mean, they were just both live wires.
05:33Terry would almost know what Michael's thinking, you know, before Michael even said it, and vice versa.
05:38They were just tight.
05:40You've got Michael Hayes, who would come out, and he would piss people off.
05:45There's always a big conflict.
05:47He would talk himself right into the corner.
05:50But then behind his back, you've got Terry Gordy.
05:54Here comes Gordy!
05:56As a team, they were just unmatched.
06:01They just were like soulmates as far as friends go.
06:06Michael was a big fan, as every Southerner was in those days in the 70s, of the band Leonard Skinner.
06:12Michael had the idea, what about if we call ourselves the Freebirds?
06:20Monday night in Memphis at the Mid-South Coliseum, I was a photographer at ringside, and all of a sudden, over the PA system, here comes Freebird.
06:30And then out comes Terry and Michael, these silver robes flowing everywhere, and they're doing a slow motion strut to match the beat of Freebird.
06:47There you hear the music in the panel of Freebirds, Terry Gordy and Michael Hayes.
06:54This was back in the day where if you went to an arena event, the bell rang and the wrestlers walked to the ring and they got introduced.
07:01There was no music.
07:04And I said, you know, I think this might catch on.
07:08The Freebirds soon join Mid-South Wrestling, where promoter Bill Watts pairs them up with Buddy Roberts, converting the tag team into a trio.
07:18You got the Freebirds attention, and that just might be your downfall.
07:23Buddy was the veteran, Michael was the promo, Terry was the physical enforcer.
07:27Watch that hand, bite the dust.
07:29And that three-man combination made one of the most legendary tag teams in the history of wrestling.
07:36Together, they were bigger than the sum of their parts.
07:40And I think it's important to point out that this was not a case of lightning striking once.
07:44They got over everywhere they went.
07:52The Fabulous Freebirds are winners of the vote.
07:57The Fabulous Freebirds got through with a victory.
08:00Welcome back to the wild and wonderful Freebirds.
08:03Then they had the natural three-on-three rivalry with the Von Erich boys in Dallas.
08:14Deep in the heart of Texas, world-class championship wrestling is dominated by the three eldest sons of promoter Fritz Von Erich, David, Kerry, and Kevin.
08:25The Von Erich boys were already popular, but the Von Erich boys had never been tested.
08:31We wanted badasses, and that's who the Freebirds were.
08:35Backbreaker across the knee of Michael Hayes.
08:39I'm Kevin Von Erich, and for years I've battled the Freebirds.
08:43They were legitimate rough guys, you know, and they didn't have any apologies for anybody.
08:49Oh, that fella hit the deck.
08:51But we had a common goal.
08:53We wanted to put the best wrestling match we could in that ring, and so it was just a marriage made in heaven.
09:00Here comes Kevin!
09:03Wrestling in the mid-80s in Dallas was the top of the game.
09:07We were selling out every venue, everywhere, every night.
09:11But the magic really hit when the Freebirds came.
09:14I'm talking about them Von Erichs.
09:16They don't stick their nose in the Freebirds business.
09:20My name's David Manning.
09:21I was the promoter, booker, and referee for world-class championship wrestling.
09:25The Von Erichs were like the good cowboy.
09:28And here was three guys that were obnoxious, rude to the fans.
09:33Well, let me tell you something, Texas.
09:36There ain't no place that I would rather be than in Georgia right now.
09:41Kevin referred to them as filth.
09:43Michael Hayes is bringing the flag.
09:45Terry and Michael come to the ring.
09:47They've got Dixie flying, and they're talking about Texas, and it just burned me up.
09:53And so I grabbed the mic, and I said, you got everybody in the world thinking this is a war between Texas and Georgia, and this is not.
09:58This is a war between decency and filth.
10:01There was so much love for the Von Erichs, but there was total hate for Michael, Terry, and Buddy.
10:09They could get a ton of heat because of the way they acted.
10:12The things they said, the things they did.
10:15What about your friend right here for him?
10:17What you think about it?
10:18I didn't want my dad to get beat up, but I was still a fan of the Von Erichs.
10:24And it looks like a barroom brawl.
10:26Who didn't love the Von Erichs?
10:29Some of the guys who didn't like the Von Erichs because their girlfriends liked them, they're saying, well, look at these shit-kicking, Jack Daniels-drinking, flag-waving, southern assholes.
10:41So they started getting in the Freebird camp.
10:46I think the Freebirds were the original Cool Heels.
10:50Far more often, they were the cooler of the two teams in the ring.
10:54For the next two and a half years in every city in Texas, it was the Freebirds against the Von Erichs.
11:02I'm going to kill him!
11:04Get him out!
11:07I want Terry Gordian.
11:08I don't want to just beat him.
11:10I want to hurt him.
11:11They'll take Terry across the ring.
11:12They main-evented in Texas Stadium, for God's sake.
11:17It was the most magic, three-on-three combination.
11:20Perfect time, perfect place, perfect setup, perfect participants.
11:24And they drew nothing but money for two years.
11:29What we had created in the ring was phenomenal.
11:32Anybody would want that.
11:33But then when you got out of the ring, you had all the other problems, though, that came with the Byrds.
11:37They were trouble looking for trouble.
11:40You know, they just raised hell.
11:44They'd drink all night, and then they'd get in the ring, and they'd sweat all them booze out.
11:51They always told me that the best cure for a hangover was wrestling.
11:56Yeah.
11:57Terry's temperament was, like, so even until we drank.
12:03My parents were at a bar, and a man was hitting on my mom.
12:07My dad became very enraged, and there was a bar fight.
12:13The cops went to restrain my dad to calm him down, which I think did the opposite.
12:21He beat up a cop car with his hands huffed behind his back.
12:32It was like you had taken a hammer about this big around and hit the hood of the car and knocked dents in it where he had headbutted it.
12:41He was kind of a big old spoiled kid.
12:45You know, that's Terry.
12:45He did stuff like that.
12:47Terry Gordy was not going to back up from anybody, nor was there anybody walking that was really going to make him back up.
12:54Do you think there was a point where, like, it got a little bit out of control as far as, like, the partying, or that's just the way it was in the 80s and early 90s?
13:01I mean, if you look back at it today, from today's perspective, it got out of control at the very beginning.
13:08You know, having people throw different things at you, like, here, take a shot.
13:12Y'all are awesome.
13:13Or, here, you know, take this for your pain so you can sleep.
13:16Or, here, take this so you can stay up and drive eight hours to the next show.
13:21I don't know exactly when the evolution happened from smoking marijuana, drinking booze, to more of a pill problem.
13:34Despite their wild reputation, in 1984, Terry Gordy and the Fabulous Freebirds catch the attention of Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation.
13:51Was it a week?
13:52Did that last a week?
13:54They were in the meeting with Vince, hungover, still partially inebriated.
14:01Terry fell asleep.
14:02And that didn't get over with Vince too good.
14:09That was the only time that the Freebirds ever worked for the WWF.
14:15After wrestling a handful of matches, the Freebirds flame out at the WWF.
14:20But Terry has a chance to take his career in a new direction.
14:24That is my dad and Bruiser Brody.
14:29It's in Japan.
14:29My dad got the opportunity to go work in Japan.
14:34The Japanese wrestling is very different from what it is over here.
14:40When you get the Freebirds and more glitz and glamour, they see that and they're really not interested.
14:47They were more interested in Terry Gordy by himself.
14:50The monster American, the Abdullah the Butchers, or the Bruiser Brodies, or the Stan Hansons, or Terry Gordy.
15:02These giant guys that were just crazy and beat up everybody in their path, they became the darlings of the Japanese wrestling fan.
15:10And that's the kind of atmosphere that Terry could flourish in.
15:16He loved the hard, physical style associated with Japan.
15:23And that's why he became one of the biggest and best stars to ever cross the ocean and work there.
15:32It takes a big toll physically, with the injuries.
15:41Putting your body through that, every bump is like a mild car wreck.
15:46I knew that he was having knee problems.
15:49One of my big concerns was my dad wasn't going to blow out his knees.
15:54He tore both of his ACLs.
16:00He was going to Japan six months a year, working as a main event star over there at a high level, with no ACL in either knee.
16:08He had to have double knee surgery.
16:10But the doctor told him he had to take the weight off.
16:14So he contacted Richard Simmons.
16:17Yeah!
16:17This huge 6'5 man just, you know, jazzercise with whatever Richard Simmons did.
16:26Come on, Terry, you got this.
16:29Terry was like 300, 320, and then he pared down to like maybe 265, something like that.
16:36And then you see the more athletic, built-up, Harry Gordy.
16:39You can absolutely blame that on Richard Simmons.
16:42Now, leaner and more powerful, and working in a physical style that plays to his strengths, Terry's performance in the ring reaches new heights.
16:53Terry Gordy versus Misawa.
16:54Oh.
16:55June 1st, 1991.
16:57Yeah.
16:57In my opinion, that's one of the top five matches of all time.
17:01The Japanese crowd, traditionally, they will oog and aah.
17:06This match, they tore the house now.
17:12Terry Gordy was a master of his craft.
17:18People look at him, and they see this big monster doing all these power moves.
17:22But if you really watch, you'll see the little things that he done in the ring that people just don't do.
17:31Even down to the chin lock in this match, he's actually using his fingers to try to pry fingers away.
17:38And this is a work, but that little bit just adds so much more.
17:46Terry was a guy who made everything he did mean something.
17:50And when he threw a punch, brother, it was a thing of beauty.
17:53It was so animated.
17:55It connected.
17:56It looked great.
17:58He was just simply one of the best.
18:00He was the first American ever to win the Triple Crown Championship.
18:04He was the top guy in Japan at that time.
18:09It's great to be alive, and it's great to be number one in Japan.
18:14In Japan, Terry starts working with Dr. Death's Steve Williams in a tag team known for their brutality, the Miracle Violence Connection.
18:22If the aliens landed tomorrow, and you had to pick two human beings to represent Earth in a fight to the death,
18:34pick Terry Gordy and Dr. Death's Steve Williams.
18:39Look at the strength of Dr. Death.
18:41They brought that Japanese style over to the U.S.
18:44In my opinion, they may be the best tag team in the world today.
18:51They're not resting up in between Japanese tours.
18:54They're taking on these very physical matches on a very regular basis.
19:00Terry and Doc did a lot of tours together.
19:03So to keep the Free Bird thing going, they needed to replace Terry when he was gone.
19:08And that's what I did.
19:09We're not following no rules that we don't want to follow.
19:12Terry, when he wasn't in Japan, he would join us.
19:15That's a very heavy schedule.
19:17I honestly believe that it was too much.
19:21I mean, really, it was just part of life.
19:23Like, he would just be gone for a long time, and it was like a treat almost when he would be home.
19:31Miranda, smile.
19:33Life at one point was really good.
19:35We did normal family things.
19:38He took us skating.
19:40He taught me how to fish and ride a bike.
19:42All the dad stuff.
19:43He did that for us when he could.
19:45But it just wasn't a lot, unfortunately.
19:49Yeah, he hated to be separated from his family, man.
19:52My name is Richard A. Slinger.
19:54I went under the ring name of Richard Slinger in Japan.
19:58Trained and lived over there.
20:00I'm the nephew of Terry Gordy.
20:01He would talk to me about being over there in Japan.
20:05He said I would go into a state of deep, dark, miserable depression.
20:11I know it wore on him.
20:12He looked tired.
20:13I know he missed being home, and he missed his own mom, and he missed his kids, and he missed his wife.
20:22Being on the road 360 days a year, that wears on you.
20:27You live in hotels, airplanes, rental cars.
20:34It's just constant go.
20:36Your mind never really has time to reset, to relax, to say, okay, where am I at in this life?
20:43A lot of times in those days, especially the well-seasoned travelers to Japan, they would take whatever pills that they took so they could sleep, and when they woke up, they'd be in Japan.
20:58The drugs can be seen as a necessary evil when you're going from time zone to time zone, when you're expected to be at your best on a nightly basis, when you feel far from your best, when you're worn down.
21:12And it is a very short step from use as needed to use as liked.
21:22While on a tour with Steve Williams, Terry suffers his first serious overdose.
21:29First time, he dropped on me, accumulated too many pills.
21:35It was halcyon.
21:36We went out that night, and just dropped it, and I didn't see PR.
21:40The ambulance took him.
21:42He was in the hospital.
21:43He didn't remember what happened.
21:45When they brought me in, I had to refresh his mind, tell him what he'd done, and this and that.
21:50I tried to straighten him up from there.
21:53But take away he had a problem with drugs.
21:56There's going to be a time where your body tells you, where your mind tells you, that you need to stop.
22:02And I really believe that during that time, my dad was at that point.
22:09It's a tough business.
22:11You know, it's a heartless business.
22:15Set to return to Japan, Terry boards a flight that will change his life forever.
22:21Terry's accumulated so many pills that I'm having to push him with a wheelchair.
22:28He's out, you know, he's out, so 30 minutes before a plane lands.
22:35I look at him, and he's dying on me.
22:43Before a flight to Japan, Terry Gordy consumes an excessive amount of muscle relaxers.
22:49Dr. Death's Steve Williams notices Terry has stopped breathing.
22:52He's dying on me.
22:55I mean, he's turned blue, and he's sucking barely any air, like he was about to swallow his tongue.
23:03I used to be able to knock him back loose until I slapped him a couple times in the face.
23:08It would kick him out of it, you know?
23:10Just like if you put somebody in sleep, you hit him in the back, and he'll knock him back out of it.
23:14Well, I did it, and he wouldn't come back alive.
23:20So right then I knew he was dying.
23:22And the stewardess got up, man, and they were all freaking out.
23:28And I was giving him CPR to keep him alive, to keep that heart going.
23:34As soon as we landed, the ambulance was right there.
23:37I had to get him off the plane, get him in the ambulance, and get him to the hospital.
23:44They just started emergency procedures.
23:47What little bit of Japanese I spoke and what little bit of English they spoke, we were able
23:51to communicate about Terry's condition.
23:54Biggest fear that I might be losing my uncle, Terry, you know, in there.
24:00He was in a coma for a couple days.
24:05I remember being right there by him pretty much the whole time, camping out beside his bed.
24:10When he woke up, he started calling my name, Richard, Richard.
24:15I'm like, yeah, I'm here.
24:17I'm here, I'm here.
24:20Eventually, he was able to be maneuvered between me and the nurse into a wheelchair to go to the shower.
24:26You know, maybe a little bit of cold water, and he might show that he still has the feeling, and he did.
24:40His face grimaced a little bit whenever I sprayed him with cold water.
24:44I was like, you know, we might have some luck here of getting him back to normal.
24:49They called my stepmother, and she flew over to be with him.
24:53And she got him home, and my mother was there to greet him, and she said that was a heartbreaker
25:01to see him coming off the airplane in a wheelchair.
25:06He couldn't really carry on that much of a conversation.
25:11He was very quiet.
25:15There was an obvious difference.
25:18He had lost a lot of his motor skills.
25:25He was very slow to react.
25:30He had to relearn a lot of things.
25:32He had some permanent physical and mental damage from that.
25:40He wasn't the same person anymore.
25:42Whatever happened, oxygen to the brain, he was unconscious too long, whatever all that medical hoo-hai is,
25:50it erased something in his brain.
25:53There's this local promoter.
25:55He was kind enough to give us the key, and we were training within a couple of weeks of me coming back from that tour.
26:02There was progress, and we were all hoping that he would just miraculously kick out at some point,
26:25and they would all come back to him, and he would be Terry Gordy again.
26:31During the last year of Smoky Mountain Wrestling, we heard that he had started wrestling little independent shows,
26:37and I said, if Terry is anywhere back and anywhere near what he needs to be,
26:44my God, if we could get him up here, that'd be great.
26:46So I made the arrangements to have him come in.
26:49I have added another member to Cornette's Militia!
26:55Terry Gordy.
26:56Everybody in the locker room in Smoky Mountain had known him for years and liked him and was wanting to help,
27:02but he couldn't do a promo anymore.
27:06And I'm coming to show you, boy, that I'm going to take that title, and I'm going to take it,
27:12and there ain't nothing you or your old lady can do about it.
27:15And we kept thinking, it'll come back to him, or he's taking steps.
27:21But he'd just walk up to you, and he'd just stand there.
27:24Then you'd look, oh, oh, Terry, do you need something?
27:27Yeah, uh, Jim, I was just wondering if you'd like me to do the powerbomb.
27:35Yes, Terry, if you'd like to, please.
27:38And there is Gordy, sets him up for that powerbomb!
27:41Because he had been such a great wrestler, and he could still do these moves.
27:48And it was the same frame.
27:51But there wasn't any life in it.
27:55It was going through the motions, but the face, the expression, the intent,
28:01everything that makes you a personality, it just was gone.
28:07Because he wasn't there anymore.
28:10That was gone.
28:12Despite a challenging rehabilitation, Terry stages a comeback,
28:16culminating in a legendary match against Cactus Jack,
28:19at IWA's now infamous King of the Deathmatch tournament.
28:23You've become the King of the Deathmatch by kicking out of all the moves!
28:28Terry and I are going to face in the first round of what was known at the time
28:33as the Kawasaki Dream Match tournament.
28:36It's gone down in lore as being the King of the Deathmatch tournament.
28:39Three, two, one!
28:44One of the holes in his game since the accident on the plane
28:48was the punches were no longer there.
28:51And out of concern for his reputation, I said,
28:54Terry, I said, you're a legend here.
28:56I said, you've got to really bring those punches.
29:00To his credit, I didn't have to tell him that more than once.
29:06I've read letters that said Terry Gordy was the King of the Deathmatch.
29:10And all that happened after the accident.
29:14So I can only imagine full Terry Gordy.
29:17Having a Deathmatch.
29:21We did pretty good.
29:24And it resulted in what may have been
29:27the greatest post-match interview of Terry's career.
29:31Shit.
29:33I felt like maybe we pushed the hands of time back just a little bit.
29:45But it was not meant to be.
29:47Despite an impressive performance at King of the Deathmatch,
29:56it's clear that Terry Gordy's overdose has changed him.
30:00I think that he continued to wrestle after the accident
30:05is because that's all he knew.
30:07That's all he ever did.
30:09He wasn't a cashier for a grocery store
30:12and then started wrestling like he wrestled.
30:15There were a lot of people rooting for my dad.
30:18Terry Bam Bam Gordy, who has been pronounced critically dead twice,
30:23is making a comeback.
30:26He could work through a match.
30:28It just wasn't the same.
30:30I'm sure that was the hope that maybe if they just kept at it
30:35that he would eventually come to it.
30:38But it just, it was never there.
30:42You can see it even in pictures.
30:44In his eyes, he was full of life.
30:46And then you look at pictures after the coma
30:49and he looks like a deer in headlights.
30:51Terry Gordy, probably one of the greatest tag team wrestlers of all time
30:55and, of course, a legendary heel
30:56and a member of the fabulous Freebird group.
30:58Probably the greatest heel trio in the business.
31:00In 1998, Terry agrees to film an interview out of character.
31:05And for the first time, fans at home are able to see for themselves
31:09the change in his cognitive capabilities.
31:12I've seen parts of the shoot interview.
31:16The emotions when I first saw that.
31:18I was enraged.
31:22A little embarrassed.
31:24Do you have any good road stories?
31:27Yeah, man, there's much in there.
31:29What are some of that stick out in your mind?
31:39Seeing your dad like that,
31:41he couldn't remember a lot of stuff from the past.
31:44The coma took a lot of his memories away.
31:46But in that, they're just hounding him for all these questions
31:49and as his daughter, you just want them to leave him alone.
31:54Now, why was your stay so short in WCW?
31:56Was it Japan?
31:59You wanted to go back to Japan, maybe?
32:01Oh, yeah.
32:01Yeah, I think so.
32:06As Terry attempts to get back into the spotlight,
32:10his longtime friend, Freebird Michael Hayes,
32:13convinces the WWF to add Terry to their roster.
32:16Vince put him under a hood as the executioner.
32:22Of course, when I was a kid, I'm like,
32:24oh, why would they do that?
32:26And really, it was to protect him, and I'm glad they did.
32:29It was a good respect move on the part of WWE.
32:33They didn't want to destroy Terry Gordy
32:39by putting him on TV as Terry Gordy
32:44and him not being Terry Gordy.
32:47Michael Hayes was able to get him in
32:50with Terry as a menacing, foreboding executioner.
32:54With me and Paul Bearer,
32:56we became kind of like a faction.
32:58As soon as mankind is buried alive,
33:02the Undertaker,
33:03his hand will be raised by the official.
33:06Then the executioner came,
33:08friend in need, a friend in deed.
33:10Oh, man!
33:14Part of what made Terry's character so intriguing
33:17is that he was like a man-child.
33:20He breaks in at age 14 years old.
33:23He is a child among men,
33:26but at the same time, he's a man among men.
33:29When he gets to WWE,
33:30there's still the ways of a child,
33:34and that's not the way to succeed
33:36in a main event with the Undertaker.
33:38Off the rope, scoops him up.
33:40What's he going to do with him?
33:41Slams him down.
33:42It was pretty sad, man.
33:43Pretty sad to watch.
33:46My Uncle Terry,
33:47he was once at his prime,
33:49and from doing that to, you know,
33:52not hitting on all cylinders,
33:54you know, it was pretty sad.
33:57And I'm sure all the people
33:58that looked up to him
33:59and that he helped along the way
34:00in his career were just,
34:03I don't know how else to describe it,
34:04but heartbreaking,
34:05just looking at someone
34:06that is like a superhero to you
34:10and just seeing,
34:11I don't want to say helpless,
34:12but he wasn't the same person.
34:16An Undertaker had to say,
34:18it won't work.
34:20And the Executioner has been executed.
34:24Everybody loved him,
34:25but, you know,
34:26he wasn't there anymore.
34:28It's also a bit sad
34:30to overhear a conversation
34:33he had with a woman
34:34on an airplane
34:35where she goes to take some medication,
34:38and he goes,
34:40got any extraes?
34:43She gave him a couple pills.
34:45So he was at a point
34:46where he was taking anything,
34:49regardless of whether
34:50he knew what it was.
34:54We would be worried
34:55because he would go
34:56from being completely coherent
34:58to obviously under the influence
35:00of something seemingly within minutes.
35:03And so he had reached
35:07a pretty dangerous point.
35:12It's hard for me to say
35:14because I looked up to him,
35:17and I will always appreciate
35:18the kindness he showed me
35:20when he was on top of the world
35:22and I was breaking in.
35:25But, you know,
35:26we've got to be adults
35:27out there on the road.
35:30We look out for each other,
35:31but you also have to look out
35:32for yourself.
35:34We would have to,
35:36on a few occasions,
35:37try to track him down
35:39when he was not
35:40in his hotel room.
35:41I think it was about
35:42the third time
35:43that Paul Bearer and I
35:44were searching the roads
35:47and making drives
35:49and calling his name.
35:51We realized that this
35:53was not going to be
35:54a long-term team.
36:03When Terry's short-lived stint
36:06in the WWF comes to an end,
36:08he finds himself back
36:09on the indie circuit.
36:11It's hard to grasp as a kid
36:14what that was to see the downfall
36:16of him being on top
36:18to doing little independent shows
36:21around Tennessee and Georgia.
36:23I was at those indie shows.
36:25As a kid, it was fun.
36:28But looking back at that,
36:31it's really sad.
36:34I think the last time I saw Terry
36:36was at an independent wrestling show.
36:40During intermission,
36:41Terry's daughter was taking Polaroids
36:43of Terry and the fans in the ring.
36:45And there were only about two people
36:49who made that trip into the ring.
36:52Seeing literal minutes go by
36:55with no one on that line,
36:57no one getting into the ring,
36:59just struck me as being
37:00extraordinarily sad.
37:02And I'm over in a different part
37:03of the building at a table
37:05and I'm signing autographs
37:06feeling guilty,
37:07saying they should be on that line.
37:10That's the line they should be.
37:12There's the real superstar.
37:15There was part of me
37:16that wanted to get out there
37:18in the ring,
37:18grab that microphone
37:19and start yelling at people,
37:23trying to knock some sense into them.
37:25Don't you understand?
37:26This is a legend.
37:28He's here in your midst
37:29and you can see him.
37:30You can get a photo taken with him.
37:33And times had changed.
37:38As his wrestling career winds down,
37:42Terry redirects his focus
37:43and embraces what matters to him most.
37:48During this time,
37:50he was home.
37:53I got to see my dad
37:55more than I had ever seen him
37:59in my entire life.
38:02I look back on that
38:04and as rough of a time
38:07as that was for him
38:10and our family,
38:13it was the time of my life
38:15where I got to know my dad
38:18and become really great friends with him.
38:23We would see each other
38:25every single weekend.
38:27I'd go pick him up.
38:28I'd take him to the gym.
38:30We'd work out.
38:31I'd take him home.
38:34It was probably the best years of my life
38:37getting to hang out with my dad
38:39and really getting to talk to him
38:41and getting to know the person
38:43that he really was.
38:44I'm really thankful for that time
38:48that he wasn't on the road,
38:50that he was at home
38:51because, yeah,
38:53we became best friends.
38:55We really did.
38:57Do you have anything
38:58you want to say to your fans out there
38:59that are watching this video?
39:00I'm just, yeah,
39:02I'm really, really sorry,
39:04you know,
39:04that, uh,
39:07I don't know.
39:12Sorry about...
39:13Sorry about going to Japan,
39:15you know,
39:16and the whole dad and stuff,
39:18you know.
39:19He was actually doing a show
39:21and he asked me
39:24to go do the show with him.
39:28And, uh,
39:29we were actually going to tag
39:30that night.
39:34And I couldn't go.
39:38Next day,
39:39I get a call from my cousin, Richard.
39:41And his exact words were,
39:47Ray,
39:48get down on your knees
39:50and start praying
39:51because your dad
39:53is on this mountain
39:54and he stopped breathing.
40:08After wrestling an indie match,
40:10the previous night,
40:11Terry is found unresponsive
40:13at his home
40:14in Saudi-Daisy, Tennessee.
40:16I got in a car
40:17as soon as I could
40:18and traveled
40:18to his home.
40:21I was there
40:22before emergency services.
40:24It's one of the boys
40:25that stayed with Terry
40:26the night before.
40:27He was doing the CPR
40:28and while he was doing
40:29chest compressions,
40:30I was,
40:30I still hate
40:32knowing this,
40:34but Terry was already gone
40:35and I was trying
40:36to bring him back
40:37by, you know,
40:37slapping him in the face
40:38because I remember Doc
40:40telling me
40:41that's what he did
40:42to bring him back
40:42and I thought,
40:43you know,
40:43maybe this is one last
40:44thing I can resort to
40:46to, you know,
40:48bring Terry back.
40:50There was a police officer
40:52standing in front
40:53of the door,
40:54guarding the door
40:56and wouldn't let anybody in.
40:58I put my hands
40:58on the police officer
40:59and told him
41:00he was going to let me
41:00in that door
41:01and that's when
41:02Richard grabbed me
41:03and told me
41:04that he was gone.
41:06My mom knew
41:07that there was
41:08an emergency
41:08and they said
41:09to get to my granny's
41:10quickly
41:12and I just
41:13hear my mom
41:14scream,
41:15no.
41:17She had to tell us
41:18that he had passed.
41:21On July 16, 2001,
41:24Terry Gordy dies
41:25of congestive heart failure
41:27caused by a blood clot.
41:29He is only 40 years old.
41:34Of all the stuff
41:36that my dad did
41:37and the lifestyle
41:39that he led
41:41and all the partying
41:42that he did,
41:44it's amazing
41:45that it wasn't
41:47an OD.
41:48It wasn't
41:48anything like that.
41:51Maybe his legacy is
41:52you can't push yourself
41:53too hard.
41:54You can't take shit
41:55you're not supposed to take.
41:56You can't do shit
41:57you're not supposed to do.
41:58over and over
41:59on a regular basis.
42:01Whoa, that's cold.
42:03If you sat Terry down
42:04if he was here right now
42:06and said,
42:06hey Terry,
42:07you think maybe
42:08if we tell this story
42:09it'll make some
42:10of the other guys
42:10stay away from it?
42:12He probably would say,
42:13yeah, go ahead
42:13and tell it.
42:14He wouldn't be worried
42:15about whether he looked
42:16good or not,
42:16but if he could help
42:17somebody else.
42:20You know,
42:20it's just such a tragedy.
42:23I mean,
42:23the wrestling lost
42:24not only one
42:25of the best workers
42:26ever,
42:27but he was a good guy.
42:30Why did Terry Gordy
42:31touch so many
42:32people's lives?
42:33Well,
42:33with the wrestling fans
42:34it was easy
42:35because he was great.
42:36He was great
42:36at what he did.
42:37He was exciting
42:38to watch.
42:40If you like wrestling,
42:41he did it better
42:42than almost anybody
42:42else in it.
42:43I'm not claiming
42:44to be the best wrestler
42:47in the world,
42:48but you know something,
42:49world champion
42:50this right here
42:52does,
42:52but...
42:53Terry Gordy
42:56is a surprise.
42:58He will never be forgotten.
43:00He contributed so much
43:01to this business,
43:03more than people realize.
43:06Gordy putting on
43:07a clinic here.
43:07What I've gotten
43:15most out of wrestling
43:16is how much people
43:19just really loved my dad.
43:20So if I walk away
43:22with just that,
43:23it's been a very
43:24healing experience.
43:26But his influence
43:27can be seen
43:28almost every week
43:29on television.
43:31Whether it's
43:32the hyper-realistic
43:34but theatrically
43:35enjoyable punches
43:37he threw
43:37or somebody
43:39winding up
43:40a clothesline
43:41before throwing
43:42it hard.
43:43Anytime you see
43:45any variation
43:46of a powerbomb,
43:47that's Terry Gordy.
43:50Don't it feel good
43:51sitting up here?
43:52I mean,
43:52up at top,
43:54looking down
43:55at everything.
43:55Don't it feel good?