Freebirds vs Von Erich & Brody

[TamaraBaileyjs418]

naa kommt jemand aus berlin

[BuckeyeJAG]

I loved the freebirds and loathed the von erichs.I even had the song badstreet usa on 45 (remember those?)

[litehouse6]

I grew up watching the great Mid-Atlantic territory then in my teens discovered GCW and World Class. All three were 1000% better than McMahon's WWE garbage.

[Darkyodajedi]

Watching this reminds me of a time when we bought wrasslin and loved every minute of it, believed in the wrestlers and loved/hated them to our hearts content, now it's just "Sports entertainment" and poorly acted scripted lines with people who know more about backstage politics than real wrestling/promos...

[JWade29]

When you talk about great feuds in wrestling history, the Freebirds and the Von Erichs has to be in the top 5

[Mr1979longhorn]

The sportatorium has been torn down and the place is now a beer store

[janborrowitz]

Brody would be great babyface in WWF ,-)

[STEELBEAST72]

AWESOME STUFF

[steeler05]

dam wrestling was so golden back in these days. I lived in the midsouthern area and looked foward to reading about this in magazines.

[mrbluto3]

The strange was Brody was the the best all around wrestler of the four. Kerry and Gordy weren't very good on the Mic, Hayes was great on the Mic but was a very average wrestler. Brody was great on the mic and was a good smart wrestler.

[mamacornettesmoney]

@mrbluto3 Gordy was pretty good on the mic, IMO. Not in the class of Brody or Hayes, but good. Kerry .. not so much, but he still had charm so he pulled it off most of the time, though sometimes he seemed lost and would give incohernet or babbling interviews.

[gldtng0867]

World Class had some of the best matches the world has ever seen. These men earned the right to be called SUPER-STARS. Those sissies in the wwe would never have gotten any recognition as having any talent. John Cena???GIVE me a fucking break! The wwe really should be on the cartoon network.

[kylemathewson17]

now this is good wrestling not the shit now with john cena, wrestling is dead now

[janborrowitz]

Kerry died too young and the others too

[theaznlvr]

@janborrowitz

ummm they ndidnt die they killed them selves theres a difference

[Classicgamesfan89]

@theaznlvr I bet janborrowitz doesn't speak much English

[theaznlvr]

@janborrowitz all the boys killed themselves theres a diffence

now the daughter is wrestling hope she doesnt do the same as here brothers

[tanaysinha1]

the wrestlers were the best ever

[mamacornettesmoney]

Every time I watch these World Class matches I can't help but think how far too many of them are dead: David, Kerry, Mike, Brody, Gino, Adams, Gordy, Rude, Super D/Scott Irwin, Buzz Sawyer, Missing Link, RPM Mike Davis, Gary Hart, Hercules, and I'm sure I'm forgetting someone.

[mamacornettesmoney]

Angel of Death, Jeep Swenson and Superfly (Ray Candy) are 3 more that come to mind.

[miamiderek1]

I didn't catch where Fritz says that to Kevin, but I can believe it. He does break down in the video a little, so I don't think he's totally heartless. The first 2 deaths had nothing to do with Fritz's treatment. I remember growing up in Okla in the mid 80's, I just hated the Von Erichs! I almost barfed when Mike weakly hit Gordy and he went flying, being the great salesman he was. But now it's just depressing. Feel bad for Kevin....

[miamiderek1]

Gordy, Brody and Hayes are in my top 10 or so favorite performers of all time. I'll always believe Terry Gordy was the most underrated wrestler ever. Also: Was there a worse father than Fritz Von Erich? 3 of his sons committed suicide. Neither Mike nor Chris wanted to wrestle at all, seeing as how Mike was so small framed and Chris stood about 5'5 fully grown. But Dad forced them into the family biz..they hated enough to end their own lives.

[Realdeal232005]

He was Hell on those boys! go check out my favorites. Yyou're woong Chris wanted to wrestle more than any of the brothers and he was born with sevier asthma that stunned his growth! Chris was depressed over Mike's suicide that he put a 9mm to his head and blew his brains out. Mike never wanted to enter the business. Fritz one time pulled a gun on Kevin and said "You'd killed yourself if you had the guts your brothers had." I'll email it you

[Mistertbones]

RIP Brody, Von Erich, and Gordy.

[aj31313]

Gordy and Brody could be brothers lol

[wrestlingfan1205]

Does anyone know how Terry Gordy died? I remember reading it somewhere but I forgot.

[luv4piggy]

wrestlingfan1205,

this is from wikipedia.

Gordy died of a heart attack on July 16, 2001 due to a blood clot.

His son Ray wrestles for WWE on its SmackDown! brand as Jesse.

[vicarofvice]

I was always a von erich fan those saturday nights staying up late with my little brother promising mom that if we could watch wrestling we would go to church the next day and not bitch about it...priceless

[luv4piggy]

vicarofvice,

that was my family too.

maybe, it was not.

we go to sunday school, then skipped the big service at 11.

we rushed straight home from sunday school to watch World Class at 11 on channel 39 in Fort Worth.

Those was the days!

[DixieDevil]

Same here vicarofvice. Me and my brother were always up late watching wrestling on Saturday nights and up early the next morning for Church. Those were the good ol' days!

[johndoe590]

what I like about this is whether they won or lost or disquaifaction. they stayed in there and kicked ass.

[brando2013]

This is the wrestling I was brought up on. Damn I miss those days. As a kid I was a Freebird fan all the way, I hated the Von Erichs. But when I got older and realized what pro wrestling is, then I liked both sides. They were all awesome.

[johndoe590]

I agree with you totally othere than it was the von erichs I liked and disliked the freebirds. and like when I grew up I liked both sides

[StarshipTrooper32]

I miss Texas Wrestling..... those were the days before the WWF/WWE!

[BobLarrabee]

Wow, Hayes is the only one of the four still alive.

[cujo1975]

i remember this stuff back in the day wen parts unkown was still a country

[bearzfan61]

loved the bruisers fur boots!!

[raylucca316]

they were almost as fury as hayes chest.

[johnnykov]

just 20 years later, 3 of the 4 are dead now, and have been for about 10 years. Michael P.S. Hayes only one still alive

[McRat1968]

Buddy Roberts is still alive at 62.

He had throat cancer but beat it.

[funnyxxgirl]

I meant 3 of these 4 wrestlers...Kerry, Brody, and Gordy are all dead

[WrestleTubeArjay]

This is awesome stuff.

[dreamer1215]

WOW! WCCW - this was little secret back in the day!  I used to watch every week it came on - back when wrestling wasn't cool - and definitely NOT for a girl!

The Von Erich's had quite a tragic time - isn't it like only 1 son out of 5 are still alive?

[adrian24]

used to watch this stuff on ESPN after school.

[McRat1968]

Yup. Only Kevin is left. :(

[DastardlyMatt]

Wow... listen to the pop that Brody got when he entered the ring.

[choosesarah]

Oriental Spike: wasn't the story something like Gordy traveled all over Asia to learn how to stick a finger in somebody's throat?

[mamacornettesmoney]

It was a nerve around the neck that he would hit. And did indeed learn it in the Far East.

[themitch1966]

"Bam Bam" Terry Gordy & " The Texas Giant" Bruiser Brody....No scientific wrestling there baby!!

[Jeremandre]

wow. Back when suplexing some one was like holy shit holy shit.

[JeremyTNA]

World Class baby.

[TNAISWRESTLING]

this was a classic match.

[pohque]

gotta love the sleeper hold.

[Tyrsca]

Collins, that was Brody selling as much as he ever did, that was his persona. If you want to see him no-selling find the Lex Luger cage match where he scares Lex right out of the ring, that's no selling.

[sjmcollins]

This is why everyone loves the Freebirds--it looks like a legit fight. Terry Gordy may have been the greatest wrestling brawler ever--he sells for Brody (who doesn't really return the favor), and still makes himself look tough by continually returning fire.

[JOHNNYSOUTH225]

terry bam bam gordy died of a heartattack

[goldenagenut]

I'd heard that Gordy had died, used to work with a pro rassler named Sid who was friends with Gordy, I too would like to know how he died. How did Snuka die as well,od? I saw Bruiser Brody vs Dusty Rhodes back in the early 80s, after the event they showed up at a local bar drinking and laughing together! lol Damn what a mortality rate that sport has, sad.

[McRat1968]

Jimmy Snuka is alive and well. I don't know where

you got the notion he had died. Your source was

incorrect.

Frank Goodish (aka "Bruiser Brody") was stabbed

to death in Puerto Rico in the locker room shower

following a wrestling card one night years ago.

A wrestler known as "Invader 1" killed him.

[ann1997]

What happened to Terry Gordy? I know he died---but how?

[McRat1968]

A heart attack at 40.

Lotta wrestlers around his size or bigger died that way around that same age range. Too much physical stress from everything they did in the ring.

[RamseyRules]

It wasn't so much what they did in the ring as it was the frequency level of night after night after night. I mean just about all pro sports have an off season. Then throw in the fact that most wrestlers who were there in the 80's experimented with coke and/or pills as well as other stuff and as you said I'm sure his size was a contributing factor.

[McRat1968]

Yup, many wrestlers' wild-living with (alcohol and drugs and steroids) certainly played a big part in their early demise too.

[IHeartOverTheTop]

Purely Sexual.

[robdon33]

You're right, only Hayes is still with us...all the other participants are dead (Bill Mercer and Marc Lowrance, the voice and ring announcer respectively, are both alive, BTW)

[Syntox]

Bruiser Brody was stabbed to death by a promoter in Puerto Rico...a little different from the other deaths...

[theeValeTudo]

Of the entire group only ONE man is Alive, Great Business huh?

Micheal P.S Hayes

[Cigaro1887]

Great stuff. Classic rivalry