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35-651: The championship was introduced in November 1980 when Georgia Tag Team Champions the Fabulous Freebirds ( Michael Hayes , Buddy Roberts , and Terry Gordy ) won a tournament to determine the first champions, defeating Stan Frazier and Robert Fuller in the final. They were introduced as the Georgia and National Tag Team Champions and carried a trophy to the ring representing the National title as they wore belts which represented

70-570: A draw. The rest of the Freebirds went to World Class intending to continue their feud with the Von Erichs. When Hayes arrived in the territory in early 1988, he announced his intention to bury the hatchet with the Von Erichs, putting himself at odds with Gordy, Roberts and their new ally, Iceman Parsons . After Gordy interfered to help Parsons defeat Kerry Von Erich for the World Class championship after

105-569: A falling out, and a subsequent feud against each other, with Hayes as the hero, and Gordy as the villain. Hayes and Gordy eventually patched up their differences, and reformed the Freebirds as a duo. They feuded with Ole Anderson and Stan Hansen over the NWA world tag team titles, throughout the summer of 1982. The group next wrestled in the Dallas-based World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) territory, where they had

140-555: A legendary feud with the Von Erichs ( David , Kevin , Kerry , Chris and Mike ). This feud was ignited by an infamous incident in which Terry Gordy slammed Kerry Von Erich's head in a steel cage door, inciting a riot. During this feud, as the Von Erichs would wave the flag of Texas , the Freebirds started using the flag of Georgia , which contained the Confederate battle flag , as a group symbol to counter it. They also performed in

175-523: A match against Greg Gagne , The Tonga Kid , and Jim Brunzell during the opening sequence of the 1986 fantasy film Highlander , which occurs at a show in Madison Square Garden (although the scene was actually filmed at the Brendan Byrne Arena across the river). Fabulous Freebirds on WWE .com Mr. Wrestling George Burrell Woodin (July 28, 1934 – November 30, 2002)

210-683: A number of other companies when a three (or more) member team captures a tag team championship. Examples include: In some cases, the Freebird Rule has been applied to singles titles: A slight variation of the Freebird Rule exists where a team or stable declares themselves as co-champions but the promotion only recognize the individual(s) who won the title as the official champion: The Blackbirds were formed in 1988 in World Class Championship Wrestling by Iceman Parsons . He had just teamed with Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts as

245-534: A stint in the UWF where Gordy became the promotion's champion, Roberts held its TV title, and Hayes usually acted as their manager or served as a heel commentator on television broadcasts. When Gordy lost the title to One Man Gang , the Freebirds feuded with Gang's stable, General Skandor Akbar 's Devastation, Inc. After JCP purchased UWF in 1987, Hayes wrestled for JCP, teaming with Garvin and Sting at Starrcade '87 to wrestle Eddie Gilbert, Rick Steiner and Larry Zbyszko to

280-649: A very brief run in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1984, where they were a part of the Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection period. In the WWF, they wrestled under the guidance of Cyndi Lauper 's manager David Wolff, but soon left the promotion after an altercation with André the Giant , who was upset when the Freebirds arrived late to a show. The group then moved on to their AWA run, returned to World Class, and then started

315-610: A white wrestling mask and white singlet to complete the character . Mr. Wrestling became a major superstar in the Georgia , Florida , Texas and Mid-Atlantic territories. He wrestled in the World Wide Wrestling Federation in the northeast, at the upper end of the preliminary wrestlers. Starting in the Seventies, he would alternate between his masked persona as Mr. Wrestling and wrestling unmasked as Tim Woods, depending on

350-531: The Global Wrestling Federation (GWF) in 1994, ending the group after 15 years. In 1999, Gordy and Hayes reunited as they fought Glen Kulka and JR Smooth to a no contest for Power Pro Wrestling on May 28, 1999. On January 21, 2000, Gordy and Hayes wrestled for Oklahoma Pro Wrestling when they lost to The Hardy Boyz . Gordy died of a heart attack , caused by a blood clot on July 16, 2001, at age 40 while Roberts died on November 29, 2012, at

385-548: The NCAA tournament in 1958 and 1959. As a junior at Michigan State, Woodin won the 1958 Big Ten 177-pound title by pinning Gary Kurdelmeier of the University of Iowa at 8:21. A couple of weeks later, the two met again in the 177-pound finals of the 1958 NCAAs at the University of Wyoming, where Woodin lost to Kurdelmeier 6-2. As a senior, Woodin defeated Iowa's Gordon Trapp 6–4 in the heavyweight finals to win his second Big Ten title. At

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420-727: The NWA -affiliated Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the American Wrestling Association (AWA), and the Oklahoma-based Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF). While in the AWA they feuded primarily with The Road Warriors , costing them the World Tag Team Titles in a match against long time Freebird ally Jimmy Garvin and his partner Steve Regal . They had

455-557: The WWE Hall of Fame by The New Day . The Freebirds concept was heavily derived from the Lynyrd Skynyrd song " Free Bird " and the image of " Southern pride" evoked by the band. For most of the team's early existence, the song was used as their entrance music, in both television and live appearances. On occasion, they would also enter the ring to Willie Nelson 's rendition of " Georgia on My Mind ". The Freebirds are sometimes credited as

490-595: The "Blackbird" in their feud with Michael Hayes . He teamed up with Perry "Action" Jackson and Harold T. Harris to form the Blackbirds. They also wrestled as the Blackbirds in the Global Wrestling Federation in 1992. The Extreme Freebirds were formed in NWA Wildside and the NAWA by the son of Terry Gordy, Ray Gordy . He teamed up with Tank and Iceberg in 2004 to form this group. The original three Freebirds briefly appear in

525-523: The 1959 NCAAs, the Michigan State Spartan competed in the 191-pound class, making it to the finals for the second year in a row, but lost 9-5 to Syracuse's Art Baker. With his two runner-up finishes at the national championships, Woodin was a two-time NCAA All-American. Woodin began his wrestling career at the age of 28 using the name "Tim Woods". He was then given the name "Mr. Wrestling" by Nebraska promotor Joe Dusek, and subsequently adopted both

560-570: The 1990s. The team usually consisted of three wrestlers, although in different situations and points in its history, just two performed under the Freebirds name. The Freebird lineup of Hayes, Roberts, and Gordy was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2015, and members Hayes, Roberts, Gordy, and Garvin were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2016. The Fabulous Freebirds started performing together in 1979 when Mid South Wrestling promoter Bill Watts put together

595-570: The Dallas Sportatorium lights mysteriously went out, Hayes wrestled Gordy in a hair vs hair match at the 1988 World Class Parade of Champions. Gordy won, but afterwards refused to cut Hayes hair and instead turned on Roberts and cut his hair. This left Roberts, alongside Parsons, feuding with Hayes, Gordy and the Von Erichs. In retaliation, Roberts brought in the Samoan SWAT Team to eliminate his former fellow Freebirds. Gordy also wrestled on

630-642: The Freebirds moved to Georgia Championship Wrestling , where they won the National Tag Team titles in the Omni, from Mr Wrestling 1 and 2 . Throughout the first half of 1981, the 'Birds had some of the biggest feuds and most legendary matches in the history of GCW. In one famous match shown on WTBS , (Now known as the piledriver match) Terry Gordy gave Ted DiBiase four consecutive piledrivers, which led to Dibiase being taken away in an ambulance. In mid 1981, Buddy Roberts left GCW. Terry Gordy and Michael Hayes then had

665-420: The Georgia title. The National Tag Team Championship continued to be represented by a trophy until Thanksgiving Night in 1981, when the promotion awarded newly made belts (modeled after the old Georgia tag team belts, which the National title replaced) to the winners of its annual turkey night tag team tournament. The father and son duo of Bob Armstrong and Brad Armstrong defeated Mr. Fuji and Mr. Saito in

700-525: The Man , that he was "more than just Mr. Wrestling that day, but was the man who saved wrestling." Woodin retired from professional wrestling in 1983. After retiring, he ran a heating and air conditioning business. Woodin was an avid collector of motorcycles as well as an accomplished photographer and saxophone player. On November 30, 2002, Woodin died from a heart attack at his home in Charlotte, North Carolina at

735-563: The age of 67, of pneumonia and on November 1, 2012, Armstrong died of a suspected heart attack making Hayes and Garvin the only living members of the Freebirds. Hayes (who retired from in-ring competition shortly after the Freebirds disbanded) is currently the head of the road agents/producers within WWE, while Garvin retired from wrestling shortly after disbanding and has become an Airline Transport Pilot . On April 2, 2016, The Fabulous Freebirds (Hayes, Gordy, Roberts, and Garvin) were inducted into

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770-729: The duo of Michael "P.S." Hayes and Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy . Though originally meant to be a tag team, he soon added former Hollywood Blond Buddy "Jack" Roberts into the mix, and they became a "three man gang" type of tag-team—an unusual concept at the time. They invented a concept that is now called the "Freebird Rule" in their honor, in which any two of three members can defend the team's championships. They usually worked as heels , but also had several face runs as well. After wrestling for Watts in Mid South, they worked for Memphis based Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) where they feuded with Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee . In late-1980,

805-431: The entrance music for the Freebirds from that point forward, though they would use the other songs on occasion. During the Freebirds' career in the NWA, they won several of its regional tag-team championships. While holding the title, promoters added a sub-gimmick to the team – "The Freebird Rule" – which allowed any two of the three members of the team to defend the title on any given night. This rule has been re-used by

840-400: The final to win the vacant NWA National Tag Team Championship. When the World Wrestling Federation 's Vince McMahon bought Georgia Championship Wrestling's TV timeslot (after GCW's contract with Turner Broadcasting System expired without renewal: Black Saturday ), the titleholders were Ron Garvin and Jerry Oates. After Oates and Garvin declined to sign with McMahon, McMahon discontinued

875-511: The first wrestlers to use entrance music for their entrances, although others including Gorgeous George 's use of " Pomp and Circumstance ," Big Daddy 's use of " We Shall Not Be Moved " and Chris Colt 's use of " Welcome to My Nightmare " by Alice Cooper all predate the Freebirds. During the mid-1980s, a number of North American wrestling promotions who licensed copyrighted music faced difficulties in continuing those licenses. Other promotions which did not license music were under scrutiny for

910-464: The hospital, Woodin gave them his real name (George Burrell Woodin), and told them that he was a promoter. Since Woodin wrestled under the name Tim Woods, a newspaper article in the Charlotte Observer listed his name as his real name, George Burrell Woodin, and mentioned that he was a promoter. Woodin was the only fan favorite wrestler on the plane, while the rest wrestled as villains , and this

945-702: The independent circuit and began spending most of his time in Japan , and Roberts began to wind down his career. Hayes and Garvin were paired as the Freebirds in WCW in 1989, enjoying several reigns as World and United States tag-team champions, and were joined by Gordy for a while as well. They later employed the services of masked third partner Brad Armstrong (under the name Badstreet) and managers Diamond Dallas Page , Big Daddy Dink , Little Richard Marley and Precious (Garvin's real-life wife and longtime valet). The Freebirds were last together when Hayes, Gordy, and Garvin worked for

980-434: The practice. Promotions began looking for solutions. The WWF, which hired Jimmy Hart and Jim Johnston in 1985, used their talents to write and produce music under which the copyrights could be controlled by the company. Around this same time, Hayes recorded the song "Badstreet USA" and released a music video, which included the other Freebird members, as well as a cameo by a young Jim Ross. This song would largely be used as

1015-433: The ring and began beating Spurlin. Spurlin’ s friends then joined in with knives in hand to run off the wrestlers. As they did, Spurlin spit Woodin’s finger joint across the ring. The finger was subsequently surgically reattached, but Woodin did not regain full use of it. Later that year, Woodin challenged NWA World Heavyweight Champion Gene Kiniski , with the bout being stopped after Woodin's finger began bleeding. Woodin

1050-482: The territory. In 1968, Woodin faced street fighter Arnold Spurlin, a former Golden Gloves champion, in a shoot fight in Columbus, Georgia . After Woodin dominated the match, using non-wrestling moves and blows with his fists, Spurlin bit down on the only thing he could to stop the melee - Woodin’s finger. As Woodin danced around Spurlin in pain and trying to remove his finger from his opponent’s grip, other wrestlers entered

1085-424: The title active. The title was written out of JCP storylines when titleholders Ole Anderson and Arn Anderson were stripped of the belts, and JCP replaced them by establishing its 'new' United States Tag Team Championship , and a tournament to crown its 'first' champions. Fabulous Freebirds The Fabulous Freebirds were a professional wrestling tag team who attained fame in the 1980s, performing into

NWA National Tag Team Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue

1120-593: The title. A new wrestling promotion containing some former Georgia Championship Wrestling personnel - Championship Wrestling from Georgia - reactivated the title, and recognized Garvin & Oates as the titleholders, keeping the Georgia Championship Wrestling lineage unbroken. Jim Crockett Promotions bought the TBS wrestling timeslot from the WWF in 1985 -- and Championship Wrestling from Georgia (including CWG's Saturday morning TBS timeslot, as well) - keeping

1155-545: Was an American professional wrestler , better known by his ring names , Mr. Wrestling and Tim Woods . Woodin received a degree in agricultural engineering from Cornell University and a degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan State University . Before becoming a professional wrestler, Woodin was a successful collegiate wrestler. While wrestling for the Michigan State Spartans, Woodin won two Big Ten titles in 1958 and 1959. He also finished second in

1190-420: Was back in the days when kayfabe was not broken (at the time, Woods was feuding with Flair and Valentine) and heroes and villains were not known to travel together. Eventually, rumors began circulating that Woods was in fact on the plane. Unwilling to risk the exposure of professional wrestling, he got back in the ring two weeks after the crash and was obviously in extreme pain. Flair later said in his book To Be

1225-540: Was involved in the same 1975 plane crash which involved pilot Joseph Michael Farkas (he ended up in a coma and died the next year), wrestling legend Johnny Valentine (broke his back and bone fragments impacted into his spinal cord, which ended his career), wrestler Bob Bruggers (broke his back and had a steel rod put in; Bruggers could have made a comeback, but he decided to retire), future legend Ric Flair (broke his back, but recovered and returned to wrestling), and Jim Crockett Promotions ' announcer David Crockett . At

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