All language subtitles for S05E03 Dark Side of the Ring

You're looking
at the nastiest,

devious individual
standing right here.

Terry was a beast.
He was a perfect Goliath.

A prodigy who broke
into the business

before he could drive...

Just drove him
to the mat.

Terry Gordy's skill in the
ring was matched only by

his legendary toughness.

Terry had the ability to make
just about anybody look good

as long as they were
willing to pay the price.

He was 300 pounds and when
he picked you upside down and

dropped you on your head,
you were pretty much done.

Gordy'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.

Once the Jack
started flowin',

the Birds were ready to
party with anyone

or fight anyone.

You're with the
big boys now!

They believed they
are rock stars,

so they act
like rock stars.

Gordy's no holds barred
style would take him

around the world,
but also accelerate

his self-destructive
behaviour.

Terry was his own man.
Terry did his own thing.

The lifestyle
that he led...

he could have died a
hundred different ways.

You can go from being on
top of the world and

have it all taken from
you in a moment.

Until a flight on a routine
trip to Japan would

drastically alter his career,
and the man himself.

Even though he came back,
he didn't come back

as a wrestler, and he didn't
come back as Terry.

He was never the same.

Never even
remotely the same.

♪

♪

Guys, first match,
5 minutes.

My name gets me noticed.
Like, "Oh, another

second gen,
Terry Gordy's daughter."

[Announcer]
Miranda Gordy!

[Cheering]

I am Miranda Gordy,

and Terry 'Bam Bam' Gordy
is my father.

[Indistinct chatter]

They expect me to be
just as good as him,

and that's just not the case,
so that's caused a little bit

of pressure on me that I
have got to fill those boots.

♪ [Indistinct commentary] ♪

[Commentary]
What a clothesline!

Those are some
big shoes to fill.

Oh the boot comes off.

Gordy smashing on
Bruiser Brody's head.

My name is Ray Gordy,

and I am son of
Terry 'Bam Bam' Gordy.

People would remember me
as one half of

Jesse and Festus,
and Slam Master J.

The 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.

Terry Gordy is
fixin' to bust loose.

He told me one time that

once you learn how
this business works,

you'll never want
to do anything else.

Here's Gordy
from the ropes!

And that was his mindset.

He never seen himself
doing anything else.

[Announcer]
Terry Gordy!

[Cheering]

Born in Rossville,
Georgia,

Terry Gordy is barely
a teenager when

he gets his start in
the wrestling business.

I have some early
stuff of my dad.

That is a report card.

It looks like
a couple of Fs.

Those days he was absent,
he was on the road.

-This picture.
-Yeah.

That is a very
young Terry Gordy.

At 40 pounds,
Terry Meeker!

Because of Terry's
size and his eagerness,

by the time he
was 14 years old,

he was wrestling
on television.

I'm Jim Cornette.

I've been involved in
a variety of ways in

professional wrestling over
the last 40-something years.

I 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.

You could use the
word 'prodigy',

you could use the
word 'natural'.

Whatever it was,
he had it.

He's getting a
couple of licks here.

He was a prodigy,
but that doesn't mean

he didn't work hard and
study the game.

My name is Mick Foley.
I'm a three time

WWE champion
and I am sometimes

known as the
'Hardcore Legend'.

What he lacked in
traditional schooling

he picked up
with an education

on the road,
second to none.

This young lad here is gonna,
I think, become a superstar.

He has all of the makings.

When you started getting
the full Terry Gordy,

not only the physical
aspect, but the verbal...

he was an all
-around performer.

There was almost nobody
that could touch him.

Get your sister,
get your daddy,

get em' all around the TV.

Because you fixin' to
eyewitness something.

When Terry was
in Mississippi,

he met a guy named
Michael Hayes.

[Indistinct shouting]

And there it is,
Michael Hayes.

Michael was a
natural talker.

You hand Michael a microphone
and he could go on forever.

When you wanna talk to a
lady, you say, "Hey baby,

why don't you put on some put
on some Teddy Pendergrass,

close the door, let me
do what I want to do,

'cause all I want do is
what you want me to."

[Sighing]

His mama must've
had a hard time with him.

I am Jimmy Jam Garvin,
and I am a member of

'The Fabulous Freebirds',
WWE Hall of Famer,

and it's still not my fault.

It's not my fault!

Michael and Terry,
I mean,

they were just
both live wires.

Terry would almost know
what Michael was thinking,

you know, before Michael
even said it,

and vice versa,
they were just tight.

You've got Michael Hayes
who would come out,

and he would
piss people off.

As always,
a big conflict.

He would talk his self
right into the corner.

But then behind his back,

you've got Terry Gordy.

-Here comes Gordy.
-[Cheering]

As a team, they were
just unmatched.

They just were like...
soul mates,

as far as friends go.

Michael was a big fan,
as every southerner

was in those days
in the 70s,

of the band
Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Michael had the idea,

"What about if we call
ourselves 'The Freebirds'?

Monday night in Memphis
at the Mid-South Coliseum,

I was a photographer
at ringside,

and all of a sudden
over the P.A. system,

here comes 'Freebird."

♪ [Cheering] ♪

And then out comes
Terry and Michael.

The silver robes
flowing everywhere,

and they're doing a
slow motion strut to

match the beat of Freebird.

You hear the music,
and The Fabulous Freebirds-

Terry Gordy and
Michael Hayes.

This 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.
There was no music.

[Cheering]

And I said, "You know, I
think this might catch on."

The Freebirds soon joined
Mid-South Wrestling,

where promoter Bill Watts
pairs them up with

Buddy Roberts, converting
the tag team into a trio.

You've got the
Freebirds' attention,

and that just might
be your downfall!

Buddy was the veteran.
Michael was the promo.

Terry was the
physical enforcer.

Watch that head
bite the dust!

And that three-man
combination made one of the

most legendary tag teams in
the history of wrestling.

Together, they were bigger
than the sum of their parts.

And I think it's important
to point out that this was

not a case of lightning
striking once.

They got over
everywhere they went.

[Chanting] Freebirds!
Freebirds! Freebirds!

You can hear the
crowd very quickly:

"Freebirds!
Freebirds!"

The Fabulous Freebirds,
our winners...

The Fabulous Freebirds got
through with the victory.

Welcome back to the wild
and wonderful Freebirds.

[Cheering]

Ah, and the moonwalk.

Then they had the natural
three-on-three rivalry

with the Von Erich boys
in Dallas.

Deep 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.

This is The Von Erichs!

The Von Erich boys
were already popular,

but the Von Erich boys
had never been tested.

We wanted bad asses,

and that's who the
Freebirds were.

Back breaker across the
knee of Michael Hayes.

I'm Kevin Von Erich,

and for years I battled
the Freebirds.

They were legitimate
rough guys, you know,

and they didn't have any
apologies for anybody.

[Commentary] Oh,
that fella hit the deck.

But we had a
common goal.

We wanted to put the
best wrestling match

we could in that ring.

And so it was just a
marriage made in heaven.

-Here comes Kevin!
-[Cheering]

Wrestling in the mid 80s
in Dallas was

the top of the game.

We were selling out
every venue,

everywhere,
every night.

But the magic really hit
when the Freebirds came.

I'm talking about
them Von Erich's.

They don't stick their nose
in the Freebirds' business.

My name is David Manning.
I was the promoter,

booker,
and referee for

World Class
Championship Wrestling.

The Von Erichs were
like the good cowboy,

and here was three guys
that were

obnoxious, rude
to the fans.

Let me tell you
something, Texas...

there ain't no place that
I would rather be

than in Georgia right now.

Kevin referred
to him as filth.

Michael Hayes is
bringing the flag.

Terry and Michael
come to the ring,

they've got Dixie flyin',
and they're talking

about Texas, and it
just burned me up.

And so I grabbed
the mic and I said,

"You got everyone in the
world thinking this is a war

between Texas and Georgia,
and this is not.

This is a war between
decency and filth."

There was so much love
for the Von Erichs,

but there was total hate

for Michael,
Terry, and Buddy.

Go home Freebirds!
Go home Freebirds!

They could get a ton of
heat because of the way

they acted, the things they
said, the things they did.

What about your
friend right here, boy,

what you think
about it?

I didn't want my
dad to get beat up,

but I was still a fan
of the Von Erichs.

And it looks like
a bar room brawl.

Who didn't love
the von Erichs?

[Cheering]

Some of the guys who didn't
like the Von Erichs 'cause

their girlfriends liked them,
and they're saying,

"Well look at the shit kickin',
Jack Daniels drinkin',

flag wavin'
Southern assholes."

So they started getting
in the Freebird camp.

[Cheering] Freebirds!
Freebirds! Freebirds!

I think the Freebirds were
the original cool heels.

Far more often they
were the cooler of

the two teams
in the ring.

For the next two and a half
years in every city in Texas,

it was the Freebirds
against the Von Erichs.

I'm gonna kill him!

[Cheering]

I want Terry Gordy and I just
don't want to just beat him,

I want to hurt him!

And he'll take Terry
across the ring!

They main evented in Texas
Stadium, for God's sake.

It was the most magic
3-on-3 combination.

Perfect time,
perfect place,

perfect set up,
perfect participants.

And they drew nothing
but money for two years.

[Cheering]

What we had created in
the ring was phenomenal,

anybody would
want that.

But then when you
got out of the ring,

you had all the
other problems though

that came
with the Birds.

They were trouble
looking for trouble.

[Shattering]

You know,
they just raised hell.

They'd drink all night,

and then they'd
get in the ring,

and they'd sweat
all that booze out.

They always told me
that the best cure for

a hangover
was wrestling. Yeah.

Terry's temperament
was like, so even...

until he drank.
[Laughing]

My parents were
at a bar and

a man was hitting
on my mom.

My dad became
very enraged,

and there was a bar fight.

The cops went to
restrain my dad,

to calm him down,

which I think
did the opposite.

[Groaning]

He beat up a cop car

with his hands cuffed
behind his back.

♪

It 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 head butted it.

And he was kind
of a big, old spoiled kid.

And you know, that's Terry,
he did stuff like that.

Terry Gordy was not gonna
back up from anybody,

nor was there anybody
walking that was

really gonna
make him back up.

[Glass shattering]

Jeez, I mean, if you
look back at it today

from today's perspective,
it got out of control

at the very beginning.

You know, having people throw
different things at you,

like, "Here, take a shot,
y'all are awesome."

Or, "Here",
you know,

"take this for your pain
so you can sleep."

Or, "Here, take this
so you can stay up and

drive 8 hours to
the next show."

I don't know exactly when
the evolution happened from

smoking marijuana,
drinking booze,

to more of a...

a pill problem.

♪

Despite their wild
reputation, in 1984,

Terry Gordy and
The Fabulous Freebirds

catch the attention
of Vince McMahon and

the World Wrestling
Federation.

Was it a week?
Did they last a week?

They were in the
meeting with Vince,

hung over, still
partially inebriated.

Terry fell asleep...

[Exhaling sharply]

And that didn't get over
with Vince too good.

That was the only time
that The Freebirds

ever worked
for the WWF.

After wrestling a
handful of matches,

The Freebirds flame
out at the WWF.

But Terry has a chance
to take his career

in a new direction.

That is my dad
and Bruiser Brody.

It's in Japan.

My dad got the opportunity
to go work in Japan.

The Japanese wrestling
is very different

from what it is over here.

When you get The Freebirds,
and more glitz and glamor,

they see that, and they're
really not interested.

They were more interested
in Terry Gordy by himself.

Terry Gordy!
[Japanese commentary]

The monster American.

The Abdullah the Butchers,
or the Bruiser Brodys,

or the Stan Hansens,
or Terry Gordy.

Suplex!

These giant guys
that were just crazy,

and beat up everybody
in their path.

They became the darlings of
the Japanese wrestling fan.

And that's the kind of
atmosphere that

Terry could flourish in.

[Japanese commentary]

He loved the hard...

[Japanese commentary]

Physical style
associated with Japan,

and that's why he became
one of the biggest and

best stars to ever
cross the ocean.

[Japanese commentary]

And work there.

[Japanese commentary]

It takes a big toll physically,
with the injuries.

Putting your body
through that,

every bump is like
a mild car wreck.

I knew that he was
having knee problems.

One of my big
concerns was

my dad wasn't gonna
blow out his knees.

[Japanese commentary]

He tore both of his ACLs.

[Grunting]

He 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.

He had to have
double knee surgery,

but the doctor told him
he had to

take the weight off.

So he contacted
Richard Simmons.

Yeah!

[Laughing] Right?

This huge 6'5 man,
just, you know,

jazzercise or whatever
Richard Simmons did.

[Laughing] Come on,
Terry, you got this!

Yeah.
[Laughing]

Terry was like
300, 320...

and then he pared down
to like, maybe 265,

something like that.

And you see the more athletic
built up Terry Gordy.

You can absolutely blame
that on Richard Simmons.

Now leaner and more
powerful and working in

a physical style that
plays to his strengths,

Terry's performance in the
ring reaches new heights.

Oh.

Yeah.
In my opinion, that's

one of the top five
matches of all time.

The Japanese crowd...

traditionally, they will
ooh and ah.

This match, they tore
the house down.

[Japanese commentary]

Terry Gordy was a
master of his craft.

People look at him
and they see this

big monster doing all
these power moves.

But if you really watch,
you'll see

the little things that
he done in the ring,

that people just don't do.

Even down to the chin
lock in this match...

he's actually using
his fingers to

try to pry fingers away.

And, this is a work.

But that little bit
just adds so much more.

Terry was a guy who made

everything he did
mean something.

And when he threw
a punch, brother,

it was a thing of beauty.

It was so animated,

it connected,
it looked great.

He was, he was just
simply one of the best.

He was the first American
ever to win the

Triple Crown Championship.

He was the top guy in
Japan at that time.

-[Bell ringing]
-[Crowd cheering]

It's great to be alive and

it's great to be
number one in Japan.

In Japan, Terry starts
working with 'Dr. Death'

Steve Williams in a tag team
known for their brutality,

the 'Miracle
Violence Connection'.

Double clothesline!

If the aliens
landed tomorrow...

[Laughing]

And you had to pick two
human beings to

represent Earth in a
fight to the death.

[Groaning]

Pick Terry Gordy and
'Dr. Death' Steve Williams.

Look at the strength
of Dr. Death.

They brought that Japanese
style over to the U.S.

[Commentary]
In my opinion...

They may be

the best tag team in
the world today.

They're not resting up in
between Japanese tours.

They're taking on these
very physical matches

on a very
regular basis.

[Cheering]

Terry and Doc did a
lot of tours together,

so to keep that
Freebird thing going,

they needed to replace
Terry when he was gone.

And that's what I did.

We're not following no rules
that we don't want to follow.

Terry, when he
wasn't in Japan,

he would join us.

That's a very
heavy schedule.

I honestly believe
that it was too much.

I mean, really it was
just part of life.

Like, he would just be
gone for a long time,

and it was like a,
a treat almost

when he would
be home.

Miranda, smile!

Life at, at one point
was really good.

We did normal
family things.

He took us skating.

He taught me how to
fish and ride a bike...

all the dad stuff.

He did that for
us when he could,

but it just wasn't a lot,
unfortunately.

Yeah, he hated to be separated
from his family, man.

My name is
Richard Aslinger.

I went under the ring name
of Richard Slinger in Japan.

Trained and
lived over there,

and I'm the nephew
of Terry Gordy.

He would talk to me about
being over there in Japan.

He said, "I would go
into a state of deep,

dark and miserable
depression."

I know it wore on him.
He looked tired.

I know he missed being home,
and he missed his own

mom and he missed his kids,
and he missed his wife.

Being on the road
360 days a year,

that wears on you.

You live in hotels,

airplanes, rental cars.

It's just constant go.

Your mind never really
has time to reset,

to relax,
to say,

"Okay, where
am I at in this life"?

A lot of times in those
days, especially the

well-seasoned
travellers to Japan,

they would take
whatever pills that

they took so they
could sleep,

and when they woke up,
they'd be in Japan.

The 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...

and it is a very
short step from

use as needed
to use as liked.

♪

While on a tour
with Steve Williams,

Terry suffers his
first serious overdose.

First time he
dropped on me,

accumulated
too many pills.

It was Halcion.

We went out that night
and he just dropped,

and I did CPR,

and an ambulance
took him.

He was in the hospital,

he didn't remember
what happened.

When they brought me in

I had to refreshen
his mind and

tell him what he'd done
and this and that...

I tried to straighten
him up from there,

but Terry Gordy had
a problem with drugs.

There's gonna be a time
where your body tells you,

or your mind tells you,
that you need to stop.

And I really believe that
during that time

my dad was at
that point.

It's a tough business,
you know,

it's a heartless business.

Set to return to Japan,
Terry boards a flight

that will change his
life forever.

Terry accumulated
so many pills that

I'm having to push him
with a wheelchair.

He's out, you know,
he's out, so...

30 minutes before
the plane lands,

I look at him and he's,
he's dying on me.

Before a flight to Japan,
Terry Gordy consumes

an excessive amount
of muscle relaxers.

"Dr. Death" Steve Williams

notices Terry has
stopped breathing.

He's dying on me.

I mean, he's turning blue
and he- [gasping]

he's sucking
barely any air.

Like he was about to
swallow his tongue and...

I used to be able to
knock him back loose

if I slapped him a couple
of times in the face,

it would kick him
out of it, you know,

just like if you put
somebody in a sleeper

if you hit them
in the back,

it'll knock them
back out of it.

Well...

I did it and he wouldn't
come back alive.

So right then I
knew he was dying.

Stewardess got up, man,

and they was all
freakin' out.

And, I was giving him
CPR to keep him alive,

to keep that heart going.

As soon as we landed,

the ambulance
was right there.

I had to get him
off the plane,

get him in an ambulance and
get him to the hospital.

They just started
emergency procedures and...

what little bit of
Japanese I spoke,

and what little bit
of English they spoke,

we were able to communicate
about Terry's condition.

Biggest fear is that I
might be losing

my uncle Terry in there.

He was in a coma for
a couple of days.

I remember being right
there behind the...

pretty much
the whole time,

camping out
beside his bed.

When he woke up,
he started calling my name,

"Richard! Richard"!

You know, and I'm like,
"Yeah, I'm here.

I'm here, I'm here."

Eventually, he was able to
be maneuvered with

between me and the nurse
into a wheelchair

to go to the shower.

♪

You know, maybe a little
bit of cold water...

he might show that he
still has the feeling,

and he did.

His face grimaced
a little bit

whenever I sprayed him
with cold water.

And I was like, you know,
we might have

some luck here getting him
back to normal.

They called
my stepmother,

and she flew over
to be with him.

And she got him home and

my mother was
there to greet him,

and she said that was
a heartbreaker to see him

coming off the airplane
in a wheelchair.

He couldn't really carry on
that much of

a conversation,
he was very quiet.

Um...

There was an
obvious difference.

He had lost

a lot of his motor skills.

He was very
slow to react.

He had to relearn
a lot of things.

He had some
permanent

physical and mental
damage from that.

He wasn't the same
person anymore.

Whatever happened...

oxygen to the brain,

he was unconscious
too long,

whatever all that
medical hoo-ha is,

it erased something
in his brain.

There's this
local promoter.

He was kind enough
to give us the key,

and we was training within
a couple of weeks of,

of me coming back
from that tour.

Ironic, you know,
somebody's training me...

here I am, I'm teaching
my uncle, you know,

"This is how it goes,
remember? Remember"?

There was progress and

we were all hoping
that he would

just miraculously kick
out at some point,

and it would all
come back to him,

and he would be
Terry Gordy again.

♪

During the last year of
Smoky Mountain Wrestling,

we heard that he had
started wrestling in

little independent shows,
and I said,

"If Terry is anywhere back,

anywhere near what he
needs to be, my god,

if we could get him up
here that'd be great."

So I made the arrangements
to have him come in.

I have added
another member

to Cornette Militia!
[Laughing]

Terry Gordy!

Everybody in the locker room
in Smoky Mountain

had known him for
years and liked him,

and was wanting
to help...

but, there were-

he couldn't do
a promo anymore.

And I'm coming
to show you, boy,

that I'm gonna take that
title and I'm gonna take it,

and ain't nothing you
or your old lady

can do about it.

And we kept thinking
it'll come back to him,

or he's taking steps,

but he'd just
walk up to you,

and he'd just stand there.
Then you'd look,

"Oh, oh Terry, do you
need something"?

"Yeah, uh, Jim,

I was just wondering
if you'd like me to

do the Powerbomb."

"Yes, Terry, if you'd
like to, please."

And there is Gordy,

sets him up for
that Powerbomb.

Because he had been such
a great wrestler and

he could still
do these moves...

[Bang!]

And it was the
same frame.

But there wasn't
any life in it.

There, he was going
through the motions,

but the face, the
expression, the intent...

everything that makes
you a personality,

it just was gone.

Because he wasn't
there anymore.

That was gone.

Despite a challenging
rehabilitation,

Terry stages a comeback,
culminating in a legendary

match against Cactus Jack at
IWA's now infamous

King of the Death
Match tournament.

You become the king of
the test match by

kicking out of
all the moves.

Terry and I were going to
face in the first round of

what was known at
the time as the

'Kawasaki Dream
Match Tournament'.

It's gone down in
lore as being the

'King of the Death
Match Tournament.'

Three, two, one.

[Cheering]

One of the holes in his game
since the accident on the

plane was the punches
were no longer there.

And out of concern for his
reputation I said,

"Terry," I said, "You're a
legend here."

I said, "You got to really
bring those punches."

[Grunting]

To his credit,
I didn't have to tell him

that more than once.

[Grunting]

I've read letters that said
Terry Gordy was the

King of the Death Match,

and all that happened
after the accident.

So, I can only imagine

full Terry Gordy

having a death match.

♪

We did pretty good.

And it resulted in what
may have been the

greatest post-match
interview of Terry's career.

Shit,
what the ----...

Mother ----er.

----!

I felt like maybe we pushed
the hands of time back

just a little bit.

[Gasping]
Oh!

But it was not
meant to be.

Despite an impressive
performance at

King of the Death Match,
it's clear that

Terry Gordy's overdose
has changed him.

I think that he continued

to wrestle after
the accident

is because that's
all he knew.

That's all he ever did.

He wasn't a cashier for
a grocery store and then

started wrestling,
like, he wrestled.

There were a lot of people
rooting for my dad.

Terry 'Bamm Bamm' Gordy

who has been
pronounced clinically

dead twice, is making
a comeback!

He could work
through a match...

it just wasn't
the same.

I'm sure that was the hope
that maybe if they just

kept at it, that he would
eventually come to it.

But, it just,
it was never there.

You can see it even in
pictures, in his eyes,

he was full of life.

And then you look at
pictures after the coma and

he looks like a deer
in headlights.

Terry Gordy, probably one
of the greatest tag team

wrestlers of all time, and
of course, a legendary heel,

and the member of the
'Fabulous Freebird' group,

probably the greatest
heel trio in the business.

In 1998, Terry agrees
to film an interview

out of character.

And for the first time,
fans at home

are able to see
for themselves

the change in
his cognitive capabilities.

I've seen parts of
the shoot interview.

The emotions when
I first saw that,

I was enraged, um,

a little embarrassed.

Yeah, man,
there's a bunch...

[Laughing]

I don't know.

Seeing your dad
like that,

he couldn't remember a lot
of stuff from the past.

The coma took a lot of
his memories away.

But in that they're just
hounding him for

all these questions,
and as his daughter,

you just want them
to leave him alone.

Oh yeah.
Yeah I think so.

♪

As Terry attempts to get
back into the spotlight,

his long-time friend,
'Freebird' Michael Hayes

convinces the WWF to add
Terry to their roster.

♪

Vince put him under a
hood as The Executioner.

Of course, when I was
a kid, I'm like

oh, why would
they do that?

And really it was
to protect him,

and I'm glad they did.

It was a good
respect move

on the part of WWE.

They didn't want to

destroy Terry Gordy

by putting him
on TV as Terry Gordy,

and him not being
Terry Gordy.

Michael Hayes was able to
get him in with Terry

as a menacing,
foreboding Executioner

with me and Paul Bearer.

We became kind of
like a faction.

As soon as Mankind,
is buried alive,

the Undertaker.

His head will be
raised by the official.

Then the
Executioner came...

friend in need,
a friend indeed.

-[Cheering]
-Oh no!

Part of what made Terry's
character so intriguing

is that he was like
a man child.

He breaks in at
age 14 years old.

He's a child among men,
but at the same time,

he's a man among men.

When he gets to WWE,

there's still the
ways of a child,

and that's not the way to
succeed in a main event

with the Undertaker.

Off the ropes, scoops him up,
what's he gonna do with him?

Slams him down.

It was pretty sad, man,
pretty sad to watch.

My Uncle Terry,
he was once at his prime,

and from doing that,
to, you know,

not hitting on
all cylinders,

you know,
it was pretty sad.

And I'm sure all the people
that looked up to him and

that he helped along the way
in his career were just...

I don't know how else to
describe it but heartbreaking.

Just looking at someone that

is like a superhero to you,
and just seeing...

I don't want to
say helpless, but,

he wasn't the
same person.

[Cheering]

And Undertaker had
to say, "It won't work."

And the Executioner
has been executed.

Everybody loved him,
but you know,

he wasn't
there anymore.

It's also a bit sad to
overhear a conversation

he had with a woman
on an airplane,

where she goes to take
some medication,

and he goes,
"Got any extras"?

She gave him a
couple pills.

So, he was at a point where
he was taking anything,

regardless of whether...

he knew
what it was.

We would be worried because
he would go from being

completely coherent to
obviously under the influence

of something seemingly
within minutes.

♪

And so he had reached a
pretty dangerous point.

I, it's hard for me
to say because

I looked up to him
and I will

always appreciate
the kindness he showed me

when he was on
top of the world,

and I was breaking in.
But, you know, we're,

we gotta be adults
out there on the road.

We look out for each other,

but you also have to
look out for yourself.

We would have to,
on a few occasions,

try to track him down when he
was not in his hotel room.

I think it was about the third
time that Paul Bearer and I

were searching the roads
and making drives and

calling his name.

We realized that this,

this was not going to be
a long-term team.

[Rain pattering]

When Terry's short-lived
stint in the WWF

comes to an end,

he finds himself
back on the indie circuit.

It's hard to grasp as a kid

what that was to
see the downfall

of him being on top,
to, to doing

little independent
shows around

Tennessee and Georgia.

I was at
those indie shows.

As a kid it was fun,

but looking back
at that, um...

it's really sad.

I think the last time I
saw Terry was at

an independent
wrestling show.

During intermission,
Terry's daughter was

taking polaroids of Terry
and the fans in the ring,

and there were only
about two people

who made that trip
into the ring.

Seeing literal minutes go
by with no one on that line,

no one getting
into the ring,

just struck me as being
extraordinarily sad.

And I'm over in a different
part of the building

at a table, and I'm signing
autographs, feeling guilty,

saying, "They should
be on that line.

That's the line
they should be.

There's the real superstar."

There was part
of me that wanted to

get out
there in the ring,

grab that microphone and

start yelling at people,

trying to knock some
sense into them.

"Don't you understand
this is a legend!

He's here in your midst
and you can see him,

you can get a photo
taken with him."

And times had changed.

♪

As his wrestling
career winds down,

Terry redirects
his focus and

embraces what
matters to him most.

During this time,

he was home.

I got to see my dad

more than I had
ever seen him

in my entire life.

I look back on that and

as rough of a
time as that was

for him and our family,

it was the time of my life

where I got to know
my dad and

become really great
friends with him.

We would see each
other every single weekend.

I'd go pick him up,
I'd take him to the gym,

we'd work out,
I'd take him home.

It was probably the
best years of my life

getting to hang
out with my dad and

really getting to
talk to him

and getting to know the
person that he really was.

I'm really thankful for
that time that

he wasn't on the road,
that he was at home,

because, yeah,
we became best friends.

We really did.

Do you have anything you
wanna say to your fans

out there that are
watching this video?

I am just uh, I'm really,
really sorry,

you know that, uh...

I, I don't know.

[Off-screen]
Sorry about...?

I'm sorry about going
to Japan, you know,

and OD-ing and stuff,
you know.

He was actually
doing a show and

he asked me to
go do the show with him,

and we were actually
going to tag that night,

and I couldn't go.

Next day I get a call
from my cousin Richard.

♪

And his exact
words were,

"Ray, get down on
your knees and

start praying

because your dad
is on this mountain

and he stopped breathing."

♪

After wrestling an indie
match the previous night,

Terry is found
unresponsive at his home

in Soddy-Daisy,
Tennessee.

I got in a car as
soon as I could and

traveled to his home.

I was there before
emergency services.

It was one of the boys that
stayed with Terry

the night before,
he was doing the CPR,

and while he was doing
chest compressions,

I was, I still hate
knowing this,

but Terry was
already gone,

and I was trying to bring
him back by, you know,

slapping him in the face
because I remember

Doc telling me that's what
he did to bring him back

and I thought,
you know,

maybe this is one last
thing I can resort to, to,

you know,
bring Terry back.

There was a police officer
standing in front of the door,

guarding the door and
wouldn't let anybody in.

I put my hands on the police
officer and told him

he was gonna let me
in that door.

And that's when Richard
grabbed me and

told me that he was gone.

My mom knew that there
was an emergency and

they said to get to my
granny's quickly,

and I just hear my mom
scream, "No"!

She had to tell us
that he had passed.

♪

On July 16th, 2001,

Terry Gordy dies
of congestive

heart failure caused
by a blood clot.

He is only 40 years old.

♪

Of all the stuff
that my dad did,

and the lifestyle
that he led,

and all the partying
that he did,

it's amazing that
it wasn't an OD.

It wasn't anything
like that.

Maybe his legacy is,

you can't push
yourself too hard.

You can't take shit you're
not supposed to take.

You can't do shit you're
not supposed to do,

over and over on
a regular basis.

Woah, that's cold.

If you sat Terry down, if he
was here right now, I said,

"Hey, Terry, do you think
maybe if we tell this story,

it'll make some of the other
guys stay away from it?"

He probably would say,
"Yeah, go ahead and tell it."

He wouldn't be worried about
whether he looked good

or not, but if he could
help somebody else.

[Cheering]

You know, it's just
such a tragedy.

I mean, the wrestling
lost not only

one of the best
workers ever.

Oh!

But he was a good guy.

Why did Terry Gordy touch
so many people's lives?

Well, with the wrestling
fans, it was easy,

'cause he was great.

He was great at what he did,
he was exciting to watch.

[Cheering]

If you like wrestling,
he did it better than

almost anybody
else in it.

I'm not claiming to be

the best wrestler
in the world,

but you know something,
world champion?

This right here
is about to-

-Agh!
-[Screaming & cheering]

Terry Gordy is a surprise!

He will never be forgotten.

He contributed so
much to this business.

More than people realize.

Gordy putting on
a clinic here.

[Screaming & cheering]

One, two, three.

What I've gotten most
out of wrestling is

how much people just
really love my dad.

So if I walk away
with just that,

it's been a very
healing experience.

But his influence
can be seen

almost every week
on television.

Whether it's the
hyper realistic but

theatrically enjoyable
punches he threw.

This turned
into a total brawl!

Or somebody winding up
a clothesline

before throwing it hard.

[Thudding]

Any time you see any
variation of a Powerbomb,

that's Terry Gordy.

Don't it feel good
sitting up here?

I mean, up at top.

Looking down at everything?
Don't it feel good?

♪