Freebirds if they took a different course.....

[Guest Rob Naylor]

Ok, so I'm new to this board, so I hope this topic is in the right place.

 

Just got through a whole bunch of Mid South/UWF and it rekindled the thought/idea to me that the Freebirds, for all their respective talents, really didn't reach their total potential exposure wise. Sure hundreds of thousands of fans got to see them in Mid South and Texas and on ESPN in the AWA and for a week in WWF.... but christ, they were such a badass unit.

 

Anyone else remember their brief feud with the Horseman that led to the one-off six man match in Atlanta that had HORSEMAN vs. FREEBIRDS! Christ that had to have been great. I think Kriz Z might have been at that match live, which makes me insanely jealous.

 

Here's the question... would Freebirds as bad guy in Crocket promotions have had as much impact as the Horsemen. I looove the Horseman, so don't get it twisted.... but I think Gordy and Roberts bumping all over the place for Dusty elbows would have been equally as good.... as would Michael Hayes feuding with Magnum TA (hell, the Jimmy Garvin vs. TA feud before Magnum's accident was awesomely done and I could see PS doing the same thing with Sunshine as the Birds valet) etc.....

 

They could have done Buddy vs. Sam Houston even in 85, so Dusty could have even continued with that project.

 

Freebirds in WWF is a tougher call. I mean, guys like Savage and Dibiase who weren't BIG guys got runs with Hogan, so I have no problem seeing a bigger dude like Gordy in a role opposite Hulk. Figure you have Hayes talking shit the whole time and feuding with Macho Man (after he turned good) underneath (Hayes and Wayne Ferris to me are very similar come to think of it), Roberts fighting with Tito or being placed in a feud with Koko Ware and it all seems like it would have ruled. Shit, JYD was RIGHT THERE for them to redo that great feud.

 

Just throwing this topic out there, just cause I always think what "might have been" regarding the Freebirds. An even more interesting thing to think about is simply GORDY and where he would have gone, had he made some different choices and not always stayed in Japan and didn't suffer that horrible fate on the plane etc. Gordy was always one of my top five favorite wrestlers and it always pissed me off when watching NWA on tv when he was in the league but never got to wrestle Luger (they practically set this up at Music City Showdown) or Sting (at least I THINK this never happened) or anyone outside the Midnights and Dr. Death during his 1989 run.

[Loss]

I think they could have gotten as over, yes. But realistically, with Gordy's Japanese commitments and drug problems, he wouldn't have been a threat to Flair's spot.

[KrisZ]

Crockett hired the Birds in June 1984 and brought them in for TV which they worked a couple of tapings and house shows where they were positioned in semi-main events against Koloff & Kernodle for the NWA World Tag Titles. The problem was they were out of their mind on their vices and they made a scene in a locker room one night involving I think Buddy pissing all over the place. They were fired and would go to WWF soon thereafter.

 

I was at that Horsemen/Freebirds match and yes it was awesome as the Omni was nuclear for the Birds and that's the thing, the Freebirds could be heel everywhere but Atlanta.

 

Gordy's love for the Japanese money kept him obligated to going over there although in fairness to him of the regular gaijin, he worked the most over here pretty much especially in 1985-87 but after him & Buddy walked out of JCP in 1987, his Japanese runs multiplied.

 

Crockett could've used the Birds in a big way when they took the TBS slot and Hayes was spotlighted the first few weeks as they were running basically a separate circuit for months there and you could really tell it by watching the TBS shows and their syndicated shows. Birds could've been big babyface draws against the Russians and the Andersons.