Michael Hayes

In 1982, Hayes, along with Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy and Buddy "Jack" Roberts (known as the Fabulous Freebirds) debuted for World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), where they had one of their most famous feuds. Hayes was chosen by the fans to be the special guest referee during the Ric Flair-Kerry Von Erich World Heavyweight Championship steel cage match at Christmas Star Wars. Hayes at one point knocked Flair out so Von Erich could get the pin and the title. Von Erich refused to pin him after the dirty deed which ultimately led to Gordy slamming the cage door on Von Erich's head. As this later cost him the title, it triggered the legendary feud between The Fabulous Freebirds and The Von Erichs and ended a good respectful friendship between both groups.

Hayes was always the leader of the group with his exceptional mic skills and he recorded the team's new theme song, *Badstreet USA*, in 1983. The video to the song features all three of The Fabulous Freebirds as well as Jimmy Garvin, who was often considered the fourth Freebird.

In 1984, The Freebirds had a brief stint in the WWF but left when management wanted to split them up. The Freebirds then spent a few months in the AWA in 1985, feuding with The Road Warriors over the AWA World Tag Team Championship, winning the belts temporarily at the inaugural SuperClash event before the AWA overturned the decision. The Freebirds interfered in the match where the Warriors lost the belts to Jimmy Garvin and Steve Regal.

At Starrcade '87, Hayes teamed with Jimmy Garvin (also now a babyface after reconciling with kayfabe brother Ron Garvin) and Sting to face the team of Eddie Gilbert, Rick Steiner and Larry Zbyszko whom they wrestled to a time-limit draw. He later challenged WCW World Champion Ric Flair and frequently teamed with Jimmy Garvin.

Hayes returned to World Class Championship Wrestling to find that his former Freebird partners Gordy and Roberts, in alliance with Iceman Parsons and The Angel of Death, had resumed their feud with the Von Erichs. After Gordy and Roberts helped Parsons win the World Class heavyweight title from Kerry Von Erich by bashing Kerry with socks loaded with weights while the arena lights were mysteriously turned off, a disgusted Hayes allied himself with the Von Erichs against his former Freebird 'brothers'.

At the 1988 Parade of Champions, Gordy defeated Hayes in a hair vs hair "triple dome of terror" (three vertically stacked cages) match. After the match, however, Gordy refused to cut Hayes' hair and instead turned babyface on Roberts and cut *his* hair. Subsequently, Hayes and Gordy reunited as babyfaces and feuded with Roberts and his Samoan Swat Team as well as old Freebird enemies Devastation Inc, of whom Parsons was now a member.

In 1989, Hayes went to World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where he wrestled as a face. He turned on United States Champion Lex Luger during a match with Hiro Matsuda's "Yamazaki Corporation" and joined them. The stable included Ric Flair, Barry and Kendall Windham, and Butch Reed. Hayes feuded with Luger and won the U.S. Title from him after Terry Gordy surprised everybody and interfered in the match. Luger later regained the title from Hayes and The Freebirds entered the tournament to crown new WCW World Tag Team Champions.

At *Clash of the Champions VII*, on June 14, 1989, Jimmy Garvin showed up as the newest Freebird and he and Hayes won the tournament and titles. The new champions immediately feuded with The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane). Gordy left in late 1989 and Hayes and Garvin feuded with The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson).

In 1991, The Freebirds feuded with The Young Pistols (Steve Armstrong and Tracy Smothers). They soon added another Freebird, the masked Badstreet. He helped them win the U.S. Tag Team Titles and they all won the Six-Man Titles. They also had two managers briefly, Big Daddy Dink and Diamond Dallas Page. Once Badstreet departed from the group in late 1991, The Freebirds were left with no real direction. The Freebirds turned face, and Garvin's wife Precious became their on-screen manager. Although they won the U.S. Tag Titles again, The Freebirds disbanded by late 1992.

Hayes then turned heel again and started managing Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton, who were still members of the Dangerous Alliance. He became a member of sorts and even helped Paul E. Dangerously in his feud with Madusa. In 1993, Hayes became a fan favorite again and feuded with Paul Orndorff over the TV Title and then briefly teamed (and later feuded) with Johnny B. Badd and also did some commentating before quitting WCW in January 1994.

Hayes re-debuted for the WWF on April 14, 1995 as **Dok Hendrix**, as the *WWF Action Zone* co-host with Todd Pettengill. As Dok Hendrix, he interviewed wrestlers before their matches and initially acted more like a heel, though that was later dropped. His most famous interviews include "The birth of Austin 3:16," "The Super Soaker DX" commercials, and hosting most of WWF's products. Hayes also worked as a color commentator in 1995 with Vince McMahon on *WWF Superstars*, In Your House 1 and the 1995 King of the Ring pay-per-view events.

Hayes soon came back to WWF TV in 1999 as the manager for The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy). The Hardy Boyz lost the WWF Tag Team Titles to The Acolytes at Fully Loaded, when Hayes was pinned in a handicap match; he was fired by them in August.

He then became a backstage road agent and color commentator for the WWF. Initially appearing for one night on the September 23, 1999 broadcast of *SmackDown!*, Hayes became a color commentator on *Sunday Night Heat* alongside Michael Cole and Kevin Kelly from 2000 to 2001, although he was mostly used on the international broadcasts of that show. At WrestleMania X-Seven on April 1, 2001, he competed in the gimmick Battle Royal, but was eliminated by the One Man Gang.

During the December 5, 2005 episode of *Raw*, he became involved in verbal sparring with Edge in which Hayes attacked Edge's lack of main event experience and the details of his love life (with regard to Matt Hardy and Lita). Hayes was later attacked by Edge.

Hayes then made occasional appearances on WWE programs: on the December 7, 2007 episode of *SmackDown*, Hayes was a guest of MVP's VIP Lounge. Hayes promoted the new *Triumph and Tragedy of WCCW* DVD. However, Hayes ended up being attacked by MVP before being saved by Rey Mysterio.

On the June 28, 2010 episode of *Raw*, Hayes was one of several Legends who accompanied Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, who was out to promote his new DVD. Hayes and the other legends were later attacked by the NXT season one graduates, collectively known as The Nexus. On the May 12, 2011 episode of *WWE Superstars*, Hayes accompanied Tyson Kidd to the ring but turned on him a week later after Kidd lost his match to Yoshi Tatsu. Hayes hit Kidd, stating he had better things to do than hang around losers.

On August 1, 2014, Hayes appeared in a short segment on the online series *JBL and Cole Show* in which he stared at a "Free Birds, call to enquire" flier. In February 2015, Hayes partook in a WWE.com interview alongside Arn Anderson with Michael Cole to discuss Triple H and Sting's match at WrestleMania 31.

On April 2, 2016, Hayes was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame with the Fabulous Freebirds. Hayes accepted the award alongside Jimmy Garvin.