Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
Wrestling fans are familiar with Michael ‘PS’ Hayes, the very charismatic member of the team known as ‘The Fabulous Freebirds.’ The group also consisted of Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts and together ran roughshod through various territories…mainly World Class Championship Wrestling based in Dallas, Texas. For a very brief five months, the Freebirds joined the ever expanding World Wrestling Federation. While their run with the WWF was mostly unmemorable, it could have been way much more.
In late 1984, Vince McMahon was capitalizing on the growing popularity of cable television, in particular MTV. The combination of professional wrestling and popular music aka the Rock N Wrestling connection was underway. The Freebirds were planned to be a very big part of that era for the WWF according to music producer Jimmy Pappa.
Jimmy Pappa was a second generation music producer/manager, whose father was Tony Pappa, a music executive who worked with the likes of the Four Tops, BB King and Bob Marley. The younger Pappa started working with his father as a teenager and learned the music business from him. While Vince McMahon was incorporating musical acts like Cyndi Lauper to the wrestling world, McMahon wanted the WWF to be incorporated in the music world. To do that, McMahon wanted to make an album from WWF stars.
To do that, music manager to Cyndi Lauper…David Wolff brought in Pappa to help produce a record and their choice for an act was the pseudo rock star himself Michael Hayes. Wolff had been acting as the manager for the Freebirds on WWF television and their gimmicks were tweaked to look more as rock n roll stars than a group of badass wrestlers.
Pappa, Wolff and the WWF were able to negotiate a record deal for Michael Hayes to sing and perform that was worth $750,000. Not only did they secure him a record contract, they also were willing to invest thousands more on promotion and advertising of said record. In addition to all of that, with McMahon’s ties to MTV, a music video would be produced along with more appearances for Hayes on that channel.
A lot of time and money were committed to Michael Hayes the WWF rock star. Then one late night, Jimmy Pappa received a phone call from Michael Hayes. Pappa asked Hayes what was going on and Hayes said he was back in Atlanta. Pappa was confused because he knew that Hayes and the rest of the Freebirds were supposed to be in New York City with WWF commitments. Hayes told Pappa that he and his brothers decided to quit the WWF and return home. In a panic, Pappa tried to convince Hayes and the Freebirds to go back up north. Pappa made it known that there were a lot of different people and a lot of money invested in them and needed to honor those commitments. By Hayes walking away from all of that could lead to a lot of legal issues and cause more drama than it was worth.
Michael Hayes agreed to return to the WWF with Buddy Roberts in tow. Terry Gordy decided to stay behind. Hayes and Roberts honored their WWF contractual commitments for the next few weeks. By that time, word got back to all involved that Hayes had looked to renege on his record deal. That left many with a bitter taste in their mouth about Hayes and the Freebirds and questioned if they could be trusted. Hayes agreed to go along with recording the album, but had booked a tour of Japan for about a month (Something Vince McMahon was well aware of before he signed the trio).
Many didn’t want Hayes to go on that Japanese tour, but Hayes went anyway. After a month away from the WWF, many people involved with the record deal became very skittish of Hayes and decided to back out. Everything that was planned and negotiated for Hayes went out the window. No record deal, no music video, no concerts…nothing.
Years later, Pappa would reveal other plans to help make the record a success and make Michael Hayes a household name. According to Pappa, Vince McMahon promised to put the WWF title on Hayes. This tidbit might have been just McMahon appeasing the record company and MTV because Hulk Hogan was blossoming as a huge star. While it is hard to believe the WWF would take the belt off of Hogan and give it to Michael Hayes….with all the money they promised to invest in Hayes…who really knows? There was also a plan to have the rest of the Freebirds break away from Hayes and turn heel on him. This would solidify Hayes as a singles star. Michael Hayes was dead set against splitting up with Gordy and Roberts and may have led to his decision to quit.
Whatever the case was, it is fascinating to think what might have been. Would the record be a success? Would Michael Hayes become a big star as a wrestler for the company? Would McMahon actually go through with making Hayes WWF champion? Hayes still had a solid career wrestling all over the world with and without the Freebirds by his side. He also did release a record called Off The Streets. McMahon would finally get his wish and a WWF album was recorded with various wrestlers later in 1985.