Highlights

• Terry Gordy's dedication to get in shape involved Richard Simmons, resulting in a leaner, faster wrestler.
• Despite his struggles with addiction and health issues, Gordy's wrestling career continued until his untimely passing.
• The legacy of Terry Gordy lives on through his children, who also pursued wrestling careers in WWE.

Dark Side of the Ring has found popularity with wrestling fans for its tragic stories about the wrestlers we grew up with, but even in the midst of the darkness the Vice series has often found a way to take a lighter approach with funnier stories to make those wrestlers more endearing. The latest episode of Dark Side of the Ring, "Terry Gordy: Final Flight of the Freebird", is no different. One hilarious story shows the lengths that one of the members of the legendary Fabulous Freebirds would go to get himself back in shape.

At one point in his career, while Gordy was working in Japan, his body began to fail him. He tore both of his ACLs, yet spent six months in Japan as a main eventer with no ACL in either of his knees. Surgery wasn't going to be enough, however. Terry Gordy had gained a lot of weight, leading to his doctor telling him that he needed to lose it if he wanted his knees to ever work right again. What was Terry Gordy to do?

Gordy's daughter, Miranda, who wrestles herself, explained what her dad did next. She said:

"So he contacted Richard Simmons. This huge, 6'5" man, just, you know, jazzercising, whatever Richard Simmons did. 'Come on Terry, you got this!'"

It had to be a hilarious sight to see a giant wrestler like Terry Gordy with Richard Simmons as his trainer, but it worked. He lost fifty pounds or more and became leaner and faster in the ring. Miranda said:

"Then you see the more athletic, built up Terry Gordy. You can absolutely blame that on Richard Simmons."

Related

10 Things Wrestling Fans Should Know About Terry Gordy

Terry Gordy wrestled all around the world, participated in some of the most heated stable feuds in wrestling history, and battled the greats.

Terry Gordy Was Only 40 When He Passed Away

Being that this is Dark Side of the Ring, the lighter stories are outnumbered by the sad ones. Terry Gordy struggled with a pill addiction, even going into cardiac arrest twice, including once on a plane He was never the same man after, his movements and his mental reaction time slower. Still, his career continued on, and he even made it to WWE, where he was put under a mask and named The Executioner, working alongside Paul Bearer and Mankind in their feud with The Undertaker.

On July 16, 2001, at just 40 years old, Terry Gordy passed away in his home of Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee from a heart attack due to his years of substance abuse. His wrestling legacy lived on not only through his daughter, but his son, Ray Gordy, who competed for a time in WWE as Jesse (with Luke Gallows's Festus character) and Slam Master J on SmackDown during the Ruthless Aggression era. May Terry Gordy continue to rest in peace.