Freebird Buddy 'Jack' Roberts Passes!

Another tough loss for the old-school wrestling fan.  Buddy "Jack" Roberts has passed away at the age of 65.  Roberts had been battling throat cancer for some time.

Roberts was best known as one-third of the greatest three-man tag team ever -- The Fabulous Freebirds.  Roberts was the veteran mentor to young wrestlers Michael "P.S. Hayes and Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy.  Their battles with the Von Erich Family are still talked about in Dallas, TX and the rest of the wrestling world.  Prior to becoming a Freebird, Roberts was one half of the original Hollywood Blonds with Jerry Brown (There would later be a Hollywood Blonds team with Stunning Steve Austin and Brian Pillman).  Roberts and Brown would be a championship team led by Sir Oliver Humperdink among others.

Hayes and the "Undercover Freebird," Jim Garvin are the only remaining official Freebirds remaining.  Gordy passed away at the age of 40 in 2001.  Ironically, Brad Armstrong, who passed away earlier this month, was in a later edition of the Freebirds as the masked wrestler Badstreet.

Brad Armstrong Passes Away at 51!

Once again, more sad news about a wrestler passing away too young.  Brad Armstrong, who wrestled primarily in the Georgia, Mid-South (UWF) and NWA/WCW territories, passed away on November 1 at the age of 51.

The oldest son of "Bullet" Bob Armstrong, Brad Armstrong had won a number of junior heavyweight titles but was best known for his work in tag matches either with his father as his partner or with "White Lightning" Tim Horner as "The Lightning Express."  Brad's brothers, Steve, Scott and Brian (AKA Road Dogg Jesse James) were also wrestlers.  In 2011, Brad helped induct his father into the WWE Hall of Fame.

I was a big fan of Brad Armstrong either in singles or in his work with Tim Horner.  The Lightning Express, in my opinion, were one of the most underrated tag teams of the mid-to-late 80's, which were stocked with quality tag teams.  Here they are wearing the UWF Tag Team title belts.  No official word on cause of death.