Terry Ray Gordy Jr.
(born March 23, 1979)
is an American retired
professional wrestler
Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...
. He is best known for his appearances with
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...
(WWE) between 2005 and 2010, where he performed on its ''
SmackDown''
brand
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...
under the ring names Jesse and Slam Master J.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (2000–2005)
After receiving training from his father
Terry
Terry is a unisex diminutive nickname for the given names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence (given name), Terence, Terrance (masculine).
People
Male
* Terry A. Canales, American politician
* Terry A. Doughty (born 1959), American district ...
, Gordy began performing for several promotions, most notably
NWA Georgia and North American Wrestling Association (NAWA), where he found championship success in both promotions.
In 2001, Gordy went to Japan to wrestle for
Pro Wrestling Noah.
There he stayed and wrestled until 2002 where he joined NAWA Ring Champions based out of
Rome, Georgia
Rome is the largest city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia metropolitan area, Rome, Georgia, metropolitan statist ...
. There he formed a brief team with Nick Rampage and Jayson Phoenix known as the New Varsity Club. Early 2003 saw Gordy form a new union with Iceberg Slim and Tank Norton known as the Extreme Freebirds. During this time he had a string of matches against his former partners Phoenix and Rampage, along with matches against
A.J. Styles.
World Wrestling Entertainment (2005–2010)
Developmental territories (2005–2006)
In August 2005, Gordy signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (
WWE
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...
). He made his televised debut for the company on the December 9, 2005 episode of ''
SmackDown!
''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE. It airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on USA Network in the United ...
'', where he lost to
The Boogeyman in just over a minute. Following this, Gordy was assigned to
Deep South Wrestling (DSW) in early 2006 under the ring name Ray Geezy, a white
rapper
Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...
gimmick based on
Young Jeezy
Jay Wayne Jenkins (born September 28, 1977), known by his stage name Jeezy (or Young Jeezy), is an American rapper. He is credited, alongside fellow Georgia-based rappers T.I. and Gucci Mane, with pioneering the hip hop subgenre trap music fo ...
. He teamed with
Damian Steele, who contrasted Geezy by being
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, preppy and well-spoken. In November 2006, Gordy dropped the gangsta gimmick, was renamed to Cousin Ray and adopted a
hillbilly
''Hillbilly'' is a term historically used for White people who dwell in rural area, rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in the Appalachian region and Ozarks. As people migrated out of the region during the Great Depression, ...
gimmick as he began teaming with
Henry Godwinn at
''SmackDown!'' house show
A house show (also commonly called a live event) is a professional wrestling event produced by a major Professional wrestling promotion, promotion that is not televised, though they can be recorded. Promotions use house shows mainly to cash in o ...
s.
Jesse and Festus (2007–2009)
On the May 11, 2007 edition of ''SmackDown!'', a
vignette
Vignette may refer to:
* Vignette (entertainment), a sketch in a sketch comedy
* Vignette (graphic design), decorative designs in books (originally in the form of leaves and vines) to separate sections or chapters
* Vignette (literature), short, i ...
aired with Gordy as Jesse Dalton alongside fellow WWE developmental talent
Drew Hankinson as Festus Dalton. It was reported on June 2, 2007 that the Dalton Boys gimmick was being changed by WWE. Jesse and Festus were put in traditional wrestling gear and transformed their gimmick to be a little less country. On the June 29, 2007 edition of ''SmackDown!'', vignettes hyping the team of
Jesse and Festus began to air.
Jesse and Festus made their official televised in-ring debut on the October 5, 2007 edition of ''SmackDown!'', defeating Mike Tolar and
Chad Collyer
Chad Collyer (born December 12, 1974) is an American retired professional wrestler.
Professional wrestling career
Collyer attended Manchester College, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree. He was an accomplished amateur wrestler, w ...
. Their secondary gimmick was that when the opening bell rang, Festus's persona changed into a very focused, aggressive competitor as compared to the aloof, absent-minded character he had been portrayed as. When the bell rang signifying the end of the match, Festus returned to his "normal" self.
On the October 16, 2007 edition of ''
ECW'', Jesse and Festus made their debut for the
ECW brand in conjunction with a "Talent Exchange" discussed between ''ECW'' General Manager
Armando Estrada
Hazem Ali (born December 20, 1976) is a Palestinian American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and Manager (professional wrestling), manager. He is best known by his ring name Armando Alejandro Estrada or Armando Estrada, who works f ...
and acting ''SmackDown!'' General Manager
Vickie Guerrero. Jesse and Festus defeated their first notable opponents, the team of
Elijah Burke
Elijah Samuel Burke (born May 24, 1981) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler also known under the ring names "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero and Da Pope. He wrestles for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as "Da Pope" Elij ...
and
Nunzio.
On the November 9 episode of ''SmackDown!'', Jesse and Festus suffered their first WWE loss in a 10-Man Tag Team Battle Royal to determine the number one contenders for the
WWE Tag Team Championship
The WWE Tag Team Championship is a men's professional wrestling world tag team championship created and promoted by the United States, American professional wrestling promotion, promotion WWE, defended on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown WWE ...
that also involved
Deuce 'n Domino, The
Major Brothers,
Shannon Moore
Shannon Moore (born July 27, 1979) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is best known for his work with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) between 1999 and 2001 and with WWE, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) for ...
and
Jimmy Wang Yang, and
William Regal
Darren Kenneth Matthews (born 10 May 1968), better known by the ring name William Regal, is an English retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he serves as the vice-president of Global Talent Development. He is also known for ...
and
Dave Taylor. Jesse and Festus suffered their second loss in the WWE when they were defeated by the WWE Tag Team Champions
John Morrison and the Miz on the November 27 edition of ''ECW'', and lost to them again on the December 7 episode of ''SmackDown!''.
After a brief hiatus, more vignettes aired that featured Jesse explaining Festus' condition and spoke of a cure for it. The team returned on February 8, 2008, on ''SmackDown'', defeating Deuce 'n Domino.
Festus appeared to be unchanged, aside from perhaps being more aggressive than ever.
This success continued as they once again defeated Morrison and Miz in another non-title match on the February 29 edition of ''SmackDown''. When they received a title match on the March 21 edition, however, they failed to win.
They continued in a sporadic feud with Miz and Morrison for the rest of 2008, but also underwent a gimmick change which began on the September 12 edition of ''SmackDown''.
Jesse and Festus made their way to the ring, dressed in moving attire, and with a hand truck, large cardboard box and moving supplies.
After an attack from
Kenny Dykstra the duo proceeded to package Dykstra up and roll him away.
The next week they did the same thing to
Ryan Braddock and later the set of
Carlito's Cabana. The gimmick highlighted ''SmackDown's'' move to
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV (stylized as mynetworkTV; unofficially abbreviated MNT or MNTV) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its Fox Television Stations ...
, complete with overalls bearing the parodic company title of "MyMoving Company". After the show's move, however, they reverted to their previous gimmick.
On April 15, 2009, Festus was drafted to the
Raw brand as part of the
2009 Supplemental Draft and, as a result, was separated from his tag team partner Jesse who remained on ''SmackDown''.
Slam Master J (2009–2010)
Jesse appeared on the June 26 edition of ''SmackDown'', during the first televised edition of
Cryme Tyme's ''Word Up'' internet show. During this segment, Jesse reprised his thug-wannabe mannerisms from his Ray Geezy
gimmick. On the July 24 episode of ''SmackDown'', Jesse was officially renamed Slam Master J; his first match with this moniker was on the August 7 episode of ''SmackDown'', defeating
Charlie Haas. He then formed a tag team with Jimmy Wang Yang and faced
The Hart Dynasty on two occasions and lost. They picked up their first win as a team against Charlie Haas and
Mike Knox
Michael Shawn Hettinga (born July 17, 1978) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler best known under the ring name Mike Knox. He is signed to the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) where he is one half of the NWA World Tag Te ...
. Gordy was soon taken off television until he reappeared at
WrestleMania XXVI
WrestleMania XXVI was a 2010 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) List of WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming supercards, event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the 26th annual WrestleMania and took place on March 28, ...
, where he took part in the 26-man Battle Royal that also involved his former partner Festus, now known as Luke Gallows, but both were unsuccessful as the match was won by
Yoshi Tatsu.
Gordy was released from his WWE contract on April 22, 2010 along with several other talents. Following his departure from WWE, Gordy retired from
professional wrestling
Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...
and began working as a
police officer
A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...
in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
.
Personal life
Gordy is the son of professional wrestler
Terry Gordy
Terry Ray Gordy Sr. (April 23, 1961 – July 16, 2001) was an American professional wrestler from Soddy-Daisy, TN. Gordy appeared in the United States with promotions such as Mid-South Wrestling, Georgia Championship Wrestling, World Class Ch ...
(1961–2001), the brother of professional wrestler Miranda Gordy, and the cousin of professional wrestler
Richard Slinger.
On April 2, 2016, Gordy made an appearance at the 2016
WWE Hall of Fame
The WWE Hall of Fame is a List of halls and walks of fame, hall of fame which honors professional wrestlers and professional wrestling personalities maintained by WWE. Originally known as the "WWF Hall of Fame", it was created in 1993 when An ...
ceremony during his father Terry's induction as part of The
Fabulous Freebirds
The Fabulous Freebirds were a professional wrestling tag team who attained fame in the 1980s, performing into the 1990s. The team usually consisted of three wrestlers, although in different situations and points in its history, just two performed ...
, accepting the award on his behalf.
Championships and accomplishments
*
Georgia Championship Wrestling
Georgia Championship Wrestling is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The promotion was affiliated with what had been the world's top sanctioning body of championship titles for decades b ...
**
NWA Georgia Junior Heavyweight Championship (
1 time)
*
NWA Wildside
**
NWA Wildside Heavyweight Championship (
1 time)
*North American Wrestling Association
**NAWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
*''
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...
''
**PWI ranked him #147 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the
PWI 500
''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...
in 2008
See also
*
Jesse and Festus
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordy, Ray
1979 births
American male professional wrestlers
Living people
Professional wrestlers from Tennessee
Sportspeople from Chattanooga, Tennessee
20th-century male professional wrestlers
20th-century American professional wrestlers
21st-century male professional wrestlers
21st-century American professional wrestlers
NWA Georgia Heavyweight Champions
NWA Georgia Junior Heavyweight Champions