The Fabulous Freebirds to be inducted into WWE Hall of Fame

STAMFORD, Conn., March 1 (UPI) -- Legendary tag team The Fabulous Freebirds will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, the company announced Monday.

The original group consisting of the mouthpiece Michael "P.S." Hayes, the powerhouse Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy and the mat technician Buddy "Jack" Roberts are regarded as "one of the most infamous and influential groups in sports-entertainment history," WWE said in a statement.

Known for introducing the "Freebird Rule" which meant any two members of the team could defend their tag team championships on any given night, The Fabulous Freebirds were known for drawing heated reactions from crowds in the late 1970s and 1980s as they cheated their way into victory.

"Every year around this time, I'd be on pins and needles, hoping we'd get in, because our career speaks for itself," Hayes told Rolling Stone after the announcement was made. "We put [expletive] in seats and I think you could take a poll of anybody who ever paid their hard-earned money to come see us, and they'd say they got more than their money's worth. And that was huge to us, because we were wrestling fans too."

The Freebirds were also one of the original groups to walk out to their own recorded theme song, "Badsteet U.S.A.," opening the door for other WWE Superstars to have original entrance music.

The upcoming Hall of Fame ceremony taking place during WrestleMania week in Dallas will serve as a homecoming for the group who primarily competed out of Texas-based World Class Championship Wrestling. The stable had a brief run in WWE before moving onto World Championship Wrestling where a fourth member joined, Jimmy "Jam" Garvin.

Garvin and Hayes represent the only surviving members of The Fabulous Freebirds as Gordy died in 2001 after suffering from a heart attack while Roberts died after complications from pneumonia in 2012.

The Fabulous Freebirds are the third inductees announced for the Hall of Fame class of 2016 following wrestling icon Sting and charismatic ladies man The Godfather.