Profile #901: Michael "P.S." Hayes

As a kid growing up, I always thought Michael "P.S." Hayes was the coolest guy in wrestling. He did the moonwalk (when it was still cool), he had a faux-rock star lip snarl goin' on, and his chest hair was a different color than the hair on his head. That pretty much sealed it for me. Hayes was a character among characters, a diehard party guy, and the undisputed leader of the feared Freebirds triptych---along with Buddy "Jack" Roberts [See Profile #888] and Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy [See Profile #71])---who resided in Atlanta, GA. Or, as Hayes liked to refer to it: Badstreet USA.

The best way to summarize Hayes' brash personality is revealed when he was asked what the "P.S." in his name stood for. Hayes' deadpan response? Purely Sexy.

In early 1982, Hayes and his fellow Freebirds sauntered into Fritz Von Erich's WCCW promotion and promptly began a feud with the Von Erich boys. The battle raged on in the South, where "P.S." was reviled for slamming a steel cage door on Kerry Von Erich's head [See Profile #111]. Hayes & Co. left for greener pastures and ended up in Verne Gagne's AWA for a couple of years (1985-1986), briefly getting his assed kicked by The Road Warriors [See Profile #4]. But watching Hayes get his ass kicked was a thing of beauty. The guy wore spandex to the ring, had blonde hair, a black beard, and brown chest hair. And everyone hated him. But he carried himself as though he was the best entertainer on the planet; and I have to say, he was pretty good. The biggest mark he would leave came during his tenure in Bill Watts' UWF, where he became embroiled in a rare heel-vs-heel feud with General Skandar Akbar's army. For the first time, fans cheered Hayes' underhanded tactics and the cheers must've gone to his head, as he would eventually decide it would be a good thing to put out a music video to accompany his braggadacio. And I must say: perhaps the best music video ever put to celluloid. Don't believe me? Check this shit out:




Once the UWF was subsumed by the NWA in mid-1987, Hayes & Co. took on "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin [See Profile #585] as the fourth Freebird. A brief face run in the NWA turned into Hayes and Garvin capturing the tag-team titles several times as they straddled the line between comical heels and beloved faces. Hayes turned out to be one of the few party guys from the '80s who likely indulged in all kinds of decadence and lived to tell about it. Sadly, I can't say the same for his longtime Freebird companion, Terry Gordy. Now's the part where I'm supposed to be trite and cliche and quote Skynrd--but I won't. Sike, I will: "Because I'm free as a bird now, / and this bird you cannot change! / Whoa-whoa-whoa-ah-whoa......"

Where is he now? Hayes took on a creative director position in the WWE, the fucking sellout.