David Dexter reports that WWE Hall of Famer and WCCW legend Kevin Von Erich joined Dave Lagreca and Doug Mortman on Busted Open radio to give his thoughts on the passing of Buddy Roberts. You can hear Busted Open on Sirius 92, XM 208 and Sports Zone on the internet.
Thoughts on Buddy Roberts: “He really helped me out a lot. He was really a big help. He was such a tough guy who worked super solid. The kind of wrestling style I wanted to do. He taught me so much and I owe that guy so much. I also have to say this…Michael Hayes, I know how he may come off on t.v. , but he has a heart of gold. He is really hurting, I guarantee you. The guy is hurting, so remember him in your prayers. This is killing him.”
His friendship with Michael Hayes: “We put a lot of time in together. We’ve gone through a lot of suffering together. We’ve been through a lot of rocky trials. I guess that just made us closer. I think of the world of all those guys, as well as respect their professionalism. The way they (Freebirds) were committed to entertainment. They are just the epitome of entertainment.”
Story of an in ring incident with Buddy Roberts: “It was a big hot tag and I had just come in. I was just dying to get into the ring, actually David and I both. Finally Kerry tagged me in, and I come in and bang, bang I am going at it with Buddy, and we are just going nuts. I had Buddy in the corner and he was on the ground and I came in and kicked him right in the face. He just cut into my foot. I had ten stitches on the outside of my foot and ten on the inside of my foot. One of the seconds came in and told me that Buddy wanted me to tell you that “you better have that looked at it because he doesn’t like to brush his teeth.” (Laughing). The doctor told me you would have been better off being bitten by a cobra.”
On Buddy Roberts always getting the beatings for the Freebirds: “The people wanted us to get at Michael Hayes or Terry Gordy so bad, but it always seemed to be always against Buddy, and he was always getting the worst of it. The people never really got to see what they wanted because we were too busy beating up Buddy. We couldn’t get to Terry, because Michael had a slick way of getting all the heat and avoiding all the payback. Michael was a slick guy. God, what a great team they were.”
On talking with Buddy’s widow: “I talked to Buddy’s wife Janice yesterday. She is taking this well. Buddy was suffering with the cancer, but he was beating it. But it was the pneumonia that got into the one lung and then the other. He had time to make peace. He was just ready to go. You can take some comfort in that, knowing he really wasn’t suffering. He was ready to go and he went. 65 years old and what a life he had. “