Hayes and Garvin were paired as the Freebirds in WCW in 1989, enjoying several reigns as World and United States tag-team champions, and were joined by Gordy for a while as well.
Their name was inspired by the Lynyrd Skynyrd song "Free Bird", which would be their theme song until "Badstreet USA" (sung, composed, and co-written by Hayes) replaced it in 1984.