RIP The Funker

[The Great ML]

 Arguably the greatest to do it…RIP Terry.

Edited August 23, 2023 by The Great ML

[Matt D]

Foley confirmed. (Edited it out since it's in the post below)

Top five wrestler ever. Whether he's two or three or four or one is up to you, but he was magic. Transcendent. 

He could do anything but almost no one can do what he could do.

Edited August 23, 2023 by Matt D

[nofuture]

 

[hammerva]

Professional wrestling just lost its soul today.  He is everything that defines this.  The promos, the actual wrestling skills,  the bat shit craziness.  Everything.  

 

[Death From Above]

There's no way I can possibly put this death into words other than to say he was simply one of the best to ever do it. I honestly don't think it's possible to have any even slightly meaningful grasp of the history of pro wrestling and not rate Terry Funk as an all-timer.

Anyway, here's the best heel promo I've ever seen.

 

[For Great Justice]

If not the greatest of all time, easily one of the five greatest of all time. An all timer five tool player who could do absolutely anything on the card at an elite level: face, heel, talk, bump, sell, brawl, wrestle, fly, comedy, whatever.

The best.

[Peck]

Other than perhaps Owen, this one has and will hit me the hardest. Just the absolute greatest and a true, true honor to meet him and spend a tiny bit of time with him. 

Admins, I don't plan on it but If I ever get Cash'ed from this place please make an exception and leave my Terry avatar up. 

Edited August 23, 2023 by Peck

[Greggulator]

The empty arena classic with Lawler might be the best stipulation match of all-time. No one could ever begin to duplicate that madness. 

[Web Conn]

This is a hard one. Terry Funk was wrestling. I watched Beyond the Mat in 6th grade around Easter time we rented it from a video store, it had to be 2002 so the movie hadn’t been around all that long but I remember that was maybe my first introduction to Terry Funk. I remember Worldwide aired the 94 WarGames in the dying days of WCW but Beyond the Mat was when I was really introduced to the man, Terry Funk. I’ve been a fan of his since that day.

 

[Phantom Lord]

This one does hurt. Terry was the absolute best at what he did.

[clintthecrippler]

Not that I needed more reasons - as if main eventing against Hogan and Flair, making Mick Foley's career with their series of legendary matches, calling Dusty Rhodes an egg sucking dog, putting ECW and Sabu on the wrestling map, and brawling with Steve Austin after calling Jim Ross an "Okie ASSHOLE!"  wasn't enough - but Terry Funk fully cemented my fandom of his forever one Sunday 23 years ago in Northern Michigan. 

I shared this story a few years back in a thread about my favorite live wrestling experiences. Thank you Terry for making the town that night even though you were also needed somewhere more important. 

-----

R.A.W. COMES TO TOWN!" (R.A.W. = "Renegades Alliance of Wrestling") and Terry Funk makes an indie date on the same night as a WCW PPV booking two hours later and 700 miles away.
 
I went to college in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, a small city called Marquette, home to Northern Michigan University. The local celebrity was Mike Shaw (Bastion Booger/Norman The Lunatic), who was a native to the region and retired there to raise his family once his WWF days were over. He would work at a local copper mine during the summer, and while school was in session, he would work nights/weekends as a doorman/bouncer at one of the more popular college bars in town.
 
About once a year, a money mark would try to promote a wrestling show in the area using Shaw as a draw, but would never be more than a one-off. I recall there was one with a local casino that brought in Brooklyn Brawler to work Shaw, and there was another one at one of the area hockey arenas that had a fake Doink and a fake La Parka but somehow had real Meng while he was still under WCW contract. But the most notorious of these one-offs was when "R.A.W." came to town. And when I say "R.A.W.", I mean the Renegades Alliance of Wrestling.
 
The main event was Typhoon vs Tatanka, the semi-main was a tag team match of Sabu/Bruce Hart vs. Brutus Beefcake/Greg Valentine. The promoters rented a frigging BOXING ring from a local gym, which would have been bad enough if it just meant guys bumping on a hard boxing canvas, but they used the boxing ROPES as well, so damn near anything involving running the ropes or climbing the ropes looked like shit, though god bless him that didn't stop Sabu from making three attempts at a springboard bodypress to the outside onto Beefcake, who didn't make any effort to protect Sabu when the rope sagged forward and he went splat on the floor.
 
But this was also the night that Terry Funk endeared himself in my heart forever. The week after flyers/radio commercials for the show started floating around the area and he was advertised as one of the wrestlers appearing, Terry Funk started showing up on WCW TV again. An angle ran that lead to Terry Funk being booked against Kevin Nash at WCW Souled Out 2000...on the same night as the "R.A.W." show.
 
So naturally, my friends and I assumed that Funk would not be appearing on our show. Before doors open, we ran into Eric Ingles working for the local TV station who was there in the afternoon recording pre-show interviews for the 6PM news broadcast that would air a couple of hours before bell time for last-minute promo. He told us Funk was there (side note: the same promoter ran another town three hours away the night before, and one of the undercard wrestlers has since told me that Funk worked the night before in a falls-count-anywhere hardcore match against Shaw and got Muta-level juice when a trash can spot went wrong, which of course is now a holy grail match for me if anyone recorded it that night), and the plan was that Funk would go out to open the show and then immediately hop on a plane to the WCW PPV, which was in Ohio that night so a quick flight was doable provided weather panned out.
 
The show opened with one of Shaw's trainees - "The Irish Luchador" Billy McNeill who ended up working St. Louis indies for a while and running in the same circles as folks like Matt Sydal and Delirious prior to their ROH days - receiving the "R.A.W. Rookie of the Year" award, and then Terry Funk comes storming out of the locker room and assaulting McNeill and issuing an open challenge to anyone in the locker room, which summons Bruce Hart. Bruce Hart and Terry Funk then do a wild five-minute brawl all over the gymnasium before they end up tumbling through a door to outside the gym, where I assume a car was waiting for Funk. Bruce Hart of course being Bruce Hart, comes back to the ring, and on a show that was in a high school and had been promoted as "family-friendly" immediately starts calling Funk a "chicken shit" on the mic.
 
It may not have been a proper match, but Terry Funk cemented my fandom forever that night by still showing up on the same night as a WCW PPV booking, when everyone would have understood if he canceled off the show.
 
And yes, the promoters really did say "R.A.W. Comes to Marquette!" on the flyers/posters promoting the show. In January 2000. When WWE RAW was red-hot.

[caley]

In honor of his passing, this if my favourite non-Foley Terry Funk story, taken from Bruce Hart's autobiography 'Straight From the Hart': Bruce, Bret and Dean Hart travel down to Texas to work with Dory, only to find him away but are told that his younger brother Terry would look after them

"Terry said he had an angle in mind, which entailed me pretending to be a mark in the crowd and running into the ring on the finish to save the local hero Dick Murdoch.  Murdoch would be caught in the Russian sleeper hold, being applied by the dastardly Boris Malenko - their top heel.

I told Terry I'd be happy to give it a shot. Since I was supposed to appear to be a "mark", Terry didn't want us to be seen getting out of his car or walking in with him , so he dropped us off what he said was a block or so from the buildnig - which proved to be a mile or two.  When we finally made it to the arena and sat down ringside and proceeded to play our roles - hardcore mark types - booing, cheering and whatnot, our actions seemed to rub some of the rednecks we were sitting near the wrong way and we almost got into a fight or two with them.

During the main event, when Malenko gos hist dreaded Russian sleeper hold on Murdoch, I slid under the bottom rope and jumped on Malenko's back, piggyback style.

I should note that I'd never met either Malenko or Murdoch before this and I sensed something was wron, as Malenko tensed up and I heard him telling Murdoch "some fucking mark just jumped on my back."  He then gave me a stiff head mare on the mat.  As I was laying on the mat, I saw him wrapping the chain around his fist and drawing back to clobber me with it.  Wide-eyed and scared shitless I began shouting, "Kayfabe, kayfabe", which is the wrestler's way of letting the other guy know that you're not a mark.  He looked at me, kind of perplexed and I shouted, "Terry Funk told me to run in on the finish." Malenko and Murdoch looked at each other, puzzled and Murdoc then snarled, "That fucking Terry and his ribs."

At that point, I suddenly found myself surrounded by cops, who handcuffed me and dragged my ass out of the ring.  They threw me in the back of their police cruiser and i was contemplating having to spend the night in a southern jail - which, based on movied I'd seen, was nothing to look forward to.

My spirits brightened mometarily when I saw Terry Funk come out the back door of the arenaa and approach the police cruiser.  I figured that he'd tell the cops everything was cool, but he instead launched into an Academy Award-deserving rant about how I'd endangered the safety of thousands of fans, beseeching the cops to lcok me up and throw the keys away.  He then stormed away in a huff, making out to be incenesed and leaving me to ponder how I was going to get my ass out of this thing."

Eventually Lord Alfred Hayes talked the cops into letting Bruce go, and he says he and Terry laughed about the incident and became good friends. 

RIP Terry Funk

[Matt D]

I had posted before just to confirm because all we had at first was Flair.

I'll post again at some point too. This is a me thing...

But, with a guy like Funk who has been out of the national light of even doing interviews since 2020, my personal feeling is this:  If they're not in our weekly or even monthly life (let's say like a Jim Ross or Jake Roberts is, let alone someone who was relatively young and vibrant like an Eddy Guerrero or Jay Briscoe)... If they've retired from the public eye due to health reasons or their own choices, then I'm sad for their family and for those who did get to see them, for even the possibility of maybe hearing something new from them once again, but I don't really mourn their death. They were already gone from my life in every way that mattered.

I celebrate their life. And I celebrate their work and their presence.

And there's so much to celebrate with Terry Funk.

I'm not going to give up any insider info or anything, but I have it from good authority that someone that we almost all admire as a wrestler (and many of us see as one of the best ever) saw this match for the first time recently and was absolutely blown away by it:

It's probably the best NWA Title match ever. You could do worse than watch it to remember the guy. But then again, you could watch almost anything he ever did and see the spark of what made him special.

[odessasteps]

RIP to the man who broke the five star system 40+ years ago.

[Web Conn]

 

[Pete]

Death. Taxes. "WWE is saddened."

This one hits hard. Funk was a trailblazer who could do it all... maybe the all-time "five tool" wrestler, and someone who reinvented himself almost as many times as his body betrayed him. Not much more to be said... I'm just incredibly glad I got to see him live (ECW's infamous "Hardcore Heaven" with the night of a thousand chairs thrown into the ring) a handful of times when he was still a force of nature. RIP.

[Octopus]

Terry Funk was Pro Wrestling. 

[Sex Machine Gun]

"Fuck you horse, I'll kick your ass!"

A man to be emulated.

Edited August 23, 2023 by Sex Machine Gun

[odessasteps]

https://youtu.be/vh7H_YIuqgU?si=lNDreT8Yw7aYNlsO

That was no jackass. That was Ric Flair.

[nofuture]

 

[Cobra Commander]

 

[Curt McGirt]

This might be uncharacteristically positive, but think about this: We were alive when Terry Funk was alive. That's not too bad, is it? 

[Greggulator]

34 minutes ago, clintthecrippler said:

Not that I needed more reasons - as if main eventing against Hogan and Flair, making Mick Foley's career with their series of legendary matches, calling Dusty Rhodes an egg sucking dog, putting ECW and Sabu on the wrestling map, and brawling with Steve Austin after calling Jim Ross an "Okie ASSHOLE!"  wasn't enough - but Terry Funk fully cemented my fandom of his forever one Sunday 23 years ago in Northern Michigan. 

I shared this story a few years back in a thread about my favorite live wrestling experiences. Thank you Terry for making the town that night even though you were also needed somewhere more important. 

-----

R.A.W. COMES TO TOWN!" (R.A.W. = "Renegades Alliance of Wrestling") and Terry Funk makes an indie date on the same night as a WCW PPV booking two hours later and 700 miles away.
 
I went to college in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, a small city called Marquette, home to Northern Michigan University. The local celebrity was Mike Shaw (Bastion Booger/Norman The Lunatic), who was a native to the region and retired there to raise his family once his WWF days were over. He would work at a local copper mine during the summer, and while school was in session, he would work nights/weekends as a doorman/bouncer at one of the more popular college bars in town.
 
About once a year, a money mark would try to promote a wrestling show in the area using Shaw as a draw, but would never be more than a one-off. I recall there was one with a local casino that brought in Brooklyn Brawler to work Shaw, and there was another one at one of the area hockey arenas that had a fake Doink and a fake La Parka but somehow had real Meng while he was still under WCW contract. But the most notorious of these one-offs was when "R.A.W." came to town. And when I say "R.A.W.", I mean the Renegades Alliance of Wrestling.
 
The main event was Typhoon vs Tatanka, the semi-main was a tag team match of Sabu/Bruce Hart vs. Brutus Beefcake/Greg Valentine. The promoters rented a frigging BOXING ring from a local gym, which would have been bad enough if it just meant guys bumping on a hard boxing canvas, but they used the boxing ROPES as well, so damn near anything involving running the ropes or climbing the ropes looked like shit, though god bless him that didn't stop Sabu from making three attempts at a springboard bodypress to the outside onto Beefcake, who didn't make any effort to protect Sabu when the rope sagged forward and he went splat on the floor.
 
But this was also the night that Terry Funk endeared himself in my heart forever. The week after flyers/radio commercials for the show started floating around the area and he was advertised as one of the wrestlers appearing, Terry Funk started showing up on WCW TV again. An angle ran that lead to Terry Funk being booked against Kevin Nash at WCW Souled Out 2000...on the same night as the "R.A.W." show.
 
So naturally, my friends and I assumed that Funk would not be appearing on our show. Before doors open, we ran into Eric Ingles working for the local TV station who was there in the afternoon recording pre-show interviews for the 6PM news broadcast that would air a couple of hours before bell time for last-minute promo. He told us Funk was there (side note: the same promoter ran another town three hours away the night before, and one of the undercard wrestlers has since told me that Funk worked the night before in a falls-count-anywhere hardcore match against Shaw and got Muta-level juice when a trash can spot went wrong, which of course is now a holy grail match for me if anyone recorded it that night), and the plan was that Funk would go out to open the show and then immediately hop on a plane to the WCW PPV, which was in Ohio that night so a quick flight was doable provided weather panned out.
 
The show opened with one of Shaw's trainees - "The Irish Luchador" Billy McNeill who ended up working St. Louis indies for a while and running in the same circles as folks like Matt Sydal and Delirious prior to their ROH days - receiving the "R.A.W. Rookie of the Year" award, and then Terry Funk comes storming out of the locker room and assaulting McNeill and issuing an open challenge to anyone in the locker room, which summons Bruce Hart. Bruce Hart and Terry Funk then do a wild five-minute brawl all over the gymnasium before they end up tumbling through a door to outside the gym, where I assume a car was waiting for Funk. Bruce Hart of course being Bruce Hart, comes back to the ring, and on a show that was in a high school and had been promoted as "family-friendly" immediately starts calling Funk a "chicken shit" on the mic.
 
It may not have been a proper match, but Terry Funk cemented my fandom forever that night by still showing up on the same night as a WCW PPV booking, when everyone would have understood if he canceled off the show.
 
And yes, the promoters really did say "R.A.W. Comes to Marquette!" on the flyers/posters promoting the show. In January 2000. When WWE RAW was red-hot.

Bolded because OMFG WTF??? That is pro wrestling and Terry Funk was part of it. 

[JLowe]

Wow, he seemed like someone who would love forever, telling Death to suck eggs and swinging a bull rope.

I HATED him so much when he was in the classic 80s WWF, he was such a good heel. He stood out when he talked because he could be so calm and quiet about how he was going to whip you and brand you, instead of just screaming and hollering. Then he’d get to the ring and everything felt right on the verge of being totally out of control, like “maybe this is real”.

With time and the Internet, I learned to appreciate his greatness and became a huge fan, like so many of us. Recently I’ve been watching the early ECW TV and he’s the saving grace of those rough early shows.

Every time I would work in west Texas or the Panhandle, I would hope that somehow I’d see the gates of the Double Cross Ranch, or even run into the man himself.

Edited August 23, 2023 by JLowe

[HumanChessgame]

I started watching wrestling via WWF in the early 90s and only knew of Funk via mentions in Apter's magazines when I started reading those. Several years later I started reading articles and seeing pictures of him in ECW and how he was able to stand toe to toe with far younger guys in all sorts of wild brawls. In late 96-early 97 I started getting up at 6am on Saturday mornings to watch ECW on some random sports channel and ended up with a well worn 6 hour VHS of various episodes I'd taped. I want to say the first time I saw him actually wrestle was against Brian Lee in a match where he got repeatedly beaten with a trash can then threatened Raven backstage afterwards. Despite him being a generation older and showing a lot of physical wear and tear, seeing how he was able to dish out and withstand punishment and just carry that overall aura of toughness made me realize why he got so much respect in the business.

In the years since I've watched lots of his matches from different eras and even though his style would evolve a lot of things would remain constant. He was one of the best talkers around in that he wasn't super over the top, but you believed what he said, and he drew you in. When he was on offense he made it look like a fight. Even though he might be struggling with an opponent he had this intensity about him where he looked to be seriously trying to win a contest. Few people sold better than he did. Any time he was on the receiving end, he made the other guy's offense look painful. He took the beating like someone in an action movie and you could feel the pain in how he emoted with his face and body.

I'm going to dig up my tape of Born to be Wired and the IWA deathmatch tournament (if they still work) and pay tribute.