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RIP The Funker

The Great ML
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BloodyChamp

BloodyChamp

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Posted

I heard about it a couple hours ago and just wanted to say so, and that I’m sad but also glad that he’s in heaven and ok. I said a little prayer and thought about him over a dinner that I sorta made Texas style just for him. I’ll get in on the discussion of how freaking great he was soon like we all do in these threads. 

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Octopus

Octopus

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F278121-A-89-B0-4787-9629-5-F704-BDF5-E0
 

Made this just to show his range of great work and individuality as a legend.

(top row: Harley Race, Jumbo Tsuruta, Bruiser Brody

middle row: Jerry Lawler, Ric Flair, Bret Hart

bottom row: Cactus Jack, Atsushi Onita, Sabu)

Edited by Octopus
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BloodyChamp

BloodyChamp

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16 hours ago, For Great Justice said:

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.

So many posts that I’ll want to quote and comment on I’m sure but this is the first one. The Anywhere on the Card list of wrestlers that we’ve discussed before is short, but it has Terry Funk on it. The top guys that are on that list are usually left off of it because people just remember them as top guys but Terry Funk was all of the guys. He was that good here, there, and everywhere.

Edited by BloodyChamp
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BloodyChamp

BloodyChamp

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4 hours ago, HumanChessgame said:

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.

Those are 2 freaking great matches. The hindsighted cynics who say otherwise for reasons that have nothing to do with wrestling can kiss my jackass. 

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BloodyChamp

BloodyChamp

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6 minutes ago, The Great ML said:

Terry Funk coming out to that crazy harmonica theme at Bash 89 is an underrated entrance. He felt…dangerous.

That was actually a brand name song from a popular western movie IIRC. Expanding on his WCW run besides O he rassled Flair and they broke a table and did piledrivers like everybody always says is on my list of things to do in this thread as soon as I catch up a little. That theme, to which he walked a teeeeny bit slower to the ring with the branding iron, heel western jacket, hat, etc was just great. Terry Funk was the GOAT heel cowboy among many other GOAT things. He was the top heel in WCW which is saying alot since by extension it made Flair the top face. That’s right…argue it however but it’s the truth. Ric Flair was the top face in WCW in 1989 after Funk attacked him. It wasn’t Sting, Luger, or any of the immediate future top guys and the overall product was so much better than the WWF at the time. The only problem was the business end crap that we’ve discussed 1000 times.

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BobbyWhioux

BobbyWhioux

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A Pro Wrestler's Pro Wrestler.

You want to explain the conceit of pro wrestling to someone who's never heard of it before but you've only got three seconds?  You show them a photo of Terry Funk.

I talk a lot about how the greatest wrestlers are usually great two-way players:  equally believable (and great) in both the face and heel role.  Singles, Tag, Serious, Comedic, Anywhere on the card, and they will make it work.  Savage and Guererro are the classic examples. Danielson's the best example in his generation. Bayley's gonna be there by the time she's done.  But if "Best Two-Way Player" was an NHL-style post-season award in wrestling, Terry Funk is who that award would be named after. 

Funk was forever THE two-way player.  As great a face as Dusty.  As great a heel as Bockwinkel.  As terrifying a maniac as The Shiek.  As hilarious a stooge as Jacques Rougeau. 

Like with Dusty, it's bizarrely difficult to be sad at his passing because to think of Terry Funk is to, after that first moment of sorrow, be instantly entertained, remembering so many wonderful matches and moments that put a big a smile on your face today as the first time you saw them.

It's always a good time to go back and watch a Terry Funk match.  But especially now.  And be thankful for videotape.

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BloodyChamp

BloodyChamp

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6 hours ago, Death From Above said:

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.

 

I laugh, cringe, admire and tonight almost cried when he said OINK! OINK! OINK! Hot dang that’s as great to watch now as it was infuriating as a fan to watch back then. 

I’ve never seen that tournament in full but I have watched more Puerto Rico wrestling over the years than the average fan of our mold has. I know many people acknowledge its greatness but leave it alone since Brody. One thing that always comes up and manages not to get wrapped up in Brody is this tournament and it’s because of Terry Funk. The guy just made everything great. I loved him. I almost feel bad booing him. I mean I hated that mfer lol!!!!!! And I loved him just as much when I learned about what was really going on.

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Peck

Peck

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I already posted on the 1st page of this thread but I just want you all to know that it's 1:40AM out here, I can't sleep, and I'm absolutely sobbing like a baby reading through all of your tributes to Terry. 

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SirSmUgly

SirSmUgly

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6 hours ago, Ace said:

The first non-WWF wrestling show I saw was WCW, right after Flair won the title back from Steamboat and Funk piledrove him through a table. I was hooked ever since.

R.I.P. to the best to ever do it.

 

That Funk/Flair match is my personal favorite Flair bout, as an aside.

Who doesn't like Terry Funk? If you can't enjoy a Funk match, you don't like pro wrestling.

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DMN

DMN

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10 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

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

I got to see Terry Funk wrestle Roddy Piper at a PWG show in a hotel ballroom by LAX, so I've got that going for me, which is nice.

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Travis Sheldon

Travis Sheldon

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I was there in '89 when he turned Flair face and put him through the table, one of the most electrifying moments I ever got to see i person.

Five years later he was helping to put ECW and Shane Douglas on the map, that was when I first got in to tape trading. 

There's so many memories that I have of the Funker, beating on Chris Candido in a horse stall (with the horse still inside) and spooking said horse to where it started kicking, which Funk no sold , of course,

King of the Death Match, Chainsaw Charlie, Beyond the Mat, and how could I forget Paradise Alley and Road House t name a few of his film roles.

R.I.P. to one of the GOAT. No cap.

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zendragon

zendragon

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370159365_10232336424371389_4844829129279219838_n.jpg?_nc_cat=110&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=KCxYFFAx0i0AX-jA90I&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-1.xx&oh=00_AfDhLi9AqicFy9Vv0PUkHx_c3HXnPKxbIs0nf-ldnje9mg&oe=64EBD7A2

I think the first match of his I ever saw was that crazy match against Foley where he did the moonsault off the railing. Over the years I've gone back and watched as much as I could. His NWA stuff against flair the ECW stuff. I'm gonna have to find time to go throught his thread

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