RIP The Funker

[(BP)]

Terry as Dazzing Demolition Dirk, a career enhancement wrestler who decides to SHOOT during his retirement match. Was this story fact or fiction? That’s a problem we leave you to wrestle with. 

 

[J.H.]

I wish I could find the bonkers Funk promo from WWF where he goes on about how he got his head stuck under his bed as a boy and how, if not for "Hoss" pulling him out, he'd likely be stuck there to this day!

James

 

[Peck]

Forever indebted to Terry for beating the shit out of pedophile Mel Phillips.

 

[BloodyChamp]

That was a cool show. Secondary cable network TV shows are like wrestling. They were simple but so dang great back then. I think that other guy was also a wrestler.

Does anybody have a link to the “original” promo that I referenced earlier? I found the one from 2006 but not the one from ECW.

[odessasteps]

For those who want to listen to it, the almost 2 hour tribute from Louisville 

Spoiler

https://youtu.be/vW5VYBluYzo?si=_wfTDA5sOLjWiibu

 

[BloodyChamp]

I still love Jim Cornette but that will have to wait. I bet it’s great like all of his tributes are but I’ll have to be at home on a quiet evening for it. 

So…what exactly was happening when that stuff on the cage caught on fire in 1989? I always thought it was a work. This is the same company that everybody says caught heck because of the plastic bag incident. Then they’re supposedly allowed to put 4 men in a cage that’s electrified? And it causes a fire? And nobody really freaks out??? Lol! So that’s why I thought it was just something they added, like a cool way to give the mist a cameo because everybody liked it even though it was Muta’s way of cheating. 

[odessasteps]

8 minutes ago, BloodyChamp said:

I still love Jim Cornette but that will have to wait. I bet it’s great like all of his tributes are but I’ll have to be at home on a quiet evening for it. 

So…what exactly was happening when that stuff on the cage caught on fire in 1989? I always thought it was a work. This is the same company that everybody says caught heck because of the plastic bag incident. Then they’re supposedly allowed to put 4 men in a cage that’s electrified? And it causes a fire? And nobody really freaks out??? Lol! So that’s why I thought it was just something they added, like a cool way to give the mist a cameo because everybody liked it even though it was Muta’s way of cheating. 

Spoiler

 

 

[Corwo]

Bahu wrote about Terry's time in FMW.
https://twitter.com/BAHUFMW/status/1695258704390525254

[BloodyChamp]

Ok so the cage being electric was actually a work, but the accident was real. Wow. I’m higher on that match than most people. It was just a fun match to end a fun ppv at the time. They beat Funk so bad that they were able to sell the corner man calling it stipulation. 

[John from Cincinnati]

4 hours ago, odessasteps said:

For those who want to listen to it, the almost 2 hour tribute from Louisville 

  Reveal hidden contents

https://youtu.be/vW5VYBluYzo?si=_wfTDA5sOLjWiibu

 

Anyone have a link to video of the daytime California indie incident Last described? 

[ExcellenceofAirPollution]

Terry was easily in my top 5 and on any given day if you asked me who my favorite wrestler of all-time was there was a good chance I'd say Terry Funk.

I'm still processing this and it hasn't really sunk in yet.  RIP Funker

Edited August 26, 2023 by ExcellenceofAirPollution

[colonial]

23 hours ago, Peck said:

Forever indebted to Terry for beating the shit out of pedophile Mel Phillips.

 

First Terry Funk memory for me was this match. Went from being a complete unknown (in WWF terms) to the most hated man on the planet in five minutes. Bruno casually stepping away from kayfabe to let the fans know he is talented, yet dangerous was also a plus. (Lord Alfred Hayes did the same on the TNT skit where Funk beat up Tony Garea in the saloon. That's you get a Hogan threat over -- mention that Terry Funk is a guy who's been around, never backs down from a fight and will do anything and everything to win.)

That first memory also helped me discover a Funk trademark -- always giving the jobber the hope spot in an enhancement match. He had no reason to flip around the ring like a pinball and do the complete 360 out of the ring on the dropkick. But he wanted the fans to believe that the jobber had a chance. 

Re-watched the WM2 tag match with he and Dory against JYD/Santana last night. Terry makes the match a lot better than it should through insane bumping. You can tell he wanted to get something out of JYD, who is clearly entrenched in minimalist workrate mode at this point in his career, so Terry bumps like a psycho for him.

 

He pops back up in WCW, somehow makes Ric Flair a babyface (which seemed like an impossibility for me when I was a stupid teen) -- felt like the late 80s version of the MJF transformation, and puts on quite the matches with Flair.

It was only recently I saw some of his FMW/IWA Japan deathmatch wars with Cactus, Onita, etc. He had no reason to do this -- I presume he was OK financially, but he manages to get guys like Cactus over and re-invents himself. I saw Tod Gordon mentioning that ECW likely would not have mainstream acceptance if not for Terry's willingness to work these shows and do whatever it took to get his opponents and the promotion over. 

Amazon Prime has a few Memphis/Texas/USWA videos available for viewing (at least as of a few months ago), and I saw Funk and Lawler go at it before a 3/4-empty crowd in Memphis in the 90s. Again, Terry had no reason to go all out, but he didn't believe in a half-assed performance. Whether it's in front of 10,000 or 10 people, Terry Funk gave it his all.

My regret is that I never wrote to Terry Funk to thank him. He answered fan mail for several years from his Amarillo home before moving into assisted living. From all accounts, he was always kind outside the ring, answered fan questions with grace, and appreciative that the fans remembered and loved him.  

[BloodyChamp]

I don’t think I’ve gotten everything I have to say off my chest about Terry Funk like I have in all of the other threads about other wresters who have wrestled on, even though I’ve said a ton. Maybe that’s a testament. The conversation about Terry Funk’s greatness will never be over. There will never be enough time or enough words come close explaining how great he was.

[BloodyChamp]

On 8/23/2023 at 5:49 PM, Cobra Commander said:

 

 

OMG  I’d never seen that one. It’s hard to believe people didn’t fall in love with this mfer the way we did years later, or the way we did with Big Poppa Pump, or those few other heels who were so dang dead pan funny while acting so mad. Then at the same time they somehow act like a potential victim, like when Terry says he’s worried about being robbed. The best heels are as chicken as they are mean and tough and he was 1 of the best.

[odessasteps]

Spoiler

 

When babyface Terry menacing JC on Memphis TV. Hidden for the obvious 2023 sensitivities and a not so obvious dig Lawler has at Carl Fergie.

[Octopus]

teaching lil Octopus the way of the Funk

[BloodyChamp]

2 hours ago, odessasteps said:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

When babyface Terry menacing JC on Memphis TV. Hidden for the obvious 2023 sensitivities and a not so obvious dig Lawler has at Carl Fergie.

This was another one of those times where somebody yelled out FUUUUUUnKKKK!!!!!!!! And you couldn’t hear the N lol!

[zendragon]

 

[BloodyChamp]

I don’t know much about Cody Rhodes but I just saw his intro for the tribute and the first thing he talked about was Terry Funk’s “peculiar insults” just like I did lol! Very cool and the rest of his intro was very appropriate I thought.

I think a cool idea would be to have an empty arena match and have the heel somehow take out the face’s eye, then have the heel yell YOUR EEEEYYE!!! YOUR EEEEYEEE!!! It’s gone! 

Do you think we’ll get a Terry Funk set from WWE now?

[zendragon]

Unfortunately no, cause I think the ideas of DVDs are dead and buried. Maybe we get a best of like when Brody passed

[odessasteps]

You might get a Funk playlist on Peacock, but I doubt it.

[Curt McGirt]

[John from Cincinnati]

On 8/25/2023 at 10:20 PM, John from Cincinnati said:

Anyone have a link to video of the daytime California indie incident Last described? 

Solved:

 

 

[zendragon]

 

[BloodyChamp]

The empty arena match needs no analysis from me because everybody knows how great it is but I’ll add some anyway. When Lawler kick stabs him he goes down and grabs his eye/face and doesn’t actually feel the pain or react other than grabbing it until many seconds later after he’s figured out what happened. That’s good acting right there according to real human nature. What he does next isn’t just human nature, but it’s the human nature of a mean outlaw. I don’t know if Funk even studied that far ahead or if he was just a real live outlaw when he was in that ring but he nailed it. He scream cried so hard that he lost his southern accent, called out for his injured body part, called out for a doctor, then when none of that worked he did what they all did as the last try, he called out to God. So dang great. Then when nothing happened he somewhat got it back together mentally and was able to beg the 1 person there to get a doctor, who he no longer hated and called by name. That couldn’t have been written any better let alone just up and done in the ring. 

Edited August 27, 2023 by BloodyChamp