Months back, I forget the term used, but is Funker on that legit pro wrestler level even moreso than Sabu?

The go home show before ECW Barely Legal

Aug 24, 2023 18:13:40 GMT @ness said:

Months back, I forget the term used, but is Funker on that legit pro wrestler level even moreso than Sabu?

Just checked and he was the 4th name mentioned in that thread behind Sabu, Lawler & Flair. Real respects real. That's a Mt. Rushmore I can get behind. 
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Kilgore wasn't kidding in the Match Review thread about Dory (or 99% of wrestlers who ever lived) never looking cooler.
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c bringing up the Funk/Cactus King of the Death Match Finals reminded me of another Terry gem from Japan. This one was also in IWA against Cactus, only earlier in 1995- January, I think it was. Match was suitably titled "Duel of the Wilds." Remember Foley putting it over big time in his book. Never saw it myself, but people in the know say this match in a tiny, freezing cold building is much better than their more famous death match in the big stadium.
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That tweet Kilgore shared about Terry pulling off a Hall of Fame career in four years during his early 50s really says it all. Fwiw that John Lister guy is one of the Real In Memphis blokes from back in the day so he's almost as cool as Terry in my book.

Almost feels like the Keith Richards of wrestling just died. The Funker is an absolute legend. Who does deathmatch wrestling in their 50's and beyond!? When they easily could have coasted on legacy alone, at that: Terry Motherfunking Funk, that's who.

RIP to not only one of the greatest to ever lace the boots, but one of the best when it came to being a good human being in a rather morally vacant business.

I'm almost too choked up to write this post. RIP Terry Funk!

Great tribute to Terry from the analyst.

FOREVER! FOREVER! FOREVER!

Was just thinking how Terry Funk is even better than we think he is. Check this out...

Most of the stuff we've put over in this thread saw Funk in his 40s and 50s with just a smattering of 30s Terry. Think of all the Terry Funk greatness that has been lost in the annals of time. We largely missed out on the first decade and a half of his Hall of Fame career. His legendary feuds with Dusty and the Briscos in Florida only live on in the memories of old timers. Imagine how many classic NWA Championship defenses he had that never made tape. Think of all the greatness we missed during the first decade working his father's Amarillo territory.

No matter how great we think Terry Funk is, I'm pretty sure he's even better. We'll just never have the definitive proof due to all that lost footage.

I'm friends with Howard Baum on Facebook. He was buddies with Terry Funk & has a YouTube list.


www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLShbkUkFGzlBsPMmz1Wn_Qc6rqf95A9Hq

TIL WCW wouldn't top the gate drawn by Flair vs. Funk at Great American Bash: Glory Days until seven years later in 1996.

Raw is in Memphis tonight, hopefully The King is there to say a few words.

This is 1 of the 4 deaths that has hit me the hardest via wrestling. I'll post memories soon-ish but man, this has gutted me.

That is one of my favorite matches and always get a kick that it even happened. Sometimes the wrestling doesn't have to be stellar for me to love a match, sometimes I love a match for the visual of the 2 wrestlers against each other, the colors, the vibe in the arena/crowd, the aesthetics, little moments here and there, the Funk vs Bret 1997 match is definitely one of those, seeing Bret in the actual ECW ring on what was an unofficial ECW show while he was WWF Champ taking on Funk in Amarillo, c'm the fuck on. Five star classic on the Nobi scale.

I read somewhere that they used ECW's ring for the show but watching that video it doesn't look like it? Also why would they truck a ring across the country to Texas when I'm sure Funk probably had one in his garage or something.

Was always so curious about that tape when they would advertise it on HCTV, finally got it on DVD back in the OG PW era and it's one that I really regret losing when I got rid of all that stuff(trashed most of my wrestling DVD's when I moved in with a girlfriend that I'm no longer even with anymore, brutal).

I thought I had a copy of that match too, alas it must have got lost in the shuffle either while trading or moving...

Here's Bret talking about his history with Amarillo and The Funks in various parts of his book:

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In late July 1971, Bruce and Dean invited me along on a drive to Amarillo, Texas, to visit Dory Funk Jr.

Because Dory Funk Sr. was a respected tough guy, the territory had always featured one of the more realistic fighting styles, and since both Dory Funk Jr. and his younger brother Terry had been World Champions and had learned their stuff there, wrestlers worked hard at keeping it real. The psychology and feel of the Amarillo territory was in many ways similar to that of Calgary, even down to its long, exhausting road trips. I took advantage of the opportunity to study the realistic Amarillo style and get a deeper understanding of what would ultimately become my life. 

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That year [1978] Keith and I were the older brothers introducing thirteen-year-old Owen and Diana to the annual summer pilgrimage to visit Dory and Terry Funk in Amarillo. Dory was considered the best wrestler in the business, and Terry was as good in many ways but was the more wildly unpredictable of the two. Now that I was determined to become a really good wrestler in my own right, the opportunity to learn from the Funks took on a whole new significance for me.

The Funks let me referee a couple of nights, and they even threw me into a couple of job matches with a big Japanese guy named Tetsuo Sekigawa and a local named Dennis Stamp. I attempted to throw a punch to Stamp’s gut but accidentally smashed him in the groin. A lot of wrestlers would have been angry, but Dennis forgave me for my greenness and gave me a good match. (Twenty years later, Terry Funk would pick me, of all people, to work his retirement match with him, and Stamp was the referee.)

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Dory Funk Jr. had asked me a couple of months earlier if I’d mind working with Terry for his retirement match in Amarillo on a big card billed as Fifty Years of Funk. Mind? I had said that I’d be honored. And Dory said that Terry, who like so many of the old-school boys had retired only to return again and again, actually meant it this time. So after Toronto, I connected through Dallas, where I caught a charter to Amarillo that was packed with the remnants of ECW. I looked at the heads of the young wrestlers, bandages hiding their gig marks, and they reminded me of my old Stampede days.

I had a bad flu but couldn’t miss such a significant night. I crawled out of bed and drove to the fairgrounds, where I met up with Stu and Bruce, and was saddened to hear from them that Fritz Von Erich had died of cancer.

In many ways the Funk show was like traveling back in a time machine. Dory and Terry were old-school pros who kindly conducted business the way it had always been done. Japanese reporters swarmed all over as Dory led me down back hallways to a room where he gave me and Terry our finish in great detail. I was happy to put the title up against Terry, but at his insistence, he wanted to put me over, even though it was his retirement match. The Amarillo fans were so fired up about my anti-American heel status that I feared for Stu, who was sitting at ringside. The special referee was Dennis Stamp, that big, lanky wrestler who’d given me one of my first matches back in Amarillo so long ago. 

Terry said that if Bret put him over the fans in Amarillo would think the fix was in. To keep it as real as possible for the fans Terry insisted he put over Bret. All those years later with fans getting smarter to the business he kept to his kayfabe guns. His unpredictability also set him apart whether working the match or booking finishes.

I’ve been off wrestling for a long time, but when I heard Terry Funk died my interest came back a bit. I used to watch with my dad and grandpa and Terry was my grandpa’s favorite. They’re both gone now and I’m sure my grandpa is buying him rounds and telling him about what a rotten sonofabitch he was. I’ve been watching some Terry matches and it’s given me an itch I haven’t felt in a long while.

RIP Terry Funk. One of the very best, if not THE very best.

Aug 26, 2023 14:34:01 GMT c said:

Great tribute to Terry from the analyst.

Great perspective from Stevie. I found this very insightful.

Lawler never recovered from this, Terry got his ass forever. 

Timely @ness bump in the Wrestling YouTubers thread reminded me of a video I meant to share last week...

#TerryForever