RIP Terry Funk

[SaitoRyo]

11 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said:

I still haven't seen that much considering the long and storied career he had so any recommendations would be welcome.

If you have the patience for the 'slower' NWA style of the 1970's, this is an absolute masterclass. 

Two guys going out there with a vague idea of what they're going to do, but complete faith in who they are, and just working. Every movement means something and it feels like a proper contest. 

 

[BomberPat]

26 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said:

I still haven't seen that much considering the long and storied career he had so any recommendations would be welcome.

Honestly, the strongest praise I could give Terry Funk - over his believability, longevity, creativity, adaptability, and generosity - it's that I don't think anyone ever came away feeling short-changed from a Terry Funk match. Almost anything you could choose to watch of his is worth your time.

I could give you a huge list of matches, but for a full range, look for his tag matches with Dory in AJPW (vs. Hansen & Brody, or Sheik & Abdullah, in particular), vs. Flair in WCW in 1989, his ECW work from 1997, the empty arena match with Jerry Lawler (and really anything from him in Memphis), and his deathmatch work, especially with Cactus Jack and Atsushi Onita. His match with Hulk Hogan is fun, just to see how he slots into the '80s WWF style. 

Even his last match, a six-man with Funk & The Rock N Roll Express against Jerry Lawler, Brian Christopher and Doug Gilbert is worth watching as a daft comedy match; if it happened in this country you'd call it a holiday camp match.

For deeper cuts and oddities, there's a fun match against Fit Finlay from Germany, or his match with CM Punk from ROH. 

There's a really fun match against Eddie Guerrero from 1989 for WCW. It's less than six minutes long, and probably Eddie's first American TV match, while Funk is being built up as an unhinged killer heel for his run with Sting, and the eventual title matches against Ric Flair. It should be nothing more than a squash, but because Terry saw something in Eddie, and knew the Guerrero family, he allowed him more of a shine, and more offence than probably anyone else would have given him. 

[Carbomb]

Everything everyone has said this far, better than I could - I only got to see him live at Uprising 3, from a bit of a distance, but it was a fun match. I made up for it later, watching compilations, and everything said about him in this thread is spot on.

ALSO: I got to enjoy Roadhouse again, as a local place was doing a showing. Chris B was with me, and we both agreed that it was actually a shame Funk didn't get to do more in it, as he was great - came across as a dangerous, unpredictable bastard. Typical Funk, he sold for Swayze and Elliott beautifully.

Edited August 30, 2023 by Carbomb

[SuperBacon]

There are people who know much more about Terry Funk than I, but I reckon the first time I would've been aware of him was reading the Powerslam coverage of him in ECW and particularly the Barely Legal show.

They made him seem like such a big deal, and he sounded mental. Wicked.

I had seen him at the 97 Rumble of course but there was zero context as to why I should care.

Then when I actually saw Beyond The Mat, if cemented that he WAS mental, as well as being kind, gentle and giving (look how he treats Dennis Stamp when he finds out he's not booked) and humanised wrestling. (One of the most important docs of all time for me but that's another thread)

Heyman thanking him in the pre show speech also put him over big time to me. Again, it made him seem like a massive deal, a huge star who had come to help them out as a favour.

Seemed like a top lad, and the level of reverence he has says it all.

[BomberPat]

With the right agent, and if he'd really wanted it, Terry Funk could easily have had a decent career as a character actor. He's great in everything he's in, and Stallone loved him enough to cast him in a couple of films, hire him for stunt work, and, if Funk is to be believed, to ask his advice on who to cast as Thunderlips in Rocky 3.

I'm sure I remember reading or hearing somewhere that Terry would make sure he got a bit part or some stunt work here and there over the years so he could keep up his SAG membership, because that meant he got insurance that he didn't get through wrestling.

[Chili]

Oh Terrence. So about a decade ago me and my mates used to make an absurd sketch show backstage for PCW. We were so happy to get Terry in and base a parody of Indiana Jones with him. Took us an age to design it all. He was lovely and when asked if he could reshoot a tricky shot said "God damn kid, I'm a hundred and four years old". It's the first skit in the video. Seemed a nice thing to post.

Probably will post about him as a wrestler later because where do you even begin?!

Edited August 24, 2023 by Chili

[air_raid]

9 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

With the right agent, and if he'd really wanted it, Terry Funk could easily have had a decent career as a character actor.

His contribution to the wrestling episode of Quantum Leap had far bigger impact on me as a kid than his "real" wrestling until I went back and revisited him via WCW VHS.

"Middle-aged and crazy" never did him justice. The first time I saw him do an Asai Moonsault I knew I was watching someone special, who refused to be pigeon holed and refused to walk away (although he tried more than once) until he was really ready. NOTHING could have followed Flair vs Steamboat in the same vein, so thankfully Flair vs Funk was something completely different. "Ric Flair was the best" is genuinely an opinion that I think owes a big debt to Terry Funk as Flair never looked more versatile than when the wrestling took a bit of a backseat and he had to FIGHT the mad bastard. A character in a business full of characters - a real one off.

[Snitsky's back acne]

Just read Meltzer's obituary to Terry and the fact he gave up the NWA title to get back with his wife brought a tear to my eye.

I always think the measure of someone is what people say about them after they die and, just like my idol Rik Mayall, it seems like nobody has a bad word to say about Terry Funk. That, to me, speaks volumes and is the best legacy anyone can ever leave in my opinion. 

[BomberPat]

one of the wonderful things of Terry having been around so long, inspired so many people, and, for all the tiresome memes about it, having retired a few times already, and even one of the few upsides of his ill health in recent years, is that people didn't start saying all this about him after he died. People have been saying that he's one of the best ever since the mid-90s, and deservedly so. 

[Merzbow]

This story about the ICP going over to apologize to the Funker and eating his wife's chili always gets me.

 

[bAzTNM#1]

What a brilliant heel spell he had in 1989 in the NWA, then the face turn. What a tough man. Probably walked through the pearly gates covered in barbed wire.

[Loki]

I think Funk spent longer in the "Jesus Christ, it's Terry Funk" era of his career than he did in his prime.

Certainly when he turned up as Chainsaw Charlie, you though "Jesus Christ, it's Terry Funk, and this gimmick is awful" but he made it fun and was still moving about. 

Then he turns up in TNA a few years later, "Jesus Christ, it's Terry Funk, is he still wrestling".

And then inexplicably in WWE AGAIN against Foley and Edge in 2006, "Jesus Christ, is that Terry Funk?!  Surely he's not going to wrestle?"

The idea he was then a decade away from retirement is just... nuts.  Like everyone else here, every time he appeared my mind would immediately go to the scene in Beyond The Mat where he meets his doctor and looks at x-rays of his knees.

Jesus Christ, Terry.  

 

[wandshogun09]

I think it was BomberPat who said on here once that Terry Funk was in some bad matches in his career but he wasn’t ever bad in them. That’s spot on for me. Obviously I haven’t seen everything he did, nobody has, but even in nothing throwaway matches in 98 WWF or dying days WCW or whatever, I don’t recall ever not enjoying watching him do his thing.

While I’m here, I love this picture of 3/4 of the No Way Out 98 dream team…

[Carbomb]

2 hours ago, Merzbow said:

This story about the ICP going over to apologize to the Funker and eating his wife's chili always gets me.

 

The bit that slays me is "the next retirement match I have".

What a guy.

[LaGoosh]

1 hour ago, wandshogun09 said:

Obviously I haven’t seen everything he did, nobody has, but even in nothing throwaway matches in 98 WWF or dying days WCW or whatever, I don’t recall ever not enjoying watching him do his thing.

There's a random little Mark Henry vs Funk match from Raw in 98 that is very fun.