Terry Funk died in a Phoenix hospital Wednesday. Funk spent his life thrilling crowds with his manic over-the-top performances revolutionalizing professional wrestling. He was the NWA World Heavy Weight Champion, inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, and master of the hardcore match. Terry and his brother Dory Funk Jr. formed an unstoppable duo that no wrestling fan could look away from.
The only thing predictable about Terry was his unpredictability. Wrestlers today get their volatile aggressive style from Funk. You never knew what would set him off. He would crash interviews and then strip off his shirt to clear the ring of wrestlers to settle a score.
Throughout the history of professional wrestling, the job of the wrestler is to make the fans believe the performance they are seeing is real. Funk was able to pack them in with excitement suspending their disbelief. There was no denying the reality of flying chairs, crashing through tables, and the cage match – The blood and bobwire were real.
Terry Funk grew up in a family of professional wrestlers. Terry, His father Dory Funk Sr. and his brother Dory Funk Jr were a wrestling dynasty.
From Mick Foley via Facebook
FOREVER FUNK
It’s been a little over 24 hours since Terry Funk’s daughters shared with me the news that their legendary father had passed away. Up until a few months ago, I don’t think I ever conceived the world without Terry Funk in it. He began his professional wrestling career in 1965, the same year that I was born– and he just seemed like someone who was always going to be here; someone who was somehow tougher than death itself. Even though I’d been fearing the worst for several weeks, the news still came as a shock.
Little did I know that the very first time I watched a Terry Funk match – back in 1986 on a VHS tape against Bruiser Brody in Tokyo – that this wild man with the best wrestling punch ever, would go on to play such a large role in my life.
He was the greatest wrestler I have ever seen – and I’ve seen a lot of them. He is the foundation for my Mt Rushmore of wrestling. It wasn’t just the quality of his matches that earns him this accolade, but also his ability to reinvent himself as the years went by, to change styles, have good matches with just about anybody in any style, and to raise the profiles of those he shared the ring with. There were times he was in so much pain before matches that he could barely move, but he would find a way to steal shows through sheer force of will. In a business with its fair share of takers, Terry Funk was a giver, setting an example of unselfishness and professionalism for everyone who crossed his path.
I met Terry in November, 1989, just a few weeks after his “I Quit” match with Ric Flair – still my favorite match of all-time. I had been completely enamored of Terry’s heel run in WCW in 1989, and to this day, I have never seen an individual just take over a TV show and seemingly make it his own, in such a short time. I was amazed to see the psychological transformation he underwent from his All-Japan days, where he was a blood and guts brawling babyface, winning over a stoic culture like that of 1980’s Japan by wearing his heart on his sleeve. Ignoring all the societal conventions of the day (both in Japan and in pro-wrestling) by weeping openly, by digging deeper into his own well of emotions than any wrestler I’d ever seen. Thousands of fans quote one of his most iconic All-Japan promos – a promo that consisted of one single word, repeated several times, each time with increasing intensity. Barry Blaustein, who became close with Terry during the filming of 1999’s “Beyond the May” told me Eddie Murphy, one of the biggest stars in the world, would walk around movie sets, just randomly quoting the promo, yelling that one word, “FOREVER” over and over.
But the Terry Funk I saw take over WCW in 1989 was not the Terry Funk from All-Japan from just a few years earlier. He didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve in WCW; he was heartless, remorseless, so believable in his onscreen hatred for Ric Flair, that I, along with many of his colleagues, wondered what was and wasn’t real. My deep dives into his Memphis feud with Jerry Lawler and his Florida feuds with Dusty Rhodes only deepened my belief that he was both the best babyface and best heel I’d ever seen.
So, who’s gonna fill his shoes? My guess is that no one ever will. Terry Funk was one of a kind.
Ric Flair, The Nature Boy via Facebook
In My Entire Life, I’ve Never Met A Guy Who Worked Harder. Terry Funk Was A Great Wrestler, Entertainer, Unbelievably Fearless, And A Great Friend! Rest In Peace My Friend Terry Funk Knowing That No One Will Ever Replace You In The World Of Professional Wrestling!
Bret Hart Via Facebook
The wrestling world lost a true legend in the passing of Terry Funk. I met Terry when I was only 14 years old and he, along with his brother Dory and father Dory Sr., was an immense influence on me. One of the greatest in-ring performers who always brought a distinct realism and imagination to the business. He was as famous for his hard bumps as he was for his brawling, but was a true worker and professional. Few did it better, and this is one loss that pro wrestling will mourn for a very long time. To my friend and mentor, I pray a fast trip and soft landing in wrestling heaven. Thank you for all you gave.
