Terry Funk

[goc]

I saw clips of the match where Terry Funk won the NWA title from Jack Brisco and it looked like the whole match would have been an all-time classic. What was there in the clips was amazing. Unfortunately I don't see it on youtube anymore, seems like the person's account was deleted.

[goodhelmet]

Am I banned?

Not yet

[jdw]

The Funks vs Bockwinkel & Lanza, and vs Baba & Jumbo, from the 1978 Tag League, are good Technical Terry bouts.

12/15/78 Funks vs Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta

 

Been a while since I've seen it, but my recollection is that it's the "story match" of the various Funk vs Baba & Jumbo matches working an injury. Excellent match.

 

From the year before, there are these two:

 

12/06/77 Funks vs Billy Robinson & Horst Hoffmann

12/14/77 Funks vs Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta

 

They're both 45:00 draws (one fall format) if I recall correctly, which means you have a lot of time to watch everyone work in them. They are very good. You don't really have Crazy Terry in either of them, but he does bring the "personality" for his team: he's the one who gets pissed off at Robinson, who in turn gets pissed off at him.

 

My thought is that if you watch those matches, which is a total of 135 minutes, you're going to see a ton of non-Crazy Terry with his colorful stuff nothing different that what you'd see when other workers get pissed off at each other or bump their asses off or sell the hell out of something... except that Terry just happens to be *really* good at that. You also have the perfect contrast for him in those matches:

 

Dory

 

Who works straight as can be... and those 135 minutes are about as good of an example as exists on why some people think he's a bit on the boring side, not just for personality but also in how he works some stuff (i.e. he's not as interesting as the other three when it comes to even working holds). We use to joke about Dory in those matches using the plane and sandpaper to smooth down an edge on the piece of furniture he was working on, but in reality Norm Abram from The New Yankee Workshop was/is wildly more entertaining that Dory working a hold.

 

Terry... damn if he isn't interesting working holds. You really wish there were singles matches on tape with him against guys like Backlund, Billy and The Destroyer that were "straight" for 90% of the way while working a slow burn before Terry "snaps" down the stretch.

 

That's probably one of the points Dylan will (or has) made: Terry could work his ass off in "straight" elements, and also could bring personality to it, could work slow burns, and then of course work like a nutter. Fab worker.

 

John

[jdw]

The Technical Terry thing is overblown. I never got the sense that he was significantly more adept on the mat than Harley Race.

Harley is pretty mediocre at mat stuff. A lot of it is killing time. I like the 30:00 draw between Baba and Harley in the 1975 Open League, but Harley's mat stuff is really repetative in the match just as it is in his 60:00 draw against Lawler.

 

Terry is very good working holds. I'm not going to put him up there with The Destroyer or Robinson, but he's good. He knows how to work pretty much all of them, has variety to his work on a limb, and does it with flair rather than just killing time with it.

 

I think DiBiase is closer to Dory on how he worked holds in the 70s (and in straight matches when he was a face), while Terry was better than both.

 

John

[KrisZ]

Terry was one of those rare guys that could do anything you asked him to and would be among the best in the world at everything.

 

Face or heel, crazy or straight laced, technical or brawler, whatever he excelled at all of them.

 

I can't think of any Terry matches that I didn't have any interest in as he could always hook you in.

[ohtani's jacket]

I think Funk had one of the great personas of all-time. As others have mentioned everyone knows someone who looks or acts like Terry Funk and he had tremendous range from serious right through to deranged, my favourite being affronted like the time Flair told him he wasn't top ten material. But he's one of those workers where I'll pick chunks of his career to watch. I like his stuff in Memphis, the NWA and WCW more than any other period of his career.

 

Do you think his brawling, his selling or his fun persona prevented him from having better matches?

[Dylan Waco]

Okay, everyone knows Funk is my favorite wrestler ever. I also think he's the GOAT. I can see an argument for several others and I don't want to shit on anyone else or minimize them in an attempt to point to the things I like about Funk, so instead I'll try and talk about why I think he's so great.

 

For starters - and this is huge to me - I think you can make a case that Terry is a top five all time working face and a top five all time working heel. In fact if we are talking peak v. peak I don't think it's really arguable.

 

I'd go so far as to say that Terry at his peak as a babyface in Japan is the single best sympathetic babyface I've ever seen. Not only can he take a beating and sell, but he was incredible at timing hope spots and comebacks. His little strut around punch comeback was great shit particularly when it was nothing more than a flurry on the front wave of a storm. The man could bleed, but during that period especially he really knew how to make a blade job mean something. He'd give you some massive splat bumps and they would always mean something too. He could sell a body part, whether or not it was being stabbed or actually worked over in a traditional fashion. Just little looks and body movement could trigger the crowd to go fucking nuts. When he finally fired all the way back it was always after things had been milked to the absolute peak moment - timing wise there really aren't many you could even put in the discussion with Funk. He was a guy with a Hulk Hogan level entrance, who could work underneath like Ricky Morton, but when he made his comeback he was teeing off like a guy who you believed could legit kill any heel on Earth. I love Morton, Rey, Steamboat, et. as babyfaces but Funk in AJPW is the best I've ever seen at that role.

 

I'd also go so far as to say that Terry at his peak as a heel in 89 was very possibly the best heel I've ever seen. He was certainly the most interesting. I've said this many times, but it was Flair v. Funk feud that made me a fan for life. Funk was a guy that got over jealous, craze, psychotic, who's sense of pride actually made him the most dangerous guy in the world - even though he was just an off the radar, semi-retired guy, with no credibility with that audience until WrestleWar. I love, love, love Funk in 89 in every respect, as he was a guy who was having awesome sprints with Eddie Guerrero trying to get him a job on tv, wild squashes v. bums like Cougar Jay and of course the awesome Flair matches which are among my favorites ever. Every match was a perfect representation of his character and he would switch gears mid-match to reflect that so easily.

 

As versatility goes I think the conversation is sort of odd. You've got NintendoLogic talking about how his work as a technician has been overblown but who the fuck talks about Terry as a technician? Now I happen to believe that he was very sharp working holds, very good at building them to a climax, very surprising in the offense he could bust out (I really like the Terry/Dory v. Caras/Mascaras tag as an example of Terry being ahead of his time/versatile in ways you might not expect years before "crazy man" schtick took over), et. But I don't know that Terry is a guy talked up as great in that regard by very many people. No clue who is hyping that aspect of his work to the point where it would be "overblown." My view is that Terry was very good in that respect, at times great, but it's not the defining trait of his career. If we had more 70's footage? I suspect things might be different.

 

One thing I really love about Terry that doesn't get talked about that much is the range of his characters even within the realm of what is commonly thought of as his "crazy old man" period. We know Terry worked different as a babyface at points - sometimes he was a top dog level technician, some times he was Ricky Morton with more credibility, late in his career he was the hardcore legend (sometimes as a enforcer threat, sometimes as a desperate old man fighting for honor and glory). But he had really incredibly range as a heel. If you look at how he worked during the WWF run it's different than how he worked in Puerto Rico which is different from how he worked in WCW in 89 which is different from how he worked as traveling lunatic working every promotion on Earth in 94 and so on. I don't think this is me imagining things either. If you watch something like the Martel match from Puerto Rico, Terry is really over the top on level that is almost entirely comedic. v. Hogan the comedic aspects were there, but he was a guy tailoring things around shortcuts to feed the inevitable Hogan comebacks. The Flair matches were obviously different and I already covered them. In 94 he was a hired hand traveling the wrestling landscape as the last outlaw called in to kill off annoying old challengers to the Southern wrestling family throne. You could keep going.

 

Another thing about Funk is I am not sure I have ever seen him have a boring match. I'm sure someone could point to one I wouldn't disagree with, but I can't recall it offhand. I seem to recall Will once telling me that the Terry Set is one of the only set's he's ever done where he wasn't sick of watching the same guy by the time it was over. He always works hard and makes things at least entertaining. When his body broke down too much to really bump or cut a pace, he just turned on the schtick and chaos. He and Lawler had several really good matches after 2000 which is fucking amazing if you think about it. Even in horrible 2000 WCW his matches didn't suck and everything sucked during that period. A byproduct of never having boring matches is that we are still finding awesome Funk matches. There are really good Funk matches/performances from SMW and ECW I find while watching for those sets that didn't even make Will's mammoth Funk Set. There are WWF matches of his I've discovered in the last six months that didn't make that set that are very good. We'll likely be finding good Terry stuff for years, including really impressive shit like his back to back matches in 97 v. Sabu and Douglas in title defenses where he actually flipped and worked heel v. Douglas because they were in Pittsburgh.

 

As far as great matches? If someone wants to say Funk's best matches aren't as good as the best matches from some of the other GOATC's I would listen to it. If someone wanted to say he doesn't have the depth of great matches that Flair has I'd almost certainly agree. If someone said Terry only had one or two or even a handful of great matches? I'm not buying that, but then this may just end up with another debate about "good v. great" and I'm not sure I really want the thread to go down that road. What I would say is that Funk v. Hansen, Funk v. Lawler and Funk v. Flair GAB 89 are in my absolute top tier of singles matches. I think Terry was a tremendously great tag worker at his peak and there are several tags of his I would rate very, very highly. I thought he was incredible in Wargames 94 which is a match I love. On first watch I thought his random match with Tony St. Clair in 93 was great though I haven't gone back to watch it again. I think Terry/Jumbo is a great match and it's probably not even a top 25 Funk match IMO. I don't really think Terry is hurting for great matches.

 

Al mentioned the fact that Funk didn't stay around any place very line as a sort of theoretically weakness. To me that was a real world strength. OJ is the one who coined this, but Terry is the ultimate loser leaves town wrestler. He was in somewhere for a while, got over huge, made you believe in him 100 percent, had his big match/feud/rivalry and was gone before he got stale. He always, always, always left you wanting more. There are a lot of guys I think are absolutely great wrestlers, but who hung around somewhere too long, or were involved in something that was run in the ground, or got lazy because they were comfortable or whatever. That NEVER happened with Terry Funk.

 

I'll admit I'm biased toward Funk. My dad loves him and grew up watching his dad's promotion. He is the guy who made me a fan for life, when I watched him up close in 89 killing himself on house shows and tying bags on Flair's head. But Terry Funk is a guy that has always made me care about his matches and believe in what he was selling. I'm not saying he's the only one who I can say that about, but the list is short

[Eduardo]

Awesome, awesome post Dylan.

 

I just recently saw this Funk work with Brown, Lawler from 1990. I've seen Lawler take some epic beatings from great heels, but this beating by Funk is up there with the best. The match isn't as great as the early 1980's Lawler-Funk matches. But Funk's is incredible, he looks like the scariest pro wrestler alive and Lawler takes a nasty stiff beating. Funk is nailing some brutal looking punches, and even does a running punch on Lawler that looks like something you would see in a reckless bar fight.

[Jingus]

Nice writeup, Dylan.

 

Just little looks and body movement could trigger the crowd to go fucking nuts.

You know what was the greatest mannerism I ever saw him do? In the middle of one of the most overhyped matches ever, the King Of The Deathmatch '95 tournament final. When the "ring explosion" happens, it's so pathetic that it legitimately looks like the kind of fireworks you'd buy at a gas station. Terry was clearly planning on this being his biggest highspot of the night. When it all goes poof, he has the PERFECT expression. It communicates: "...what the fuck was that?! I am SO sorry, fans. This was supposed to be freakin' awesome, and it turned out to be embarrassing Botchamania fodder. I had no control over this, and I am just as deeply disappointed as you are." And he does it all with no more than a perplexed look and a shrug, with his hands stretching out to the crowd in an almost pleading manner. After the crowd saw him do that, they stopped booing and you could literally hear them instantly forgive that bullshit and they got right back into the match.

[Dylan Waco]

I always liked that too. The "you've got to be fucking kidding me" look on his face is classic.

 

I have too many favorites to pick just one, but I really do love it when he dances a jig right in front of Dusty as he's about to burst through the door at WarGames 94.

[Dylan Waco]

Another thing I love about Funk is that pretty much my favorite kind of match in wrestling is veteran v. random undercard guy, where veteran decides the match is going to be good no matter where it is on the card, so they are gonna do a ton of neat shit and make their match stand out. Funk's pretty much a master of that match whether it be v. Eddy, Ricky Santana and Scott Hall in 89 or Funk v. Poffo, Scott McGhee or Wrestling II in the WWF or even teaming with Buck v. Erik Watts and Bary Houston in 94.

[JerryvonKramer]

Mr. Wrestling II was in the WWF? And at the same time as Funk (which would be 85)?!! News to me! Legit shocked.

[shoe]

Mr. Wrestling II was in the WWF? And at the same time as Funk (which would be 85)?!! News to me! Legit shocked.

 

They had a real good match with one another.

[El-P]

Yep, great post Dylan. I totally agree, and it's an awesome summary of why Terry Funk is also my favourite wrestler. And then you can talk about his hilarious promo skills too.

[jdw]

Mr. Wrestling II was in the WWF? And at the same time as Funk (which would be 85)?!! News to me! Legit shocked.

 

They had a real good match with one another.

 

11/25/85 Terry Funk vs. Mr. Wrestling 2 (MSG)

[NintendoLogic]

When I came across the following quote on Lorefice's site, I immediately knew that I had to share it here:

 

Terry was alright, but really pales compared to Dory.

[Dylan Waco]

A perfect example of how some opinions are stupid.

[jdw]

Context would be useful.

 

Not saying that I can think of any Funks match off the top of my head there I thought Dory was better, but Mike deserves the benefit of context.

 

John

[NintendoLogic]

He was talking about Funks vs. Brody/Snuka, but does it really matter?

[MJH]

Given Dory held the NWA belt for, what, four years? and Terry's reign was much shorter, there's context in their runs as champion that'd make it a perfectly fine statement. Other than that...

[ohtani's jacket]

Lorefice seemed to rate Dory over Terry at the time:

 

Dory gave a typically strong performance, but couldn't save the match with such unskilled opposition.

Dory was typically excellent here, and brought the best out of Snuka.

Terry was alright, but really pales compared to Dory. He did a plancha, but he did one of his completely ridiculous oversells, a 360 degree spin after Brody kicked him.

The first time I've seen the legendary Brisco in Japan, and he was quite a disappointment. I can see what people say about his technical ability, but his selling was so irritating. Every time he got hit in the back he would jerk his stomach out and his head back, like some kind of bobble head and waist doll, making the overselling of Terry Funk look like nothing.

[FLIK]

I think the real important question to ask is Terry Funk......or Terry Punk???

 

 

Given Dory held the NWA belt for, what, four years? and Terry's reign was much shorter, there's context in their runs as champion that'd make it a perfectly fine statement.

Terry goes into a lot of detail in his book but the short version is that during that era, once you got the NWA title, the board was 99% of the time happy to leave it on a guy until he just got sick of holding it and voluntered to pass it on and apparently Terry just didn't want that long of a run because he was getting worn down by the schedule.

[MJH]

That might have very well been the case, but if someone was to say, for instance, "as an NWA Champion overall, as a world-wide representative etc, Terry was alright, but really pales compared to Dory", I don't think it'd be an outlandish statement by any means.

[jdw]

Okay... it's pretty clear that Mike didn't like Terry as much as Dory.

 

John

[Loss]

I just had to bump this to say that after watching Hansen/Spivey vs Funks in the 1990 tag league, I have a newfound love for Terry Funk. It's not the greatest match I've ever seen, but Funk and Hansen put on a hell of a show.