Terry Funk (JvK edn.)

[peachchaos]

Terry Funk vs. Nick Bockwinkel (7/12/1983)

 

New upload with entrances included and better video quality, which is much appreciated in both instances. Bock comes out to the Star Wars theme song. Terry Funk coming out to "Spinning Toe Hold" in All Japan is probably a Top 5 Ring Entrance for me, so any performance of his from AJPW seems incomplete without it. We still lose the first few minutes of the match and cut right to them working on the mat. Seems like Bock got Funk in an armbar and Terry escaped by getting at Bock's leg. So Bock prepositions and grabs a wristlock, with Funk again wrapping his legs and the two guys roll around and try for some early pins. They roll to the ropes and get back to a standing base. A more aggressive mat sequence gives Bock the edge. Bock takes over in a standing collar-and-elbow tie up and works Funk down with a headlock. Funk tries to grab the leg and Bock has no choice but to go back to a standing headlock. Funk almost works his way out, but Bock changes his footing and maintains the hold and eventually takes Funk back down to the mat. Funk looks exhausted but works his way up to try for an atomic drop, but gets Bock's leg instead to get out of the headlock. Funk twists Bock's ankle with an inverted ankle lock and then into a leg stretch. Bockwinkel trying to support the leg being worked on by pushing it with his free leg is a nice touch. Of course Terry grabs the free leg and pushes it away and then sits down on the leg he's stretching to torture Bock some more. Bock works out and works Terry's leg, so Terry grabs a headlock of his own, which Bock turns into a backdrop suplex. Funk rolls outside to recover. Funk comes back in and Bock immediately takes him back to the floor with some knees. The king of the hill game serves to wake Funk up a bit and he comes back in with clenched fists but to no avail. Bock isolates Funk's leg, wrapping it in the ropes and kicking his knee to effectively ground him. Bock's control segment is all knee work and results in an Indian Death Lock, which Funk actually sells like Death. Funk is able to punch his way out and drops and elbow in a moment of desperation, but Bock goes right back to the hold. Funk makes the ropes but Bock holds on to the leg, so Funk hits a side Russian leg sweep in another moment of desperation. Funk knee drops Bock with his good knee, which of course also hurts his bad knee. Bock with a leg takedown and Funk kicks him off. Spinning Funk Toe Hold is blocked. Terry hits a mean headbutt on the mat as both guys are worn. Back to a standing base and Bock grabs a headlock and this time Funk gets the back drop suplex for a two count, the first pin attempt. Funk picks Bock up for a high HIGH vertical suplay, but collapses with Bock falling on top for his first pin attempt. Two count only. Funk with another big headbutt. Texas cloverleaf~! Bock makes the ropes. He recovers quickly and gets a figure four leglock! Bock reverses and they eventually roll to the ropes and then roll to the floor. Funk tries to get back in first, so Bock attacks his knee on the apron. Funk pulls Bock to the floor and makes it back in just before the ten count. Both guys are worn down. Funk approaches Bock, who takes a step back, but Funk extends his hand and Bock shakes it like a true professional. The ending is maybe a bit of a letdown in terms of the drama the match built up, but full context is appropriate in this case. This is an instance where neither guy could lose clean, and certainly not by submission as Bock was the AWA World Champion and Funk was working a retirement tour angle. A high quality match nonetheless, just not an all-time-must-see-classic. ****1/4

[JerryvonKramer]

Terry Funk vs. Abdullah the Butcher (12/2/80)

 

This is 2/3 falls, and may just be the longest singles Abby match on tape. First fall is all punching. Very surprised that after fifteen minutes, no one has juiced. Second fall has a lot of Funk ramming his fist into Abby's head. And eventually he just kicks him in the head. Abby after getting the shit beat out of him, lifts Terry up on his shoulder and runs him into the post. Chair shot. Abby is bleeding by this point.

 

Third fall, and Terry is monumentally selling his leg injury. He lands on the ref and

Abby accidentally gives Joe Higuchi an elbow drop, he's out cold. Andy takes to head butting the injured leg, which looks really weird, but sound psychology. Replacement ref in. Terry dumps the sub ref. That's a DQ.

 

Very long match for Abby to be involved with, but it doesn't lose any heat or energy. This is mainly two guys pounding on each other for thirty minutes straight. But I do think it's about time one of them ate a clean pin in this perpetual feud. The fuck finish and post-match brawl are routine at this point. Still, these Abby matches have been better than you perhaps might expect.

 

***1/2

 

Terry Funk and Billy Robinson vs. The Avenger and The Asteroid (10/22/80)

 

The Asteroid was Bill Irwin, The Avenger was Moose Morowski. The team of Funk and Robinson is, of course, unbelievably bad ass. Robinson lays FIP for the first 8 minutes, before getting a hot tag. Funk comes in with the Texas jabs. His arm wrenches and elbows on Asteroid are tremendous, then he tags in Robinson who hits an uppercut, awesome. Piledriver by Robinson, neck breaker. How awesome is Robinson!

 

I'm assuming it's Asteroid in black and Avenger in white, by the way. One of them gives Funk a slam into the corner of the apron. Avenger in, works some basic punches. Terry's selling gets him over as as threat though, before he gives him a back suplex . Asteroid cuts off the tag. Bearhug. This is called double heat ladies and gents.

 

They kind of do a hot tag without doing a hot tag, and Robinson comes in a house of fire, swank neckbreaker, swank backbreaker, Funk in, spinning toehold! Spinning toehold! Give up! Give up!

 

This was a lot of fun, just a super simple well worked southern tag with double heat. Cool to see Funk and Robinson tag up too.

 

***1/2

 

Terry Funk vs. The Asteroid (10/29/80)

 

Terry goes up against the dastardly Asteroid now one on one! Ha ha. The Asteroid gets zero crowd reaction, Funk is over like rover. I'd just like to point out here that even as over as Terry was here and against a total nothing like Asteroid, he gave him a lot in this match. Bob Backlund was treating the NWA champ like a jobber in 1980, the contrast couldn't be more marked and it's why Terry Funk is 100 times the babyface that Backlund will ever be. Selling to generate sympathy to generate heat for the comeback. Simple, effective psychology. Puts him away with a butterfly suplex. After the match he takes Asteroid's mask off and puts it on. Ha ha.

 

**1/2

 

Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba (4/26/81)

 

Funk seems more over even than Baba here in terms of the crowd reaction, he really was a superstar. Baba basically dominates Terry in the early going, piledriver and all. Ten minute mark Funk comes back, Texas jabs. Spinning toehold, Baba has the counter. Terry leg drops Baba's leg and does the spinning toehold again. Baba almost sneaks a pin. Always so wily isn't he.

 

Neckbreaker by Baba. Snapmare. Abdominal stretch. Roly poly.

 

But then Brody and Abby hit the ring and cause mayhem. Dory comes out. Brody chokes Terry with a chain. Baba is laid out in the ring. Brody beats a bloodied up Terry with the chain. Jumbo is out. They give Terry the chain and he smashes Brody with it. Abby flees as Terry legit whips Brody with the chain. Wow, that's some brutal chain stuff. Brody with the chair. Christ Funk is bleeding like crazy here. After Brody goes, Terry gets the ring bell and sits in the middle of the ring smashing it like a madman. Nuts.

 

I'd recommend people watch this one for the insane post match. The whipping of Brody with the chain was oh my. You can spot a young Haku as one of the young boys.

 

***

 

Terry Funk and Ashura Hara vs. Stan Hansen and Ron Bass (8/26/82)

 

It's never occurred to me before by Bass makes PERFECT sense as a Hansen partner. The beat the crap out of Hara to start. Wonder where Dory was. Three out of four people in this match have moustaches. Awesome. Ron Bass hits a nice suplex on Hara. Some really heated stuff in this match, interactions between Funk and Hansen were great and Bass looked better than I thought he would.

 

Really solid match.

 

***1/2

 

Terry Funk vs. Crusher Blackwell (9/2/82)

 

Most of you instant gratification types bee-lined to this. Eat your sprouts I say. I've earned it. Blackwell really was a very fat man wasn't he. Mostly this has Blackwell dominating Funk, who did work from underneath a lot as babyface. But then he hits a back suplex and three elbow drops as a HOPE spot!

 

Blackwell busts out his own jabs and they go blow for blow. Blackwell seems to have colour. Spinning toehold! Blackwell gets to the ropes. Misses a splash which gives Terry the win.

 

Super fun match!

 

***3/4

 

Terry Funk and Giant Baba vs. Stan Hansen and Crusher Blackwell (9/8/82)

 

Once again Hansen vs Funk interactions wild, but even more so here. Not a lot more to add really, this goes 12 minutes and it's a great sprint. Well worth a watch.

 

***1/2

[ohtani's jacket]

Terry Funk vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (4/4/80)

 

Some boring headlock work from Jumbo to start with. For a guy who was an Olympian, Jumbo sure doesn't show much on the mat. Part of that was the house style, and part of it was the fact that the old-school mentality saw the side headlock as a solid base to work from. Jumbo looked really awkward transitioning from the headlock to the rope running. Way too early for an airplane spin, and Jumbo's back drop suplex? For a style that's often held up as the pinnacle of logic in wrestling, it sure could be spotty at times. Jumbo rips through a bunch of offence that would finish most falls in a bout during this era then slaps on a submission that wouldn't. Jumbo dicks around for a bit and then they don't show the strikes that let Terry transition back onto offence. They sounded good, though. Terry manages to somehow sell, set up a hold, fight through Jumbo's counter attempts, sell a bit more, signal to the crowd his intention, and out class Jumbo all at the same time. In defence of both guys, they just announced that 20 minutes had passed and we'd only seen 3/4 of that. Terry working Jumbo's foot in anticipation of the spinning toe hold was way more compelling than anything Tsuruta had done so far, and the escape was the highlight of the match to date. Now here's where it gets cool from a theoretical standpoint: the chop battle was cool, but Terry's selling would be ridiculed if it were any other worker. I didn't mind the circling jog from Jumbo's initial strike as it was reminiscent of Fujiwara, but the theatrical bump to the outside was over the top. How Terry survived two piledrivers, three elbow drops and a backbreaker in this era, I'll never know. Maybe he was on something. Terry's selling is unquestionably great. It looks like he's sucking in a breath every time he hits a move and when he headbutts Jumbo he sells the impact each and every time. The dropkick on the outside is a great moment and Terry sells the excursion beautifully. When he goes for a second one and misses it, everyone from the commentator to the crowd are in tune with the moment. And to be fair, from there they do their best to make the final minutes exciting. The duel brainbusters would be death in other eras and don'r really transition well into a punching exchange, but the crowd bite on a sunset flip attempt and Funk's double arm suplex. Some weird convulsive selling by Jumbo yet he has the stamina to reverse another double arm suplex into a backslide. The bell rings and they scrap a bit. The post-match is cool as they look like they could go another 10 rounds, which they probably could since no-one landed a decisive blow. Do I think this was an all-time classic? No. Do I think this was a great bout? Nope. Do I think it was an effective league bout? Yep. *** at tops.

[JerryvonKramer]

Jumbo rips through a bunch of offence that would finish most falls in a bout during this era

As countless reviews of mine can attest, this is demonstrably untrue. I don't know where you get this assumption from.

[ohtani's jacket]

He hit a backdrop suplex, a butterfly suplex and a gut wrench suplex in succession before turning another butterfly suplex atttempt into a submission. Are you telling me those throws wouldn't win a fall in a regular two out of three falls contest?

[JerryvonKramer]

Falls in two out of three fall matches that aren't the third fall are a misnomer in any era, same as an elimination in a Survivor Series. Normal rules don't apply so even a basic bodyslam or a punch could lead to a fall.

[ohtani's jacket]

Well then, I'm not wrong. Jumbo could have taken the first two falls with any of those moves.

[JerryvonKramer]

Yes, but Terry Funk in 1980 All Japan is like, I dunno, Hulk Hogan in 1985 WWF. He's not dropping falls with any ease or at all.

[ohtani's jacket]

Does that make Jumbo any less, I dunno, Kurt Angle-ish, during that stretch?

[JerryvonKramer]

If Jumbo worked every match like that, maybe, but here he was basically throwing everything and the kitchen sink at Funk to try to put him away. It's better to think of this in terms of like a Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior deal than as a babyface vs. heel match. It's Baba's goldenboy who is ramping up to be ace (him and Baba more like 1a and 1b) vs. International Superstar / Movie Icon / Most over act in the promotion Terry Funk.

 

There's no two ways about it though: All Japan is spotty, and from what I've seen, always was -- even Baba vs. Brisco is "spotty". But you know me, I love suplexes. But generally, the bombs are built to and reprsent an escalation of violence as they do in all those Billy Robinson matches I love so much. From what I've seen of Angle, he makes the bombs feel more like confetti. Whereas in a match like this with Funk selling the shit out of everything, you can't say Jumbo's bombs didn't register.

 

But I'm not arguing for you to rate the match higher or anything. I'm high on the style, which should be obvious by now, it resonnates with me and these are two of my top 5 all-time workers. Plenty of instances where I am less keen on a style and less keen on the workers involved and give lower ratings to matches others are very high on. It happens.

[ohtani's jacket]

I'd just expect to see them later in the match.

[JerryvonKramer]

Just spotted this, Terry vs. Bock from 83:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waV8hjefiBo

 

Courtesy of "the man".

[JerryvonKramer]

Terry Funk vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (6/11/76)

 

Reviewing this match so it can be eligible for my top 100; I have seen it before though. A young Jim Crockett Jr is there reading out some stuff making every effort to look like he can't read. Terry is NWA Champion, of course. First ten minutes or so is a mat-based affair with Terry working a clean, technical style as champ reminiscent of Dory. He focuses on Jumbo's left arm with a hammer lock and knee drops. There's a lengthy Greco-Roman knuckle lock test of strength segment -- another standard Dory go to, and not one of my favourites it must be said.

 

Around the 12-minute mark, Jumbo has turned things around as he's now in control of Terry's left arm. Hip-toss escaped by Terry, but a follow-up is reversed into a back slide -- yet another Dory go to. Technical Terry has a very similar move set to his brother, hence his comment that the 81 match was almost like wrestling himself. You can see what he is talking about in a match like this, where, so far, Dory might have worked this hold for hold. Jumbo still controlling the arm at the 17-minute mark. And then we get our first real high spot - an atomic drop. Misses the elbow, Jumbo back to the arm bar. This match has almost been 1950s-style to this point. Butterfly suplex by Terry (another Dory move), sunset flip by Jumbo steals the first fall. He's emotional to get a fall on the champion.

 

Second fall and Terry puts in a little cheap shot on Jumbo. Strike exchange now. Back to the Greco-Roman knuckle lock. Swinging neckbreaker by Terry. Cover gets two. Jumps on the back of his neck. Cover gets two. Pulling piledriver. Cover gets two. Dumps him. Snapmare on the floor. Drop kick. Back in the ring. Snap made. Chinlock. Jumbo starts fighting back with elbows. Terry takes a tumble. Suplex back in by Jumbo. Cover gets two only. Abdominal stretch. Rolling cradle around and around for three by Terry. Evens it up 1-1. Second fall had more action than the first, and was contests less cleanly and less technically than the first.

 

Third fall, Jumbo gets dumped. Back in and they trade side saltos. Butterfly suplex by Jumbo. Big back suplex by Terry. Jumbo sells the shit out of that. Rolling cradle. Backbreaker by Jumbo. Release German suplex. Cover gets one only! Hot shot! Terry with the Jumbo killer! Hot shot will always take Jumbo clean out.

 

This match has the classic 70s All Japan structure of matwork building to strikes building to throws. The third fall is very hot and I like the gradual escalation of violence through the second fall. However, the first fall, which takes up the first 17 minutes is on the dull side to me and feels interchangeable with the opening portions of any number of other matches from this era that I could point you to. Don't get me wrong, I do like this match, but I do not think it is the best match of the era or even close to that. I'd take Dory vs. Jack from Florida over this, for example. I'd take Jack vs. Baba, I'd take any number of Funk tags, and a number of Robinson matches also. All of this makes me sound like I'm down on it -- I'm really not -- I just think it's more typical of its time than it is an exceptional example of its time.

 

****1/2

[JerryvonKramer]

Terry Funk vs. Sabu (2/28/94)

 

Not exactly a full house for this one, Heyman is there. This is from the World Wrestling Network. When people talk about Bret dogging it at house shows in front of 10,000 people, and then you consider the level of effort and commitment that Funk -- a former NWA champion and already a legend in the business -- gave to a match like this. It does put it into perspective.

 

Sabu takes some pretty big spots in this match. Superplex, slam onto a table, atomic drop on a chair, piledriver on the outside, misses a plancha onto a table. Funk does a fucking moonsault!! Puts Sabu in a skip. This is a Sabu match from 1994, it's not going to win any awards for psychology. Might as well enjoy the ride. Kinda fizzles out you've got to admire the level of effort from these guys in an almost empty building.

 

Post-match Sabu smashes a bottle and goes after Funk who bails. Sabu then goes and gets a table and moonsaults into it for no reason at all. Crazy bastadrd!

 

In a way, it's kind of sad to see Terry literally doing whatever it takes to get over. But at the same time this is the stuff of legend. I imagine anyone who was there live that night would never forget it. It's hard not to just love Funk, cut his arm and he'd bleed the heart and soul of wrestling.

 

***1/2

 

Terry Funk vs. Sabu (4/9/94)

 

This is from Midwest Territorial Wrestling. Looks like a few more people in tonight. I remember reading about this feud, or at least seeing pictures from it in PWI. This is a grittier and less spot orientated affair than the last one.

 

Funk takes a back bump into a table. Action goes outside, some chairs thrown into the ring. This completely degenerate as Funk gives the ref a backbreaker! Pretty funny, just backbreakers the ref! This seemed to drift a bit, but still some wild stuff.

 

**1/2

 

Terry Funk Backstage Interview (4/9/94)

 

Funk says he no great fondness for either WWF or WCW and is sick of being given one-liners to speak. He's always had a love for the hardcore fans and this is where real wrestling is. He also says that he doesn't want to overstay his welcome, he's getting up there in age and doesn't know how much longer he wants to go. He ants to help guys like Sabu and Shane Douglas develop. But he's physically hurt right now, he's sure Sabu is too, but he did it for the fans.

 

Terry Funk vs. Sabu (4/15/94)

 

Same promotion. Texas Death Match. Sabu has a manager and he's cutting a promo here about "some homosexual's blood". I think they are in an ice rink. Not the biggest crowd. Funk throws some cones into the ring. Sabu with the chair spring elbow early and a fast three count, but this is a true Texas Death Match and Funk has a ten count to get up. Some guys in the crowd are shouting "break his neck!" There's a security guy there who looks not unlike the rapper Ice Cube.

 

This is the genuine article isn't it, gritty stuff. Funk gets a fall outside. Grabs the manager and gives him a piledriver out there.

 

Clip, I think to a neckbreaker by Funk back in the ring. Piledriver. Another three. Some guys in the crowd are Funk fans and others are Sabu fans. Seems like the men are for Funk and the kids are for Sabu. Maybe kids shouldn't be watching this!

 

Atomic drop by Funk onto the railings. Leglock out there. Funk is demented here. DDT back in the ring. Another three. Sabu gets the next three after a dive over the top rope. Table shot across the back. Some pretty good long-term selling by both guys.

 

Sabu goes over the top again with a dive and takes Funk out, who is now convulsing. One kid says "oh well, stay down". I like to think it was Bix. He doesn't now and gets the next three. Chair shot by Funk. Can in the face. Piledriver from the top rope onto a chair. Funk's ass took most of that, to be honest.

 

Sabu over the top rope now onto a table. Funk evaded last minute. He snaps that table in two now and throws it into the ring. Pushes the ref out of the way. Piledriver onto the table now. Smashes this breaking table, all splintering, over Sabu's head. Sabu just gets up before Funk to win, and post-match we get some madness. Including Funk beating the shit out of the ref.

 

Sabu also tries to do his moonsault through the table for no reason after the match and fails, it doesn't break, then he tries again, a guy in the crowd says "my god he's psychotic", fails again, then he tries a third time. Mad mad man!

 

This is a wild wild brawl and on par, I think, with a lot of the Abby brawls from 1980. Extremely gritty. Generally though, while these matches have had more high spots, the Abby matches had a lot more blood.

 

***1/2

 

Terry Funk vs. Sabu (4/19/94)

 

This is on ECW TV. Paul E is there. Paul suggests that Funk has a match with Sabu. Paul E nails Funk with the phone. Funk puts a plastic bag on Heyman's head. Not sure who is on commentary here, sounds like Tazz (or Don West, lol), but doesn't seem like it should be either of them. Where's Joey Styles tonight? Oh apparently it is Joey Styles ... So what, his voice got more high pitched as he got older?! I'm having a lot of trouble with guys from the North East recently it seems. Why does everyone sound like Tazz to me at the moment? Ha ha.

 

It's interesting to see these two work a more regular studio bout after their wildness on the road. Funk goes through some of his gears. Neckbreaker. Piledriver on the chair. Some aerial stuff now, including a dive from the apron by Funk which Styles marks for. Funk goes and grabs the ring announcer and uses him as a human shield, ha ha. Funk has legitimately done something I've never seen before in each and every one of these matches so far tonight.

 

Piledriver from the top onto a chair by Funk, didn't quite connect. Looked better than the one from last match though. Some broken table action now. Funk breaks the a bit of table over his own head. Spinning toe hold! Spinning toe hold! Some masked goon tries to attack Funk. More spinning toehold. Another masked goon now and a neckbreaker from him! Leg drop from the top by him gives Sabu the pinfall. It's Bobby Eaton! Crowd goes nuts. Arn Anderson is here! What the flying fuck! Arn! DDT on Sabu! DDT on Eaton. Crowd is mental now. I am marking out myself. Holy shit!

 

I think this match suffers when watched back to back with those grungy indie shows. It is fabulous Tv but I think the run-in hurts the match. Still supremely entertaining stuff though, and I did like Funk's spell on top.

 

***

 

Terry Funk vs. Chris Benoit (4/23/94)

 

This is an NWA show. I think promoted by Dennis Carluzzo. No commentary.

 

The backdrop to this place is extremely green, almost like George Lucas is directing it and they are going to put in a CGI crowd later. The crowd that is there bust out a brief Sabu chant.

 

After a spell outside, they go back in. Neckbreaker by Funk. Back outside and piledriver outside. I tell you what, the piledriver on the outside hit a lot more in 1994 than it did in the late 70s.

 

Benoit has a spell on top now. Snap suplex. Dynamite Kid headbutt. Suplex outside back in. A bridging suplex from the belly-to-belly position. And we get a double count out. Some post match stuff too.

 

Pretty disappointing match this, not helped by the finish. I know Funk was doing a hardcore thing at the time, but I wish this could have been worked a little more technically and inside the ring, they were outside for too much of it.

 

**

 

A little backstage bit where Funk says he loves the hardcore fans, and he's not ECW's man, or Dennis Carluzzo's man

 

Terry Funk & Arn Anderson Promo (4/26/94)

 

Funk tells Arn that this is a different type of fan than what he's used to, the hardcore fans of Philadelphia are in his view the greatest fans in the world. He also thinks that there's a rotten apple here somewhere and with Bobby Eaton showing up, they are "trying to pull something from WCW".

 

So where does Arn fit into all this? Why is he here?

 

Arn explains. He didn't come to save him, but instead came to keep an eye on Bobby Eaton. They make a deal to watch each other's backs. There's no ECW in this situation, there's no WCW, this is Funk and Anderson. Pretty cool to see.

 

Also, you know I've been watching wrestling a long time, and whenever anyone makes a deal with Arn like this, he usually suckers them later. Just saying, just saying. I called it here.

 

Terry Funk vs. The Sheik (5/5/94)

 

My god. Two things. First, Funk was legitimately in front of less than 100 people just three months before this in some of those matches against Sabu and there must be 1000s in this one, looks like a HUGE crowd, must have been so surreal for him to go from one situation to the other like that. And he did it his whole career. Second, The Sheik was old in 1979, so ... it boggles my mind that he's having a match here. He was 69 years old! We talk about how some wrestlers' lives would make compelling movies, I think the Sheik is right up there for that.

 

Funk climbs up the lighting rig at the start. He's shouting for the Sheik. Here he is, with Sabu by his side. Like The Emperor and Vader, ha ha.

 

Sheik is still wearing his Detroit US title. Bless him. He has a lit torch with him. We might see some fire breathing here. To be honest, he is looking a LOT better than I was expecting a guy who is almost 70 to look.

 

Funk ambushes him before we see him blow any fire. He's bleeding already, ha ha ha. The foreign object is out. Funk has colour already. Double juice brawl within 60 seconds. More stabbings with the object. Wire now. Sheik is chocking Funk with wire. Brutality. Christ, he's bleeding buckets. I guess choking a guy when he's already bleeding will do that. This is basically Funk working his ass off to try to get the Sheik over a legit threat.

 

Sheik gets the torch from Sabu and they burn Terry's tights. They have to dose him with water to stop the flames. His tights are cut. Funk is a bloody mess. He's shouting after Sheik. You know, after see so many of their battles in the 1970s, this is really really compelling stuff for me.

 

Funk had a hand full of something and suckers Sheik with it for the ten count and the win. Wow! Something approaching a clean job from the Sheik! You don't see that every day. Funk insanely climbs up the guarded railings and then makes all sorts of faces at the Japanese crowd. Holy shit, what fucking mentalist! Talk about health and safety.

 

I honestly enjoyed this. Wrestling has always been one third sport, one third entertainment, one third circus freak show. Funk could do all three of those, and this is the third. He's working against a guy who should probably be in an old people's home, and literally does everything and anything he can to give the 1000s of people who made money to be there something memorable. As far as the Sheik goes, I mean what can anyone expect of him here? He looked suitably grizzled, and this was better than any of those awful sandpit matches I saw of his vs. Tiger Jeet Singh. I enjoyed this moe than the Benoit match and honestly more than Styles vs. Joe from the other night. Funk is just so damn great at ensuring that things are kept interesting.

 

***

 

Terry Funk & Arn Anderson vs. Sabu & Bobby Eaton (5/14/94)

 

This is just surreal world right here. Arn in ECW Arena. Three all time greats in one match up. And Sabu, who is kind of legendary in his own way.

 

Funk gets slammed over the top into a table by Sabu. Chair shot by Eaton, getting into the ECW spirit there. Chair shot by Sabu. And again. Chair Spring elbow. Eaton in. Some nice punches from him. Essentially, this has been a face in peril sequence by Funk so far. That makes Arn the hot tag? Weird.

 

Arn in. He wants Eaton. Him and Sabu together looks like two guys from different times and different places.

 

Styles: "Of course, Bobby Eaton held the NWA tag titles on two occasions. One time with Arn Anderson, as part of the Dangerous

Alliance. And the other time as one half of the Midnight Express with Stan Lane. Stan Lane is ... Well, I don't know where, but he wherever he is, he shouldn't be doing it." Ha ha, good line.

 

Figure four by Arn on Eaton. Funk with a piledriver on Eaton onto a piece of table. Scoop slam by Arm on Sabu. Dropkicks off the top to the outside. Slam by Funk on Sabu. Misses a moonsault! Middle aged and crazy! You know, if that was Ric Flair, people would give him stick for it.

 

Leg drop by Sabu. Moonsault. Hits. Powerbomb by Funk. I don't recall seeing Funk do a powerbomb before. Neckbreaker. Cover two only. DDT by Funk. Talks some smack to Eaton. Brawl on the apron. Arn in with a choke on Sabu.

 

Sabu hits a moonsault on Arn but doesn't cover. Hmmmmm. Eaton with the Alabama Jam on Arn. Funk with the save on the cover. Slam by Sabu on Arn. Slingshot backflip by Sabu. Arn kicks out at 2.75.

 

One fan has a sign which reads "The Three Stooges: Bischoff, Shaw and Dhue"

 

DDT by Arn on Sabu. Second DDT. Meanwhile, Terry Funk and Bobby Eaton have some how found their way up on like a ledge up by some venting. How the hell did they get up there? Third DDT by Arn in the ring. Funk piledrives Eaton up in the "eagle's nest". Spinebuster by Arn on Sabu.

 

Meanwhile Public Enemy are here and they've jumped Funk. Arn over with a chair to beat them off. Surely Sabu isn't getting up from three DDTs and a spinebuster? Well he is up. And Funk is injured from the PE attack. Spinning toe holds by Sabu. Reversal by

Funk for two. Arn seems to be mashing Public Enenmy with chairs as this is happening.

 

Sabu with a chair. Arn grabs Sabu though and holds him for Funk, but Sabu ducks and he nails Arn. Clearly accidental. Paul E. On the apron. Where is Eaton? Still knocked out on the ledge? Arn grabs the chair. And he's nailed Funk! On the one hand it was clearly an accident by Funk, on the other, I called this! Also, good psychology on Arn's chair shots, ha ha.

 

Funk submits to Sabu's half crab. But he's not releasing the hold.

 

This was a bit overbooked and suffered from the environment. Ideally you'd want this four in a WCW ring, not an ECW ring, and just give them a straight match and fifteen minutes. As it is, it's just a lot of stuff happening all over the place. Fun to see though.

 

**

 

Post-match, Paul E cuts a promo while he gives money to Public Enemy. He wants Funk to retire. Gets very passionate and is spitting all over the place. Seems to be suggesting that Dory, at the age of 55, is going to be coming in to face Public Enemy with his brother. "Who in the Funk is this man?"

 

Short cut to Funk, "who are we?", he says, "we're the Funk brothers"

 

Oh hell yeah, Dory in EC-dub baby! Let's hope he brings his brawling boots with him.

 

-------

 

All of this stuff with with Sabu should be part of Terry's GWE case. Very very entertaining two hours of wrestling.

[WingedEagle]

Damn you. I thought the Sabu matches were some of the very worst I saw in '94. May have to pop those discs out today and look them over again.

[fxnj]

Interesting take on Jumbo/Terry. When I watched it as one of my first puro matches having seen barely anything from either guy I thought it was easily an all-time classic and was particularly blown away by the mat work in the first fall. Since then, I've rewatched it several times while much more familiar with both guys and the climate of the promotion at the time and I still love the first fall but always end up disappointed by what follows. I thought they had a really cool dynamic building with Jumbo testing himself against his mentor, long time rival, and current NWA champ in a straight wrestling match, only to stray too far from it into it feeling like just another NWA title match with Terry's bumping and stooging later.

[JerryvonKramer]

Tonight I'm going to be watching as much of the Funk Brothers' run in WWF as possible.

 

If you want to follow along / comment yourself I've made a playlist here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS1QYjCSmymjXg6hPIBeCumibbDLcJ1V5

 

With some additional bits that aren't on YT here: http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x4nmig

[JerryvonKramer]

Terry Debut vignette (6/23/85)

Ha ha.

Terry Funk vs. Aldo Marino (6/29/85)

Funk completely destroys a random ring attendant to start. Thought it was Slick at first. Ring attendant does a stretcher job.

Female referee for this one, don't tell Andy Gray.

Marino throws Funk out of the ring and gets in a drop kick before tapping to the spinning toehold.

Female ref eh? Unusual.

Piper's Pit (7/6/85)

Terry is jealous of Hogan and JYD because they make more money than him. He's been fined $5,000 for manhandling the ring attendant. He explains that he did it because they guy tried to put his cowboy hat on, which you don't do!

Wild segment.

The Body Shop (7/13/85)

Jesse has a blue wig on, absolutely ridiculous. Talks about wrestling a black athlete with a lot of black people in the audience. JYD was there. Says he was basically Ambushed and had to go to hospital. Calls him an egg sucking dog.

Terry Funk vs. Sal Bellomo (8/17/85)

Let's see how Terry fares against the WWF JTTS brigade. Gorilla gets his "hanging off the rafters" line in early. Jesse also on commentary. Cap Centre.

Terry abuses a random guy in the crowd. Bellomo looks absurdly wimpy here in his red slip on.

Terry lands on the commentary table and has an altercation with Monsoon, who looks legit pissed. Jesse notes it.

Bellomo getting a lot of joy here. Rams arm on railings. Full arm drag and twist.

Bellomo has stated focused on the shoulder, head butts it. Funk has got the crowd riled up. Some hammerlock exchange stuff.

"Salvatore a nice guy, sometimes nice guys finish last" - Gorilla Monsoon

Terry dumps Sal onto the announce table again, trying to rile Gorilla. Gotta say, seeing action go to the floor so often is pretty weird in this setting.

Bellomo gets his leg stuck in the ropes. Some pretty hot action now. Bellomo does some big bumps including landing belly first on Funk's knees. He mule kicks his way out of a sleeper, suplex back in. Flying cross body! OMG, I just popped for a near fall in a Sal Bellomo match.

Funk then puts him out with a sleeper. Easily the best Bellomo match I've ever seen, and possibly his career match.

If you were ever going to point to Funk the miracle worker, this might be a place to look.

***1/2

Piper's Pit (8/24/85)

Terry's here to talk about dawgs. He later calls JYD a jackass which the noise he'll make when he's branded with the iron. Also calls him a "pig nose". And he goes on the camera lens.

Interview with Vince (10/13/85)

Says he's gonna make an example of Steve "Gatorbreath". Wants JYD to know that he's the most dangerous man in the world. The "ass" part of "jackass" is bleeped out. Taking conservatism to the extreme there.

Terry Funk vs. Steve Gatorwolf (10/13/85)

Monsoon and Jesse on commentary again. Think this is Maple Leaf Gardens. Wonder where Gene was for Vince to be interviewing.

To give you an idea of where Gaterwolf was on the WWF roster, he was jobbing to Johnny V and Iron Mike Sharpe at house shows in December 85. As far as I can tell Gaterwolf was always a jobber but he had a Native American gimmick and sometimes tagged with Strongbow. The curious phenomenon of the pure jobber with a gimmick.

Terry still gives him an awful lot of offense including tomahawk chops, a bump out to the ramp, and a body slam. Sleeper for Gaterwolf. Funk fading ...

Goes outside. Funk tries to suplex Gaterwolf back into the ring but he falls on top. Wins with sleeper.

Funk gave Gaterwolf, a pure jobber, an awful lot of this match. Is there such a thing as being too giving?

*1/2

Terry Funk vs. SD Jones (2/15/86)

Here we go. Jones is wearing pyjamas! He looks half asleep. This is from All-Star, an Ontario taping. Monsoon and Jesse on commentary.

Funk gives Jones three body slams in a row. Big "SD" chant. He shucks and jives to the chanting. Jones gets caught with a kick going for a back drop. Texas jabs, Funk comes up short and takes a big headbutt to boot. Jones-mania running wild here.

Two more headbutts sends Funk packing outside. Jones dominating. Hart does something to Jones and he gives chase and he chases him in the ring to the other side and Funk blindsides him with a clothesline for a cheap win. Jones was screwed.

Still think Funk might be a bit too giving here. Jones was many years removed from being a top star here and had been losing on a frequent basis for a long time, so to have him basically dominate here made Funk look pretty weak to me. How's he possibly going to cope with Hogan or JYD when he made such hard work of Jones?

*1/2

Bellomo match is worth watching.

[NotJayTabb]

I love Funk destroying the ring attendant, what a great first impression for people who hadn't seen him before. I'm looking forward to watching the Bellomo match to see Funk work a miracle - I watched the first ECW Hardcore TV last week with 2 Bellomo matches and he was terrible.

[TravJ1979]

Believe that attendant is alleged pedophile Mel Phillips.

[JerryvonKramer]

I love Funk destroying the ring attendant, what a great first impression for people who hadn't seen him before. I'm looking forward to watching the Bellomo match to see Funk work a miracle - I watched the first ECW Hardcore TV last week with 2 Bellomo matches and he was terrible.

Please do report back on if you watch that Bellomo match, not usual that I be recommending a Sal match to anyone and need to check I'm not going mad.

[NotJayTabb]

I'm pleased to say you haven't gone mad. I've seen enough Bellomo in enough different settings to know he's terrible, and this is the first time I've enjoyed one of his matches. I think a large part of that is Funk making him look really good, but I think Sal had to raise his game facing someone as good as Funk. I mean, this is a guy who looked wimpy in a match against Bobby Heenan, and here he's all fired up on offence, really focuses work on Terry's shoulder at first. Funk is obviously very generous in the match (maybe too generous? Should Sal Bellomo be powering out of your sleeper?), and for sure his selling and bumping make Sal look better than he is. There's a few bit of business Funk puts in there to add flavour to what could've been a drier match - the bump on the announce table and the argument with the ref. As you said, the fact I watched a near 15min Bellomo match and enjoyed it makes Funk a miracle worker

[KB8]

Funk was downright unbelievable in that Bellomo match. I audibly laughed out loud about four times during it as a reaction to crazy shit he was doing. Straight away when he kicks out at the ring attendant and spits at him you know he's up for this, then he gets in the crowd and picks a fight with someone. The bit with Gorilla at the announce desk ruled the first time, but Terry chucking Bellomo back out later on and shouting "PIG! PIG!" was even better. Bellomo isn't an all star, but he was definitely game to play off Funk here and Terry gave him a ton. Sal's mule kicks actually looked pretty great and the splash across both of Funk's kneecaps ruled. Still, this was a Funk show, and what a show it was.

[Rah]

Here's 7.5 hours of the Funks vs Sheik/Abdullah feud in one nifty video, spanning the years 1975-1981. 15/07/79 is the only missing match, apparently.

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7aCnszENJI

 

 

 

Same uploader has some great matches, too. I don't follow Japanese wrestling much, so I'm unsure of what is new or not.

[peachchaos]

That's pretty incredible!

 

I follow this channel but still miss stuff from time to time. This is new to me:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z8W5rKClMQ