RIP Terry Funk

[The Man in Blak]

The greatest of all time, now and forever. RIP

[strobogo]

Man that sucks. He looked healthy and happy in the birthday pics. 

[C.S.]

This one hurts. 

R.I.P. to an absolute all-time LEGEND in every sense of the word.

Terry Funk headlined so many eras and was beloved by 3 or 4 generations of wrestling fans. There was nobody else like him.

[Robert S]

3 hours ago, SirEdger said:

Terry Funk was one of those wrestlers you truly felt was perhaps immortal - in the physical sense of the term. But no matter what, The Funker will forever be immortal with the body of work and legacy he's leaving behind in a broad spectrum in pro wrestling.

As long as there is pro wrestling on this planet, Terry Funk will never truly die. You know that quote (that seems to be attributed to Ernest Hemingway):

Quote

Every man has two deaths, when he is buried in the ground and the last time someone says his name. In some ways men can be immortal.

Here my favorite Terry Funk promo, I love Hugo's facial expression ("you are getting us all killed").

 

[Coffey]

I am so sad. One of my all-time favorite people to ever live.

[flyonthewall2983]

The match he had with Pedro Morales in Boston from 86 was quite a treat to watch randomly during lockdown

[Zoo Enthusiast]

A true Mt Rushmore guy.  RIP to a legend.

[Flyin' Brian]

One of the best of all time. The first exposure I had to Funk was the Flair feud in ‘89, and even being a 10 year old fan that knew nothing about him up to that point I instantly thought he was awesome. Incredibly entertaining and talented. I hope WWE will do a career retrospective of some type. 

[The Thread Killer]

Hard to find words strong enough to express what Terry Funk meant to Pro Wrestling and to me as a fan. I don’t think anything any of us can say, can really measure how much he meant.

One of the first columns I ever wrote for 411 during my tenure as a writer there, was my column laying out the case for Funk as the greatest of all time.

I was so happy I got to see him wrestle live, up close and personal when he fought Sabu on June 6, 1999 in Toronto. His final match in Canada.

One of the few Pro Wrestling T-shirts I ever proudly wore in public was the infamous “Funk U” shirt, and I went through more than one of them.

He is a fucking Legend and we’re never going to see anything even close to him again.

Rest in Peace, Funker.

[jiraffejustin]

 

Damn. RIP the Funker. 

[Sweet Brown Koko]

Just found out this news and I’m floored. I grew up watching Terry Funk in the 80’s mainly through the WWF and NWA in the late 80’s. I learned more about him as an adult as far as his international and territory exploits and was just blown away.

The best thing I can say about Terry Funk is that he was believable. Face or heel, I believed everything that man said and knew he was a little off his rocker too. The Empty Arena match from Memphis is my favorite Terry Funk thing and it’s not even the match. It’s his pre-match rant about how Lawler is a coward and how the whole town of Memphis is out to get him. It crazy…..but believable. There’s just enough Southern home cooking to know that things like getting harassed by the police and stuff could happen. Then he starts going in on Lance just for being there and asking if he’s in on it too.

Just a tremendous loss. 
 

RIP

 

[Ricky Jackson]

Not surprising, but his NY Times obit claims WWE was where his "career exploded" and basically implies that it was minor to major leagues professional advancement when he went there in 1985

[rainmakerrtv]

17 hours ago, DMJ said:

He's on the very, very shortlist of best to ever have done it and, the older I get, the more and more I think he really might be the best. He made every feud, every story, every victory, and every loss feel REAL, like it really mattered, like it was always deeply personal. That didn't always result in great matches, but they still mattered because he was in them, even in the most ridiculous of circumstances like his last WCW years or the Chainsaw Charlie stuff. 

This. So much this.

[flyonthewall2983]

6 hours ago, Ricky Jackson said:

Not surprising, but his NY Times obit claims WWE was where his "career exploded" and basically implies that it was minor to major leagues professional advancement when he went there in 1985

Jim Cornette should respond directly to the NYT 

[Mr JMML]

I'm so sad, I'll miss him.

[NintendoLogic]

I'm pleasantly surprised the NYT obit didn't describe his time as Chainsaw Charlie as the high point of his career.

Have any of you ever heard anyone offer a contrarian take on Terry Funk? I know I haven't. People may have argued that other wrestlers were better, but I've never seen anyone even attempt to claim that he wasn't really that great. Just about every other serious GOAT candidate has been picked apart to some degree, but not him. Says it all, really.

[The Thread Killer]

43 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

Have any of you ever heard anyone offer a contrarian take on Terry Funk? I know I haven't. People may have argued that other wrestlers were better, but I've never seen anyone even attempt to claim that he wasn't really that great. Just about every other serious GOAT candidate has been picked apart to some degree, but not him. Says it all, really.

When I wrote the aforementioned column about Terry Funk, and how he was the greatest of all time for 411 years ago, I must have gotten a couple of hundred responses. 90% of them were positive. A few of them were from younger fans, who really did not know anything about him, and only knew him as a Chainsaw Charlie, (which was just depressing.)

I remember distinctly that I got exactly ONE response from somebody saying they did not like Terry Funk. Specifically, they blamed him for ending the career of Mr. Pogo during some sort of accident in FMW through “negligence.” I don’t remember having heard, or read about that incident anywhere else, but this particular individual was quite irate that people loved Funk so much, since he blamed him for shortening the career of Mr. Pogo.

In all my years as a fan, that is about the only person I ever remember having something bad to say about him. Of course, there have been people who have criticized his cartoonish over-selling, but that is a mild criticism at worst.

[delacroix]

34 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

Have any of you ever heard anyone offer a contrarian take on Terry Funk? I know I haven't. People may have argued that other wrestlers were better, but I've never seen anyone even attempt to claim that he wasn't really that great. Just about every other serious GOAT candidate has been picked apart to some degree, but not him. Says it all, really.

I was sort of thinking about this, too. I was thinking how I’ve never seen anyone make that argument and how even though it’s the internet and it’s foolish to be surprised by any half-ass, half-baked hot take, I would probably still be shocked to run across it, in this case. It would be like someone arguing against joy. If someone was really arguing that Terry Funk isn’t so great, I think my first reaction would be to wonder why in the world they’re even talking about wrestling to begin with, because they obviously don’t like it at all. 
 

It’s definitely a misanthropic tendency and I’m not proud of it, but I always am somewhat put off by the predictable routine whenever someone dies, with the inevitable and seemingly rote performance of everyone talking about their impact and all that. Everyone says the same shit almost every time, and it just all rings hollow to me. But in this case, all that grandiose, sentimental nonsense actually needs to be said, because it’s not nonsense this time— it’s actually the truth about Terry Funk. 

[MLB]

21 minutes ago, The Thread Killer said:

I remember distinctly that I got exactly ONE response from somebody saying they did not like Terry Funk. Specifically, they blamed him for ending the career of Mr. Pogo during some sort of accident in FMW through “negligence.” I don’t remember having heard, or read about that incident anywhere else, but this particular individual was quite irate that people loved Funk so much, since he blamed him for shortening the career of Mr. Pogo.

Pogo broke his neck in 1996 at FMW's Summer Spectacular after falling out of the ring onto barbed wire from a Funk fireball. Funk blew another massive fireball on a paralyzed Pogo without realizing that he was injured. Pogo lost a lot of mobility as a result.

[Phil Schneider]

I went on the Ringer Masked Man Show to talk Terry

 

https://t.co/2PDo0MBMGI

[MoS]

What are the famous babyface Funk promos from the territories? There's a Memphis angle where he teams with Lawler against Hart's and Corny's stable (I think). What else? 

As someone said, it's incredible how much of his prime is not on tape and yet he still remains one of the GOATs if not the GOAT

[Zoo Enthusiast]

Here’s a massive Funker playlist.

[MoS]

Thank you, good brother

[Microstatistics]

An undeniable legend. RIP.

[G. Badger]

Stevie Richards posted a tribute video and analyzed/reviews some of his big ECW moments with Terry. Many kind words and describes why both peers and fans loved & respected The Funker.