Ric Flair v Terry Funk

[goodhelmet]

Terry Funk vs. Ric Flair ?I Quit Match? (Clash of the Champions IX ?New York Knockout)

 

Blood feuds. If you have spent just a few hours watching wrestling, you are bound to come across a match that either begins or ends a blood feud. We talk about them constantly. ?Did you see how Magnum just jammed that spike in his eye?? ?Eddie brought the hate against that racist son of a bitch? ?Austin never quit! Austin never quit!? ?Lawler punished Idol.? They are there for us to witness, to revel in the hate, to see the two mortal enemies do everything in their power to inflict pain. When you want to sell a few more tickets, give the impression that the vampires will see blood. That will put asses in the seats. When you want a good brawl, blood is an important component. If you don?t provide blood, you better be able to see the eye swelling shut or the skin turning blue from the brutal shots taken.

 

The payoff. Every good feud should have a payoff. Typically, it ends with the face overcoming the odds and giving the crowd no doubt who is the better man. The fight should be the peak moment, when the fans leaving the arena are satisfied knowing that their hero, or anti-hero, took care of business when it mattered most. It is a way for the wrestlers to move on to the next feud. For the heel, the payoff can give him motivation to torture the next victim, knowing in his mind, he should have won the last feud. For the face, it can be the springboard to the next antagonist? knowing in his mind, he will be victorious in the end.

 

The ?I Quit Match? was a match that was begging for blood and demanded a payoff. While failing miserably in the former (because of the No Blood rule imposed by WCW) and achieving the latter, it still felt unsatisfying. Funk had put Flair through a table on a night that called for celebration (Wrestlewar 89). He embarassed and tortured him for months leading up to this match. This was a feud that demanded blood and should have left the fans knowing that when the loser said ?I Quit?, he meant it because the other guy just beat his ass to a bloody pulp and ended his career. Onto the match?

 

Flair chops Funk immediately and sends him over the top rope. Funk does his drunken sell on the outside, selling the impact of Flair?s chops. Back in the ring, Flair chops the shit out of Funk again. This time, Terry bails and takes a breather. They are really putting over the impact of Flair?s chops but this is also when I notice the first flaw of the match. These guys are way too tentative in a blowoff ?brawl?. Compare it to Austin-Hart from Mania, or Jumbo-Tenryu from 6-5-89, Magnum-Tully in their ?I Quit? match, or even Eddie-JBL. In all three of those matches, those guys come out to fight and the energy is felt through every inch of the building. In this match, there is no immediate energy that carries the match through. Shortly after, Funk even applies a side headlock. It doesn?t last long but why in the hell would you apply a headlock in an ?I Quit? brawl? It is one of the many little things that keep this match from obtaining greatness.

 

Flair gets Funk down and begins to choke him. This would be great if Flair was the heel, a role he is pretty damn good at, but he is the face. If Flair chokes Funk, it should be because Funk did something earlier on in the match that demanded it. Maybe he was demonstrating that he would have to resort to his old dirty tricks to win the match. Who knows? It just seemed out of place, much like Funk?s earlier headlock. In fact, this reminds me of a problem that would plague the entire match. Funk never fights like a heel. This is one of the meanest men in the business and he can?t kick Flair in the nuts? An eye gouge, an eye-poke, pulling Flair?s hair, a low blow, choking Flair out while berating the fans? any of these things could have been done to demonstrate the desperation Funk feels in trying to put Flair away. It never happens. There is never a tease of a foreign object, unless you count the microphone being used as a weapon?once? in the entire match? at the very beginning. Hell, Gary Hart had the branding iron right fucking there!!! The closest we get is Funk setting up a table that would eventually be used against him.

 

Early on, a minor theme is started that actually plays out quite nicely. When Fliar gains an advantage, it is through his vicious chops. Funk, on the other hand, takes advantage of situations with the best punches in the business? and he dishes out a lot of them. Unfortunately, we are still in the early portion of the match. Funk works Flair over with his punches and grabs the mic. He whacks Flair over the head with the mic but Flair practically no-sells the shots and begins to fight back immediately. If this was logical, this would be the point in the match where Funk works Flair over to the point where he could have generate some heat by playing the true role of ruthless, heartless, crazy old Texan. Insead, Funk goes back to some more punches and asks Flair to quit. He wants Flair to quit after a headlock and a bunch of punches. If he would have mixed in a move that actually inflicted massive damage, I could believe it. Instead, it seemed rushed and unnecessary.

 

Funk continues to hammer Flair with punches but receives a Manhattan drop. Funk sells it for a few seconds and gets the advantage right back. Again, the flow of this match is just nutty and we haven?t even hit the halfway point yet. Case in point? before Terry can sustain any kind of control, Flair chokes Funk and chops him to death. They brawl outside the ring and Flair dishes out some punishment. Now, Flair wants Funk to quit. Again, there is nothing in the match that would make me believe that either man is ready to quit. Maybe they were trying to sell the stipulation but it was completely unnecessary. Funk breaks Flair?s momentum with a swinging neckbreaker and Funk cuts a full promo in the middle of the match. ?You remember your neck Flair? You remember your neck? Don?t you want to quit before I hurt you??

 

?

 

At this point, the match comes into more focus. After Terry?s mid-match promo, Funk goes for the piledriver and hits it. They ask Fliar to quit but he refuses. Terry legdrops Flair?s face for good measure and tosses Flair out. This is the first time in the match you really get the sense that either man is in trouble. Out on the floor, Funk piledrives Flair on the fucking floor. This broke Ted DiBiase?s neck for chrissakes (work with me here), yet Flair continues with little effort, holding his neck to ?sell? the pain. This is the point in the match where they completely lost me. Back in the ring, Flair gains control with some bionic elbows and makes a Superman comeback. He rams Funk?s head into the table Terry had setup earlier. Funk tries to get away but Flair jumps on his back, ramming them into the guardrail. He then slides Funk across the table as Funk lands into a chair. For good measure, Flair crotches Funk on the guardrail and gets them back in the ring.

 

A kneedrop and a Manhattan drop kickstarts Flair?s work on the leg, something Jim Ross also notices. Funk tries to get away, selling the damage he received to the leg. Flair tackles him on the outside and gives Funk the shin breaker, further damaging the leg. A figure-four attempt is blocked by Terry Funk when he uses some good-old fashioned punches. Flair continues to work on the leg and eventually applies the figure-four. At this point in time, Funk quits and the match ends.

 

If you notices, the times I sounded genuinely excited were when the two wrestlers teased the themes of injured body parts. At one point in time, I thought the match would progress with Funk absolutely destroying Flair?s neck to the point he would be looking down the rest of the match. After the piledriver on the floor, Flair never sold the neck again. At the end of the match, Flair works in his trademark moves that soften up the legs, setting up the figure-four. The entire process of working the legs up until the point that Funk quits was about 4 minutes, if that long. I think they had the right idea in working with the injured body parts but they never developed those themes fully.

 

Now, if you want blood, you didn?t get it. This is Ric Flair and Terry Fucking Funk. I?ve seen Ric Flair bleed by taking a rake to the eyes. Terry Funk was in some of the bloodiest, grotesque matches I have ever seen? and that was before he was hardcore! If these two aren?t allowed to bleed, then this match should have never taken place. They say you can?t fault the wrestlers for the limits imposed on them but it does affect the match in a negative light. Fuck it, bleed hardway and say it was an accident. If this were just another match on some random card, I probably wouldn?t be so critical but it wasn?t. It was the payoff to the blood feud and the end result was unsatisfying. Compare this to the Magnum TA-Tully Blanchard ?I Quit? match and tell me which match had better use of the gimmick, better participation from a manager (Baby Doll?s interference is what cost Blanchard in the end), better definition of heel-face roles and a better ending. To add insult to injury, Funk barely sells the leg damage after the match as he shakes Flair?s hand. One more reminder that this match wasn?t all it was cracked up to be and leaving this vampire ding of thirst.

 

 

One of the biggest factors people mention in wrestling is the suspension of disbelief. At only one point in this match did I believe that one wrestler hated the other (Funk piledriving Flair onto the concrete). In a blood feud where so much is at stake, you would think realism would be the selling point of the match. Instead, its lack of realism is what makes me think this is one of the least effective brawls of all-time. Let's count the number of moments where realism (and my suspension of disbelief) are thrown out the window. 1) Terry Funk's drunken selling. 2) The early headlock and tentative beginning 3) The rush to get over the gimmick 4)Flair's superman comeback and lack of selling from the concrete piledriver. 5)The lack of blood 6)Funk forgetting to sell the leg in the end. Anyone who thinks this is a ***** match really has to ask themselves why they watch wrestling. Maybe they have been conditioned to think that a great moment or distant memory automatically produces a classic, manufactured and synthetic like the fiberglass vehicles being pumped out of some Toyota plant. When Dames asked me what I thought of this match, I told him it wasn't a five-star classic and begged and pleaded with him to drop his preconceived notions of what he had read and examine the match with a critical eye. He didn't. It is times like these where I feel it is necessary to call out these legends and I demand, in 2005, a rematch, complete with blood, a flaming branding iron, possible broken bones and Flair being carried out on a stretcher (permanently retiring) or Funk being wheeled out with his legs crushed to pieces. Give me my payoff!!!!!

 

 

In an earlier thread, I said I don?t think I have ever given a definitive star rating for any match but that is about to change?

**1/2 because this match was half of what it should have been and twice the disappointment.

[Al]

I'll spare the format of quoting everything in the post, as I think this will make things easier to read. I am sure Loss will provide his thoughts, but I would like to express my two cents.

 

First off, the blood. Yes, there is no blood, and that might take away from the concept of the blood feud. However, I think this is a case where you are reviewing the match you wanted to see, rather than the match you actually saw.

 

First off, this feud at this point was floating into a respect feud. Funk stated that he would shake Flair's hand if he lost, which he did. I do not know what version of the match you saw, but Funk did effectively turn face after the match. Previous matches would have blown off the initial steam, and here we have a case where it is a matter of pride, and not necessarily bloodshed.

 

The mid-match promo more than had its place. As you might recall, Funk injured Flair's neck six months earlier, and Flair nearly retired. So when Funk threatens to piledrive Flair and injure his neck again, that has meaning. The pieldrivers do slow down Flair. That he specifically does not sell them is not an immediate detriment to the match. In kayfabe terms, we would learn that those moves luckily caused no serious injuries, so other than lingering pain, what is there that Flair has to sell to tell a story?

 

You mentioned the lack of weapons. Jim Ross and Gordon Solie state during the match that the microphone was not supposed to be used as a weapon. You have to remember that in the late 1980s the introduction of any foreign object was a MAJOR, major turning point in a wrestling match. It wasn't like today where foreign objects are expected and commonplace. And in pre-match promos, Funk stated that he did not want Gary Hart's help.

 

At the end, the Figure Four is sold as a move that could break Funk's leg. Funk quit before his leg was broken. Afterwards, it would be sore, but no major damage. And if you have seen Terry Funk lately, his knee is in constant pain, and he still manages. Why could he not walk after the match, and he was walking gingerly on the leg. If he was not, then it was not obvious enough to notice.

 

You state several times the lack of blood is a problem. To me, that is not much different from Scott Keith decided he does not like JBL as a main-eventer, and basing his opinion off of that. All good brawls do not have to involve blood. To me, this was a match that provides a different approach to the brawl. And I think it works.

[goodhelmet]

First off, the blood. Yes, there is no blood, and that might take away from the concept of the blood feud. However, I think this is a case where you are reviewing the match you wanted to see, rather than the match you actually saw.

 

It's a match they had built up. I was expecting it, not becuase they advertised blood, but because this was two of the biggest bleeders in the business. Of course, I wanted to see blood. Flair and Funk had bled so many buckets at this point in thier career, any one who followed them would have expected it.

 

Agreed Funk turned face, but in the match, he was the heel. Act like one.

 

The mid-match promo more than had its place. As you might recall, Funk injured Flair's neck six months earlier, and Flair nearly retired. So when Funk threatens to piledrive Flair and injure his neck again, that has meaning. The pieldrivers do slow down Flair. That he specifically does not sell them is not an immediate detriment to the match. In kayfabe terms, we would learn that those moves luckily caused no serious injuries, so other than lingering pain, what is there that Flair has to sell to tell a story?

Did Funk really need to cut a promo threatening to break Flair's neck? Actions speak louder than words and I would have rather he worked on the neck than talk about what everyone knew. As for the piledriver, this was alot closer to the piledriver being a life-threatening career ender than as a transitional move it is known for today. Of course you sell a move like the piledriver... and especially one on the concrete. Hell, even as Flair was kayfabing it up, the one he took in the beginning of the feud was on a table. I fogot that concrete was softer than wood. I'll test that out next time I do some backyard wrestling.

 

You mentioned the lack of weapons. Jim Ross and Gordon Solie state during the match that the microphone was not supposed to be used as a weapon. You have to remember that in the late 1980s the introduction of any foreign object was a MAJOR, major turning point in a wrestling match. It wasn't like today where foreign objects are expected and commonplace. And in pre-match promos, Funk stated that he did not want Gary Hart's help.

 

The weapons, the heel-face dynamic, the lack of selling, no sustained heat segments. These are just examples of what was wong with the match. If using a weapon was such a big deal, when Funk whacks Flair over the head with the microphone, why doesn't Flair sell it like death? You just told me it was a MAJOR major turning point in a wrestling match. Not in this one.

 

At the end, the Figure Four is sold as a move that could break Funk's leg. Funk quit before his leg was broken. Afterwards, it would be sore, but no major damage. And if you have seen Terry Funk lately, his knee is in constant pain, and he still manages. Why could he not walk after the match, and he was walking gingerly on the leg. If he was not, then it was not obvious enough to notice.

 

The figure four ended the match, sure. Now, you are the one seeing things that are not supposed to be seen. Funk didn't stop before his leg was broken. He stopped because he thought his leg WAS broken. If it is a move that could break his leg then he should have been selling it to really get the move over, a move that was already established as a leg killer.

 

You state several times the lack of blood is a problem. To me, that is not much different from Scott Keith decided he does not like JBL as a main-eventer, and basing his opinion off of that. All good brawls do not have to involve blood. To me, this was a match that provides a different approach to the brawl. And I think it works.

The lack of blood was just one example of why I think this match fails. If the match would have been all that and a bag of chips, I would have stated as such. I didn't want Funk and Flair to fail. I just think it did, whether people's fondness for this era has them thinking otherwise. I've seen the match before. It wasn't that I had perconceived notions of what I wanted to write. I knew the match was overrated before I reviewed it... unlike SK who probably wrote his shitty review of the JBL-Eddie match before he ever saw it. I wanted to like the TAKA-Sasuke match from RAW but the match sucked. I don't remember the Canadian Stampede Juniors match being as good as it actually was but I gave it glowing reviews. That is why I watch the matches, to see if my memory holds up as good as it should. In this case, my memory served me right... and it isn't for any hate of the participants. I could always review the Flair-Jumbo matches and give Flair a ton of praise (OK, more Jumbo praise than Flair). Funk-Jumbo 76 is one of my favorite matches of all-time. I love the Funks feud with Brody, Snuka and Hansen from All Japan. Make sure you don't confuse my dislike for the match as a dislike for the wrestlers. Also, it was their reputation as bleeders and great brawlers that raised my expectations of the match. If they can't live up to their part of the bargain, that is their fault, not mine.

[Loss]

Without having watched the match since the first DVD came out, my gut tells me that I side with goodhelmet here. However, both his review and alkeiper's response were superb, and I'd be doing the discussion a disservice if I didn't rewatch the match to have a complete grasp on it. Tonight.

[Tim Cooke]

My brother and I are on opposite ends when it comes to Flair/Funk. I think the match is okay but it doesn't have the same hate that the GAB match has as well as the no blood aspect. Piledrivers on the floor, not being sold as total death, at thevery least deserve some blood. I understand the WTBS factor but it still annoys me. Not every brawl needs blood but when the feud started with blood, then had Funk trying to kill Flair with a paperbag over his head, I expect more. I need to rewatch the GAB match because I haven't seen that in forever but the Clash match just doesn't do it for me.

 

Maybe the Funk/Flair 1981 AJ Handheld will shed some more light on how good or bad the Clash match is.

 

Tim

[goodhelmet]

Not every brawl needs blood but when the feud started with blood, then had Funk trying to kill Flair with a paperbag over his head, I expect more.

Exactly! Where is the hate? If it was just about respect, I wouldn't beg for blood. Hell, I thought Steamboat-Savage was a great angle that played out and paid off... but I wasn't expecting them to open up some gushers either. Flair-Funk is a case of them not living up to their reputations.

 

Also, I want to elaborate on my star rating. If you gave the match ** or *** or even ****, I wouldn't object. Since I am not a star rating kind-of-guy, the **1/2 stars is more of a response to the OMG ***** classics vibe the match gets around the net. Since it only fulfilled half of what I was expecting, it got half the rating.

 

Now, maybe I need to watch Tully vs. Magnum in the cage to compare the two "I Quit" matches together. I may even compare it to Austin-Hart since that was also a monumental moment that outshines this one.

[Marty]

Not every brawl needs blood but when the feud started with blood, then had Funk trying to kill Flair with a paperbag over his head, I expect more.

Exactly! Where is the hate? If it was just about respect, I wouldn't beg for blood. Hell, I thought Steamboat-Savage was a great angle that played out and paid off... but I wasn't expecting them to open up some gushers either. Flair-Funk is a case of them not living up to their reputations.

 

Also, I want to elaborate on my star rating. If you gave the match ** or *** or even ****, I wouldn't object. Since I am not a star rating kind-of-guy, the **1/2 stars is more of a response to the OMG ***** classics vibe the match gets around the net. Since it only fulfilled half of what I was expecting, it got half the rating.

 

Now, maybe I need to watch Tully vs. Magnum in the cage to compare the two "I Quit" matches together. I may even compare it to Austin-Hart since that was also a monumental moment that outshines this one.

I watched the Flair/Funk Clash match last night, and I have to concur with both these viewpoints. Flair/Funk, compared with Magnum/Tully, is far less intense of a match. Ignore the blood in Magnum/Tully for a second. The brawling was far better in the cage match and the hatred displayed in it was far better and was what was needed in Flair/Funk. You can almost use the mic work as a representation of the intensity in the matches. In Magnum/Tully, both guys are talking to each other, as if to say they better quit now, or things will only get worse. I don't recall the same thing with Flair/Funk, aside from one moment Funk where he threatens some worse violence on Flair.

 

Aside from the neck work Funk does, neither guy wrestles that much of a sophisticated match, either. Yeah, it's an I Quit match, but Flair doesn't seem to have too much in his strategy besides chopping the hell out of Funk. The chops are nice, but it still makes the match feel like a 2002 WWE babyface Flair match. As Tim said, the no-selling of the piledrivers bothered me as well, which is a shame, seeing as the one that kicked off the feud knocked Flair out silly, as well as how today, the piledriver is no longer the killer move it used to be. The match is, as Tim and Will said, okay, but there really was so much more they could've done to close the feud.

[Loss]

This is a strange complaint to level against Ric Flair, but I don't think he ever gave Funk enough in their feud. When I say that, I don't mean in the feud itself, which was fairly even, but in the matches, especially this one. Flair is a terrific babyface in terms of relating to the audience, but in the ring, he doesn't really sell like he should. This is actually a problem I've found with Austin and others as well -- they don't let the heel work them over for any length of time, and they don't struggle to come back and build to the finish. I love the heel version of both guys, and in that role, they both do everything right, but they both tend to take too much as babyfaces.

[goodhelmet]

The problem with both Austin and Flair is that their personalities (Cocky gigolo, beer-drinking redneck) are designed to be heels. So, even when working face, they tend to fall into heel tendencies when working a match.

[goodhelmet]

Loss, have you rewatched this match yet?

[Loss]

No, but it's coming up. I saw the Clash IX tape in the next stack, so it'll be this week or next.