Terry Funk

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Terrence Funk
An image of Terrence Funk.
Statistics
Ring name(s) Terry Funk
Chainsaw Charlie
Billed height 6 ft 1 in (190 cm)
Billed weight 247 lb (112 kg)
Born June 30, 1944 (1944-06-30) (age 63)
Hammond, Indiana
Resides Amarillo, Texas
Billed from Double Cross Ranch, Amarillo, Texas
Debut 1965

Terrence "Terry" Funk (born June 30, 1944)[1] is an American professional wrestler, and actor known chiefly for the hardcore wrestling style he adopted in the later part of his career that inspired many later wrestlers, most notably Mick Foley.

He has held many championship titles, including the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, the latter of which was also granted to him as an honorary lifetime title.

Funk is often noted for the longevity of his career, which has included multiple "retirement" matches. He is affectionately known as "The Funker."

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] 1960s-1970s

Funk in a camel clutch being administered by The Sheik.
Funk in a camel clutch being administered by The Sheik.

Funk started out his career in 1965, working in his father Dory Funk, Sr.'s promotion in Amarillo, Texas. He and his brother, Dory Funk, Jr., quickly rose up the ranks and became big money wrestlers by the end of the decade. They joined the NWA in 1968. In 1975, Terry defeated Jack Brisco for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, then the most important wrestling championship in the business. He began a grueling fourteen-month title reign which ended in Toronto when he was defeated by "Handsome" Harley Race, who won the title for the second time. Terry Funk took some time off after his world title reign but he and his brother traveled around the country (mostly in Texas, Florida, and Detroit) looking for a fight. Terry and Dory, Jr. also made a name for themselves in Japan where they became one of the top drawing foreign acts in the history of Japan (the Funks were the first gaijins to be considered faces in Japan). He made a name for himself with his over the top mannerisms and sometimes colorful get-ups as well as his brawling ability. Funk was also involved in the earliest barbed-wire match ever recorded. He wrestled Dusty Rhodes in this grisly match in the late 1970s before the words hardcore and extreme were associated with wrestling. Pro Wrestling Illustrated covered this story as "the horrifying barbed-wire fence match."

[edit] 1980s

Terry made his WWF debut in 1985 a memorable one. In his televised debut on Championship Wrestling he not only beat Aldo Marino, but he also beat up a ring attendant named Mel Phillips who was also at the time, one of the WWF ring announcers. Funk also had the gimmick at the time of carrying a branding iron with him to ringside and using it to "brand" his fallen opponents.

In the mid 1980s, Funk teamed with Dory (calling himself "Hoss" Funk) and Jimmy Jack Funk (Jesse Barr), a storyline "brother." They were managed by Jimmy Hart. At the time, he had a heated rivalry with the Junkyard Dog which led to a match between Terry Funk and Hoss Funk and the team of Tito Santana and Junkyard Dog at WrestleMania 2.

In 1989, Funk returned to the NWA and joined the J-Tex Corporation. He began feuding with Ric Flair after Flair beat Ricky Steamboat at Wrestle War for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Funk, who was one of three judges for the main event, challenged Flair to a title match. Flair refused, saying that Funk was "spending time in Hollywood" instead of focusing on wrestling. Funk then attacked, piledriving Flair on a ringside table. This put the champion, Flair, out of action until the Great American Bash where he faced Funk. Flair won the match by reversing a small package into one of his own, but shortly after was attacked by Gary Hart and The Great Muta. Sting came to aid Flair and the two brawled with Funk and Muta to close the show. Funk got injured but returned to continue feuding with Ric Flair. The two then had an "I Quit" match at Clash of the Champions, which Funk lost after yelling "YES, I QUIT" after Flair put on the Figure Four Leglock. This match received a 5-star rating from Dave Meltzer. A notable part of the feud occurred when Funk used an actual plastic shopping bag to suffocate Flair on television after Flair and Sting defeated Muta and Dick Slater at Clash of the Champions. Because this was obviously dangerous to anybody and to prevent children from emulating the incident, it was never replayed. The incident is an extra on The Ultimate Ric Flair Collection DVD.

[edit] Extreme Championship Wrestling (1994-1998)

Later in Funk's career, his style changed from wrestling traditional southern style wrestling matches to the more violent and brutal style of hardcore wrestling. As a result, Funk started to gain a new fanbase of fans who loved his hardcore style and brawling. He is often considered an ECW and hardcore wrestling pioneer. Funk started doing brutal stuff in ECW which attracted more fans.

In 1994, after a special appearance against Tully Blanchard at WCW Slamboree, Funk promised to help the fledgling Eastern Championship Wrestling (later renamed Extreme Championship Wrestling) by lending his talent and notoriety to the promotion, which had just split from the National Wrestling Alliance. On July 14, Terry and Dory Funk lost a barbed wire match against The Public Enemy. Terry got his face wrapped in barbed wire and Dory had to cut him out. Funk maintained a regular schedule of wrestling for ECW in its early days while also competing in Japan. He had many feuds and wrestled programs with wrestlers such as Cactus Jack, "The Franchise" Shane Douglas, The Sandman, Sabu, and Terry's own protege, Tommy Dreamer.

On August 20, 1995, IWA Japan held a King of The Death Match tournament (Kawasaki Dream) in Kawasaki, Japan. In this tournament, Funk endured 3 extreme-style matches involving ladders, thumbtacks, and barbed wire. In the final match of the tournament, he lost to Mick Foley (as Cactus Jack), in an exploding ring, C4 explosive, Barbed Wire match.

Terry Funk further elevated ECW by headlining their first pay-per-view, Barely Legal, on April 13, 1997, and winning the ECW Championship from Raven. Earlier in the night, he defeated The Sandman and Stevie Richards in a Triple Threat match, thus earning him the match with Raven. He was later defeated for the title by Sabu in a much talked about Barbed Wire match at ECW Born to Be Wired, in which the ropes of the ring were taken down and replaced with barbed wire. Both men had to be cut out of the wires at the end of the match. This was a truly violent match, involving interference and sickening instances - for instance, Funk's opponent (Sabu) had his bicep visibly torn open by the barbed wire - as a result, the wound was taped up and the match continued. This match is lauded by many fans as the ultimate demonstration of hardcore, but ECW's owner (Paul Heyman) has since remarked in the ECW DVD Bloodsport: ECW's Most Violent Matches that, "What you are about to witness is truly disturbing." In September of that same year, a show was held in Funk's hometown of Amarillo. It was called "WrestleFest - 50 Years of Funk" and was both his own show and a celebration of the careers of Terry, his father, and his brother. Terry lost to then WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart in the main event. However, before the match, ECW owner Paul Heyman presented Terry with a belt, paid for through a collection taken up by wrestlers on the ECW roster, that declared him the Lifetime ECW World Heavyweight Champion.

[edit] World Wrestling Federation (1998)

Terry Funk's retirement lasted just three months before he started taking independent bookings again. Soon after, he was signed by the WWF and debuted as Chainsaw Charlie. Funk had a match with Foley on Raw and the New Age Outlaws came and threw both in a dumpster, and pushed them off of the stage. This led to a match between The Outlaws and Funk/Foley at WrestleMania XIV, for the titles in a Dumpster match when Funk/Foley beat the New Age Outlaws. The titles were held up and put on the line in a Steel Cage match the next night on Raw due to a technicality: the wrong dumpsters had been used in the match. The Outlaws regained the titles. He then had a Falls Count Anywhere match with Foley on Raw in 1998, where Foley defeated him.

He left the WWF in the summer as Mick Foley resumed his solo career as Mankind in a feud with The Undertaker. Upon leaving the WWF, Funk officially retired again, but only for a short time. His most memorable appearance during this time was in a non-wrestling capacity at ECW November to Remember 1998, the biggest show ECW ever held. He also appeared in the Hell in a Cell match between The Undertaker and Mankind at King of the Ring 1998. After Undertaker chokeslammed Foley through the cage, Funk, among others, came down to aid Foley. Funk took a chokeslam "right outta his shoes" to buy Foley time as he recovered consciousness.

[edit] World Championship Wrestling (2000)

Funk wrestled for World Championship Wrestling in 2000, winning the WCW Hardcore Championship 3 times (which stands as the company's record) and the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship for the second time (the first time was under the NWA banner). He was also the WCW Commissioner at one time and the leader of the short-lived Old Age Outlaws that feuded with the nWo.

[edit] 2002-2005

From 2002 to 2004, Terry Funk was a regular top star for the now defunct Major League Wrestling company based out of New York and Florida. Funk had several battles with the likes of the Extreme Horsemen (Steve Corino, C.W. Anderson, and Simon Diamond) in specialty matches such as an Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match, Barbed Wire Match, and a 5 on 5 WarGames match. On the last MLW show, Funk was attacked by his former manager Gary Hart and his syndicate.

In November 2004, Funk competed in the UK wrestling company FWA's main annual show British Uprising. He teamed with Paul Burchill and Paul Travel to face The Triad in a 6-Man Tag Team Match. Funk's team emerged victorious.

In 2005, Funk was offered a contract by World Wrestling Entertainment to appear at the ECW reunion show One Night Stand, but turned it down in favor of working the ECW nostalgia show Hardcore Homecoming that was being put together by Shane Douglas. In the documentary Forever Hardcore, Funk explained that he could not work two shows that close together and would rather wrestle for the guys who cared about ECW rather than someone who couldn't care less (Vince McMahon). At Hardcore Homecoming, Funk lost a 3 way barbed wire match to Sabu.

[edit] Return to World Wrestling Entertainment (2006)

Funk was set to wrestle at the ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view on June 11. As part of the buildup to the event, Terry appeared on the May 15 edition of WWE RAW, his first appearance on WWE programming since 1998 (the match was held in Lubbock about 120 miles from Amarillo). He confronted Mick Foley over the attack of Tommy Dreamer the previous week. The two argued over whether Foley's legacy was rooted more in ECW or WWE, and ended with a brawl after Funk told Foley "WWE sucks" (a similar promo was done between the two in ECW in 1995, when Foley, as Cactus Jack, was doing a pro-WCW heel gimmick). It was confirmed on the May 22 edition of RAW that Funk and Tommy Dreamer would take on the duo of Mick Foley & Edge (with Lita) at the ECW One Night Stand Pay-Per-View. Funk was at the June 7 WWE vs. ECW Head to Head event in Tommy Dreamer's corner and he competed in a WWE vs. ECW battle royal.

At One Night Stand, Funk, Tommy Dreamer, and Beulah were defeated by the team of Edge, Mick Foley, and Lita. Midway through the match, Foley ground his arm that was wrapped in barbed wire across Funk's eye. Funk was taken backstage complaining of an eye injury. Funk would later come back (with a bloody cloth tied over his eye) to hit Foley with a flaming 2x4 wrapped in barbed wire. He was later thrown onto the barbed wire board with Foley, and would have to be cut out of it at the end of the match via wire cutters. According to the footage of Funk's medical attention found on WWE.com, it appeared that Funk needed 5 or 6 minor stitches. However, the eye didn't seem to be harmed in any major way.

[edit] 2006-present

Most recently, Funk has worked some dates on the independent circuit and in Japan. Currently, he is semi-retired. Although he claims to be retired, Funk has returned to the ring all other times he claimed retirement before this current "claim." In fact, Funk has wrestled self-described "retirement" matches in each of the last three decades (dating back to 1980) and in at least three different countries (Japan, Canada, and the United States). He is scheduled to wrestle in the XPW event "Cold Day In Hell" on May 24th.

[edit] In wrestling

  • Nicknames
    • "Be Nice" Terry Funk
    • "The Texan" Terry Funk
    • "Middle Aged and Crazy" Terry Funk
    • "The Hardcore Icon"
    • "The Funker"
    • "The Lord of the Hardcore"
    • "The Texas Bronco"
    • "Wrestling's Living Legend"
    • "The Hardcore Living Legend"
    • "The King Of Hardcore"
    • "The Dirty Funker"
    • "The One and Only Living Legend"
    • "One Bad Mother Funker"

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

  • IWA World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
  • Iron Mike Mazurki Award (2005)

[edit] Notes

1Funk was named an honorary Lifetime ECW World Heavyweight Champion by Paul Heyman in 1997 due to Funk's contributions to both ECW and Professional Wrestling in general[2]
 ²Funk has one additional reign that isn't officially recognized by World Wrestling Entertainment.

[edit] Other media

In 1999, Funk was featured in director Barry Blaustein's wrestling documentary, Beyond the Mat. His legendary toughness was attested to in the wrestling documentary when cameramen followed him to a medical appointment where he was told, by the doctor, that he shouldn't even be able to walk without intense pain. He has also appeared in other notable movies such as Road House, Paradise Alley, The Ringer, and Over the Top. He also appeared as a playable legend in the video game WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Books

Autobiography: Terry Funk: More Than Just Hardcore 2005

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame (1948-1990). Puroresu Dojo (2003).
  2. ^ [Beyond the Mat, Barry Blaustein's movie about professional wrestling, 1999]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Professional wrestling
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