WWE Hall of Famer Terry Funk Dies at Age 79

ro wrestling legend Terry Funk has died at the age of 79.

Mick Foley, best known as Mankind in WWE, wrote on social media Funk's daughter, Brandee, informed him of her father's death.

WWE confirmed the news:

Funk spent more than 50 years in the wrestling industry starting in 1965 when he debuted in Western States Sports when it was owned by his father, Dory Funk. He would also spend time in Championship Wrestling from Florida and All Japan Pro Wrestling before his first run in WWE starting in 1985.

Terry and Dory Funk Jr., known as Hoss Funk in WWE, defeated Tito Santana and the Junkyard Dog at WrestleMania 2.

Funk would continue to bounce around with various promotions after leaving WWE in 1986. He had a high-profile feud with Ric Flair in WCW in 1989 that culminated with their iconic "I Quit" match at Clash of the Champions IX.

Terry Funk had an extended run in ECW during the mid-'90s that included a feud with Foley when he was working as Cactus Jack. He also had a run as ECW champion after defeating Sabu in a no-disqualification match at Holiday Hell in December 1993.

Funk went back to WWE in 1997 starting with an appearance in the Royal Rumble match. He rejoined the promotion on a full-time basis near the end of that year when he debuted as Chainsaw Charlie as part of a tag team with Cactus Jack.

The highlight of Funk's WWE run was when he and Foley defeated the New Age Outlaws to win the tag titles at WrestleMania 14.

After leaving WWE near the end of 1998, Funk would go on to have stints in various promotions including another brief run in WCW and NWA TNA. He occasionally made one-off appearances in WWE over the years, most recently at WrestleMania 32 when he spoke to Dean Ambrose prior to Ambrose's match with Brock Lesnar.

Funk won major titles in WWE, ECW, NWA and WCW. He was inducted into the WCW Hall of Fame in 1995, NWA Hall of Fame in 2009 and WWE Hall of Fame along with his brother Dory in 2009.

naptu2:
The top ten most memorable events in professional wrestling.

Number 2.

There were three professional wrestling promotions (from the US) that were shown on Nigerian TV in the late 1970s and early 1980s and they were:

The IWA, which featured The Mighty Igor and co and which was mainly about entertainment and humour.

The WWF, which was just straight wrestling

And the NWA, which was incredibly violent and bloody.


The American Dream, Dusty Rhodes was the most popular "face" (good guy) in the NWA and this was meant to be a title match between him and Harley Race. However, I'm not posting this because of that match.

Terry Funk invaded the ring after the match and violently attacked Dusty Rhodes. He broke Dusty Rhodes arm (and I felt as if it was my arm that was broken). Dusty recovered and was able to retaliate and put some hurt on Harley Race.

The guy interviewing Dusty Rhodes is the legendary Gordon Soli.

This match occurred on August 26, 1979.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiAFc9PzufI?si=UGn0bPCrilkSeu_K

naptu2:
The top ten most memorable events in professional wrestling.

Number 3.



This match took place on September 4th, 1979 and it involved two of my favourite wrestlers in the NWA, Sweet Brown Sugar and Dusty Rhodes.

However, like in the previous clip, the match was not as important as what happened after it ended.

Rhodes and Sugar were partners against Jos Leduc and someone else and Dusty Rhodes secured the win, but once again Terry Funk came into the ring and attacked Dusty Rhodes with a belt. Now, we can hear Funk describing the action along with Gordon Soli and Funk said that he went into the ring to examine Dusty Rhodes' POP cast. This brings me to one of the myths that was in my head at that time.


Because of Dusty Rhodes and Ox Baker, I actually believed that a plaster of paris cast was super strong and that you could do very significant damage to someone by hitting the person with it.

Anyway, Dusty Rhodes was able to bounce back and he hit Terry Funk with the cast and Funk was bleeding from the forehead.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnD1nMVdmJ4

wrongman665:
First was iron sheik follow by bray wart, now terry funk. May his soul rest in peace.

TheSuperX:
May his soul rest in peace 🕊️

naptu2:
I remember Terry Funk from the NWA in the late 1970s and early 1980s, not from the WWE. This was incredibly bloody and it messed with my mind back then.

cenaman:
Agbado Ebola Tinubu, their white substance suplier will join him soon. If you know you know.

wrongman665:
First was iron sheik follow by bray wart, now terry funk. May his soul rest in peace.

aQUINandmore:
I don't know him.

cenaman:
Agbado Ebola Tinubu, their white substance suplier will join him soon. If you know you know.

Jeezuzpick:


You're not supposed to.

naptu2:
I remember Terry Funk from the NWA in the late 1970s and early 1980s, not from the WWE. This was incredibly bloody and it messed with my mind back then.

aQUINandmore:
ok kiddo, I've noticed you.