Terry Funk Passes Away At 79
Terry Funk is gone. I just talked to Terry’s daughter, Brandee, who gave me the awful news. He was my mentor, my idol, one of the closest friends. He was the greatest wrestler I ever saw.
If you get the chance, look up a Terry Funk match or a Terry Funk promo, and give thanks… pic.twitter.com/WwdFLwXqZ0
— Mick Foley (@foleyispod) August 23, 2023
First of all, follow Foley’s advice and look up some Funk stuff. A good recommendation (with one of the best comebacks I’ve ever seen):
This is one of the big ones as Funk was an old school NWA World Champion and then went on to become a star in the 90s in a completely different style. The one thing that always stood out to me about Funk is that he felt unique. He had that weird walk to him and the left handed punches made him feel even more out there. Above all else though, Funk felt like he was insane, with Jim Cornette crediting him with the following:
“I can’t make them believe it’s real, but I can make them believe I’m real.”
That’s Terry Funk.
rip loved his street fight or whatever it was called with Flair and he beat Raven on ECWS biggest ppv. I think he stayed around too long, should’ve retried after 97-98 as his 2000 wcw stuff is AWFUL but he did have that good tag match at ons 06.
“Legend” is thrown way too often, but it doesn’t say enough about Terry Funk. The man wrestled virtually every big name for over 5 decades. Re-invented himself multiple time. RIP Funker.
He wrestled from 1965 to 2017, 52 years. I don’t think anyone else can claim that level of longevity in the business.
RIP to a legend.