Wrestling legend Terry Funk passes away at 79
Beloved legend of the wrestling business Terry Funk has tragically passed away at the age of 79, according to Terry’s close friends Ric Flair and Mick Foley Wednesday, who were informed by Terry’s daughter Brandee.
The Funker had reportedly been suffering from dementia as recently as 2021, but his condition had improved since then as he went on to release a self-titled biographical comic book in 2022.
Funk made his debut in 1965, performing for his father Dory Funk’s promotion Western States Sports in his hometown of Amarillo, Texas. He and his brother Dory Funk Jr. formed a formidable tag team, as well as carving out legacies for themselves as singles wrestlers. As a team, they would go on to win dozens of Tag Team Championships and a whole host of tournaments together in the United States and Japan.
Terry went on to become one of the most respected wrestlers during the 1980s and 1990s for being seen as one of the few veterans of the business who had an eye on the future, rather than trying to cling on to their spot for as long as possible. This led to him becoming arguably the most beloved wrestler in the history of ECW, with the company even honoring Terry Funk as the “Lifelong ECW World Heavyweight Champion.”
The Funker went on to hold championships in both WWF and WCW during the Monday Night Wars before finally winding down his career in the 2000s. With that being said, he did appear on the indies from time to time up until 2017, when he wrestled his final match for Big Time Wrestling.
Everyone at Vendetta Sports Media would like to send our condolences to Terry’s family, friends and fans around the world. Rest in peace Funker.
What Terry Funk matches should you watch to keep his memory alive?
To keep Terry Funk’s memory alive, allow us to recommend a few matches that you should go and watch right now, just to show how good he was in the ring.
The obvious place to start would be his legendary pair of matches with Ric Flair over the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship in 1989. The first of which was their bout from the Great American Bash pay-per-view in July, while their second was the brutally iconic “I Quit” match at Clash of the Champions IX in November.
Speaking of brutal, you can’t talk about Terry Funk without talking about his love of hardcore wrestling. From his “No Rope Exploding Barbed Wire Time Bomb Death Matches” with Atsushi Onita and Cactus Jack in Japan, to his run with the ECW World Heavyweight Championship in 1997 that ended with the violently wonderful and wonderfully violent “Barbed Wire” match with Sabu, it’s safe to say that Funk wasn’t afraid of spill a bit of blood for his art.
But that’s not all! He had classic bouts in Japan with the likes of Jumbo Tsuruta, Bruiser Brody and The Sheik. His feud with Jerry Lawler in Memphis gave fans a glimpse of something they’d never seen before. Even in 2006 at the age of 61, he was able to put in the performance of a lifetime at ECW One Night Stand that is still talked about to this day.
The bottom line is this, Terry Funk was a once-in-a-lifetime talent, and his memory will live forever in the hearts and souls of wrestlers, fans and athletes all over the world.
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