{"id":164405,"date":"2023-08-23T16:29:38","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T21:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=164405"},"modified":"2023-08-23T16:29:38","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T21:29:38","slug":"terry-funk-one-of-the-all-time-great-stars-of-u-s-and-japan-dead-at-age-79","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2023\/08\/23\/terry-funk-one-of-the-all-time-great-stars-of-u-s-and-japan-dead-at-age-79\/","title":{"rendered":"Terry Funk, one of the all-time great stars of U.S. and Japan, dead at age 79"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-188322635\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>Terry Funk, one of the top wrestlers of his generation, died today. He was 79 years old.<\/p>\n<p>Funk was a top wrestler in the United States during the territory days from 1965 into the 1980s. He also spent 20 years as a featured wrestler in All Japan, most often teaming with his brother Dory Funk Jr.<\/p>\n<p>He joined the WWF in 1985 with his brother, who was renamed &#8220;Hoss&#8221; Funk in WWE. He wrestled Hulk Hogan in main event matches in 1986, including on WWF Saturday Night&#8217;s Main Event on NBC.<\/p>\n<p>Funk also had a run as a main event singles wrestler in WCW, headlining against Ric Flair in 1989 in an &#8220;I Quit&#8221; match at Clash of Champions IX that aired on TBS.<\/p>\n<p>Ric Flair wrote on TwitterX today: &#8220;In my entire life, I&#8217;ve never met a guy who worked harder. Terry Funk was a great wrestler, entertainer, unbelievably fearless, and a great friend. Rest in peace, my friend&#8230; No one will ever replace you in the world of professional wrestling.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Funk was instrumental in ECW&#8217;s rise to prominence, utilized as a main event wrestlers including matches against Shane Douglas, Sabu, Mick Foley, and Tommy Dreamer.<\/p>\n<p>Mick Foley wrote on TwitterX today: &#8220;He was my mentor, my idol, one of the closest friends. He was the greatest wrestler I ever saw.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Funk headlined an ECW Arena show in Philadelphia, Pa. on Feb. 5, 1994 against Shane Douglas and Sabu, regarded as the spark that has led to three-way matches being a regular match format in pro wrestling ever since.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1318212818\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"arttext\"><span class=\"style143 style62\">Funk commented on that match in a Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter cover story. <\/span><\/span><span class=\"arttext\"><span class=\"style143 style62\">&#8220;It was an exceptional match,&#8221; he told me. &#8220;It was good because a lot of people busted their asses, they put their total heart into it. It&#8217;s probably as good a match as you&#8217;ll see today. We were all on. We all hit. &#8230; It was a very fulfilling night. The reaction from the fans to our match was sincere, from the heart. There were a bunch of people out there doing what they did for the love of the business &#8211; money wasn&#8217;t the motivator.&#8221;<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>(PWTorch VIP members can read the full cover story including quotes from promoter Tod Gordon and Sabu <a href=\"https:\/\/members.pwtorch.com\/artman\/publish\/1994pwtorchnewsletters\/article_78384.shtml\">HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The late Lanny Poffo shared a story about wrestling Terry Funk early in his career in a &#8220;Torch Talk&#8221; interview with me in 2008.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;M<span class=\"arttext\"><span class=\"style143 style62\">y dad went to [the Amarillo territory],&#8221; he said. &#8220;He got me involved. [My brother Randy Savage and I] were a tag team as the Poffo Brothers. What was so great about that, Terry Funk took a liking to me. He wanted to wrestle me, so he had me wearing ballet tights and he wanted me to get really fruity, so I did. He had an idea on TV. He took a razor blade and gimmicked my tights and he stripped me naked right on television. It was the happiest time in my life because I always thought Terry Funk was the greatest worker of the &#8217;70s &#8211; him and his brother Dory. I knew these were the greatest. I felt so honored that he chose me at the age of 20. I thought that was fantastic. .<\/span><\/span>.. <span class=\"arttext\"><span class=\"style143 style62\">Losing to Terry Funk, he was so great, he made me look better than if I had beat 20 guys. He sold me and sold me and sold me and then put in the spinning toe hold and I gave up.<\/span><\/span>&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/foleyispod\/status\/1694446031952331209<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/RicFlairNatrBoy\/status\/1694440753785696599?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1694440753785696599%7Ctwgr%5E95f0af6c9bb84927ff5db877facd01c72a70ecbb%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&#038;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsports.yahoo.com%2Fprofessional-wrestling-legend-terry-funk-dies-at-79-204608242.html<\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-606741205\"><div id=\"pwtor-1726009766\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Terry Funk, one of the top wrestlers of his generation, died today. He was 79 years old. Funk was a top wrestler in the United States during the territory days from 1965 into the 1980s. <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2023\/08\/23\/terry-funk-one-of-the-all-time-great-stars-of-u-s-and-japan-dead-at-age-79\/\" title=\"Terry Funk, one of the all-time great stars of U.S. and Japan, dead at age 79\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":164408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-164405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prowrestlingnews","category-news_etc","category-news_wwe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2023\/08\/Screenshot-2023-08-23-at-4.25.02-PM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164405"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164409,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164405\/revisions\/164409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}