{"id":220438,"date":"2026-08-05T15:37:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T20:37:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=220438"},"modified":"2026-08-05T15:39:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T20:39:26","slug":"dory-funk-jr-dead-at-85","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/08\/05\/dory-funk-jr-dead-at-85\/","title":{"rendered":"Dory Funk Jr. dead at 85"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-950751840\" 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>Dory Funk Jr., a legendary wrestler whose career spanned decades, is dead at 85 years old.<\/p>\n<p>Funk&#8217;s death was confirmed by B Brian Blair on his <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Killerbee1B\/status\/2084717638991716567?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">X account<\/a>. &#8220;It\u2019s hard to find the right words to say goodbye to a man who became a mentor, a leader, and a dear friend, Dory Funk Jr,&#8221; wrote Blair. &#8220;My love for him started all the way back as a kid at the Bayfront Center, booing him as the ultimate heel while he took on my hero Jack Brisco. He was an absolute legend who commanded respect just by being himself. My heart goes out to his wife, Marti, and his family. You will be deeply missed, Dory. I know God is welcoming you with open arms. Rest easy until we meet again.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Dory Funk Jr. was the brother of Terry Funk and the son of Dory Funk Sr. Both Funk brothers were former NWA World Hvt. Champions that wrestled all over the world. They were both stars in the U.S. and Japan. Dory wrestled into his 80s and last wrestled in 2024. Funk&#8217;s wife Marti said that Funk passed away while under hospice care in an article published by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ocalagazette.com\/a-great-one-is-gone\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ocala Gazette.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show covering the latest episode of Dynamite: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/episode\/aew-dynamite-post-show-7-29-keller-fann-talk-with-two-on-site-correspondents-about-stellar-omega-ospreay-and-willow-mercedes-segments--73252570\">CLICK HERE<\/a> (or search \u201cwade keller\u201d on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"AEW DYNAMITE POST-SHOW (7\/29): Keller &amp; Fann talk with two on-site correspondents about stellar Omega-Ospreay and Willow-Mercedes segments\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?episode_id=73252570&amp;theme=light&amp;playlist=false&amp;playlist-continuous=false&amp;chapters-image=true&amp;episode_image_position=right&amp;hide-logo=false&amp;hide-likes=false&amp;hide-comments=false&amp;hide-sharing=false&amp;hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Dory was married to his wife for 40 years and they ran the Funking Conservatory in Oscala where Dory was a trainer. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009. Marti told the Oscala Gazette there are plans for a private ceremony for the family to honor Dory&#8217;s life. She also said that on Thanksgiving Day in November there will be ceremony in Ocala to honor Dory, Terry, and some of their Japanese associates.<\/p>\n<p>Several wrestling companies have paid tribute Dory on social media including <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/WWE\/status\/2084781786136039819?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WWE,<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Billy\/status\/2084756482310951166?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NWA<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ThisIsTNA\/status\/2084745983280243143?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TNA<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MLW\/status\/2084728219245412579?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MLW<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AEW\/status\/2084744524606447828?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AEW<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>WWE&#8217;s video tribute to Dory Funk Jr. follows:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Remembering the life of wrestling legend Dory Funk Jr.\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/leFoYQphj0E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wade Keller Post-show (7\/29) - AEW Dynamite w\/Keller &amp; Fann\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gwMKvmW2M6s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-3210450604\"><div id=\"pwtor-2150364623\"><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>Dory Funk Jr., a legendary wrestler whose career spanned decades, is dead at 85 years old. Funk&#8217;s death was confirmed by B Brian Blair on his X account. &#8220;It\u2019s hard to find the right words <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/08\/05\/dory-funk-jr-dead-at-85\/\" title=\"Dory Funk Jr. dead at 85\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":220439,"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_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-220438","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\/2026\/08\/IMG_7688-e1785962169830.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220438","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\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220438"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":220442,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220438\/revisions\/220442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}