Ep. 379: The Lapsed Funk, Attitude Era (Pt. 2, WCW)

And so the aftermath of Terry Funk's WrestleMania fourteen weekend well chronicled in shoot interviews
in books over the years. Mick Foley said in his book, unfortunately Terry
had suffered a bad injury to his lower back when, at fifty four years
of age, he was power bombed off the ring apron into the dumpster below.
Within minutes of the fall, his back was visibly bruised, him in
the hours had filled with liquid. He somehow was able to get through the
next night at Raw, but it would be the last time that Funk and
Cactus would team. That's what we just saw there. I don't mean to
demean what Terry and I did, because in truth we had some excellent matches
with all wrestling considerations aside fully writes, I will always fondly remember my three
month union with Chainsaw, for it gave me the chance to ride the road
with my hero and mentor and to get inside his middle aged and crazy mind.
Terry Funk is simply everything that is right about this business. I think
my fellow Florida panhandled neighbor, the road dog Jesse James, put it best
when Terry walked past one day, and he said, I don't care what
the announcers tell everybody. That's the real toughest son of a bitch in the
World Wrestling Federation. Bruce Pritchard said about wrestling a fourteen weekend post dumpster a
power bomb, recalling, you know how nasty the Bruce on the back of
Terry Funk looked and asked him, hey, man, you need to go
check that out. But he still showed up to the after party. Of
course he did. Just remembers asking Terry, did you get that checked out?
Oh? Yeah, just a little painful. Yeah. I checked it
out myself. I said, hey, you know what, it hurts,
but I ain't gonna stop me from getting drunk tonight. I checked it out,
Bruce. I wouldn't worry about it, you know. And I'm serious
about this. It feels fine, brucey, Now go get me a fucking
I don't know what do you think? Cores uh No, I feel like
he'd go for a schlitz a han schlitz. So Vicky then pulls Bruce off
to the side, according to Bruce, and says, Bruce, I've seen
him, you know, go through a lot of things. I'm worried about
this one. You need to make them go to the doctor. I can't
make him do anything, he says, he'll only listen to you. Bruce
says, his wife, who knows nothing about the wrestling business or anything new
VICKI, and she's all freaked out now, and Bruce is like, just
stop. You know, it's an injury. Shit happens. So Bruce goes
over to him and sitting there talking to Terry and asking him how he's doing,
and asks him, you know, can I take a look at your
little booboo there and a thousand times worse than what I saw at the building.
And Bruce recalls telling Funk, well, you know what would you say
if I said, I can get you an ambulance out of here, no
one will ever see, and they'll take you right in. They'll get you
checked up right away, and we'll have you back here before last call.
God damn it, Pritchard. I don't want to go to the hospital.
I said, Okay, let me try this. In this this man doesn't
have insurance. It's not hard, right, I mean, yes, I
guess he does. Yes, secondary get you an ambulance. You're gonna get
in. You're gonna go to the hospital. Pritcher tells him, you're gonna
get checked out and I'm gonna try and get you back here before last call.
You don't have a choice. You need to do this, and uh
it happened as a result, and there was some Vodkas with grape fruit and
splash of cran for the trip, according to Wow and yeah, that was
the only request from the Funker to actually get some medical attention after his horrendous
bruising at WrestleMania fourteen, the second and perhaps you know, most memorable thing
Terry Funk did on the Grand stage and a tough son of a bitch.
Richard said, they came and got him, like nobody knew, nobody noticed.
We pulled the ambulance inside the hotel, got him there and he walked
out. But he was pretty well fucked up. But he but you know,
he'd burst something and he would just not stay over night. The hospital.
They give me a buch fluids, give him some antibiotics and stuff.
Which hospital. That's a good question. It would be in Boston, right,
Yeah, that's an excellent question. He didn't say on the pod as
far as I know, but I won't know what what one asked general.
Right, I'm saying mass General. It could be Brigham, it could be
right, mass Ring General. That's right. So what also, what hotel
were they staying at? Oh Man, I think they used to stay at
the airport. Oh Jesus, that's a I think so I think they did.
I don't know why I think that. I could be totally wrong,
by the way, but at the time, I don't know, it's a
lot more developed down there. Now, it's like hotel would even be down
there. There were still closer hotels like down marketing park Plaza. Yeah,
a million, you know, closer options. But I don't know why that
sticks in my head that that's where they used to put the guys. I
don't know why the Omni imagine them staying. I can imagine Flair staying at
the Omni and walk running around with this cock out and ship. You would
think the hotel would be at least north on the way to Kowloon because they
all get in the car. That's that's true. Man, Maybe they say
all stayed in a motel route Roast beefs for everybody, Roast beefs with the
sight of Kowloons. Yeah, you're not. You're not going to bed that
night. Nothing's gonna fit. You're gonna be so fucking swoll from uh from
all that fucking salt and shit. Oh my god, I swelled to begin
with. So if the night after WrestleMania fourteen is the last night that mcfoley
and Terry Funk would team up in professional wrestling, didn't mean to be the
last time they were cross paths on the Attitude ear a WWF screens. In
fact, on the May fourth, nineteen ninety eight edition of Monday Night Raw,
one more Time for old time in a w w F ring, it's
Terry Funk, not Chainsaw Charlie, Terry Funk versus Cactus Jack. Yeah,
he'd he cut the I remember he cut the Chainsaw Charlie thing shortly after WrestleMania.
Yeah, and it wasn't like an announcement. He just stopped wearing it.
No, they just stopped doing You just stopped doing it. And he
was Terry Funk cause remember, isn't it uh Uh? It's one of these
fucking shows, some one pay per view between WrestleMania and Summer Slam where he
teams up with with scorp with a Yeah, with two cold scorpio yep,
and he's just fucking plain old Terry Funk. Yep, yep. That lasted
just a little while and he feuded with Bradshaw right right for a while.
Yeah, that was that was a short lived kind of what post mcfoley does
Terry Funk and the WWF look like, And what he looks like is on
his way out the door, time to go. Absolutely, we'll take a
couple of moon salts and then he was fucking gone. That's Terry Funk.
But we're going to take a look here. You know, of course we've
established more than established on the lapsed Funk, the the depth of bond between
mcfoley and Terry Funk. Sure, if it's going to take place on Monday
night raw at the ripping nideer of the attitude right here in May ninety eight,
we're going to take a look at it. So it's disc thirty two,
and it's from the very beginning, Boss, So as soon as you
open up, we'll be ready to record. Oh Jesus fucking Christ on that
lap, Horri, Fine, you open it up, and fucking Foley's faces
right there is this like the the the what eight hundred collect the ten ten,
three two one, Yeah, the like Slam of the Week or Mom
of the Week or whatever. The fucking god. All right, here we
go, ladies and gentlemen. In three two one play gave You Giant,
I can finally say the first time after thirteen years of bloodshel and tears,
but it's not worth it anymore. The bite of the bite or the rewind
w W relist the cineverse rewind process for long lasting great taste, fight the
oh my god, bight the burst like the burst I missed when they had
the you know, like the products aimed at kids with the like the Anywhere
West of like a guy trying to pitch things to like preteens on adult only
show for more than thirteen years, the pre roll voiced over by JR.
Yes, Mentor and Pupil better rivals and ultimately best friends. Look at that
ultimately, Wow, you can't understand. You know what my wife said to
me, I wish you would have taken Iron Mike Sharp as your hero instead
of changed saw Charlie's longer. You know you're sick. You know that to
me? Yeah you are. Mcfoley. Mcfoley is just as sick. Cactus
Jack just as sick as dude love and just as sick as man God,
even as teenage clear about fortune destroy and to take that w W shipping world,
prest in mix, whole movies, whatever it took for manatulation or w
W F Gold's life. Mick Foley began a similar quest by following his idol.
But everybody's got their heroes in life. Mine was Terry Funk, and
he was about the greatest wrestler I think I've ever seen. And I thought,
well, my life would be complete if I beat him. And he
had just signed a company and he's the only king? Can you thinking of
work? And I called up and I said that warming that too. I
want to love him. And I heard I remember these matches that took place,
and I didn't care. As far as I was concerned, this was
my destiny. I had better. I don't want to talk about who.
That's not important. I remember ambulances. I remember touching myself. I remember
all that ship going on, and you was in that ambulance with me because
I looked right over at you and there you were over there, and I
saw that big smile on your face over there, and he was gonna laugh
and I said, what's so damn funny? You said, God, wasn't
that fun Wow. Having achieved the adulation of the fans, Mick was ready
to pursue his championship dream. He brought his band of carnage to the w
w F S Man Coon dude love. Yes, Cactus Jack han't funny cut
over a fan, But what's Cactus Jack without Terry Buck. One thing I
like about cactis Jack. He's got an undeniable love for fans. That's why
the chainsaw Charlie came here. Because he loves Cactus Jacket. You know,
I know he does play tennis tact us in each other Dad a rumble right
over another about yeah yeah. Years of brickless abandon created an incredible bond between
and the fans because I sighted practice pretty and God, yes, Jack has
got giant And when I was laying near al place, Huge chanted someone else's
name. Oh wow, what you did to me? And Terry Club playing
here in the middle of the ring. It was disgusting. After thirteen years
of blood, sweat and tears, it's not worth it anymore. It's gonna
be a long time before you see Cactus Jack in the ring. Again.
Now mcfoley has decided to walk alone without the adulation of his fans, as
the one time king of the hardcorese sold out on this side his legacy and
his partner or the promise of w w F Gold, Terry Funck thinks soul.
Oh my goodness, So legendary partnership officially comes to an end. As
we speak, two men who have spilled each other's blood and friendship are preparing
to tear each other apart. That's right what hardcore put together Fnce McMahon's Tear's
this on your neck? That's still gold. The who's fully supposed to be
those easy dude loves how is Mick Foley mc foley And this is the first
time he started going as Nick Foley on TV. Oh man, how's a
May night? Steve Austin, Please, didn't you say better? I should
look at him? Come down? Get that walk he's talking, he's walking.
This was wrestling Man Monday night. I find I find my hand reaching
for that USA logo in the bottom right hand. Oh, I know,
trying to round onto it again. It just everything just felt right, so
vibrant, so what you know, you know, it's like you know,
you you watch for so long and you watch the pieces like that they're trying
to put it together between ninety three and ninety eight ninety seven. I'm good
at ninety seven and they're just trying to fucking put it together. And then
in ninety seven things just started coming together. And one of the things I
remember the most was was the roster situation. I think I've talked about this
too. How you know the roster was like never consistent in those mid nineties
periods, but then it's like in ninety six ninety seven, suddenly it became
very like people were there, and people weren't coming and going. There weren't
rotation you could count on if you watch the show. I went to an
event right right, I let's see know because they started making money, they
started selling out buildings and keeping people happy. Paywise, can afford more talent,
they can they can afford to keep talent. And I did not remember
that. Steve Austin joined the announced team for this fully now it's back to
the first shotgun we talked about. Yeah, but it's a much different Steve
Austin just about a two years later, are you guys say? Hell?
Yeah? Made him say let's Lawler's haircut. Look at fun. When I
hadn't took jong this, I don't even think talking. I don't know where
I am. Wonder Wonder of animal backstage walk in on a button, naked
with ice and knees and oh yes, half I totally a sleep. But
before before he has to come out, you know he's he just is in
as tidy whiteies the whole fucking time. Absolutely, that's Terry Fun. If
he just walks around back there, he goes to fucking catering and his tidy
whitey like he just you know, it's the most offensive thing you'll ever see.
Mc foley. See you heard Terry come out to the Cactus theme song,
fully comes out to silence. I'm trying to get there, yea a
lumberjack best I think you're trying to get me upset because he's flannel vest.
Steve has about forty to fifty cups of beer on the wings of nas table.
Of course, the Championship, I'll give Nick Phoney his credit whether he's
dude love maccard Cactus checking them. Aniac will walk into the square circles McK
foley's sweatpants. We go that stuff his nails to sneakers. The sweatpants is
one of those fucking a bizarre iconic look for mc foley sweatpants to the ring
special effe fam that's right, What the hell is this crapod? Pat Look
at him now he doesn't suck, Steve, Please tell me this is one
hell of a red I don't remember this at all. Now the Vince stooge
thing was sprinkled onto the whole roster. Look at the old w w F
logo still and Patterson's referee shirt. But it's like the Jack specific figure.
You know, we talk about Attitude era, we talk about rock and wrestling,
we talk about it's here's here's what you need to know. L era
hasbro era, ball crunching action era. Yes, that's the real little variation.
I mean, look look at look by the way, also look at
the look at the pads. They're the old logo still oh still, Yeah,
they haven't changed it yet. That sounds terry fined. I want to
work with the jabs on Foley throws him through the ropes, so we go.
Brothers. Trying to hit me in the back of the head with a
Chris is never gonna get right. Rid of me as long as he lives.
Imagine sitting sitting down here Monday night in ninety eight and you're watching Terry
Funk and now we're doing this, we're watching it. Curiosity said that things
like man's not gonna be able to get rid of me for his entire life
or whatever. Yeah, I know, because there's all so much mystique behind
those clips of the death match stuff that they showed in the package. Yep,
he watched it all. Oh, Terry comes over the top, swinging
hard, denting a steel chair and Mick Foley's head because you know, basically
how else we've been to prove it worth. That's three acid. That's disresting
chair shots to Nick. No, I mean, I don't know that kind
of four. I mean, nobody, nobody's complaining here, like the rock,
what's the problem? Right? Three? That's three in succession. I
mean in more ways than the Rock, you know, right? Well,
at least Mick had the option to put his hands up to cover his head
with you. I see that got cut to it looks like he ran his
hand through his hair that fully, and he came up at some blood.
Terry of course, and launching chairs towards the ring as aggressively as he can,
off the top of the world fully with a chair. Now for hitting
a Funk with the steps, here we go, well I must sacrifice.
Funk's making that face baby, but he just absorbed. Oh no, tiers
lying, Oh mom boy. It was like all I could think about is
Mick and his you know, farewell to Terry Funk after he passed. No
matter how what he looked into Terry in his later years suffering all the other
effects of the damage that he couldn't help, but think he was looking at
himself, his future. So oh right, you know that's very big possibility.
I mean every time I watch one of these attitude of shows where Mick
gets pinged off the head like slaying chairs like baseball bats back then, Yeah,
it becomes a tougher watch with each year that passes. It is trying
to prove the vis the ring. Now, big guy swipt by, the
Funker sets off fully, he catches him on the swinging neck breaker on the
way, and I'm always amazed that that Mick Foley's like his flexibility. Yeahly
athletic, he really is, and like you ever see his body, Funk
fell out first the floor as you know, he like, you know,
he can fold up and he just he's always it's such a fascinating thing.
His his musculature. Yeah, well you had such a you know, a
pear shaped body. He would he would go kind of crazy trading cardio for
big matches and stuff. Yeah, you know, he definitely worried about being
in the appropriate shape in terms of wind. Oh, false color anywhere.
Yeh's a nick break on the floor. By four he gets too as as
I first slaps the Pat Patterson. They're running again with where Steve Boston's headset
is failing. Clearly the idea of being vincent fan is fucking with him on
the controls. It's trying to piss me off. It doesn't standing up chest
happen. He's on top of the florls his price. He's just like he's
all over the show. Yep, he is. He is the He's grabbing
Jerry Lawlers, gonna take his head set for m j R. I love
it. Nobody's safe. That had never crossed your mind, like that Steve
would ever be outnumbered, or that he was just one man like just it
was so fun to watch him kick hiybody's ass. You've never even stopped to
think about it. You know, you knew, you knew, you know,
you never had you always thought he was gonna be ok hey, no
matter what, that's right, exactly out fox people. In the end,
Oh Funk grabs fully by the hair, and the launches and into the steel
steps. You can see fully tips of his fingers they were coming off of
him. Is that blood all over the map? I don't know. Is
that count as a chair shot? Yeos have been peeled back. We'll see.
But that poor Tennis funk, it swings it no reason and charges into
a lifted boots all about in my opinion, right, Steve, that's right.
Here's what the w W is all about, my opped onion. All
right, now we're in that exposed concrete, the peeled back mats fell,
who's going for the pile? Driver on Funk lifted by the trunks, blocked
twice and here we go. Ready, Oh he fell flat on his back.
He's got like the flattest back Betty wrestlers I've ever seen, like cousin
made for landing on concrete, you know, busted up the shoulder blade or
something. Edge. There we go, juice. It's probably trying to show
over the rail and collapsed. You might as well, plays might not be.
Look how fucking it in seeing this crowd. He's no word. They
had no control back then. Security, I had no prayer, no all
the signs. You can't even see what's happening. It's just fucking awesome beer,
the sing and beer and wearing his fucking jeorts. Absolutely. Hey,
I think they just spotted a balcony deep into the crowd here on him.
Monday night, braw. You know what time it is. I wonder if
what's gonna happen. I also see is that a concession stand there appears to
be I'm not sure if it's open, but it's fair game. An they
selling a popform? Oh my god, just the chaos, there's nothing but
oh he's got somebody who's a fan. He supples a fan, he fan.
I wonder who that was. Yeah, Jr's identifying them as one of
the food vendors. Yea indie work here. Yeah, all of those big
tubs they'd fill with ice and soda bottles. Yeah, Terry just browned and
met with one of those they're gonna table. I'm like, I'm gonna go
ahead and climb up. I don't know what I'm gonna do, but I'm
gonna climb up here, jez, and I'm gonna see what's going on,
what's doing up here? As we launched the extreme part of the Lapsed Funk
documenting Terry's first Moon Salt was smoking out in a nineteen ninety four Yes,
and he leveraged that reputation as a man his age that would do that.
Here we are, wait for the kid to get to safety. Please with
the lover's standing on a fucking balcony. Relapsed Funk, the Attitude era.
He takes flight, Oh my godson gets a knee in the face. Hotly
ship, What did Terry Funk come to do? I came here to the
moon Salt and sell tickets it's exactly correct, not necessarily in that order,
and get ratings and have a drink. They don't care about I'm serious about
that. Yeah, he's serious about moon salting off a balcony in nineteen ninety
eight on Monday night, we're off. He's selling like he's badly damn.
He's the left shoulder and he's done. Mind his hand shaking. He's got
there. Yeah, it's all the same category. My ship cash. That's
good, get little money. I can't believe he did that. And w
w it's a fucking bad man and it's great too, like that he's the
one selling and not Mick Foley. Yeah, fully's on him now. They're
up on top of a table, fully over the pile driver on the table.
Oh perfect, bite them tough into the popcorn and whatnot this is?
Oh he's gotta his his crotches ripped open on his sweat sweatpants. A pleasant
sight. Patterson keeping a close eye on things. Nick Foley's sweaty balls.
Jr. Hit their bodies, demos and Derby's doing ov it is that was
making rolling terry funk underneath these risers in the crowd here like under the bleachers,
we're gonna make out. What the fuck is this under the bleachers by
Seymour bucks Oh camery and can't follow them back there? No, this is
you know they're cabled up. This is pre streaming to make wireless cut from
there to Austin and j R. And the call. JR. Is pitching
a break. What the hey, I got him back there? I do
want to see what the hell is going all right, yep. During the
break, Bote Funk sailing along a table like it's a bar oh, only
drops a full rubber made trash can on Funk's head. Realizes there's a cover
here from Mick and that only gets two worst fucking pinning that I've ever seen
on Pap Patterson, Like he's just like barely hitting the fucking ground. Terry's
coming up here and he's selling the arm the whole time is only we're going
going to the bathroom. We're doing some uh no, we're coming back there.
We go set a doors, another back out on the floor of the
arena. That's crazy, Jesus, what do you hit him with a lava
lamp of I know if they both go to the hospital, he's gonna back
up along the did Steal Great rampway rolling back to the ring in circle,
and I know it. I think he sucks. I don't think he suck.
Ah Wow, Terry in the ramp Dunk a dead motherfucker. Nope,
he ain't done. His body. Harry sold like you just found him at
the bottom of a like a snow pile, and he was hold less and
frosted. The thought of the steel toughest nail putting them over the hardcored legend
and toughest nails on commentary back in the ring. Now Funks still selling Max
that left arm as being completely utilized and atrophy. What it's all about it,
This is what it's all about in my opinion, and that's what's stumping
the hell out of Funk's head. Yeah. The story is mcnahn has gotten
into Foley's head and he's like more obsessed than ever with impressing thins. Mcdahn,
that's what I like. Here we go with the tumble over. Damn.
There we go running clothesline by Nick Foley. He and Funk bolts felling
over the top to the floor or especially never named that. Yeah, that's
the only guy that used to do that. Sent the desk off the top
of the announced table. Did you have the jack specific red announced table?
Oh? I loved it. Yep. It snapped in the middle, yep.
Oh my god, I did so much damage with that. Nothing better
than breaking that. Listen to it shattered, because it would shattered. It's
so wonderful. The first time they ever did a table. You know,
it is like an accessory, fully off the apron with the chair crops the
elbow. Oh fuck with the steal Funk was on the table at the time.
Look, Phoby comes up, bang banging here on Monday night, raw
face to face here with Steve Austin for a second. Austin's what the hell?
But look at me, Look at people, Look at the people,
at the slightest thing that is about to get physical this damn beat your time,
Yes you will all night. I could watch the such great stuff.
We don't need a d care. We need to win a loss joy art
of the highways off, Joe your spots. For God's sakes, where are
they? Where? Where are they? Are they? Five? I don't
know. Actually we used to look it up. What usually he's uh,
usually they're they're there a fourth ninety eight May fourth ninety it make that elbow
off the apron across the table. Terry Fern still able to kick out as
Nick Foley keeps pulling on the punishment. Back in center ring, there only
Funk flailing about is the double arm d DT lands Wow, funk prone motionless
cover two again. Terry kicks out. No, No, I think it's
like Hardford or something. They're in Virginia. Richmond Coliseum, So I guess
they are. I mean Hardford wouldn't be close ninety five either, what's that
Hartford wouldn't be close enough. That's yeah, you're right eighty four. But
I guess Richmond, Virginia might be close there. It is the great piles
driver by mankind. But fully whatever. I love the ring on Terry Funk.
It was the worse for wear to put it lightly covered by back like
fully positioning a chair in the center of the ring. No doubt he's here
to kill him. He's gonna kill Terry Funk steal. I don't know what
is Funk convulsing on the celle job fingertips, wiggling cover by Nick one two
puts him over there we go friend fully his best friend. That was impressive.
Impressed we had to do That is motivation. That's mcfoliot is sorry,
sick thing. I ain't over yet. He turns Funk over and slams his
face, repeated the inn that steel chair lost stands on. Wants this happen
in the Texas legend. He will ship That's how bad he wants it.
By the message to be but almost sending up here to him. He doesn't
run He's just champion steps a folly for us, a fear in his face.
Patterson steps to Austin, Moti have won, pat Is mc things,
pat Is Steve, Austin has s jop. Pat has a good dagger,
reflects though sick Steve stepping You gotta Patterson stun Oh god, amazing. It
made no sense, Like why did Patterson take a stunner? Like who cares?
It's awesome. Oh that's a legendary shot right there. Yep, yep,
Austin is doing that thing with like his hand on his head, like
the saluting and the a point yep yep. Gon dude, that came from
a Nick Foley Terry funk back. Uh oh oh, halfway off the ramp,
Dude Loves Music is just hit and Nick suddenly has a feeling coming over
the stone cold Steve Austin, Oh, Vince out with Oh my god,
two of the Dude Love ladies. This is Vince starting to breakthrough here.
Yep, you know this is uh, this is uh a nineteen stand back
moment. Yeah, you know, Austin's like, oh hey, I saw
yeah, Vince is just letting his freak flat fly. Here. We'll get
a guy for some facts. She's been waiting for this his whole life.
Vince, Yep, such good stuff. He's been waiting to be publicly hated
forever. So I guess dude's back. And I remember this twist, dude
love, this is what Vince dances. Well, I guess may fourth that
would be before over the edge, right, Yeah, I guess we haven't
hit over the edge. They made reference to our politary as a matter of
fact, why don't you say that? Yeah, I thought they. I
thought they were talking about in the past, though, I thought maybe it's
a reference to a pop coming up. Vince is due now. It was,
so, I guess unforgiven, it just happened. It picks up one
of the ladies of the evening with his bloody forehead. That's right. Oh,
this end of the show too. Wow, that was Titan Sports,
uh sign off? Wow? All right, and there was more there than
I expected. Yeah, just watching it straight up like that. But I
guess so. Terry Funk his in ring contributions short lived in ninety seven,
in early part of ninety eight, a week of nineteen ninety seven, Yeah,
on the first half of ninety eight. But they're concluding with the no
holds barred main event. Only time he would made event a raw, that's
for sure. Yeah. Besides that steel Chaffs match, well, yeah,
it's that's him in a singles You know, I can't think of a Terry
Funk main event singles match and on raw, No, I don't think so.
And so you know you know where we go from here. If you've
listened to our archives over the years, you know that our King of the
Ring nineteen ninety eight show. As much as, of course it's known for
our coverage of the Hell in the Cell match, it's equally you know,
revered, I think boss for our portrayal of Terry Funk in that moment of
truth where Nick goes to the roof of the yeah yep, unplanned, and
Terry Funk comes out not only to check on his good friend, but also
to buy Mix some time to recover so the match can can And that's exactly
the ca my God take goosel Me, which is he just gets choke slamed
and one of Terry Funk's shoes fall off that night in Pittsburgh. Just a
quick recollection here from Mick Foley's book. A couple of weeks before the show,
I made the tactical error of stopping by the World Wrestling Federation corporate offices
in Stanford, Connecticut. It wasn't stopping there that was the error. It
was whom I brought with me, the legendary Bashton of common sense, Terry
Funk. Let's not forget. Not only does the Funker hit the bring and
make memories in between those massive memorable bumps that Mick took on that show,
but yet another immortal moment in wrestling, or a mortal character in wrestling,
set in motion by the one of a kind mine of Terry Funk. Terry
Funk was the one that suggested they start the match on top of the cage.
Unbelievable. We were on our way to Providence from a show in Connecticut,
Mick Wrights, and we decided to stop by the office for a workout.
Titan Towers probably has the most well equipped gym of any office building in
the country. Yeah. MC checked the fridge. Yeah, right after I
finished punishing my pectorals and bombing my biceps. That's the real gym. And
asked the home video department, Hey, I like this sound to that if
I could take a look at bad Blood the pay per view during last year's
Helen and Cell had taken place. I sat in a little office with the
Funker as we watched Helen a Cell unfold. Man, if you're flying the
room for that, huh oh damn, I was thinking as I sat there
watching Michaels and the undertake her tear down the house. There's no way we're
going to live up to this. There was one part in particular that had
been impressive. It consisted of a frantic Michael's climbing outside of the cell to
get away from the unstoppable taker. He got to the top, but there
was nowhere to go and take her. A Greek tavoc all over the top
of the cell. Michaels had actually been backdropped and slammed on the ceiling,
and I winced. Do we ever get an idea of what of what Collette
thinks of Terry Funk and when the two of them are together? Now?
The only thing I caught was, you know, her tearfully sending micktexts when
Terry died, knowing how much Terry meant to him. But no, I've
never heard a word from collect about the Funker. You really wonder if she
was like, oh my god, I hate it when they're together. It's
gotta beat. Yeah, when they're together, bad things happened to Mick.
Oh, well, you know, honey, we're just gonna stop by the
office. I'm here with the funker. Collet. Well, we're just gonna
go do it all right, you know how Vicky's doing great, just you
know, handling things down at the ranch, making sure I'm not getting any
rubber checks and uh, but you know, we're just gonna sit here talk
about uh Mick, you know mix uh hell in a cell. You heard
about that one your men around Hell in a cell? You guys? Are
you guys are gonna talk about that? Well, we're gonna talk about it,
maybe figure out what the what Mick can do, and maybe we'll go
ahead and practice some spots out on the roof. On the roof, I'm
sure, he says, rough, Why are you Why are you gonna go
on the roof? Guys? Oh, we figure you know, they got
to get up on the top of the cave. Excuse me, what what
honey, I'm losing the signal. It's I'm cutting out. Colle don't worry.
We're not gonna kill him, I keep her top went a hat,
and I went ahead and tossed him off. D oh, she calls back,
goes right to voicemail. Thirty minutes later, they're in the found Terry
song. This is Terry funk. Why don't you go ahead and leave a
message? And then there's like two and a half minutes of just the wind
blowing as he figures out how to hang up his phone. How the hell
are you? Yes? Yes, yes? Wait? What what? Vicick?
Vic vic? How do you turn? Honey? Can you take a
look at this? Went ahead and messed it all up. But I went
ahead and recorded the damn message. But I can't figure out how to get
the damn thing to stop recording. What the hell is that I hit the
button? How many times can I hit the button? There's only one button
to hint? How many buttons do I have? What? Big? No?
You gotta tut, you gotta god, damn it, you gotta damn's
damn Eric. You know, I'm tired of this ship, this cell phone
industry. I want to hit and I'm just gonna go ahead and put this
ship in the trash and see what happened. And then and then you hear
the phone whistle through the air and hit the cement, and then that's how
his voicemailing. I'm just gonna see what happens. Well, look, he's
exhausted all other options to set his voicemail message. One thing he hasn't tried
yet is placing it in the garbage. Can just see what happens. I
don't know, Terry, I don't think you have to go through that step.
I'm willing to take a guess what would happen and just sit there and
yeah, but you don't know. I don't know, right, that's true.
It's never been done before. We're breaking ground, and hell, I'm
in the business to break ground. I thought you knew that. I'm serious
about this. I'm to put it in the trash. I'm serious about this.
I've been breaking groundey, I was born away. What no, I'm
about throwing away. I'm just putting in the trash to see what happens.
I spent all day slaving over the stove cooking that meal. Oh, honey,
man, don't worry about it. I'm not throwing it away. I'm
just putting it in the trash to see what happens. T Shirt Terry funk
never throws anything away. He just puts it in the trash can to see
what happened. And god damn it, wouldn't you know it? Ten times
out of ten the trash guy comes and picks it up and takes it away,
and you never see it again. Geez. It's at this point he
just keeps trying to see if there's any variation in outcome. You know,
he's a scientist at heart. We've seen it on the mat and we're seeing
it in the scientific method that he deploys to ensure. You know, trouble
blind studies that when you put a cell phone in the trash, it eventually
disappears. I don't know if you knew that. As long as your trash
bell is paid. The control group is a series of people whose trash bills
have not been paid, a placebo group. I want ahead and I want
hid and didn't pay my trash bill. That thing went ahead, so so
I actually winced, Mick Foley writes at the sight of the two hundred pound
Heartbreak Kid's body bouncing off the steel mesh, watching back the cage match,
Finally, Michael's was dangling precariously off the side of the cage and ended up
dropping onto the table from about it eight foot mark and a scare that would
live on a scene rather that would live on for the next year via video
highlights. Terry and I just sat there for a few minutes. This is
all. Terry and I just sat there for a few minutes without saying a
word. Finally Terry spoke up Cactus. He mumbled that one is going to
be difficult to beat. Now, there's zero chance. By the way that
Funk said that without a baseball hat floating on the top of his head.
Absolutely absolutely, you know, like, but it can't go down, Gil,
He's got his hair in a ponytail, and he can't. He can't
keep fucking detail detail. That's why his hat looks like that, you're right,
because he can't. He can't fucking put it down in the back over
his ponytail. You've never seen You've never seen Funk with a hat on where
his hair is down to his shoulders. No, no, never. He's
always gotten a ponytail, and it's always kind of like, you know,
and then it's up high and it's kind of slanted down over his eyes,
you know, because oh my god, that's so funny. Oh my god,
that's that's the kind of detail that you do journeys like this for I
never thought about that. It's because of the ponytail. The ponytail, Oh
cactus, I's going to be difficult to beat. I know, I agreed.
Plus, I'm one hundred punds heavier than Seana. I just can't do
some of the things in that cage that he can. Once again, we
sat in silence for a couple of minutes. I was the one to break
the silence. What do you think I should do? I asked my mentor,
friend and hero. His answer would help make me professionally and damn near
break me physically. I think you ought to start the match on top of
the cage. There's a Labs funct shirt as well. All it says,
I think you ought to start the match on top of the cage. Such
a rascal. Yeah, put put me out there. You know, if
I were in your shoes, I started on top of the cage. I'm
not in your shoes. In fact, I ended up out of my shoes
by the time it was all over. Yeah, you'd think I would know
better than to listen to Terry Funk. We continued to talk on the way
to the show, but it was mostly joking around. Goddamn cack, the
funker said, laughing, maybe you should let him throw you off the top
of the cage. Such a rascal. You know what, you know,
what you should do? You know, cac Yeah, what I'm thinking is
maybe maybe what you should have them do is dangle you buy buy your feet
over the edge of the cage and let them drop your head first, like
a plan. Thinking and one thing you ought to do, you might consider.
I brought my nine millimeter. Maybe you should Maybe you have take shoots
you in the chest. I talk dreamer out of it, but maybe now
is the time for the idea. The way the business is going, I
mean, the next thing we gotta do is kill somebody in the ring.
Pop that rating, get a bye, and present to you the alternate ending
of Hell in the Cell ninety eight. Okay, At starts on top of
the cage. They brawl, thing almost gives SAgs under their weight, terrifyingly
popping some of the support beams. Mick gets tossed off the roof, crashes
through a table, miraculously avoiding sharp edges and coming up able to continue after
he gets off the stretcher, Taker, who's now scaled you know who's still
rather on the top of the cage, fully breaks free from the controls of
personnel that are seeking to you know, whisk him off to deeper medical attention.
But Mick the Ever, the Fighter, Ever, the Warrior, starts
scaling the cage like a psycho. After taking that fall, they meet again.
Taker grabs him by the goosele, lifts him and choke slams him.
The roof collapses and fully comes barel down to that rock hard canvas they used
to have in the nineties, and WWF hit first with a chair coming right
down on top of his head, breaking his tooth out of his face and
making it come out through his nose through his sinus cavity. And there's Mick
smiling with a busted lip and a tooth hanging out of his nose. And
that's still not enough. He's still continuing. Terry Funk gets in there and
takes a choke slam to buy Mix some recovery time. Undertaker goes under the
ring and produces, for the first time on wdab of television a sack full
of thumb tacks, as if the brutality wasn't enough. He pours the thumb
tacks out in deep, deep mounds and then choke slams McK foley down out
of the tax after back dropping him onto the tax as well. Fully mercifully
is tombstone headfirst into the canvas, and then before going for the cover by
crossing mcfuley's arms across his chest, Undertaker picks mcfoley up stands him there like
a like somebody about to be finished off in mortal combat. He then goes
under the ring, produces a nine millimeter glock, steps into the ring and
shoots mcfully in the head at one, two three, I offer you,
I offer you one slight different so the okay, just toss off the ring
taken away, but he comes back, goes up to the top, chokes,
everything happens the way you're talking about. But fully gets up Terry Funk
shoots him in the head, pen him take that's that's that's a Russo Hill
turn if I've ever heard one. Yeah, right, And I don't thinker
gets the pin. There was also a suggestion that Taker picks up Mick foley
after all the punishment moment of truth. Terry gets the gun just like you
said, and then choose himself in the head. What ahead, and so
you know, we know the carnage, we know the aftermath. Fully writing
about the WWF trainer, friends, wap Petit and the m M. E.
Mt is trying to help him as he lays in his back with his
arms outstretched and his legs sickly twisted to one side after taking the chokes lamb
through the roof of the cell. I later asked the undertaker Fully writes what
he thought when he looked down at me from atop the cell. His answer
was chilling in its simplicity. I thought you were dead. I actually rolled
over at one point, and when I regained consciousness, I saw a pair
of sneakers in the ring. M yep. Of course, it's like the
double Cross mud room in there. That's strange, I thought, as I
tried to gain my bearings. What happened while I was out was actually a
marvel of impromptu ingenuity and a credit to the business. As I mentioned in
the first chapter, in a real sport, the action would surely stop if
a player was knocked out. But no, we are not a real sport,
and no, the action doesn't stop. Instead, all the guys tried
to buy me some time in hopes that I would come too. In time,
the Undertaker held onto the cage but free fell several feet and you can
see him visibly wins and hobble from the pain in his broken foot. Unlike
gymnast Kerry Strugg, who vaulted to fame in the basis of one landing on
a sprained ankle, there would be no white House visits for the Undertaker,
only the recognition from the people who know what a tough bastard he really is.
Terry Funk was there to meet him and willingly took a choke slam to
give me more time. In other words, goosele me take. That's right.
One more memory made in the WWF ring by Terry Funk. And you
know they made hardcore moments together in the Attitude era, did Mick and Terry.
We wouldn't have expected anything less. But when it came time for mckfoley
to be saluted in Madison Square Garden in two thousand and three by the WWE
for all his contributions to the company. In a show closing segment on Monday
Night Raw, where he was presented with the basically the permanent Hardcore Championship Belt.
I don't know if you remember this whole piece of bet. I don't
remember this at all. Steve Austin came out and toasted him and handed him
kind of like a lifetime achievement hardcore belt in a case, and Vince came
out and shook his hands, staying in character, but you know, sort
of like begrudgingly acknowledging all Mick had done. We referenced this when we did
the death Match series on the Lapsed Funk where you know, Mick brought it
up in his promo. Wasn't the death Match series. It was part three
of the CW treatment going into One Night Stand in two thousand and six,
when mcfoley and Terry Funk had that microphone confrontation, and what does Folly bring
up? He brings up that when I was honored at Madison Square Garden in
two thousand and three on Monday Night Raw, and I wanted you to be
there, Terry Funk, more than anybody in the world. Oh yeah,
for reasons we've well documented in the past. Couple of weeks on the series,
you were nowhere to be found and I asked Stephanie McMahon, where's Terry
Funk, And she regretted to inform me that Terry wanted too much money to
appear to salute mcfoley on this particular night, and that hurt me. And
you know, Mickey that personal bruise from years ago, held on to it
for three years so that he could have fodder for the go home promo for
the one Night stand pay per view against Terry Funk, and Funk in fact
told his version of that story. And while we're going through the memories these
two made on WF Television, this is the spot for it. This is
a Terry telling his side of why he didn't take that appearance in two thousand
and three and an urth video shoot interview shortly after it all went down.
Well, to be very honest with you, is that you know, got
I love Mick, and uh, I think Mick and I have a mutual
respect for each other, you know, And but I've got my business feelings
and my business sense, you know, and god damn I'd fight him for
it, you know. But to walk in there and into the ring,
you know, and into Madison Square Gardens and walk up there with the belt,
say Nick Foley, you are the king of extreme wrestling or whatever the
belt is, you know, I mean, why should I do that?
I think that hurts me in my dollar my dollar value wherever I go.
Now, if we want to have a wrestle off or something like that,
and big fully, let me kick him in the balls and go ahead and
say, Nick, all right, your asshole, take the goddamn belt.
I'm giving it to you, but you don't deserve it, right, That's
fine with me. But to walk up into there and and I don't misunderstand
me. I'm talking business. I'm not talking about relationship. And I've never
did discussed that telephone call with Mick, but I'm sure that he would be
an agreement with what I am saying right now to him that I'm supposed to
walk in here and say, Meck, you are the hardcore champion. Let
me bow down and kiss your ass. You understand what I'm saying. And
that has not said one thing wrong against Mick his business, And it would
have been it would have not been a smart thing for me to do.
You know, business to the end was Terry Funk as crazy as he was,
Does it make sense for me to go in there and call somebody else
the real hardcore legend, which I guess is what he expected WW to want
out of him. You know, Terry Funk was always very cautious about Vince
trying to use, you know, the clout that he built up in the
industry through all his sacrifice and ingenuity and just to kind of take it and
throw it on somebody else and leave him without much. You know. He
was very, yeah, very disenchanted by the proposed finish at the nineteen ninety
three Survivor series. And while everybody chalks up his disappearing in the Night to
you know, just getting cold feet about moving to New York and working for
the office and never really wanting to have the day to day responsibilities of running
a creative office. I don't know. I think if the finish called for
him to go to the finals with with Brett Hart and maybe beat Brett Hart,
something tells me the Funker Funcker's horse would have been just fine. Yeah,
you know, he's business first, and if he's going to be on
national television, his mind is going to, how can I leave here without
suffering in any way? My ability to market myself a certain way on the
other side, because no one knows better than Terry Funk there will be another
side. This is not going to be a run that will last forever,
and it'll last probably eighteen months less than you even tell yourself it will when
you start it. But you know, he did put Nick clean over in
the middle of the ring right there. We just saw it. I was
clean as a whistle. So yeah, for sure earlier done his part.
It's not like he was stringing Mick along the whole time, but that that
clearly bruised Mick that he wouldn't go to MSG to do that, and it
just didn't make sense for the Funker. And it's just wild that, you
know, his latest two thousand and three he's still thinging that way. It's
like, dude, like who cares at this point take the payday? Like
who gives a fuck? You know? But Terry Funk did, And that's
the whole reason. Is Terry Funk. Yeah, I mean that's that's I
mean, that's it right there. I mean, that's that's how he you
know, And that's also that's that's the Carnie way. That's right, that's
how we grew up. Now you got to protect your brand essentially, Yeah,
you have to always be thinking, why would anybody come to see me
if I do this? Yep, after this is over. And he was
always very good about picking the spots where it was time to lose. Is
like, he wasn't about losing, but when he lost, you remembered it.
It wasn't like, Okay, all we care about after Terry lost is
the guy who beat him. We remember equally the things he did in the
match, and the fact that he shook Ric Flair's hand after losing the Eye
Quick match on TV right, and these kind of things. So always able
to thread the needle that way was Terry Funk And as we've mentioned before and
it's worth repeating here as his WWF run, his last, of course,
full time run with the company wraps up, although he would make spraddic appearances
the CW Angle we met we referenced, of course, the second One Night
standpay per view. He did that bit with Dean Ambrose ahead of his match
with brock Lesnard at WrestleMania with the Chainsaw, and a handful of other appearances
as well over the years, and of course he was inducted into the Hall
of Fame as well, and it wasn't Texas, was it? No?
Texas was the van Erics? Were they there when we went to that Hall
of Fame. It's so sad that I remember, No, they did the
free Birds instead. I don't think they were there. I think that was
two thousand and nine, it says here, Yeah, yeah, sounds right,
Yeah, Dusty. Of course we played Dusty's induction speech or an excerpt
of it on our Dusty Roads episode here in the Lapsed Funk. But so
you know, the relationship with the company would be there, more so with
Dory of course, the relationship up with the training school and all of that.
But Terry kind of tagging along in that relationship over the years of Titan.
But here he again reiterates a point that he thinks, looking back on
it and all he did in the nineties as we reached the end of the
nineties, that really what Terry Funk did in ECW, if you follow his
logic, and what the rest of the ECW crew did, was just as
much responsible for WWF winning the Monday Night Wars at the end of the day
as anything the WWF ever did. It survived because of the ec W and
ECW is really the company then eliminated Vince McMahon's opposition. Now that sounds rather
crazy, but it's true because if that that product wouldn't have been introduced by
all of us, well, then it wouldn't have It would have never been
picked up by Vince McMahon. N WCW would ran over the top of me.
Well, I get what he means that they embraced the hard edge and
the brawling, Yeah, I mean yeah. At the same time, WCW
was tremendously invigorated by some of the talent that ECW bark to the American national
stage for the first time. So it's kind of like it's a two way
street, you know, as much as they may have shown Vince the way
in terms of tone of programming and just like general storyline direction. Meanwhile,
WCW part of what made it so fucking amazing in those days was all the
talent from Mexico and Japan and the ben Wahs and stuff, and the Jerichos
and the Guerreros and Thelincos that they put on television to fill out those other
segments that also did incredibly well, those non n WO segments, if you
will, so ECW benefiting I think the wrestling ecosystem pretty broadly throughout the nineties.
But there is Terry Funk's final thesis on how it all ties together the
work he did in ECW leading into this WWF run. But it would be
time to go eventually from the World Wrestling Federation for the Funker, his work
here is done. And when it came time to test the national waters again
and the phone started ringing, it was World Championship Wrestling, which had gone
through a tremendous period of tumult after of course, the calamitous nineteen ninety eight
that they ended up having starting off so red hot and ending up in such
a difficult place in terms of shooting all their bullets and having a few other
places to go, and then starting ninety nine with the nWo reunion in the
fingerpoke of doom. You all know where this is going, yep, oh
I do. It's by that point in time that the Funker who Remember,
went back to ECW for November to Remember nineteen ninety eight and telegraph that he
was going to start a feud with Tommy Dreamer. But it never materialized due
in part to about of hepatitis that the Funker suffered, so his ninety eight
ninety nine really wasn't much to write home about. But eventually it came time
to go to WCW because they were in dire straits. The people involved in
trying to write the ship knew that the Funker was somebody you could rely on.
And this is what he said, did you see WW as maybe your
last run? I would say my major run absolutely, absolutely, unless something
comes up on a pay per view or something. As far as going out
and making a run, absolutely, I don't want to go out again.
And it's uh, you know, it's like out in California is if they
would offer me a spot to in a series and offered me a good deal
of money, I don't think I would do it because it takes six months,
take six months out of my life. I don't want to do that
anymore. You take six months out of my life again and wrestling that's not
going to happen. A run to me is one big night, and I
don't mean that badly. It's not that I could I make another run,
Probably not, but I think that I can. You don't mind. My
mind says to me, Funk, you to make one more run, but
I really don't want to make that run. They do not want to spend
the time to do it. You know, I died. I want to
be at home. I want to do other things. I want to do
things away from this business, you know, I really do. At what
point in W CW did you realize things right and in chaotic? Probably whenever
the phone rang that morning, they had to be they had to be in
trouble to be calling the funker that was, you know. And I don't
know why it wouldn't want me down here sooner? But why the hell would
they wait? Why do they always wait till things are at its worth or
at the demist before they call the funker? I mean, what am I?
Am? I some kind of bad guy? Or what do I do
wrong? I don't know, But whenever I get a call from one of
those groups, just like Van's the time before, oh it was wait until
the last second to call the punker? What the funk are gonna help?
But yeah, I kind of knew that there's something wrong when the when the
phone rang that morning, and it was on a Christmas Eve, I think
it was phone rang and there and JJ Dillon something got to be wrong you're
calling on Christmas Eve, so ish he got there. It was it was
not good. It was not good. There was there wasn't much I could
do about it either. And indeed was JJ Dillon, who was okay in
a lot of ways, the old disciple of Terry Funks and the families going
all the way back when they ran a Marilla and uh JJ Dillon as a
wrestler got some of his most formative experience in that territory and made a lot
of sense. Then he would be on the short list of people that dealing
with things to call. Well, there was a whole Ringamarole. I think
it was that they were trying to make Rick Flair on screen commissioner. That
was always like Vince Ruso's big idea for the old guys being Hogan or Russo,
Hogan or Flair. He ended up getting it, you know, being
party to it when Hogan essentially became the commissioner at TNA when Russo worked there,
so she kind of saw that vision through. But that was his whole
idea for Flair and Hogan and then Flair. I don't think he didn't want
to do it or it was up in the air. And then they realized
that Flair wasn't going to do the commission thing, and that's when they got
That's why Terry Funk's phone rang on Christmas Eve nineteen ninety nine, was because
they suddenly needed a commissioner because they had all these storylines I guess mapped out
that required a commissioner and they plugged arn Anderson in as well as very briefly,
this lasted almost no time at all because it happened during that incredibly messy
transition away. Because Terry's first pay per view of this run was sold out
two thousand and why is sold out two thousand infamous because it's the night that
Russo suggested because everyone was getting hurt and his nWo two thousand story line fell
apart because Breton Jeff were shelved with injuries, that, uh, why don't
we make Tank Abbott the w cw WAH and a battle Royal? And I
didn't suggest that, bro. There was a room full of people. I
know, I know, Vince, but he he, he skipped down after
that. You know, you know, here's the thing, It doesn't fucking
matter when you're you know, because if you're if you're the boss, the
buck stops with you no matter whose idea it was. Well, he's the
boss when something hits, and he's he's powerless when something fas But but yeah,
so that was his last to fucking flourish and he left. He was
basically sent home because they thought the idea was so crazy. I mean,
you know, you had JJ Dillon and Kevin Sullivan working at cross purposes with
Russo the whole time he was there, you know, getting in Bill Bush's
ear and telling him that this sucks, and he's probably it's all true what
they're saying. It's thought that they have a better vision to offer. Of
course, yeah, that they've been with a fibbing started. But uh but
they just sat back and watched Russo you know, eventually suggest one too many
likempletely left field things that they were just like, see you told you so,
and so Sullivan got the book back and it was the worst wrestling I've
ever seen in my life. The three months that Kevin Suliman book WW in
two thousand WI was just It's like they turned the clock back seventy to the
seventies Florida psychology and it was just so stupid. It was like the Flair
and Hogan, Hogan and Yellow Trunks again coming in playing his games because now
Russo's gone, so he can you know, he's back in his comfort zone.
Anyone who means anything is like so. And this is where they ultimately
pulled that trigger because remember when you know the tank Abat thing fell through,
who'd they go with ben Wah? That was the show where they played in
Benwa to tap Sid and then he fucking left the next night, right,
and the radicals were on rob within a couple of weeks, and that dig
the belt off him after he won it. So and of course why did
ben Wall leave Because Sullivan had the book and that was his fucking mortal enemy.
So and he had no faith that you know Sullivan would book him and
his buddies in a way that you know befit them. Probably right. So
this is just this is the cauldron of insanity and political gamesmanship and just impossible
to watch television that Terry Funk stepped into when he went over to WCW.
And he was damn right, that's why they called him. Yeah. But
again it's that once again another example of Terry planning these seeds along his decades
in the business making people, encouraging people, giving people platforms, and knowing
who to knowing how to pick him, knowing who's ear to bend. Because
the ones he ended up influencing and the ones he ended up leaving that impression
on, they all went to make it big. They all went on to
have positions of influence in the business, if not being television stars. And
JJ Dillon is a wonderful example. So we pulled some excerpts from Dylan's book
of his time in Amarilla and why he would have thought to call the Funker
here in WCW and Dire Straits, Boston. You please pass this along.
Yes, there are so many memories of that territory, like on May twenty
fifth, nineteen seventy four, when I was legitimately knocked out wrestling Terry Funk
and Albuquerque. Except for the Lucas Mexican wrestlers, most people here in Japan
and in Europe all worked from the right side. In other words, you
always worked on the left arm, and punches were always thrown right handed.
I suppose it's because most people are right handed, so he always worked from
that side rather than taking an armbar with the right hand, which someone normally
throws a punch with or rights with. Terry Funk, on the other hand,
was naturally left handed. I don't know if he wasn't thinking about what
he was doing or didn't anticipate what he was going to do until the last
second, but I remember coming off the ropes in some kind of a spot.
When I did, Terry hit me with a big forearm smash of the
chest, and he threw it left handed. Terry, of course is a
big, burly guy. His forearm caught me right across the heart. The
knock of it shut and the shock of it knocked me down for two or
three seconds. It was a momentary thing, but I was unconscious for that
brief time. That was the only time in my career when I was legitimately
knocked out. In San Angelo, Texas, Bob Millbury, the sports editor
of the San Angelos Standard Times, wrote a column that knocked wrestling. He
basically said that anybody who watches wrestling was a fool and an idiot. Terry
Funk called him to task. I challenge you to come down and referee a
professional wrestling match. Then when it's all over, you can write anything you
want. When Milburn took Terry up at his offer. Terry booked himself against
me in the main event for June twenty first, nineteen seventy four. Terry
told me ahead of time, we can't talk in the ring. We can't
say anything. We're gonna have to be much more careful than we normally are.
That wasn't gonna be a problem. Wrestling is like dancing. We had
both been around for a long time, so we didn't have to talk.
Even with the referee standing right in front of us. There were subtle ways
we could communicate with each other. Before the match started, I stood toe
to toe with Milburn and said, I don't like what you wrote about us,
but I respect you because you're the refet free. I won't touch you,
but don't lay your hands on me either. When Terry's shoulders are down,
I expect you to count to three, and I won't want to hear
any bullshit. Terry and I had a knockdown, drag out match, and
we both bled. The next morning, the original negative article became a positive
when Milburn retracted what he had said earlier. He wrote an article that was
unbelievable. He wrote, I was wrong, I was in the ring with
them. I saw, I heard, Yes, I felt Funk. As
proof, our attendants picked up the following week Bunk and several people told us
they came because of his reaction. I have such respect for Dori and Terry
funkus workers. They made me feel special when they recruited me to go there.
They brought me back several times and told me they would always have a
spot in the territory for me. They also followed through on every promise they
made to me. I have nothing but great memories of the territory. So
that's why the phone rang. Sure, that's why the Funker is the man
for the job. And I'm going to pull a new one on you here.
Boss. This is going to be a link to your peacock. So
be ready with your lug ins, because we're going to watch the first in
ring segment that Terry Funk worked in on this WCW run. Taking the mic,
no boy having been introduced by some suit I think they just k faved
a guy as like someone from Bill Bush's office to introduce Terry Funk. I'm
not sure who this guy is, but you know he talks about the tumulta
WCW and the vacancy at the top in the w CW administration, so to
speak. Brick Flair had been president for a short period in ninety nine,
but then remember Holland Nash got him committed to the mental ward. Yeah,
so we can do his stick and a Johnny on Nitro, which wasn't to
bury him. I mean that wasn't the idea. No, never, never,
and nera mark to suggest that. But here is the Funker coming to
the ring, being introduced as w W comish. I believe it was the
first Monday Nightro of the year two thousand, just about the worst year any
wrestling companies ever had, WSW two thousand, But the Funker did he could
in the early throws of it. And once that video is open, Boss,
if you could navigate to forty seven to fifteen, So for those who
have peacock, which I'm sure is most fifteen, we're looking at the January
third, two thousand edition of Monday Nitro. And by going to forty seven
minutes in fifteen seconds, Terry Funk has just taken the microphone for the first
time of this WCW run and in some ways his first ww run because well,
of course he worked for her in the NWA wasn't quite WCW yet right
as we know it, Uh forty seven fifteen fifteen time, Okay, go
ahead. That lord Michael's in there with it looks just like him, doesn't
it. It does kind of the time Warner version. Yeah, the Lorne
Michaels from Atlanta. Yeah, three two one play. I want to tell
you people a few thanks tonight. Number one, I accepted the job as
commissioner of the wsc W some booze for the funker. Wow. Tell you
why I accepted a job as commissioner is because I love professional wrestling. I
love real professional wrestling. I love real pain, desire, love real dedication,
and most of all is that I love the real personalities in professional wrestling,
not the personality. He's the paper tigers that are created by the powers
to be, not the powers that be the powers to be. WO is
concerned. You're just a bunch of fat hogs following along behind the slop wagon,
except Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara are not throwing out slop. They're throwing
out easy money. There we go. What I would like to do to
Vince Russo and Ed Ferrari and Ferrari exhausted their damn brains out. Jesus wen't
do that without help. I need help. I needed an enforcer, and
I want that enforcer. Come down, Come on down. Thanks. This
was Double A's return. He'd been gone for a while. Oh that's why
they boot. They're in Grenville and they thought it was gonna be flair.
Wow, it'd come in a couple of weeks after this, after advince yourselves
done. Double A. Look at him dressed like he's going to the pitch
meeting. I know, for God's sake, take it away. Thanks for
gonna change, Thanks for gonna be by. Sorry. Wow woa wow wa
wow. What I want? No, the n W and the power of
the path. I see this thing from the I'll see this thing. Yes,
sir, you can have this right now. There's the way want to
flare? Wow? Yeah? Do you hear that? In the back?
Powers that be? If there's ever been an oxy moron, that's one.
This is real emotion. I'm looking at a lot of familiar faces around this
arena, Greenville, South Carolina, Terry. Some of them are saying I
grew up on that guy. Some are saying I love that guy. That's
when wrestling was great. Some are saying I hated that guy. I wish
he was dead. But it's all real emotion because I earned it by dumping
a jelling of my blood all over the serena on any given nights. That's
something you don't know anything about. Ferrara fitz Russell, Oh my god,
picture him of the dreads right now, they're talking about him. Arn Anderson
and Terry Funk using their mic time to talk about Ferrari and not look over
my shoulder. And I don't have to live in an ivory tower and send
people down like Nash and Scott Steiner and bren Hart and Jeff Jarren to do
my bidding. I'm mad enough to do what I want to do. Are
you ready, by the way, boss, for the most Kevin Nash of
Kevin Nash moments here when you fired me. I'm always ready for a Kevin
Nash moment. You have been trying to get rid of guys. We got
two guys they've been over for like thirty years in the business. You hear
that in the back, that's somebody else that are in their respect. It
has to know that's that's up a think it's gonna crack up and du du
You won't guys like me and Jerry Funk out of this business. You're gonna
have to drag our dead bodies out by the balls of our feet. How
about the balls are now It's time Kevin Dash to lay a thick layer of
sarcasm on the whole deal and just make these guys look like totally going here.
Jesus give me Thy God, your friend sum me out here here brattle
God, there's the silver and Black Baby's double jo. It's so sad,
you know, It's true. Some guys never know when to quit. Terry
Funk. I thought you were so far over ohill you were broke down on
the other side. That was so first. I love you, Brett Man.
Sometimes you just you swung a list on that mic Man right here,
the n w O posing for fucking Jordan Ash. You know, make sure
you're safe and sound. Let me say one thing, Terry Funk. You
can go the easy way or you can go the hard way. No matter
how you look at it, it's just a matter of time WW logo and
paneling him. Here we go. I've got all the time in the world.
I'm not going anywhere you're not going to beat me, and I'm not
going to be beat because I thought he was gonna say and I'm and I'm
not gonna beat you. I'm going to see that your beat at so loud.
I am going to put a couple of stipulations on your match. Stipulation
the truth, Terry Funk would actually make sure that Brett Hard couldn't make so
down. You hear me what he did to him on Thunder September one at
the nWo comes down the ringside and causes a disqualification, you will automatically lose
the belt. If commissioners have the power to do that in wrestling, why
don't we just make that the permanent rule? Right is I want a very
special referee for this particular match, a person that will do just threat in
the w W W W Yes he is in the w C W WOW.
I want you to do me the under go ahead and you're free the chuck.
But you go ahead. So much as I have I won't be the
only one wearing stripes. Jack What I don't get it? Terry? Hey,
Hey, as far as your daddy's a pastor, I heard you said
earlier that you would like to kick Big Sid's ash, Well, you're gonna
Jarrett think it is over opportunity tonight, you know an idiot slap nuts?
Yeah, beshoff a power bomb match, boss, I can't wait? Oh
great, how do you like that? Baron? Jeff jaring H. Terry's
turning his attention to Kevin the Big Mistake Live TV Terry Op. Kevin's working
on a guaranteed deal. Yeah, here we go. He's also working on
a guaranteed comeback middle aged and crazy. I'm gonna stop. He's waiting,
licking his chops. Yeah, so w stub the day one. Here we
go, Fun, I thought you were dead. It can be arranged,
It can be arranged. So let me get this right. W c w's
decided get this and his wide her and I guess An Anderson over here is
who Doc Holliday courser lately, But he's already dead and died at tuberculosis.
There pal, Oh my god, everyone's'losis. Your days are numbered. But
you know what you can make all the idle threats you want, old man,
let me tell you what we're gonna do tonight. We're gonna do things
our way. We could come down there and go through these little about two
seconds. But the thing is this, you're always holding the mic. I
know, we always holding the mics all right around half crazy like he's fucking
son David. So how about we get a hold of him. How we
raise the anny a little bout the double a? How about we play things
in your way? Don't you guys realize? Way make the rules? You
don't make the rules. Way make the rules? Just trying to make a
dish. I am talking to a man, Hey, ticking off, beat
your ass, your stupid piece of what happened? I want? I had
him kicked your ass? And who's the dead man there? Okay? That
good stuff? Hey, what are you wired her? You know? What
is this tombstone? What does that make you? Does it make you?
Doc? Holiday and fucking din of tuberculosis? Piece of ship? Everyone's like,
what talking about tulosis? By the way, in case you're you wanted
to hear it, I did find the article that the Bob Milburn wrote that
JJ Dillon. Oh my god, that's a wonderful take. Let's do it.
It's a shoot. It's a real article. No, No, this
is it like this is after after you referee the match. This is where
he's seen. Bob Milburn writes, by the way, his column is called
sportost Scope. Sportoscope by Bob Milburn. Oh you lovely little typewriter, How
we do love you? Promise never to desert you again. Admit that wrestling
referee business was interesting and a change, but don Slatin, you can have
it figured about. Figured up total time and ring with seventeen minutes trying to
get out of bed Saturday morning, it felt more like seventeen years. Kidne
aside, though, got a completely new perspective of the sport from up there
in the square, then down in the audience, and from now on I'm
gonna have more compassion for those guys trying to keep five hundred pounds of surge
and flesh from playing dirty with one another. Though Jim Dillon and Terry Funk
fought an unusually clean fight, we still found out it's impossible for a referee
to see all that's going on up there. During the second fall, when
both grappers were using the closed fist on some kidney punches, found it virtually
impossible to catch them in the act the way they maneuver around, while the
fan can see the action from three sides that ref can catch it from only
one. Actually would take two officials to do the perfect job, one to
watch the legal action and the other to work around and spot the dirty tricks.
Anyhow's that was probably the shortest job anyone has ever held, seventeen minutes,
and that should be a great one in Abilene next Friday night, when
Funk takes on world champ Jack Brisco in an attempt to become the second member
of that Stroid wrestling family to hold the Big One. Incidentally, one know
what Slatin's instructions were at Old Sporto just before he climbed in the ring.
Quote, Now, Bob, we don't want to jeopardize. We don't want
you to jeopardize yourself when those guys start running and bouncing around up there,
find yourself a neutral corner to stand in, and then if they decide they
want that corner, you go find another one. Wonder if Don really thought
he had to tell us that, Wow, I would say, it's not
exactly what JJ said. No, I mean, yeah, how would you
characterize it? I would characterize it as a guy who you know, he's
he's admitting that it's a little bit more, you know, what does he
says in the thing? Uh, he I was wrong. I was in
the ring with them. I saw, I heard, I felt. None
of that was that. It's like nothing. None of that was actually said.
It's more of a all right, you know what there's I don't like
it, but there's something there. I guess they're athletes. You know,
I'm not gonna have they they do something, but you know, it's still
horseshit that they know who's going to win when they go out there. So
it's all none of the mess. It's all a phony, baloney, bullshit.
Anyway, this is Bob Milburn telling you the truth exactly. Sportoscope.
Motherfucker's awesome. What a great find. That's what we do around here.
Yeah, that's what we do. And so I made a veiled reference there
when Terry Funk was talking in the commissioner role about keeping Brett Hart out of
sold Out Glory, he would actually get him disqualified from the show altogether.
And this is something that isn't talked about enough. So of course, as
we know, Brett Heart suffered a concussion from taking a kick to the head
from Goldberg at Starcade nineteen ninety nine, which was just about three weeks before
what we just saw, Brett Heart come out on the stage on the first
nitro of two thousand and cut a promo it's got it together. You know,
I'm sure he's feeling symptoms between shots, but it's not like he's slurring
his words or anything like that. Enough times passed, perhaps, but you
know damage has been done. But you can't forget. The thing about concuss
is, once you have one and you don't give yourself time for rest,
it becomes that much easier to get another one. It takes set so much
less impact to get another, and another and another unless you allow the healing
to take place. Oh totally, and heading in is sold out. Terry
Funk took off the Commissioner's suit and on the January sixth, two thousand edition
of Thunder, in fact, the Thunder that took place immediately after the nitro,
we just watched a clip out of Terry Funk steps into the ring for
the first time of this WCW run to take on Brett Hart in a hardcore
match, and there's a moment in this match where it's very clear, the
history is very clear that Brett Haart's concussion was exacerbating tremendously and Brett, so
it could be Terry Funk's fault, but Brett didn't wrestle. Again, I
think the only reason people don't say that is because of how much respect people
have for Terry and how much love they have for him. And Brett has
so much respect for Terry that he lays one hundred percent of the blame on
Goldberg whenever anybody asks. And I'm not denying for a second that he and
get blasted in the fucking head at start Kate. It's very clear that he
did. But this is if this happens to you and you don't mention that
as part of the monosery of things that happened to your head in that one
month period in ninety nine two thousand, then you're sort of a lying by
omission, right Jesus. So we're gonna watch it. This is again June
six, two thousand, Thunder Open up disc thirty two and go to forty
five minutes and fifty seconds. If you could. Boss Terry Funk stepping into
the ring for this ww run, which you know we talk about, is
something he took because it was it was good money. I remember vestiges of
hearing somewhere that there was a consideration to involve Terry Funk in the mcfoley retirement
match against Triple H at No Way Out February two thousand, which of course
was also when Helen is cell now whether he'd be involved in the match itself
or maybe just a promo or an angle leading up to the show, I'm
not sure, but I had a hell of a time tracking down where I
saw that, and I'd love help from it. Was again, remember that
Terry Funk was actually considering weighing going to WCW or WWF at this time because
there was some idea that he could be involved in McK foley's February two thousand
retirement match against Triple H in some way shape it for him, maybe not
the match itself, maybe an angle or promo, something to build it up,
whatever the case might be. And that he took WCW because you know,
at the time, they even though they were in dire financial straits,
they were still offering tremendous guaranteed money and incentive lating contracts the kind that Terry
Funk had never signed in his life, even when he worked for the Big
organizations. He was still sort of like on a handshake, old school style
deal, right, But this was the kind of money where it's like,
yeah, if at this age, with the limitations I have on my body,
I'm being offered this kind of money just to show up and do my
best and do whatever I can and not too much as expected of me,
and I can go on back to the ranch and collect. You know,
it's time for the Funk or to cash in a bit too, if everybody
else is. And that's very much with this WCW runner presented to Terry Funk
and why at least somewhere in my mind, I feel like he has talked
about choosing WCW over WWF at this particular point in time, whatever the case
may be. Here's the match him against Brett Hart. And it's interesting the
Brett versus Terry thread here through this Attitude era installment of the lapsed Funk going
back to the ninety seven serious that is true. So he ended Terry's He
ended Terry's career at ninety seven, and Terry ended his career in two thousand.
That's crazy. So we're gonna watch it now. This is Brett and
Terry on Thunder January two thousand three, two one play. I'm not sure
if it's the Brett nw and we can turn up the intensity level another notch
after one of the wildness post out of controls hammer. But Scott Hudson and
Shawani Brett to really be a task for the World Heavyweight Champion Chune Shorts.
Yeah, it's a non title match, but the champ is going to go
one on one. When the commissioner Terry Funk and baseball bat, I guess
that was his nw O Chief Careado baseball litter. They were all doing that.
That's the last thing. I'm a nitrope clip there. Do you remember
caring when they reformed NWOL on that nitro and ninety N I didn't see it.
I remember reading about it, I think, or at least seeing it
in an aftermag and thinking what the fuck? Yeah, yeah, that's how
it felt, because it was like, you know, Russo was brought in
as this guy that would introduced these radical new ideas, and he realized that
his idea was to blend WO back after twelve weeks right right. However,
one of things, God, to this day, I've never talked about this
in laps Trunk. Yet this is the song I think of ever think of
Terry Funk for some reason. Wow, it's the first like dedicated theme song
he had this hype desperado anyway, I guess you would say, but it's
an ICP song that they put on that w study Entrance Music Cuity. They
released what they call it. It was awful. Yeah. Right, So
when I picture Funk doing that walk with the knees out like this, I
think it's just like, that's the noise in my head. Never to think
of the Funker short that title one look at him, what a career may
be. Terry Funk is just that kind of guy. This is two years
after that Hevyweight Championship belt down drag out site with Nick on raw Red Hark.
Is that much older? Yeah, and he looks it go ahead and
Commissioner carry think I'm going to go ahead and and uh, you know,
take a take of powder the World's heavyweight title belt back sold out. Maybe
storks and powder cabin the shoulders of Terry Funk. Also we heard tonight he
will chance of Terry Bracken. What a series of stipulations there If Terry Funk
their commissioner comes out on top of it, sold out over Kevin the Wing
win that one. I can't I definitely I can tell you who it's not
going to be book this Terry Funk can definitly not gonna be the fans either,
associated champions Brett. Brett's wearing shorts. I know he's great, doesn't
he? What is this fucking him facing Vince at WrestleMania that year? Terry's
sick. Here we go, fifty five years old right now? Yeah,
tossing three or four chairs from the ring after a flurry of right hands puts
the Funker on the outside and Funk bringing his unique brand of chair tossing to
w c W. He missed on that one that bounced off the ropes Jesus
Bunk looking orienter. Of course, he's slow on the draw and hit the
hand quick to close the distance with the right hand. Yeah, he's also
slow in the draw when it comes to crowds. Are those shorts or are
those a child's long pants on bred Ark or is he wearing Capris sneakers?
You can see the socks in the knee pads. Oh what a joke.
Oh Brett driving the baseball bat down into the stomach of the bunker. He
does it is non title. That's right, Brett Hart's will be stepping the
world heavyweight title not on the line. And here we go and there he
goes right hand of the floor, goes the commission commissioner. Funk Boss,
that's right, Drunk Terry Flunk. Yeah, that was the name from the
ICP video of the game. The whale goes to the bunker. The end
a two thousand shirt on the back. The band is back together. The
man are back together in twenty ten. Oh my god, boss, Hey,
I'm getting the getting the band back together, the band. Let me
get this straight. Let me get this right. You're a wider, oh
Brett crownsunker with a steel you know, carry anyone. This was some dark
days in w w V. Let me tell you a tough to Brett Hart
doing hardcore. There's something wrong with that. That's been ROUSA was like,
let's take a guy that or the finest of the ring we've ever seen,
and it doesn't Brent like Findrusso really, I mean I thought Nce was a
fan of him. Still he wasn't, as you know, hand relative to
how Bishoff used him. I'm sure he would prefer Russo because Russo actually put
him in the main events and it gave him a running belt and featured him.
But uh now he grew disillusion to Russo as well. I mean Russo
put him in that crazy ship where they made him like peel out in his
car and an icy driveway to do some stunt in the in the parking lot.
And oh god, and this too. I mean, let's Brett doing
in a match like this. I don't clobbered in the head with a chair.
The rescussion going dinging Brett on the outside, un go with a big
left and that sends Brett scrambling. It's South Paw. Oh yeah, it's
Terry Funk, the South Paul definitely calling card the Funker. He's not a
North Paw. Hey, Terry back on the Superstation almost got picked off the
Superstation in eighty nine which went face to face with us on the station.
Brett, I'm gonna go ahead and tossed into the laundry band. This is
it, and then I'm gonna go beat the ship out of your head with
the fucking god damn to watch. Funk's gonna push the thing. It's gonna
hit the mat and Brett's gonna fall out of it head first. Ready,
O fuck, yep, we're gonna be holds his head. I remember watching
that ard. That sucked because he is like he didn't expect it to tip.
He was expected it to ram right into the the side of the brain.
Hard, poor style. The Brett sitting there just yep, breathing heavy,
looking at the lights. Yep. We had taken a party here by
Terry. Ten days later, we've got a file. Oh rains down at
trash can shot on Brett's no, no, why funk can't moonsall in two
thousand? Come on? Not on a did it in nineteen ninety four?
And he was too dead? Not on a trash can? Shoulders land in
his head, the lander in his fucking head. Brett moved out of the
way. Brett checking his own head. He knows he's fucking lump. He
knows that his fucking brain middle age. So Brett got jostle a funk at
the canvas. Brett with a chair kills Terry with it. Brett jostled his
fucking brain around and it hit the corner of his skull. That's exactly that's
what happened. That's right, to her watching here on Thunder. I'm leveled
with the chair, Brett. Now he's gonna pulmonize it. That's crrect.
It's a hard core showdown with Brett Hart and Terry World title. Brett,
you gotta do a hardcore match with Terry Funk. Right of the chair.
He's wrapped around the leg of the Funker. That's gotta rock his head too,
like all this ship's gotta rock up. There goes Joe Robinson, Brett
in the official just sleling about the ring like a fish out of water.
This is the commissioner for fos sake, Brett. That's the guy who's got
the arm putting a breath shirt with a bruising Let's he been attacked, hes
David Flair with a crowbar. Okay, do his godfather double a Anderson.
I think he's got the nitro grill shirt on with a big boys. Oh
my god, it's so bad. This TV is so awful. Putting on
the shirt and go do it, David Flair. If you look at an
idiot, what an idiot looks like? Such a p phone he always did.
He's he looks like he looks like a like an alternate universe Dustin Rhodes.
He looks like a guy who'd wrestles Dustin Roads on a shot in India
the right exactly exactly, but he would call himself like it would like d
U S S T I N R O A G S. I'm not sure
how, but Brett is motionless on the canvas. We missed everything that was
happening while we saw this vital backstage interaction between Arn Anderson and David Flair.
Here comes Santa Claus aka Scott Steiner, comes David flo Why why is he
an idiot? Up national attacks David and me? Anyway, David would just
to build a cell job, you know, fuck it, you know ship,
I'm gonna take care of the son of a bitch, And then came
out. We failed to mention I want to take Wiatt up here and see
what the funk happens. Harry has no idea what he's in for. Man,
she's gonna leave him fucking He's worried about doing the Nick Foley thing in
two thousand. Oh boy, you wait till Kevin w and ws W Baby,
there's the dead girl there? Deafnitely Yeah, sad, you're up at
the rampway. Fucking you gotta take the bomb, man, you gotta take
the bomb. Oh Jesus I funk No, that's just set him flying power
bomb off the stage on fucking he was there that end of the show.
He lands right in his head off the stage. He did the second second
time this match. That match he landed on his head doing something stupid.
It's fucking awful. So yeah, Funk's just like, you know, I
got a bag of tricks here, and my ship isn't gonna suck, so
let's let's let's power bomb me through anything you can get your hands on,
and all right, ship, you know, let's do it. You know
what we should do. We should do the Bischoff spot. That's pretty much
what it was, isn't it from uh from from G A B ninety six.
You know, just fucking you should do the Bischoff spot. Look,
you want to know what I'm thinking? Do the Bishoff spot? Hey,
you know, if we're trying to do something with you, you know we
should do is do the Bischoff spot. Let me get this right. You
want me to do the Bischoff spot on why on a pay per view?
And that's gonna that's gonna really leave the fan feeling satiate and Saturday. Wait
wait, wait, you want me to do No, it's not even a
pay per view, it's a fucking wait wait wait, you want me to
do the fucking Bischoff spot? Yeah on Wyatt over here on fucking TV.
Hold on, he called Terry Funk Wyatt on Nitro? Is that not like
exactly why Kevin match exists? It's exactly got fucking Butcher sund I love sun
Dance, I would know so. Part of the reason I'm kind of emboldened
to say that that moment we just saw that match between Terry Funk and Brett
Hart on thunder exasperated Brett Hart's head injuries is the Funker himself. He spoke
to it on a shooting with our video here. Do you find it ironic
that Bredheart's last match ever was against you on I think it was thunder Went
a few years earlier. You wrestled him in your last match in Alla?
Do I find it last match but ironic? Possibly? Possibly? I really
don't think that it'll be brush last match. I think he'll come back and
do another one, if it's for charity or what. And again, you
know as Brett's had some things that pretty pretty heavy things that have happened to
him in his business. And when he says it's his last time, it's
more than likely his last time. I mean, if my if my brother
came to his brother's fate, I know that I wouldn't look the same way.
A life as a whole changes your views on your entire life. Definitely.
What was he like to work with since he had a concussion? Was
it an easy match or you know, is Brett's such a great guy,
and he's such a person that wants to have a good match, and and
and he and I are close as far as friends are concerned. That whenever
I went in the ring, he never even made mention of that, and
that's uh. And and he did he did re re injure that thing within
that match with me, and uh, but never did say it. But
I know that that's where it happened because Lady through the great vine in the
wrestling ring, I heard that, and I'm sure that's where it happened.
But he didn't want to make me feel like it was my fault or anything
like that. And he just shut up, like Brett does, you know,
And uh, I got a lot of respect for that whole family,
even the crazy ones in it. They're they're they're unique. It's a good
way to describe it. Describe them unique, very unique family. Hoping that
that wasn't Brett's last year, but sort of acknowledging that Brett, you know,
gave him plausible deniability, you know, in the whole deal by not
telling him he was hurt in the first place. I'm not sure there was
much of a secret, but I'll take Terry's word for it there. But
kind of a grim note there for Terry Funk, kind of a downside of
him, you know, showing up to a building, willing to do whatever
it takes to create a stir and create violence, and it would only be
a matter of time before, you know, Funker's tendencies to light things on
fire to get attention and bring a spark out of a listless crowd would bump
up against w CW standards and practices. Vince Russo would love nothing more than
to light something on fire on television, and he may have found a willing
accomplice in Terry Funk. But according to JJ Dillon's book, it didn't quite
go so well. For the whole organization. Dylan writes, at the time,
Terry Funk was using his flaming branding iron gimmick in WCW, but we
had already been told by the local fire marshal that we couldn't use the flaming
branding iron in that particular building. Vince Russo asked David Crockett what would it
take to get the fire marshal to leave the building? Early m Russo wanted
to wipe down the entire ring with a flammable gel. Have Terry come to
ringside with his branding iron and set the whole ring ablaze. I'm so point
we would go off the air. As Russo talked about the ring going up
in flames, which is as symbolic as it gets. By the way,
I think it's fine. Bill that is Bill Bush looked up from the run
sheet made eye contact with me. I just shook my head, but Bill
gave no reaction. No explanation was necessary. A Funker under Russo. Uh,
but I'm I'm sorry. You want to you want to burn? I
don't understand what do you you want to set fire? Is there anybody we
can call JJ to get perspective on what it's like to deal with funk and
TBS and standards and practices anybody who's I mean, I just I just really
want to get a sense of of of what what kind of damage we're actually
talking about, by the way, are we talking about like I mean,
I mean, look, I know it's a sore subject, but you guys
don't have much money coming in right now, and I just want to know
what this is going to set us back some because I just don't understand that.
So I guess explain this to me. How is setting the place on
fire fake? Like the rest of the stuff you do right, where does
the come in? Right? Where does the magic as it's c G I
is that what you're saying? Because I just wanna, I want to get
a sense of like, because I'm just a little I'm a little lost at
the logic of burning the entire of burning the entire ring and and causing significant
harm to things. H I'm gonna get a drink and uh and and because
I'm I'm you know, I'm a little hot. I'm sweating right now,
and and I just JJ, I just don't understand how you can fake a
fire. So I'm gonna go over here and have a drink and think about
it. He goes, He drops a coin in the fucking payphone. I
thought you'd never call, Jim. How do I deal with Terry Funk?
How do I deal with this some bitch? He's making me nervous. He's
making me nervous? Well, well, it's it's a lot like making a
pizza. Huh? Do you ever make a pie? Bill? H What
I said? Do you know what I'm asking you about? Jim? Jim,
I'm asking you about about Terry Funk. Oh listen, I know I
know what you're what you're talking about. What I'm asking you has if you
ever made a pie? Uh from scratch? Yeah? No, no I
never h are we? I said, Terry Funk? What does this have
to do? And then a thing? What what does this have to do
with Terry Funk? Well? The way that I dealt with Terry Funk back
in my time is well, there was you know what he You got to
look at him like you got to look at the w C W as a
pizza. It's just a giant round pizza cut into eight sections. It's as
simple as that, all right, Jim? What what what are the eight
sections? Exactly about the house section eight. Jim, they're proposing to light
the ring on fire. What do you suggest I do to stop that from
happening? Well, that's a very that's a very interesting question, and I'm
glad you brought that up. See for me, I would consider a fire
a fire. You know what is a fire? Uh? Jim? A
fire is hot? That's right here? Did you just ask me what's a
fire that? Uh? I think I might have called the wrong person about
this, but well, listen, a fire is hot, so think of
it as this the on the pizza. The fire is the jalapenos. Still
not getting it, Jim. Still let sure you're telling me to do here,
but I gotta go, Jim. I'll tell you what. I'm gonna
call somebody else for right now. You you you why don't you email me
your analogy? Oh it's not an analogy, it's a it's it's true to
life. Right. Well, you get an email back to me or something,
Uh, put it in writing and I'll get back to you that or
something. And he gets an email with a coupon to Pizza Hut because that's
something. Well, I'll tell you what. I'll give you something instead.
Of the of the recipe. I don't divulge my own personal recipes. Excuse
me for a moment, Jim, where are you going, Jim? Jim?
I got a toy. Let's not do anything nuts here. Oh I
need it with some advice. I've got a big I've got a big,
juicy toy. You ever see one of these? Yeah, yeah, I
think I can hear it done. He went ahead, and that was the
end of the gym. I heard story it regards Terry Funk here in the
lapsed Funk. But we're heading to sold out and it's gonna be Commissioner Terry
Funk versus could give a fuck Kevin Nash And who do you think is taken
this one? I think there's only one way this one goes. So fire
up your peacock machine again if you could. WW sold out two thousand and
the match between Kevin Nash and Terry Funk. So Terry went to w CW
to get you went ahead. WW. It's right when I had w'sw to
get dunked onto the microphone in the first night roy of the year by Kevin
and called old and Wyatt up and shit like Kevin exists to come up with
like, you know, waffle house cook, you know, like right,
he wants to come up to those one line right, let stick to your
detriment forever. And uh so he does that to Terry, and then he
can cusses Brett further in a match that's like a throwaway deal, and then
he shouldn't have to happen while he's working before sold out and taking all the
novelty away from him wrestling again in WCW I'll never know. And then and
then he gets to go to the pay per view and at fifty six acts
like he's some fucking Jabbroni and tech Wood drive on Saturday morning in nineteen eighty
one, Taken on the Road Warriors just getting bounced to the fuck around.
I don't see the problem to one fifty one, two oh one fifty one
surre it time for doublec W sold out two thousand, hey mm almost there?
Two one fifty one okay three two one play uh oh boom boom boom.
Look at Nash's Gutshill gets the wolf Pack music, of course he does.
He's too cool. Hey, you know, I want to go with
that hip hop you know ship yeah, funks commissionership is already the line,
like three weeks into the run. Nick Patrick trying to be uh fucking uh,
what's his name? Shagger Lee Marshall, How so fucking Stash He's gonna
miss fake things? Smells like cock. I was at the roller coaster.
What took pains and pang took pangs and pang. I went ahead and put
it up for grabs. That's sold out. And I'll tell you one thing
I never did was sell out an arena. Yeah, but it's the thought
Terry. That's a cool Terry Funk T shirt. Yeah, face animated with
a graduation hat on it. Here's the Funk or his white bandan out of
the towel, ready for war. Hit himself with a spray gun before he
went out there. It comes Nash right off the Isoway pounces on the Funk,
over the knee to the gut, fastest Nash has ever been on.
He's like great to end this already. Absolutely, Hey look it, I
figured we go out there, these are all fake signs. I'm convinced Funk
depends for life. Now. Hiring Funk is hardcore. Funk is a hippie.
It's just like right, President, brawling. It's so fake. The
guy behind me is gay hilarious? Is that Jason Hervey sitting? Yeah listen,
Terry. What I'm thinking is we start out in the aisleway, all
right, I wail on you for about fifteen to twenty minutes, and then
we get in the ring one two three, jack knife one to three exactly.
Bun got a couple left him, but Nash pokes him in the eye.
He hits him with a chair. Oh Jesus, funk right the fucking
head. Jesus. Alright, Terry, let's out a fucking son of a
bitch and then collapses. I mean, who who is who is Nick Patrick?
Putting in his van tonight? You ready, boss, here we go,
let's do it. His funk all come in. I think he's ready
for this power bomb through the table. Jesus, the fucking table exploded.
Ashit, Terry, funk to hell. Crowd loves it, by the way,
Nash so over. Yeah, yeah, listen, the crowd's fucking popping
for me. Problem yeah, because look everyone, fuck you know I'm the
one fucking driving the company into the ground. The company's going there, right,
I'm keeping it a float as long as I can have them to the
mic. Here we go. You know what, we got a lot of
hard old man, you just ain't got no damn common sense. Fun can
they heap the table? Coming ahead? You can keep your commissioner ship.
Come on, if you can crawl back in here, you can keep it.
I'm coming ahead, if you can crawl back in here in a good
look at Terry clunk. I does Kevin Nash have the power to make that
stipulation. If he has the power to make that stipulation, he's already the
commissioner everything with the right power to try and get back in. I'm finally
standing out, but still struggling. If you can climb in the ring,
old man, he stood, he convulsed, and he fell again. Yep,
it's bleeding too. Of course he is. He knows how to cell
tickets. Is that what it is? It's possible, Terry, probably to
get back in the ring. Definitely trying to believe he there. I wonder,
I wonder if Kevinnash is gonna keep his word psych he snatches funk,
come on, jack knife and one more timing pin him pend it in like
two seconds. Give you that satisfaction, Kevin, I need it. I
need him to just or beat on him too. I want Terry Funk to
get zero offense, all right, to make this a real Kevin. Oh
my god, Funker's busted wi and making sure everyone fucking sees it, marching
around the ring, marching around like a toy soldier. Why yeah, he's
in the fucking h radio city. Uh uh. Watch watch how Funk falls
because he couldn't ready, Oh my, tell them people, it just happened.
Just he hangs, He can't get over, He can't jump to go
backwards over the rope, so he he kind of just dangles there on top
and then somehow slides. He slides down some and he's hanging there but without
having anything to hang on, and then he just drops on his head.
Fuck. Oh you know, well, keV, I can't get I can't
get over. So tell you what, I'm just gonna drop down in my
head and give the fans something to look at. It's perfect thoughts, perfectly,
absolutely flawless work. The only time Terry can't get over, right,
well, there doesn't chang Yeah right, you look maybe down that he would
considered throwing those at his opponent instead of another ring. I know, right,
I tell you what, Oh, let you have all the offense,
keV do what you gotta do. I like that, all right, shit,
you know, I knew you were a business terry, but geez ah,
toss the back with the steel chair. Funk, just a sitting duck
busted wide open, getting fucking brutalized. Here is that's the job. W
steady two thousand in the face. They chant, Oh that's right, this,
this is this is God great guys. Thanks, yeah, well he's
gonna listen to you guys pretty much. Funk rises, Nashal lifts the chair.
Oh fuck, plans are left of the door. How about a go
ahead and get a little offense myself, just for maybe two minutes, as
takes a couple of chair shots. One bump on the house right there.
Tell you what, that's fucking that's an extra fifteen hundred right there, you
know. And for the bump, another fifteen, another fifteen, going fifteen.
They go, bump. That's fucking outrageously funny. That's for extra bumps.
You know, I wasn't planning on you. He had the mic in
his hand in tn A one time, and he like fell as the apron
that one's on the house. Yeah, you know, let's fucking get this
thing done. There we go to fucking feed me left swinging as wildly as
he can. Chair shot, the chair, chair shot, Darry one more
chair shot. Oh my god, in the middle of the rings. Pretty
what happened? Like he was waiting to be fished, but nobody frisked him.
I'm waiting for you to come down low, but you're not doing nothing.
Where are we going with this, keV? I'm gonna hit you in
the head. I went ahead, hit you in the head. Or are
we going to this GAVI's birthday? The funk is folded out, two chairs
in the ring. Throw the goddamn chairs in the ring. Your damn fans,
fuck it, Get the fuck out of my way. Match the commissioner's
job. There's so much at stake, thanks tonight, head. But I
went ahead, But I went ahead, But I went ahead, But throw
at him. Bunk spent like this match with his legs spread as wide apart
as one can without falling. The others got a chair somehow, I can't
go you to do that for me. I try, but she doesn't spread
the legs no more so he's gonna spread the chairs apart and play. He
prefers my cock in her ass. Got three chairs here? I love that
by Kevin. Alright, so Funk bridge a chair ship? All right?
How about this jack knife? Oh my god, I driven through pile bomb
through three chairs two three, Nash victorious? I mean that is that was
nine amazing? You know, look look at fucking Funk trying to sell it.
So Funks already lost his commissionership. Yeah, so stopping the mark?
All right, what did you do? Nash? You took two bumps.
You're actually like you got thrown off the cell ship, you know, fucking
loose feeling in my fist. Yeah, I don't know. I'll get this
straight. I'm out there with the commissioner and I'm not supposed to just completely
take him away. Wait a minute, I mean, the guy's a fucking
He's not a wrestler, he's not an active guy on the roster. He's
the fucking commission What does it do for me to sell for this guy?
Why should I sell for a fucking authority figure? So there we get this
instead fucker exploding through the ringside of downstable and the chairs. Here we go
the pain Boss Funk is fifty six Oh my god, trying to make it
matter. Hey, keV, why don't you go ahead and power bomb me
through the through the through the table, and then later on we do the
finish, power bomb me through the chairs. All right, do it as
hard as you can. That's a wrap for that one. Don't hold back.
Oh my god. Well, Terry was sufficiently sardonic about Kevin Nash and
the shoot interviews. But first we're going to hear Nash talk about doing business
with Terry Funk here in two thousand. This is the clip from Nash his
podcast after Terry had passed away. And of course, you know, Kevin's
going to train the focus on just about anything but progress. What's that?
Yeah? You know, I mean the guy had a great fucking film career.
Heard this episode, No, I didn't, I didn't. And uh,
I just remember the first time I met him, and I just kept
asking him about roadhousing, about the course movies that he was in, didn't
go and he was just like, you know, and like anybody else would
be wanting to grab a guy like that and get into his head, you
know, gets gets smartened up, and you know, I didn't give a
I didn't give a fuck. Man, I just you know, oh,
what a surprise. I just want I want to hear I just want to
hear his his stories about on set and we were drinking saki too, where
we were drinking sake, and and it was like, you know, it's
as the day went on, you know it's his wife was looking across at
me and she's like, yeah, she said, you know Terry. I
think she said Terry's age like other words like yeah, that was probably thirty
one. We had the match and uh so, yes, you sent that
to me today. Yeah, sold out for the commissioner. Oh my god,
so got a little color for you there. And yeah, the funker,
he was totally selfless. He so I said, we went in for
He says, watch you to give me that power bomb, but I want
you to give it to me. I set up two chairs and give it
to me through the chairs. Mike. No, we do not do that,
man, we just do it. We just stood on the mat.
Oh man, like they're amazing, all right, Can I you know what
I prefer I prefer to not go through the chairs. What if I do
just a straight power bomb onto the ring and can pin me clean? Well,
you know, Wyatt, I'm thinking, yeah, you know, just
to kind of really stick it to you, I should put you through the
chairs. I mean, you can take it, right, I mean,
you know e C dub right. You know you fucking saw you do the
moon salt off the off the ladder. You know you fucking wrapped up and
the barbed wire and ship. Yeah, well I know I did. I
did go ahead and do that, and but I'm I'm serious about that.
I think we should just do the straight power bomb, not go through the
chairs. You know, I don't want to set up the chairs and then
do that. I don't think my back can handle it. Well, set
chair, Okay, what does Das say to that? Well, you know,
we'll call it in the rings. See what happens. Get the straight,
let me get let me make sure I get this right. Wait,
wait here you are You know I'm not trying to take anything away from you,
right, but you're what you're You're fifty six years old, all right.
You haven't been in the company for a fucking month yet. I've been
here guaranteed money. I've been in here since ninety six. I changed the
fucking business. I fucking made guaranteed money a thing brought the cool. Back
to No. I made you know, I make this shit cool. People
go fucking nuts for me. I brought you know, gangster rap and bandana.
I'm brought in that. I brought in that fucking West Coast hip hop
onto the scene. You know, Wolf wolf Pack in the house exactly correct.
Listen to Tupac, you know, fucking revolutionizing this fucking company. Here
you are, and here you are. You know you're fucking you know,
you just you know you're fucking burnout, you know, and you haven't been
you haven't been in the fucking company since nineteen eighty nine. I can take
my finish. You know you're not gonna take my finish. No, no,
keV, I said, I take the finish. I said I would.
I just didn't want to do it on the chairs. But I mean,
this is your fucking match. It's hardcore exactly, you know, being
so selfish? Yeah, I mean it's not, motherfucker. Isn't always about
Is it it all about you? Motherfucker? I mean we're talking about it's
hardcore. If I give you a fucking straight power bomb, how are the
fans gonna fucking take that? Well? Yeah, I see, keV,
I see your point. I'll see where you're coming from. I don't want
to deny that. I just I'm telling you as a human being, I
can't take the bump. And it went from there funk. You know,
he was playing along, he was collecting his check, but he was very
observant. He knew what the fuck was going on in this place, and
he knew it was a a what's the word, I'm looking for an incentive
structure? Okay, in that locker room that was let's just put it this
way, not like the wrestling who gat up on? Yeah? How did
Kevin Nash scoff? How did they treat you outside the ring? How they
treat you? Treated me good? Treated me good? Uh? And again
that's just the way it is. Is they treated me good. But they
you definitely know that Kevin is and they've been very successful. Why shouldn't they
be this way? You understand? Is that? Why? Why why wouldn't
they be They've been successful and have become very wealthy bye by taking care of
themselves first. So maybe I'm the wrong one, you know, maybe I
should be looking at taking care of myself first and not the business. I
probably would be a lot better off. But you know, It really doesn't
matter who's got the most money. You know that that's not a big deal
on how much money I have. You can win in this world if you
just live one day longer than what they do. And that's what you can
always remember. If you can live one day longer, think of the amount
of money events would pay you. He'd give you everything he had to have
that extra day, and so would anybody in this business. So that's why
you've got to always keep things in perspective. Life is very important. Well,
he did outlive Scott Hall, that is true. But I hear in
their evengel Terry funk One who who told himself that anyone who crosses him he'll
just, you know, smirk when he hears they died and move on and
never cross them in real life. But that was Terry funk Man. He
bumped up against everybody. I mean he started with him talking about work with
sput Nick Monroe, gen Kiniski and Luthez, these fucking you know. You
think about cal Farley bouncing around his child. Yeah, back to the Carnival
era and now here he is in the mix with you know, Kevin Nash
and w CW. It's just amazing, just amazing, and it's a type
of loose end. You know, this this Attitude Era thing is him sort
of tying up loose ends with McK foley, right and yeah, working a
couple of last matches with him under the brightest spotlights and you know, doing
similar sort of a goodbye gestures here on the on the the booming nineties wrestling
circuit. One other old foe that Terry Funk crossed for the final time in
WCW here during the Attitude Era was nature Boy Rick Flair The Wow a per
view after the one we just watched super Brawl two thousand, which again took
place after Russo went home with Kevin Sullivan having the book, they you know,
kind of positioned Terry Funk a bit more favorably, not just a a
whipping boy who's fun to watch get killed, but somebody who's actually, you
know, given a fifty to fifty shot in terms of how he's presented in
the matchup. He faces Nature Boy Rick Flair February twentieth, two thousand.
Boss Its Disc thirty two Jesus and It's one O nine thirty eight Rick Flair
and Terry Funk in the year two thousand. I shit you not. It's
a funny world. How I feel about that? It did not end with
the eye quit match at Clash of the Champions, and in fact ended just
as WCW began life support here in the winter of two thousand and when you're
ready, I'm ready. It's one o nine thirty eight. One oh nine
thirty eight mm, I mean, what is fucking happening here? What is
going on? Almost there? He also crossed paths with Dustin Roads during this
run as well, So there's a Dusty thing. It's unbelievable. I'm ready
three two one play paturing Pains, Pain and Mark. Pretty impressive. They
could still wrangle the Slipper sponsorship in two thousand, I'm in the ring to
No less than the Sun. I have another one of his most legendary opponents,
Dusty Roads. Dustin we spisode we saw Terry Funky really one of Dustin's
first opponents and the p W laugh in Florida. Imagine as much like a
hot porn man. What a lot of times it between wrestlers, It's been
the one that we am to the end office f Yeah. Right, So
it's the sold out where the James Brown showed up to dance with Ernest Miller
with no advertising ahead of her watch. I mean, why would you advertise
that. Yeah, it'll be fun, you know, because we saw the
intense eighty nine feud, which had a lot of blood and brawling, but
we got a glimpse of the eighty one title match. He can get you
in all Japan, remember that. Yep, much more of a technical look.
And this is going to be you know, not wrapped up all the
storylining of eighty nine. This is just unilloid. I'm gonna say, this
is probably gonna be a complete disaster. Yeah, I don't remember it as
being particularly bad, but it's just, you know, for purpose our purposes,
it's it's significant because it's the last time he was too met one on
one and unlike the flare Up the Lawlor and Dusty matches, you know,
they didn't take place decades later on some indie fifteen right and T shirts in
Gym's flair, never really had to do that circuit surprise, and given how
poorly he is with money, you know, the fact that it was just
such a big star and he's able to stay paid when as these other guys
weren't there ancillary incomes Blair. That's no longer the case. We're going to
decide it King King and King King and King Strategic death matcha Texas Death.
Did this show take place in Texas? That's a good question. I don't
think it did. Uh No, it did not. Daily City, Daily
City, California. It's it is in the Bay Area. Well less than
four hours. Sorry see this, Tony, you just said something last or
four hours. I didn't hear what it was. I think he's talking about
Dorry Senior's Texas Death match against Iron Mike Oh, we talked about weeks ago,
two months ago in the lapsed Funk on the newspaper clippings and everything.
When ahead our riot, it's Ben Boss from Dorry Senior to Terry and the
death matches. Yep, Texas Death two thousand, w c W pay per
view. Who would have thought from Adam Funk to Texas Death definitely correct?
Well, it all comes back to death, that's for sure. Right circle
again, Coloradelbow Flair pushing Terry off the side, headlock tackle down, goes
Flare. See we're getting technically here. Yep. Funk quickly grabbing Flair by
the head and peppering them with rights, swinging wildly, Flare begging off in
the corner. Flair playing a heel full comfort zone here sure begging off,
which is weird given even nine Oh yeah, packed house. I look how
fucking dark the building is. Jesus, what a joke. Nobody cares,
No one gives, could give less of a fun palernobo flair puts Funk in
the corner. Big knife had chops on the order. Now from the nature
boy flair reversed by the funker. Now, let's see what Terry's got big
lefts, left hand, left hand, left hand, right on the forehead
or some booze for the Funk was a legend. Were sort of amused by
him in w w F, but w c W this run, they were
kind of booing him more than anything. They didn't really want to see Terry
Funk that much. You don't want to be there? Uh yeah, I
think that. I think that kind of attitude, you know, if you
don't want to be some places. I think that definitely plays into something.
You know, people can think people can feel that about you. See yeah,
but Funk, I don't think they could. He's out there killing yourself.
I think just the idea that he wasn't advocating for himself and the way
he always did at a booking. You know, he just did maybe they're
told to do, maybe they're hissed that that. You know, he exposed
the business and uh we uh beyond the mat interesting. Claire cut off on
his way back in vintage supplex hardway outside in by the funker, drops Flair,
small of the back first, who off here? Where Rowling's the funker
letting loose to the left quarter to corner of the wet Flair hits the buckling
and high back body drop. Yeah. Blair would bounce off this one and
face Hogan in a strap match, yellow and red. Hogan uncensored the next
month one of the worst fucking pay per views of the worst seen in my
life. And that he and and I assume Hogan beat him. He did.
There's some kind of fun finish. It wasn't even satisfactorily. Blair with
a spinning pardon me funk with a spinning toe hold locked in on Flair.
It's the battle of the leg locks. Here ye family ahead. Mclaiir is
punching him in his one ahead. But at some point in time that Terry
would try to spin it, told to kick out like today on the call
Mark Madden Pony Cheven the greatest announced team of all time. He beat me
to it. I was about to say that, Oh my god, on
this show, Oh my god, Hulk Cogan took on Lex Luger. Oh
that's right, yeah, because he was just called the total package and Hogan
was coming back with red and Yellow as soon as Russo was out of power.
Yeah, this is before the f U n B Hulk Hogan. By
the way, that that was that came in April when him and Bischoff came
together, when he became stone cold, stone cold hul Cogan to the floor
they go, and Terry lifts Flare up. Oh Flaire goes thud on the
outside the big vertical soup play. So let's see exactly what happens now.
Get rob can rise out of the sand dustin looking high as a case.
Terry funk shriff, God knows what they thought they were building up. Whip
to the rail goes to funk her path at your boy back in the driver's
seat after taking that fucking vicious suplex on the outside. But sorry, and
how about that Blockbuster quote from Terry Funk last week. He said he's more
impressed with dustin his father, And that's saying a mouthful when you think of
the dusty roads. Terry Funk lappably through the years. We go, oh,
here he goes, god ship ah, motherfuck pay per view. Funk
puts his dick in Flair's face. That's it. Two super plexes on the
floor, this Texas death though. So who's got a ten count? Jesus?
And now we're gonna wait for the ten count and see if so,
it's like WrestleMania ten. Of course, not even able to stand really as
Terry fun because he drops to his knees. Referee Billy Silverman ling in the
count. Flare over to the guard rail, trying to regroup here. That
ain't the first time I dropped to my knees on this trip alone. Referee
Sman made it up to a five count that time before Flair. There's back
up and he's hauling off with the knife. Etch chops, go ahead.
So Terry, what is he doing? He's hanging completely upside down on the
rail. His head is sentimeters from the cement. Why is he doing this?
Because he's a professional he's a competitor. Say that again, still battling
or Flair and Funk at your boy gets some distance, he kicks kacking the
balls. Where's right now? Where are you? Yes? And the shin
Madden's look from Mark Maddening, I'll say, ah, nice light tap on
the chair to the nave by nature boy, put Terry Funk in the hospital
with the plastic fucking chair. It's like a wedding chair outdoor wedding. No
one's buying these plastic chair shots. Rick might as well just stop. I
can't believe what they're saying, mad and trying to wall paper over the abject
and difference of the crowd by sudden, they can't believe what they're seeing there.
I always love pro wrestling stun silence, don't you always such an accurate
representation of what's going on back in the ring. Now as the Funk or
as Flair re enters, Funk barely able to stand, and Rick pounces on
the chop block, Jesus about off that knee? Psychology Flair, the state
of Flair? Both man, The match like this shortens both your careers,
especially go ahead there it is, do it again, Leg Flair drags Funk
again, steps over box out the figure for it is Rick Flair. This
spells trouble for Terry Funk begins immediately tapping frantically as it Yeah, he gave
up. So now Terry Funk in the Texas Death Match has a ten counter
rise, and it's gonna be harder for him to support his weight after all
the damage Flair has done of those historically bad knees. It's gonna be hard
for me to hold my weight, hold my lunch rather pass after that chop,
Terry Funk look to the state of the man fifty six years old w
W contract paper, Rick Flair high, full time, fucking worthy, full
time member of the roster, unbelievable, right, essentially a wrestler. Now
it's not even like he's a non wrestling character just on roster. And hey
he's flairing two thousand and two. Atre boy briskly to the top strand Funk
cuts him off. You know what time it is no press slam off the
top by the Funker, slow, slowest molasses and nobody fucking doesn't like.
The crowd is silent, hard whip to the corner. Flair goes inside out
man Flare is still so Fast In two thousand, So Dance Show True and
ber right out after Flare is the Funker here at Ringside now super Brawl two
thousand, Funks pile drive Flare again Flashbacks Surprised Rick didn't put his hands on
the mat. I know I was waiting for him to do that, but
he didn't. They were kind of close. They were on his ankles.
Maybe between eighty nine and two thousand he fucking learned how to take a pile
of the floor. I'm gonna expose the mat. Bunk has a quick thought
to cover Flair and gets two. He peels back the ringside floor and I'm
gonna then expose myself like I'm about to expose this concrete like I exposed the
business and beyond the map pre exposed in Exchange take. Everyone's talking about breaking
k Fan in the movie, but for some reason, everyone has to blame
Terry. Yet on the concrete goes Flair. Here we go, Oh god,
you're right. Flashbacks to Wrestle War, Oh yeah, and a cover
Uncle goes for the the Wrestlair gets three in another fall for the Funkers.
Once again, it can Slayers still down Kevin count underway but from Billy Silverman.
Can't get over how dark this building is. I think of how hot
WCW was Super Brawl ninety eight not at all fucking hot. He's doing something
on the other side of the ring to eat the ring. I mean super
Brawl ninety eight was the Hogan Sting rematch off starcase Ye think about that.
Yep, how far they've fallen for two years and that was the last year
to think about that, right, that was the money year. Got a
top right down of the positions you have to, Claire. I think this
is the pay per view where Nash comes out in a wheelchair after having been
confined to one for weeks on w StEB television to a leg injury, and
just like they pretend they said that Kevin Nash can't make the pay per view
because of his leg injury, and he comes out of the wheelchair and steps
out of the wheelchair and starts kicking ass, Like, why would you not
tell people he's actually gonna wrest it. Don't you think he's a draw?
Don't you think they'll buy the pay per view if they know he's on the
card. Terry's got the mic guys, I'm having flashbacks to June fifteen,
nineteen eighty to quit the New York Knockouts match between these two. The funk
bob bop some of that end of the mic making a hilarious sound. I
had this table put out here. He sounds drunk before. Yeah, see
about that funker. It's not very pretty at all to watch, but you
know what the motive is. You know what he wants to do. How
are they going to get on top of that table? That's what fuck truck
flairfect first time? If he does this time, what are they like?
There they go, They're climbing up there. This isn't gonna end well,
Claire's career is over. This is crazy anker trying to get a good hold
drills. Oh my god, the table. Terry ends up at the table
on his eyes. I know, he ends up like fucking damage ends because
Terry something Paul and on my head. Yeah, puts his leg on Flaire's
face too. He lifted Flaire's own shoulder. Terry fu Why the hell did
he do that? Because he's fucking nuts. He's got something else that his
slave more painted punishment should be delivered. It's hilarious. This man Mike can
on that table. I think Terry fuck with a pin here and a tent
capital won this thing. He's gonna fish into the ring for more plunder.
I guess it's not about winning and losing. I get Terry wants to make
sure he ends like Claire Screment. Flair is barely moving. He got through
a table. Another table, that's right, make today another table for the
funk ruck. He's not gonna do. Is he a bid to matter?
A bid for relevancy in two thousands? Here for Wick Flair and Terry Foh,
he's gonna moon salt in me. He's gonna he just doesn't say it
has the thought. He can't we fast enough. He's gonna. He's gonna
he's gonna put Flair on the table. I mean he's gonna moon Salt off
the top rope. Whip body is still on. The man on the right
side, I got fun can even hoist Flare up on this table. That's
how I thought the same thing. But he did it last time. It
appears that function go for another cover. Rath drops to it kicks out this
time. Alright, Well know then, if you if you know you can
get up at ten Why kick out? You can get his shoulder up that
time. That is true because he could have had ten seconds left alone,
he said. Funks all over him, Pepper and Rick with their short lefts.
Oh. He clutches the leg of Terry Funk. Rick takes tremendous abuse,
and we're gonna see what Funk had in mind for this table. What
do you want to do there? You go, My god, boss,
he's not gonna The table is like not even positioned correctly. Flair got out
of hitty corner, flagged out of it. He's gonna just jump, He's
just gonna move. He's not gonna Flair moved out of the way and he
cuts off Terry and oh, Terry falls backwards from my god, off the
top rope, through the table. That was the last gas to get this
one fuck motionless on the heap of another fucking busted table. Here is super
brawl. Rick Flair makes the slow crawl, drapes an arm over Funk two
three IEA get got a tempt there from Terry wiggling the legs that always like
that. Yep, Like his brain told him the kick out, but his
body couldn't do it. It's the ten count Market Street Cinema, say that
again, Cinema. God Flare stands and Daddy Flare flops, but not before
Terry is counted down, Terry gripping the top rope. But Rick Flair defeats
Terry Funk att super Brawl two thousand when the signature Texas Deathmatch. Thoughts,
my thoughts are that the part that I'm dreading the most is that this is
still the show we have we don't have in the archive. That's right.
That that's that's those are my thoughts. They're gona fucking suffer through this again.
A glimpse of pain to come. That is also part of what we're
doing here at the lapsed Funk no question, so Flair selling the next eighty
nine flashbacks being let up the ring by Billy Silverman. Victorious Here tonight is
Terry Funk comes into the territory and he bounce the lights twice back to back
pay per views. So Russo and Bischoff come in in April, of course,
and do the big reset where all the titles are stripped and the new
Blood versus Millionaire's Club storyline started. We went through all this and all the
detail you could hope for in our Bash the Beach two thousand coverage. But
as part of that, Vince Russo takes a fresh look at Terry Funk and
doesn't see him as someone fitting into the top of the cart anymore, not
a figurehead, not as someone that can, you know, do a couple
of crazy table bumps on a paper. You know what I see Terry,
I see Chainsaw Charlie. Essentially, he sees a hardcore buffoon. He sees
somebody that is a perfect fit for WCW's hardcore division, helmed by the likes
of Scream and Norman Smile. He's a loser. He's going to go out
there and loser. They're going to dink each other over the head with trash
candlids. It's going to essentially be a public enemy match, and that is
the final use that Terry Funk will be put to on his last full time
contract with a national wrestling organization, Swinging broomsticks, having silly backstage brawls where
they tip over big columns of steel to make as much noise as possible,
throw food around, smash each other with chairs, just to basically, you
know, take everything that was magical about the violence that Terry Funk brought to
the ring in the nineties and turn it into strict comedy, slapstick fodder.
You're saying this like it's a bad thing. Oh, I'm saying it because
that's what happened. That's it had to happen. It sounds this is what
you do to uh, you know, to celebrate one of the great the
greatest and probably most influential and important wrestler in the history of the business.
Exactly right. And at that point, Bro, you know, all people
wanted to see out of Terry Funk. I thought was that hardcore comedian.
Bro. I mean, the guy was hilarious out there, and I thought,
why don't we because why don't we have him thrust his hips like he's
fucking a woman after winning the Cruiser the Hardcore title at Spring Stampede, which
is what happened, by the way, in April of two thousand, where
the Hardcore division got off the ground and Funk wrestled Norman Smiley, And so
Terry Funk is the Hardcore Champion. And what we're gonna sample here as we
reached the conclusion of the Attitude era leg of the Journey is Terry Funk versus
Chris Candido. This took place on the May thirty, first, two thousand
edition of WCW. Thunder significant for several reasons. One, of course,
Chris Candido was Terry Funk junior in so many ways how he patterned himself in
the ring, even wearing the signature Terry Funk striped tights for a while in
his career, including here in WCW, which he had a very brief run
in and a hastily arranged cruiserweight division upon the Russo Bischoff regime beginning, even
bringing Cami set you over with him for a very short lived run for Sonny
in WCW, which almost nobody remembers. I really didn't even know have to
deal with and certainly process I'm sure disc thirty two and it's a twenty three
one fifty three and this is a great sort of exhibit a of the hardcore
division that WCW created under the Russo Bischoff regime and where Terry Funk fit in.
Just hijinks of the highest order. As we essentially end up back at
the Double Cross as we go on location for the Barnyard Hardcore Battle No.
Between Terry Funk and Chris Candido. Okay, ready, yeah, three two,
one play, that's thunder. Here's Tony Chair on the New Blood.
But all birds batter and heel. That's right. Fucking hell. Remember at
Chris Candido stepping into the microphone on the Funk Bank with the night Before Barely
Legal, Oh yeah, talking about how all the injuries he had suffered,
including the torn bicep he was mending. He kind of blamed on Terry Funk
because everyone went out there trying to be worthy of Funk, trying to beat
Terry Funk, trying to do more than Terry, even at his age,
which looks like fucking uh, but he bricked up. Here is Chris Candido,
Yeah he is, Yes, looks a little bit like uh, Chavo
Guerrero as a Herwin White with the Funk red black and white striped tights on.
Looking where the identical to Terry in so many ways is Chris Candido,
who of course idolized Terry Funk. The match is going to start in the
ring. Oh my god, Okay, diner with a microphone the you know,
I'm out here all by myself tonight because I was finally giving something to
do good storyline. I mean, because I wasn't gonna take in direction,
but I finally found the ball. Oh god, oh God, put no
over Vince RUSSELLI every promo he has given me the tip to night to take
out Terry fuck and bring the hord Car belt the hard Car. There was
like one thunder must have been before this where like all of a sudden,
the new Blood Enclodd all the Cruiser weights, like all of a sudden,
Chris Candido was standing show to his shoulder with the New Dog despite making zero
appearances next to them on Nitrove. Pang, that's not the hard tell I
remember. They be another rampway. Oh oh my god, Candido sores taking
a backdrop on the ramp and a chair shot to the head. And this
is that short period where they brought the ramp back under Russo Bischoff. I
liked. I always liked the runway, of course, a natural point of
differentiation. They battle off the ramp to the side, and almost immediately the
first match on Thunder hits the back. Of course, through that curtain me
to look like so many stars they go. We cut to heenan h more
stars on the curtain. They do in the actual company. That's a checked
out Bobby Heenen right there. Oh yeah, the man so defeated. He's
he's upset that he has to be there instead of continuing to tank, saying
as little as he can. There we go. We'll catch up with action
backstage. This is what they did with Terry, matches like this. Well,
this is what he's good at. This is all he's known for.
This is all he ever did. That is a value. Just picked up
a tupperware full of rubber, made full of something and in his own head,
always gonna bread hard, tipping it over with the Candido inside. Jerry,
I'm gonna hit you in the head. I think I want to do
it again. I want to go home. All right, Well, the
matches started, Terry, He's going to take a minute. Ah throws a
chair. So he's loaded Candido on the flatbed truck and Funk is gonna drive
away with Chris Candido on the back of the fucking truck. Well, it
is a hardcore match, after all, David Caruso your referee here. Oh
shit, Funker's gone. Jerry is heeling out with Chris Cando in the flatbed
n YPD Blue hair. Mike's laugh at his ass off because Terry Funk is
fucking peeling. I mean even even Heenan thinks it's funny. Stayed eighty four.
There you go somewhere. I do understand where we are now, camera
crew, Why do they blur the person out in the back. We had
an objectionable t shirt on camera. So now we've our cameras have caught up
to Funk pulling up somewhere. This looks like the Double Cross Almost is the
Double Cross in Idaho outskirts of Boise, so not too far from farmland.
Everywhere you look, the Terry Funk is somehow with Chris Candido in the back
of the truck. And that is an old school truck. Man, I'll
say, that's like the truck his dad would have driven around the farm the
ranch. The superintendent Dunk, Can I get Dunk? Can I get the
can? I got Dad's old truck? Play. I mean, Terry's come
to a stop. He gets out of the truck and is ready to throw
a trash can at his head from the back of the truck. God,
it's horse stables, boss, there's a horse and they're brawling to the stables.
Funk goes over a table. I just don't what what is this?
How you use Terry Funk? Oh my god, bales of hay, got
it gonna smell like they're gonna smell like zu dirt. Oh he dunks Funk
in a big bucket of water better than Zoo Baz. I'll say. It's
trying to drown this guy. Yeah, of course. Oh my god,
I'm over the head with things and pick up off the ground. Oh no,
he's stuffing Terry's face into grass. Is that manure? Is that manure?
Oh god, it's true. Oh you know, I want ahead and
just ate someone newer for fun. I was lunchtime. I like to make.
I like to make manure patties them on the grill. Is open the
door to Stable two. They're inside there with the horse. Oh my god,
I want you to know that Terry Funk actually legitimately gets kicked by the
horse. Of this segment are of course, because the horse plays horrific.
They're in there, battling, smacking, can do his head against the wall
of the stable, screaming horse. It's petrified, it's so nervous. Right
after the pile driver. So Funk's gonna pile driver, can't do it in
the dirt, and then you'll see the horse flick a kickout up and down
and here it is there, the horse is kicking Terry Funk. God damn
it, son of a bitch, scream at the horse ship. Your stupid
fucking horse. Terry Funk is right here. Yeah. So that's why this
is legendary, because wow, is that the match where Terry actually got kicked
by a horse. That's really funny. So Candid is gonna climb the stable
to try to jump down on Terry. Terry is lasso Cantino Jesus alasso was
around Candido's neck. He didn't realize that is he climbed the stairs. David's
David somehow got there. He didn't travel in the in the the truck.
What he say, he hits the ref of the price. It's so stupid.
So Candido was pulled by the lasso off the stable wall, through a
table, and now Funk is covering him in the dirt with no ref in
sight. You're damn lucky that horse didn't fucking blitz and that Terry Funk died
on Thunder getting kicked in the head by a horse would make some sense.
Oh, because brought the referee alive by dumping water on his head, drags
him over to the Candido's prone body, and the ref doesn't want to hit
three. The worst refue story in the business. Awful, what a joke.
So that's what it came down to for the Funkers. He gets his
hand raised till WSW Hardcore Champion here on Thunder. Thank god. That was
like one of the old tag belts. It does doesn't look look like a
fucking hardcore belt that came out later. Do you enjoy the hard coreness of
Terry Funk and w CW. No, not at all, not at all.
Funk could write his book. They booked me into the hardcore division.
W CW just started a hardcore title after the WW had some success with the
idea of nineteen ninety eight the hardcore title matches were different from the other title
matches and that you could score a pinfall anywhere. You could fight out of
the ring, Hell, you could fight outside of the building. On one
episode of w CW's Thunder showing May Chris Candido when I had a hardcore match
where we ended up fight and a horse stable, We're going at it when
the damn horse just reared back and kicked the living hell out of me.
Yes, I was actually very lucky not to be very seriously injured, because
he kicked me right in the head. I went loopy and without thinking,
jumped up and knocked the shit out of that horse. He didn't touch him,
Terry, he didn't touch him. You barely step You got up there
and devol that in your mind. I've never had any desire to sue anyone,
but that was an instance where I probably could have. We were out
at the stable earlier in the day and I asked the guy running the stable,
well, how's the horse. He said, Oh, he's just fine.
I said, don't you think you ought a ace, meaning give the
horse a tranquilizer to keep him from getting riled up? Him? And they
aced him. If they hadn't, I might not have been here today because
that horse probably would a torn Candido and meat to pieces, as it was,
even on ace. The horse got surprised by his fighting there and momentarily
regained all his strength and bearings just long enough to scramble my brains and one.
None of this was the horse's fault. I ended up okay, but
it sure could have turned into a bad situation. I've had a horse kick
his way out of a metal horse trailer and completely destroy it just by kicking.
So a horse's kick is a pretty powerful thing. Unbelievable. Yeah,
Terry goes to WCW to get kicked in the head by a horse on thunder
and that would just about be the end. Terry Funk would pretty much disappear
from WCW television after a series of hardcore matches. No real final match,
no real final angle of significance or note that is, unless you were one
of the few who happened to attend WCW house shows that took place in July
of two thousand. Lance Storm, at the time was the WCW United States
Heavyweight Champion slash Canadian Champion, which, of course, being the Canadian supremacist
character he was playing at the time, he was referring to the belt as
such, and on July eighteenth and two thousand and Nitro in the Palace of
Auburn Hills, Storm defeated Mike Ausam in a tournament to win the vacant title,
and come September of two thousand, WW has a house show on the
schedule and what do you know, the date, the spot, the shot
m and Marilla, Texas. Oh, you're damn right. Terry Funk losing
to Brett Heart at WrestleFest nineteen ninety seven, which we've covered on this episode
of Lapsed Funk was supposed to be Terry Funk's retirement in his hometown of a
Mailla Jesus. But you know, duty calls and he's under contract, and
so the September twenty second, two thousand ww House show sees Terry Funk penciled
in to not only help move tickets, but to challenge Lance Storm for the
United States Championship. God Landstorm took to his podcast on the Wrestling Observer site
upon Terry Funk's passing to reflect on this moment in his career. He remembers
seeing Terry Funk for the first time wrestling hul Kogan on Saturday Night's main event,
and later on getting to know him in Smoky Mountain Wrestling, where Lance
Storm and Chris Jericho is the thridle Seekers tag team got their real first big
break after teaming up on the Canadian Indies. He was there with Jericho and
recalls Terry Funk doing the first ever Moonsalt that we watched here in the lapsed
Funk I ever seeing Jericho watching that match play out in the balcony and thinking
in his mind as Terry Funk climbed the ropes that there was absolutely zero chance
that Terry would actually do it. And after watching him soar through the air,
Lan Storm approched Terry Funk in the locker room afterwards, and so everyone
putting Funk over, and Funk says, the first and last one I'm ever
going to do was that moon Salt. Later on an ECW, Lanstorm and
Terry Funk would cross paths again. Terry Funk would call Landstorm desert because desert
storm, Oh my God, and he watched as Terry Funk gave the entire
organization that Lance Storm broke in on the American scene with for all intents and
purposes, credibility. Here's a bit of sound from Lanstorm's podcast in WCW in
two thousand when I was having my big run with the Canadian Slash US title
belt. I guess it would have been after New Blood Rising, because I
didn't have the other two at the time, but there was one of our
rare host show p M and we were doing uh Amarillo and Lubbock, Texas
on the weekend, and I found out when I got the sheet that I
would be wrestling Terry Funk. And again, by this time, I'm you
know, just love and respect Terry, like like nobody's business as a fan,
as a worker, as a friend, because I had progressed from Desert
and he'd remembered my name and learned it by the time we were done in
ECW, so I knew I was wrestling Terry Funk in Amarillo, and I
remember flying to the show being disappointed that I was the US slash Canadian champs.
I'm thinking, it's like they're going to have me do some kind of
fuck finish and beat Terry Funk, or it's going to be a d Q
because clearly they're not you know, Terry wasn't even under contract, so they're
clearly not going to you know, put the US title on Terry Funk on
a host show when he doesn't work for the company. So I'm like socks,
but I still excited to get to work Terry Funks. So when I
get to the building, I see Terry's like, hey, Terry's like,
hey, Lance, how are you doing? And I don't remember who the
agent was, probably Johnny, but it could have been someone else. Pulls
just Terry and I into their little office. He's like, well, this
is what we're thinking of doing, if it's okay with the both of you,
which is classic WSW. They always used to have to politically please everyone.
It was always you weren't given a finish, you negotiated one. And
they're like, you know, if it's okay with the both of you,
And I'm assuming they were more concerned with clearing it with Terry than with me,
but they're like, you know, if we like to do it.
It's like if we you know, if if you're okay for it, Lance,
we could put Terry over tonight for the title and then Terry, if
you're fine with that, we you know, and you could drop it back
to Lance tomorrow night in Lubbock. And Terry was like, ah, I'm
assuming. Terry, because he's a total pro, was just figuring. It's
like, I don't work for the company, I'll just do a job both
nights. So the decision was made. Thrilled both Terry and I that we
were going to put Terry over in Amarillo, Texas, so the decision is
made and they go forward. You can't find these matches, But according to
Lancestorm, Charles Robinson, who used to bring handheld cameras to all the house
shows, did tape them and has provided copies to Lance Storm. Maybe Lance
will get some time one day to upload those for everybody to see. But
if you consider this, which it actually isn't, which we'll get to Terry
Funk's last match in Amarillo, this is not on tape, so we cannot
watch it, but it was an emotional night. It sounds like Terry had
done a ton of local promotion to get people in the building. Lanstorm said
he wasn't under contracts, and maybe this was a deal where Terry Funk's actual
WW deal had lapsed, but they brought him in to help fill a house
in Amarillo, which makes all the sense in the world. Lancetorm remembers a
pretty great house for WCW relative to house show expectations at that point in two
thousand, which were the absolute you know shits. So putting the match together,
coming up with a finish, and Lance says a Funk's idea was simple.
I'll do a series of ear falls off the spinning toe hold small package
counter from Lance Storm one two, Funk rolls on top one, two three,
and they do it out before Funks says, you know what, we
need one more near fallen, there upon which land Storm suggests, you know,
I have a really safe pile driver, Terry, so they add that.
So Storm hits the ring, does the Canadian national anthem to get heal,
he does used to do back, then does a promo on Texas they
want to lynch the guy. The lights are over the ring, the arena
is dark, the lights are low, and he just remembers things flying at
his head from the Amarilla Faithful as he stands there for the Canadian national anthem,
he gets dinged with a lighter on the lower lip, as a matter
of fact, a BIC lighter. And when Funk's music hit, the place
went crazy. According to land Storm's recollection, does a promo about how there's
five thousand ranchers out here who want to shove a hockey stuck up your ass,
And they just went ahead and worked, did the Lance and Terry in
the moment in that night, And I told Tave this, I'm like it
was ten stars, Like the match was perfect. Every time I touched him,
the heat was in credible. Every time he did anything, the place
exploded, like the ball just dropped on New Year's Eve. Excuse me as
I scratched my nose. And it was just crazy. And we, you
know, we just wrestled. We fought all over the place. We you
know, did a table spot that wasn't planned. We just did whatever the
hell we felt. I remember he did the old jyd on his hands and
the head butts and shit, and it's like, other than the finish,
we called nothing and we just fought and wrestled and clicked, and it was
so goddamn much fun, and doing it with someone that you've been a fan
of for that long and admirer of for that long. It was just incredible.
And when when he won and won the title, and I wrote about
this this match, Oh my god, my nose is itchy. Sorry,
guys. I wrote about the match afterwards, and I'll try to find it
and repost it, but I talked about how this was my favorite match of
my career, and to this day it probably is and always will be because
it was just incredible. And I remember when I was in Europe telling me
the one fit Finley telling me that when it comes to the big match,
just in a bubble, he always prefers to lose. He says, because
he losing is the better story. It gets the bigger reaction out of the
crowd. And he says, laying there with that bigger reaction, it's just
a better story. It's more rewarding. And as I on the mat in
shock that this man beat me and took my title away, and the crowd's
going crazy, and THEMA guys build him out, the guys who was feuding
with on television. They hit the ring and put Terry on his shoulder,
their shoulders, and the place is going insane, and it was just the
most emotional reaction I think I've ever experienced. Afterwards, they go back through
the curtain and Terry Funk hugs Landstorm and thanks him for the match and taking
care of him out there and not killing him. Landstorm said, having that
moment with him, Terry Funk mean everything. Later on, they would cross
paths again on Tommy Dreamer's House of Hardcore Circuit. Remember, of course,
the Hardcore Homecoming show that Shane Douglass put together in two thousand and five to
run head to head with ECW's one Night Stand on the WW side Shane Douglas,
Terry Funk and Saboo in the main event. That would kind of become
a promotion boss that would go back to the arena on a regular clip after
that. Okay, with the ECW veterans over and over again. And there
was one particular show where Dreamer teams with Terry Funk against Tommy No pardon me,
it was Funk in the corner and Lance Storm was involved. I think
it was Tommy Dreamer versus Landstorm with Terry Funk involved in the mix. And
after that event they drew back to the airport with Terry Funk and in the
drive. During the drive, Terry Funk makes a remark to Lance Storm.
He says, you know, when was that match we had in Amarilla that
really meant a lot to me? Got that belt back the next night,
and you know, at the House of Hardcore at the time, Lance Storm
wasn't trying to take a lot of bookings. He'd pretty much stepped away from
the business and retired. But when he was told that Terry Funk would be
involved in this particular event all those years later, I think it's two thousand
and five we're talking about here. Yeah, I couldn't turn it down.
So Lance came off the bench, the shelf, so to speak, and
work the show. Had the singles match with the Dreamer and after the match
got a handshake. He got a handshake from Tommy Dreamer for doing the event,
and then he turned his attention did Lance Storm, did Terry Funk?
But I remember after the match, Tommy shook my hand, which was you
know, breaking kfe But it was at the point where at that point you
never know if you're going to work these guys again, So we start at
a moment shook hands and hugged and Funk was on the apron and I went
over to shake his hand. First he refused, and I don't know whether
it was you know, because we had you know, he was involved in
the finish, not wanting to break k fabe or whatever. But I really
wanted to shake his hand, and I took a knee in front of him
and sort of bowed my head and put my hand out and he shook my
hand. And when I got home after the show, I saw online Facebook
somewhere all of the photos from the show, and there's a bunch of pictures,
you know, Dreamer chopping me, me sup lexing and dropkicking Tommy.
And there's this perfect photo of me on a knee, head bowed, shaking
hands with Terry Funk. Photo was so perfect, in fact, that Lance
had to track down the photographer who was shooting the show and bought a copy
of said photo and has it. You know, he doesn't have many wrestling
photos in his house whatsoever, but that one bowing to Terry Funk is framed
on his bookcase and it's really the only wrestling photo Storm says he has.
He says he has so few photos with people he crossed paths within the wrestling
business, and he felt like a mark, you know, approaching Terry after
the show and getting a photo with him and things like that, and it's
just he just didn't care. And that moment, he didn't care about appearing
to be a mark and approaching Terry because he wanted him to autograph this picture
him paying respects on his knees to the Funker. So they found a table
down there in a basement in Pokeepsie, New York, and of course the
Funker was more than happy to oblige Landstorm, and I'm like, Terry,
would you mind terribly signing this form. He's like, no, We've got
no problem, and I put it down and again I feel so self conscious
and a bit of a dork. And I guess it's because you know,
there's the expression, you know, when you hear when your heroes become your
peers and your your friends, you don't want to go back to the former.
And I felt sort of like I was being a mark and a wrestling
fan rather than a peer and a friend of Terry. But I just had
to have it signed. So he signed it, and I very quickly just
rolled it up and stuffed it back in the tube, and he's like,
are you going to read it? And I'm like, well, I was
going to when I got home. I didn't want to be embarrassed. I
pulled it out and it's classic Terry in that, and the inscription is perfect
in that he was trying to put me over, and he did, but
it's not how I read it. And the photo is just signed shaking shit.
I thought I was gonna make it. I thought I was going to
make it today, he says, shaking hands with the best, Terry Funk,
and clearly he was intending to put me over saying he's shaking hands with
the best. But I will always read that as I'm shaking hands with the
best, because that's what Darry Funk was. Join us next time for the
final episode of the Lapsed Funk you know, good for nothing Eggs. Second
Down was amazing. Man. We did it our way because we love it
that way. We love it that way, and I have this wonderful gun
feeling and I've had it all my life when it's time to go. I
think it's now it's time to go.