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14. Terry Funk
Score: 158
# of Lists: 9
First Place Votes: 1, Eddv

Writeup: Steiner
Its so difficult to know where to start with Terry Funk. Its hard to point to one career high point for him, or one thing that makes him great. But therein lies his strength for over 40 years, Terry Funk wrestled everywhere around the world, wrestling at the top of cards, drawing money and wrestling some of the greatest matches of all time. If I have to point to one thing that sets Terry Funk apart, its the breadth of his work brawls in Texas, mat wrestling in St. Louis, tag teaming in Japan. Terry Funk would have no doubt had an all-time great career if he had wrapped up in 1989, but if theres one thing we all know about Terry Funk, its that he never wrapped it up. While the 90s may not have matched some of the in ring peaks of his 70s and 80s, by freshening up his style and changing with the (at that point, rapidly changing) times, Funk was able to not only work well into his 50s, he remained relevant in doing so.

Funk first wrestled in 1965, and would continue to wrestle until, at time of writing, 2017. Now, theres definitely a tail end there, but simply having a 52 year career is a feat in and of itself. His career started in his fathers promotion, Western States Sports, based in Amarillo, Texas, where hed first find success teaming with his brother, Dory Funk Jr. The Funk Brothers would go on to be one of the top tag teams in the country, and this would lead to their first trip to Japan in 1971 where they would win the NWA International Tag Team Titles from B-I Cannon the team of Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba. The Funks were one of the top teams in All Japan throughout the 70s and early 80s, feuding initially with the likes of Giant Baba, Jumbo Tsuruta and The Destroyer, before eventually turning babyface and wrestling alongside Jumbo and Baba in their feud with Abdullah and The Sheik.

But while theres a catalogue of incredible Funk Brothers tag matches, its as a singles Funk really finds his greatest success namely, defeating Jack Brisco in 1975 for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Hed hold the title for 14 months, defending against names like Dusty Rhodes, Andre the Giant, Dick Murdoch, Jerry Lawler among others before finally losing it to Harley Race in February 1977. Dory Jr. had held the title earlier, from 1969 to 1973, making them the first (only? Im pretty sure) pair of brothers to hold the title. And so through the rest of the 70s, Terry Funk was an established name, main eventing all through the US and Japan. By the time he has his first retirement match in 1983, hes a surefire hall of famer.

To me, though, its everything after that makes him one of the greatest of all time. His return to the NWA in 1989, first as a commentator, and then interviewing Ric Flair after the conclusion of the legendary Steamboat series before attacking Flair in one of my favourite angles ever setting up a pair of Flair-Funk matches in 1989 that would round out Ric Flairs 1989 perhaps the best single year a wrestler ever had. The I Quit match especially is one that, for all the legendary matches Ric Flair had in his career, is one many cite as his best ever. After this, hed continue to work WCW, have a USWA title reign in Memphis, and start to work with ECW.

Ive seen some argue that ECW doesnt affect Funks Greatest Wrestler case, and I think thats nuts. Its by no means his greatest in ring work, but its definitely an important time in his career. He first comes to ECW in 1993, in the early days of the promotion while its still NWA affiliate Eastern Championship Wrestling. But his first match there is an I Quit Texas Death Match quickly becoming a part of the tone shift that was taking place in Philadelphia at this time. (As an aside, a few months later, FMW owner and Deathmatch legend Atsushi Onita brought in Funk as his opponent in the FMW 4th Anniversary Show main event a No Rope Exploding Barbed Wire Time Bomb Deathmatch that really has to be seen. Funks clearly developed a certain type of rep by this point). Theres no doubt that Funk is a pioneer when it comes to the hardcore wrestling style both in the US and Japan, but it cant be understated the legitimacy that former NWA Champion Terry Funk participating in matches like this offered, to ECW especially as they made their name in the early 90s. Funks run was a crucial part of early ECW, and throughout his tenure there which ended in 97, like everywhere else he wrestled before, he was wildly entertaining.

And thats the thing with Funk I had to cover how many places he worked, his impact, his history but, more than anything, in doing all that he did, he was always entertaining. As a worker, he had one of the best minds for the business ever his sense of timing and grasp of the crowd is really unlike any other. Theres so few workers in history with the diversity of Funk, and the ability to switch face/heel so effortlessly. When he was a mad eyed vicious heel, a bloody babyface in peril, a cowardly weasel or any other role hes ever played, Terry Funk makes me love this dumb sport. May he wrestle another 50 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEXneiWdDSE; Terry Funk vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (June 11, 1976)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xy58e1; Terry Funk vs. Stan Hansen (April 14, 1983)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HitHAHRTmcU; Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk (November 15, 1989)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPbn8Hsrv1g; Terry Funk vs. Atsushi Onita (Exploding No Rope Barbed Wire Exploding Ring Time Bomb Death Match)(May 5, 1993)

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Maniac64