RIP to an absolute legend to those of us who watched wrestling in the 80’s. Hulk Hogan, Andre, Ric Flair, Warrior stole the spotlight in those days, but Terry Funk was right there. I attended an ECW show where he fought Sabu in an insane barbed wire match. It was horrifying and awesome at the same time. Looking back, ECW was a gift that wrestling fans are worse off for losing.
Terry Funk enters the heavenly portal
- Thread starter NatronaHeightsPanther
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This was always the first thing that came to mind with Funk for me. For years, the ring attendant was there to take the wrestlers ring attire. But I never saw the guy take a bump. He did a really good job selling this Funk beatdown.
You think there were any drugs in the ECW locker room?
I know a guy named Norm Conners who owned Steel City Wrestling and introduced me to Paul Heyman in 2005. I’ve always admired Heyman and how he pushed the envelope. A creative genius, and better promoter.
“You know, I heard you had balls big enough to come in a dump truck, but you don't look like much to me.”
Unfortunately, he pushed it to a point where "high spots" became the norm, and it brought about a sort of sensory depravation among the fans.
It's also the reason why a blood-soaked Fairmont Frank is probably going to jump off a roof tonight and land on a barbed wire-covered Charleston Charlie in front of a packed house of 17 people.
Lol, I get your point. There’s a reason it came on Saturday night at 1AM. A lot of those matches would never fly today. But, I think it was popular enough that it inspired McMahon to push the boundary as well. Remember Undertaker pushing Mich Foley off the top of the steel cage? A 16 foot drop onto a floor? I think that happened in Pittsburgh in fact.
Yeah, I was there. I don't know if it was a good thing, though, haha. I watched a lot of Jim Cornette stuff over the years, and he claims that hardcore wrestling ruined the business.
Not saying I agree with him 100%, but it did get to a point where I think they just jumped the shark too many times. It led to guys being more kayfabe invincible, finishing maneuvers not meaning as much, etc. Of course, exposing the business didn't help either. McMahon did it in the late 90's, and then Russo pretty much hammered the nail in the coffin at Bash at the Beach 2000. I mean, we always knew it was a work, but we could at least talk ourselves into believing otherwise before they did that.
They actually do fly today but it’s a bit more under the radar. Look up GCW.
And the Foley thing was in Pittsburgh. Foley is insane.
Saw a few shoot interviews with him. Amazing he is nothing like his character. Total nice guy, or at least he appears that way. It did seem genuine. Some guys aren't too different from whom they portray, like Rick Flair or Fred Blassie.
I'm not the biggest Heyman fan (remember the mass transit incident), but his most amazing performance came when Punk walked out of his contract with WWE and quit. Word got out to the fans and every show there was usually a pretty big CM punk chant at Raw that the announcers would pretend wasn't happening.
A few weeks or so later, there was a Raw scheduled for Chicago, Punks hometown and a place that is always hot for him. WWE knew it would be pretty hard to ignore the Punk chants at this show. So the cold open of Raw has the Punk theme playing and the crowd goes nuts. Instead, out walks Heyman to the ring. Can't remember all the specifics (I'm sure it is out there on YouTube), but he cut a promo that absolutely crushed it and was able to cool this extremely hot crowd down to relative quiet. I think the rest of the show went on pretty much as normal. Incredible to be in that pressure cooker for Heyman and he was able to get the crowd to eat out of the palm of his hands.
His WWF stuff, whether as part of the Funk family in the ‘80s, or Chainsaw Charlie in the ‘90s, was never good.
I didn’t like a lot of the hardcore ECW stuff. But he gave the company credibility.
His I-Quit match against Flair was great.
And his fight against Patrick Swayze and Sam Elliot in “Road House” is must watch television.
I didn’t like a lot of the hardcore ECW stuff. But he gave the company credibility.
His I-Quit match against Flair was great.
And his fight against Patrick Swayze and Sam Elliot in “Road House” is must watch television.
Heyman is incredible at booking. He knows how to get guys over. He's very good at being a manager too.
As a promoter? Mixed bag. Part of being a wrestling promoter is managing a budget, and Heyman was notorious for bouncing checks and screwing guys over ECW.
It's interesting that Heyman now manages a guy who doesn't do anything risky. Roman Reigns wrestles like once a month, and he never does high spots or takes huge bumps.
McMahon had to admit it was all a work as part of a trial in the 80s or 90s. I can't recall why, but it saved him a lot of money. During Hulk Hogan's lawsuit vs Gawker he had to clarify that Terry Bolea didn't have a ten inch penis, but in kayfabe Hulk Hogan had one.
Hey man’s finishes weren’t always the best. He was great at characters and putting guys in position to do well and the stories. But the payoffs frequently left something to be desired.
But I’ll cut him a little slack. Some of that was because guys were being bought away in the middle of stories, so sometimes he had to just hurry it.
That story Cody Rhodes told this year on Raw about his Dad and Heyman was 100% true. Dusty was dead broke, and Heyman threw him a lifeline. I mean, ECW was a small time production filmed in the slums of South Philly and somehow got someone to put it on TV. Heyman also developed and pushed guys like Sabu, Dreamer, Sandman, The Dudley’s, Tazz, Raven….guys who may not have gotten a shot or push in WWE or WCW. Would WWE have even had the “attitude era” if not for the success of ECW? Heyman couldn’t find someone to put ECW on TV, partially because of how violent it was. That’s why ECW fell apart. I’m sure Heyman had screwed over people over the years, but let’s not take away the greatness of him or his innovation in ECW.
Raven was in the WWF before ECW. It’s not true he didn’t get a shot.
And Sandman shouldn’t have gotten a shot anywhere else. Hell, watch Sandman now on the WWE app without the copyright music infringement. The luster is significantly lost. And then remove the long entrance and smoking, and what do you have? A dude that looks like and wrestles like he’s a fan that snuck in and nobody noticed.
Heyman is great. But some of his genius is a little overrated.
I just get a kick out of heyman. I haven’t really watched wrestling for about 15 years or so, but a friend turned me on to the bloodline angle about 10 months ago. So I record the shows and fast forward through everything but the bloodline stuff. Everything else is unwatchable.
It’s amazing how the promotion tried like heck to get Reigns over for years and couldn’t but then puts Heyman with him and Reigns turns to gold. I do have to acknowledge that Reigns has also gotten pretty good himself with the way that he carries himself as a heel. But it took a long long time.
I know with wrestling you have to suspend belief, but is cracks me up watching heyman because no one in real life acts like that. I find it hilarious how he worships his tribal chief. His expressions, mannerisms and reactions during promos and matches are absolutely brilliant.
And I get that the WWE HOF is kinda a gimmick in itself too, but honestly if there’s a guy who deserves to be in before he retires, it’s Heyman. For all I know he might be in already…but my point stands. The guy was/is an innovator and he will have more of a legacy in the business than 90% of the people who worked in it.
I get it, Raven was in WCW before WWE even. My point is, Johnny Polo or whatever name he wrestled under in WCW doesn’t compare to what he did as Raven. And I’m not saying Raven was great, but he ended up as a producer on Raw before leaving WWE. His career was in a downward spiral.
As for Sandman, yea he wasn’t great. But, he was a fan favorite and got eyeballs to the TV. His matches with RVD were pretty good too.
Man, that’s really sad. Bad 24 hours in the world of the WWE. Wasn’t Bray really struggling with his mental health? I hope he didn’t commit suicide, or OD on something. What a shame.
I think he was struggling with mental health.
I had read he had some issues. No specifics if it was physical or mental but it did say they were life threatening. Recently saw it was possible he might be returning but they were keeping a close eye on things. But dam. Makes me think it may have been mental health.
I would like to think Hunter and Vince gave him all the support possible. Some people just can’t shake the demons, it’s sad because from everything I’ve heard, he was loved by many in that locker room.
amazing that whole video and never once do they call him a wrestler. Vince is pretty weird about that
