Tag: terry funk

The biggest professional wrestling stories of 2023: CM Punk, TKO and more

From WWE to AEW and beyond, here were the things that stood out most in an eventful year in pro wrestling.

Take a deep breath, wrestling fans. The year 2023 is almost over.

It is understandable if you haven’t done that a whole lot over the last 12 months, as the industry has not provided many opportunities to take in a soothing sigh of relief.

There were many ups, quite a few downs, but all in all, 2023 was a banner year for professional wrestling that in hindsight will be fondly remembered as one of the most impactful in the history of the industry.

But before we look ahead to 2024, let’s take one last look back on the year’s biggest stories in professional wrestling.

5 most touching moments from the SmackDown Terry Funk, Bray Wyatt tribute show

WWE used SmackDown to remember Terry Funk and Bray Wyatt in several wonderful ways.

Friday night’s SmackDown from Louisville was the kind of show WWE hopes it never has to do. After losing not one, but two beloved figures during the week — Terry Funk, who died at 79, and Bray Wyatt, who passed away unexpectedly at just 36 — it was the kind of broadcast that had to be extremely difficult for the wrestlers and staff to put on.

It was tough for fans as well, still reeling from the fact that a universally respected legend and a uniquely creative superstar were both gone. Yet by turning most of Friday’s show into a tribute to Funk and Wyatt, WWE managed to make it as cathartic as possible. Certainly it felt that way watching at home, and hopefully it turned out the same for everyone involved.

Yes, there was sadness. Yes, there were tears. But SmackDown also did a fantastic job of highlighting the joy both men brought to so many during the course of their careers.

Emotional? No question. Touching? Absolutely.

If ever there was a SmackDown to revisit, this was it. Here, in chronological order, were the five most touching moments from Friday night.

The deaths of Terry Funk and Bray Wyatt, and the sobering reality surrounding them

Whether wrestler deaths are expected or sudden, they don’t hurt any less.

For wrestling fans, the summer of 2023 has been a dream.

Multiple promotions are breaking box office records, the major storylines are as compelling as ever, and watching great in-ring action has become the norm.

But as summer comes to an end, the entire industry — from wrestlers to the fans that watch them — was hit with the sobering reality that is life.

On Wednesday, wrestling legend Mick Foley broke the news that the world lost its favorite middle-aged and crazy wrestler, Terry Funk, at the age of 79. 

Funk had dealt with a number of health issues for quite some time, but that didn’t make the news any less hurtful, as the former NWA World Heavyweight champion was revered by those in and out of the industry.

But a day later, the wrestling world was handed more bad news. This time from WWE executive Paul “Triple H” Levesque revealing that he had received a horrible phone call. That call was from former WWE wrestler/agent Mike Rotunda, who had the unenviable task of delivering the unfathomable news that his own son Windham, who wrestled in WWE as Bray Wyatt, had died. He was 36 — far too young for anyone to leave this Earth. 

And just like that, the summer bliss that wrestling fans had been experiencing vanished. In its place was sorrow. It was a jarring reminder that our heroes are not immortal. One day, they too will perish, and dealing with the aftermath will be difficult. 

Windham Rotunda’s death will be especially difficult to come to terms with. He was a father, husband, beloved by his peers for his warmth and kindness, and not even 40 years old.

Professionally, he was admired for his creativity, and had made his much ballyhooed return to WWE television less than a year ago at Extreme Rules. I was in the building that night, and when the former WWE champion finally walked from behind the curtain, the place came unglued.

Despite many iterations and creative missteps, the Bray Wyatt character struck a chord with legions of wrestling fans. That was mainly due to the man playing the part.

Instead of continuing on as one of the most influential wrestlers in the industry, Windham Rotunda is another in the long line of wrestlers that have died under tragic circumstances.

Back in 2014, FiveThirtyEight conducted a study that showed how wrestlers died at an exponentially higher rate than the rest of the population across multiple age groups. For Windham Rotunda’s age group, 35-40, the expected death rate for wrestlers was at 10 percent, much higher than the 1.9 percent for everyone else, including myself, as I am merely two years younger than Rotunda.

The data was similar when comparing wrestlers to other professional athletes, according to FiveThirtyEight.

But to be fair, a good chunk of that data was made up of wrestlers who died due to the razor’s edge lifestyle that was pro wrestling during the industry’s boom periods of the 1980s and ’90s. Windham Rotunda and even Jay Briscoe, who died earlier this year after a fatal car accident at 38, weren’t that. 

These were the swift punches to the gut you have no way of anticipating nor avoiding. And sometimes, that’s just how life is. It is an excruciatingly difficult fact to accept. 

I’ve managed to come to better terms regarding Funk, who far outlived FiveThirtyEight’s data. The oldest age range of the data was 55-60. Funk almost lived to be 80. For anyone, that is something worth noting. For a wrestler from Funk’s generation, it should be celebrated. 

The 55-60 age range didn’t even have the highest death rate among wrestlers. That belonged to people in the 50-55 range, which was at a staggering 20% compared to 7.5 for everyone else.

When Funk was in his 50s, he was winning championships as a full-time performer in WWE, Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling. And this wasn’t some broken down old man who dramatically changed his style. Funk was still holding his own in barbed wire death matches and was ready to pull off a moonsault if he had to.

Not only was Funk an outlaw, he was an outlier.

However, it still hurts.

It still hurts knowing that people who brought so much light to the world are gone. It hurts knowing that Windham Rotunda’s family will have to now pick up the pieces of something that can never be fully put back together.

We were lucky to have watched them both, and through those moments, maybe we can help them live forever.

Pro wrestling world comes together on social media to remember Terry Funk, dead at 79

Terry Funk, a legendary figure in pro wrestling, died this week at 79. Here are some of the top tributes from the many people he influenced.

Few figures in the pro wrestling industry touched as many lives as Terry Funk. From working with legends like Jack Brisco, Harley Race and Jerry Lawler early in his career, to teaming with brother Dory in Japan, to becoming the godfather of the hardcore style that helped get ECW off the ground, Funk accomplished enough in his 50-plus years in the business to fill several careers — and that’s before even getting to his work in WCW and WWE.

That’s why so many people were saddened to hear that Funk had died at age 79. It seems like almost everyone in the industry has a Funk story to share; some funny, some incredible, some inspiring, but all of them heartfelt.

Read on for some of the top tributes to a true legend of pro wrestling, one who will never be forgotten, as we add our condolences to those going out to Funk’s family and friends.

Terry Funk was the purest embodiment of professional wrestling

Funk died Wednesday at age 79. Pro wrestling is better because he was part of it.

For roughly five decades, if you were a wrestling fan you understood there was a reasonable chance Terry Funk was going to show up at some point. There was no set home for the legacy wrestler who spent his life between ages 21 and 74 inside (and often brawling outside) the squared circle.

In Japan he was a feared gaijin. In America’s regional promotions he was the foil to bigger names like Jerry “the King” Lawler and Ric Flair. And mid-1990s, liftoff-of-hardcore Paul Heyman’s ECW? There he was in striped tights, giving and receiving chair shots and trading on the fact this big, bruising Texan could look invincable one minute and vulnerable the next.

Hell, he even got to brawl with Patrick Swayze in Road House. Road House.

Funk, who passed away Wednesday, took every path his art allowed over the course of his 79 years. And if you take exception to me calling pro wrestling an art, here’s a clip of Funk threatening a horse that will either change your mind or ensure that you are, in fact, cold and empty inside.

Funk was 100 percent the man shown in the clip above. A fearless Texan perpetually willing to stretch his body beyond its physical limits for the sake of the show. The son of Dory Funk, a legendary wrestler in his own right, Funk began his career as a bruising brawler in a cowboy hat. In the decades that followed, he became a mat technician, a high flyer (sort of), a hardcore legend, a tuxedo-clad interviewer, chainsaw-wielding maniac and Screen Actors Guild member.

In that stretch he painted himself as one of the toughest S.O.B.s in a business filled with them. He constantly wrestled through injury in the name of a good show. He left multiple matches for medical attention only to return, taped up and ready to brawl once more. His promos bordered on, and occasionally ventured into, lunacy. Even so, you never once doubted that Funk didn’t fully believe every damn thing he was saying through gritted teeth.

Looks inside Funk’s actual life were few and far between. Barry Blaustein’s 1999 documentary Beyond the Mat suggested the veteran wrestler was more or less exactly who he portrayed in the ring. He was a 55-year-old man with knees so shot doctors couldn’t figure out how he was able to walk without howling in pain. He wrestled for more than a decade after that diagnosis, busting out a signature moonsault that looked equal parts ugly and devastating.

Funk’s appeal was widespread. He appeared on Monday Night Raw and Monday Nitro. He wrestled in All Japan Pro Wrestling and the NWA. He worked for Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and Juggalo Championship Wrestling. He retired and unretired with a regularity that Brett Favre would find excessive. The siren call of the ring lured him back, and the fans always wanted more.

No matter where he landed, he constantly popped crowds. He was a sigil for hardcore enthusiasts and casuals alike, a spectacle running head first toward an never-ending explosion all the while understanding only pain lay ahead. That he got to 79 years at all suggests there are supernatural forces at play in this world, and they like wrestling.

Rest in peace, Terry Funk. Pro wrestling is better because you were a part of it.