10 Incredible WWE Moments Nobody Ever Talks About
4. Steve Austin And Terry Funk Tease A Dream Brawl
Shotgun Saturday Night was the WWF sensing that it needed the aforementioned change without quite manifesting it. It was an experimental show raw in its creativity: a bit daft, a bit desperate, a bit magic.
Terry Funk brought his own magic to it in an awesome, little-remembered angle with Steve Austin. An awesome prospect of a dream match, had the stars aligned just a little more closely, you can make do with this fantastic confrontation.
Steve Austin could have been a commentator. He was fantastic at it. As Terry Funk cut a promo on a special Texas edition of the show, Austin quietly seethed. As Funk vowed to win the 1997 Royal Rumble, Austin grew progressively more irritated. "He'll be over the top rope if I'm in there," he said. Even at the desk on the weird C-show in what barely qualified as a mini-programme, Austin was a genius. He built the tension brilliantly, knowing that the combustion would mean more.
Eventually, Austin stormed the ring. Funk immediately slapped him, wearing a sick grin on his face. "I wanna rumble," Funk said.
Austin clocked him, and Funk's selling, f*cking hell. Funk was so amazing at convincing the people that a blow to the head had him all sorts of messed up. He stumbled backwards into the top rope, but lowered himself, feigning being off-balance, to the middle. Within seconds, a flash of chaos erupted.
"Old" wrestling didn't necessarily look more realistic, but the modern scene could learn something from Funk selling a worked punch: sometimes, it's as beautifully simple as that.