Date: April 13th, 1997 Event: Barely Legal Age Of Champion: 52 years, 287 days If you were to ask Paul Heyman, Tommy Dreamer and people of that nature, they would willingly tell you that ECW might not have survived as long as it did if it wasn't for Terry Funk. ECW had just split from the NWA, and their roster consisted of mainly people who had failed in larger promotions, or those weren't "names" on the national scene. Funk's arrival brought legitimacy to the fledgling company. He was known as one of the best wrestlers of the last 30 years, and him being in ECW, even as a more hardcore-oriented wrestler at that point, meant the world to them. ECW's debut on pay-per-view is seen as the biggest night in company history. If it would have failed, it could very well have killed them off before they ever got started. For such an important night, Heyman made the decision to give Funk the ECW Title. Raven was the champion coming into Barely Legal, and him retaining the title would have been big for the company. The Sandman was involved in the #1 Contender match earlier in the night, and him defeating Raven would also have been big. However, it was the nearly 53-year-old Funk that walked out as the new champ, with the weight of the company on his shoulders.
Columnist/Podcaster/Director at LordsOfPain.net for nearly seven years, with nearly 2000 total columns written. Interviewed and/or involved in interviewing the likes of Tyler Black/Seth Rollins (twice), Diamond Dallas Page, Jimmy Jacobs, Christopher Daniels, Uhaa Nation and more.
