2. He Represents Everything That Is Good About Wrestling...
WWE.comIve been very fortunate to have a very long career...and thankful of it. It was a wonderful thing, yknow? Just to start out here (Texas) and then to travel over the whole world and I was lucky enough to make a decent living at it too - and save a few bucks Thats Terry Funk, talking about his storied career in a 2010 Interview by Gil Lamb advertising. Hes so proud, yet at the same time so humble, distilling a lifetime of hard-fought achievements into a few, softly spoken sentences. However, Terry Funk has every reason to be proud of his accomplishments. He represents the best of professional wrestling. Pro wrestling, at its heart, is about honour and respect. When you talk about great or legendary pro wrestlers, the first names out of your mouth should be names like Terry and Dory Funk, Harley Race, Ricky Steamboat and The Undertaker. They are the guys that gave it all to the business and left whatever they had in the ring when they were done, the classy ones, the gutsy ones; the greatest of the greats. On a more personal note - when I write these wrestling articles, Im trying to do a small bit, as a fan, to give something back to the business that has given me a lifetime of joy, of entertainment. ...And a big part of that is respecting what came before. I idolized Funk after reading about him in Mick Foleys book and watching his star turn in Beyond The Mat, but the truth is that he was already old before I was born (I came into this world just as he was debuting for The WWF, his NWA days firmly behind him). As wrestling fans, it is our duty, as well as our privilege, to go back and explore the history of this unique branch of sport...
wikiRight now, WWE is in the process of re-writing that history, of sanitizing it and taking it away from us. For them, vignettes about Lou Thesz or Dusty Rhodes are just about getting John Cena over as Champion (and if WWE needs to force comparisons like that, then that tells you everything you need to know about John Cena as a World Champion, doesnt it?). WWE wants us to forget about the great history of our sport and to ignore the independent leagues still slugging it out in the fight for survival, but Terry Funk wont let us forget, because he IS the past and because he IS the indies. He is the best of it all, a powerful force of honour, defiance and courage. I dont hate WWE, quite the contrary, in fact (without WWE I might not even have discovered wrestling in the first place) and you shouldnt hate it either, but often, what WWE puts out there is actually pretty far removed from what wrestling could (and maybe even should) be. So, if you havent already, do yourself a favour and read into the career of Terry Funk. If you understand Terry Funks life and career, youll understand pro wrestling just that little bit better. For Terry Funk, wrestling is about brotherhood. It is about making the other guy look good so that you, in turn, look good. It is about giving the fans what they came to see and sending them home with smiles on their faces, creating that pit-of-the-stomach excitement during the crescendo of a great match, or inciting the righteous fury of a fired-up crowd. Whether he was the low down and dirty heel, ready to be vanquished by the conquering hero, or the grizzled old veteran standing up for what is right, Funk always puts us fans first. Dont ever forget that.