6. He Has Sold Tickets In Every Major Wrestling Company...
WWE.comFunk was always fresh and never wore out his welcome. Naturally, he could also pick and choose among the many lucrative offers he had for independent shows (...) along with staying on good enough terms with both WCW and the WWF to bounce back and forth Larry Matysik, author of The 50 Greatest Professional Wrestlers of All Time (Funk tied with his brother at 13). Some guys are big stars in one company, but do very little business in others. Case in point; The Franchise Shane Douglas was nothing short of a God in ECW, being the man ultimately responsible for making the ECW belt a World Title and for laying more than a few foundation stones for the tearaway promotions success. However, in the WWF he was known as Dean Douglas, an over-educated smartass (think Damian Sandow without the relish) where he did no business whatsoever. As another example, Stunning Steve Austin was successful in WCW as one part of The Hollywood Blonds (with Flyin Brian Pillman), but he was hardly the world-beater he later became in the WWF/E. Even The Undertaker, when WCW packaged him as Mean Mark Callous (a gimmick created by Terry Funk no, really), was nothing to write home about... Funk, on the other hand, has worked across countless territories, using more than a few different styles of wrestling. Even his baffling stint as Chainsaw Charlie drew money...
WWE.comWeve discussed Funks high profile blood donations in ECW and well get to his sacrifices for IWA Japan (International Wrestling Association). Weve also gushed about his time in the era of the NWA territories, where his appeal was considered to be broad enough to make him the World Champ. Were also going to talk about his days working for Giant Babas AJPW (All Japan Pro Wrestling) on the next page, but, those arent the only promotions that have benefited from Funks innate ability to draw a big house... Funk also spent time in WCW, where he feuded with Dusty Rhodes and held a few singles titles. He was one of the companys major stars at one point, but became more of a special guest after that time. Also, once The WWF had effectively won the National War, Funk was one of the first major NWA talents to be signed to The House that Vince Built. He debuted on the same show as Macho Man Randy Savage and The British Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid Tom Billington and Davey Boy Smith) and subsequently feuded with The Junkyard Dog. He has returned to the WWF/E several times since then, despite his, often negative, feelings towards Vince McMahon being a matter of public record (Vince just knows a good thing when he sees it). Still, both Terry and Dory Funk, Jr have been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. This is not a new experience for Terry, who is also a Hall of Famer for the NWA, WCW, St. Louis Wrestling and The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, in addition to being an inductee to the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (and Museum) in New York.
WWE.comHowever, as well as working for the Big Two of the 1990s, Funk has also wrestled for many, many independent promotions. In fact, he is one of the major reasons that the indies continue to survive and thrive to this day, as he lends an all-important air of credibility to fledgling promotions. He has wrestled for MLW (Major League Wrestling), where he participated in (yet another) exploding Barbed-Wire Death Match and he even journeyed across the pond and wrestled here in Blighty, helping to put Brit promotion FWA (Frontier Wrestling Alliance Now XWA) on the map. He also regularly appears at shows for Tommy Dreamers House of Hardcore promotion (which is every bit as tough as the name suggests). ...And all this despite the fact that he is now 70 years old. Oh yeah, he also helped to get a little indy promotion by the name of Ring of Honour started in 2002, debuting for the company as one of its top stars. ROH has since gone on to produce an exceptionally high quality product, which has helped launch the careers of current and former TNA stars like Samoa Joe, A.J Styles and Christopher Daniels as well as big time WWE stars such as Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins, CM Punk and Cesaro.