10 Times WCW Went Too Far
5. Terry Funk Saves Chris Candido From Death By Horse
The WCW Hardcore Title was just about the bottom of the ladder when it came to prestige. Created in a desperate attempt to ape whatever it was WWE was doing, the no rules belt was introduced and immediately maligned, bouncing around a variety of midcarders from November 1999 until its demise in January 2001. Norman Smiley was the name most connected to the title, which should explain a lot.
Terry Funk and Chris Candido had a feud over the belt in 2000, one that saw Candido become the latest in a long line of young stars looking to put Funk out of commission for good. On one particularly thrilling episode of Thunder, a hardcore match broke out between the two, a match that soon went backstage and eventually found its way onto a flatbed truck, a vehicle that sped away from the arena.
Where did it go? To a ranch, of course. Candido and Funk actually had a mildly entertaining brawl through the Idaho fairgrounds, making the most of all the plunder that surrounded them, before they mindlessly made their way into an actual stable containing an actual horse. Funk hit Candido with a piledriver, causing the nervous steed to kick out in the direction of the two fools, coming terrifyingly close to smashing Candido in the skull. The horse actually kicked Funk, but what makes you think Terry Funk was going to sell for a no-good nag?
All joking aside, this was way more dangerous than pro wrestling should ever be. Horses are not to be messed with, and a well-placed flick of a horse's heel can do more damage than all the piledrivers in the world. The fairgrounds brawl between Candido and Funk was far more entertaining than it had any right to be, but brawling next to a horse was an idea that should be have been left on the table. Not a very stable idea, not at all.