Dory Funk Jr. is a wrestling legend. A member of the well known Funk wrestling family and brother of Terry Funk, Dory's career has been going on for over 50 years. He is a member of the WWE Hall of Fame (class of 2009) and NWA Hall of Fame (class of 2006) and is the owner of second longest NWA World Heavyweight Championship reign ever defeating Gene Kiniski on February 11th, 1969 and holding the belt for over 4 years until dropping it Harley Race in 1973. Dory wrestled all over the globe, in just about every major promotion from the NWA, to WWC, to All Japan and even Europe in the CWA. When Funk was an entrant in the 1996 Royal Rumble he was a few days shy of his 55th birthday. Before this appearance Funk had been last seen on WWE Pay Per View at Wrestlemania 2. Funk entered at #8 and performed admirably for his age, lasting 10 minutes and 53 seconds before being jettisoned from the ring by Savio Vega. Funk was brought into the Royal Rumble in hopes of the WWE establishing a relationship with Dory Funk Jr and his connections to Japan. Dory, brought in Takao Omori to compete in the 1996 Royal Rumble alongside himself. The 1996 Royal Rumble would be Funk's last in ring performance for the WWE, being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009 alongside his brother Terry. Funk's legacy can be seen today as he is one of the foremost trainer's of pro wrestlers in the world with his students including Kurt Angle, The Hardy Boys and Edge and Christian. Incredibly, Dory is still active today, performing sporadically in Japan.
