WWE Exclusive: Hardcore Icon Terry Funk Says "Extreme" Wrestling Was A Necessary Evil

On the heels of WrestleMania 30, WWE will be taking it to the extreme at their sixth annual Extreme Rules pay-per-view on May 4 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Given the PG aspirations of WWE in recent years, however, the action won't nearly be as "extreme" as when the term was coined in the more violent, hard-hitting 1990s. WWE considers gratuitous chairshots and bloodletting too extreme for TV nowadays, but such excesses were a necessary evil when they first rose to notoriety, insists a man who personified the era. "Extreme rules, hardcore wrestling -- whatever they want to call it -- was born out of a necessity to survive," said the hardcore legend Terry Funk, who revolutionized the business. "In ECW, hardcore wrestling wasn't done just for the fun of it. It was done for a purpose, for a reason. And for me, it was done to exist and produce a revenue for my family." A former NWA World Champion, Funk has lived one of the most fascinating lives in the history of pro wrestling. A second-generation wrestler -- whose brother, Dory Jr., also reached the pinnacle of the sport as NWA champion -- Funk has done it all. A WWE Hall of Famer, Funk pioneered the hardcore style with his unforgettable promos and classic battles against The Sheik, Dusty Rhodes, Jerry Lawler, Cactus Jack, and Sabu. Funk is heading south to New Orleans during WrestleMania weekend as a featured guest of WrestleCon, alongside fellow ECW originals Tommy Dreamer, Steve Corino, Al Snow, Masato Tanaka, and the Dudley Boys. In celebration of Terry Funk's upcoming 70th birthday on June 30, WhatCulture tracked down "The Dirty Old Funker" for an exclusive interview about empty arena matches, exploding no-rope barbed wire rings, and the origins of hardcore wrestling. "The hardcore style began over in Japan, when I was over there with (Atsushi) Onita and those guys," said Funk. "You see, when my brother and I first started wrestling for All Japan in the early '70s, you didn't have cage matches or chain matches or barbed-wire matches, like they did in North America. It was strictly wrestling. You didn't have those types of matches at all. Everything about Japan was very different, the style, and in the arena there wouldn't be any noise from the crowd during the match. They'd clap at the end, if you were lucky. And Japan was just coming out of the war. Dory and I were very successful and had an opportunity to do all the booking for All Japan. "The cage matches and stuff came later, when we had to acquire the attention of the wrestling fans and the media itself, because we had no television. All our coverage was through the newspapers. We depended completely on the newspapers, to get a name for ourselves in the war between (Shohei) Baba's All Japan Wrestling and (Antonio) Inoki's New Japan Pro Wrestling. And it wasn't just a war between the promoters, it was a war between the boys to see who would come out on top in the end." New Japan Pro Wrestling became renowned for their high-flyers and fast past matches with the likes of Dynamite Kid, Davey-Boy Smith and Chris Benoit, while All Japan took a more violent and stiff style approach with names like Bruiser Brody, Stan Hansen, and the Funks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpwvApRdfaU "We had to come up with a much more physical style of wrestling, because we wanted to sell newspapers," said Funk. "And having a bloody picture of Abdullah the Butcher stabbing someone with a fork would sell more papers than Antonio Inoki putting a short arm scissors on someone, we realized fast." In the end, All Japan won the promotions war and ushered in a new era of wrestling. "The hardcore matches evolved from that territory, All Japan," said Funk. "It was the greatest relationship I had with the fans, anywhere I think. I loved them and they loved me. I had a real love affair with that country." Back in North America, the brawling and unpredictable style Funk had honed on tours of Japan would serve him well in violent feuds throughout the NWA territories against everyone from Jose Lothario in Texas to Dusty Rhodes in Florida to Jerry Lawler in Tennessee. "That feud with Lawler was nuts," said Funk. "Jerry is a tremendous talent, he's a great in-ring performer, and the very best at understanding crowd psychology. You can't find a guy any smarter than Jerry Lawler." Fans today still ask Funk about the infamous and gruesome Empty Arena Match the two had in 1981. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2peOLg5gqKY "Well, it was a great idea, and it was my idea," Funk said with a chuckle. "It wasn't anybody else's idea. It was an Empty Arena Match and Lawler agreed to it, and it was something that will probably live on longer than I will. Whenever I see Lawler these days, he likes to do the whole 'My eye!' My eye!' thing, imitating me when I was stabbed in the eye with that chunk of wood during that match. Oh gosh, that crazy son-of-a-bitch. He still does that, 30 years later!" During their violent and bloody feud in Florida, Funk cut an unforgettable promo while standing in a shower, pouring Quaker State motor oil and dirt all down his face and body, talking about Lawler wanting to be "a filthy, stinky, greasy, Florida cracker." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f930JknpaDk Funk laughed, recalling the promo: "Well, that's what he was. (laughs) But I'll tell ya, that was the dumbest thing I ever did because like a fool, it was real, and I always wanted to be real. So I actually poured engine oil -- it wasn't molasses or anything else -- and it burned the piss out of my eyes." Now that's hardcore. "And that's just it, the word hardcore really has two meanings, for me," said Funk. "There's the physicality and hardcore matches you'd see in promotions like ECW, but then there's giving 100 percent of your soul and heart and your mind, whether it's your matches or your promos or whatever, is hardcore. Night in and night out, year after year. "That goes for promoters as well. Paul Heyman was certainly hardcore in his passion and love for the business. Eddie Graham (promoter of Championship Wrestling from Florida), you could say he was hardcore -- everything about him -- with his incredible mind and talent for the business. Eddie was a tremendous wrestler in the ring, he had great crowd psychology and he was a phenomenal booker. He was one of the truly great people in this business. "Another smart guy -- and I'm not bragging or trying to put over my family or anything else -- was my father. Like Eddie, he had a tremendous mind for the business and a real love and respect for the talent. Add to that list, Gordon Solie, the greatest announcer ever in professional wrestling. And who taught him everything he knew? Eddie Graham. After every television show, Eddie was critiquing. Florida was a wonderful era in the profession. And they had Terry Funk there too (laughs). So you could say Florida was hardcore." Then there were the exploding no-rope barbed wire rings Funk wrestled in for the FMW (Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling) promotion in Japan, years later. That was absolute craziness," said Funk. "Those matches were hardcore to the extreme, no doubt about it, when it came to the physicality and the weapons. Very, very dangerous. That was Onita's territory, and again, it was done to acquire the attention of wrestling fans, and the craziness came from a necessity to exist. In order to exist, we had to take it to another level, and we certainly did. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5NbbOoFP3A "Years earlier, around '86 when I had a great run in the WWF wrestling Hulk Hogan and the Junkyard Dog, I could see that wrestling was evolving at that time. I realized that wrestling was changing. The territories were disappearing and there wasn't anything that we could do about it. But I feel very fortunate. I absolutely loved it in the WWF, and I loved the money, but it was evident the landscape of wrestling was changing and it would never be the same. "I really had several different eras in the business. I had the Amarillo territory era, the era as being the world champion, the era of All Japan, the era of Onita, the era of New York, and of course the era of ECW. Hell, throw Africa in there." It was in ECW where Funk and Sabu got themselves tangled in an unforgettable barbed wire massacre at the Born to Be Wired pay-per-view, in one of the most disturbing and violent matches in the company's history. "Oh gosh, it was ungodly," said Funk. "It was absolutely frightening. At the time, though, I don't think you could have had two guys in the ring who had more compassion for each other. That goes for all the guys up there. Everyone was so compassionate and respectful of each other. It was a true brotherhood. And it was a matter of existence. We had to go to extremes in order to exist, just like we did with Onita's group. And we not only existed, we thrived in that era, and we thrived throughout the country. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGc59YkEano "That's the funniest thing, I wouldn't have had so many eras to thrive in later in my career had it not been for WWE. If I hadn't been in the WWE in the mid '80s, when everything was changing, I wouldn't have gone to a lot of those places, and those promotions wouldn't have existed. "With this new WWE Network channel, I don't know just how many territories and logs they have in their library, but I have been in so many eras I imagine they have a ton of my matches to show on there. Which is great." When asked if he would be watching WrestleMania 30 or the Extreme Rules pay-per-view this year, Funk quickly replied: "Hell no, I'm not paying 50 bucks or whatever it is! But I do watch WWE and I think the guys are great. It's a different era and they put on a tremendous product. And they will continue to exist and expand, and I'm talking about expanding into the entertainment industry. WWE is not only here to promote wrestling, but to become a dominant factor in the world of entertainment. That's what they're doing and working hard at. "As for WrestleMania, I'm really happy to see The Undertaker and his streak is still going strong. I've known Mark for years. In WCW, I gave him the name "Mean" Mark Callous. "Mean" Mark died, The Undertaker lives. Come WrestleMania, you can guarantee The Undertaker will give it 100 per cent in the ring. And that to me is hardcore." Funk said he is looking forward to reuniting with old ECW friends at WrestleCon during WrestleMania weekend. "I can't wait to see Tommy Dreamer," said Funk. "He's a great guy. And Tommy, if you really want to know the truth about Tommy is, Tommy liked me a hell of a lot. And he would ask me questions. And I wouldn't give him lectures or anything -- Tommy didn't need lectures -- and Tommy learned quickly. And he loves the profession. Tommy puts on those House of Hardcore shows, I appeared on one last year, and those events are necessary for hardcore wrestling to survive. "Tommy and me are very similar in our love for the crowd and our love for the wrestling fans. We both come from the same philosophy that we're going to give them their money's worth every time we step in the ring. It didn't matter if there were 20 people out there or 20,000 in the arena, we'd always take it to the limit to entertain the fans. Ladders, chairs, tables, toilet seats, thumbtacks, barbed wire, broken beer bottles, and flaming branding irons -- it was a wonderful way to make a living." Indeed, there will never be another quite like Terry Funk. He opined on a lifetime spent in wrestling: "Every day in this business was a joy. It was truly special," said Funk. "I loved every one of those fans and have loved every day. I have always loved life. And though I'm turning 70, I'm not in a hurry to go anywhere. (laughs) And I'm not going anywhere. Not for a hell of a long, long time, I tell ya. And when I do, I hope I'm sitting on my back porch in a rocking chair drinkin' a Pilsner."