Terrence Funk was born on June 30,1944 and is an American retired professional wrestler, musician, disc jockey and actor.
84 Facts About Terry Funk
2.
Terry Funk is considered one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.
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Terry Funk was the promoter of the Amarillo-based Western States Sports promotion.
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Championships held by Terry Funk include the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, NWA World Heavyweight Championship, USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship, WWF World Tag Team Championship, and ECW World Television Championship.
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Terry Funk has been inducted into multiple halls of fame, among them WWE, WCW, NWA, and Hardcore.
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Terry Funk was born on June 30,1944, in Hammond, Indiana.
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Terry Funk is the son of Dorothy and Dory Funk, a professional wrestler and promoter.
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Terry Funk started his career in 1965, working in his father Dory Terry Funk's, Western States Sports promotion in Amarillo, Texas.
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In 1975, Terry Funk defeated Jack Brisco for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in Miami, when Dory failed to appear for a title shot.
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Terry Funk began a 14 month title reign defending the title against Jack Brisco, Dusty Rhodes, Carlos Rocha, Giant Baba, and Pat O'Connor.
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When Terry Funk failed to respond to referee Fred Atkins the match was stopped.
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Terry Funk had challenged Lawler to this match at this time because he felt he was getting unfairly treated in Memphis.
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The confrontation only lasted a few minutes, and ended with Terry Funk trying to put Lawler's eye out with a broken 2x4.
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Terry Funk became a star in the eyes of the Japanese fans with his over the top mannerisms, sometimes colorful get-ups, and his brawling ability.
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Terry Funk made his World Wrestling Federation debut in 1985 after a brief run in the AWA.
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Terry Funk attacked Phillips, after Phillips made the mistake of putting on Terry Funk's cowboy hat.
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Terry Funk had a gimmick of carrying a branding iron with him to ringside and using it to "brand" his fallen opponents.
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Terry Funk had a series of WWF title matches against Hulk Hogan.
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Terry Funk joined World Championship Wrestling in 1989 and became part of the J-Tex Corporation.
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Terry Funk began feuding with Ric Flair, who had defeated Ricky Steamboat at WrestleWar for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
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Terry Funk, who was one of three judges for the main event, challenged Flair to a title match.
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Flair refused, saying that Terry Funk was "spending time in Hollywood" instead of focusing on wrestling.
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Terry Funk got injured but returned to continue feuding with Ric Flair.
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In 1994, Terry Funk reappeared in WCW and wrestled Tully Blanchard to a double disqualification at Slamboree 1994 and later that night, he became a member of Colonel Robert Parker's Stud Stable.
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In 1994, Terry Funk joined the fledgling International Wrestling Association of Japan promotion.
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Terry Funk would go on to be a participant in IWA's most famous event the King of the Death Match Tournament, held on August 20,1995, in Kawasaki.
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In 1993, after a special appearance against Blanchard at World Championship Wrestling's Slamboree, Terry Funk promised to help the fledgling Eastern Championship Wrestling by lending his talent and notoriety to the promotion.
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Terry Funk maintained a regular schedule of wrestling for ECW in its early days while competing in Japan.
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Terry Funk had many feuds and wrestled programs with wrestlers such as Cactus Jack, "The Franchise" Shane Douglas, The Sandman, Sabu, and Terry's own protege, Tommy Dreamer.
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Terry Funk further elevated ECW by headlining their first pay-per-view, Barely Legal on April 13,1997, winning the ECW World Heavyweight Championship from Raven.
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Terry Funk went on to successfully defend the title in bouts at Chapter 2, The Buffalo Invasion, Wrestlepalooza, and Heat Wave.
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Terry Funk was ultimately defeated for the title by Sabu in a barbed wire match at Born to be Wired in August 1997, in which the ropes of the ring were taken down and replaced with barbed wire.
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Terry Funk lost to then-WWF Champion Bret Hart in the main event, a non-title match.
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Terry Funk appeared in the 1997 Royal Rumble match appearing at number 24 and lasting fifteen minutes and eighteen seconds before being eliminated by Mankind.
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Terry Funk's retirement lasted just 11 days before he returned to the ring.
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Terry Funk debuted in the WWF on the December 29,1997 episode of Raw as the masked "Chainsaw Charlie", teaming with Mick Foley, who was wrestling under his Cactus Jack persona.
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An enraged Terry Funk attacked Dreamer at every opportunity in late 1998 and early 1999.
38.
Terry Funk came down ill before they could have a match, and Terry Funk "retired" yet again in mid-1999.
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Terry Funk wrestled for WCW in 2000 and 2001, winning the WCW Hardcore Championship three times and the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship for the second time.
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Terry Funk was the WCW Commissioner introduced on the January 3,2000 episode of Monday Nitro and one time and the leader of the short-lived Old Age Outlaws that feuded with the nWo.
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From 2002 to 2004, Terry Funk was a regular top star for Ring of Honor Wrestling and Major League Wrestling.
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On MLW's final show until 2017, Terry Funk was attacked by his former manager Gary Hart and his syndicate.
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In November 2004, Terry Funk competed in the UK wrestling company FWA's annual show entitled British Uprising.
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Terry Funk teamed with Paul Burchill and Paul Travell, managed by "The Twisted Genius" Dean Ayass, to face The Triad, managed by Greg Lambert, in a 6-Man Tag Team match.
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Terry Funk's team emerged victorious in front of a crowd of 2,000 people in the Coventry Skydome.
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In 2005, Terry Funk received an offer from World Wrestling Entertainment to appear at the ECW reunion show One Night Stand, but turned it down in favor of working the ECW nostalgia show Hardcore Homecoming that was being put together by Shane Douglas.
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At Hardcore Homecoming, Terry Funk lost a three-way barbed wire match to Sabu.
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On May 23,2009, Terry Funk made an unannounced appearance at a house show for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.
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At the show, Terry Funk joined longtime friend, Mick Foley, as special guest enforcers for a match between Scott Steiner and Samoa Joe.
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Terry Funk made a brief return to WWE in 2006, when he appeared on the May 15 episode of Raw, confronting Mick Foley over the attack on Tommy Dreamer on the previous weeks episode of Raw.
51.
Midway through the match, Foley injured Terry Funk's left eye with barbed wire, and Terry Funk was taken backstage.
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Terry Funk later returned to the match to hit Foley with a flaming 2x4 wrapped in barbed wire.
53.
In 2013, Terry Funk inducted Mick Foley into the WWE Hall of Fame.
54.
Terry Funk made a cameo appearance on the March 21,2016 episode of Raw, giving Dean Ambrose a pep-talk for his match against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 32.
55.
Terry Funk claimed to be semi-retired after wrestling in his last match in September 2006 against Jerry "The King" Lawler in an Extreme Rules match at The Great Plains Coliseum in Lawton, Oklahoma for the promotion Impact Zone Wrestling.
56.
Terry Funk served as special guest referee for a match between Viscera and 2 Tuff Tony.
57.
Terry Funk appeared at the annual NJPW January 4 Dome Show in 2010, teaming with Manabu Nakanishi, Masahiro Chono and Riki Choshu to defeat Abdullah the Butcher, Takashi Iizuka, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano.
58.
Terry Funk was scheduled to be the special guest referee in a match between Kevin Nash and Hannibal for a Great North Wrestling event in Thunder Bay, Ontario in May 2010.
59.
On September 11,2010, at Ring of Honor's Glory By Honor IX, Terry Funk worked as the ringside enforcer for the ROH World Championship match between Tyler Black and Roderick Strong.
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Terry Funk appeared at the fifth WrestleReunion event at the LAX Hilton in Los Angeles, California from January 28 to 30,2011.
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Terry Funk lasted until the end where he was eliminated by Roddy Piper.
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Terry Funk wrestled Jerry Lawler unsuccessfully in a "No holds barred contest" for Northeast Wrestling on October 1,2011.
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On October 15,2011, Terry Funk unsuccessfully faced his long-time friend and protege Tommy Dreamer at the AWE "Night Of Legends" event.
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On January 12,2013, Terry Funk stated that he was officially retired from professional wrestling at age 68 it would seem that Terry Funk would come out of retirement.
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On October 27,2013, Terry Funk returned to All Japan Pro Wrestling, teaming with Dory in a tag team match, where they wrestled Masanobu Fuchi and Osamu Nishimura to a twenty-minute time limit draw.
66.
On November 9,2013, Terry Funk appeared at House of Hardcore 3 as Tommy Dreamer's tag team partner.
67.
On December 11,2014, Terry Funk returned to Japan for a Tokyo Gurentai independent event, which saw him, Masakatsu Funaki and Mil Mascaras defeat Kaz Hayashi, Nosawa Rongai and Yoshiaki Fujiwara in a six-man tag team main event.
68.
On October 16,2015, Terry Funk made an appearance at AIW's Big Trouble in Little Cleveland event, where he attacked Eddie Kingston and his manager, The Duke, destroying the concession stand in the process.
69.
On October 24,2015, Terry Funk had his last match at USA Championship Wrestling in Jackson, Tennessee at Oman Arena against Jerry Lawler, Lawler went on to win by DQ.
70.
On September 17,2016, Terry Funk announced his retirement at House of Hardcore 17.
71.
Terry Funk made another return to the ring on September 22,2017, for the Big Time Wrestling promotion in Raleigh, North Carolina.
72.
Terry Funk teamed with The Rock N' Roll Express in a six-man tag team match, where they defeated Doug Gilbert, Jerry Lawler and Lawler's son Brian Christopher via disqualification.
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In 1989, Terry Funk appeared as a bouncer in the movie Road House with Patrick Swayze.
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In 1999, Terry Funk was featured in director Barry Blaustein's wrestling documentary Beyond the Mat.
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Terry Funk has appeared in other movies such as Paradise Alley, The Ringer, and Over the Top.
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Terry Funk released an autobiography, Terry Funk: More Than Just Hardcore, in 2005.
77.
On May 11,2010, Terry Funk appeared on "Right After Wrestling" with Arda Ocal on SIRIUS Satellite Radio to discuss his possible retirement, to which he replied "I never really truly will retire".
78.
Behind the scenes, Funk choreographed the street fight between Rocky Balboa and his nemesis Tommy Gunn at the end of Rocky V Funk's name can be seen in the end credits.
79.
Terry Funk has appeared in several WWE video games, in WWE SmackDown vs Raw 2008 and WWE SmackDown vs Raw 2011 as himself and in WWE '13 as downloadable content as his Chainsaw Charlie gimmick.
80.
In July 2022, Terry Funk released his self-titled biographical comic book through Squared Circle Comics.
81.
Terry Funk married his wife Vicky Ann on August 14,1965.
82.
On September 12,2016, Terry Funk underwent surgery for an inguinal hernia, and was supposed to be resting and in bed for a couple of weeks, but chose to attend Tommy Dreamer's House of Hardcore shows.
83.
In June 2021, fellow wrestling legend Don Muraco reported Terry Funk was diagnosed as living with dementia and is living in an assisted living facility.
84.
However, on December 29,2021, Ric Flair announced on his podcast with Mark Madden that Terry Funk had returned home and was doing well.