#TheDocsPrescription #prowrestling #Indywrestling #ListenLookandLearn #TerryFunk The Docs Prescription is old school and in your face. Believe it or get the hell out of the way and let the real workers and promoters save this business. TERRY FUNK IN HIS OWN WORDS (wrestleline, August 30, 2000) By Denny Burkholder The following is my conversation with Terry Funk, the first part of it conducted at a Future of Wrestling show in Pembroke Pines, Fla., and the remainder over the telephone. DB: When did you debut? TF: I debuted in 1965. It was like December, so Id say 35 years but its really been less. DB: Your father [Dory Funk] was a wrestler. Your brother [Dory Funk, Jr.] is a wrestler. When did you decide you wanted to be a wrestler like your father, or was your father even a factor? TF: Oh, it was a definite factor. I think you cant help but have your fathers profession affecting you through life, no matter who it is. And my father definitely was a larger-than-life person to other people, but to me also, you know. I looked up to him and I idolized him. Anything that he would do, I would like to do, too. I mimicked him. And it was purposely that I mimicked him. I think we all do our fathers that way. But I also got an attachment to wrestling when I was very, very young. I used to go to the arenas when I was four years old. I would watch my father in Amarillo, Texas, in 1948, and watch him wrestle against the likes of Wayne Martin and Frankie Heel Murdoch (Dick Murdochs father), Bob Cummings and Wayne Martin, Roy Shire, who later became a promoter out in the San Francisco area, and the likes of those fellas. Which goes way, way, way back, you know. Back then, the territories were very small. Very, very small. You didnt wrestle on Sundays because it was a day of rest. And everybody recognized that Sunday was a day of rest, so there was no wrestling on Sunday. You didnt wrestle on Saturday most of the time, so wrestling was a five day a week profession. You would drive to the towns, but the towns werent as far as youd think theyd be. DB: Pretty close? TF: Yeah, a close radius at that time. The Amarillo territory at that time consisted of about as far south as Lubbock, and as far north as Borger, and small towns in between. DB: Did your brother Dory start wrestling before you did? TF: Yes he did. DB: About how much longer was it [before Terry debuted]? TF: Approximately three years, because I was a freshman in college whenever he was a senior in college. He came out of West Texas State and turned pro the year that I went to West Texas State. I went to a junior college my sophomore year, so he would have started about three years before I did. DB: I know that for most of your career, off and on, Dory and yourself wrestled together. TF: A great deal of the time. DB: Describe for me the experience of wrestling for decades with your own brother. How was it to come up through the ranks with your kin right there with you? TF: It was great. It was really great. It was very rewarding, family-wise. You have to remember that we came from Amarillo, Texas, which is a very small area. My father dug and scratched in his profession, and Im very proud that I am a second-generation wrestler. And believe me, it made things easier for my brother and I because he was there before us. He opened doors for us back then. He opened doors with all the promoters that he had met throughout the years. He opened doors by being an honest individual, by being a good performer. And therefore, guys that were just starting, they were starting from nothing. It would take them at least three or four years to get to the position that we started at. DB: I always hear stories about when wrestler first start Hulk Hogan tells this story just about every wrestler has a story about a veteran, when they were just starting out, that tried to discourage them, that shot on them, or was a little rougher on them than they should have been. Did you ever have an experience like that when you were really young? TF: Oh, there were always guys in the ring that would try it with you. That was much more a part of the wrestling business in the mid-60s because it was a different profession. You have to remember that we were dealing with people that started in the 50s, back in 1950, back in 1955. So we were dealing with a different mindset. We were dealing with guys that if you didnt have a wrestling background, they didnt want you in their profession. Same way with Eddie Graham here in Florida. You better be able to hold your pride in check, or else youre not gonna be a part of his company. And it produced a good company, and it did around the country, too, for a lot of years. It was a stranger world back then. [It was] a tougher profession in some ways then. And now its a tougher profession than it was then, in some ways. DB: You won the NWA world title in Miami Beach against Jack Brisco [1976]. You held it for about 14 months. Youre relatively young. You just hit the pinnacle. You are one of the three major world champions [along with WWWF champion Bruno Sammartino and AWA champion Nick Bockwinkel]. Whats going through your head? Did you think this is the best it is ever going to get? TF: Not really. I was looking, at that time, to accumulate as much money as fast and as quick as I could possibly accumulate it in the profession. So that year I wrestled 310 times, I think. I had about 40 or 50 days off a year, so figure it out. DB: Dory was also a former champion, right around the same time as you. Was there a rivalry there? TF: Not at all, just tremendous elation. And if anything, what my brother did when he was champion was produce me with a fatter wallet. I would go in there, and so much as carry us across the country, and set up matches for him, you know, with the championship. Like the Brisco situation here [Florida]. Johnny Weaver in the Carolinas was very hot at that time, like Wahoo [McDaniel] in the Houston area, like Johnny Valentine in the St. Louis area. And on and on, across the country. Chavo Guerrero in the Los Angeles area. Gene Kiniski in the Canada area. So I would just set up the feuds, but in the process of setting up those feuds, I made good money. DB: Youve had feuds with just about everybody in the business at one point or another, The ones that stick out in my mind are the Briscos, Harley Race, Ric Flair. TF: Dusty Rhodes DB: Dusty Rhodes TF: Abdullah DB: Abdullah the Butcher. Any of them stick out in your head as being particularly defining? TF: All of them. All of them do. They stick in my mind because all of them are great. They stick in my mind as wonderful personalities. Harley Race was a wonderful personality, and a wild man, and a crazy person. Abdullah the same way, a great personality. I mean, these guys stood tall personality-wise. Sometimes in their craziness, sometimes other ways. All great personalities, and all of them were great performers. DB: My first experience with you was as a child watching the WWF. One of the first matches I remember watching really intently was you as a heel against the Junkyard Dog in the WWF. I believe it was a Saturday Nights Main Event. That was around the time Vince McMahon was trying to bring the sport worldwide and unify all the territories. Did you find TF: Let me correct you, he wasnt trying to unify them. He was trying to take them over. [laughs] DB: Well, unify them under his own. TF: Under his banner, yes. DB: Did you feel a definite effort on his part or the WWFs part to cartoonize your character? I mean, you were a wild, cowboy type of character. Did they try to cartoonize you a little bit? TF: I think a lot of times, I have been faced with promoters trying to cartoonize the profession. I think that WCW has somewhat of a problem with that now, is cartoonizing it. Ive faced promoters trying to cartoonize me. But I always try to be as serious as I can. I try to be Terry Funk. I try to maintain who I am at all times. I dont think it has ever been successful to cartoon myself. I dont think cartoon is a good thing for a profession, but naturally we need humor in everything. WCW needs humor. But we are not a sitcom. We are not clowns. If clowns were so successful, wed have a number of them in every major town in the United States, and we dont. And you dont have many clowns running around in circuses anymore. Theyre almost gone. We need to keep that in our minds, that we must always maintain suspension of disbelief. That is very important in this profession, and the best way to do that is by being yourself, and having the performers be themselves. Thats of interest. Just who they are, why they are there, how they got there. Pretty good story. DB: Like Beyond the Mat. I just saw that a couple of nights ago for the first time. TF: Definitely, definitely. Let me mention one thing else, because Im gonna put in a plug right here. Im gonna put in a plug for [FOW promoter] Bobby Rogers, very seriously. Hes got some pretty good kids here. They enjoy what they are doing, and they bust their ass at it. I think that independents play an important part in my profession. I think that independents are a necessity to our businesss longevity. Talent has to arrive at a point on its own. Not always be designated and dictated to it. In other words, you cant always create what the people want. These guys have much more liberation as to who they are. And theyre being who they want to be, and I think thats pretty neat. DB: You did stunt work in some movies. How did you come into that? TF: Basically, I came into it through Paradise Alley. They wanted somebody to choreograph the wrestling for it and make the connection with the wrestlers, which I did, besides act in that movie. As time went by, I got into choreography. I helped choreograph Rambo, and Rocky, and several of them. I got connected with some of those guys out there. A lot of good stunt guys, I met a lot of them. I got to know even more of them in Road House. DB: I want to talk about Mick Foley. What was your first impression of Mick Foley, when you first met him? TF: I think truly the first time that I ever saw Mick Foley before I met him was sitting in my home watching Dallas TV. Mick was working down there. It was some show coming out of Dallas. I saw him, and I thought that he had a great deal of possibilities. I just saw something in Mick that I liked. I hadnt even met him at that time. I cant even remember where the first place was that I met Mick. I saw Mick, and knew of Mick, and I thought hed do well in Japan. Mick was wanting to go very much to Japan at that time. Things were pretty tough for him. I recommended him and [Shohei Giant] Baba took him over there. DB: In Japan, how did you personally fall into the hardcore death matches that you took part in over there for a few years? TF: Out of somewhat of a necessity for myself. DB: Why a necessity? TF: Because I had choices, and I had to make them. The choice, to me, was spending a great deal of time over there and having to deal with one particular company, or any company. It didnt matter. But if you go in with the majors, they wanted a contract for you not just for four or five weeks, or two or three tours. It grew into a great number of tours per year for the guys who were going in for All-Japan and New Japan. Id already been through that, you know? Between all the years in with Baba. I was looking for something different. I was looking for a way to make the same amount of money, but with less appearances. And the independents were just really starting then. FMW was run by Atsushi Onita. I made a move to there, and then to IWA, and on down the road I went, because they would pay me more for one of the hardcore matches than I could make in a couple of weeks for All-Japan or New Japan. What I realized is that a picture is worth a thousand words. We didnt have television, and that is what truly brought out the hardcore. It was always why I was hardcore in Japan, because I realized if you see a cobra clutch put on somebody, or [Antonio] Inokis finishing hold put on somebody in so many different ways through a camera, then it becomes an old picture. I realized that by doing this hardcore stuff, I could dominate in the periodicals, which I did. DB: Some people think that Mick Foleys involvement in hardcore matches is what shortened his career. Has it ever crossed your mind that maybe that could happen to you? TF: What shortened Micks career is money; thats what shortened his career. And this is not said with any animosity or anything. I am glad for Mick, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Im glad that he has made it. Hes made enough to provide for his family and be able to move in a different direction at a younger age. And I do not hold that resentment for any of the guys in the business in this day and age. Theyre certainly all making a great deal more money than I ever dreamed when I was in my early career. I think its a wonderful thing. I think that Mick has excessive injuries, and I think its a wonderful thing that he has reached a point where he can financially say I dont want to get hurt anymore. And were gonna be looking back at Mick again, I think, truthfully. Youll see Mick back again, because he loves the business, which I do. Yes, I come back, and yes, I do love the business. But it is also a necessity for me to be in the business as far as financially is concerned. Im not poor by any means. But life continually changes. The cost of living continually changes. And by gosh, you think, By golly, Im going back one more time, and grab a few more bucks just to put the icing on the cake. Do you follow me? DB: Yeah. TF: I think Mick . . . I am very proud of everything hes done. But if he was in a different era, he would have had to continue on. And I truthfully mean that. Its not meant badly, but if he would have came from a different era in this business, he wouldnt have been able to quit. You understand what Im saying? And he does have a tremendous amount of injuries. But he would still be going. Thats the wonderful thing about this business today. Ive gone down the road with so many guys, and what does a retired wrestler do? A retired wrestler looks for another job, and in my early career, it was looking for a job as a night watchman. It was looking for a job as anything they could get to provide for their family. It wasnt retirement as we know retirement, or as the American public knows retirement. It was just being out of the business and having to find another job to provide. Usually what caused that was your injuries were so bad that you couldnt work anymore and you had to take shortcuts in the ring, and promoters didnt want you. So they kind of just put everybody through a sieve when you reached that point. A lot of guys, they didnt retire. There was no such thing as true retirement. I cant think of many except for maybe Lou Thesz, and a few others, and Im sure Lou would like to have a few more bucks right now, too. And thats not meant badly toward Lou. Its just the way things are. Right now, isnt it wonderful that guys can come in the business and hit a three-year run . . . I mean, if theyre on top for three years in New York or WCW, they can set themselves up for a lifetime. Thats quite a deal, and Im happy for them. I truly believe that we have better athletes right now than we have ever had in wrestling. I truly do. We have always had great athletes. I think that weve had better wrestlers in other times. Im not talking about professional wrestlers; Im talking about guys that came up in the amateur ranks. It was a different thing that we did in the ring. You had to perform differently; you had to use more psychology. Now its dont be boring, four or five minutes of choreography, and get the hell out of there. It was a lot different, because you went into an arena with six guys on the card; you better make it an hour-and-a-half show, or a two-hour show. Somebodys gotta put in some time. DB: After Japan is where your modern, Hardcore Legend persona really took off in ECW. When you first went to ECW, what did you see in the promotion? It was basically a small independent when you first got there. TF: When I first went there, Todd Gordon had it. Todd Gordon came to me, Joel Goodhart was up against the ropes, and hed been knocked silly a few times with financial problems. Todd Gordon came in and said I want to take it over and run a promotion up here. He wanted to have TV; he wanted to do this and this. I said, Ill help you. And I went up there, and I wondered what in the hell I was doing there the first night. What impressed me the first time I was up there was not the wrestlers. It was not the guys, and believe me, a lot of them were there that you see now up there. Hell, the Sandman was there, and all of these different guys. They really didnt have that much ability, nor know what they were doing. But what I saw up there is... we were at a place that had about 200 people in it. I saw the fans that were up there, and I thought, you know, they love it. They want it. And thats the truth, just the fans, Todd Gordon... by god, he was gonna do it, no matter what. So I helped him. The guys were... you learn in this business by aping, and when I say aping, you ape whenever you copy somebody. And I think that I gave them a pretty good representation of what was needed to make this thing work. I think that a lot of guys watched, listened, paid attention, and wanted to make it, and wanted to make wrestling a part of their lives. I think that was as important as me being there, is having a group of guys that really want to be in the business. One thing kind of worked after another. In a strange way, ECW evolved. DB: You mentioned the importance of the independent promotion in the way the business thrives. Do you see ECW as an example of that? TF: Paul E. [Heyman] still has the ability to see something in the talent that is a plus and pull it from them. He can tell which grapes are sweet and which cantaloupes are ripe. And thats pretty hard to do at times. But he can pick the ones, and he can see something in the talent. The funny part about it is Paul E. is not as structured as WCW or the WWF, and its successful for him. I mean, a guy comes in there, and a lot of it is created by the guy himself. Paul guides that. Whereas you go into [WCW] and youre going to be Wee-Pee, or whoever it might be for WCW, whatever name they give you. And youre gonna do this, and youre gonna act like that. Thats not Paul E. A guy comes in there, and the guy has an idea, he knows what he wants to be, and the guy is trying to be it, and Paul guides him through it and produces decent talent. Thats part of the old style of professional wrestling. To see that, and nurture it, and to help those boys along. But to just go out there and say Youre going to be this guy, and thats the way its going to be, I cant think of too many promotions that are successful like that. Vince [McMahon] does the same thing. I mean, sure, he gives them a name, but he leaves them with their own personality even though he gives them a name. You take the Road Dogg, you take those guys. Theyre who they are. But just with a different name, because he wants to have the rights to the name. In WCW, they do the personalities. And sometimes thats difficult to do. DB: So you would say that ECW is a good place for a wrestler to discover who they want to be? TF: Absolutely, absolutely. I think theyre still the better of the places, but I think that independent promotions are a great place for guys to learn, and to excel with their own creativity. Our business always needs to have creative wrestlers, not only creative writers. You gotta have creative talent. To be creative, you have to do it on your own. You have to have experience, and the only way youre going to get that experience is in front of those people. And the only way youre going to get that is by going to some of those independents and being in front of the people. DB: As for WCW, do you plan to return there in the near future? TF: Yes, the near future is the 22nd and 23rd of [September]. Ill be doing those two shows with them, and itll probably be the last two shows. On top of that, Im going to England on the 8th to open up Beyond the Mat with Barry Blaustein. Ill be over there for a week in September. And thatll probably be pretty much where I want to be right then, and probably pretty much through with everything. DB: With the sport? TF: Why sure, I made so much stinkin money this year. I dont know how the hell... Im gonna go ahead and pay my taxes, anyhow. Im just filthy stinking rich. Nah, Im just kidding. DB: In 1997, you retired after a final match with Bret Hart. A few months later, you were in the WWF. TF: That was my last match in Amarillo, but Im going back there I said I wasnt but I did not retire. DB: You didnt retire? TF: No, I wasnt. I had my last match in Amarillo, Texas. But Im gonna have one more. [Laughs] So I had my last match, but I never did say I was going to retire. What happened up there in ECW, a lot of times its not me saying Im going to retire. What happened in ECW was Paul E. needed something to run with on his first pay-per-view. Paul E. said to me, Would you mind if I did this? And I said, Paul E., you do what you want to. I want to see the company make it and survive. Thats the main thing I wanted to do. I wanted to see ECW exist and continue to make a buck for some of these young guys. DB: So is it accurate to say that you expect to retire fully from pro wrestling within the next couple months? TF: Again, as fully as this: Let me use Tiger Woods as an example. He just came off of winning one of the biggest golf tournaments of the year on Sunday. But he was there Monday night. And why was he there? Youd have to be a fool to do that, playing . . . what is it, 36 holes? Playing his ass off in those holes, and the stress of it. The next night though, he went right back on Monday night on television, didnt he, against Garcia? Why did he do it? DB: Love of the game? TF: Why hell no money! Theyre in it for the money. $1.1 [million] for the winner and $400,000 for the loser. Thats not bad, is it? Its money. So if somebody offers me... he would have been a fool not to play that Monday night game and come up with the ratings that he did off of it. But I would be a fool if somebody went ahead and said to me, Ill give you this outlandish amount of money if you come back one more time. Id do that, sure I would. But as far as Im concerned, it doesnt matter to me if I just hang em up right now and nothing else happens. DB: So lets say, hypothetically speaking, that you sit on the sidelines for a little while, and somebody does call you. Vince McMahon calls you, Vince Russo, somebody calls you and says, Well give you X amount of dollars to wrestle one match, and you accept. If you got to pick the opponent, who would your last match in the business be against? TF: Cactus or Sabu. DB: Okay. Why? TF: Because I love them. I think theyre great guys.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 16:47:22 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015