@@SB-jn8cw TerryFunk's biggest strength as a performer was his ability to reinvent himself as he got older. It's why he manaeged to in many ways outshine his older brother. Dory Jr. basically stayed the same character his whole career, which is why you don't hear much about him following the 70s. I say this with all due respect to Dory Funk Jr. who truly may be one of the best professional wrestlers of all time, but I much prefer Terry.
Terry Funk with the Dean of all wrestling commentators, Gordon Solie. Solie always pronounced the suplex “soo-play.” However, his description of a bloody face as “a crimson masque” has passed on into wrestling lore. RIP Gordon Solie. Forever kayfabe.
In that era, wrestler like Funk and Race could play either role, depending on who they were wrestling that night. Ric Flair could switch roles as well. It was necessary to do that depending on whom they might be wrestling on a given night.
I was blessed to get to see Terry during his champion run at the old Winston Salem Memorial coliseum, i was only 12 years old , but remember it like it was yesterday, setting front row, still have a polaroid picture of him that night, great memories!!!!!
Jack Brisco had this belt for almost 2 years and got tired. He walked into the promoters office and stated he was finished being the NWA champion and bring in Terry Funk. He dropped it to Terry without apology.
@@georgeelmerdenbrough6906 to be fair every nwa champion asked to drop the title because they would sooner or later crack under the pressure only flair never asked to drop it.
Love seeing these because it's a telling time when winning that belt was everything! Would love to see the full aftermath when Dusty won it from Harley.
The Funks... the old guard of hard-core wrestling. Hard-core , meaning the way they approached their matches and it showed. It was about attitude and respect for the business. It wasn't about stupid tables ladders and chairs.
I was the biggest Jack Brisco mark back then. I was absolutely devastated when this happened. Hated Terry with a passion. Now he is known as a sweet guy who did what was right for business. Those days will sadly never come back.
@@CP-kb1du 14 yr old me might have been upset with this old news but 63 yr old not so much.... I don't blame Ernie for using a tire iron on 2 drunk Brisco's but it's not exactly like he beat them mano o mano.
And Terry was a fantastic Champion and he did took an all challengers ! Jack Brisco, Dusty Rhodes, Carlos Rocha, Giant Baba, Pat O`Connor you name it !
that was the belt that meant something, the territories worked together and the belt went everywhere, much better way to run the business, mid atlantic territory got Race to pass it to Flair in 83 and that was that, the NWA became wcw in short time
Funny how Gordon said that Brisco had not been pinned in two years. Of course, they didn't mention the fact that Jack did the quick switch with Giant Baba during a tour of All Japan.
@@georgeelmerdenbrough6906 yep. The switches between Baba and Brisco as well as Race and Baba were done to draw the houses while they were on tour for All Japan. Of course, they got the belt back when the tours ended. However, the NWA board got more than a little pissed because the switches were done without their approval.
@@Sargebri Yet, because of that, Baba treated all the American talent brought in like kings and paid them well. Sometimes the NWA office just couldn't see the forest for the trees.
In Roadhouse Movie they should have made the story such that funk , Swaszey , Sam Elliot and the other good guys eventually Beat ass on all the others being open and Fair and Honesty ....
Terrible belt. Worst conditioned belt I’ve ever seen. I preferred the AWA’s Inmate belt over this one. I only grew to appreciate it later in life, but still not in my top 10 of belt designs.
@@bohacekml this particular belt had obviously seen better days and had been used more than a few times to bop someone on the head ! But the one that they used during the Race/Flair days was upgraded and more of a gold colour. Still a crazy cool belt design that thankfully is currently being used by today’s incarnation of the NWA!!
Back when it was far easier to take wrestling seriously . I knew it was a work but they worked hard for you to easily suspend your disbelief for about an hour .
This is the version of Terry funk that I want to remember everybody knows the crazy lunatic with the hardcore matches but this was funk the wrestler!! you had to be able to do this to be the NWA champion you had to be able to be Babyface or villain you had to be able to wrestle or brawl terry Funk could do it all
My favorite era when you had Pro Wrestling it was not sports entertainment garbage of today. You want to argue with that I tell you what I will leave you with this. How many of the people in WWE could actually wrestle any of these Legends for 30 minutes or a 1 hour match? They would be gassed within 5 minutes. I would have loved to see a Roman or a Brock in this era because they would have gotten stretched.
Yep. He pretty much sounded humble to be champion. He probably was just as humble behind closed doors because of what it meant to be the one to wear that belt.
It's sad to see where the N.W.A World Title is right now,the prestige is not there.... Back then being the traveling N.W.A. world champion MEANT something
Same belt. The dented globe was replaced (and that one got dented too), and the black paint that chipped off quickly was replaced with onyx. Mid-Atlantic Gateway sells a book that tells the story of the belt, and it's quite interesting.
