Terry Dee Funk (June 30, 1944 – August 23, 2023) was an American https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling. Considered one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Funk was known for the longevity of his career – which spanned more than 50 years and included multiple short-lived retirements – and the influential https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardcore_wrestling style he pioneered in the latter part of his career.
Over the course of his career, Funk wrestled for numerous major promotions, among them https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Japan_Pro_Wrestling, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_Championship_Wrestling, the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Wrestling_Association_of_Japan, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Martial-Arts_Wrestling, the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Wrestling_Association, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Championship_Wrestling, the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE and multiple https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Wrestling_Alliance territories including https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Class_Championship_Wrestling, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Championship_Wrestling_from_Florida, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Championship_Wrestling and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stampede_Wrestling. He was the promoter of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarillo-based https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_States_Sports promotion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Championship_(professional_wrestling) held by Funk included the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECW_World_Heavyweight_Championship, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NWA_World_Heavyweight_Championship, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USWA_Unified_World_Heavyweight_Championship, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tag_Team_Championship_(WWE), and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECW_World_Television_Championship. He headlined ECW's premier annual https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay-per-view event, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_to_Remember, three times. Funk was inducted into multiple halls of fame, among them https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE_Hall_of_Fame, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCW_Hall_of_Fame, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NWA_Hall_of_Fame, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardcore_Hall_of_Fame.
Funk was born on June 30, 1944, in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammond,_Indiana. He was the son of Dorothy (Culver) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dory_Funk, a professional wrestler and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling_promotion. Following the end of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II, the family relocated to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarillo,_Texas, where Terry and his brother, known professionally as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dory_Funk,_Jr, grew up in the professional wrestling business. After graduating from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canyon_High_School_(Canyon,_Texas), Funk attended https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Texas_State_University (now West Texas A&M University), where he competed in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_wrestling and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football
Later in Funk's career, his style changed from wrestling traditional southern style wrestling matches to the more violent style of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardcore_wrestling. In 1993, after a special appearance against Blanchard at World Championship Wrestling's Slamboree, Funk promised to help the fledgling Eastern Championship Wrestling (later renamed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_Championship_Wrestling or ECW) by lending his talent and notoriety to the promotion. On July 16, Terry and Dory Funk lost a barbed wire match against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Public_Enemy_(professional_wrestling). Funk maintained a regular schedule of wrestling for ECW in its early days while also competing in Japan. He had many feuds and wrestled programs with wrestlers such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Foley, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Douglas, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sandman_(wrestler), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabu_(wrestler), and Terry's own protege, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Dreamer.
In 1989, Terry Funk appeared as a bouncer in the movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_House_(1989_film) with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Swayze. In 1999, Funk was featured in director Barry Blaustein's wrestling documentary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_the_Mat. His legendary toughness was attested to when cameramen followed him to a medical appointment, where he was told by the doctor that he would not be able to walk without intense pain. He also appeared in other movies such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Alley, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ringer_(2005_film), and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over_the_Top_(1987_film). He released an autobiography, Terry Funk: More Than Just Hardcore, in 2005. On May 11, 2010, Funk appeared on "Right After Wrestling" with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arda_Ocal on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIRIUS_Satellite_Radio to discuss his possible retirement, to which he replied "I never really truly will retire". This was also the interview with the infamous quote, "I dislike Vince (McMahon). I'm jealous of Vince." In 1985, Funk appeared in the short-lived western https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildside_(U.S._TV_series). Only six episodes were aired. Behind the scenes, Funk choreographed the street fight between Rocky Balboa and his nemesis Tommy Gunn at the end of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_V. Funk's name can be seen in the end credits. Funk also had a short lived career in music. The release of the album "Great Texan" in 1984 which was a soft rock AOR oriented album. The album was met with mixed reviews and is generally considered a "cult classic" by fans. Funk married his wife Vicky Ann on August 14, 1965. They had two daughters together. For many years, Terry and Vicky owned a ranch in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canyon,_Texas, which they later sold. Funk was close friends with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL player https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ayers. Funk was also close friends with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvester_Stallone. On September 12, 2016, 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.
In June 2021, fellow wrestling legend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Muraco reported Funk was diagnosed as living with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia , Funk died on August 23, 2023, at the age of 79, at a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix,_Arizona-area hospital. If there is such things of Legends then Terry Funk is one of the best.