Wrestling Icon Terry Funk Passes Away

Terry Funk, one of the most enduring and legendary wrestlers of all time, has passed away. Mick Foley posted to Twitter on Wednesday to announce the news on behalf of Funk’s daughter Brandee. There’s no details on his passing as of yet, though he had been battling Parkinson’s and dementia for some time. He was 79 years old.

Funk is considered one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time and had a career that spanned over 50 years. His work includes some of the most beloved stories and rivalries in wrestling history; along the way he was a major influence on the course of the industry as he innovated hardcore wrestling and worked for just about every major wrestling promotion that came into existence. His ability in the ring was matched by his charisma and his legendary toughness and along the way he became one of the most beloved veterans in the business.

Funk was born into the industry, the son of the legendary Dory Funk. He and his brother Dory Jr. grew up in the business, and Funk started his career in 1965 for his father’s Amarillo territory. The two rose up the ranks in the territory as a tag team as well as singles wrestlers, facing some of the top names there and travelling to other areas. Funk won his first world championship when he defeated Jack Brisco for the NWA World Championship in 1975 and reigned for 14 months which included defenses against the likes of Brisco, Dusty Rhodes, Giant Baba, and more. He had a famous feud with Jerry Lawler in 1981 for the Continental Wrestling Association, and was also travelling overseas at this time to work in Japan with his brother where they become popular stars.

Funk had a brief run in the WWE in 1985 to 1986 before he went to WCW in 1989 and had a famous feud with Ric Flair over the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Funk would leave WCW the next year and continued to work on both sides of the Pacific, including a run in Japan’s International Wrestling Association in 1994 and helping launch ECW into prominence. Many have attributed Funk’s work with ECW as a big factor in putting the promotion on the map there, including their first PPV Barely Legal in 1997 where he won the ECW World Heavyweight Championship from Raven.

After exiting ECW in 1997, Funk returned to WWF where he worked as “Chainsaw Charlie” though he was very quickly identified as himself. He teamed with Mick Foley, who he had worked with in Japan in the infamous IWA King of the Death Match Tournament in 1995, and they would win the WWF Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania 14 before losing them back to the New Age Outlaws the next night.

Funk would continue working in the independents and make appearances for WWE, NWA-TNA and other promotions throughout the years. He was famous for his short-lived retirements over the years, announcing his retirement before coming back to work sometimes a matter of days later. His final wrestling match was in 2017 for Big Time Wrestling.

Funk inspired countless wrestlers over the years and his performances, promos, and innovations of style changed the course of the business in several ways. He had over 60 title reigns to his credit over the years, and was inducted into several Halls of Fame including WWE (2009), the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (2010), the Hardcore Hall of Fame (2005), the International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (2021), the WCW Hall of Fame (1995), and the National Wrestling Alliance (2009), just to name a few.

On behalf of 411, our condolences to the family, friends, and many — MANY — fans of Terry Funk. Wrestling would not be what it is today without him.