Wrestling legend Terry Funk was recently interviewed by Wrestling Inc. to talk about a variety of professional wrestling topics. Here are the highlights:
His retirement being falsely advertised for his “I Quit Match” against Ric Flair: “We had some great ones on TV at the time that just produced fantastic ratings overall,” Funk said. “I know that I wrestled Ric in an ‘I Quit’ match that had a few bones in it that I didn’t like. It wasn’t Ric so much, it was the promotion, the people in power at that time. They were bound and determined that Terry Funk wasn’t gonna survive. They definitely retired me and had a retirement match that I didn’t even know about that they had advertised on television. I never did really appreciate that very much, that was always a thorn in my side, believe me.”
Who he thinks should be in the Hall Of Fame: “The guys that go into the Hall of Fame are the winners, and the losers are the ones who put them in there, and I would like to see some of the great losers through the years be in the Hall of Fame,” he said. “I know that that’s probably impossible, but you’ve got to give those losers credit, they made the winners.”
Wanting to see more physicality in wrestling: “I would like to see another Johnny Valentine. I always had tremendous respect for Johnny, I used to watch and Wahoo McDaniels totally beat the crap out of each other all night long. He was special to me, he was a very physical form of wrestler,” Funk said. “I’ll would never be Johnny, but I’ll be Terry Funk and I want to be remembered as the guy that was willing to go the distance as far as the physicalness inside that ring. That’s where I think the true masters are, guys like my father and like Mike DiBiase, guys that can go grab an armbar and keep you interested for an entire 45 or 50 minutes. That was wrestling. I don’t like so much the premeditated [nature] in wrestling, I like just what comes up and what happens.”
You can read Funk’s full interview with Wrestling Inc. by clicking here.
