Terry Funk, a Hall of Fame professional wrestler whose brutal fighting style in the ring sparked a generation of exciting matches and deadly brawls, has passed away. He was 79.
The organization for which Mr. Funk’s career took off, World Wrestling Entertainment, announced his passing on Wednesday. His death was not identified by location or reason in the notification, and on Wednesday night, family members could not be reached for comment.
Throughout his four-decade-long wrestling career, which started in the middle of the 1960s, Mr. Funk performed before sold-out crowds for W.W.E. as well as in Japan’s expanding wrestling market with All Japan. He immediately gained a reputation as a strong wrestler who used a variety of homemade weapons, including chairs and ladders, barbed wire and bats, trash cans, and fire, to defeat opponents.
Due to the dramatic nature of his matches, Mr. Funk became one of the most well-known wrestlers of his generation in a discipline where performer-athletes were expected to portray exaggerated or outright made-up versions of themselves.
Many of his highlight videos have Mr. Funk covered in blood, his long wet hair pulled back, and his face covered in cuts from punches, kicks, or chair shots. He lacked the sculpted, six-pack physique that is often associated with professional wrestlers. However, his large frame, precision opponent-grappling, and in-ring displays of barbarian ingenuity won him admiration from his peers.
On Wednesday, Ric Flair, a retired professional wrestler well-known for his showy attire and opulent lifestyle, claimed to have “never met a guy who worked harder” than Mr. Funk on X, now known as Twitter. Mick Foley, a professional wrestler who has competed against Mr. Funk, referred to him as “the greatest wrestler” he has ever worked with on Facebook.
In Hammond, Indiana, Terry Funk was born on June 30, 1944. According to the book “Pro Wrestling FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About the World’s Most Entertaining Spectacle,” his father, Dory Funk Sr., was also a wrestler.
After serving in the South Pacific during World War II, Mr. Funk’s father returned home, and the family moved to Texas, where the senior Mr. Funk went on to become a well-known wrestler and promoter.
Terry Funk’s passion for and expertise with the sport grew there, and in 1965, he made his professional wrestling debut for his father’s organization.
He made it to the World Wrestling Federation by 1985, and at WrestleMania 2 in 1986, he and his Hall of Fame wrestler brother Dory Funk Jr. defeated Tito Santana & the Junkyard Dog.
He went to World Championship Wrestling in 1989, when he faced Mr. Flair in one of his most celebrated career matchups.
It was a 20-minute “I Quit” bout in which both guys would struggle and struggle until one man gave up. The match, which is regarded as a classic, served as an example of the brutal reality that attracted viewers to pro wrestling, where the outcome is known in advance.
Mr. Flair slapped his chest, Mr. Funk put him in a headlock, they threw each other out of the ring, there was fighting on the sidelines, both wrestlers pulled each other’s hair, and they repeatedly yelled, “Want to quit?”
When Mr. Funk was finally placed in a figure-four leg lock by Mr. Flair, Mr. Funk’s face twisted in agony, and said the words that caused the match bell to ring: “I quit.”
When Mr. Funk returned to W.C.W. in 2000, he was in his mid-fifties and had already won the W.C.W. Hardcore Title and the United States Championship. He played in one more W.W.E. match in 2006.
Mr. Funk was admitted to the W.W.E. Hall of Fame in 2009.
Mr. Funk also brought his sinister persona to Hollywood. He portrayed a bouncer in 1989’s “Road House,” a Patrick Swayze-starring movie. In the 1978 wrestling drama movie “Paradise Alley,” he co-starred with Sylvester Stallone as the frightening Frankie the Thumper.
Dory, Funk’s brother, is the only survivor. No information about other survivors is yet available.
Terry Funk wrote about his pleasant recollections of listening to his father talk about wrestling in his autobiography, “Terry Funk: More Than Just Hardcore,” describing how his father’s “eyes would sparkle with pride as they talked about both the tough guys in the profession as well as the crazy ones.”
The wrestler’s life, he added, “gave me stories to tell, just like the ones I had heard as a boy,” and he was lucky enough to live it as an adult. I’m better than pirates, millionaires, kings, and explorers! I wouldn’t swap my life for anything.