During an appearance on The Bump on Wednesday, Paul Heyman paid tribute to the life and career of Terry Funk.
This week’s edition of the show featured comments from members of the WWE roster talking about the passing of Funk and Bray Wyatt. Heyman appeared in studio and was asked what he feels Funk’s legacy in wrestling will be.
Heyman said:
I’m always hesitant to try to encapsulate a life like Terry Funk’s within a sound bite or even a portion of a program. I didn’t say anything publicly. I haven’t yet and one of the reasons why is because I was aware of the decline in Terry Funk’s health and I had the extraordinary opportunity and pleasure of speaking with him in the last few weeks of his life.
I withheld my tributes because I got a chance to tell him while he was alive. I didn’t have to explain my affinity for the man after his passing, I got a chance to let him know.
There was no, pun intended, acknowledgement of the greatness of the performers of ECW without them getting into the ring with Terry Funk. Shane Douglas was recognized as a franchise player because of his interaction with Terry Funk. The Public Enemy truly got recognized as a preeminent tag team of their time by being in the ring with Terry Funk and the Funk brothers, Terry and Dory Jr.
Sabu came out of the gates in ECW making a splash but his splash was infinitely bigger because by the end of Sabu’s first weekend in ECW, he was in the ring and holding his own and sharing the spotlight with Terry Funk.
I don’t know if there is anything that I can say that will match the brilliance of what Cody said. What Cody said the other night moved me. It was profound and just so eloquent in that you could be going through an airport and (hear), “You egg-sucking dog” and go, “What am I listening to? Who is screaming is that?” And here’s Terry Funk coming. It’s so Terry Funk for him to do and at the same time, he was the grandfather of a revolution, of an evolution in the industry, of a movement, of an extreme movement.
What I wish future generations will take from the legacy of Terry Funk is the passionate pursuit of greatness in all moments of a performance and never losing sight that it’s a business.
Funk joined what was then known as Eastern Championship Wrestling in 1993 as a 49-year-old. Some of his early matches for the promotion include an I Quit match against Eddie Gilbert at ECW Battle of the Belts 93 as well as teaming with Dory Funk Jr. in a no-ropes barbed wire match against The Public Enemy at Heatwave 94.
Funk won the ECW World Championship in the main event of the company’s first pay-per-view, Barely Legal in 1997. He was later inducted into the Hardcore Hall of Fame Class of 2005 in the former ECW Arena, now more commonly known as the 2300 Arena.
You may have heard rave reviews about the time Eddie Gilbert and Paul Heyman came to book the newly-purchased Continental Wrestling Federation.
David Woods bought the company from Ron Fuller and turned over the creative reigns to the then-young, hot creative minds Gilbert and Heyman. The newsletters gushed over the creative direction, but the reality was a little different.
Today, we discuss the reality behind the mesmerized newsletters and why “The Road to Birmingham” ultimately self-destructed.
Jey Uso will choose sides on Friday’s WWE SmackDown as the collapse of The Bloodline continues to play out.
As announced by Paul Heyman in a backstage segment on Monday’s Raw, Jey Uso will choose between his twin brother Jimmy and his brother Solo on SmackDown.
Heyman revealed that Jey will make his “historic choice” on Friday, a week after Solo gave Jimmy a Samoan Spike as ordered by Roman Reigns as the fallout from Night of Champions continued.
Reigns and Solo challenged Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship at Night of Champions, losing after The Usos got involved. Jimmy turned on Reigns during the match, hitting The Bloodline’s leader with two superkicks.
On last week’s SmackDown, a ceremony was held to celebrate Reigns’s 1000-plus day Universal title reign. Jimmy attempted to reconcile with Reigns, but Reigns ordered an attack from Solo. Reigns, Solo, and Heyman left the ring together as Jey remained in the ring with Jimmy as the show closed.
Straight out of 1986-87, this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show takes a deep dive into the Jerry Lawler vs. Austin Idol steel cage hair vs. hair match which also included Tommy Rich and Paul Heyman.
I had so much fun putting this show together and I encourage not only fans of classic wrestling to listen to this show, but also modern fans who don’t understand why we keep harping on good promos and continuity today.
This show is a masterclass in how to do an angle right with some of the best promos you’ve ever heard in addition to peak Tommy Rich.
Welcome to another Friday night edition of Speak Now Pro Wrestling.
On tonight’s show, the focus is Friday’s WrestleMania fallout edition of WWE SmackDown that saw the announcement of the WWE Draft returning, a main event of Sami Zayn vs. Jey Uso, and plenty more.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez & Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including Tony Khan’s massive announcement tonight on AEW Dynamite. and what it could be, Paul Heyman talks the Cody Rhodes loss at WrestleMania, your full NXT TV report and tons more.
Paul Heyman believes that Cody Rhodes came away from WrestleMania 39 a bigger star than he went in as.
Rhodes was defeated by Roman Reigns at the event in a match most figured he was likely to win. However, Heyman recently told Ariel Helwani that he believes fans are now more passionate toward Rhodes than they were before. He also compared Roman’s title run to the Undertaker’s streak.
Heyman said:
I like the fact that everyone walks in now thinking this is the last title defense. And I experienced this before with something I had a hand in ending, which was the Undertaker’s undefeated streak at WrestleMania. And every year, you sat there and you said, ‘Oh no, this is it’ and during the match, the audience is actually anticipating and salivating for this to be the moment that they get to witness the historical three count on the Undertaker to which the streak would finally end. And then, of course, when Undertaker would defend the streak, they’d sit there, ‘oh yeah, I don’t want to see this’ and they can’t wait for the next chapter and then it finally ended and the audience was shocked because they thought they would see it, they thought they would see it, they thought they would, no, they didn’t get to see it. And this was year after year after year and then they finally got to see it.
I think that’s the same thing with Roman Reigns’ title defenses now. You hope this is the one, you think this is the one, you’re sure this is the one. You watch the match happening and you know this is the one and then it turns out not to be the one. ‘Oh man, I can’t wait to see the next chapter.’
Heyman believes that Rhodes’ story would have nowhere to go if he won the title at WrestleMania 39. He said the story now is about Cody’s comeback and redemption.
Heyman continued:
The response tonight to Cody Rhodes, which was louder than the response last week to Cody Rhodes, which was a response more passionate tonight for Cody Rhodes, which was a response of an audience that believes in Cody Rhodes this week more than they did last week when they hung their hopes into dreams on him and he didn’t disappoint them, we disappointed them. We took that away from Cody Rhodes. Roman Reigns took that away from Cody Rhodes and the audience. They blame Roman Reigns for it and they appreciate how close Cody came and they know, now, they know the next time Cody Rhodes steps in the ring with Roman Reigns, this will be the one. That’s the business, that’s the business at it’s very best. That’s promotion at its very best, that’s storytelling at its very best.
That’s what you want, a challenger to come out a bigger star than he would have been if he had won the championship because then where do you go from there? What’s the story to tell? Now you know the story, it’s Cody’s redemption. He’s coming back from what was just taken from him, from the defeat he suffered that he didn’t deserve to have inflicted upon him.
Heyman would continue to say that fans thought it was the right moment for Roman to be defeated in Montreal at Elimination Chamber, and in Wales at Clash at the Castle. He said he also heard the same thing about last year’s SummerSlam and John Cena going for his 17th world title. Making fans believe that each title defense is the last is just good business, he says.
“That’s the promotional business,” Heyman concluded.
Figure Four Daily with Bryan Alvarez and Lance Storm is back with tons to talk about including Lance’s thoughts on the return of Vince McMahon and what it could mean both for WWE and for AEW, how Paul Heyman helped his career, part 2 of his ECW journey and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
The new issue of the Observer is up on the site right now. Among the items covered are:
*Match of the week and performer of the week
*Jerry Lawler’s recovery and a look at the history of Lawler from his days as the King of Memphis wrestling, his run in the 80s, the high and low points of that company and his role as a WWE announcer
*Nick Khan and Tony Khan talk with WWE sale as well a how much money key people will make on the sale*Update on WrestleMania plans
*The 1977 Superstar Billy Graham vs. Dusty Rhodes feud and how that impacts the 2023 WrestleMania
*Behind the Paul Heyman/Cody Rhodes segment
*Key parts of the interview
*Paul Heyman’s history with Dusty Rhodes
*Elimination Chamber update
*Fedor Emelianenko’s farewell to MMA and where Bellator stands
*Keiji Muto with days left in his career talks about his final match and his condition
*Full coverage of NXT Vengeance
*MLW debuts on REELZ
*New Japan New Beginning in Sapporo
*UFC’s weekend show coverage*Stardom Supreme Fights coverage
*A look at the best matches of 2022
*How many homes are the cable stations that carry wrestling in
*The most detailed look at the ratings over the past week
*Four plus year title reign ends
*AAA planning for Triplemania
*How the Acapulco show led to issues with AAA and AEW
*Notes from Fantastica Mania
*Lots of Kota Ibushi news
*A look at the career of Charlie Norris
*The most watched television wrestling match of the 1970s
*Lots of WrestleMania week news
*Court Bauer talks WWE lawsuit
*AEW new deal in place
*International TV ratings and streaming numbers
*AEW & WWE upcoming show ticket sales
*Jericho Cruise notes
*Behind the MJF promo
*Interesting notes from Mark Hunt’s lawsuit against Brock Lesnar
Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
Friday Update
Garrett Gonzales and I did a show today talking a ton about AEW as well as this weekend’s shows, the Cody Rhodes/Paul Heyman promo and much more. Bryan and I will be back tomorrow night talking the weekend news after the UFC show.
Stardom wrestler Himeka announced she will be retiring on the 4/23 show at the Yokohama Arena. This, with subtitles, is her announcement:
Himeka said she would like to face Maika in her farewell match. After that, they will have a retirement ceremony for her on 5/14 at Korakuen Hall. She also asked for a hardcore match with Risa Sea on 2/26 and wants matches with Chihiro Hashimoto and Kakeru Seikiguchi. She said she was no retiring because of an injury but said that she only wanted to do five years in wrestling and then experience new things.
Ronda Rousey returns to Smackdown tonight in Uncasville, CT. The Usos defend the Smackdown tag titles against Braun Strowman & Ricochet plus Rey Mysterio vs. Karrion Kross vs. Santos Escobar vs. Madcap Moss with the winner facing Gunther for the IC title. They were at 4,800 tickets out last time I saw a number.
Jake Skudder broke the Rousey being back tonight story on fightfans.co.uk which we did confirm.
Rampage tonight at 10 p.m. has Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta vs. Butcher & Blade & Kip Sabian, Jungle Boy vs. Ryan Nemeth, Ruby Soho vs. Marina Shafir and Orange Cassidy vs. Lee Moriarty for the All Atlantic title. Mark Briscoe will also appear on the show.
Dana White was asked about the location for the fall Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler fight. He said that AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX is a possibility, as it the T Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Madison Square Garden or possibly a stadium in the U.K.
Today is the 39th anniversary of the death of David Von Erich.
UFC 284 tomorrow from Perth, Western Australia
Prelims at 6 p.m. Eastern
Elves Brenner vs. Zubaira Tukhugov
Blake Bilder vs. Shane Young
Loma Lookboonmee vs. Elise Reed
Jack Jenkins vs. Don Shainis
ESPN at 8 p.m.
Jamie Mullarkey vs. Francisco Prado
Kleydson Rodrigues vs. Shannon Ross
Josh Culibao vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan
Modestas Bukauskas vs. Tyson Pedro
PPV at 10 p.m.
Jimmy Crute vs. Alonzo Menifield
Parker Porter vs. Justin Tafa
Randy Brown vs. Jack Della
MaddalenaYair Rodriguez vs. Josh Emmett for the interim featherweight title
Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski for the lightweight title
Kazuchika Okada on his scheduled match Tuesday at the Tokyo Dome against Kaito Kiyomiya with the IWGP champion vs. GHC champion: “I’m not doing that match and I’ve said as much. If they’re still promoting that match and I’m not there then that isn’t my fault and it says more about the companies involved.” This is definitely a unique way to promote a top match at the Tokyo Dome.
New Japan New Beginning in Osaka tonight at 3 a.m. Eastern on New Japan World
Oskar Leube & Toru Yano vs. Great O’Khan & Aaron Henare
We are looking for reports tonight from Smackdown in Uncasville, CT (dark match or stuff off the air notes only) to [email protected]
We are doing polls on tomorrow’s UFC 284 and tomorrow New Japan New Beginning in Osaka, thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match for each show to [email protected]
Anthony Smith vs. Johnny Walker will headline a UFC show on 5/13 according to MMAFighting.com
Other Notes
MLW is doing a television taping in Tijuana tonight which includes Alexander Hammerstone defending the MLW title against Danny Rivera (Danny Limelight). The main event is El Hijo del Vikingo & Rey Horus & Psycho Clown vs. Gringo Loco & John Hennigan & Sam Adonis
Jose Aldo makes his debut as a pro boxer tonight against Emmanuel Zambrano (0-3) in a six round fight at 140 pounds.
Superkick’d runs tonight in Toronto at The Great Hall.
LFA announced its April schedule with a show on 4/14 in Sioux Falls, SD at the Sanford Pentagon and 4/21 in Prior Lake, MN at the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel. Both shows air live on UFC Fight Pass.
ISPW tonight in Avenel, NJ at the First Presbyterian Church’s Westminster Hall has Bull James vs. Tommy Dreamer, Ricky Recon vs Crowbar and Tina San Antonio vs Vicious Vicki. Maven will manage Bull James. They also run 3/11 in Washington Township, NJ at the Westwood Regional High School.
PFL Challengers Series tonight on Fubo Sports Network wit a heavyweight qualifier show:
Louie Sutherland (254) vs. Alton Meeks (228.8)
Abraham Bably (245.6) vs. Hassan Graham (250.2)
Vitor Resenda (243.2) vs. Isaiah Pinson (235.2)
Danilo Marques (247) vs. Ras Hilton (255.2)
Invicta runs on 3/15 at Reelworks in Denver headlined by Strawweight champion Valesca Machado (12-3) vs. Danni McCormack (6-2). The show will air live on AXS TV
AIW on 2/11 in Youngstown, OH at West Side Bowl is headlined by The Sandman.
Zack Sabre Jr. was announced for the 2/26 Beyond Wrestling show.
After watching the opening match between MJF and Konosuke Takeshita on AEW Dynamite, Les Thatcher goes old school and discusses the best way to both hide (and use) a blade without it being seen on worldwide TV.
We also discuss the greatness of the Cody Rhodes and Paul Heyman segment from this past Monday’s WWE Raw and why everyone in the company should be at their best with a potential sale looming.
Andrew Zarian and Rich Stambolian are back with another episode of Mat Men, discussing all things professional wrestling.
On this week’s WWE Raw, Paul Heyman and Cody Rhodes had an all-time promo exchange setting up the main event of this year’s WrestleMania. The question: did it work and will people get behind Rhodes despite the popularity of Sami Zayn? We discuss.
On AEW Dynamite this week, Bryan Danielson defeated Rush in one of the best TV matches so far this year and officially punched his ticket to face AEW World Champion MJF at Revolution in an Iron Man match.
Speaking of MJF, he told a very controversial story that apparently warranted police calls. Also, the Gunn Club became the new AEW Tag Team Champions despite the displeasure of the crowd and fans watching at home.
Plus, we talk NXT paying homage to their past, Jerry Lawler’s health scare, WWE SummerSlam coming to Detroit, your questions, and more.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including all the latest on Jerry Lawler and the medical emergency he suffered yesterday, a full WWE Raw recap with the Cody Rhodes vs. Paul Heyman promo, WWE SmackDown and AEW Rampage ratings from last Friday, and tons more.
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including the deaths of Charlie Norris and Kenny Jay, Billy Graham health update, ratings, FantasticaMania, weekend show recap, ROH TV tapings upcoming, RAW report with tons of notes on the Cody/Paul Heyman promo and more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps:
Start: Death of Charlie Norris and Kenny Jay; Superstar Billy Graham seriously ill
21:06: ROH TV tapings are coming, Fantasticamania lineups, Reelz docuementary on Owen Hart
27:06: Weekend matches
33:50: Ratings
37:29: The Cody Rhodes/Paul Heyman interview on Raw
48:04: WWE Raw recap
1:08:30: AEW Dynamite & NXT previews, Dana White’s Power Slap claims
