Dorrance "Dory" Funk Jr. (also known as The Long Tall Texan, Hoss Funk and The Mass Outlaw) and Terrance "Terry" Funk (also known as Chainsaw Charlie) have been announced as the second and third inductees into the WWE Hall of Fame.
The brothers first came onto the wrestling scene as part of their father's home grown wrestling promotion in Amarillo, Texas. Their talent was quickly spotted by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and both went on to win the NWA World Championship, making the Funks the only brothers in history to both hold this title.
Dory Funk Jr. Early Career
Dory Jr. began competing in 1968 with the NWA which lead to his first major victory defeating Gene Kiniski to win the NWA World Championship on 11th February 1969. He held this title for an incredible four and a half years, making him the second longest reigning champion (behind Lou Thesz who held it for over 6 years) before losing the title to Harley Race on May 24th 1973.
Dory Funk Jr. in the WWE
In 1986 he made his debut in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) tagging with his brother and later that year the pair went on to compete at WrestleMania II in a tag team match against Junkyard Dog and Tito Santana, which they won. After this Terry left the WWF and Dory began tagging with 'brother' Jimmy Jack Funk played by Ferrin Barr Jr. who is no actual relation.
In 1996 he made a single appearance in the WWF as Dory Funk, participating in the Royal Rumble where he was eliminated by Savio Vega after 10 minutes and 53 seconds.
After being announced as a Hall of Fame Inductee on Feb 16th 2009 Dory participated in a retirement match in Tokyo's Sumo Hall on March 1st, tagging with Nishimura to defeat Genichiro Tenryu and Masanobu Fuchi.
Dory Funk Jr. Post Retirement
Dory now coaches new generations of wrestlers at the Funking Conservatory Professional Wrestling School which is the official American training centre for All Japan Pro Wrestling. Former students include the Hardys, Edge and Christian and Kurt Angle.
Terry Funk Early Career
Terry joined the NWA in 1968 and just under ten years later in 1975 defeated Jack Briscoe to win the NWA World Championship. He held this for over a year before losing it, as his brother did; to Harley Race.
In 1985 Terry made his debut in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and later that year teamed up with Dory and 'third brother' Jimmy Jack Funk. During this time he became involved in an intense rivalry with Junkyard Dog which led to the match mentioned before at WrestleMania II.
Terry decided to return to the NWA in 1989 and began a feud with Ric Flair after Flair won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and Funk challenged him to title match, which Flair refused. He then attacked Flair putting him out of action until the Great American Bash where the pair fought for the title. Flair won the match and the pair later clashed again in an "I Quit" match at the Clash of the Champions which Flair won with a figure-four leglock.
Terry Funk Goes Hardcore
In 1994 Terry joined Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and took on the role of a more hardcore wrestler in an attempt to help the fledgling promotion gain parity with World Championship Wrestling, by using his notoriety to draw the fans.
He juggled his schedule with appearances in Japan, none more memorable than IWA Japan's 1995 King of the Death Match tournament which pitted him in 3 very violent hardcore matches, culminating in a loss to long time friend Mick Foley in a quite literally explosive 'C4 Barbed Wire' match.
In 1997 Terry headed the first ECW pay-per view; Barley Legal, winning the ECW Championship from Raven. Terry held the championship until the infamous Barbed Wire match against Sabu at Born to be Wired, which ECW owner and visionary Paul Heyman has since described as 'truly disturbing'.
Terry Funk Retires (Multiple Times)
Despite 'retiring' later that year Funk would go on to wrestle in the WWF along-side Mick Foley in 1998. He would then 'retire' again appearing in ECW and WWF in a non-wrestling capacity before making his WCW debut in 2000, wining the Hardcore title an unprecedented 3 times before 'retiring' yet again, only to wrestle numerous hardcore matches for the now redundant promotion; Major League Wrestling (MLW).
Terry Funk's final WWE appearance was at ECW's One Night Stand in 2006, where he lost a brutal 3 on 3 match to long time ally/rival Mick Foley.
Terry now claims to be semi-retired, however many fans take this with a pinch of salt as he has wrestled a 'retirement' match each decade dating back to the 1980's.
Throughout his wrestling career Terry also appeared in a number of movies and T.V shows, usually in bit-part roles or as a stunt worker, most notably in Rocky V and Rambo III.
To find out who else is set to join The Funks in the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2009 Click Here.
Jay Davies - Jay Davies is a 25 year old graduate of the University of Lincoln's School of Journalism, currently residing in South Yorkshire, ...
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