Terry Funk Turns 81: The Final Interview
Terry spoke with me about fellow birthday boy Cody Rhodes in his last long-form conversation.
Back in 2020, the world was turned upside down, but Terry Funk kept on trucking down in Amarillo. I just finished doing my summer reading of “More Than Just Hardcore,” Funk’s 2005 autobiography with the late Scott E. Williams. I knew I wanted to somehow chat with Funk about it. Thankfully, Dave Meltzer simply gave me a landline number (just the number straight up, nothing else). I sat on my back porch and gave it call.
From that stemmed an interview that was certainly Terry’s last long-form interview, but from there formed a friendship that I’ll always cherish as many phone conversations occurred afterwards. In this conversation you’ll see how Funk harbored the inate ability to foreshadow and his comments regarding fellow birthday boy Cody Rhodes is just a hint of that.
“I think all the Rhodes are phenomenal in-ring performers and I think Cody is as sharp as you can get. They’ve all got great minds for the business. It’s a similar situation to the Funk family. You got the Rhodes family there, very similar to my brother and I growing up in the business.”
Happy birthday, Terry Funk (and happy 40th to Cody too). Above is the full interview and below is an overview of all that’s covered.
Dominic DeAngelo of WrestleZone has an exclusive chat with Terry Funk covering his 2005 biography, “Terry Funk: More Than Just Hardcore.” Topics that get covered include:
Terry upbringing and how his father balanced life as a wrestler and superintendent of The Boys’ Ranch in Texas.
His time as NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion
The wrestling stars of West Texas Football
Dick Murdoch
How having a family to lean on became crucial to his wrestling career
ECW, Paul Heyman and how Sabu is vastly underrated in the business.
Mick Foley
How he learned to be a “heel” in the business & his biggest influences
The details of delivering an effective promo
Wrestling in Japan
Legit good guys in wrestling: Bruno Sammartino & Wahoo McDaniel
Sputnik Monroe
How family legacies in wrestling still continue to live on through Cody Rhodes, Dustin Rhode and Randy Orton.
And so much more.