WEBVTT

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You know, good for nothing eggs
secon dumb. We did it our way

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because we love it that way.
We love it that way, and I

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have this wonderful gut feeling and I've
had it all my life. When it's

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time to go, I think is
now much time to go? It's a

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lapsed funk. It's a transition into
the nineties. Boss, It's a transition

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into nothing less than Extreme Championship Wrestling. We're about to witness some extremities.

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It's you know, we don't spend
a lot of time talking about ECW on

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the cast. It's it's been a
divisive subject over the years. Yes,

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you know, folks in our demographics
salivate for recollecting the feelings ECW gave them

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and the angst written nineteen nineties as
teenagers looking for a higher level of violence,

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looking for a wrestling version of South
Park before the Attitude era gave us

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tits and violence and chair shots and
blood and swearing. ECW told us that

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there was a place for that in
pro wrestling and laid down the case for

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how different it could make the business
feel, how it could revitalize the viewing

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experience, even on the small scale. They operated out of in South Philadelphia.

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But boss here we are. We
must now realize and grapple with the

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fact that for all the calling cards
you think of when you think of ECW,

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you might not think of Terry Funk
right away. But without Terry Funk,

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ECW would be much less than the
sum of its parts. Yeah,

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it is funny meal, you don't
you know. I don't really think about

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Terry Funk right away When I think
ECW. I think what do you think

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about? Yeah, I think about
vomit. I think about misery and pain.

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Uh No, I mean I think
of honestly, you know, if

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I I think the thing I think
about the moment if you say ECW,

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there are two things that come to
mind. Tas an RVD. That's it.

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That's the first, probably the first
things that come to my mind,

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tas an RVD, not even Paul
Haymon and I and I think of I

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think of of grainy television, yes, you know. And honestly, I

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think about things that I don't want
to watch. Why don't you want to

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watch them? The limited amount of
ECW we've sampled over the years here,

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over ten years of the lapsed Fan, including the very first pape of You

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Barely Legal in nineteen ninety seven,
which Terry Funk played a key roll in

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and closed the show, and as
a matter of fact, is depict that

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And beyond the mat what have your
thoughts been? I mean, I just

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don't. It's hard. It's a
really hard thing for me to I mean,

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it's I don't know. I feel
like it is a if you didn't

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witness it when it happened, yes, you really can't enjoy it. It

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doesn't hold up. It does not
hold up. And I have no nostalgia

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for it because it was something I
never caught on television. I'm not saying

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I wouldn't have watched I probably I
damn well would have watched it back then,

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you know, mid nineties wrestling on
TV wrestling, you know, because

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they were doing things that I that
I wanted more of in the WWE and

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WW which was like more violence and
more you know, just outlandish things that

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were that were uh, breaking the
mold. More of a sense that wrestling

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was full of crazy people, which
is what we want, right and and

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that it was and that it was
more realistic to you know, in that

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way, and that they would do
violent things, things that really would hurt

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you. Yeah, yeah, and
any price for it, you know.

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And there I probably would have watched. I probably would have been into it,

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but I just never it never crossed
my radar. I didn't look for

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it. I didn't know how to
find it, and I only heard about

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it on the periphery. And so
from Terry Funk to Saboo, to Shane

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Douglas to the Public Enemy, to
Tommy Dreamer to Raven to Cactus Jack to

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so many others, including folks you
will not expect. The Lapsed Funk is

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going to take us through several high
points of ECW that I don't think short

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of a hopper request that comes out
of the blue sky, like when we

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got the Born to Be Wired Saboo, Terry Funk, barbire Match. Yes

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from our man there, Ryan Loko, it was it was unlikely, And

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we're gonnaver sit down and say,
Okay, this week it's an ec W

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show on the Lapsed Fan, right. I'd to say it would never happen,

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but this is going to be as
the Lapsed Funk has proven to be

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for All Japan, has proven to
be for Memphis, has proven to be

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for Florida Championship, wrestling has proven
to be for just the seventies nw A

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circuit has proven to be even so
some ways for the very initial hult Comania

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years, not in terms of what
was on national television, but was on

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a local television be it prison in
Philadelphia or whatnot, and a lot of

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the other stuff from the WCW Flair
stuff in nineteen eighty nine that wasn't the

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big pay per view matches everyone's watched, but the promo's in between, the

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television, in between, the stuff
that gives it its texture. In a

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lot of ways, the lapsed Funk
is going to give us the excuses we

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need, excuses the wrong word.
It's going to make it necessary that we

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engage with Extreme Championship wrestling. And
what do you know it, Terry Funk

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is involved in a lot of the
absolute high historical points of Extreme Championship.

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I don't doubt that at all.
And that's why, and this is why

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he celebrated. Honestly, if his
career ended in nineteen eighty nine with that

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incredible series of brick Flair, if
his career on a national basis, or

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you know, his career in terms
of having prominent matches ended in nineteen.

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He would absolutely been a Hall of
Famer first ballot. He would have absolutely

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been one of the best pro wrestlers
to ever do it, but he wouldn't

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have had that extra bit of magic
dust of the guy who when everybody else

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was resting on their laurels, when
everybody else had settled into their routines of

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what got them over and kept them
over and kept them earning. We know

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WCW is rife with those guys.
Terry Funk said, fuck this, I

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Am not going to be somebody that
plays the greatest hits. I'm going to

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be somebody that goes in there and
tries to match what the contemporary wrestlers are

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trying to do. I'm going to
be known as somebody who, despite the

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fact that he's fifty, is still
going out into that ring and doing things

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designed to make it seem like I
belong with the current crop. And I'm

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not sure that anybody else ever did
it before Terry Funk let alone did it

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as well. And ecw' is that
proving ground because as we talked about,

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these guys, women and this company
formed in nineteen ninety three as Eastern Championship

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Wrestling and as we'll talk about transferring
to Extreme Championship Wrestling, in no small

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part with Terry Funk at the HELM. In terms of the roster, this

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company said, we need to do
absolutely everything that the Big two wouldn't be

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willing to do on television to stand
out right. And so it was necessarily

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a petri dish for some of the
edgiest stuff going on in the wrestling business,

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because that was their whole rezon detro
that was ECW's whole reason to exist,

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was to do a litany of things
that would make these small crowds go

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absolutely insane that the WWFNWW couldn't in
the right minds copy in those early ECW

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hey day years of ninety four,
ninety five, ninety six, and to

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some extent ninety seven. But once
Vince had his back against the wall in

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WW was whipping that ass, he
just fucking did ECW. That's what he

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did, did Hew, and he
did it with Steve Austin who was in

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ECW and really showed us out of
his personality that was much closer to Stone

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Cold than he ever showed in WCW
than his boofle of DCW Stint did with

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Brian Pellman who if it wasn't for
the angle injury, wouldn't have been right

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up there with Steve Austin. He
did it with Cactus Jack, of course,

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who pretty much brought the character he
played on ECW television more so than

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the character he played on WCW television
to the attitude era. Yeah, and

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he did it, of course with
Terry Funk to some small but significant degree.

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Because when you call the Funker,
it doesn't, as we talked about

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it, and as we've discovered over
the weeks here on this special, it

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doesn't necessarily mean Businesses is knocking him
dead. Right, You call the Funker

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when you need a really, really
good bet that somebody can come in and

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create a spark. Someone can come
in and cut promos that jump off the

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screen. Someone can come in and
suggest angles against your top babyface that will

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seem like a fresh coat of paint, that will bring something new out of

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the baby face, something intense,
something the fans can believe in, and

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just somebody that is going to get
on the screen and not rest at letting

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you be sort of impasted passive I
should say, or impassionate about what dispassionate

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I should say about what he's doing
right. Terry Funk absolutely insists that you

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believe he put all of the effort
he possibly could into every match you ever

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saw him have in front of your
eyes. Yeah, And that is a

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direction, that is a sharp detour
he took in the nineties that almost none

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of his contemporaries did. And that's
why he celebrated above and beyond just the

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former NWA World Champion of the seventies, just the sort of absolute heart throb

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baby face of all Japan through the
seventies and eighties, just the absolute wild

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man, cutting bloodthirsty promos against his
most bitter rivals on the territorial stage and

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on TBS for Jim Hurd's WCW.
This is it. This is why we

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remember Terry Funk with that much more
of an extra dimension than we will remember

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any pro wrestler who's ever lived.
Heartshop. Yeah, yeah, I mean

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that's I mean, this is this
is the stuff that for I guess,

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lack of a better term, this
is what I know him for, really

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is what I remember. I mean, I'm not really this ECW per se,

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but the the nineties stuff, this
is the stuff. For everything else

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we've seen him done, I've seen
him do thus far in the lapsed Funk.

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This is the stuff that no one
else could have or did do is

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this period of his career. This
I hesitate to call it a reinvention.

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It's really just him insisting on being
relevant to the fans that take wrestling most

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seriously. They may be small and
mighty, they may not be the profile

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that fills the WWF arenas. They
may not be you know, your mainstream

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wrestling fan that were in WoT shirts
in ninety six, ninety seven, ninety

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eight, but they were the fans
that were going to buy tickets to wrestling

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until they were in the grave.
Right. Terry Funk was about those fans.

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And it's not to you know,
begrudge of Vince McMahon or Eric Bischoff

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for not being about those fans in
the Attitude era, because the fans,

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they were about keeping their pockets well
lined and their buildings full. But off

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in the shadows here in places like
the Elks Lodge in Queens and the former

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Viking Hall, the Bingo Hall in
South Philadelphia and so many other ECW signature

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intimate small, fucking, steaming hot
one hundred degrees, no matter what it

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was like outside venues, and I
went to several of them, insisting that

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he be respected by the wrestling fan
that had seen it all and thought they

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had seen it all from the Funker, and indeed hadn't. It's now time

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to go extreme as the Funker enters
the nineteen nineties. Happy holidays everyone,

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and we have greatly enjoyed having you
along for the Lapsed Funk Ride, which

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we ought to let you know,
is gonna march on on the back of

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that horse right up through twenty twenty
four into our tenth year. We're going

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to finish it up in the early
part of a twenty twenty fourfold goes according

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to plan. But this thing is
just unfolded before us, like so many

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journeys before. And it's pretty ridiculous
to think, Boss, that we're only

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now getting to what is definitive about
Tarry Funk. I mean, that is

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really I mean, it's it's wild. But I'm also not surprised at all

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all the lives he touched in careers
he touched, you know, it's at

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his most voluminous in the ECW locker
room. That was kind of the band

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of brothers that absolutely had the greatest
reverence for Terry Funk because of who he

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was by the nineties in terms of
his stature in the business, the places

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he'd been, the roads he traveled, the opponents he'd worked so wild,

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and it's just there was just,
you know, everyone we've talked about it,

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from Eddie Guerrero to Hulk Hogan,
to Stan Hansen, to so many

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others, to Tito Santana just an
absolutely Dusty Rhodes to some degree, you

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know, in terms of hearing Terry
Funk tell it oh so much, Terry

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Funk. Rick Flair just a fanboy
of the Funker when he started in the

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business. Everyone you care about in
pro wrestling the last fifty years at some

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point had Terry Funk say or do
something that encouraged them to step up their

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game or to stick with it.
And you take all that and in the

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ECW locker room, you can combine
that impact by ten, because this was

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just a band of guys who for
the most part, had no stature outside

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of ECW, you know, hadn't
achieved much in the business outside of this

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ragtag promotion, and just looked at
the Funker for a signal that they were

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on the right track, that they
were doing things in a way that was

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actually respectful of pro wrestling, even
though what they did in the ring was

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so outlandish and often so against the
grain of what Terry Funk had done in

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the ring his whole career, and
actually, as we're about to find out,

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wasn't that far of a stretch from
what the Funker was comfortable is defining

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the next logical evolution of his character
in the nineteen nineties. So we're really

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going to get into that lasting impact
and why the tributes poured forth to an

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almost unprecedented degree upon his passing this
year, of course, launching this very

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journey which we never could have anticipated
coming into twenty twenty three, Boss,

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and this all of the terry,
not at all total NonStop terry. I

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mean, folks who give you a
tribute show, well, okay, be

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careful what you wish for now you
can't, as we have learned, there

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are some people you can't just do
a tribute show, that's right, okay,

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And of course those are the people
that we're going to get shouted at,

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most loudly to do a show about
right, play with fire, get

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burned Funker style, and that's a
flaming branding Iron, Thank you very much.

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So we're entering the extreme, We're
entering the nineties, and I'm excited

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to bring to you all. I'm
about to convey and get the boss up

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on some of the ECW stuff that
define the nineties. But before we do

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that, we do want to give
profuse thanks to everybody in the Solar System

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who contributed to the TLF Christmas Show
smashing success. Yes, we've rolled out

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in bite sized format this year,
which is also very successful, and we

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were just all around tickled pink by
the way it all came out. So

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thank you for stepping up, because
if you don't step up, it kind

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of doesn't work. And it worked. It was amazing, absolutely amazing.

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Yeah, wait for the handoff of
that VK thunder lighter. I'm it's good.

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That's I can't wait for you to
see that thing up close. Any

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00:15:03.440 --> 00:15:07.440
other thoughts on there? You're sitting
amidst the gifts, the bounty, Uh,

208
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I mean, it's yeah, it's
it's I've had to like move stuff

209
00:15:11.320 --> 00:15:16.440
out because it's it's such my office
is I mean, it was a complete

210
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disaster, But you know, I
do enjoy looking at the U the Vine

211
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Air game, just like Oh,
I'm gonna figure out how to play that

212
00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:31.039
one. Gotta be kidding me.
Just wild, just wild shit. It's

213
00:15:31.039 --> 00:15:37.120
these curiosities from a generation before we
were even born in terms of wrestling fandom

214
00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:41.720
and these sort of like you know, baby steps towards a licensing model for

215
00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:46.559
pro wrestling, towards creating licensed products
for pro wrestling. Yeah, that wasn't

216
00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:50.679
WWF, which we all know the
beats of. Just just incredible to now

217
00:15:50.720 --> 00:15:54.279
hold that in our hands as a
result of what we've built up over ten

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00:15:54.320 --> 00:16:00.000
years here in the TLF Solar system. So wild. How's that Jeff Hardy

219
00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:03.759
cutout looking from Steve? That was
the first gift of Christmas this year.

220
00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:07.200
It was the very first episode of
our series of TLF twenty twenty three Christmas

221
00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:11.200
shows, a life size cardboard cutout
from the ww off Jeff Hardy looking right

222
00:16:11.240 --> 00:16:15.440
in your face. Anyone who follows
us on X saw the picture of you

223
00:16:15.559 --> 00:16:19.320
standing completely enthralled next to the cutout, and I wonder, you know,

224
00:16:19.399 --> 00:16:25.039
if it's won a place on your
mantle. It's won a place under my

225
00:16:25.080 --> 00:16:29.320
mantle, that's for sure. So
it's won a place in the fireplace.

226
00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:33.799
Did you in the hearth. Did
you? Oh yes, what did you

227
00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:38.000
do? I set that motherfucker ablaze? He sent me a video folks can

228
00:16:38.120 --> 00:16:45.960
confirm, and actually went up brilliantly
too. It went up really fucking brilliantly.

229
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And I did. I did it
on the slow motion things so it

230
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could be nice and slow and I
could relish every moment of it. We're

231
00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:56.360
sure there's no carcinogens in there that
you're burning. Hey, you know what

232
00:16:56.480 --> 00:17:03.160
if if they are? Then and
you know it's it's certainly less hazardous than

233
00:17:03.160 --> 00:17:07.319
looking at that fucking picture. Ever
again, Wow, Steve bringing the heat

234
00:17:07.319 --> 00:17:10.079
man, and you returned the favor. That's right, I did. I

235
00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:11.480
brought. I brought the heat.
I reversed the heat actually on that one.

236
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Amazing stuff. I mean, that's
just it's all part of the fun,

237
00:17:15.759 --> 00:17:17.880
it's all part of the experience.
It still part of the lore.

238
00:17:18.599 --> 00:17:21.759
Well, I just probably post that, I guess probably. I think now

239
00:17:21.799 --> 00:17:25.640
people's curiosity is peaked. You know, people put the yule log on on

240
00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:27.839
the TV while they're unwrapping presence.
That can be our tlf ule Log twenty

241
00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:33.400
twenty three burning like the way that
it's you know, I was hoping you

242
00:17:33.400 --> 00:17:36.559
know, because you only have one
shot at this right, you only have

243
00:17:36.599 --> 00:17:41.400
one shot at setting this thing ablaze. And so I was hoping that it

244
00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:45.160
would do exactly what it did.
So like the way, I had him

245
00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:52.279
kind of rested up in my fireplace, and I started the fire from the

246
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back, and I was just waiting
for it to come just like crawl its

247
00:17:57.920 --> 00:18:02.640
way up and and it just when
he when he lights up, it's really

248
00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:07.480
fucking money. It's a beautiful thing. Wow. So consider it an honor.

249
00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:11.400
Maybe that'll be a tradition every year
we burn one gift. Yeah.

250
00:18:11.480 --> 00:18:12.880
Yeah, people are trying to force
our hand, they're trying to tempt us.

251
00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:17.079
Well, we might step up now. I fight back tremendous. What

252
00:18:17.160 --> 00:18:21.039
happened to the Jerry Lawler believe print
that that he laced us with last year.

253
00:18:21.319 --> 00:18:26.039
I mean it's it's buried somewhere in
fucking storage somewhere. Weren't and you

254
00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:29.400
weren't about to have Jeff Hardy creeping
around in your attic somewhere. Not at

255
00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:30.440
all, Not at all, not
at all. I mean it's bad enough

256
00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:36.039
having that fucking Lawlor thing just you
know. I mean, it's it's in

257
00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:37.960
a box. I believe me.
I wish I could burn that, but

258
00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:41.480
I don't think that that uh,
I don't think that material is is good

259
00:18:41.480 --> 00:18:45.480
for the fire. Yeah, you've
given the lapsed fan co chairman a gift

260
00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:48.119
they loved for Christmas, But have
you given given them one that they were

261
00:18:48.119 --> 00:18:52.759
compelled to put in the fireplace.
That's a that's a leak company right there.

262
00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:55.640
Yes, that's exactly right. That's
a one of one as far as

263
00:18:55.640 --> 00:18:59.480
we're going here on the unwrapping too, So again shout out just amazing,

264
00:18:59.559 --> 00:19:00.680
just add so. I hope it
adds a lift to you. Guys.

265
00:19:00.680 --> 00:19:04.920
We've gotten some some tweets indicating,
you know that this is now their holiday

266
00:19:04.920 --> 00:19:11.319
tradition, you know, listening to
us unwrapped, you know, beneficence from

267
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the from the fucking solar system.
And that is a lovely thought. Indeed,

268
00:19:14.920 --> 00:19:17.039
that warms the cockles of the heart. And that's why we do it.

269
00:19:17.079 --> 00:19:19.720
Like I've said, if the show
was us opening gifts and then returning

270
00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:22.960
them immediately to sender, I'd be
just as fucking gassed up about it.

271
00:19:23.400 --> 00:19:26.960
This is not about collecting trinkets.
This is not about hoarding, This is

272
00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:33.200
not about really having stuff. It's
about expressing the power of what this show

273
00:19:33.240 --> 00:19:38.799
can do. And it's really about
the creativity that's right, and and kind

274
00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:44.960
of the thought that goes into it
is really unbelievable. Yeah, yeah,

275
00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:47.759
really been blown away. And actually
I can tell you too, by the

276
00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:51.599
way, uh the the the hot
sauces too, by the way, oh

277
00:19:51.720 --> 00:19:55.839
yeah from Arizona. Fucking awesome,
able bring in the heat this season.

278
00:19:56.839 --> 00:19:57.960
Beautiful stuff. Had to get my
hands on some of those too. The

279
00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:02.279
coffee, in particular, my coffee. The coffee's wild. The coffee,

280
00:20:02.599 --> 00:20:07.559
it's it's it's it's very interesting.
I don't dislike it. I want to

281
00:20:07.559 --> 00:20:12.839
put yeah, dislike it, but
it is it's very very it's so it's

282
00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:18.359
it's I don't know if it's coffe
I can have every day, very interesting,

283
00:20:18.640 --> 00:20:22.000
very very powerful flavor for to rendering
a verdict on that front. And

284
00:20:22.039 --> 00:20:26.720
we've got so many bits of local
flavor from across the world. Just just

285
00:20:27.440 --> 00:20:33.000
folks, thank you, That's all
I can say. It can't even begin

286
00:20:33.559 --> 00:20:37.759
to say thank you. Honestly,
thank you doesn't even cover, you know,

287
00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:41.319
the generosity. And as you know, I mean, our our orienting

288
00:20:41.319 --> 00:20:45.240
principle, our motivating factor from the
beginning, is being worthy of the faith

289
00:20:45.240 --> 00:20:49.839
you place in us. That's really
motivates us is because you guys keep upping

290
00:20:49.880 --> 00:20:52.240
the stakes before we have the chance
to catch up. So we're always in

291
00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:55.599
this position of like, all right, if they're going to give us this

292
00:20:55.640 --> 00:20:59.880
signal that you know, with their
wallets, with their contributions, with the

293
00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:03.000
gifts, that they really really want
us to keep doing what we're doing,

294
00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:04.720
we have to step up. We
have to keep going. And that's why

295
00:21:04.759 --> 00:21:07.799
we're coming up on ten years of
the Lapsed Fan in twenty twenty fourths.

296
00:21:07.799 --> 00:21:14.240
TLFX all manner of different things that
we'd like to do to commemorate the year

297
00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:18.279
over the course of twelve months,
and not the least of which is as

298
00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:25.559
formal a process as our fans can
possibly assemble to select your absolute favorite moments

299
00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:29.000
from the TLF archive. You've heard
us talk about the Lapsed Archive Transcription Service

300
00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:32.480
on the year before. This is
basically something that TLF superfans have created to

301
00:21:32.519 --> 00:21:34.920
allow you to query full text of
our episodes in our catalog and find your

302
00:21:34.920 --> 00:21:42.799
favorite moments. Well, this group
has now coalesced into an incredible power center,

303
00:21:42.920 --> 00:21:47.440
a nucleus, if you will.
This is a group of folks that

304
00:21:47.480 --> 00:21:52.359
we're going to be calling the Lapsed
power Plant. Lapsed power Plant are TLF

305
00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:56.839
superfans that stand at the ready to
reciprocate your enthusiasm for the cast and help

306
00:21:56.880 --> 00:22:03.680
you rediscover and preserve the moments that
made you rock solid members of the TLF

307
00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:07.920
Solar System. These things deserve to
be isolated, agreed, They deserve to

308
00:22:07.960 --> 00:22:11.960
be recorded, and they deserve to
be cataloged. And it is the Lapsed

309
00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:18.319
power Plant that is indeed working behind
the scenes on getting lapsed stuff done.

310
00:22:18.359 --> 00:22:21.079
And we're here to let you know
by a way of little a teaser,

311
00:22:21.559 --> 00:22:25.880
a very long last as part of
TLFX celebrations, there's finally a project underway

312
00:22:25.880 --> 00:22:30.839
whose goal is to collect and organize
time codes of the Solar System's very favorite

313
00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:33.200
spots from ten years of TLF.
If you already have time codes for your

314
00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:37.640
favorite moments, that's great, because
the power Plant is currently working on a

315
00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:44.799
form for submitting those timecodes to what
basically will be like a formal digest of

316
00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:48.920
what are the moments that Solar System
members call out as quintessential TLF. We

317
00:22:48.920 --> 00:22:53.079
feel like this is a very worthy
thing to do. Upon looking back at

318
00:22:53.079 --> 00:22:56.519
a decade of doing this. If
you don't already have time codes, folks,

319
00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:00.960
the Lapsed power Plant, using an
idea from Austin King sOliver, one

320
00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.720
of the great Solar System members,
is organizing a multi platform spot finding event

321
00:23:06.359 --> 00:23:08.839
oh to help you pinpoint them.
So if you don't have access to LATS,

322
00:23:08.920 --> 00:23:12.000
or you don't have the inclination or
time to go through the archives to

323
00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:15.720
find that moment, the Lapse power
Plant is prepared to step up on a

324
00:23:15.720 --> 00:23:21.480
dedicated day to find them for you. Experienced LATS database users will be on

325
00:23:21.559 --> 00:23:26.319
hand and ready to assist members of
the Solar System on x Patreon, Reddit

326
00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:33.279
discord. It's all happening January twentieth
for International LATS Day. You heard that

327
00:23:33.400 --> 00:23:37.799
right, January twentieth, as part
of TLFX celebrations. Easy for me to

328
00:23:37.799 --> 00:23:41.839
say, will be International LATS Day. So any recollection you have of your

329
00:23:41.880 --> 00:23:45.240
spots will be helpful for finding them. But keep in mind that direct quotations

330
00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:48.680
are by far, of course the
easiest thing to search for, so really

331
00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:52.160
think through what it is you're trying
to find in the catalog and any sort

332
00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:56.759
of defining phrases that you recall,
not just the episode or even something more

333
00:23:56.759 --> 00:24:00.519
generic than that. Really like a
phrase that was said, we can search

334
00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:03.519
for that said. Volunteers no lats
and they know TLF, so there's a

335
00:24:03.599 --> 00:24:07.519
very good chance that they'll be able
to help you find whatever lapsed gold you're

336
00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:11.119
looking for. That's how you celebrate
ten years on the air, if you

337
00:24:11.119 --> 00:24:14.680
ask me, I'm fucking right,
that's not a Again. We always put

338
00:24:14.680 --> 00:24:18.119
our listenership up against any podcast of
any stripe. I don't care how many

339
00:24:18.119 --> 00:24:22.279
millions of people listen. We are
mightier pound for pound, fan for fan,

340
00:24:22.640 --> 00:24:25.599
dollar for dollar, and it's the
lapsed power plant and all that we

341
00:24:25.640 --> 00:24:29.440
just outline. That's pretty much exhibit
A going into twenty twenty four, and

342
00:24:29.519 --> 00:24:32.400
go to Patreon for all the financial
proof you need, because these folks are

343
00:24:32.440 --> 00:24:36.000
like, give me more, give
me under the cinemat for my twenty dollars

344
00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:38.799
and above pledge. That's right.
And what are they getting? Oh,

345
00:24:38.839 --> 00:24:45.319
they're getting wonderful things. They're getting
wonderful Christmas gifts. This year. They

346
00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:49.559
just got Ghostbusters too. Yes,
this Christmas movie, Christmas movie, Christmas

347
00:24:49.559 --> 00:24:55.559
movie, New Year's movie, the
whole fucking thing qualifies Ghostbusters too. Bringing

348
00:24:55.640 --> 00:25:03.599
back our good pal Bill helm On
Homburg fall Hamburg. Yes, and is

349
00:25:03.880 --> 00:25:10.559
horrifying life. And uh, next
up though, get ready Christmas Day.

350
00:25:11.720 --> 00:25:18.079
That's all I'm gonna say. Christmas
Day. Do we ever stop giving people

351
00:25:18.440 --> 00:25:25.640
oh holiday boots? No? No, no, we don't and it only

352
00:25:25.640 --> 00:25:29.200
continues. I mean, so you're
saying under the tree this year, as

353
00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:33.319
just about every year, ye devotee
of under the cinemat on the EP and

354
00:25:33.359 --> 00:25:38.480
above Tire and Patreon will have a
very special gift. There will be a

355
00:25:38.599 --> 00:25:42.240
very special gift. And I were
listening to this a whole lot more too,

356
00:25:42.759 --> 00:25:48.880
Yep, coming your way in terms
of holiday special going above and beyond

357
00:25:48.200 --> 00:25:52.240
programming efforts from your co chairs.
Again, just trying to be worthy of

358
00:25:52.279 --> 00:25:56.519
the faith that you place in us
and in that vein. Let's get to

359
00:25:56.559 --> 00:26:03.319
the funer. Let's get to Terry
riding into Philadelphia looking around and saying,

360
00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:06.960
well, I'm gonna go ahead and
make this thing a thing. I want

361
00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:11.599
ahead and decide I was going to
go ahead and make a thing out of

362
00:26:11.640 --> 00:26:15.720
a head. Well we'll work on
that, mama. The date February thirteenth,

363
00:26:15.799 --> 00:26:21.799
nineteen ninety four, Jim Cornett's Smoky
Mountain Wrestling promotion. Oh Boy,

364
00:26:22.200 --> 00:26:26.400
here we go show called Sunday,
Bloody Sunday at the General James Whitemoral Civic

365
00:26:26.440 --> 00:26:30.160
Auditorium in Noxville, Tennessee. Of
course, the true stomping grounds for Jim

366
00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:33.880
Cornett's short lived attempt to turn back
the territorial era, and it had an

367
00:26:33.880 --> 00:26:37.960
affiliation with the WWF. That's why
you remember the Heavenly Bodies and others coming

368
00:26:37.960 --> 00:26:41.680
through in the mid nineties, and
Jim Cornett himself as a matter of fact,

369
00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:45.799
but Terry Funk came through SMW And
on this date in February of nineteen

370
00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:48.359
ninety four, there was a Texas
death Match. What was it? What

371
00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:52.599
was the show? It was called
Sunday Bloody Sunday. Then I have that

372
00:26:52.640 --> 00:26:57.160
one. It's the day before Valentine's
Day in nineteen and ninety four, okay,

373
00:26:57.680 --> 00:27:00.480
and Terry Funk was in the ring. The masked Bullet Bullet, of

374
00:27:00.519 --> 00:27:07.000
course, was legend of the Southeast
Bullet bar Armstrong going through the hole.

375
00:27:07.079 --> 00:27:10.880
You know, Barb Armstrong can't wrestle
here anymore, so he's coming back under

376
00:27:10.920 --> 00:27:15.400
the mask like the night Rider and
Dusty Roads and all that, and so

377
00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:19.200
he's going up against Terry Funk on
this night in Louisville, and it's quintessential

378
00:27:19.279 --> 00:27:26.119
Funk going in there with a hard
punching, scrappy legendary feed me all day,

379
00:27:26.160 --> 00:27:30.279
babyface, much in the vein of
a Jerry Lawler was Bob Armstrong.

380
00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:33.480
In terms of other Funk opponents,
We've looked at Dusty as well a little

381
00:27:33.480 --> 00:27:38.200
bit, and it's going to plan
as you'd expect. The Funker now with

382
00:27:38.319 --> 00:27:41.480
the national runs in his rear view
mirror and big money made in the eighties

383
00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:45.759
has hit the floor. During the
course of this contest with the bullet at

384
00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:52.039
the Colors in Knoxville, they brawl
over near the table and Funk DDT's him

385
00:27:52.039 --> 00:27:55.400
through it. This is a higher
level of violence all of a sudden from

386
00:27:55.400 --> 00:28:00.519
the Funker. This is a Terry
Funk looking to impress upon us in even

387
00:28:00.519 --> 00:28:03.240
more ways than we're used to.
He applies the spinning toe hold, but

388
00:28:03.319 --> 00:28:07.359
bullet gets free. Bullet throws some
head butts in, the Funker does the

389
00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:11.640
knock needs cell job, and then
the action hits the floor again. And

390
00:28:11.720 --> 00:28:15.759
Terry Funk at this point, as
the action re enters the fray and we're

391
00:28:15.759 --> 00:28:21.480
about to get there, does something
for the first time in his life,

392
00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:27.359
because well it's time. Let's pull
it up this twenty one, twenty sixteen

393
00:28:27.400 --> 00:28:37.839
to twenty one. You're there,
I believe yes. So this is handicam

394
00:28:37.839 --> 00:28:41.119
footage. Yeah, bar bomb Strong
in the center of the ring, Terry

395
00:28:41.160 --> 00:28:48.759
Funk about to re enter three two
one play. There goes the Funker,

396
00:28:48.799 --> 00:29:00.559
boss taking that big bump to the
floor. Yep, Chim Cornett hovering over

397
00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:03.319
the Funker. The Funker picks his
ankle and takes him down in the concrete,

398
00:29:04.400 --> 00:29:07.839
but put there with a spinning too
hold on Jim Cornette in nineteen ninety

399
00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:18.880
four Smoky Mountain Boss much. I'll
say, Oh, so Funk's back up.

400
00:29:18.880 --> 00:29:22.880
He's released Jimmy Cornette from his clutches
as Bob Armstrong. The bullet recovers

401
00:29:22.880 --> 00:29:25.720
on one knee in the ring,
and the Funker is what's he what's he

402
00:29:25.799 --> 00:29:38.839
doing? He's tossing shit? Hit
himself? What's that? Did he hit

403
00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:41.279
him on himself at the head of
the table. What happened to the table?

404
00:29:41.279 --> 00:29:45.160
He's throwing it around, He's throwing
weapons. He's absolutely loading the ring

405
00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:48.039
up with any flotsam and jets and
he can get his hands on at ringside.

406
00:29:48.039 --> 00:29:56.440
He's he's making a mess. And
this is nineteen ninety four. Okay,

407
00:29:56.480 --> 00:30:02.359
just think about how many of the
mildest and craziest moments in ECW had

408
00:30:02.400 --> 00:30:06.599
yet to happen in February no less
of nineteen ninety four, And here in

409
00:30:06.680 --> 00:30:10.440
Louisville, with no one expecting it, no one knowing it's coming. Terry

410
00:30:10.440 --> 00:30:15.759
Funk, just a bunch of fucking
weapons in the ring. Chairs and Jesus

411
00:30:15.839 --> 00:30:18.960
he's going to town. Has filled
this ring with chiefly chairs, and now

412
00:30:18.960 --> 00:30:23.319
he's raining down chair shots on Bob
Armstrong. What the hell is going to

413
00:30:23.359 --> 00:30:30.440
happen? Can't forget how unusual this
is right now, this visual in nineteen

414
00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:37.480
ninety four, progressing. Imagine somebody
doing this on rawat four such as it

415
00:30:37.519 --> 00:30:41.799
was in ninety four. No,
no, not at all, not at

416
00:30:41.799 --> 00:30:47.279
all. It'd be insane. So
the Funker has built a little nest,

417
00:30:47.359 --> 00:30:51.279
a little small pile of steel chairs
in the ring, takes a wild shot

418
00:30:52.599 --> 00:30:55.000
kind of let the chair go.
In fact, in mid bringin I did,

419
00:30:56.880 --> 00:31:00.200
I'm not mistaken. That's Brian Hildebrands, February ninety four. Yes,

420
00:31:00.240 --> 00:31:03.079
sir, wow, so yeah,
for sure, because this is even before

421
00:31:03.160 --> 00:31:07.440
the fucking ladder match. Yeah,
good point too, Yes, because the

422
00:31:07.519 --> 00:31:12.880
ladder match was something that I was
blown away by. But this song think

423
00:31:12.880 --> 00:31:15.799
about this came before and he slams
him on the Oh that was awful,

424
00:31:15.799 --> 00:31:19.079
but he dropped him soapd Now for
the first time in his life, Terry

425
00:31:19.119 --> 00:31:23.240
Funk is climbing. No Terry Funk
here at Smoking Mountain in February ninety four.

426
00:31:23.480 --> 00:31:27.359
He will moon salt. Why did
he do it? Fuck? Why

427
00:31:27.400 --> 00:31:30.400
did he do it? And he
crashes onto the pile of chairs, mostly

428
00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:37.319
entirely missing his opponent lateral press too. Terry Funk picks up the duke for

429
00:31:37.400 --> 00:31:41.200
the first time in his life.
He moon salted it. He moon salted.

430
00:31:41.279 --> 00:31:47.480
That's the first time ever. Yes, Jesus. The victor on this

431
00:31:47.559 --> 00:31:52.160
night was Terry Funk. As he
tries to find his way his place in

432
00:31:52.240 --> 00:31:59.160
the nineteen ninety four pro wrestling can
hit pause. Let's not forget, for

433
00:31:59.200 --> 00:32:02.559
example, that he had just walked
out on the booking job at Survivor Series

434
00:32:02.599 --> 00:32:07.920
ninety three. Oh Yeah, had
a chance to kind of settle into a

435
00:32:07.920 --> 00:32:12.200
more pedestrian existence in the pro wrestling
business, but a better paid one at

436
00:32:12.240 --> 00:32:15.160
the top. Organization at a time
when they were desperately looking for new front

437
00:32:15.160 --> 00:32:20.079
men with Vince McMahon facing indictment.
And you know, he famously, as

438
00:32:20.079 --> 00:32:22.799
we talked about last time, or
a couple of times ago on the WWF

439
00:32:22.839 --> 00:32:24.920
episode, left the letter for Vince
and vinced, my horse is sick.

440
00:32:24.920 --> 00:32:29.400
And he left in the night.
The guy they thought they were bringing into

441
00:32:29.400 --> 00:32:31.079
book and be one of Jerry Lawler's
knights in the card at the Boston Garden

442
00:32:31.160 --> 00:32:35.559
was gone. And where are you
ride off to? Well, this is

443
00:32:35.599 --> 00:32:38.440
months later. He's in Lewis,
He's in a was it Knoxville? Yep,

444
00:32:38.519 --> 00:32:44.279
Knoxville, Tennessee moon salting for the
first time in his life. Boss.

445
00:32:44.359 --> 00:32:49.680
We celebrate wrestlers reinventing themselves. Yes, and many of the greatest wrestlers

446
00:32:49.680 --> 00:32:53.319
never did do that. Yeah.
True, But as the high rolling excesses

447
00:32:53.319 --> 00:32:58.240
of the eighties turned into the grungy
and ornery and extreme obsessed nineties, Terry

448
00:32:58.279 --> 00:33:02.480
Funk didn't just go ahead reinvent himself. He was at the landguard of reinventing

449
00:33:02.519 --> 00:33:06.440
the business. I want, I
had, and when I hadn't went I

450
00:33:06.480 --> 00:33:13.039
had, And no one a hood
won a hood, No one could believe

451
00:33:13.039 --> 00:33:16.440
what he did that night and the
clip we just watched a few months before

452
00:33:16.440 --> 00:33:22.480
he turned fifty, including Jesus S. MW Owner at Ringside in that moment,

453
00:33:22.799 --> 00:33:25.920
Jim Cornett himself, and that was
quite a day. And why did

454
00:33:25.960 --> 00:33:29.559
you do that? Was nobody knew
you were going to do that. I

455
00:33:29.559 --> 00:33:32.640
don't think that anybody was doing moon
salt, so I'd say, like,

456
00:33:32.799 --> 00:33:37.240
mudha, that's where you got it
from, probably, But remember what you

457
00:33:37.680 --> 00:33:40.279
piled all the chairs up and put
you to get it? Yeah, you're

458
00:33:40.319 --> 00:33:43.880
climbing up. I'm like, what
has he done it? You did the

459
00:33:43.880 --> 00:33:49.079
moon salt at fifty three? But
what was what was so stupid was putting

460
00:33:49.079 --> 00:33:52.400
all of those steel chairs on earth. Yeah, I'm trying to go ahead

461
00:33:52.400 --> 00:33:59.279
and make it myself a patty there
when they were all steel chairs. That

462
00:33:59.440 --> 00:34:02.079
was a dumb thing in a world. I said, Terry, what are

463
00:34:02.119 --> 00:34:06.680
you doing? You looked him said, I don't know, Corny, that's

464
00:34:06.759 --> 00:34:10.840
exactly looked. It looked vicious,
I'll tell you that. But anyway,

465
00:34:10.920 --> 00:34:16.960
but Bob Armstrong was under the chairs, yes, and again he felt he

466
00:34:17.000 --> 00:34:21.599
was just completely covered up by the
chairs. And I flew off of there

467
00:34:21.639 --> 00:34:24.920
on top of me that was that
would be a classic thing to do.

468
00:34:25.039 --> 00:34:30.920
Now, somebody ought to do that. I don't know, Corney, I

469
00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.239
don't know why I did it and
where are is? That? Not as

470
00:34:34.280 --> 00:34:37.159
fun as it gets? That's that's
I mean that that's just staple. I

471
00:34:37.199 --> 00:34:42.519
can't stress enough. We are accustomed
to seeing Terry Funk moonsalt in the nineties.

472
00:34:43.119 --> 00:34:45.639
Yes, can you imagine him doing
it for the first time at his

473
00:34:45.719 --> 00:34:50.119
age. It's just that's I mean, I guess it. I guess it

474
00:34:50.239 --> 00:34:52.480
makes sense in a way, but
like, who the fucking thought that that

475
00:34:52.679 --> 00:34:55.559
was only in retrospect, only when
we know the road he was about to

476
00:34:55.559 --> 00:35:00.480
travel. Yep, but this is
still a bit precocious in terms of time

477
00:35:00.960 --> 00:35:04.639
that those things having happened. That
redefined our expectation set for Terry Funk.

478
00:35:04.880 --> 00:35:07.480
And it's so hard because of the
crazy flips the guys do now to put

479
00:35:07.480 --> 00:35:12.719
ourselves in a mind frame where the
moon salt was fucking incredible. But boss,

480
00:35:12.760 --> 00:35:15.840
we lived it. Yeah, people, moon salt did. It was

481
00:35:15.880 --> 00:35:19.440
like get out of your seat moment. Yeah exactly. I mean that was

482
00:35:19.800 --> 00:35:23.760
totally I mean, in many ways
it still is like it should be anyway,

483
00:35:24.840 --> 00:35:35.400
But like a moon salt was was
something completely completely foreign to I mean,

484
00:35:35.639 --> 00:35:37.000
yeah, I remember it being I'm
trying to think of the first time

485
00:35:37.159 --> 00:35:42.599
I saw Vader and wcwa Is.
When Corny said mood I was thinking,

486
00:35:42.639 --> 00:35:44.760
well, yeah, Muda did do
it before Vader, and I guess,

487
00:35:44.960 --> 00:35:46.800
yeah, Muda did it in eighty
nine, but I wouldn't have watched that

488
00:35:46.840 --> 00:35:49.920
though at that point the Funk would
have been there to see it. In

489
00:35:49.960 --> 00:35:53.039
eighty nine, sure, of course. I think when he moon salted there,

490
00:35:53.039 --> 00:35:57.239
I think probably as many people American
wrestling fans that were in attendance thought

491
00:35:57.239 --> 00:36:00.320
of Vader as they did Muda.
Yeah, yeah, especially because Funk didn't

492
00:36:00.360 --> 00:36:05.119
do that downward trajectory one, that
forty five degree angle one that Mooded does.

493
00:36:05.159 --> 00:36:08.199
He did the kind of soaring up
right uh kind of angle salt a

494
00:36:08.239 --> 00:36:14.159
bit just amazing, And it's amazing
how like he misremembers where Armstrong was.

495
00:36:14.280 --> 00:36:17.000
Armstrong was not under the chairs.
He was on top of them, sliding

496
00:36:17.000 --> 00:36:20.800
off the edge of the heap.
By the way, he didn't fucking take

497
00:36:20.800 --> 00:36:22.679
anything on that. He totally missed
him. Yeah, fucking coward, he

498
00:36:22.760 --> 00:36:27.480
is, what kind of thought,
But he didn't tell Bob Armstrong, he

499
00:36:27.559 --> 00:36:30.000
was going to do it, just
like he didn't tell Rick Flairy's going to

500
00:36:30.039 --> 00:36:31.639
drag him over to the table and
pile drive at Russell wardy nine either,

501
00:36:32.119 --> 00:36:35.440
because that would suck it up.
He knows, he knows. The first

502
00:36:35.440 --> 00:36:37.480
take is always the best. If
you're Terry Funk, Yep, that's the

503
00:36:37.480 --> 00:36:42.079
way to get the most genuine,
organic, believable reaction out of your opponent

504
00:36:42.159 --> 00:36:45.360
is to have people look upon them
as they don't quite know what's going to

505
00:36:45.360 --> 00:36:46.639
happen next. They just know their
job is to be there to take it

506
00:36:46.639 --> 00:36:51.920
when the moment comes. And there's
Bob Armstrong, undoubtedly for the first time

507
00:36:51.960 --> 00:36:54.320
in his life, laying on a
bed of chairs watching someone moon salt down

508
00:36:54.320 --> 00:36:58.920
on top of him. The fuck
is he doing exactly? Son of a

509
00:36:59.000 --> 00:37:02.400
bitch. Hey, hey, Bob, I'm gonna I'm gonna go ahead and

510
00:37:02.519 --> 00:37:06.840
moon salt the ship out of you. Be all right, But all right,

511
00:37:07.039 --> 00:37:13.079
do you mind if I moon salt? Huh? Huh? Did you

512
00:37:13.079 --> 00:37:16.280
say moonshine? Terry moonshine, moon
salt. I don't know what the fuck

513
00:37:16.320 --> 00:37:22.639
I'm doing, speaking of which,
Terry Funk, reflecting on this faithful moment

514
00:37:22.880 --> 00:37:30.079
in a shoots interview with our video. Who knows that I think moon salt

515
00:37:30.119 --> 00:37:34.599
are a diamond dozen right now,
I'm gonna yeah, it's amazing that they

516
00:37:34.639 --> 00:37:42.519
have more people can moon salt that
can wrestle. What made you? What

517
00:37:42.559 --> 00:37:44.880
made you say to yourself, screw
it, I'm gonna do the moon salt

518
00:37:44.920 --> 00:37:52.920
anyway. I think it's the matter
of pride again, it's wanting to change

519
00:37:52.960 --> 00:37:58.360
with times and be with what's present
in this day of nature. What that

520
00:37:58.400 --> 00:38:00.880
many people doing long moon salt at
that time? You know? Yeah,

521
00:38:01.159 --> 00:38:07.280
Uh, when Ibride first started doing
them, I thinking, oh, I'm

522
00:38:07.400 --> 00:38:10.800
sure that I'm not sure that Vader
did him first or I did him first.

523
00:38:10.840 --> 00:38:15.440
I think I might have done it
before Bader did them first. Yeah,

524
00:38:15.559 --> 00:38:19.480
and uh, we else was doing
it was, uh, the Japanese

525
00:38:19.480 --> 00:38:22.920
boys were doing them. Saboo me
Sa was doing moon salt, and I

526
00:38:22.960 --> 00:38:27.639
think myself, that's just about it. Yeah, how did you what made

527
00:38:27.639 --> 00:38:30.960
you decide to even try the moon
salt the night in Smoky Mountain? Well,

528
00:38:32.840 --> 00:38:37.719
and I just kind of looked around
there and had all of those chairs

529
00:38:37.760 --> 00:38:43.320
in the ring there, and uh, Bob that belaves Bob Armstrong. Yeah,

530
00:38:43.519 --> 00:38:45.559
he was underneath the chairs, and
I thought, well, hell,

531
00:38:45.639 --> 00:38:52.239
this looks like a pretty good idea. Get up there and try to fly.

532
00:38:53.079 --> 00:38:59.119
I think I did a better one
then than I do now. It

533
00:38:59.159 --> 00:39:01.199
was it was that it's something to
watch. That's definitely something to watch.

534
00:39:01.559 --> 00:39:05.199
And then every time was there any
pressure in that at that point, because

535
00:39:05.239 --> 00:39:07.639
every time you came to the town, everyone went to Terry Funk through the

536
00:39:07.639 --> 00:39:10.440
moon salt. Oh, they weren't
going to see that. I just have

537
00:39:10.599 --> 00:39:15.119
so many moon salts too. I
try to pick. I try to pick

538
00:39:15.159 --> 00:39:21.039
the right time to use him.
I don't know boss coming to not Terry

539
00:39:21.039 --> 00:39:23.360
Funk as we have and having heard
what we just heard, Why do you

540
00:39:23.360 --> 00:39:39.719
think he moon salted? I I
believe he moonsalted because because he I believe

541
00:39:40.039 --> 00:39:50.079
he moon salted because he needed to
moon salt. Please expound, expostulate momentarily.

542
00:39:50.559 --> 00:40:01.559
I believe that he that in his
mind, this was the only thing

543
00:40:02.840 --> 00:40:10.440
that he could do to matter.
Wow, he's Terry Funk. What do

544
00:40:10.519 --> 00:40:14.679
you mean matter? No, he's
like a god in these locker rooms,

545
00:40:14.760 --> 00:40:20.199
isn't he. But he's Terry Funk
in the nineteen nineties. And what does

546
00:40:20.199 --> 00:40:27.400
that mean? And that means he
doesn't you know he he he he's out

547
00:40:27.400 --> 00:40:31.079
of his league. Wow, he's
out of his league at this point because

548
00:40:31.119 --> 00:40:37.599
he's older. What he says,
fifty? When does the yep? And

549
00:40:39.559 --> 00:40:45.840
you know, so there is you
know he you know, here's a guy

550
00:40:45.880 --> 00:40:51.559
who's whose Hollywood career is not what
he thought it was going to be.

551
00:40:52.159 --> 00:40:54.559
Yes, that's now clear. By
ninety four. Yep, for sure,

552
00:40:55.400 --> 00:41:00.800
the phone is stop bringing yep,
or at least it's not ring in nearly

553
00:41:00.840 --> 00:41:04.119
as much. Still, the roles
aren't getting bigger, they're getting smaller.

554
00:41:04.199 --> 00:41:06.400
You know, he's still got a
thunder and paradise to come up there,

555
00:41:06.440 --> 00:41:17.639
so that but yeah, he he
needs to take it to the next level

556
00:41:17.679 --> 00:41:24.519
and and and stand out as something
that that that is relevant and matters so

557
00:41:24.559 --> 00:41:28.519
that he can get money. And
how do we matter in the nineties,

558
00:41:29.360 --> 00:41:34.199
Well, your moon salt and you're
hurt. Thank you. You prove to

559
00:41:34.320 --> 00:41:40.840
us that you're willing to risk disability
or death. Yes, you know that

560
00:41:42.239 --> 00:41:51.800
you are willing to to that you
are willing to go further than the younger

561
00:41:51.840 --> 00:41:58.760
guys. Yeah, make me think
that you don't care if you live or

562
00:41:58.760 --> 00:42:02.280
die. Right, that's how to
be relevant in the nineties. Right Ready

563
00:42:02.280 --> 00:42:07.639
to Die was Biggie Small's album Yep, and Terry Funk had to convince the

564
00:42:07.639 --> 00:42:09.079
people he was ready to die out
there, and to hear him tell it,

565
00:42:09.119 --> 00:42:15.840
he was. He climbed those ropes
for those moon salts pretty well resolved

566
00:42:15.360 --> 00:42:19.280
in his mind that this could be
the last thing he ever does in a

567
00:42:19.320 --> 00:42:22.960
wrestling ring. And if that's the
case, so be it. Because better

568
00:42:22.000 --> 00:42:30.199
to have moon salted yes, and
ended your career than to bore the people.

569
00:42:30.880 --> 00:42:37.239
And that's Terry Funk's gift. That's
better to have moon salted and died

570
00:42:38.519 --> 00:42:46.280
than to have died irrelevant and think
about it. I mean, that's that's

571
00:42:46.320 --> 00:42:52.119
the ofoir of the ECW audience.
That's what's pulsating in those crazy, you

572
00:42:52.159 --> 00:43:00.559
know, testosterone filled crowds. They
want they embrace Terry Funk because not only

573
00:43:00.679 --> 00:43:07.719
is he who he was, but
he's going out there and saying endorsing the

574
00:43:07.840 --> 00:43:10.679
level of demands that those fans placed
on the performers before they were quote unquote

575
00:43:10.679 --> 00:43:14.320
over you know, the things you
had to do, the things you had

576
00:43:14.360 --> 00:43:15.880
to prove to them, the risks
you had to prove you were willing to

577
00:43:15.920 --> 00:43:22.239
take. The table bumps, the
real physical pain that you had to show

578
00:43:22.280 --> 00:43:23.960
them before they embraced you. And
when they embraced you, you were in

579
00:43:23.960 --> 00:43:28.039
the money for a little while.
For a lot of guys, especially the

580
00:43:28.079 --> 00:43:30.679
ones who never would have gotten a
contract in wwfter WCW, it was absolutely

581
00:43:30.679 --> 00:43:35.239
a risk worth taking if pro wrestling
business was going to have to be the

582
00:43:35.280 --> 00:43:37.559
way that you made your money because
you were so obsessed with it. There's

583
00:43:37.639 --> 00:43:40.599
a litany of folks. I think
of Spike Dudley as the ultimate case.

584
00:43:40.639 --> 00:43:45.960
You know, think about this guy, Yes, how little business he had

585
00:43:45.960 --> 00:43:51.480
in the business outside of the unique
proposition of what ECW was vis It's fan

586
00:43:51.559 --> 00:43:55.199
base and meeting those expectations and the
opportunity to created for guys like him and

587
00:43:55.239 --> 00:44:02.519
Mikey Riprack and these other sort of
guys that had no no obvious apparent qualities

588
00:44:02.519 --> 00:44:06.960
that would make them marketable pro wrestlers. Yet Paul, understanding the fans as

589
00:44:06.960 --> 00:44:10.719
he did, existing on the wavelength
they did, also saw on Terry Funk

590
00:44:10.800 --> 00:44:14.760
a little extra bit of an edge, a little extra bit of heart.

591
00:44:14.800 --> 00:44:16.119
We played the clip at the end
of the last episode in the Rick Flair

592
00:44:16.159 --> 00:44:21.679
series, did we not Boss were
Paul Hayman talking about working for the NWA

593
00:44:21.760 --> 00:44:23.880
when Funk came through in eighty nine, talking about driving him to the hospital

594
00:44:24.400 --> 00:44:30.079
when he cracked his sacrem and could
barely fly was sitting down. It still

595
00:44:30.119 --> 00:44:31.480
went out in the Great American Bash
nineteen eighty nine and had one of the

596
00:44:31.480 --> 00:44:36.840
great matches of the era against Ric
Flair, And how that inspired Paul Hayman

597
00:44:36.920 --> 00:44:38.679
to sort of create a whole ethos
who around the locker room he wanted to

598
00:44:38.679 --> 00:44:43.400
build once he got the book at
ECW, and of course bring in Terry

599
00:44:43.440 --> 00:44:47.880
Funk and have him be the living
embodiment of the kind of commitment to self

600
00:44:47.920 --> 00:44:52.719
sacrifice that it took to be worthwhile
in the fans' eyes in ECW. And

601
00:44:52.719 --> 00:44:58.599
that's why he moonsults because he can
feel that coming. If he's to survive

602
00:44:58.639 --> 00:45:00.519
on the level of the business that
he has now committed himself to by turning

603
00:45:00.559 --> 00:45:05.639
down the WWF booking job, he's
going to have to create a sense in

604
00:45:05.679 --> 00:45:12.000
these fans' minds and hearts that the
frailty of his age is going to add

605
00:45:12.159 --> 00:45:15.159
to the drama of the risks he
takes. Yes that because I'm old,

606
00:45:15.320 --> 00:45:21.000
I must moon salt, Yes,
and he does. As he says in

607
00:45:21.039 --> 00:45:22.760
his book, Sometimes I think a
dynamite kid and some of the insane things

608
00:45:22.760 --> 00:45:27.519
I've done in my own career,
Why don't we do that stuff? Why

609
00:45:27.519 --> 00:45:31.440
do we shorten our careers and maybe
our lives physically? Why did I drag

610
00:45:31.519 --> 00:45:35.239
my fifty year old ass up to
the top rope for a moon salt?

611
00:45:35.519 --> 00:45:38.079
That is the question. Why do
I hurt myself on small shows where there's

612
00:45:38.079 --> 00:45:42.360
not a lot of money to be
made. I have absolutely no idea what

613
00:45:42.440 --> 00:45:45.719
drives us to do some of those
things. Maybe guys like me are just

614
00:45:45.840 --> 00:45:50.400
queer, but in a different way. Instead of being queer for guys,

615
00:45:52.000 --> 00:45:57.679
maybe I'm queer for wrestling. Okay, Terry Funk, Okay, sure,

616
00:45:57.760 --> 00:46:00.760
whatever you say. Terry Funk debut
in nineteen six and pro wrestling he was

617
00:46:00.800 --> 00:46:07.320
moonsulting in nineteen ninety four. The
Funker was on a path he couldn't get

618
00:46:07.320 --> 00:46:12.360
off of, for he would be
the elder statesman of an extreme wrestling movement

619
00:46:12.400 --> 00:46:15.960
that elongated his career and redefined his
role in the business. A short time

620
00:46:15.960 --> 00:46:21.880
into his run with ECW, Funk
went up for the moon Salt again,

621
00:46:22.079 --> 00:46:24.800
this time to the floor, thank
you very much. Where more than once

622
00:46:24.840 --> 00:46:30.119
in his life he landed on his
fucking head. I don't know how he

623
00:46:30.159 --> 00:46:32.199
didn't pass away. I mean,
there was a match in ninety four with

624
00:46:32.239 --> 00:46:37.679
Oneita and Mike Austin and Cactus Jack
in Japan where he landed on his fucking

625
00:46:37.679 --> 00:46:39.199
head when he came up short on
the toss. There was one in ECW

626
00:46:39.360 --> 00:46:44.800
as well. There's one in WCW
against the wall on Nitro. He just

627
00:46:44.840 --> 00:46:52.880
Moon Salts. Boss, take a
moment YouTube Funk Moonsalts WCW Wall and just

628
00:46:52.880 --> 00:46:53.760
tell me what you see. I'm
not even going to load it on my

629
00:46:53.840 --> 00:46:57.960
side. I just want you to
to appreciate what it is. I'm trying

630
00:46:58.000 --> 00:47:01.199
to tell you here as far as
Yeah, the wall, of course was

631
00:47:01.239 --> 00:47:07.679
the Jerry tweet the heel hang him, So all right, Terry Funk Moon

632
00:47:07.719 --> 00:47:09.119
Salt. You see him on the
top rope in that two thousand era Nitro.

633
00:47:09.239 --> 00:47:14.800
You know you've come to the right
place. Take up, place up,

634
00:47:15.159 --> 00:47:19.559
He'll take it. Please off top
cock. Look, he's not gonna

635
00:47:22.079 --> 00:47:27.280
fuck to me. Go ahead.
What did you see he he just lands

636
00:47:27.280 --> 00:47:32.039
on his shoulder. He's old,
He's so old. This is six years

637
00:47:32.039 --> 00:47:37.159
after the moon Salt. We just
watched he moon salts and to the floor,

638
00:47:37.199 --> 00:47:40.360
to the floor, from the top
rope to the floor, and he

639
00:47:40.480 --> 00:47:50.280
lands like on his shoulder, Like, what the fuck? Why nobody needs

640
00:47:50.320 --> 00:47:54.239
this except Terry Funk. Right,
maybe he was just queer for the wrestling

641
00:47:54.239 --> 00:47:59.239
business, boss, I guess so. And here Tommy Dreamer in a sit

642
00:47:59.280 --> 00:48:01.960
down chet interview face off series with
the I love that, like he has

643
00:48:02.000 --> 00:48:07.119
to be gay for it, Like
like that's what came to mind. That's

644
00:48:07.119 --> 00:48:12.199
the best analogy you could think of. That's so his memoirs. That's such

645
00:48:12.239 --> 00:48:15.559
a weird thing. It got.
Yeah, he probably was gay for wrestling.

646
00:48:15.599 --> 00:48:22.480
Think about it. I mean,
I guess, I guess he's definitely

647
00:48:22.480 --> 00:48:25.280
in love with it, and he
considered a very masculine thing. I guess.

648
00:48:25.559 --> 00:48:30.320
Okay, I guess it's weird.
It's just weird. Like some call

649
00:48:30.400 --> 00:48:35.559
wrestling their mistress. Yeah, he
just calls it his gay lover. And

650
00:48:35.559 --> 00:48:38.679
then we got his partner, his
husband is whatever, Holy Terry Funk.

651
00:48:38.840 --> 00:48:44.039
Only Terry Funk would phrase it that
way, right, and he uh,

652
00:48:44.239 --> 00:48:46.199
and you know it's too late.
Now he's got a moon salt. He's

653
00:48:46.239 --> 00:48:50.199
got to prove to us that he's
willing to die. What do you say,

654
00:48:50.239 --> 00:48:51.920
He said he only had a few
in him. Yeah, he had

655
00:48:52.000 --> 00:48:53.800
quite a few in him, had
quite a few. That's right, Jesus.

656
00:48:53.840 --> 00:48:58.480
And here in a sit down shoot
interview segment with Terry funk Ferrara video,

657
00:48:58.519 --> 00:49:02.239
Tommy Dreamer, sitting right next to
the Bunker, reflects on a faithful

658
00:49:02.280 --> 00:49:06.199
moment that told us just how far
the Funker was about to take it in

659
00:49:06.360 --> 00:49:09.199
the land of extreme. He was, you know, it's a joke about

660
00:49:09.239 --> 00:49:14.280
you know, he was middle aged
and crazy, but he changed his style

661
00:49:14.360 --> 00:49:16.480
to like the ECW style, even
though he was always doing the same stuff.

662
00:49:16.480 --> 00:49:20.159
But then like I'm going to do
a moon's halt to the floor,

663
00:49:20.599 --> 00:49:23.039
and he does a moon salt to
the floor because he sees people doing moon

664
00:49:23.079 --> 00:49:29.639
salts. And you know, it
wasn't the picture perfect moon salt, but

665
00:49:29.800 --> 00:49:31.639
for the fact that he would do
it, and he would shake climbing on

666
00:49:31.679 --> 00:49:35.880
the ropes and work and everyone and
put his hand up like, you know

667
00:49:35.960 --> 00:49:38.679
this is going to be couldn't my
work? Could be my last rod I

668
00:49:38.760 --> 00:49:45.400
may die theoside definitely expected to die, and they every time I got up

669
00:49:45.400 --> 00:49:51.119
there I was not working one of
my favorite Tarry Fox mood salts. I

670
00:49:51.159 --> 00:49:53.480
gotta tell you that, like your
face, I have so many great moments

671
00:49:54.119 --> 00:49:59.199
of like I have Kodak moments of
your face where you just pop me and

672
00:49:59.360 --> 00:50:01.559
your moons. When you climb up, it does take a while, and

673
00:50:01.639 --> 00:50:06.400
you scream and yell andever you get
everyone to focus on you. And when

674
00:50:06.400 --> 00:50:09.599
you first go over, you look
like you're going to be the most graceful

675
00:50:09.639 --> 00:50:14.800
moon salt, like super crazy like
floating in the air. Your legs go

676
00:50:14.960 --> 00:50:17.280
like this. Your legs go like
this, and then all of a sudden

677
00:50:17.840 --> 00:50:23.679
you go and get ready for the
landing there and I remember you do it

678
00:50:23.719 --> 00:50:29.199
to the floor with me, Shane
Douglas and Brian Lee, and I'm your

679
00:50:29.239 --> 00:50:32.000
partner and I'm going to be back
here just in Casey overshoots and me and

680
00:50:32.039 --> 00:50:37.760
Brian are like this. I remember
that on the floor and me and Brian

681
00:50:37.880 --> 00:50:39.199
like this, and here he comes
and I'm like, oh shit, he's

682
00:50:39.199 --> 00:50:43.519
gonna overshoot us. And then he
starts like this and me and Brian and

683
00:50:43.559 --> 00:50:46.599
Shane was in the front, Me
and Brian like and we dive and we

684
00:50:46.760 --> 00:50:53.719
just hear funk and your head hits
the floor, and Brian and we all

685
00:50:53.840 --> 00:50:59.679
hang on what kind of would like
to see somebody? Hey, god,

686
00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:06.239
it's so funny that he so Brian
so stupid. Brian goes out, my

687
00:51:06.280 --> 00:51:09.639
god, dream we just killed her, funk And you come up to me

688
00:51:10.159 --> 00:51:15.320
and your hair, your hair was
and you go, that was the dumbest

689
00:51:15.320 --> 00:51:21.800
thing I've ever done. That was
your hair was like matted on one side

690
00:51:21.880 --> 00:51:24.559
and this side was like Carlito hair. And you just kept going and the

691
00:51:24.639 --> 00:51:30.880
Florida back and that was just the
dumbest thing everything about me. Why did

692
00:51:30.880 --> 00:51:35.360
I do that? Tommy Dreamer,
That's the dumbest thing I've ever done.

693
00:51:37.840 --> 00:51:39.880
I think he had a head boss. Yeah, he went ahead and dropped

694
00:51:39.920 --> 00:51:49.400
his head. I mean, like
any thoughts, I mean it it actually,

695
00:51:49.599 --> 00:51:51.920
you know, there's a part of
me. I don't know what his

696
00:51:52.039 --> 00:51:55.199
facial expressions were like, but part
of me is like, listen to how

697
00:51:55.280 --> 00:52:01.159
sad he is about that, Like
he keeps saying it wasn't funny. I

698
00:52:01.199 --> 00:52:05.119
don't know how to make what to
make of that, honestly, I don't.

699
00:52:05.719 --> 00:52:10.880
I mean, is he to me? It just it just makes me

700
00:52:10.920 --> 00:52:15.320
feel sad. And the fact that
Tommy Dreamer called it his favorite, one

701
00:52:15.320 --> 00:52:22.360
of his favorite moments, and it's
like really like this, it's a favorite

702
00:52:22.360 --> 00:52:27.679
moment, Like shouldn't have been like
a horrifying Oh what did you send me?

703
00:52:28.719 --> 00:52:30.519
Just go to nineteen eleven on that
video. Please try to skip ahead

704
00:52:30.519 --> 00:52:35.599
if you can. Okay, Yeah, it's kind of yeah, it is

705
00:52:35.679 --> 00:52:38.320
kind of it is kind of horrifying
in a way. I mean, I

706
00:52:38.320 --> 00:52:42.559
think, to be fair, I've
seen a lot of these funk shooting interviews

707
00:52:42.559 --> 00:52:45.719
and he kind of takes this tone
of like he pretends to take umbrage without

708
00:52:45.760 --> 00:52:50.360
the other person saying, but like
they've gone through the same song and dance

709
00:52:50.400 --> 00:52:52.480
so many times before that the other
guy kind of knows he's just kind of

710
00:52:52.559 --> 00:52:58.000
ribbing him that he's kind of just
taking a fake offense to it. Yeah,

711
00:52:58.519 --> 00:53:02.679
not even the offense though, it's
the idea that I mean he called

712
00:53:02.840 --> 00:53:07.519
he called the fans perverts. They
called ye. He called him a pervert

713
00:53:07.519 --> 00:53:09.119
for thinking it was funny that he
landed on his head. I mean,

714
00:53:09.199 --> 00:53:14.280
I just don't like, what,
what kind of a of a situation are

715
00:53:14.320 --> 00:53:24.119
you in where you know, like
you think this is okay, it's queer

716
00:53:24.119 --> 00:53:28.280
for the business. Yeah, I
guess so all right, I'm nineteen eleven.

717
00:53:28.320 --> 00:53:31.639
You ready to hit play? Yeah? Three two one play Scientific Wrestling

718
00:53:31.679 --> 00:53:37.119
move. This is from FMW where
Nick Foley and Terry Funk Mike Ossomo needed

719
00:53:37.119 --> 00:53:39.320
to knock and win him on a
street fight. Here goes Funk. Get

720
00:53:39.320 --> 00:53:47.159
ready? Come on? Why look
at that fo Jesus Christ hippause you just

721
00:53:47.679 --> 00:53:53.519
he just you know, the problem
is he can't fully rotate. What what

722
00:53:53.559 --> 00:53:58.800
did you just say? You just
saw He's on the top rope. He's

723
00:53:58.840 --> 00:54:01.920
moon salting to the floor, all
right, and he gets to a certain

724
00:54:01.960 --> 00:54:09.559
point he just doesn't rotate fast enough, and so you know, he he's

725
00:54:09.559 --> 00:54:14.360
still like head facing down when he
connects with the guys and he just lands

726
00:54:14.400 --> 00:54:17.599
on his face and his chest.
What happened to Sean Michaels in Saudi Arabia?

727
00:54:20.599 --> 00:54:30.840
The Funker taking flight for the business. It's just not okay? Everyone

728
00:54:30.880 --> 00:54:36.880
you ever cared about in ecw owes
something if not damn near everything to Terry

729
00:54:36.920 --> 00:54:40.320
Funk and upon his passing, Paul
Hayman when on wwbe's talk show The Bump

730
00:54:40.880 --> 00:54:45.480
to share some reflections, and I
think in so many ways set it all

731
00:54:45.880 --> 00:54:50.079
in terms of setting the table for
what we're about to explore in the stage

732
00:54:50.079 --> 00:55:00.159
of the Funker's life here, I'm
I'm I'm a was hesitant to try to

733
00:55:00.280 --> 00:55:08.079
encapsulate a life like Terry Funks within
a sound bite or even even a portion

734
00:55:08.159 --> 00:55:14.920
of a program. I didn't say
anything publicly. I haven't yet, And

735
00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:20.960
one of the reasons why is because
I was aware of the decline in Terry

736
00:55:20.960 --> 00:55:27.239
Funk's health, and I had the
extraordinary opportunity and pleasure of speaking with him

737
00:55:27.760 --> 00:55:34.199
in the last few weeks of his
life. So I withheld my tributes because

738
00:55:36.840 --> 00:55:43.280
I got a chance to tell him
while he was alive. I didn't have

739
00:55:43.360 --> 00:55:51.519
to explain my affinity for the man
after his passing. I got a chance

740
00:55:51.559 --> 00:56:06.159
to let him know. There was
no pun intended acknowledgment of the greatness of

741
00:56:06.199 --> 00:56:12.159
the performers in EACW without them getting
into the ring with Terry Funk. Shane

742
00:56:12.199 --> 00:56:17.800
Douglas was recognized as a franchise player
because of his interaction with Terry Funk.

743
00:56:19.920 --> 00:56:27.280
The Public Enemy truly got recognized as
a pre eminent tag team of their time

744
00:56:28.199 --> 00:56:31.679
by being in the ring with Terry
Funk and and and the Funk brothers Terrrian

745
00:56:32.079 --> 00:56:39.679
and Dorry Jr. Sabou came out
of the gates at ECW making a splash,

746
00:56:39.719 --> 00:56:45.760
but his splash was infinitely bigger because
by the end of Saboo's first weekend

747
00:56:46.079 --> 00:56:52.119
in ECW, he he was in
the ring and holding his own and and

748
00:56:52.119 --> 00:57:00.079
and and sharing the spotlight with Terry
Funk. It's uh. I don't know

749
00:57:00.119 --> 00:57:07.000
if there's anything that I can say
that will match the brilliance of what Cody

750
00:57:07.079 --> 00:57:16.000
said. What Cody said the other
night moved me. It was it was

751
00:57:16.400 --> 00:57:23.679
profound and and and and and and
it's just so eloquent, uh in in

752
00:57:24.000 --> 00:57:30.719
that you could be going through an
airport and and egg shucking dog and what

753
00:57:30.079 --> 00:57:34.840
what am I listening? Who's screaming
is at my and and here's Terry Funk

754
00:57:34.880 --> 00:57:38.159
coming, you know. It's just
it's just it's so Terry Funk for him

755
00:57:38.199 --> 00:57:49.639
to do and at the same time, uh he he. He was the

756
00:57:49.639 --> 00:57:53.559
the grandfather of of of a revolution, of an evolution in the industry,

757
00:57:53.880 --> 00:58:00.079
of a movement, of an extreme
movement. I think what I wish future

758
00:58:00.159 --> 00:58:12.159
generations will will take from the legacy
of Terry Funk is the passionate pursuit of

759
00:58:12.239 --> 00:58:19.360
greatness in all moments of a performance
and never losing sight that it's a business.

760
00:58:20.119 --> 00:58:27.239
Yes, because so many people today. And this is not a criticism

761
00:58:27.280 --> 00:58:31.719
of the young guys, the new
generations. This was true twenty years ago,

762
00:58:31.760 --> 00:58:35.719
this was true thirty years ago.
This is this is true in every

763
00:58:36.119 --> 00:58:40.280
generational turnover in this industry, and
it is true today. It's separate.

764
00:58:40.880 --> 00:58:45.079
Either you have those who sit there
and go business business, business, business,

765
00:58:45.079 --> 00:58:50.159
business, or you have those that
go creative pursuit of greatness. I

766
00:58:50.199 --> 00:58:55.519
want to do this. I envision
this with no viewpoint as to how do

767
00:58:55.639 --> 00:59:01.400
we exploit this in commerce, because
at the end of the day, as

768
00:59:01.400 --> 00:59:07.159
a business, we are all commerce
facilitators. And you know, and and

769
00:59:07.280 --> 00:59:14.639
and and Terry never lost sight of
that. Terry Terry was always balancing the

770
00:59:14.679 --> 00:59:20.960
pursuit of greatness within a performance,
how do we make this into business?

771
00:59:21.360 --> 00:59:24.840
And then would say, okay,
how do we make this end? Besnsh

772
00:59:25.320 --> 00:59:34.559
and where's the greatness involved? And
he always understood that that's the chocolate and

773
00:59:34.599 --> 00:59:37.559
the peanut butter that makes the Reese's
Peanut butter cup. You know that that's

774
00:59:37.679 --> 00:59:44.440
just they can't be separate. They
must always journey together, and sometimes it's

775
00:59:44.480 --> 00:59:47.920
it's it's, it's, it's,
it's it's not a comfortable marriage. Sometimes

776
00:59:49.199 --> 00:59:54.119
you have to scale back on the
greatness to pursue the business, and sometimes

777
00:59:54.320 --> 01:00:01.199
you have to realize that the business
needs to pace itself to allow greatness to

778
01:00:01.320 --> 01:00:07.119
shine and then capitalize on it.
So it was just it was a remarkable

779
01:00:07.199 --> 01:00:15.719
balance that someone who at all times
could could truly convince you he was out

780
01:00:15.719 --> 01:00:22.400
of his fricking mind. But that's
the line of greatness and insanity joining each

781
01:00:22.400 --> 01:00:29.159
other, a genius and insanity always
being hand in hand, And I think

782
01:00:29.199 --> 01:00:32.360
part of his genius was the fact
that he accepted himself as being insane.

783
01:00:35.639 --> 01:00:40.000
Extreme Championship Wrestling was first Eastern Championship
Wrestling. Terry Funk was there from the

784
01:00:40.000 --> 01:00:45.840
start and boss when he talks about
that fine line. There are many in

785
01:00:45.840 --> 01:00:50.039
these w locker room who have sort
of talked about how they felt like they

786
01:00:50.079 --> 01:00:53.079
only occasionally got a glimpse of like
the true Terry Funk, that even in

787
01:00:53.119 --> 01:00:57.079
the locker room, he still had
to keep up some facade of being a

788
01:00:57.119 --> 01:01:00.719
little tapped, a little weird,
little wacky. There are people who swore

789
01:01:00.760 --> 01:01:02.760
that you know he was like a
blood brother, and then they ran into

790
01:01:02.800 --> 01:01:07.920
him ten years later and he was
acting like he was ready to kill them.

791
01:01:08.159 --> 01:01:10.960
But this is Terry Funk, and
he's carrying on the cafabe wherever he

792
01:01:12.000 --> 01:01:15.119
goes because he believes he's the worker. I think that's correct, Terry the

793
01:01:15.159 --> 01:01:28.079
worker, and stand by on that
their work. If they're working you and

794
01:01:28.119 --> 01:01:30.320
you and you they're working with he's
a worker. He's a worker, worker,

795
01:01:30.360 --> 01:01:37.000
that's all. He is a worker. And so is he though,

796
01:01:37.320 --> 01:01:42.000
because what I just heard Paul Hayman
say is that, well, Terry Funk

797
01:01:42.000 --> 01:01:46.559
appreciated when he had to dial back
the insanity to do business and and you

798
01:01:46.559 --> 01:01:50.880
know, create some moments where he
isn't just like all in and just all

799
01:01:50.920 --> 01:01:54.800
out there so that some things can
can marinate and become business at the end

800
01:01:54.840 --> 01:01:58.960
of the day. Paul Hayman seemed
to be talking about that as something Terry

801
01:01:58.960 --> 01:02:00.679
Funk was keeping at bay, not
something not a mask he put on,

802
01:02:01.079 --> 01:02:05.760
but something that was always ready to
bubble to the surface. A lot of

803
01:02:05.760 --> 01:02:08.639
guys tell themselves and Terry Funk blew
up at them backstage because of a messed

804
01:02:08.679 --> 01:02:14.639
up spot in a match or some
errant fireballs, as we'll talk about down

805
01:02:14.639 --> 01:02:19.119
the road here in our ECW installment, that he was just flipping mad at

806
01:02:19.159 --> 01:02:22.960
him, and they didn't know what
to make of it, and they just

807
01:02:22.039 --> 01:02:25.440
chalked it up to Terry Funk just
carrying the performance back through the curtain.

808
01:02:28.119 --> 01:02:30.840
I don't know, I think he
really was fucking nuts. Oh, of

809
01:02:30.920 --> 01:02:39.239
course. And listen, you're not
you're not saying if you continually go up

810
01:02:39.239 --> 01:02:42.920
to the top rope and do a
moon, salt to the floor and land

811
01:02:43.000 --> 01:02:46.840
on your head. And he's something
that a normal, sane person does,

812
01:02:47.840 --> 01:02:52.719
and he's good at making people feel
warm about him and in his personal life

813
01:02:52.719 --> 01:02:58.159
and his interpersonal relations and sort of
friendly in the same way a sociopath kind

814
01:02:58.159 --> 01:03:00.119
of learns how to do those things
they don't well, of course, you

815
01:03:00.159 --> 01:03:06.400
don't naturally do that. It's it's
a learned behavior. I mean, I

816
01:03:06.440 --> 01:03:09.800
don't want to go too far,
but I think Terry Funk became someone different

817
01:03:09.840 --> 01:03:14.199
than his friends and family knew when
he entered a wrestling locker room. And

818
01:03:14.280 --> 01:03:16.440
I don't think it was all entirely
within his control. Went to turn it

819
01:03:16.519 --> 01:03:20.199
on and turn it off. I
mean, well, I mean I don't

820
01:03:20.199 --> 01:03:24.519
think that that's too different than any
I listen to the wrestler worth a shit.

821
01:03:24.840 --> 01:03:29.920
I don't think it's any different than
anybody who goes to work. Ah,

822
01:03:30.119 --> 01:03:34.519
don't you fucking go there? Like
that's just it. People have their

823
01:03:34.599 --> 01:03:38.719
work personality, people have their home
personality. You know, you don't see

824
01:03:39.000 --> 01:03:46.039
sometimes people at home don't see the
work personality or the worked personality even damn

825
01:03:46.079 --> 01:03:52.159
right. The Funker Extreme Championship Wrestling
was first Eastern Championship Wrestling, and Terry

826
01:03:52.159 --> 01:03:57.079
Funk was there from the start.
Todd Gordon, a Philadelphia area jeweler second

827
01:03:57.079 --> 01:04:00.880
generation, picked up where the TWA, which we actually got a glimpse of

828
01:04:00.960 --> 01:04:04.239
when we did the Jerry Lawler series, remember that Boss mm hm. And

829
01:04:04.360 --> 01:04:08.679
they brought the lular Funk view to
the East Coast and Joel Goodheart's Tri State

830
01:04:08.719 --> 01:04:12.119
Wrestling Alliance, which in many ways, both in terms of geography and in

831
01:04:12.199 --> 01:04:17.039
terms of presentation, was the precursor
to Eastern Championship Wrestling. That you know,

832
01:04:17.039 --> 01:04:19.679
Todd Gordon picked up or Joel Goodhart
and the TWA left off. As

833
01:04:19.679 --> 01:04:24.119
Funk says in his book, Goodheart's
crowds were loaded Besides me, he brought

834
01:04:24.159 --> 01:04:27.239
in the Sheik, Abdullah and a
bunch of others. This particular show he

835
01:04:27.280 --> 01:04:29.880
was talking about drew a three thirty
thousand dollars house, but he spent a

836
01:04:29.920 --> 01:04:32.039
lot to bring in the talent,
so it wasn't a profitable situation for him.

837
01:04:32.079 --> 01:04:35.880
Yeah, Joel Goodheart was just you
know, just spending money to see

838
01:04:35.880 --> 01:04:42.000
what would happen if he put Abdullah
the Butcher and fucking Terry Funk and others

839
01:04:42.599 --> 01:04:45.679
the Sheikh in in the small venues
in and around Philadelphia for the hardest core

840
01:04:45.719 --> 01:04:48.559
wrestling fans. And that was kind
of the seed. That was the seed

841
01:04:48.599 --> 01:04:53.440
of what ECW would become. And
Terry Funk was getting booked on on those

842
01:04:53.480 --> 01:04:57.400
circuits from the beginning. It was
almost wild. It was like it's like

843
01:04:57.440 --> 01:05:02.800
these East Coast promoters were like import
howarding hot feuds, programs, angles gimmicks

844
01:05:02.840 --> 01:05:08.280
from the territories that they only saw
on VHS from areas they didn't grow up

845
01:05:08.280 --> 01:05:11.480
in, much like Memphis in particular, but as well as you know,

846
01:05:11.480 --> 01:05:15.000
all Japan and Detroit here with the
Sheikh and those heavy blood, heavy,

847
01:05:15.400 --> 01:05:18.559
brawling, heavy chair shot, heavy, right hand heavy styles, and there

848
01:05:18.599 --> 01:05:23.000
was like this moment in the early
nineties, where these promoters seeking to differentiate

849
01:05:23.039 --> 01:05:27.199
themselves from WWF and WCW, and
with talent available that worked those circuits,

850
01:05:27.599 --> 01:05:31.079
put on those performances, drew those
houses, but whom, for whatever reason

851
01:05:31.159 --> 01:05:36.639
WWF and WCW weren't interested in in
the time, just trying to like import

852
01:05:36.880 --> 01:05:42.119
those dynamics to an East Coast crowd
that had never seen it before, and

853
01:05:42.360 --> 01:05:45.519
it went pretty far. And Funk
was able to, you know, sort

854
01:05:45.559 --> 01:05:50.119
of exercise the kind of style that
he worked against Jerry Lawler with and Dusty

855
01:05:50.199 --> 01:05:54.800
Roads with here in the early nineties
in the circuit known as the TWA for

856
01:05:55.360 --> 01:05:58.960
a crowd that's much differently constituted.
You know, a crowd coming out to

857
01:05:59.039 --> 01:06:03.039
matches at the scene Pete Armory or
whatever down in Florida in the seventies is

858
01:06:03.079 --> 01:06:05.480
not looking for the same thing out
of a night out at the wrestling matches

859
01:06:05.519 --> 01:06:10.960
as these crowds in Philadelphia in nineteen
ninety one. They're just not. But

860
01:06:11.039 --> 01:06:15.559
in some ways, these old these
old timers are the conduit through which they

861
01:06:15.559 --> 01:06:18.440
could express what the new wrestling fan
wanted, but the new thirst was for

862
01:06:18.880 --> 01:06:23.440
and some stepped up, like Terry
Funk, and satisfied that need and sensed

863
01:06:23.480 --> 01:06:26.000
it, and others like you know, Jerry Lawler and Abdullah the Butcher just

864
01:06:26.960 --> 01:06:29.880
you know, there wasn't another gear
there. Yeah, and so they were

865
01:06:29.880 --> 01:06:33.239
sort of relegated to the category of
caricature of themselves. Not in a bad

866
01:06:33.239 --> 01:06:35.760
way, but in a way.
It was like, Okay, you know

867
01:06:35.920 --> 01:06:39.679
you're gonna get Jerry Lawler. You're
gonna get the same Jerry Lawler in the

868
01:06:39.679 --> 01:06:43.760
e CW arena that you got at
the Mid South Colisseum in nineteen eighty two,

869
01:06:44.079 --> 01:06:48.199
right, And I thought some wonderful
color for this came from our cracker

870
01:06:48.280 --> 01:06:53.239
Jack Solar System member Matt, who
lives in Philly and who's a longtime fan,

871
01:06:53.320 --> 01:06:57.760
a big ECW fan, and does
remember the twa and actually wrote a

872
01:06:57.840 --> 01:07:00.039
letter in a very timely way in
terms of how the lapsed funk was unfolding.

873
01:07:00.079 --> 01:07:02.599
The guy just has a way of
that. He just has a way

874
01:07:02.639 --> 01:07:08.199
of dropping missives on us. Totally. Absolutely that are just where we need

875
01:07:08.239 --> 01:07:12.440
them. Rights, Happy Holidays.
You mentioned Tri State Wrestling in the birth

876
01:07:12.440 --> 01:07:15.079
of ECW, and it made me
want to give you this. There's a

877
01:07:15.079 --> 01:07:17.519
thread of the ECW origin story that
I almost never hear anyone call attention to

878
01:07:17.679 --> 01:07:20.679
maybe this will one day be useful
pickings for TLF research. Yeah how about

879
01:07:20.760 --> 01:07:24.639
now? Ah yeah right. It
isn't huge, huge, but it's a

880
01:07:24.679 --> 01:07:27.719
history and it's missing. During the
end of my childhood fandom in nineteen ninety

881
01:07:27.760 --> 01:07:30.679
one, I stumbled on a local
radio show that broke k fabe for me.

882
01:07:30.039 --> 01:07:32.079
It was hosted by a man and
a woman, and sometimes they'd have

883
01:07:32.079 --> 01:07:35.760
wrestlers on. The guy hated the
WWF and shoot mocked them all the time.

884
01:07:35.920 --> 01:07:39.599
It basically contributed to my going laps
for the first time, along with

885
01:07:39.639 --> 01:07:43.119
Hogan pinning Mark McCool at Tuesday in
Texas. Brother. I was thirteen.

886
01:07:43.159 --> 01:07:45.039
The zeitgeist was getting real edgy and
angsty, and wrestling wasn't working for me.

887
01:07:45.079 --> 01:07:47.840
Brother. A few years ago,
I became obsessed with this radio show

888
01:07:47.840 --> 01:07:50.400
memory and went deep hunting for info. It was the first time I signed

889
01:07:50.440 --> 01:07:54.800
up for newspapers dot com. I
even went to a convention just ask Cornette

890
01:07:54.760 --> 01:07:59.079
about it. In short, Joel
Goodheart became involved in wrestling because he was

891
01:07:59.079 --> 01:08:02.119
the insurance agent for a local wrestling
store called The Squared Circle, owned by

892
01:08:02.119 --> 01:08:06.480
Carmela Panfield and her husband back in
nineteen eighty five. The experience apparently a

893
01:08:06.559 --> 01:08:11.079
namor jowel to the business. It
was Joel and Carmela running that radio show

894
01:08:11.079 --> 01:08:13.719
that I found when I was a
kid. It was called Wrestling Radio and

895
01:08:13.719 --> 01:08:15.640
it ran until the early nineties.
Only twenty three minutes of a nineteen eight

896
01:08:15.720 --> 01:08:20.159
eighty seven episode survives today so far. I wrote myself a summary of everything

897
01:08:20.159 --> 01:08:23.520
I'd learned with the intent of sharing
it one day, and then I stashed

898
01:08:23.520 --> 01:08:26.920
it away. I can't think of
finer stewards than TLF portions of it.

899
01:08:26.960 --> 01:08:30.279
Assumes that the anecdotes both Carmela and
Joel have shared or accurate, of course,

900
01:08:30.279 --> 01:08:33.920
since based below and most supporting data
and found relics are here in chronological

901
01:08:34.000 --> 01:08:38.000
order, You're goddamn right they are, Matt, Yes, he writes,

902
01:08:38.079 --> 01:08:43.319
ps. Carmela was scared to trim
at Tommy Rich's bangs because his forehead was

903
01:08:43.479 --> 01:08:46.479
raw meat. Brother. Just you
think about Tommy Rich for a second,

904
01:08:46.479 --> 01:08:51.000
boss, Think of his long blonde
hair, Think of like his dick getting

905
01:08:51.039 --> 01:08:58.800
wet with ring rats, think about
him at all, and just him just

906
01:08:58.880 --> 01:09:02.239
spilling like the good old boy all
over the place. Oh and yeah,

907
01:09:02.319 --> 01:09:05.680
wow, oh, God. So
now we're going to read No, I'm

908
01:09:05.680 --> 01:09:10.279
not sending you a thing about Tommy
Rich. So this is Matt sitting down

909
01:09:10.319 --> 01:09:13.840
and I will turn it over to
the boss Man for a recitation, recollecting

910
01:09:14.960 --> 01:09:17.439
what it was like to be a
wrestling fan in Philadelphia in the days before

911
01:09:18.039 --> 01:09:23.720
ECW kind of calcified and became what
it was. This is the Philadelphia wrestling

912
01:09:23.760 --> 01:09:29.600
scene that Terry Funk walks into in
nineteen ninety. On July fifth, nineteen

913
01:09:29.640 --> 01:09:33.760
eighty five, a retail store dedicated
a pro wrestling opened up just outside Philadelphia.

914
01:09:34.279 --> 01:09:39.680
It was called The Squared Circle,
occupying a modest stall less than one

915
01:09:39.760 --> 01:09:45.359
hundred and fifty square feet in Levittown, Pennsylvania's nine ninety five Marketplace. Bruno

916
01:09:45.479 --> 01:09:49.520
San Martino and Dominic Denucci were in
attendance for its grand opening. Two thirds

917
01:09:49.560 --> 01:09:54.039
of the business was owned by Carmela
Panhil, a friend of the pro wrestling

918
01:09:54.039 --> 01:09:57.640
business all her life, and her
husband Paul Panfil, a super fan with

919
01:09:57.720 --> 01:10:01.880
global tape trading connections. The rest
was owned by their insurance agent, Joel

920
01:10:02.079 --> 01:10:09.199
Goodhart. Paul Panfel acted as a
silent partner working their business connections while Carmela

921
01:10:09.239 --> 01:10:13.960
and Joel manned the storefront At some
point. Within this first year, Carmela

922
01:10:14.000 --> 01:10:18.159
and Joel started a pro wrestling radio
show together called Rastlin Review on WTTM,

923
01:10:18.199 --> 01:10:24.279
a small station notes out of Trenton, New Jersey. They discussed the latest

924
01:10:24.279 --> 01:10:29.159
wrestling news, had guests, took
live callers, and ran count contests.

925
01:10:29.680 --> 01:10:33.520
By September nineteen eighty six, WTTM
had merged with WDTV in Philadelphia, and

926
01:10:33.640 --> 01:10:41.520
Joel and Carmela's show had a new
name, Rasslin Radio That's Wrastling. Joel

927
01:10:41.600 --> 01:10:45.439
later said that the name was meant
to distinguish from the bad wrestling down at

928
01:10:45.479 --> 01:10:50.800
the Spectrum. Rastlin Radio aired Sundays
from twelve pm to one pm. Carmela

929
01:10:50.880 --> 01:10:56.920
wrote the entire show, sometimes staying
up until four or five am on Saturday

930
01:10:56.960 --> 01:11:00.840
nights finishing it up. The pair
amass a dedicated audience. Over the next

931
01:11:00.840 --> 01:11:04.600
two years. They had their own
one thousand member club, held local charity

932
01:11:04.640 --> 01:11:10.439
benefits, hosted guest wrestlers, and
even organized fan trips to pro wrestling events

933
01:11:10.439 --> 01:11:15.319
around the country, including Memphis TV, Star KT seven in Chicago, WrestleMania

934
01:11:15.399 --> 01:11:20.880
four in Atlantic City, and a
third annual Crocket Cup in Greensboro. Brian

935
01:11:20.920 --> 01:11:26.479
the Blue Meani Heffrin attended several of
these. Joel and Carmela had also developed

936
01:11:26.479 --> 01:11:30.840
a working relationship with Jim Crockett Promotions, occasionally attending NWA shows at the Civic

937
01:11:30.880 --> 01:11:35.479
Center for Rastland radio night events in
which members of their fan club would get

938
01:11:35.560 --> 01:11:42.079
ring signed seats. Carmelo would work
as timekeeper and Joel as the ring announcer.

939
01:11:42.680 --> 01:11:46.079
So when WDTV signed off as a
radio station on the July twenty fifth,

940
01:11:46.119 --> 01:11:49.319
ninety eight, Joel was able to
arrange for the show to be aired

941
01:11:50.039 --> 01:11:58.680
instead on Philadelphia's premier sports radio station, six' ten. WIP Wrestling Radio

942
01:11:59.000 --> 01:12:02.039
debuted there on third, nineteen eighty
eight, Airing for an hour every Sunday

943
01:12:02.079 --> 01:12:06.319
morning from eight am to nine am. It became the third most popular Saturday

944
01:12:06.319 --> 01:12:12.239
morning radio show in Philadelphia, drawing
twenty two thousand listeners per quarter hour.

945
01:12:12.359 --> 01:12:14.960
According to Joel, that was such
a thing, Like you think about John

946
01:12:14.960 --> 01:12:19.920
Arezi and his New York Wrestling spotlight
show. Yeah, like these these key

947
01:12:19.960 --> 01:12:25.520
markets would have these these folks that
would buy time on the key sports radio

948
01:12:25.520 --> 01:12:30.159
stations and just talk about wrestling and
overperform outperform expectations, you know, and

949
01:12:30.279 --> 01:12:31.880
wow, yeah, of course,
because like you know, they're they're people

950
01:12:31.920 --> 01:12:38.920
who who need it. Absolutely,
yeah, they need it. And the

951
01:12:40.560 --> 01:12:43.159
what do they need? Just to
be clear, I mean you say they

952
01:12:43.319 --> 01:12:51.159
need information, they need like more, you know, wrestling fans always need

953
01:12:51.800 --> 01:12:57.640
more. Wow, even when they
claim to be completely overwhelmed by the amount

954
01:12:57.680 --> 01:13:02.079
of content hours. Yes, because
you know, because there's always something there's

955
01:13:02.119 --> 01:13:06.199
always something we don't know, yes, Or there's always something we think we

956
01:13:06.359 --> 01:13:13.520
know yeah that can be very easily
dislodged, Or there's always something that we

957
01:13:15.159 --> 01:13:17.720
want to know more about. There's
always something that we want to be true.

958
01:13:18.039 --> 01:13:25.119
Yes, And so you know,
free sheets, you're right, and

959
01:13:25.159 --> 01:13:30.439
you're automatically going to get a fan
base of that because people are going to

960
01:13:30.520 --> 01:13:32.319
like, well, look at this, they're talking about the thing that I

961
01:13:32.319 --> 01:13:35.159
love the most and nobody else is. And how cool is that they're just

962
01:13:35.199 --> 01:13:40.560
talking about it exactly, even if
they're not saying anything particularly worthwhile about it,

963
01:13:40.680 --> 01:13:43.319
right, And yeah, that's that's
just fascinating. This where we got

964
01:13:43.359 --> 01:13:45.239
Vince Russo from. He's a creature
of that world, right, you know,

965
01:13:45.279 --> 01:13:48.760
he's a creature of being on the
radio and trying to be like a

966
01:13:48.800 --> 01:13:51.600
journalist with the wrestling gimmick vick venom
and all that and all started there,

967
01:13:51.640 --> 01:13:57.560
and that's where hardcore fans went at
the time, was they they sought out

968
01:13:57.600 --> 01:14:00.279
these little small pockets where you know, it's just like today, it's just

969
01:14:00.359 --> 01:14:03.239
like this podcast. Yes, you
know, it's like a way for like

970
01:14:03.319 --> 01:14:05.680
minded people. Of course, it's
easier than ever because of the Internet and

971
01:14:05.680 --> 01:14:10.439
podcasting in particular to find like minded
wrestling fans. But this is what everyone

972
01:14:10.439 --> 01:14:13.800
who listened to that show is in
search of in the eighties, and it's

973
01:14:13.840 --> 01:14:19.800
what we're capitalizing on to great joy
and effect today. Yeah, yeah,

974
01:14:20.359 --> 01:14:29.840
jeez fucking nuts. One of the
most notable events during their time on WIP

975
01:14:29.960 --> 01:14:32.560
occurred on April thirtieth, nineteen eighty
nine, in the Philadelphia Civic Center's Plaza

976
01:14:32.600 --> 01:14:38.640
Ballroom, when Rick Flair attended their
banquet to crown him Wrestler of the Decade

977
01:14:38.960 --> 01:14:43.640
as voted by Rastlin radio listeners.
There were one hundred and thirty eight people

978
01:14:43.640 --> 01:14:46.720
in attendance, each paying seventy five
dollars for the privilege. To commemorate the

979
01:14:46.760 --> 01:14:53.359
event, Joel Goodhart commissioned a custom
belt from Mike Vartanian for twelve hundred dollars,

980
01:14:53.399 --> 01:14:57.760
It said Rasslin Radio's wrestler of the
eighties. There's only one known photo

981
01:14:57.760 --> 01:15:00.520
that exists of Flair holding it.
He knows where the belt is these days,

982
01:15:00.520 --> 01:15:03.319
but I've heard that Joel had two
made and he has the other.

983
01:15:04.800 --> 01:15:10.359
This was right around the same time
when Joel quit the insurance business, opening

984
01:15:10.479 --> 01:15:15.680
Ringmaster's Wrestling School and started running his
own shows that would become the Tri State

985
01:15:15.920 --> 01:15:26.439
Wrestling Alliance. One of the fans
of Tri State Wrestling the w of Wrestling

986
01:15:26.560 --> 01:15:31.720
Radio, Todd Gordon. Todd Gordon
was a minor financier of TWA. They

987
01:15:31.840 --> 01:15:35.119
held events all through nineteen ninety one, but by January of nineteenninety two,

988
01:15:35.239 --> 01:15:42.399
Joel had sold his slice to Todd
and was backselling insurance. Todd, of

989
01:15:42.439 --> 01:15:45.880
course went on to form Eastern Championship
Wrestling, sold it to Paul Hayman in

990
01:15:45.920 --> 01:15:51.159
nineteen ninety six, and the rest
is well documented. Carmela says there would

991
01:15:51.199 --> 01:15:56.359
never have been a Squared Circle store
or Wrestling radio without her husband Paul,

992
01:15:57.399 --> 01:16:00.880
and if you take the obvious implications
to the next day, ye there would

993
01:16:00.920 --> 01:16:03.479
have been no TWA, which means, of course no ECW. Depending upon

994
01:16:03.560 --> 01:16:09.079
where you started on stand on ECW
as an organization, you ultimately have the

995
01:16:09.159 --> 01:16:14.640
pan fills to thank or blame.
Here's an interview with Joel Goodheart from twenty

996
01:16:14.840 --> 01:16:17.960
twelve. It starts about seven minutes
and he talks quite a bit about the

997
01:16:17.960 --> 01:16:21.960
early days of the Square Circle history
melaw talking about Tim Radich's hair as well.

998
01:16:23.079 --> 01:16:28.960
Yeah, yeah, amazing. Yeah, so TWA and it does fold

999
01:16:29.359 --> 01:16:31.279
and Todd Gordon does pick up the
slack. You know, he had a

1000
01:16:32.239 --> 01:16:40.000
family jewelry store called oh my God, how is it Escaping Me? In

1001
01:16:40.039 --> 01:16:46.560
South Philly. They used to advertise
all over the wrestling show and we'll we'll

1002
01:16:46.600 --> 01:16:53.199
see a couple of those advertisements as
we watch it back. It is it

1003
01:16:53.279 --> 01:16:59.680
is Carver read all right. So
anybody who ever sees the Carver Red Jewelry

1004
01:16:59.680 --> 01:17:04.960
store in Philadelphia know that that's a
ECW proprietor Todd Gordon's store. Wow.

1005
01:17:05.239 --> 01:17:09.159
And Todd Gordon set up Eastern Championship
Wrestling is kind of like, you know,

1006
01:17:10.760 --> 01:17:13.239
more than anything, Like there's the
local guys training in the school,

1007
01:17:13.279 --> 01:17:15.520
trying to make it your local indie
guys, and then there were just WWF

1008
01:17:15.520 --> 01:17:18.600
and ww castoffs, guys with names
that happened to be available that were big.

1009
01:17:18.760 --> 01:17:21.520
At one point in the Northeast,
he booked Jimmy Snooka, he booked

1010
01:17:21.520 --> 01:17:27.800
on Morocco, he booked Hawk,
He booked a handful of other guys that

1011
01:17:27.880 --> 01:17:30.840
had Tito I think, came through
and had made an impact on the circuit,

1012
01:17:30.840 --> 01:17:33.039
and it was kind of like a
one off payday. It wasn't really

1013
01:17:33.079 --> 01:17:38.680
like a it wasn't a touring centralized
group yet, and guys would come through.

1014
01:17:38.720 --> 01:17:41.439
It was kind of like a super
indie in a way. And booking

1015
01:17:41.439 --> 01:17:45.000
for him was Eddie Gilbert. Terry
Funk, by the way, said that

1016
01:17:45.039 --> 01:17:48.239
he was offered the initial booking job
for RECW, but Eddie Gilbert ended up

1017
01:17:48.239 --> 01:17:51.159
getting it and Terry kind of passed
on it. Eddie Gilbert was a true

1018
01:17:51.199 --> 01:17:55.439
Memphis wrestling nut, obsessed with Jerry
Lawler, wanted to emulate him in every

1019
01:17:55.439 --> 01:18:00.479
way, and he wanted to export
that brawling style of Memphis everywhere, including

1020
01:18:00.159 --> 01:18:04.159
some early nineteen nineties matches that Eddie
Gilbert himself had with Terry Funk in a

1021
01:18:04.279 --> 01:18:09.199
series of fledgling independent promotions across the
East coast where the appetite was there for

1022
01:18:09.239 --> 01:18:12.279
that kind of wild and wooly brawling
in and out of the ring, into

1023
01:18:12.319 --> 01:18:15.680
the crowd, into the parking lot, everything. And so Eastern was going

1024
01:18:15.680 --> 01:18:19.079
to run its first television taping having
received clearance. I believe it was on

1025
01:18:19.239 --> 01:18:24.600
a sports channel Philadelphia. Really good
clearance there. And it was March nineteen

1026
01:18:24.640 --> 01:18:28.880
ninety three. He was at the
Cabrini College, about a half hour outside

1027
01:18:28.880 --> 01:18:30.920
of Philadelphia. Of course that night
there were three feet of snow to hear

1028
01:18:30.920 --> 01:18:36.199
Todd Gordon tell it, counting for
a rather lethargic and sparse crowd. But

1029
01:18:36.279 --> 01:18:42.560
it aired on April sixth, nineteen
and ninety three. Eastern Championship Wrestling ECW

1030
01:18:42.760 --> 01:18:47.319
Folks April sixth, nineteen ninety three. And if we can turn, well

1031
01:18:47.319 --> 01:18:50.159
we will in a moment, let's
do it. Disc nineteen. Boss,

1032
01:18:50.159 --> 01:18:55.600
if you can open that puppy up, We're going to see who comes out

1033
01:18:55.720 --> 01:19:00.039
to be presented to the television audience
on the very very very very first c

1034
01:19:00.279 --> 01:19:14.359
W taping as a commentator. Hold
on here, so Disc nineteen at the

1035
01:19:14.399 --> 01:19:17.119
beginning, or is there a time
code? Oh, I'm Cotyl right at

1036
01:19:17.119 --> 01:19:27.479
the beginning, yet Yeah, okay, so three two one play ratings wrestling

1037
01:19:27.560 --> 01:19:32.159
fans to a packed tas Cabrini College
field House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has the

1038
01:19:32.239 --> 01:19:39.560
inaugural edition of Eastern Championship Wrestling on
Sports Channel. My name is Jay Sully.

1039
01:19:39.760 --> 01:19:43.199
I'll be bringing you all the play
by play action this evening along with

1040
01:19:43.239 --> 01:19:47.359
my co host, the official color
analyst for the ECW, mister Stevie Wonderful,

1041
01:19:47.439 --> 01:19:51.800
and in in one of lore here
live and in living color. ECW

1042
01:19:53.000 --> 01:19:57.640
first Week or Sports Channel Philadelphia gotting
down the hatches. Here we come.

1043
01:19:57.840 --> 01:20:00.880
We got a lot of things happening
to night, j Sully. But before

1044
01:20:00.920 --> 01:20:03.880
we get started with any of the
action tonight, it's my pleasure to first

1045
01:20:03.960 --> 01:20:13.239
introduce the President of the e c
W, mister Todd Gordon. Oh my

1046
01:20:13.359 --> 01:20:15.840
god, I'm leading to see here. Jay, It's a pleasure to be

1047
01:20:15.880 --> 01:20:25.960
here with both of you and Steve
Wonderful. How much how much he's a

1048
01:20:26.079 --> 01:20:29.279
jeweler. What do you trying to
say? Rushing champion, That's what it's

1049
01:20:29.319 --> 01:20:31.760
all about, and it's starting tonight. We got sports downal We have a

1050
01:20:31.840 --> 01:20:39.000
tournament right here. E c W
style, the way only e c W

1051
01:20:39.000 --> 01:20:42.600
wrestlers can do it. From what
I understand, some of the top stars

1052
01:20:42.720 --> 01:20:45.560
and professional wrestling are here and in
that tournament. That is correction, a

1053
01:20:45.640 --> 01:20:56.960
special announcement just for you and just
for you. That's right, special person

1054
01:20:57.000 --> 01:20:59.760
is going to be. You're about
to introduce a very special person joined us

1055
01:20:59.800 --> 01:21:08.520
bring all time living legend himself.
That's right, the living legend and Soleddy

1056
01:21:08.560 --> 01:21:13.119
Gilbert. Thank you, thank you, thank you very much, mister Gardens.

1057
01:21:13.319 --> 01:21:16.760
That's indeed, you're right. But
mister Gilbert, and I know you

1058
01:21:16.800 --> 01:21:20.920
better than anybody knows you. That's
right, and I'm not gonna put up

1059
01:21:20.960 --> 01:21:25.880
with your Shenanigan. I want you
to look at the monitor right now and

1060
01:21:26.039 --> 01:21:30.319
see who it is that's gonna be
our new third. Let's just say this

1061
01:21:30.399 --> 01:21:41.359
wasn't clear. Quantumly hespuns into the
window and Quantumly the television show God the

1062
01:21:41.439 --> 01:21:49.159
Funker tearing your head off and shove
it up here. God warn me,

1063
01:21:49.760 --> 01:22:15.479
you tring to kill me? What's
happening? Doors off you? Sam?

1064
01:22:15.680 --> 01:22:19.359
Look at him? God, I
want to selling. He's going ahead.

1065
01:22:19.760 --> 01:22:25.600
Oh, I want to add him
sold, Quantum leap Sam. I don't

1066
01:22:25.640 --> 01:22:29.640
know why I didn't get another act
cop after this, imagine taking Quantum Leaf

1067
01:22:29.640 --> 01:22:38.560
off, Quantum Leaf off television,
the real b He comes Gerry Gilbert looking

1068
01:22:38.680 --> 01:22:45.840
like fucking Shane Douglas's my thousand Chris. There's a funker and a blazer and

1069
01:22:45.920 --> 01:22:53.239
my god, she knows look at
him. Jerry fuck Jerry fuck? No,

1070
01:22:53.520 --> 01:22:58.560
No, you taking me where?
I call him a legend, Well

1071
01:22:58.640 --> 01:23:05.800
legend to me, old man.
Okay, hey, hey, I want

1072
01:23:05.800 --> 01:23:10.439
to say something, And what I
want to say is this that when you

1073
01:23:10.600 --> 01:23:14.800
run with my old gang, you
gotta be tough. And if you want

1074
01:23:14.800 --> 01:23:18.279
to get tough, you can get
into the wrestling ring with me. But

1075
01:23:18.399 --> 01:23:26.239
then how would that look if this
old man here kicked your butt? Oh

1076
01:23:26.359 --> 01:23:36.840
yeah, oh yeah. You know. I want to say to you people

1077
01:23:36.920 --> 01:23:43.119
here and you people out home there
that it's a pleasure being here because each

1078
01:23:43.159 --> 01:23:47.640
and every one of you in this
area have got a place in my heart

1079
01:23:48.039 --> 01:23:57.960
because it is the HC portion of
the United States is where the Eastern Championship

1080
01:23:58.000 --> 01:24:04.079
Wrestling is originated. And what I
mean by HC it's a hardcore fans ICEE.

1081
01:24:09.600 --> 01:24:14.119
And I want to say one other
thing too, that Todd has put

1082
01:24:14.159 --> 01:24:18.039
together a bunch of wrestlers out here
that maybe some of them you haven't seen

1083
01:24:18.079 --> 01:24:24.079
before, and some of them you've
seen many times on your television. But

1084
01:24:24.239 --> 01:24:29.560
I promise you hardcore fans, that
the lot of these guys will give you

1085
01:24:29.920 --> 01:24:36.760
their heart and their soul right in
that wrestling ring, Terry. It's a

1086
01:24:36.800 --> 01:24:43.119
pleasure to have a great living legend
like mister Terry Funk joining us in the

1087
01:24:43.159 --> 01:24:49.600
e c W. And I right
now would like to start the announcing by

1088
01:24:49.800 --> 01:24:58.479
saying, we'll be back with e
c W Wrestling right after this break.

1089
01:24:58.600 --> 01:25:09.920
Yeah, yeah, what the fuck? So what do you think of Todd

1090
01:25:09.960 --> 01:25:15.920
Gordon? First of all, I
mean, I feel like I just got

1091
01:25:16.000 --> 01:25:20.279
robbed. Why. I mean,
he just I feel like together, gentlemen.

1092
01:25:20.720 --> 01:25:25.920
Yeah, he's put together by other
people's money, That's what he's put

1093
01:25:25.920 --> 01:25:29.960
together. I feel like I feel
like I just got swindled out of money.

1094
01:25:30.720 --> 01:25:32.319
I feel like he just convinced me
to give him money. And I'm

1095
01:25:32.359 --> 01:25:35.199
not even the same room as him. And this happened fucking you know,

1096
01:25:35.279 --> 01:25:41.039
thirty years ago. Are you still
on pause? Perchance? Yes, there's

1097
01:25:41.079 --> 01:25:46.680
a further introduction of Terry Funk on
these initial Embryonic proto ECW episodes, and

1098
01:25:46.720 --> 01:25:51.880
again they just shamelessly continue to rip
off footage of him acting in major television

1099
01:25:51.880 --> 01:25:56.800
shows without any permission, presumably to
air the clips on the on the screen.

1100
01:25:57.000 --> 01:25:59.239
Oh, I'm sure, but they're
trying to build up the bona fides

1101
01:25:59.279 --> 01:26:01.560
of how like you know, it's
from day one, Terry Funk being associated

1102
01:26:01.600 --> 01:26:05.039
with ECW served to elevate its profile. You could see how they kind of

1103
01:26:05.039 --> 01:26:09.760
treated him there. And he comes
out dressed in you know, not in

1104
01:26:09.800 --> 01:26:13.279
the usual threads. Right, he's
he's there to be a sort of like

1105
01:26:13.319 --> 01:26:16.000
you know, the NFL Sunday desk
guys. Almost yeah, right, you

1106
01:26:16.039 --> 01:26:20.640
know he's right, yeah, he's
he's there to fucking you know, call

1107
01:26:20.720 --> 01:26:25.159
the action and analyze things. Right, He's not there to bring chaos.

1108
01:26:25.199 --> 01:26:28.720
He's there to class up the joint
and that promo face off there we just

1109
01:26:28.720 --> 01:26:30.439
heard with Eddie Gilbert. He's all
smiles, he's all you know, calm,

1110
01:26:30.479 --> 01:26:34.000
cool, collected. There's no hint
that the insane Funker is being imported

1111
01:26:34.000 --> 01:26:39.079
here to Philadelphia for this new BCW
show. And so let's just keep playing

1112
01:26:39.079 --> 01:26:43.640
this here on the count of one
and see what else ECW did to ingratiate

1113
01:26:43.720 --> 01:26:46.560
Terry Funk. To their audience from
the absolute very beginning. So here we

1114
01:26:46.600 --> 01:26:53.079
go in three to one play return
of the King of the Texas Deathmatch.

1115
01:26:53.800 --> 01:26:58.399
Terry Funk will be back here with
as live on e c W. Let's

1116
01:26:58.399 --> 01:27:05.079
take another look at the livy legend
and movie star Harry Bomb. Look at

1117
01:27:05.119 --> 01:27:08.960
him on wild Side. It always
looks worse than it is. Miss breaking

1118
01:27:09.000 --> 01:27:14.000
off. He's gonna be all right. It cuts your superficial and a breaking

1119
01:27:14.039 --> 01:27:19.800
the right leg is only a simple
fracture. Oh fire, all done.

1120
01:27:21.760 --> 01:27:28.880
You're gonna take it easy now,
aren't you? Herman? I thought his

1121
01:27:29.039 --> 01:27:38.119
time was threw on his ses.
Tomorrow, I bring you some strude harmon

1122
01:27:38.319 --> 01:27:45.000
loves my apple student. I GI
means something to look forward to, something

1123
01:27:48.760 --> 01:27:54.399
You've never seen this stuff? Right? What are you doing? I'm trying

1124
01:27:54.399 --> 01:27:56.279
to get the location of the mine
out of that man. What do you

1125
01:27:56.319 --> 01:28:00.279
would think I'm doing? Brodie,
That's not how we plan it. I'm

1126
01:28:00.479 --> 01:28:03.479
supposed to be the bad guy.
You're supposed to be the good guy.

1127
01:28:03.800 --> 01:28:08.000
He spin on my boots? Did
he spin on my boots? Or starty?

1128
01:28:08.079 --> 01:28:12.199
Getting mad? And I am mad? Trying to scare that man?

1129
01:28:13.840 --> 01:28:20.640
Where's Teak again? I want to
see more than anything. But well,

1130
01:28:23.479 --> 01:28:27.239
I'm the one who's supposed to always
get mad and scare things house people.

1131
01:28:28.520 --> 01:28:31.880
I studied this one. It's my
turns to see. We both can't get

1132
01:28:31.960 --> 01:28:36.479
mad at the same time. Just
doesn't work that way. It's not the

1133
01:28:36.520 --> 01:28:42.239
way we plan though. Are you
terrorizing me yet? I'd like to get

1134
01:28:42.319 --> 01:28:56.239
some sleep. Do you imagine pause
just like shamelessly plum that on your wrestling

1135
01:28:56.319 --> 01:29:00.479
show. I mean, it's just
it's awful. It's awful. It didn't

1136
01:29:00.479 --> 01:29:02.600
even have like the ECW logo watermark
on it or anything. You'd just be

1137
01:29:02.640 --> 01:29:06.720
flipping the channels Sports Channel Philadelphia in
nineteen ninety three and you would have just

1138
01:29:06.760 --> 01:29:12.640
seen Wildside, just footage of Terry
Funk acting on the show. Wildside was

1139
01:29:12.680 --> 01:29:16.880
a country western show, like an
Old West thriller or whatever the fuck they

1140
01:29:16.960 --> 01:29:26.399
were doing, right, I mean, that's a pathetic went back to j

1141
01:29:26.640 --> 01:29:30.079
Sally, here's fucking idiots. Here
you get this clown in the suit and

1142
01:29:30.199 --> 01:29:36.800
then the redheaded the love child of
fucking Jimmy Garvin and Oliver Humberden care.

1143
01:29:39.399 --> 01:29:42.199
Oh, you nailed that one.
No needs to try to up you on

1144
01:29:42.279 --> 01:29:46.800
that. But didn't go so well, this first maiden voyage here for Eastern

1145
01:29:46.880 --> 01:29:49.159
Championship Wrestling. Again, as mentioned, there was a lot of snow.

1146
01:29:49.439 --> 01:29:53.840
It was spring break on campus or
close to it, so it might not

1147
01:29:53.960 --> 01:29:57.359
have been the best time to bring
the show to the Cabrini College fieldhouse.

1148
01:29:57.920 --> 01:30:00.279
They got moved around quite a bit. The people who did show go up

1149
01:30:00.319 --> 01:30:03.239
to make sure, you know,
hard cameras were covered and such, and

1150
01:30:04.119 --> 01:30:06.840
Todd Gordon in his book writes,
despite all that, I was pretty elated

1151
01:30:06.880 --> 01:30:10.920
after the shoots. We'd pulled it
off in the face of some steep odds.

1152
01:30:11.199 --> 01:30:14.279
I was walking away from that weekend
in March ninety three with enough footage

1153
01:30:14.279 --> 01:30:17.199
for three weeks of Pro Wrestling TV
featuring names the fans new like Snooka,

1154
01:30:17.279 --> 01:30:19.960
Morocco, Gilbert and Funk. I
was proud of what we'd done. I

1155
01:30:20.079 --> 01:30:24.039
joined the broadcast team for the show's
sign off. I stood with Sully and

1156
01:30:24.079 --> 01:30:27.159
Funk and said how proud I was
of our exciting show and told the fans

1157
01:30:27.159 --> 01:30:30.439
they could expect more of that every
week. That's when Terry Funk, one

1158
01:30:30.479 --> 01:30:33.960
of my wrestling idols, picked up
his mic and told fans and don't worry,

1159
01:30:34.119 --> 01:30:39.840
it'll get better. Did he really
just say that? I forced a

1160
01:30:39.840 --> 01:30:42.039
smile, though it took the year
out of me like a pricked balloon.

1161
01:30:42.119 --> 01:30:45.479
The voice of God was pretty audible
on the drive home, reminding me that

1162
01:30:45.520 --> 01:30:47.159
I should get the hell back to
work. Diamonds are where it's at.

1163
01:30:47.720 --> 01:30:51.399
Or maybe that was my dad's voice. Either way, I'd successfully gotten three

1164
01:30:51.399 --> 01:30:55.359
weeks worth of TV in the cannon. I felt some momentum, however slight.

1165
01:30:55.640 --> 01:30:59.880
I'd also meant a very creative guy
named Paul Hayman, So Hayman lurking

1166
01:31:00.039 --> 01:31:04.920
from day one, and Terry Funk
did say to the crowd. He said

1167
01:31:04.960 --> 01:31:10.520
it more on the television broadcast than
he did to the live arena event people.

1168
01:31:10.600 --> 01:31:14.159
But I don't know why Todd remembers
it as him being at ringside when

1169
01:31:14.239 --> 01:31:16.439
Terry Funk said it, because when
you watch the actual broadcast, it's very

1170
01:31:16.439 --> 01:31:19.800
evident that Todd Gordon was not out
there when Terry said it. Yeah,

1171
01:31:20.319 --> 01:31:24.680
maybe there was another segment where he
was next to him, But here is

1172
01:31:25.159 --> 01:31:28.840
the moment in question. This is
Terry Funk realizing that they hadn't knocked him

1173
01:31:28.840 --> 01:31:31.720
dead in the very first ECW taping
that he was hired to be the respected

1174
01:31:31.760 --> 01:31:39.199
and esteemed and you know, venerated
voice of Jay. I will say that

1175
01:31:39.279 --> 01:31:41.560
we had a great show. Here
does I answer the first show? And

1176
01:31:41.680 --> 01:31:44.960
I'll say what, I think we
got some room for improvement, and we're

1177
01:31:45.000 --> 01:31:47.720
gonna try real hard for your people
out there. Forgive us some time and

1178
01:31:47.840 --> 01:31:51.359
we'll get better, and so on
the crowds when I'll say what, I

1179
01:31:51.399 --> 01:31:57.159
don't know if the wrest will put
down. It was not such a big

1180
01:31:57.239 --> 01:32:01.359
put down. I mean, geez, the fuck still amazing that he said

1181
01:32:01.399 --> 01:32:08.119
that, though it is, oh, you know, Hannah, it wasn't

1182
01:32:08.159 --> 01:32:11.760
that good, but uh, you
know, we'll try again. Give us

1183
01:32:11.760 --> 01:32:15.640
another chance. That's so like you
know, Terry Funk's like, you know,

1184
01:32:15.800 --> 01:32:20.119
satisfy the consumer mentality, you know, like a wrestler who's thinking of

1185
01:32:20.279 --> 01:32:23.800
like the audience, not as a
bunch of marks, but as customers,

1186
01:32:23.840 --> 01:32:27.159
you know, right, spoken like
a true son of a territory owner,

1187
01:32:27.199 --> 01:32:30.920
an NWA boss. So in Terry's
book, he recalls these early days.

1188
01:32:31.039 --> 01:32:34.000
Eddie ran our first show held in
a gymnasium. The show was the biggest

1189
01:32:34.039 --> 01:32:38.960
fiasco that I ever witnessed in my
life. Yeah, I imagine, So

1190
01:32:39.520 --> 01:32:42.960
the dressing rooms were full of wrestlers, non wrestlers, hunchbacks, fat girls,

1191
01:32:42.960 --> 01:32:45.720
skinny girls, and very few pretty
girls. Just the damnedest menagerie of

1192
01:32:45.800 --> 01:32:50.199
humanity you can imagine. One guy
I remember was the Sandman. He was

1193
01:32:50.239 --> 01:32:56.760
there and he was god awful.
He was one of many what's that not

1194
01:32:57.439 --> 01:33:00.159
just grunting and groaning. He was
one of the many who became good workers.

1195
01:33:00.199 --> 01:33:03.880
But who was just the shits that
night? Yeah, the weather was

1196
01:33:03.960 --> 01:33:06.720
bad too, so they didn't have
that many people there. We just had

1197
01:33:06.760 --> 01:33:11.039
a few hundred for the first ECW
show. That show was so rotten you

1198
01:33:11.119 --> 01:33:15.720
just wouldn't believe it unless you were
there. After after my matchro grabbed the

1199
01:33:15.720 --> 01:33:16.600
microphone and said, you know,
I know the show wasn't the greatest,

1200
01:33:16.640 --> 01:33:19.119
but you people bear with us,
and I promise we'll put you on a

1201
01:33:19.199 --> 01:33:24.119
better product. And they did.
The fans stuck with ECW. The morning

1202
01:33:24.159 --> 01:33:26.159
after the show, we were trying
to get out, but we were snowed

1203
01:33:26.199 --> 01:33:28.920
in and ended up stuck at the
hotel for two more days, and Eddie,

1204
01:33:28.920 --> 01:33:31.439
Gilbert and I spent those two days
creating stuff for ECW. Some stuff

1205
01:33:31.479 --> 01:33:34.359
in wrestling today is a byproduct of
an idea for Eddie Gilbert, people have

1206
01:33:34.439 --> 01:33:39.640
no idea how influential his ideas really
were. So among the things they sit

1207
01:33:39.680 --> 01:33:43.600
down, apparently and booked together are
their early era feud against each other,

1208
01:33:43.720 --> 01:33:46.479
Terry Funk and Ellie Eddie Gilbert is
sort of telegraphed by that face off at

1209
01:33:46.479 --> 01:33:49.119
the very top of the very first
ECW broadcast. We're about to go to

1210
01:33:49.239 --> 01:33:51.960
war, about to engage in an
angle and fisticuff. So it isn't all

1211
01:33:53.039 --> 01:33:56.680
to be just straight laced announcer Terry
Funk here in ECWS, as you wouldn't

1212
01:33:56.680 --> 01:33:59.119
have expected it to be. And
by the way, I do know that

1213
01:33:59.199 --> 01:34:01.880
Terry Funk said this snow storm seemed
to occur after the taping, not before

1214
01:34:01.960 --> 01:34:05.800
the taping, as a Todd Gordon
seemed to want to represent, perhaps to

1215
01:34:06.640 --> 01:34:11.800
offset light attendants. So I don't
know, I don't know when it snowed,

1216
01:34:11.840 --> 01:34:15.279
but it seems if it afterwards,
you couldn't quite blame that for the

1217
01:34:15.359 --> 01:34:21.159
pieces of shit. So this nineteen
is the next stop, nineteen, and

1218
01:34:21.239 --> 01:34:26.159
we're going over to five thirty four
on the time CO. That's five minutes

1219
01:34:26.199 --> 01:34:30.479
thirty four seconds on nineteen. We're
on nineteen, and we just saw five

1220
01:34:30.600 --> 01:34:33.000
thirty four. Okay, it must
be that and then more. Okay,

1221
01:34:33.279 --> 01:34:38.079
so we're going to keep it rolling. Now this is going to be more

1222
01:34:38.239 --> 01:34:43.439
of Terry Funk, including another confrontation
with Eddie Gilbert. So where we paused

1223
01:34:43.520 --> 01:34:54.279
last, we hit play again three
two one, so we got the answer

1224
01:34:54.279 --> 01:34:59.239
to Prank's side. Hey, Selly
and Stevie. Wonderful they have the ECW

1225
01:34:59.399 --> 01:35:04.279
typeface television they would keep when it
came to stream Championship Wrestling for a little

1226
01:35:04.279 --> 01:35:08.680
while. That's right, and it's
wonderful to be here tonight. On's for

1227
01:35:08.880 --> 01:35:14.039
solo up here, and right now, I would like to introduce my very

1228
01:35:14.199 --> 01:35:19.479
special we'll call him a guest commentator. Right now, Fus King of the

1229
01:35:19.760 --> 01:35:26.720
Texas Death Match. I give you
the third man, the move hot Soup.

1230
01:35:27.520 --> 01:35:34.680
Eddie Gilbert says, I am now
the official guest commentator. I am

1231
01:35:34.840 --> 01:35:47.680
right, my right, I am
another commentator for the e c W.

1232
01:35:48.079 --> 01:35:50.960
Take a quick look at the monitor
right down here and you'll see who I'm

1233
01:35:51.000 --> 01:35:56.079
talking about, the real King of
the Texas Death Match. Didn't we just

1234
01:35:56.199 --> 01:36:09.760
do this like the rest of Oh
damn quite, you're yelling, I'm right

1235
01:36:09.880 --> 01:36:18.079
here. Where's the funker. Ah, nice hat, mister shallow. Well

1236
01:36:18.159 --> 01:36:24.159
look here, if it ain't the
leaping little post reader, good boy,

1237
01:36:25.560 --> 01:36:30.680
what are you doing in here?
I just congratulating the kid. We were

1238
01:36:30.920 --> 01:36:33.840
just talking, all right. You
got to get that post to talk.

1239
01:36:34.960 --> 01:36:40.319
You ain't trying to wrestle my wife? Are you a boy? As a

1240
01:36:40.399 --> 01:36:43.239
matter of fact, we were just
about to do it right here, uncle

1241
01:36:43.319 --> 01:36:57.239
when you walked in. What star
quantum Scott vaculate gv Scott bacula. It's

1242
01:36:57.239 --> 01:37:01.399
exactly right, sorry, funking a
full cowboy out the suit like ta boom

1243
01:37:01.439 --> 01:37:05.920
pickings? Is I molly this guy
in the locker room because he's about to

1244
01:37:06.279 --> 01:37:17.680
hunt his wife and I have to
break in such a kind of ship that

1245
01:37:17.760 --> 01:37:26.039
I can't that. I always hate
that, you know, once again is

1246
01:37:26.159 --> 01:37:29.159
denting the door of the locker over
his head as the funker. You gotta

1247
01:37:29.199 --> 01:37:34.359
treat wrestling like it's real, you
know, it's like carry What do you

1248
01:37:34.439 --> 01:37:39.680
think about that? So Eddie Gilbert
was supposed to watch that footage of me

1249
01:37:39.720 --> 01:37:47.359
intimidated, didn't didn't see what did
the same fucking thing the last thing we

1250
01:37:47.479 --> 01:37:51.279
just watched. Thanks for joining us
again had me a little bit worried.

1251
01:37:51.600 --> 01:37:56.640
Bunker's back up. Get that up
here, you professor? Or what this

1252
01:37:58.479 --> 01:38:06.920
TV stare? Even he gets contact? Hit you going and handle the sidrophonesny,

1253
01:38:08.079 --> 01:38:15.319
because I'm my knee full of my
fist. Now, Gilbert is Conker.

1254
01:38:15.920 --> 01:38:19.000
You want to talk, you go
ahead and talk. If I want

1255
01:38:19.039 --> 01:38:27.119
to talk, I'll go ahead and
talk. Yeah, But are you gonna

1256
01:38:27.159 --> 01:38:29.520
know about it? Huh? What
do you gonna do about it? If

1257
01:38:29.520 --> 01:38:32.600
I want to stay here, I'm
gonna stay here. These are my people

1258
01:38:32.760 --> 01:38:38.279
here. Oh leave, you're here. They don't let me, they don't

1259
01:38:38.359 --> 01:38:44.880
let sounds like lawler. You don't
use for a long time. And I

1260
01:38:45.000 --> 01:38:49.239
don't intend on taking any crap from
you now or any other time. And

1261
01:38:49.399 --> 01:38:56.680
you and your perier water that means
nothing to me. Oh yeah, see,

1262
01:38:56.720 --> 01:39:00.039
what are you gonna get about it? Pours the water down his T

1263
01:39:00.199 --> 01:39:10.239
shirt that sells it like his melting
Oh you're something right now? Yeah,

1264
01:39:10.319 --> 01:39:15.439
let me tell you something. Him
out here insulting me. I don't need

1265
01:39:15.600 --> 01:39:19.560
him out here, insulting the fans
that have came here to e c W.

1266
01:39:20.600 --> 01:39:26.359
And it's not gonna happen, but
they're gonna have a fine wrestling show.

1267
01:39:27.319 --> 01:39:30.279
Let's go to a break and we'll
be back in a minute. Podcast.

1268
01:39:30.800 --> 01:39:34.359
Yeah, we're gonna have a fun
wrestling show, so let's take a

1269
01:39:34.479 --> 01:39:41.039
break. A humbred days there he
is, right, yeah, and the

1270
01:39:41.159 --> 01:39:45.079
Dusty booking pause that puppy Okay,
so not the best no awful, I

1271
01:39:45.159 --> 01:39:48.439
mean, not the best stuff here
early on in ECW it's important to remember

1272
01:39:48.520 --> 01:39:51.439
this well, it wasn't extreme yet, right, and this is the initial

1273
01:39:51.479 --> 01:39:56.000
vision, this before Paul had the
book. Paul. It's a long story,

1274
01:39:56.079 --> 01:39:59.880
but Todd Gordon lays it out well
in his book. Paul was still

1275
01:40:00.000 --> 01:40:08.319
representing himself as scouting talent for Jim
Crockett Junior's latest venture in wrestling, because

1276
01:40:08.359 --> 01:40:13.079
Jim Crockett signed a deal when they
sold to Turner in eighty eight that basically

1277
01:40:13.399 --> 01:40:16.840
kept him on a consulting fee until
about nineteen ninety three or four, I

1278
01:40:16.960 --> 01:40:21.800
believe, And so Jim Crockett got
paid for years after the transaction to Ted

1279
01:40:21.880 --> 01:40:27.520
Turner. And it was upon his
you know, the expiration of that deal,

1280
01:40:27.920 --> 01:40:30.159
that he started sniffing around trying to
start up another organization. I believe

1281
01:40:30.199 --> 01:40:32.960
it was the WWN that he was
starting to do the world Wrestling Network,

1282
01:40:33.279 --> 01:40:38.840
which is what he called kind of
the collection of syndicated television stations that Crockett

1283
01:40:38.880 --> 01:40:42.560
and UWF after they bought that company's
promotions aired on the World Wrestling Network.

1284
01:40:42.720 --> 01:40:45.119
Was you know, you could buy
the World Wrestling Network for an advertisement and

1285
01:40:45.119 --> 01:40:50.119
advertise across all of their wrestling shows
and all their syndicated stations, and using

1286
01:40:50.199 --> 01:40:55.199
that term, he kept Paul Hayman
close by his side as an advisor and

1287
01:40:55.279 --> 01:40:58.840
as a talent scout when he was
trying to get a locker room together and

1288
01:40:58.920 --> 01:41:00.239
start and he did a couple of
shit and didn't really, of course,

1289
01:41:00.319 --> 01:41:03.039
end up going anywhere. A lot
of people forget that. Jim Crockett even

1290
01:41:03.119 --> 01:41:06.920
tried to do wrestling after selling to
Turner in nineteen eighty eight, but he

1291
01:41:08.000 --> 01:41:11.600
did. And at the time there
was kind of like a series of loosely

1292
01:41:11.640 --> 01:41:15.119
affiliated independent promotions across this country,
you know, is WWFWCW and everybody else.

1293
01:41:15.159 --> 01:41:18.119
They were kind of independent doing their
own thing. They weren't, you

1294
01:41:18.199 --> 01:41:21.359
know, all answering to the NWA
per se, They weren't hostile to the

1295
01:41:21.479 --> 01:41:26.840
NWA, but the structure wasn't necessarily
so much there that everyone was due's paying

1296
01:41:26.920 --> 01:41:30.640
members of the NWA either. The
NWA World Championship didn't mean a whole hell

1297
01:41:30.680 --> 01:41:33.119
of a lot, which will prove
to be very germane to ECW's particular history

1298
01:41:33.119 --> 01:41:35.960
here in a moment, as we'll
talk about. But Paul Hayman is just

1299
01:41:36.079 --> 01:41:39.640
kind of hanging around ECW like he
is some other indis at the time,

1300
01:41:40.039 --> 01:41:44.319
you know, befriending Todd Gordon and
gratiating himself, but strictly just saying,

1301
01:41:44.359 --> 01:41:46.319
look, I'm here, I'm willing
to help and do whatever you need to

1302
01:41:46.319 --> 01:41:49.720
put on a successful show, and
don't pay me. That was the big

1303
01:41:49.800 --> 01:41:53.079
thing Todd Gordon pointed out in his
book over and over again, as Paul

1304
01:41:53.119 --> 01:41:56.920
absolutely refused to be paid by Todd
Gordon. And at first, you know,

1305
01:41:57.000 --> 01:41:59.800
he thought it was just this kind
of gregarious gesture, Paul saying,

1306
01:41:59.800 --> 01:42:01.760
look, I'm only here to help
scout talent for Jim Crockett in exchange for

1307
01:42:01.840 --> 01:42:05.000
you letting me do that and you
know, potentially poach the talent that I

1308
01:42:05.159 --> 01:42:09.640
like on behalf of Jim Crockett.
You know, I'm going to help the

1309
01:42:09.720 --> 01:42:12.520
facilitate the smooth running of your show
and help out in any way I can

1310
01:42:12.880 --> 01:42:15.079
looking back on it with retrospect.
As the book unfolds, Todd Gordon comes

1311
01:42:15.079 --> 01:42:19.840
to the conclusion that what Paul Hayman
was doing was basically preventing any ties that

1312
01:42:19.960 --> 01:42:23.399
bind between him and Todd Gordon,
so that when he made the move to

1313
01:42:23.439 --> 01:42:26.960
take over the company entirely on his
own, there wouldn't be some kind of

1314
01:42:27.039 --> 01:42:29.800
a breach of contract or anything like
that between the two, or breach of

1315
01:42:29.840 --> 01:42:31.960
implied agreement. Yeah. Yeah,
Paul Hayman doesn't want to get paid.

1316
01:42:32.000 --> 01:42:35.039
It's because on the other side,
he doesn't want you saying, but I

1317
01:42:35.159 --> 01:42:40.880
paid you, How could you do
this to me? That's all the tangled

1318
01:42:40.880 --> 01:42:43.479
web that is the ECW story,
And it doesn't have a whole hell of

1319
01:42:43.560 --> 01:42:45.680
a lot to do with Terry Funk, but it does explain while Paul Haman's

1320
01:42:45.840 --> 01:42:50.520
kind of on the scene in the
early Todd Gordon run ECW, but doesn't

1321
01:42:50.560 --> 01:42:54.439
have the power of the book yet
or doesn't really have any executive authority,

1322
01:42:55.720 --> 01:42:57.960
and when he does get it,
then we're off to the racist. But

1323
01:42:58.000 --> 01:43:00.840
what you're seeing here is like you
just detected kind of cheesy pre Paul Hayman

1324
01:43:00.920 --> 01:43:04.920
vision of what ECW is going to
be not the best, and Terry Funk

1325
01:43:05.000 --> 01:43:09.600
was not afraid to say it,
as we just talked about. So he

1326
01:43:09.640 --> 01:43:12.960
gets into a feud with Eddi Gilbert, the booker, and they go ahead

1327
01:43:13.000 --> 01:43:15.800
and set up Texas death matches and
all the rest. And it's very old

1328
01:43:15.840 --> 01:43:19.760
school. And if we migrate over
to twenty three fourteen here on this disc

1329
01:43:19.840 --> 01:43:39.199
boss okay, okay, one second, So now we're going to go ahead

1330
01:43:39.199 --> 01:43:43.319
and get a glimpse go ahead of
Eddie Gilbert and Terry Funk tussling on the

1331
01:43:43.359 --> 01:43:46.279
initial ECW television. This is back
from April of nineteen and ninety three.

1332
01:43:46.399 --> 01:43:55.560
So hit play three two one play. So Edi Gilbert dressing somebody Gilbert.

1333
01:43:55.640 --> 01:43:58.520
They just have a posters as SPCW
tape to the wall, which you can

1334
01:43:58.640 --> 01:44:02.439
see by a talker. Well,
let me the size of this building and

1335
01:44:02.560 --> 01:44:06.159
the Funker blindside edge with a chair
at wingside. Here we go. Time

1336
01:44:06.239 --> 01:44:11.960
to try to do business studio wrestling
style. Terry Funk has just come to

1337
01:44:12.039 --> 01:44:18.720
the rig tossed up together with the
chair totally twelve for think Terry chancers like

1338
01:44:19.479 --> 01:44:24.600
hundred people here maybe howked up at
a giver was doing nothing but give it

1339
01:44:24.680 --> 01:44:28.640
Jay Billy an interview. But there
he is, the guy with the straw

1340
01:44:28.720 --> 01:44:31.760
hat from every ECW show you've ever
seen. He's there. Just break it

1341
01:44:31.800 --> 01:44:34.600
down again. We're gonna get out
of here. We'll be back along the

1342
01:44:34.800 --> 01:44:39.239
tossing a chair across the auditorium as
a head of Gilbert takes us way as

1343
01:44:39.239 --> 01:44:47.279
the curtain. Now, what do
we do? Funk are still kind of

1344
01:44:47.319 --> 01:44:53.159
conservatively dressed. What's going on here? How about ahead? It pitched your

1345
01:44:53.199 --> 01:44:59.000
commercial but they're still in the air. Now we've cut the sound so bad.

1346
01:44:59.720 --> 01:45:04.119
Oh, this is pathetic. It's
public access television production areas. Don't

1347
01:45:04.199 --> 01:45:09.439
tell me. I didn't. I
heard you're popping off about him. I

1348
01:45:09.600 --> 01:45:13.399
heard you're popping off about him.
Oh no, I heard Gilbert out here

1349
01:45:13.560 --> 01:45:16.439
making a fool of me. I
hurt him. I'm not an idiot.

1350
01:45:17.439 --> 01:45:23.039
I want to tell you one damn
thing, as I am an individual,

1351
01:45:24.000 --> 01:45:29.000
and I am an athlete, and
I am something that nobody is gonna tell

1352
01:45:29.159 --> 01:45:31.680
what to do. And if I
want to come out here and kick ass,

1353
01:45:32.439 --> 01:45:41.720
how damn turk is on you?
Or kick anybody else's around now.

1354
01:45:41.760 --> 01:45:46.199
As far as Gilbert's concerned, he
thinks that I'm a fool. He thinks

1355
01:45:46.279 --> 01:45:51.119
that I am an idiot. He
wants to discredit me. He can call

1356
01:45:51.279 --> 01:45:56.960
me an old man, and I
don't give a damn because I am an

1357
01:45:57.000 --> 01:46:02.279
old man, and I am I
am an endangered species, and I am

1358
01:46:03.079 --> 01:46:09.760
the one and only I am tired, Bump, and I am the meet

1359
01:46:09.840 --> 01:46:20.640
us in the towns me. He
can rustle me and me wants to damn

1360
01:46:20.720 --> 01:46:25.119
well, shoot at me? What
did they do? Shoot down? Shoving

1361
01:46:25.199 --> 01:46:30.840
j Cellier on Jesus, you can
fight me, screaming to the camera,

1362
01:46:30.960 --> 01:46:38.079
not even the mic tip, tipping
over chairs. It's getting serious. I

1363
01:46:38.119 --> 01:46:41.560
think he hit a little child when
he threw the chair. There he's back,

1364
01:46:41.680 --> 01:46:47.039
man, scream Bump. Hold on
a minute. I had to pause

1365
01:46:47.039 --> 01:46:55.239
for a second. I'm pretty sure
I'm gonna go back. Don't kick anybody

1366
01:46:55.319 --> 01:47:01.119
else. Kid trying like he hit
him in the leg with a chair.

1367
01:47:01.199 --> 01:47:03.479
Oh my god. And then when
he walks in the aisle, he looks

1368
01:47:03.520 --> 01:47:13.439
down at the kid ready right about
now? Oh hell, I'm sorry,

1369
01:47:13.520 --> 01:47:15.960
son, I didn't mean to do
that. I don't know what got into

1370
01:47:15.039 --> 01:47:17.800
me. I could have shot someone
in the fucking head, but I don't

1371
01:47:17.800 --> 01:47:26.880
know what got into me Terry Funk. So he's trying by Todd Gordon,

1372
01:47:27.119 --> 01:47:34.239
Todd Gordon being played by actor Fisher
Stevens. I don't think I know who

1373
01:47:34.319 --> 01:47:45.760
that is, the guy from the
Guy from a Succession that the pr guy.

1374
01:47:45.399 --> 01:47:49.600
Oh my god? Oh did you
ever have a beard like that?

1375
01:47:49.800 --> 01:47:54.399
Is that what's making me think that? Yeah? Yeah, I mean I'm

1376
01:47:54.439 --> 01:47:57.399
looking at some some pictures of him, like he's got the kind of balding

1377
01:47:57.479 --> 01:48:03.920
hair like slick back and beard and
and ship five. Hello fish, it's

1378
01:48:03.960 --> 01:48:09.359
good. That's a really good one. Oh my god. All right,

1379
01:48:09.479 --> 01:48:16.000
well, now it's time for a
promo that Terry Funk cut that's very well

1380
01:48:16.039 --> 01:48:21.199
remembered from this time period, uh, in terms of creativity and him just

1381
01:48:21.760 --> 01:48:25.680
kind of bringing a different dimension to
the E c W TV show. This

1382
01:48:25.840 --> 01:48:28.640
isn't the run up to fighting with
Eddie Gilbert, And we're going to go

1383
01:48:28.680 --> 01:48:30.680
out to the Double Cross Ranch and
we're going to pay visit to one of

1384
01:48:30.800 --> 01:48:35.279
the Funker's own steers. So do
you have what time code do you have

1385
01:48:35.359 --> 01:48:40.840
there? Boss? I'm twenty six
fifteen right now. All right, Gilbert

1386
01:48:43.920 --> 01:48:47.239
three two one plays? But I
want to tell yourself that Todd Gordon's side

1387
01:48:47.279 --> 01:48:53.840
with j Selle and the other guy
talking about Gilbert last week, Gordon,

1388
01:48:54.199 --> 01:48:57.880
when Eddie Gilbert so Terry Funk had
his you know what, let's take a

1389
01:48:57.920 --> 01:49:00.560
look at that clip right now,
what Eddie Gilbert looked like when he walked

1390
01:49:00.560 --> 01:49:03.920
out of here with his tail between
his legs. If we can, I

1391
01:49:04.039 --> 01:49:10.279
want the director of roll that Gilbert
from the Quimack, and I want to

1392
01:49:10.319 --> 01:49:15.119
tell everyone watching Sparks Kettle, Randy
Living legend, Terry Funk. Let's go

1393
01:49:15.239 --> 01:49:20.000
that tape right now, start the
tape right now. We're not gonna show

1394
01:49:20.079 --> 01:49:24.680
that tape. We're never gonna show
that tape. You did not run Terry

1395
01:49:24.720 --> 01:49:28.079
Funk out of the e c W. Terry Fuck is filling the ec W.

1396
01:49:28.560 --> 01:49:30.560
He's back in the ec W.
I Terry Funk has up to the

1397
01:49:30.640 --> 01:49:34.119
states. Ricty to you, mister
Eddie Gilbert. Now I know a lot

1398
01:49:34.199 --> 01:49:39.000
of years Eddie Gilbert, Terry Fucker
loves too many. Let's hear what Terry

1399
01:49:39.039 --> 01:49:42.520
Funk had to stay right now here
we go. I'm not ship, thank

1400
01:49:42.560 --> 01:49:50.439
you, I'm I'm not you know. I've been riding all morning long out

1401
01:49:50.479 --> 01:49:57.079
here on a double cross ranch.
I rode ten miles in every direction,

1402
01:49:57.880 --> 01:50:01.960
and I have been looking for Eddie
gilber Eddie Gilbert Hot Stuff is supposed to

1403
01:50:02.000 --> 01:50:06.479
meet me out here on the Double
Cross Ranch so I can explain to him

1404
01:50:06.960 --> 01:50:13.159
the rules of a Texas chain match
massacre. Letting me tie up my horse,

1405
01:50:13.239 --> 01:50:17.079
Clyde here, and then i'll see
if I can't find Gilbert anywhere around.

1406
01:50:17.680 --> 01:50:23.239
Come on, Clyde, come on, you're looking hind low Freddie Gilbert

1407
01:50:23.279 --> 01:50:27.039
and I can't find him anywhere.
I've looked all over this dad gum Double

1408
01:50:27.119 --> 01:50:32.239
Cross Ranch. Oh there you are? Are They put the word Tony Gilberts

1409
01:50:32.439 --> 01:50:36.600
you hot stuff? Now? I
would like to explain to you the rules

1410
01:50:36.680 --> 01:50:43.039
and the regulations of a Texas chain
match massacre. Are you ready to listen?

1411
01:50:43.520 --> 01:50:46.920
Are you? I hope so,
hot Stuff, because you realize there's

1412
01:50:47.039 --> 01:50:51.760
no stopping because of blood in a
Texas chain match. Falls do not count.

1413
01:50:53.079 --> 01:50:56.680
There's no count outside of the ring, no count on the floor,

1414
01:50:57.199 --> 01:51:00.720
no time limit. There's only one
way to win the match. Do you

1415
01:51:00.880 --> 01:51:05.119
understand that, Eddie? I certainly
hope that you do, because how you

1416
01:51:05.239 --> 01:51:11.319
win the match as you have to
pull your opponent around to four corners in

1417
01:51:11.479 --> 01:51:15.880
succession both of us will be chained
together with his eight foot chain, Eddie,

1418
01:51:15.199 --> 01:51:20.520
and I'm gonna pull you around to
uno those trace and quato corners and

1419
01:51:20.640 --> 01:51:25.159
the match will be over. Now, you tell me what you think about

1420
01:51:26.560 --> 01:51:35.199
time. Oh that farts. Your
voice has changed, but your breath is

1421
01:51:35.279 --> 01:51:46.880
still the same. Oh my goodness, that's wow. Pause thoughts. I

1422
01:51:46.960 --> 01:51:53.560
don't even know where to begin with
that piece of shit. I mean,

1423
01:51:53.640 --> 01:52:02.880
we saw fucking wide eyed Terry Funk
talking to a horse's venus and like they

1424
01:52:02.920 --> 01:52:05.600
put the words Eddie Gilbert under the
horse's ass. Like, of course,

1425
01:52:05.720 --> 01:52:14.399
because it's humor and god, people
remember that really fondly. People think that

1426
01:52:14.479 --> 01:52:17.319
that's amazing when he makes that was
big eyes when the horse rips a fart.

1427
01:52:19.079 --> 01:52:24.640
Your thoughts, I think it's awful. I think it's it's it's just

1428
01:52:26.880 --> 01:52:30.199
it's why wrestling is embarrassing. Wow, you're gonna go that far in the

1429
01:52:30.239 --> 01:52:34.800
funker? Yeah, wow, Well
he's trying to bring some life into the

1430
01:52:34.800 --> 01:52:43.119
show. We can say that so's
the so's the horse's ass. Let's go

1431
01:52:43.159 --> 01:52:45.880
to a vignette that air during this
program. This is fifty four to twenty

1432
01:52:45.960 --> 01:53:05.520
one, four twenty one. Okay, there wasn't hit. Yeah, I

1433
01:53:05.680 --> 01:53:12.119
play. You're back on the ranch. Are the funkers behind a back home

1434
01:53:12.319 --> 01:53:17.880
or bulldoze or whatever that there is? You know, it's a mighty fine

1435
01:53:17.960 --> 01:53:23.079
tracker right here out on a Double
Cross ranch. When you're out here on

1436
01:53:23.159 --> 01:53:26.600
a place like this, or you're
in a wrestling ring, you gotta have

1437
01:53:26.840 --> 01:53:31.319
the proper equipment, and you gotta
be prepared. Whenever you're ranching and farming,

1438
01:53:31.399 --> 01:53:34.279
you gotta be a rancher in a
farmer, and a darn good one.

1439
01:53:34.680 --> 01:53:39.439
When you're in a wrestling ring,
you gotta be a darn good wrestler.

1440
01:53:39.840 --> 01:53:43.119
And when you're out here on this
place like this, hey, you

1441
01:53:43.319 --> 01:53:50.399
might be confronted with vermints, kyles, coons, rattlesnakes, predators, perverts,

1442
01:53:51.239 --> 01:53:56.319
perverts. Well, it looks like
ones headed this way? How that

1443
01:53:56.680 --> 01:54:00.439
pod? Now do you realize that
you are on private property? I know

1444
01:54:00.800 --> 01:54:05.039
if you were a Texan that you
would realize that you can't walk on to

1445
01:54:05.159 --> 01:54:11.119
our man's property like you're doing right
now. Where are you from, Sonny?

1446
01:54:11.520 --> 01:54:14.479
I'm Eddie Gilbert's brother from Tennessee,
and I came to challenge you.

1447
01:54:15.000 --> 01:54:19.479
You came to challenge me. You
are hot stuffs, brother, what is

1448
01:54:19.560 --> 01:54:26.479
that to the camera? Real hotstuff? Well, have I got something for

1449
01:54:26.640 --> 01:54:40.600
you? He's throwing around a fucking
dummy like they cut him press slamming.

1450
01:54:44.159 --> 01:55:05.680
Now he started up the tractor with
the dummy in the bed um that's and

1451
01:55:05.680 --> 01:55:14.239
he's running a dummy over back and
forth with the tractor. The fuck the

1452
01:55:14.359 --> 01:55:28.439
funker walking Gilbert shad a chain match, Massaker. You gotta see it.

1453
01:55:30.680 --> 01:55:34.239
Pause it. I mean, I
hate to keep saying this, but we've

1454
01:55:34.279 --> 01:55:38.920
got to do it this way.
What did we just see? I don't

1455
01:55:38.960 --> 01:55:43.560
actually know. I don't know what
the fuck we just saw that was?

1456
01:55:44.960 --> 01:55:48.039
That was bizarre. This is the
early vision of what E c W was

1457
01:55:48.039 --> 01:55:56.039
supposed to be. Can't be.
It's awful, Like Stayed wrestling. Here

1458
01:55:56.119 --> 01:55:58.720
he is, he's on the double
Cross and this guy with his back to

1459
01:55:58.800 --> 01:56:01.600
the camera presents himself as Eddie Gilbert's
brother here to challenge him. And it's

1460
01:56:01.600 --> 01:56:04.880
clearly supposed to be a deal where
you know, Terry Funk set this guy

1461
01:56:05.000 --> 01:56:08.479
up to pretend to be Eddie's brother
so he could kick his ass on the

1462
01:56:08.560 --> 01:56:10.680
ranch. And then, like you
said, they do a jump cut and

1463
01:56:10.720 --> 01:56:12.920
all of a sudden it isn't a
human being standing in front of Terry.

1464
01:56:13.439 --> 01:56:15.600
It's a dummy with the same clothes
that the human being was wearing with his

1465
01:56:15.640 --> 01:56:19.079
back to the camera. It's not
even I mean, obviously they're not trying

1466
01:56:19.119 --> 01:56:23.960
to they're trying to be funny with
it, because it's just like they cut

1467
01:56:24.039 --> 01:56:29.560
to like it's a scarecrow. Like
it's got white dangly legs, dangly legs

1468
01:56:29.600 --> 01:56:32.079
and arms, and it's just awful. And he puts it in the bed

1469
01:56:32.119 --> 01:56:35.720
of the tractor the mouth of the
thing there, and picks it up and

1470
01:56:35.800 --> 01:56:41.039
then drops it and then runs it
over several times and then just acts like

1471
01:56:41.159 --> 01:56:45.640
he, you know, was completely
losing his mind and completely disassociated for reality.

1472
01:56:45.199 --> 01:56:47.800
I mean, in a weird way. He probably was, probably was,

1473
01:56:48.279 --> 01:56:56.800
But just what a glimpse at what
how lacking the initial ECW was that

1474
01:56:56.920 --> 01:57:00.960
Terry Funk walked into. Now it
wasn't It wasn't a fully formed idea.

1475
01:57:01.119 --> 01:57:03.960
That's what I'm trying to get across
here. Garry Funk had to go ahead

1476
01:57:03.960 --> 01:57:08.159
and author what ECW was going to
be in a large way. You did

1477
01:57:08.279 --> 01:57:10.319
have to go ahead. I'll tell
you that. You have to go ahead.

1478
01:57:10.359 --> 01:57:12.720
So let's go ahead ourselves to one
O six forty eight, and we're

1479
01:57:12.720 --> 01:57:16.119
going to see the aforementioned chain match
that's been built up in the segments and

1480
01:57:16.159 --> 01:57:20.000
promos we've watched this far in ECW. It's Terry Funk versus Eddie Gilbert from

1481
01:57:20.079 --> 01:57:24.359
June nineteenth, nineteen ninety three.
All right, one O six forty eight,

1482
01:57:24.680 --> 01:57:35.640
yep, and if you're ready,
we'll hit play. I'm ready a

1483
01:57:35.840 --> 01:57:41.079
two to one play. You know. Being from Texas, I delt with

1484
01:57:41.159 --> 01:57:45.720
about every kind of animal and vornament
that there is in this world today,

1485
01:57:45.479 --> 01:57:51.239
and that goes from rattlesnakes to coyotes
to burman to just about anything you want

1486
01:57:51.279 --> 01:57:57.399
to speak of. But I've never
ran into a low life like Eddie Gilbert

1487
01:57:57.520 --> 01:58:00.840
before. And you people here in
Philadeli, you you know how to spot

1488
01:58:00.880 --> 01:58:05.520
a good wrestler. You know what
ability is, and you know who's got

1489
01:58:05.600 --> 01:58:09.399
that, who's got it whenever they
go in the ring, whatever it might

1490
01:58:09.479 --> 01:58:12.600
be that makes them the best.
Well, Eddie Gilbert doesn't have that,

1491
01:58:12.920 --> 01:58:16.119
you know. He just keeps on
blowing off and talking big and trying to

1492
01:58:16.399 --> 01:58:21.319
really really be somebody. Well he's
trying it, and now he's got the

1493
01:58:21.399 --> 01:58:27.359
opportunity to be king affiliate. Well
I do too, So we're going to

1494
01:58:27.439 --> 01:58:30.239
find out who's going to get that
crown and wear it. But there's only

1495
01:58:30.399 --> 01:58:34.239
one thing that Eddie Gilbert better give
a whole lot of thought. It's a

1496
01:58:34.319 --> 01:58:39.079
type of match that he's coming into
because it's my type of match. It's

1497
01:58:39.159 --> 01:58:44.720
a Texas chain match massacre. He's
accepted the match, and now he's going

1498
01:58:44.800 --> 01:58:46.199
to have to deal with me.
And I'll tell you, you know,

1499
01:58:46.279 --> 01:58:49.520
I've told people before, I'm meaner
than a rattlesnake, tougher than shoeleather,

1500
01:58:49.640 --> 01:58:54.039
more dangerous, and a hollow eyed
score pine, middle aged, crazy,

1501
01:58:54.399 --> 01:58:58.560
crazy like a fox, and all
that stuff. And I am truthfully because

1502
01:58:58.640 --> 01:59:01.000
I wouldn't have lasted as long as
I have in the professional wrestling business,

1503
01:59:01.720 --> 01:59:05.800
and I intend on being in it
a lot longer, and I intend on

1504
01:59:06.000 --> 01:59:11.159
being on top in Philly because you
all are something near and dear to my

1505
01:59:11.279 --> 01:59:16.720
heart, you fans out there,
because what you are is you're hardcore fans.

1506
01:59:17.399 --> 01:59:21.840
Because wrestling here in Philly is different. You've seen it all, you've

1507
01:59:21.880 --> 01:59:27.000
seen the best and you've seen the
worst of it, and now you're going

1508
01:59:27.079 --> 01:59:31.279
to have a chance to see the
most violent of wrestling matches with myself against

1509
01:59:31.439 --> 01:59:39.119
Eddie Gilbert in a Texas chain match. Hot stuff. I don't think so

1510
01:59:43.680 --> 01:59:49.439
you got an IDEO there? Yeah, so Eddie Gilbert, I just been

1511
01:59:49.520 --> 01:59:59.439
to the rank, let me go
and his manager all all regard still in

1512
01:59:59.520 --> 02:00:06.239
the w W gimmick with the slick
back hair in the cell phone starting to

1513
02:00:06.319 --> 02:00:14.680
look a little more like ECW.
We remember, h. I guess still

1514
02:00:14.720 --> 02:00:20.199
see the wall on the hard camera
side, right, Super Summer Sizzler,

1515
02:00:20.279 --> 02:00:30.760
spectacular boss here whatever? Okay with
welc on Todd Gordon. Welcome Tod Gordon,

1516
02:00:30.239 --> 02:00:38.880
Todd Gordon. I believe this one's
for the King of Philadelphia. We're

1517
02:00:38.880 --> 02:00:43.319
told as Todd Gordon joins the wingside
announced position announcer Bob Artiz, who was

1518
02:00:43.439 --> 02:00:47.880
a voice of VCW the entirety of
the promotions existence as a trick or for

1519
02:00:48.039 --> 02:00:53.920
much of the promotions existence was a
close a lie of Todd Gordon from day

1520
02:00:54.000 --> 02:00:57.960
one, and Todd Gordon actually got
to start promoting a couple of wrestling shows

1521
02:00:58.000 --> 02:01:02.800
in bars in Philadelphia. A bar, that guy, They're gonna do something.

1522
02:01:02.840 --> 02:01:09.119
I guess. Indeed, the t
W a opportunity opened up here,

1523
02:01:09.640 --> 02:01:12.000
we got this. So this is
the match they've been building and this is

1524
02:01:12.079 --> 02:01:15.960
really, in a lot of ways, Lady Gilbert's first and last hurrah as

1525
02:01:16.039 --> 02:01:23.159
the book or at CW. These
two are cross paths on the booking committee

1526
02:01:23.159 --> 02:01:26.079
of Jim Hurd in eighty nine.
Eddie Gilbert was on that committee as well.

1527
02:01:26.800 --> 02:01:31.840
Strong idea man student of the game, Bill Watts acolyte, like you

1528
02:01:31.880 --> 02:01:38.640
know, childhood fanatic of Memphis wrestling
and the sheets, you know, as

1529
02:01:38.680 --> 02:01:44.479
a manipulator. Sure this beauty star
years ago, but you heard in that

1530
02:01:44.520 --> 02:01:47.800
promo, right Terry Funk talked me
about what's unique about the Philly wrestling fan

1531
02:01:47.840 --> 02:01:53.640
even back in nineteen ninety three.
Uh sure, well, sure, well

1532
02:01:53.760 --> 02:01:59.000
you know what a what the Realdea
looks like in that ring and even saying

1533
02:01:59.039 --> 02:02:00.960
here in ECW, know, you
know when you've seen the greatest and when

1534
02:02:00.960 --> 02:02:05.640
you've seen the not so greatest.
It's about to lock up here a chain

1535
02:02:05.760 --> 02:02:11.399
risk to wrist with Eddie Gilbert as
the Funker? Is this what does this

1536
02:02:11.479 --> 02:02:15.039
feel like? Watching Funk in this
context after watching him tangle with Flair on

1537
02:02:15.159 --> 02:02:21.680
TBS. I mean, it's it's
just it's it's kind of sad we can't

1538
02:02:21.760 --> 02:02:26.760
agree more on that one. You
know, like to see him. I

1539
02:02:26.840 --> 02:02:30.319
mean it's weird because it's like,
you know, we we we already did

1540
02:02:30.399 --> 02:02:33.239
see him wrestle in venues like this
with the Dusty Roads, but that was

1541
02:02:34.279 --> 02:02:40.039
still like fifteen years after this.
Well the venue, yeah, well the

1542
02:02:40.119 --> 02:02:42.680
venues we saw, like as far
as the TV tapings, those were all

1543
02:02:42.720 --> 02:02:45.039
done in studio, so yeah,
they were necessarily tiny. But when it

1544
02:02:45.079 --> 02:02:48.520
came time to have those matches on
the circle, you're talking ten thousand seat

1545
02:02:48.560 --> 02:02:54.960
buildings, eight thousands slip buildings,
whereas here they're no those last dusty rhads

1546
02:02:54.960 --> 02:02:57.960
ones. It was in fucking gyms. Oh you're talking about p w F.

1547
02:02:58.239 --> 02:03:01.119
I'm talking about the very very end
there like that, right, No,

1548
02:03:01.399 --> 02:03:08.800
like no, like uh the twenty
fifteen or whatever. Okay, Yeah,

1549
02:03:09.079 --> 02:03:11.800
that's that's what it reminds me of. This reminds me of that very

1550
02:03:11.840 --> 02:03:20.039
similar pathetic you know, buildings and
with with like you know, you just

1551
02:03:20.119 --> 02:03:26.199
don't want to for me as a
as a wrestling fan, you don't want

1552
02:03:26.239 --> 02:03:30.800
to see that. You don't want
to see walls like I want to see

1553
02:03:30.960 --> 02:03:40.479
roads, rows of people, Right, that's very important. Do you wonder

1554
02:03:40.479 --> 02:03:42.840
if I lived in this market?
You know, it's funny this is the

1555
02:03:43.680 --> 02:03:46.760
the Summer Sizzler Spectacular. The Sizzler
also has a Summer Spectacular as well.

1556
02:03:47.000 --> 02:03:55.680
Does it really? Oh my god? Gilbert immediately slips out of the ring,

1557
02:03:55.760 --> 02:03:58.239
trying to keep his distance from a
funk that he has chained to.

1558
02:03:58.680 --> 02:04:04.119
Gilbert, Yeah, dangerously. It
has to do. What is this openly

1559
02:04:04.119 --> 02:04:08.439
speculating and commentary. Why Paul Hayman
is at ringside like it's a surprise that

1560
02:04:08.640 --> 02:04:12.199
nobody's up to. I want to
say, why would he be ringside for

1561
02:04:12.279 --> 02:04:16.399
a chain match right right? True? At all four corners to win this

1562
02:04:16.479 --> 02:04:21.079
one? I wonder if I lived
in this market at that age, you

1563
02:04:21.199 --> 02:04:24.399
know, if I was like a
teenage wrestling fan in nineteen eighty three,

1564
02:04:24.439 --> 02:04:28.399
if I would have been compelled to
go to these or not? I mean,

1565
02:04:28.800 --> 02:04:30.840
you know, I think you'd be
compelled as much as you'd be like

1566
02:04:31.039 --> 02:04:36.279
that, I was to go to
a fucking you know that that that that

1567
02:04:36.520 --> 02:04:42.159
awful wrestling show that I was going
to watch at the fucking Lions Club in

1568
02:04:42.279 --> 02:04:45.760
nash One, New Hampshire. You
know, sometimes you just want to go,

1569
02:04:47.680 --> 02:04:51.359
that's for sure. This was a
company trying to actually build like repeat

1570
02:04:51.399 --> 02:04:54.880
guys that came back all the time
and not try to build by kind of

1571
02:04:55.279 --> 02:05:00.159
come see honky talk man. You
know, yeah, you know man,

1572
02:05:00.439 --> 02:05:04.079
you know cannot get a vision in
the market. Oh Jesus, So Funk

1573
02:05:04.119 --> 02:05:06.359
thrown over the top and then use
the chaine of Yank Getdy right out after

1574
02:05:06.439 --> 02:05:11.159
him and Eddie Gilbert taking a hard
bump back up on the apron. Now

1575
02:05:11.199 --> 02:05:13.560
the Funk are going to work with
the left hands. Now he missed.

1576
02:05:14.560 --> 02:05:18.359
Eddy Gilbert dropped off the apron to
dodge the blow. This is the raw

1577
02:05:18.439 --> 02:05:24.920
material here. This is like,
you know, they're figuring out what ACW

1578
02:05:25.119 --> 02:05:28.960
is going to be with every match. It seems like Gilbert, come on,

1579
02:05:29.119 --> 02:05:30.960
John finnigin, he's going through the
head of referees in the ring.

1580
02:05:31.399 --> 02:05:34.840
Well, I gotta say a moon
salt in this match. Now he hadn't

1581
02:05:34.880 --> 02:05:40.319
moon salt to get this is still
ninety three. Oh wow, that's important

1582
02:05:40.319 --> 02:05:43.239
to glad you said that. You
have to point out that well Funk was

1583
02:05:43.319 --> 02:05:45.720
you know, a day one ECW
guy. This is still early enough that

1584
02:05:45.800 --> 02:05:51.600
he's not like ECW threw and through
He's done the company hasn't made enough progress

1585
02:05:51.640 --> 02:05:56.279
in terms of vision yet that there
was anything to really wed yourself to.

1586
02:05:56.600 --> 02:05:59.359
It was just one other shot in
the circuit that happened to have TV.

1587
02:06:00.159 --> 02:06:05.239
You have to be to be Terry
Funk and of someone with Terry Bunks,

1588
02:06:05.439 --> 02:06:13.800
Terry Funk, Terry Funk's caliber.
You really have to get rid of your

1589
02:06:13.880 --> 02:06:16.560
ego in order to fucking yes,
just take a paycheck and do this.

1590
02:06:16.680 --> 02:06:24.479
Fucking you know a great high school
gym match, a body slam by Eddie

1591
02:06:24.479 --> 02:06:26.720
Gilbert puts down the Funker, he
rolls out of the ring. Yeah,

1592
02:06:26.760 --> 02:06:30.279
you have to be, honestly to
me, you have to be so wedded

1593
02:06:30.399 --> 02:06:35.680
to the idea of what the wrestling
business was before Vincent Junior consolidated that you

1594
02:06:35.800 --> 02:06:39.960
have to still see charm and hope
and possibility in a show of the scale

1595
02:06:40.840 --> 02:06:44.600
or an idea of a circuit like
this. It's the Funker trying to keep

1596
02:06:44.680 --> 02:06:49.159
alive that vagabond wrestling existence that had
served him so well for twenty five years,

1597
02:06:50.239 --> 02:06:53.960
ever really staying in an area for
too long beyond his owner Marilla,

1598
02:06:54.000 --> 02:06:57.319
and even that he eventually bought out
of, sold out of, and he

1599
02:06:57.439 --> 02:07:00.000
just wants to have places he can
go and you know, tuck his head

1600
02:07:00.039 --> 02:07:03.800
in and do impactful matches, but
not have to, you know, subject

1601
02:07:03.840 --> 02:07:09.520
himself to WWF air travel or Yeah, And that's what I think it was.

1602
02:07:09.600 --> 02:07:13.760
That's why I think Funk kept trafficking
in these areas that seemed below him

1603
02:07:13.960 --> 02:07:17.920
at this point, is because he's
trying to keep alive a circuit that makes

1604
02:07:18.000 --> 02:07:21.760
him enjoy working in pro wrestling instead
of slowly begin to despise it. He's

1605
02:07:21.880 --> 02:07:26.159
kind of miserable in w F and
w W anymore, taking plump some of

1606
02:07:26.199 --> 02:07:29.960
his comments. Sure, I couldn't
wait to get outs here. You don't

1607
02:07:30.000 --> 02:07:31.960
have to get out, you just
go home for a little while. So

1608
02:07:32.000 --> 02:07:35.399
the Funker has been dropped. Eddie
Gible to slap one corner. But again

1609
02:07:38.279 --> 02:07:41.239
we've talked with referees about this and
everything. When does the count restart?

1610
02:07:41.279 --> 02:07:44.840
I guess it just did well.
He said he's going to be in succession

1611
02:07:45.119 --> 02:07:48.319
or whatever, but I guess I
don't know. So what it exactly interrupted

1612
02:07:48.359 --> 02:07:58.520
the succession, I don't know.
You know, that's it's great action,

1613
02:07:58.680 --> 02:08:01.800
is what we're watching. Whipping him
with the chain and made Gilbert so you

1614
02:08:01.840 --> 02:08:07.359
can refuge on the floor again to
kind of a refrain in this one on

1615
02:08:07.479 --> 02:08:16.920
top of him that steel chain wrapped
around it's so steel chain wrapped around it,

1616
02:08:22.279 --> 02:08:24.600
dragging Eddie back up to his speed. Here Eddie's trying to get a

1617
02:08:24.640 --> 02:08:26.760
couple of fingers in. I mean, I guess it was amazing too,

1618
02:08:26.840 --> 02:08:31.199
is that people seem invested in this. The people who are here in the

1619
02:08:31.279 --> 02:08:35.359
audience yet tanging Eddie by the throat
over his back with the chain wrapped around

1620
02:08:35.399 --> 02:08:41.560
his throatting hungry for something. I
don't know what it is, but I

1621
02:08:41.600 --> 02:08:46.319
think they're hungry for action. That's
like close up, the guys are hitting

1622
02:08:46.319 --> 02:08:50.720
each other hard enough that you can
believe in it, and they might swear.

1623
02:08:50.159 --> 02:08:56.039
You know. It's like it just
feels a little more, a little

1624
02:08:56.079 --> 02:08:58.920
more gritty for people who think the
Big Two are too cartoonish. I can

1625
02:09:00.039 --> 02:09:01.880
see the appeal in a way starting
to form. It's not there yet,

1626
02:09:01.960 --> 02:09:07.840
but it's started. So now Terry
has tapped two corners. He's going for

1627
02:09:07.920 --> 02:09:09.560
the third. Needdie Gilbert yanking on
the chain, but still the Funker makes

1628
02:09:09.640 --> 02:09:13.239
number three. Let's see if you
can get four. I must have now

1629
02:09:15.199 --> 02:09:18.239
more. Referee started waving his hands
when Eddie Gilbert dropped him with the right

1630
02:09:18.319 --> 02:09:22.840
hand, so that must be how
to break it. Bunk comes up and

1631
02:09:24.079 --> 02:09:28.239
does one of those knock need cell
jobs, like he just stumbled out of

1632
02:09:28.279 --> 02:09:33.680
a car that just would got involved
in head on collision. I see a

1633
02:09:33.720 --> 02:09:39.159
sign on the hard camera says kill
him. Yeah, fans are like telling

1634
02:09:39.239 --> 02:09:41.640
them where to go. That was
something Terry Funk always said. And I'm

1635
02:09:41.640 --> 02:09:45.119
sure we'll get the bite as we
go. It's like, why did wrestling

1636
02:09:45.159 --> 02:09:50.359
become what it is because the fans
took it there. Yeah, the fans

1637
02:09:50.399 --> 02:09:54.119
would want you know again, this
is this is where I get very especially

1638
02:09:54.159 --> 02:09:58.640
when it comes to this kind of
the hardcore, and you know, it's

1639
02:09:58.680 --> 02:10:07.640
like they want they want that.
I do think that there are probably fans

1640
02:10:07.760 --> 02:10:13.119
in the ring who kind of,
maybe not even consciously, would like to

1641
02:10:13.239 --> 02:10:18.680
see somebody die in one of these
matches. And they don't have baby faces

1642
02:10:18.720 --> 02:10:22.439
and heels really in the same way
in terms of rooting interest that what they

1643
02:10:22.479 --> 02:10:24.000
are rooting for, though, is
for someone to get fucked up, Like

1644
02:10:24.159 --> 02:10:31.439
right right, they're in it for
Holy ship, you know, before they

1645
02:10:31.479 --> 02:10:33.840
go funking all sorts of troubles.
Heady Gilbert rams's head into the ringside announced

1646
02:10:33.880 --> 02:10:37.840
table. And that's why it's hard. It's it's very hard for me to

1647
02:10:37.920 --> 02:10:45.800
give support like and and maybe it's
it's too just in my middle aged years

1648
02:10:46.039 --> 02:10:54.159
that I'm just like, I just
it's it's hard for me to tell you

1649
02:10:54.319 --> 02:11:03.079
something I can think about spending money
in giving these guys money to hurt themselves

1650
02:11:03.439 --> 02:11:13.640
for enjoyment like as as ah you
know, research or as a kind of

1651
02:11:13.800 --> 02:11:18.319
studying thing for this the laps Fan. It's it's different. I don't I

1652
02:11:18.359 --> 02:11:20.880
don't you know, because I'm you
know, I feel like one of the

1653
02:11:20.960 --> 02:11:26.680
things, one of the kind of
the the sub when I don't know what

1654
02:11:26.760 --> 02:11:30.840
do you want to call it?
Like sub themes of the laps Fan is

1655
02:11:30.960 --> 02:11:35.880
kind of is exploring the question of
why, oh very much so that's the

1656
02:11:35.960 --> 02:11:41.880
only question that matters. And and
so like for that, I I feel

1657
02:11:41.119 --> 02:11:45.600
okay, but like to be like
these guys, and you know, I

1658
02:11:45.680 --> 02:11:48.720
know, I know we have fans
and listeners who who who who love this

1659
02:11:48.880 --> 02:11:56.960
kind of stuff. I just for
me, it just there's something that that

1660
02:11:58.359 --> 02:12:00.600
maybe back then I would have been
fine with it. I don't know,

1661
02:12:01.199 --> 02:12:09.359
but there's something about me now who
I just I can't spend money, or

1662
02:12:09.399 --> 02:12:18.039
I don't. I feel uncomfortable spending
money to have guys just mall themselves for

1663
02:12:18.199 --> 02:12:22.960
my entertainment because I just don't find
that entertaining to know that they're really getting

1664
02:12:22.159 --> 02:12:26.479
hurt. Right, And you know, I know what people have said about

1665
02:12:26.520 --> 02:12:31.239
the fucking the hooks on that guy's
back and whatever, and how like it's

1666
02:12:31.319 --> 02:12:37.920
like not what it right, It's
not as bad as it looks or whatever,

1667
02:12:37.039 --> 02:12:41.399
but it's still you know, you
still had a guy with hooks that

1668
02:12:41.479 --> 02:12:45.880
went through his flesh and out the
other side, still playing, You're still

1669
02:12:45.920 --> 02:12:48.399
playing to people who want to believe
that that actually happened to the play,

1670
02:12:48.880 --> 02:12:52.439
right, you know, Like it's
like it to be clear, we're not

1671
02:12:52.520 --> 02:12:56.479
there yet. This is a pretty
standard issue chain match. This is totally

1672
02:12:56.560 --> 02:12:58.960
we're not even rule in the Flare
matches. Totally, no no question,

1673
02:13:00.439 --> 02:13:05.960
no question, We're ahead of there. Like I'm like, in a in

1674
02:13:05.079 --> 02:13:11.359
a way, I'm also more okay
with it because you know, at least

1675
02:13:11.960 --> 02:13:18.359
Terry Funk is taking in a hefty
sum working with Flair and a big audience

1676
02:13:18.479 --> 02:13:22.039
like that. Here, It's like, you know, what are these people

1677
02:13:22.079 --> 02:13:28.960
pay for tickets like fifteen bucks if
that, and he hit the corner three

1678
02:13:30.039 --> 02:13:33.119
times. Funk making the comeback dropped
him with the left with a chain wrapped

1679
02:13:33.119 --> 02:13:35.159
around his fist. But this is
pretty much been punches and yanking each other

1680
02:13:35.239 --> 02:13:43.800
by the chain. Take him at
tomorrow things are polly you know, doing

1681
02:13:43.840 --> 02:13:48.640
his ringside thing right hand, left
hand, rather than completely decleats hot stuff

1682
02:13:48.640 --> 02:13:52.560
at Gilbert, who had a long
time relationship with miss Hyatt. I don't

1683
02:13:52.560 --> 02:13:54.239
know if I knew that, boss, Oh yes, I didn't know that,

1684
02:13:54.560 --> 02:14:00.800
and absolutely saying honor, no question, just fucking you know, let's

1685
02:14:00.840 --> 02:14:03.600
be clear, let's you know,
let's just put it mildly. Just fucking

1686
02:14:03.760 --> 02:14:11.159
went to town on that pussy,
just drilling her and she's just asking for

1687
02:14:11.319 --> 02:14:20.960
more you say it like, you
know, and and that's just the way

1688
02:14:20.000 --> 02:14:22.600
it went, I know, And
this is it. That's just that's life,

1689
02:14:24.000 --> 02:14:26.880
you know. To the floor they
go, the fight spilling into the

1690
02:14:26.920 --> 02:14:30.199
people. That would be a dc
W trademark. To the back of the

1691
02:14:30.199 --> 02:14:33.760
building. Yeah. When Eddie Gilbert
and Terry Funk worked together this year,

1692
02:14:33.800 --> 02:14:35.880
they very much like to do the
tour through the audience and then fight to

1693
02:14:35.920 --> 02:14:41.840
the back wall of course, Funk
is doing that with the chain wrapped around

1694
02:14:41.880 --> 02:14:46.279
Gilbert's throat, throwing lefts among the
people here, refere admonishing them trying to

1695
02:14:46.319 --> 02:14:48.680
get it back in the squared circle. I'm not sure if this is pretty.

1696
02:14:48.840 --> 02:14:52.279
I don't know if there was no
count outs in this version of ECW,

1697
02:14:52.479 --> 02:14:56.600
like they would be in a more
popular way. Up against this white

1698
02:14:56.640 --> 02:15:01.840
wall with the flashing cameras, looks
pretty fucking while to see the shadows there.

1699
02:15:01.239 --> 02:15:05.800
Yeah, Spunker whipping the chain down
on a felled Eddie, Gilbert Jesus

1700
02:15:07.640 --> 02:15:11.359
raining down chain shots. We have
one camera, by the way, so

1701
02:15:11.680 --> 02:15:13.720
I don't imagine one hard camera.
They can't get up on the action at

1702
02:15:13.760 --> 02:15:18.800
all, zooming in. He that
looks like there's a fucking second video camera

1703
02:15:18.920 --> 02:15:22.920
right there. I think that's a
videographer from Oh that is a video camera.

1704
02:15:22.039 --> 02:15:24.479
Yeah, yeah, there's not cutting
to his angle. That's great,

1705
02:15:24.560 --> 02:15:28.760
good stuff, guys, even though
he's right on top of the action with

1706
02:15:28.880 --> 02:15:31.000
a light and everything. Maybe he
didn't have a maybe he didn't have a

1707
02:15:31.000 --> 02:15:35.359
tape in there that I found that
out in the post. Did you see

1708
02:15:35.399 --> 02:15:39.560
that happening? Yes, I can. I can tell you see that happening

1709
02:15:41.359 --> 02:15:48.520
a press record. It'd almost be
better if you didn't. Is that what

1710
02:15:48.640 --> 02:15:56.199
I told you? There's a fucking
tape in there, Jim pressure recording.

1711
02:15:56.279 --> 02:15:58.359
I just you know, I saw
the images. I don't know what you

1712
02:15:58.439 --> 02:16:01.439
want. I pressed record and I
saw the images. I don't know what

1713
02:16:01.560 --> 02:16:05.479
you want. Anything else you'd like
to say in your defense? I surprised

1714
02:16:07.119 --> 02:16:11.000
about him. A complete fucking moron. I want to add that to I

1715
02:16:11.079 --> 02:16:16.479
didn't even have a drink. I
want Eddie Goldman right there, box inscribe

1716
02:16:16.479 --> 02:16:18.520
with the big glasses. It's gonna
say this. This this stuff was on

1717
02:16:20.640 --> 02:16:30.159
the Philadelphia Wrestling went from in the
spectrum to on the spectrum. So Terry

1718
02:16:30.159 --> 02:16:31.680
Funk lifted a bunch of chairs and
he was going to rain them down on

1719
02:16:31.760 --> 02:16:35.079
Gilbert, but it looks like Gilbert
got to kick to the gut in before

1720
02:16:35.360 --> 02:16:39.680
Funk could damage him. Funk rolling
back into the squared circle. Now he

1721
02:16:39.760 --> 02:16:48.319
looks like, right, both both
principles back in the ring. It's time

1722
02:16:48.319 --> 02:16:52.280
to bring this one home. And
apparently both guys have got blade jobs,

1723
02:16:54.479 --> 02:16:56.520
not that you really notice that,
considering they only have the hard camera ship

1724
02:17:00.440 --> 02:17:03.600
to his knees falls. Gilbert Funk
going nuts on the cut or raking the

1725
02:17:03.719 --> 02:17:11.719
chain across the blooded forehead of Eddie
Gilbert. A lot of wrestling photographers like

1726
02:17:11.760 --> 02:17:13.680
George and Paulaitano at ringside. That
was probably part of the mission too here.

1727
02:17:13.760 --> 02:17:16.879
You know, when you think about
it, think about reading PWI in

1728
02:17:16.959 --> 02:17:20.159
the nineties, you know, and
seeing pictures of this that would that would

1729
02:17:20.159 --> 02:17:24.639
have got your attention. A chain
match with blood everywhere, Yeah, yeah,

1730
02:17:24.760 --> 02:17:28.239
for sure. The photographers could shoot
at such an angle that you couldn't

1731
02:17:28.239 --> 02:17:31.440
tell there was no one there.
As far as you knew, everybody was

1732
02:17:31.479 --> 02:17:37.360
there. Funk Dodge is a chain
shot by Gilbert and referee uh John Finnegan

1733
02:17:37.399 --> 02:17:39.719
takes it right in the nape of
the neck. I can't believe John was

1734
02:17:39.760 --> 02:17:46.559
a knocked out exuplex by the Funker
actually atomic drop. I don't know why

1735
02:17:46.600 --> 02:17:48.479
they did the ref bump thing.
If the ref is gonna look at the

1736
02:17:48.559 --> 02:17:52.959
action the whole time and not act
like he's knits also, who cares like?

1737
02:17:52.200 --> 02:17:56.399
Right? So after the atomic drop, the Funker throws the chain over

1738
02:17:56.440 --> 02:18:01.680
his shoulder smacks two turn buck was
in succession. You're at the Summer Sissler

1739
02:18:01.799 --> 02:18:07.840
nineteen ninety three. Philadelphia, PA. A new referee. Now, yeah,

1740
02:18:07.959 --> 02:18:11.479
just to watch him slap the fourth
uh buckle padding and again. Lady

1741
02:18:11.520 --> 02:18:15.760
Gilbert pulling back on the chain,
sitting on the canvas and kicks Terry Funk

1742
02:18:15.799 --> 02:18:20.959
and the balls to prevent that fourth
corner from getting slapped. The Texas Massacre

1743
02:18:22.079 --> 02:18:28.120
chain match buss, that's what it
is. But I'm sure yes he was

1744
02:18:28.120 --> 02:18:41.399
a recently recent edition of and chain
Wrestling. Ironically, there's Polly bearing witness

1745
02:18:41.479 --> 02:18:46.319
to the guy that inspired him to
go all the way with his ECW concept.

1746
02:18:46.959 --> 02:18:50.639
Eddy Gilbert chokes the ship out of
the Funk or the bloodied Funker on

1747
02:18:50.680 --> 02:18:54.159
the canvas. Now it's hot stuff
slapped in the first corner and the ring

1748
02:18:54.200 --> 02:19:01.479
announcers counting along for the benefit of
the live Audience's second it's number two brother

1749
02:19:03.840 --> 02:19:07.680
Funk rolling around on the canvas,
clutching the chain, trying to pull Eddie

1750
02:19:07.680 --> 02:19:11.440
Gilbert away. You don't have to
expend any energy into the fourth corner anyway,

1751
02:19:11.760 --> 02:19:15.559
I know, right, I mean, what's gonna Oh, he's almost

1752
02:19:15.600 --> 02:19:20.680
there, fun pulling on the chain, Eddie Gilbert leaning against the ropes,

1753
02:19:20.680 --> 02:19:24.600
trying to make it Paul Hayman probably
dangerously there waving on Eddie Gilbert trying to

1754
02:19:24.600 --> 02:19:28.280
get his attention, trying to get
him to walk in. And at the

1755
02:19:28.319 --> 02:19:31.479
last leg of the journey, Funk's
standing Now I know what's going to happen

1756
02:19:31.559 --> 02:19:35.600
here, not pulling on the chain, cucko. Funk's flicking, little nut

1757
02:19:35.639 --> 02:19:39.559
lit, little tapped, looking a
little touched. Oh, here we go.

1758
02:19:39.760 --> 02:19:43.079
Series the rights down the pipe,
jabs by the Funker, and a

1759
02:19:43.200 --> 02:19:48.360
left hook drops Gilbert clean, both
men bloodied. Funk throws the chain over

1760
02:19:48.399 --> 02:19:54.479
his shoulder like Santa's sack. One
corner slap, two corner slaps, three

1761
02:19:54.600 --> 02:19:58.680
corner slaps. Funk moving. There
we go out number four on the way,

1762
02:19:58.079 --> 02:20:03.639
dragging Gilbert's arcas then again it ref's
distracted by Paul Hayman. He slapped

1763
02:20:03.639 --> 02:20:09.719
it, but the ref didn't see
it. Announce it's reacting like it's over.

1764
02:20:11.559 --> 02:20:16.600
The referee didn't see it. Ref
puts the hand down at least all

1765
02:20:16.600 --> 02:20:18.840
three. Well, just didn't tap
it right there, you're right there,

1766
02:20:20.000 --> 02:20:22.520
tap it? I know exactly exactly. Why do you stop? Why does

1767
02:20:22.559 --> 02:20:28.520
it reset? Also, what is
the referee wearing for a shirt striped in

1768
02:20:28.600 --> 02:20:31.760
so odd way? Striped? Gilbert
got a chair hit Funk in the back

1769
02:20:31.799 --> 02:20:35.799
with it. Now he's got a
pile driving on the steel. That's right,

1770
02:20:35.680 --> 02:20:48.319
Eddie Gilbert crops Funk head first,
and Gilbert touches once and twice three

1771
02:20:50.719 --> 02:20:54.239
Now Funk grabbing the chair, but
still Gilbert makes it. Funk crosses the

1772
02:20:54.360 --> 02:20:56.600
chair in the direction of Gilbert.
But too little, too late, because

1773
02:20:56.600 --> 02:21:03.319
that's what we need. Eddie Gilbert
charious with the with the crown king because

1774
02:21:03.360 --> 02:21:05.959
he said to Jerry Lawler Mark,
look at him, what a fucking idiot,

1775
02:21:07.000 --> 02:21:20.479
I'll hamen the mine. That's awful. A crown placed on the head

1776
02:21:20.479 --> 02:21:35.079
of Eddie Gilbert. What's he saying? Seeing the praises of Eddie Gilbert.

1777
02:21:35.120 --> 02:21:41.920
But other than that, it's hard
to tell. I can tell it's Paul

1778
02:21:41.959 --> 02:21:46.280
Hayman, but you can't tell what
he's saying. So now Todd Gordon is

1779
02:21:46.319 --> 02:21:56.559
in the ring, grab the mic, protesting to the wrath, and right

1780
02:21:56.600 --> 02:22:09.520
in the ref's face is Gordon.
You're fired. Okay, Todd Gordon has

1781
02:22:09.600 --> 02:22:13.040
fired the official. It shoved for
it. Gordon shoves and drops the ref.

1782
02:22:13.399 --> 02:22:18.239
Oh oh, look at that.
Polly dangerously clips Todd Gordon behind the

1783
02:22:18.319 --> 02:22:24.200
head with the brick phone. What
an ass, thus beginning ears of onscreen

1784
02:22:24.079 --> 02:22:31.159
tensions between the two that would lead
to reel behind the scenes attentions predate the

1785
02:22:31.600 --> 02:22:39.520
behind the scenes attentions. Awhile the
Funker is recovered, he's back on his

1786
02:22:39.559 --> 02:22:41.719
feet and he's mad dog and Eddie
Gilbert still tied to him via the chain

1787
02:22:43.680 --> 02:22:46.040
and there was no plan to get
off that thing. Huh No, he's

1788
02:22:46.079 --> 02:22:50.440
free, he doesn't have the change
anymore. Billin's on the run has raised

1789
02:22:50.479 --> 02:22:54.479
up the aisle away here in Philly. Eddie Gilbert Victoria just what we need.

1790
02:22:56.440 --> 02:22:58.440
The Funker's here to do business.
I think that's one thing that that

1791
02:22:58.840 --> 02:23:05.799
establishes. Yeah, Terry Funk tending
to Todd Gordon in his unique way.

1792
02:23:09.159 --> 02:23:18.239
Bunker's got the crown and the crowd
of Eddie Gilbert some standing applause, puts

1793
02:23:18.280 --> 02:23:24.440
it on Todd Gordon's head. That
masked Todd Gordon sitting there, Bunker with

1794
02:23:24.520 --> 02:23:35.200
the mic. I went ahead and
didn't win. He said something about King

1795
02:23:35.239 --> 02:23:52.200
of the Ring, say something complimentary
about Todd Gordon. The crowds are plotting,

1796
02:23:54.440 --> 02:24:13.479
okay, and an embrace between Terry
Funk and Todd Gordon. C W

1797
02:24:13.719 --> 02:24:18.120
experiment in year one Oh my good
lord, didn't pause that. Yeah,

1798
02:24:18.159 --> 02:24:22.479
the blue, plain bluey CW logo
before it was that white barbed wire one.

1799
02:24:24.680 --> 02:24:28.840
You think Boss Terry Funk mixing it
up with Eddie Gilbert in his first

1800
02:24:28.879 --> 02:24:33.079
ECW program, I mean, you
think you got it and everyone needs everyone

1801
02:24:33.120 --> 02:24:39.360
needs a payday. I guess it
would be the only one. It would

1802
02:24:39.360 --> 02:24:46.680
be the only program for Terry Funk
and Eddie Gilbert in ECW. By nineteen

1803
02:24:46.760 --> 02:24:48.159
ninety four, e Gilbert was out
of a position of power as booker in

1804
02:24:48.200 --> 02:24:52.879
ECW, replaced by Paul Hayman.
He was kind of in and out as

1805
02:24:52.879 --> 02:24:56.639
a booker on an on and off
basis with Todd Gordon as he battled a

1806
02:24:56.760 --> 02:25:01.879
substance abuse demons and big time drug
problem. Did Eddie Gilbert have? Yes?

1807
02:25:01.520 --> 02:25:05.840
He died of a drug overdose February
of nineteen ninety five, just two

1808
02:25:05.920 --> 02:25:11.559
years after the those early ECW tapings
that we just took a look at.

1809
02:25:13.639 --> 02:25:16.200
Funk wrote in his book, I
get mad at Eddie Gilbert too. I

1810
02:25:16.319 --> 02:25:18.879
tried many times to help him,
to tell him he needed to be careful.

1811
02:25:18.959 --> 02:25:20.440
But it's hard. You see someone
with a problem, but you also

1812
02:25:20.520 --> 02:25:24.120
see that person as a friend,
and you never can tell which guys you

1813
02:25:24.200 --> 02:25:26.799
need to be watching out for.
It's not like there's a glow around their

1814
02:25:26.840 --> 02:25:28.799
heads to where you could say,
Wow, i'd better talk to him.

1815
02:25:28.799 --> 02:25:31.559
He's going to be the next one
to go. Eddie knew he had a

1816
02:25:31.639 --> 02:25:35.159
problem, and it was something he
fought hard and hard against. Eddie was

1817
02:25:35.200 --> 02:25:37.760
extremely proud of himself. In the
summer of nineteen ninety four, he was

1818
02:25:37.799 --> 02:25:41.239
clean and sober and was actually trying
to go into politics in Lexington, Tennessee,

1819
02:25:41.239 --> 02:25:43.159
where he was from. He saw
an escape in a totally different way

1820
02:25:43.159 --> 02:25:46.760
of living. About six months later, he overdosed on cocaine and died in

1821
02:25:46.799 --> 02:25:50.879
a Puerto Rican hotel room while on
a wrestling tour. If he had won

1822
02:25:50.959 --> 02:25:54.360
that constable's election, I think he'd
still be alive today and still be drug

1823
02:25:54.479 --> 02:25:56.239
free. Even though I knew he'd
had a problem, the news of his

1824
02:25:56.360 --> 02:26:01.760
death came as a terrible shock.
He was only thirty four and had such

1825
02:26:01.799 --> 02:26:05.000
a great mind for the wrestling business. He was another second generation guy.

1826
02:26:05.200 --> 02:26:07.479
I also knew both his father,
Tommy and his brother Doug Well. Tommy

1827
02:26:07.520 --> 02:26:09.840
spent a couple of years wrestling Forrest
and was a good man. Eddie.

1828
02:26:09.879 --> 02:26:13.520
We had a very strong, tight
knit family and I can't imagine what they're

1829
02:26:13.520 --> 02:26:15.920
going through even to this day.
The toughest thing in the world must be

1830
02:26:15.959 --> 02:26:18.719
as a parent to lose one of
your own and Vicki and I hope that

1831
02:26:18.760 --> 02:26:22.879
God blesses us with death prior to
either of our daughters. Eddie Gilbert was

1832
02:26:22.920 --> 02:26:24.440
a friend. But I'm at the
point where when I get news about one

1833
02:26:24.479 --> 02:26:28.959
of them passing away and drugs are
involved, I'm pissed off at them.

1834
02:26:28.719 --> 02:26:31.559
I'm mad, and I don't know
if that's right or not, but it's

1835
02:26:31.600 --> 02:26:35.479
how I feel. I don't think
it's callousness, but I want to yell

1836
02:26:35.520 --> 02:26:37.120
at them. God, damn it, you're cheating me. You're cheating your

1837
02:26:37.159 --> 02:26:46.559
friends, and you're cheating your mm
family. Yes, by God, learnt

1838
02:26:46.600 --> 02:26:50.280
to count how many pills have you
had? Keep track? Hew? I

1839
02:26:50.360 --> 02:26:54.200
even get mad at Eddie Graham sometimes
for killing himself and taking himself away from

1840
02:26:54.200 --> 02:26:56.079
all the people who loved him.
The sad thing is a lot of times

1841
02:26:56.120 --> 02:27:00.959
I just feel numb to the news
when someone call to tell me about another

1842
02:27:01.319 --> 02:27:05.360
young guy in the business dying.
There have been so many I've almost just

1843
02:27:05.440 --> 02:27:07.760
thrown numb to it. I know
that anger and numbness is a horrible combination

1844
02:27:07.799 --> 02:27:11.760
of feelings to have in reaction to
news like that, but I feel like

1845
02:27:11.799 --> 02:27:16.079
I've gotten that phone call one hundred
times. That's right. There are many

1846
02:27:16.120 --> 02:27:18.920
things Eddie Gilbert brought over to e
c W in addition to his affinity for

1847
02:27:18.959 --> 02:27:24.520
a Memphis style presentation in angles and
match style table crashes, brawls that got

1848
02:27:24.600 --> 02:27:28.239
so intense that tables would get broken. We talked last time about how Randy

1849
02:27:28.239 --> 02:27:31.719
Savage Pile driving Ricky Morton through a
table in Memphis in nineteen eighty four the

1850
02:27:31.760 --> 02:27:35.719
Mid South Coliseum was kind of seen
as the first table crash of its type,

1851
02:27:37.360 --> 02:27:39.920
and even Terry Funk was sure to
reference it and writing in his book

1852
02:27:39.959 --> 02:27:46.840
about the Rick Flair nineteen eighty nine
table spot, tables and running over them

1853
02:27:46.879 --> 02:27:50.079
and falling on top of them and
using them and breaking them was part of

1854
02:27:50.159 --> 02:27:56.360
the Memphis scene, and Terry acknowledges
as much and said, you know,

1855
02:27:56.399 --> 02:27:58.920
he didn't know about that necessarily in
nineteen eighty nine when he had his spot

1856
02:27:58.959 --> 02:28:01.600
with Brick Flair, and uh and
we go from there, though, because

1857
02:28:01.600 --> 02:28:07.760
that's the spiritual sort of a vision
of wrestling, the spiritual bass that Eddie

1858
02:28:07.760 --> 02:28:11.959
Gilbert had for wrestling that he brought
to E c W. And if you're

1859
02:28:11.959 --> 02:28:15.360
talking about tables, right, you're
talking about brawling, You're talking about insanity,

1860
02:28:16.200 --> 02:28:22.600
the revolution, the revolutionary of all
that stuff was indeed Sabu, nephew

1861
02:28:22.680 --> 02:28:28.840
of Terry's oldest nemesis and friend,
the Sheikh. By the way, Sabo's

1862
02:28:28.840 --> 02:28:39.559
real name boss, Yes, Terry
Brounk. Of course, why didn't they

1863
02:28:39.639 --> 02:28:43.319
fucking form a tag team Bronken Funk
The great question w W versus the World?

1864
02:28:43.399 --> 02:28:46.280
You can select Terry Brounk. I
guess they couldn't use the Sabo name,

1865
02:28:46.319 --> 02:28:50.479
but they had him in the game. They couldn't use the sa name,

1866
02:28:50.520 --> 02:28:54.840
but they could not. So bizarre
that Sabo is in that video game.

1867
02:28:56.840 --> 02:29:01.440
That's bizarre. Sabo met Terry Funk
in the FMW promotion, which we'll

1868
02:29:01.479 --> 02:29:05.399
get to in Japan. That's where
Sabu started using the tables and moon salting

1869
02:29:05.479 --> 02:29:09.920
onto them, even with no one
on the table. Okay. One of

1870
02:29:09.959 --> 02:29:15.479
Sabu's early career signatures was after the
match was over, win or lose,

1871
02:29:15.639 --> 02:29:18.600
he'd put a table in the ring
with his opponent nowhere in sight. Get

1872
02:29:18.719 --> 02:29:22.239
up on the top rope and moon
salt through the table for the industry,

1873
02:29:24.120 --> 02:29:28.040
for the people's desire to see furniture
explode. No opponent there, He'd just

1874
02:29:28.120 --> 02:29:37.200
do it to himself. That's where
the business is heading. Thanks sadly writes

1875
02:29:37.239 --> 02:29:39.559
in his book, my gimmick was
super over with the fans, so much

1876
02:29:39.600 --> 02:29:41.760
so that Paul felt he had to
put the belt on me. That idea,

1877
02:29:41.799 --> 02:29:43.760
of course, was one I didn't
have a problem with. Part of

1878
02:29:43.799 --> 02:29:46.639
my first world title reign was probably
due to the fact that he appreciated what

1879
02:29:46.719 --> 02:29:50.120
I brought to the table. Paul
recognized the whole Japan influence that the promotion

1880
02:29:50.200 --> 02:29:52.920
had under my charge, and the
table spot thing that I brought to the

1881
02:29:52.959 --> 02:29:56.639
promotion. I think this is his
way of thanking me for helping with the

1882
02:29:56.680 --> 02:29:58.639
company's success. Other than my uncle, Terry Funk was a huge part.

1883
02:30:00.000 --> 02:30:03.079
Mary Funk was a huge part of
my development that helped to make my first

1884
02:30:03.120 --> 02:30:05.520
heavyweight run happen. He helped me
with finishes, psychology, and the little

1885
02:30:05.559 --> 02:30:09.239
nuances that really polished me. The
most significant matches during the early part of

1886
02:30:09.319 --> 02:30:13.000
my ECW career were with him.
These would eventually lead me on Toto dropping

1887
02:30:13.000 --> 02:30:16.680
the ECW World title to Terry after
beating Shane Douglas then defeating Terry Funk in

1888
02:30:16.719 --> 02:30:20.159
a crazy barbed wire match which I
will discuss years later to win it back.

1889
02:30:20.440 --> 02:30:24.600
Terry was also in a three way
dance for the CW World Heavyweight Championship

1890
02:30:24.600 --> 02:30:28.200
at ECW's the Night the Line was
crossed against Shane Douglass and me. Now,

1891
02:30:28.360 --> 02:30:31.399
three ways often can be a cluster
fuck, but Terry was an excellent

1892
02:30:31.520 --> 02:30:33.559
leader and a teacher. He showed
me how to go to a one hour

1893
02:30:33.639 --> 02:30:37.399
time limit draw and still beat Public
Enemy for the ECW World Tag Team Championships

1894
02:30:37.399 --> 02:30:41.120
with my partner Taz in a double
tables match on the same show. That

1895
02:30:41.239 --> 02:30:45.440
was a busy night for sure,
Boss. He said, yeah, you're

1896
02:30:45.440 --> 02:30:50.000
familiar with the night the Line was
crossed. No, I wasn't sure that

1897
02:30:50.079 --> 02:30:54.680
seemed to strike a chord with you. I think I was just responding to

1898
02:30:54.879 --> 02:31:00.559
just the garbage that he's saying.
He's saying, so again, another guy

1899
02:31:00.680 --> 02:31:05.760
that was central to the whole picture
in the nineties. In the next decade,

1900
02:31:05.760 --> 02:31:09.879
the next generation saying yep, Terry
Funk, Terry Funk was the guy

1901
02:31:09.000 --> 02:31:13.639
that came along at the exact moment
I needed that extra polish, that extra

1902
02:31:13.719 --> 02:31:16.879
advice, that extra encouragement, And
indeed, is he's about to say here

1903
02:31:16.959 --> 02:31:20.440
in a shoot interview that Sabu recently
did with Title Match. It took a

1904
02:31:20.520 --> 02:31:24.239
long time, I'm talking like fifteen
years for Saboo to finally start talking in

1905
02:31:24.319 --> 02:31:26.239
public, to start thinking he had
to benefit Hi more than it could hurt

1906
02:31:26.280 --> 02:31:30.399
him in terms of his gimmick,
even insisting on not speaking when he went

1907
02:31:30.440 --> 02:31:33.200
to work for Vince McMahon in two
thousand and six with the ECW reunion and

1908
02:31:33.120 --> 02:31:37.319
revitalization, and that didn't play very
well. They eventually got him to crack

1909
02:31:37.360 --> 02:31:41.680
and talk a bit, but that
sort of nobody anyway. Here he is

1910
02:31:41.760 --> 02:31:46.799
reflecting back on the role that Terry
Funk played as he was becoming in a

1911
02:31:46.840 --> 02:31:50.479
lot of ways, especially in nineteen
ninety four, the hottest, most talked

1912
02:31:50.479 --> 02:31:54.440
about Starr in the business. Now, he told me a lot. He

1913
02:31:54.559 --> 02:32:00.159
was the first guy of his caliber
that would do my moves, let me

1914
02:32:00.239 --> 02:32:03.040
do what I wanted with him.
He's the first guy anybody else was his

1915
02:32:03.239 --> 02:32:07.959
caliber or his physicition in wrestling would
say they said no to everything, and

1916
02:32:09.000 --> 02:32:11.239
out of respect, I wouldn't do
it him. I asked him, and

1917
02:32:11.360 --> 02:32:15.000
he goes, go ahead, try
it. I said, really and I

1918
02:32:15.280 --> 02:32:16.600
and then he goes, just tell
me what it is. And I couldn't

1919
02:32:16.639 --> 02:32:20.680
explain to him what the moon saut
was. I said, his standary here

1920
02:32:20.920 --> 02:32:24.639
and catch me, and he goes, what do you that something? He

1921
02:32:24.760 --> 02:32:28.000
called me and then I'll say,
stay here and move or stay here and

1922
02:32:28.040 --> 02:32:30.360
catch me. And that's what we
did. He the first one of his

1923
02:32:30.520 --> 02:32:33.920
caliber that would allow me to do
that, and that gave him ten more

1924
02:32:33.000 --> 02:32:37.280
years or more of his career after
I wrestled him the first time. He

1925
02:32:37.319 --> 02:32:41.120
says, I gave him ten years
of life because before he wrestled me,

1926
02:32:41.319 --> 02:32:43.159
he was considered you see, now, old guy, he his allience,

1927
02:32:43.280 --> 02:32:46.399
like in his fifties. He's younger
than I am. He's younger than than

1928
02:32:46.440 --> 02:32:52.680
I am now. But yeah,
I gave him ten more years because people

1929
02:32:52.879 --> 02:32:56.920
thought he was a new wrestler.
He changed and he made all the guys

1930
02:32:56.959 --> 02:33:03.200
coming up legitimacy. It's been said
too that he wasn't selfish at all.

1931
02:33:03.239 --> 02:33:05.680
He really wanted to make people.
He cared about what he was doing and

1932
02:33:07.159 --> 02:33:09.959
He always wanted to make the guy
he wrestled better. Have you talked to

1933
02:33:11.200 --> 02:33:16.200
Terry Funk recently before the pandemic started. I talked to him and he was

1934
02:33:18.280 --> 02:33:20.280
had a little bit of dementia.
I couldn't kept saying where's his bag?

1935
02:33:20.680 --> 02:33:24.799
I goes under the table and about
every five minutes. It was worth my

1936
02:33:24.879 --> 02:33:28.159
back. At first I thought it
was funny, but then after you know,

1937
02:33:28.559 --> 02:33:31.959
ten or twenty times, got to
be old that he really didn't know

1938
02:33:31.000 --> 02:33:37.559
where his bag was ready to drive. I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah,

1939
02:33:37.680 --> 02:33:41.799
my uncle helped break Terry Funk in. My uncle's first territory was Texas

1940
02:33:41.920 --> 02:33:46.600
m Moro, the area for Doriy
Funk Senior. And and uh so,

1941
02:33:48.239 --> 02:33:50.719
the first project my uncle had on
the road was to take Terry Funk on

1942
02:33:50.799 --> 02:33:54.280
the road and break him in.
So that's what he did that. Terry

1943
02:33:54.319 --> 02:33:58.639
Funk was my uncle's first student.
Oh no kidding. Yeah, Dory was

1944
02:33:58.639 --> 02:34:03.959
a little older than Terry. So
Dorry had already broken the business as he

1945
02:34:03.079 --> 02:34:07.200
was on the road. And then
so but Miucale wrestles for Dorry Senior,

1946
02:34:07.680 --> 02:34:11.280
and his first first thing he had, the first he learned, was to

1947
02:34:11.319 --> 02:34:16.719
break him in. You know,
great and Terry and but then turned the

1948
02:34:16.760 --> 02:34:18.840
full circle by him helping me out. When Terry Bunk helped me out,

1949
02:34:20.680 --> 02:34:24.000
he didn't break me in, but
he let me allow. He allowed me

1950
02:34:24.079 --> 02:34:26.040
to do the moves with nobody's seen
me before. Think that got me over

1951
02:34:28.559 --> 02:34:31.280
at his full circle for absolute sure. And I'm sure Terry Funk had the

1952
02:34:31.319 --> 02:34:35.319
Sheikh somewhat in mind as he canceled
Sabo and worked his style and brought him

1953
02:34:35.319 --> 02:34:39.600
along. But it's that same dimension
we were talking about as to why Terry

1954
02:34:39.639 --> 02:34:43.200
Funk moon salted in nineteen ninety four. Yeah, that would lead to him

1955
02:34:43.360 --> 02:34:50.159
engaging Saboo and leaning into the style
that Sabu was bringing. Sabu was like

1956
02:34:50.239 --> 02:34:52.159
Wrestler of the Year in nineteen ninety
four. He was the most buzzed about

1957
02:34:52.159 --> 02:34:56.520
wrestler in the whole country, despite
the fact that he wasn't with the major

1958
02:34:56.559 --> 02:34:58.840
promotions. He actually made a WW
nineteen ninety five on the back of that

1959
02:35:00.239 --> 02:35:03.639
for a short live run he was
involved, didn't image, Yeah, I

1960
02:35:03.639 --> 02:35:05.879
remember, did we actually was on
a pay per view? Did we see

1961
02:35:05.920 --> 02:35:09.559
it? He did wrestle on a
pay per view, and then he didn't

1962
02:35:09.600 --> 02:35:13.040
make another pay per view over a
pay dispute. He did a I'm matching

1963
02:35:13.120 --> 02:35:15.799
the second edition of Money Nitro.
I think it was against Alex's right and

1964
02:35:15.879 --> 02:35:18.920
he broke a table and there was
disagreement about allowing him to break tables and

1965
02:35:20.440 --> 02:35:26.239
all of that. I remember when
we did Slamburree ninety four and there's that

1966
02:35:26.360 --> 02:35:28.840
handicam that Rob Feinstein shot is part
of Legends Reunion Bank, where he's like

1967
02:35:28.920 --> 02:35:33.719
walking around the hotel lobby and get
some time with Eric Bischoff, and Bischoff

1968
02:35:33.760 --> 02:35:35.360
is chatting them up about Saboo and
give him my number, and I want

1969
02:35:35.360 --> 02:35:37.520
to bring him in, and yeah, he was almost talked about start of

1970
02:35:37.559 --> 02:35:41.840
the business. The problem is anyone
who wanted to bring Saboo in would not

1971
02:35:41.840 --> 02:35:45.159
allow him to be Saboo through and
through in terms of just like the all

1972
02:35:45.239 --> 02:35:48.520
mad cap wide open style. And
that's what Sabou saying there in that interview

1973
02:35:48.600 --> 02:35:50.639
because in Terry Funk, he had
a guy with you know, more respect

1974
02:35:50.680 --> 02:35:54.040
than any wrestler could possibly have in
terms of tenure and things he'd done,

1975
02:35:54.600 --> 02:35:58.600
saying yes, I will catch you
on moon salts, Yes we can go

1976
02:35:58.680 --> 02:36:01.680
through tables, Yes you can show
me you know five or six things that

1977
02:36:01.719 --> 02:36:05.840
you do in the ring that nobody
else has ever done, and I'll I'll

1978
02:36:05.920 --> 02:36:07.639
do it for you. That's something
a lot of veterans that Sabu dealt with

1979
02:36:07.719 --> 02:36:11.360
early in his run would absolutely not. I'm not going to stand on the

1980
02:36:11.360 --> 02:36:13.159
floor while you triple jump, front
flip and land on my shoulder. You're

1981
02:36:13.159 --> 02:36:16.239
fucking kidding me. Why would I
do that? Like? Well, because

1982
02:36:16.600 --> 02:36:20.520
we want to make an impact,
But that's not how a lot of the

1983
02:36:20.520 --> 02:36:22.040
people that Saba went into in his
early days looked at the business. But

1984
02:36:22.120 --> 02:36:26.799
Terry Funk was an exception, and
Sabu has a lot of Terry Funk to

1985
02:36:26.840 --> 02:36:28.159
thank for that. I mean,
Sabu went out there and did it,

1986
02:36:30.079 --> 02:36:31.680
but at the same time that he
was able to do it against some of

1987
02:36:31.680 --> 02:36:35.760
the caliber. If Terry Funk made
all the difference in the world, Funk

1988
02:36:35.799 --> 02:36:37.639
writes in his book Something else that
became popular at ECW shows was something I

1989
02:36:37.719 --> 02:36:41.920
had popularized, going through tables.
Randy Savage was the first of my knowledge

1990
02:36:41.959 --> 02:36:45.639
to send someone through a ringside table. When you powdrow of Ricky Morton threw

1991
02:36:45.639 --> 02:36:48.040
on in nineteen eighty four. But
I truly think me doing it to Flare

1992
02:36:48.120 --> 02:36:50.920
nineteen eighty nine was what put tables
on the map. And when I did

1993
02:36:50.959 --> 02:36:52.440
it, it wasn't even aware that
Savage and Morton had done it in Memphis

1994
02:36:52.440 --> 02:36:56.360
five years earlier. But a kid
named Terry Brunk was the one who really

1995
02:36:56.399 --> 02:36:58.280
made the tables into a staple of
his arsenal. Terry was the nephew of

1996
02:36:58.319 --> 02:37:01.200
my old friend Ed far Hot,
the chic he wrestled with Saboo. The

1997
02:37:01.200 --> 02:37:05.479
stuff Saboo did from the top rope
and his moves through tables were practically unheard

1998
02:37:05.479 --> 02:37:07.360
of in wrestling in the early nineteen
nineties. When I first encountered Saboo in

1999
02:37:07.360 --> 02:37:11.280
an independent show, now one,
I'd never seen moves like the back dive

2000
02:37:11.319 --> 02:37:13.159
off the second rope into the body
press. He was a real creator and

2001
02:37:13.200 --> 02:37:16.000
a real innovator in that ring.
Every time you see someone doing a high

2002
02:37:16.000 --> 02:37:20.079
flying move using the ropes as a
springboard, you were watching someone imitating a

2003
02:37:20.120 --> 02:37:24.200
Saboo invention. That's not true of
the springboards. I mean, Jimmy Snookt

2004
02:37:24.200 --> 02:37:28.799
is a springboard at wrestling. His
seven against Undertaker, right, he would

2005
02:37:28.799 --> 02:37:31.440
also sell that stuff. He wouldn't
do some crazy move and then pop right

2006
02:37:31.479 --> 02:37:33.440
back up. Actually, Terry,
he did that often. When he hit

2007
02:37:33.479 --> 02:37:35.760
it, he would sell it,
but when he would miss it, you

2008
02:37:35.879 --> 02:37:39.559
just go and repeat it in a
way that was like time standing still.

2009
02:37:39.639 --> 02:37:43.319
But that's fine worked for him.
He made sure the fans understood the physical

2010
02:37:43.360 --> 02:37:46.239
price he was paying by selling every
movie he made. The generation of guys

2011
02:37:46.280 --> 02:37:50.479
who borrowed things from sabboo overdid it
and killed a lot of those moves by

2012
02:37:50.559 --> 02:37:52.879
doing too much, too fast.
But Sabo's in ring performance was great.

2013
02:37:52.920 --> 02:37:56.920
I'm not going to say his work
was faultless, but it was damn good.

2014
02:37:56.639 --> 02:38:00.200
First time I saw him, I
immediately realized what a huge inflame once

2015
02:38:00.200 --> 02:38:03.200
he would be. How could he
not how eighty percent of his matches were

2016
02:38:03.280 --> 02:38:05.319
things that had never been seen before. Anytime I went to an ECW show,

2017
02:38:05.319 --> 02:38:07.959
I tried to do more than was
necessary. Sabu did the same,

2018
02:38:09.159 --> 02:38:11.879
and so did Shane Douglas. We
all had a common desire to make the

2019
02:38:11.920 --> 02:38:15.239
company we were going to extremes,
so it was appropriate when they renamed it

2020
02:38:15.319 --> 02:38:18.840
Extreme Championship Wrestling. But ECW is
also a place where a lot of innovations

2021
02:38:18.879 --> 02:38:22.520
took place. One of those was
the triangle match, which a WW calls

2022
02:38:22.559 --> 02:38:26.239
the Triple Threat match today, and
we'll get to that in just a moment.

2023
02:38:26.559 --> 02:38:30.360
But while we're acquainting ourselves with Terry
Funk being acquainted with Sabu for the

2024
02:38:30.399 --> 02:38:33.600
first time in nineteen ninety four,
we're going to dial it back to February

2025
02:38:33.639 --> 02:38:37.280
twenty eighth of that year. And
this is not in ECW. This is

2026
02:38:37.440 --> 02:38:39.799
during a time period where are much
like Terry Funk, Sabou's taking independent bookings

2027
02:38:39.920 --> 02:38:45.879
at ECW in just about any other
territory that would have him before ECW became

2028
02:38:45.920 --> 02:38:48.959
a place that you could really set
down a base of operations in and work

2029
02:38:48.040 --> 02:38:52.360
for full time. And so Terry
Funk and Sabu are wrestling not only in

2030
02:38:52.399 --> 02:38:54.680
ECW in this point in time,
but all over the circuit, including this

2031
02:38:54.719 --> 02:38:58.559
Febu twenty eighth, nineteenninety four WWN
match, which I think really well in

2032
02:38:58.639 --> 02:39:05.280
capsule Late's the kind of indie spirit
and hardcore style that was just beginning to

2033
02:39:05.360 --> 02:39:11.520
come into focus as Sabou was allowed
to basically be unleashed and have unhinged matches

2034
02:39:11.360 --> 02:39:13.840
across the circuit against the likes at
Terry Funk. So we're gonna go to

2035
02:39:13.920 --> 02:39:24.600
disc twenty two. Bost is twenty
two two. It's twenty two twenty two.

2036
02:39:26.799 --> 02:39:31.040
Okay, I've made this clear before
him, very much in favor of

2037
02:39:31.120 --> 02:39:37.000
you singing while we pill up at
ether so started zero zero zero and we're

2038
02:39:37.000 --> 02:40:01.879
gon hit play in three two one
play. Here's the Funker stepping out,

2039
02:40:01.920 --> 02:40:07.399
no shirt, towel in his hand, starting to get a little uh chubby

2040
02:40:07.399 --> 02:40:11.559
around the waist again. Yeah,
starting to lose that sveltness from eighty nine

2041
02:40:11.920 --> 02:40:13.399
which we also saw in ninety three
and the Eddie Gilbert match which just saw

2042
02:40:13.879 --> 02:40:22.040
true. There's Paul E dangerously walking
right behind him. So this is WWN.

2043
02:40:22.120 --> 02:40:30.319
This is the Jim Crockett attempt.
They did a couple of tapings.

2044
02:40:30.360 --> 02:40:33.959
This is one of them, and
apparently what circulated was a fan cam from

2045
02:40:35.000 --> 02:41:13.440
the balcony. You see this weird
angle we're at Punk grabs the mic and

2046
02:41:13.479 --> 02:41:16.040
Paul's face. We can't see what's
happening, but we'll jump cut the latches

2047
02:41:16.079 --> 02:41:31.559
underway, so nol we've got Terry
Fumeke versus Terry Broome came very much so,

2048
02:41:33.440 --> 02:41:37.760
and the bright yellow pants reverse on
the whip Funk drops down for a

2049
02:41:37.760 --> 02:41:39.399
backdrop. Saboo rolls off the back
of Funk, which you didn't see much

2050
02:41:39.479 --> 02:41:43.079
back then, and running Larry It
puts down Saboo. They keep a very

2051
02:41:43.159 --> 02:41:48.040
quick pace. And again keep in
mind Terry Funk is willing to do a

2052
02:41:48.120 --> 02:41:50.520
lot in there with Saboo that someone
of his age, No on, they

2053
02:41:50.520 --> 02:41:52.079
wouldn't be willing to do for the
most part. They probably couldn't physically do

2054
02:41:52.319 --> 02:41:56.959
it for the most part either.
Funk off the rope's clothesline, ducked in

2055
02:41:56.040 --> 02:42:00.600
from the other end. Saboo drops
in with a forearm shiver. That ring

2056
02:42:00.760 --> 02:42:07.799
is tiny, it is. Funk
spills out of the ring on the floor.

2057
02:42:07.799 --> 02:42:11.120
It's kind of like a ballroom setting
here. Yeah, it kind of

2058
02:42:11.239 --> 02:42:16.159
lends me of the Manhattan Center.
Yep. Oh, Sabu the slingshot flip

2059
02:42:16.239 --> 02:42:20.399
dive to the red carpeted floor,
taking out the Funker and hard. Just

2060
02:42:20.520 --> 02:42:24.760
remember, just think about wrestling in
early nineteen ninety four where it was at,

2061
02:42:26.120 --> 02:42:30.159
and then think about this match happening
somewhere in Philadelphia. Oh, it's

2062
02:42:30.239 --> 02:42:35.959
crazy. They have those ballroom style
chairs, not the steel folding chairs,

2063
02:42:39.120 --> 02:42:43.159
one of those casino boxing matches on
the wove. That was he was throwing

2064
02:42:43.159 --> 02:42:48.760
the ring. What is it step
ladder? I think, yeah, remember

2065
02:42:48.799 --> 02:42:50.959
those are the ring stays for this
fucking place I have been referre. He

2066
02:42:50.959 --> 02:42:56.040
threw them out of the ring,
regardless of what they were. This is

2067
02:42:56.079 --> 02:42:58.840
all kind of pre ECW. This
is like the existed and they were wrestling,

2068
02:43:00.520 --> 02:43:05.319
but they're resting just as hard outside
of his c W right side headlock

2069
02:43:05.360 --> 02:43:11.399
in the center of the ring song
before the fifty four or sixty Studio fifty

2070
02:43:11.440 --> 02:43:16.200
four, Paul Hayman had very good
connections at Studio fifty four. All right,

2071
02:43:16.399 --> 02:43:18.280
I would do publicity for like Bam
Bam Bigelo there, which you who

2072
02:43:18.319 --> 02:43:22.719
would unto the business. Well,
whatever that was, that was Funk grabbed

2073
02:43:22.719 --> 02:43:26.239
the ropes, put his stomach on
the top and just front flipped out of

2074
02:43:26.360 --> 02:43:28.799
sight, probably on a saboo.
Look at nobody there, I know,

2075
02:43:30.639 --> 02:43:35.600
nobody there, nobody. Oh my
god, he just fucking ran him through

2076
02:43:35.639 --> 02:43:39.680
a table. There's a table at
ring side. But it wasn't on all

2077
02:43:39.719 --> 02:43:41.639
four legs. It was just on
two one leg. Look at the carpeting

2078
02:43:41.799 --> 02:43:48.920
like that to me is like that's
that's where we're at carpeting, And I

2079
02:43:48.959 --> 02:43:50.719
think you're right that a ring of
armors show that we went to and that

2080
02:43:52.559 --> 02:43:56.319
at the that Rhode Island Convention Center
or whatever. Exactly what it was,

2081
02:43:56.479 --> 02:44:03.360
Yes, table just on one leg
leaning, Funk ran up behind Saboo who

2082
02:44:03.399 --> 02:44:05.399
was facing the table, grabbed him
by the back of the head, and

2083
02:44:05.520 --> 02:44:09.959
just jumped onto the table with just
like they rolled across it like it was

2084
02:44:09.040 --> 02:44:15.520
a boogiey board. Yeh. And
then Funk ddt Saboo onto the table on

2085
02:44:15.600 --> 02:44:24.159
the floor. Jesus. Crowds reacting
like this is out of control. Yeah,

2086
02:44:24.159 --> 02:44:26.200
I know at that running throw them
at the table. I'm surprised we

2087
02:44:26.200 --> 02:44:28.639
don't see that more often. That
looks really cool. Yeah, it did

2088
02:44:28.760 --> 02:44:33.000
look greats like a barroom thing you'd
do, you know, in a barroom

2089
02:44:33.040 --> 02:44:37.200
fight, running them across the whole
bar, sliding him back into the ring

2090
02:44:37.239 --> 02:44:43.120
as the funker again in real time, developing the bond, the respect for

2091
02:44:43.200 --> 02:44:48.520
each other and figuring out like what
this crowd responds to? What they can

2092
02:44:48.559 --> 02:44:52.040
pour it over At ECW more often
than not, you're a nice neck breaker

2093
02:44:52.120 --> 02:44:56.479
there hangman's noose by the funker.
It's almost like he knows how to lassow

2094
02:44:56.559 --> 02:45:16.559
him. Huh. Sabu gets his
fun. The rope on the cover rocks

2095
02:45:16.600 --> 02:45:18.280
first. On the top rope goes
Saboo, Funker up after him. I

2096
02:45:18.360 --> 02:45:20.440
mean, this is Terry with no
cameras, you know what I mean.

2097
02:45:22.120 --> 02:45:26.280
I think they did take this for
TV, but just what he was doing,

2098
02:45:26.600 --> 02:45:28.920
that's what he chose to do in
nineteen eighty four. Oh Jesus,

2099
02:45:30.239 --> 02:45:33.799
ellacious middle rope superplexed by the Funker
red, white, and blue ropes for

2100
02:45:33.840 --> 02:45:43.920
the wwn YEP. That's definitely the
Studio fifty four logo. So there's the

2101
02:45:43.959 --> 02:45:52.239
Paul Hyman connection. It's crazy that
the man has got a fucking Studio fifty

2102
02:45:52.239 --> 02:45:54.319
four logo. I didn't know that. I don't know, it's crazy.

2103
02:45:56.959 --> 02:45:58.639
That was the thing, you know, Terry Funk spent years on shoot interviews

2104
02:45:58.639 --> 02:46:03.040
saying, you know, why,
why couldn't you run cheaper markets like a

2105
02:46:03.639 --> 02:46:07.159
you know, like Greater Dallas or
something, or Greater Houston in the nineties

2106
02:46:07.200 --> 02:46:11.399
and build another Texas wrestling territory where
he actually could could get to the towns

2107
02:46:11.399 --> 02:46:13.239
in an affordable way. Why did
all the indies in the nineties insist on

2108
02:46:13.319 --> 02:46:16.559
being East coast? And the thing
about Paul is he was well connected in

2109
02:46:16.559 --> 02:46:20.159
New York City. He knew those
streets very well, grew up in Scarsdale,

2110
02:46:20.239 --> 02:46:26.239
but really knew how Madison Avenue worked, really knew how the nightclub promotion

2111
02:46:26.360 --> 02:46:31.840
business worked. It's a both men
reach of stalemate. Funk dropped with a

2112
02:46:31.840 --> 02:46:37.159
clothesline when he was almost out on
his feet anyway, and that was the

2113
02:46:37.239 --> 02:46:41.600
terrain he knew best, as expensive
as it was. All Hayman really was

2114
02:46:41.959 --> 02:46:48.319
of the city, and Todd Gordon
was mister Philly. You know. It

2115
02:46:48.440 --> 02:46:52.680
wasn't like some It wasn't some like
decision to locate there to feel like a

2116
02:46:52.719 --> 02:46:56.639
big deal. It was the hometown
and backyard of these folks. Drop kicking

2117
02:46:56.680 --> 02:47:00.120
Funk back into the corner now by
Saboo, who's out? Oh my god.

2118
02:47:00.159 --> 02:47:03.879
He's gonna use one of those ballroom
chairs. Oh as a launch point

2119
02:47:03.719 --> 02:47:11.680
of poetry in motion. Oh,
just like a splash, kind of crossbody

2120
02:47:11.719 --> 02:47:16.639
splash. That was a huge thing. Sabo's triple jumps off chair seats.

2121
02:47:16.360 --> 02:47:18.639
Like no one thought to use a
chair as a launch point. The only

2122
02:47:18.760 --> 02:47:22.280
thought to use it as something a
bludging you in. Yeah, right,

2123
02:47:26.639 --> 02:47:30.399
I on the floor. Funker's got
the chair position. He's gonna atomic drop

2124
02:47:30.479 --> 02:47:35.200
Saboo on the onto that chair with
no give. Oh he dropped them hard

2125
02:47:35.280 --> 02:47:41.719
too. And that point you made
before about like watching people abuse themselves,

2126
02:47:41.799 --> 02:47:48.000
you know, like Saboo, that
was his thing. I know, as

2127
02:47:48.079 --> 02:47:50.159
kind of fake as something contrived,
as a lot of the spots were in

2128
02:47:50.200 --> 02:47:54.600
his matches, he absolutely would take
the full brunt of a blows like you're

2129
02:47:54.639 --> 02:48:00.760
still watching the guy getting launched out
of a cannon. Oh, the funker

2130
02:48:00.840 --> 02:48:09.959
blindside Hayman and grabs his telephone.
Should make a phone call so I can

2131
02:48:11.079 --> 02:48:20.719
charge up those minutes called collect upside
the head of Terry Brounk Paul his jeans.

2132
02:48:20.079 --> 02:48:24.879
He's got a pile drive Hayman on
the carpet, called him out of

2133
02:48:24.920 --> 02:48:28.239
the carpet, and now he's gonna
pile drive him on it. For Christ's

2134
02:48:28.239 --> 02:48:37.520
sakes, I remember Paul taking a
lot of bumps like that. That's awesome.

2135
02:48:37.079 --> 02:48:43.159
Yeah, Sadly, after Funk throws
him over the railing out after him

2136
02:48:45.319 --> 02:48:56.079
up against the wall of the building, boom, the trash can on Terry's

2137
02:48:56.079 --> 02:48:58.680
head. This You didn't see this
ship in nine ninety four, not at

2138
02:48:58.680 --> 02:49:05.959
all, not at all. Maybe
in Memphis, but yeah, in Memphis,

2139
02:49:05.000 --> 02:49:07.440
you would, because you know,
I remember again ninety two. I

2140
02:49:07.479 --> 02:49:16.319
remember the fucking concession stands Lawler and
Jarrett versus the moondogs getting fucking blooded up

2141
02:49:18.760 --> 02:49:24.120
back over the rail and into the
ring they go. There's definitely not a

2142
02:49:24.200 --> 02:49:28.479
northeast thing, not at all.
This isn't exactly, This isn't Bruno throwing

2143
02:49:28.520 --> 02:49:35.520
punches, backlarting, doing the bridges
from the apron to the inside. Saboo,

2144
02:49:35.680 --> 02:49:39.920
the oh my god, what the
fuck fucking Christ tried to rotate on

2145
02:49:39.000 --> 02:49:43.280
the slingshot from the ring apron to
a moon salt and landed right on the

2146
02:49:43.319 --> 02:49:48.479
back of his neck on the funk
stomach the club. That's exactly correct.

2147
02:49:50.319 --> 02:49:54.760
These guys today are amazing athletes.
I saw the Sabo and he was just

2148
02:49:54.840 --> 02:50:00.200
yeah, the Saboo. You know
that's good funk with that delayed vertical fuck,

2149
02:50:00.200 --> 02:50:05.040
he's bringing the tradition. Jesus,
you're gonna drop him someplace hard.

2150
02:50:05.520 --> 02:50:13.000
No, that's hard enough, bunker. Going back to fundamentals, there delayed

2151
02:50:13.040 --> 02:50:18.440
vertical souplex rock Saboo. Both men
doubled down. I don't know. This

2152
02:50:18.600 --> 02:50:22.360
match just struck me. It's like
particularly chaotic for nineteen ninety four, like

2153
02:50:22.639 --> 02:50:28.680
he is honest to God, Like
this is actually more entertaining than I'm saying

2154
02:50:28.760 --> 02:50:33.120
most the Saboo matches I've ever seen. The Funk has one of the ring

2155
02:50:35.360 --> 02:50:39.440
the things used for the ring rope, the retaining ropes. About what those

2156
02:50:39.479 --> 02:50:43.479
things are called, like a fucking
it looks like a cocktail table. Yeah,

2157
02:50:43.920 --> 02:50:48.079
maybe it was that. I don't
know whatever it is. Sabo drops

2158
02:50:48.120 --> 02:50:50.440
Funker on the floor and I was
unfolding a table, going to work with

2159
02:50:50.479 --> 02:50:58.399
the wood. Here clothesline lays Funk
Souphine across the table. Yeah, Saboo

2160
02:50:58.479 --> 02:51:03.799
jumps in the ring. Here we
go, time to sacrifice, sling shots,

2161
02:51:03.879 --> 02:51:09.639
front clipping. Saboo Wow explodes through
the table as Terry Funk moves out

2162
02:51:09.680 --> 02:51:13.399
of the way at the last second. Yeah, that's kind of like that

2163
02:51:13.520 --> 02:51:16.799
kind of popped, Like he's coming
back for that every time. I going

2164
02:51:16.879 --> 02:51:20.440
to show this small like if you
can get the people up that much,

2165
02:51:22.120 --> 02:51:26.879
Saboo is now like sentenced to table
crashes for the rest of his life.

2166
02:51:28.040 --> 02:51:39.319
Yeah, listen to the people,
Saboo. Saboo Bird was traveling fast and

2167
02:51:39.399 --> 02:51:41.319
the sheets and stuff in ninety four
about Saboo and what the crazy shit he

2168
02:51:41.360 --> 02:51:45.639
would do because there was still mystique
to it, you know, because you

2169
02:51:45.639 --> 02:51:48.719
couldn't get your hands on the tapes
too easily unless you happen to be in

2170
02:51:48.760 --> 02:51:54.239
the markets where he was on TV, like Philly. And with a broken

2171
02:51:54.280 --> 02:51:58.399
piece of the table, Saboo crowns
Terry Funk, who's now walking around like

2172
02:51:58.479 --> 02:52:01.559
a like all wind up doll at
ringside. He grabs it and a piece

2173
02:52:01.600 --> 02:52:13.680
of the table and smashes Saboo in
the head with us so glad you noticed

2174
02:52:13.719 --> 02:52:16.879
that Studio fifty fourth thing. That's
a clutch detail. Yeah, and take

2175
02:52:16.920 --> 02:52:18.760
my eyes off it now, I
know, seriously, I was wondering,

2176
02:52:18.799 --> 02:52:22.200
I like, what is that weird
thing in there? And he's like baiting

2177
02:52:22.200 --> 02:52:26.280
a minute that looks like studio fifty
four learner back in with a broken piece

2178
02:52:26.319 --> 02:52:28.719
of the table. Is the funker
leaning against the bottom rope? What's it

2179
02:52:28.760 --> 02:52:31.440
going to do with it? Snatches
up Saboo up to the broken table piece

2180
02:52:33.159 --> 02:52:35.680
and Bile drives his head onto it. Ah, big nasty sound on that

2181
02:52:35.799 --> 02:52:45.799
one. And this is before Saboo
had suffered some of his more difficult injuries.

2182
02:52:45.879 --> 02:52:50.399
So he is he is unleashed.
He has no physical limitations. Really

2183
02:52:52.920 --> 02:52:56.959
hasn't learned his lessons yet about some
of the bigger risks unhinged And now what

2184
02:52:58.079 --> 02:53:00.719
time is it, Terry? Would
he ever? Do you ever learn those

2185
02:53:00.799 --> 02:53:03.719
lessons? Absolutely not. This is
just a couple of weeks after he moon

2186
02:53:03.799 --> 02:53:07.479
salted the first time in for SMW
You're Smoking Mountain. But he only had

2187
02:53:07.520 --> 02:53:11.719
a few in them. Right,
Well, here goes another one in the

2188
02:53:11.760 --> 02:53:15.360
bump card funk. They had never
seen him do this. Oh my god,

2189
02:53:16.840 --> 02:53:24.079
Jesus Christo's so pressed by the funker. And there's the terry chance that's

2190
02:53:24.120 --> 02:53:31.680
why he did it. That's why
he did it. A funker up to

2191
02:53:31.760 --> 02:53:39.479
his feet, stumbling closes on the
cover one nope, foot on the rope.

2192
02:53:45.479 --> 02:53:48.520
Imagine just like buying a ticket to
an indie wrestling show in nineteen eighty

2193
02:53:48.559 --> 02:53:52.159
four. U show up and this
ship's going down. No idea who this

2194
02:53:52.319 --> 02:54:01.200
haboo is? Yep, to the
floor. They go, mh funk,

2195
02:54:01.280 --> 02:54:03.719
leading him into the people again,
into the crowd and the rail. He

2196
02:54:03.799 --> 02:54:11.200
goes funk, actually parting a curtain. I don't know where he's going.

2197
02:54:13.600 --> 02:54:16.639
It really doesn't work. The manhattanser
that where that fucking gold curtain? That

2198
02:54:16.760 --> 02:54:31.920
does. What's he got? He
got one of those TV boxes and the

2199
02:54:33.000 --> 02:54:35.159
slammed. No, it's like a
Jesus, it's like a laundry thing,

2200
02:54:35.280 --> 02:54:39.680
like a laundry push cart and he
slams Taboo into it and he's rolling him

2201
02:54:39.680 --> 02:54:52.879
into the bring instead of flying into
the post. Chance they love that ship.

2202
02:55:03.719 --> 02:55:07.840
Raw footage, raw footage. Yeah, that's shooting it for brother who

2203
02:55:07.920 --> 02:55:11.680
shooting who? And now pile driver
on the floor. No, it's blocked.

2204
02:55:13.440 --> 02:55:26.280
It's blocked. Funk bronc backdrop on
the carpet, runk on the floor.

2205
02:55:26.360 --> 02:55:31.079
Sado just jumps on his ass.
Holy shit, Jesus, he rotated

2206
02:55:31.120 --> 02:55:35.479
admit air in a way that he
is not human. A clean landing and

2207
02:55:35.639 --> 02:55:56.360
possible. All I know is he
landed on the funker and again, wow

2208
02:55:56.559 --> 02:56:05.040
that he missed back to terry Funk
after all the brilliance we saw on the

2209
02:56:05.120 --> 02:56:11.280
national stage in the eighties, goes
ahead and one hives into this world.

2210
02:56:20.680 --> 02:56:24.719
Funk to the apron. Now,
no, he's he's going to climb the

2211
02:56:24.840 --> 02:56:28.600
ropes in the center of the ring. How's he doing? He's had his

2212
02:56:28.680 --> 02:56:31.559
back to sab what's he doing?
Oh? Why is he being stupid?

2213
02:56:31.680 --> 02:56:35.200
Kerry, Please, I don't know
where I'm at. I hurt my ribs.

2214
02:56:35.280 --> 02:56:39.920
I can do it. I want
ahead and try, but I want

2215
02:56:39.959 --> 02:56:41.479
ahead and couldn't do it. That's
what he was trying to signal there,

2216
02:56:41.799 --> 02:56:48.000
I think so looked like my fucking
hurt his ribs. Sabo takes over Funk

2217
02:56:48.079 --> 02:56:54.239
to the apron goes. Sabo climbs
the ropes and fast finish four fifty one

2218
02:56:54.280 --> 02:57:07.559
homes christ a Sabo could four fifty
necessary. It's just like people are accustomed,

2219
02:57:07.159 --> 02:57:11.360
weren't even accustomed to one of the
crazy things Sabo's done in the match,

2220
02:57:11.840 --> 02:57:13.680
and then you go and see him
and he does like ten of them.

2221
02:57:13.280 --> 02:57:16.799
He's missing, oh yeah, funk, hair up, swinging, didn't

2222
02:57:16.799 --> 02:57:18.760
know where he was sitting. Duck
for the right hand of Sabo, and

2223
02:57:18.760 --> 02:57:22.680
then the leg drop across the back
of the head by Sabou. Funk is

2224
02:57:22.760 --> 02:57:35.959
down and out, Arabian press moon
salt by Sabo. Wow, No,

2225
02:57:37.079 --> 02:57:50.399
Terry's undone incredible heart on display by
the Funker. Here, Sabu shifts to

2226
02:57:50.479 --> 02:58:01.120
the candle clutch, afraid, eye
level, funk, fading, reaching,

2227
02:58:01.200 --> 02:58:05.840
grabbing, grunting, climbing, and
Saboo starts stomping the ship out of the

2228
02:58:05.879 --> 02:58:11.000
ref Funk gets back up in atomic
drop. Saboo, fucking referee, no

2229
02:58:11.200 --> 02:58:16.399
selling that fucking bump there. Oh
now he is. No, you gotta

2230
02:58:16.440 --> 02:58:18.719
fucking get out of here. Your
fat ass probably like, hell, we'll

2231
02:58:18.760 --> 02:58:30.920
get the ref out of there.
Saboo. He threw in those ballroom chairs.

2232
02:58:31.600 --> 02:58:37.360
There's piece of the table attacking Saboo
with the fucking hollowed out steel frame

2233
02:58:37.440 --> 02:58:43.280
of the table. It's fucking crazy. It's got such a sense of like

2234
02:58:43.200 --> 02:58:48.840
people like just calling for blogging up, like everyone's like fuck, yeah,

2235
02:58:48.159 --> 02:58:56.399
you know, fucking cum exactly kill
the fucker. It's like kill. The

2236
02:58:58.399 --> 02:59:01.639
fans were like smart enough to know
they wanted like real violence and contact,

2237
02:59:01.719 --> 02:59:07.040
but not smart enough yet to like
have this like connoisseur thing about them,

2238
02:59:07.120 --> 02:59:09.280
you know where they were like trying
to appreciate it. They were just looking

2239
02:59:09.360 --> 02:59:15.760
for fucking impact. They brawled the
floor. The bell sounds appears this one.

2240
02:59:16.719 --> 02:59:20.319
It's either a double count out or
the referee having been assaulted by Saboo.

2241
02:59:20.879 --> 02:59:26.079
Yeah, I did this qualification.
Terry Funk makes his way back through

2242
02:59:26.120 --> 02:59:33.479
the curtain. I can't go through
the curtains up against the wall, there's

2243
02:59:33.639 --> 02:59:39.879
falling down and selling and his nuts
and boss. One thing that didn't happen

2244
02:59:39.920 --> 02:59:43.399
and this match is Sabo didn't break
a table. What the hell is Terry

2245
02:59:43.399 --> 02:59:46.719
Funk having his hand a beer bottle? He did break a table? What

2246
02:59:46.719 --> 02:59:50.239
you're talking about? I know he
didn't, that's true. Oh, trying

2247
02:59:50.280 --> 02:59:58.520
to set something up here? Back, I forgot that Terry in the empty

2248
02:59:58.520 --> 03:00:01.719
seats. He's got a beer bottle
in his hand, right, haven't went

2249
03:00:01.799 --> 03:00:05.520
and got I think so? Then
it's okay. Yeah, I mean heard

2250
03:00:05.520 --> 03:00:09.040
the clank just now. They're trying
to clank it against the steel railing as

2251
03:00:09.120 --> 03:00:13.399
much as you can so everyone can
realize what he's up to. Sabo baseball

2252
03:00:13.440 --> 03:00:18.280
slide drop kicks Funk on the floor. Here's whort have dropped the bottle?

2253
03:00:18.719 --> 03:00:24.440
Sabo has it now? Oh Sabu
cranks it on the post and breaks it.

2254
03:00:24.959 --> 03:00:28.760
Oh no, come on, he's
got a broken beer bottle and he's

2255
03:00:28.840 --> 03:00:37.959
chasing Terry Funk around with it.
This is the kind of thing I do

2256
03:00:37.079 --> 03:00:41.639
for wrestling, Mammy, Yeah,
yeah, totally come on. Oh wait,

2257
03:00:43.040 --> 03:00:48.600
oh come on, I wasn't there
anything to stop that? That's this

2258
03:00:48.799 --> 03:00:52.440
is not right, Funk carries the
cocktail table over his shoulder to the back.

2259
03:00:54.159 --> 03:00:58.920
I want I hadn't got on our
door, Dorves, Yeah, he

2260
03:00:58.000 --> 03:01:05.120
did funk parts the curtain. Saboo
left in the ring with a broken off

2261
03:01:05.159 --> 03:01:11.440
beer bottle in his hand. Watch
him fucking plunge the ref Oh he's out

2262
03:01:11.479 --> 03:01:18.719
of the ring now. All of
a sudden, he starts just fucking letting,

2263
03:01:20.120 --> 03:01:24.639
just like destroying the referee with the
fucking mess the broken beer bottle,

2264
03:01:24.959 --> 03:01:30.440
like blood just starts flowing from the
guy's chest and he dies. And this

2265
03:01:30.520 --> 03:01:35.440
guy's got it on fucking fan footage. It's fancam delight. Yeah, So

2266
03:01:35.520 --> 03:01:37.840
Sabu is throwing a broken piece of
the table in the ring. I don't

2267
03:01:37.879 --> 03:01:46.079
know what he's doing. He's looking
for something, I f I know Sabo

2268
03:01:46.200 --> 03:01:52.920
in nineteen ninety four, he still
doesn't quite feel like he's given the fans

2269
03:01:52.959 --> 03:01:54.440
their money's worth. He now hops
out of the ring over the rail end

2270
03:01:54.479 --> 03:01:58.600
of the crowd. He is he
gonna fucking put himself to a table.

2271
03:02:01.559 --> 03:02:07.040
He's got one. Looks like he
grabbed the merch gimmick table, throws it

2272
03:02:07.120 --> 03:02:09.319
over the rail. But I don't
seen who's he going to put through the

2273
03:02:09.360 --> 03:02:18.879
table, owning the table without much
grace into the ring, over the top

2274
03:02:20.000 --> 03:02:22.440
rope, Sabo climbing in terry funk, gone backstage, you know where to

2275
03:02:22.479 --> 03:02:26.319
be found. I think I'm not
going to be a part of this one.

2276
03:02:28.799 --> 03:02:31.319
I invite you to offer your thoughts. A Sabo sets the table up

2277
03:02:31.360 --> 03:02:33.079
in the corner. He's going to
do it to himself and in this fucking

2278
03:02:33.120 --> 03:02:41.520
idiot, I want ahead and went
backstage. You do whatever you want to

2279
03:02:41.559 --> 03:02:48.479
do. Shamoo, he's gonna do
it. He's a fucking idiot. Oh

2280
03:02:50.760 --> 03:02:54.799
look at the damage. What a
fool? What is wrong with him?

2281
03:02:56.079 --> 03:03:01.840
Ah? You know he just ruined
it all. As he lays there in

2282
03:03:01.879 --> 03:03:07.959
a heap of busted table, Sabu
mo insalted himself through the table. What

2283
03:03:09.040 --> 03:03:16.520
an idiot? No respect for that. And the sad thing is all these

2284
03:03:16.559 --> 03:03:22.840
people do, all these people can
get entertained. What a goddamn fuck had

2285
03:03:22.879 --> 03:03:26.120
he is? He pokes his head
out. What a son of a bench.

2286
03:03:26.920 --> 03:03:30.239
I saw one match he did where
the table would not break, and

2287
03:03:30.319 --> 03:03:35.520
he moonsalted himself like four times until
the table broke with nobody there after the

2288
03:03:35.600 --> 03:03:41.520
match. He's got blood on his
knee because he that table exploded in away,

2289
03:03:41.520 --> 03:03:48.479
but there were a lot of shards. Yeah, imagine like getting the

2290
03:03:48.520 --> 03:03:50.639
worst injury of the match when you
moon salt yourself through the table. Efforts

2291
03:03:50.639 --> 03:03:56.440
already over, so bizarre, such
a strange ritual. Looking at people,

2292
03:03:56.479 --> 03:04:03.959
they're going nuts. They're standing for
the for him, so unnecessary. Something

2293
03:04:03.079 --> 03:04:05.719
is changing about the business. And
while Terry Funk is changing with it,

2294
03:04:05.840 --> 03:04:09.840
to your point, it's not all
upside. He's also changing his tights.

2295
03:04:11.760 --> 03:04:16.639
They pause now, so we've now
become acquainted with the Funk Saboo dynamic.

2296
03:04:16.399 --> 03:04:22.479
That's for damn sure. And while
Terry Funk is touring the country doing these

2297
03:04:22.600 --> 03:04:28.719
matches in front of you know,
different crowds, he's doing interviews about what

2298
03:04:28.879 --> 03:04:35.000
it is he thinks he's representing on
the American independen scene, doing these kinds

2299
03:04:35.000 --> 03:04:39.200
of matches, working these kinds of
venues and promotions, wrestling these kinds of

2300
03:04:39.200 --> 03:04:43.280
wrestlers, and doing these kinds of
spots. And here's one he did when

2301
03:04:43.360 --> 03:04:48.280
working for an independent I think in
the Midwest. Here kind of explaining his

2302
03:04:48.440 --> 03:04:50.719
thought process. It's, you know, it's half work, half shoot,

2303
03:04:50.760 --> 03:04:54.120
of course, but I think there's
a lot in what Terry Funk says here

2304
03:04:54.200 --> 03:05:00.319
that helps us understand his frame of
mind as he enters this new disorder early,

2305
03:05:00.680 --> 03:05:05.159
strange, wacky, almost low rent
part of his life and times it's

2306
03:05:05.319 --> 03:05:09.879
territorial wrestling. I'm talking for an
NWA World Heavyweight Champion and bona fide superstar,

2307
03:05:11.079 --> 03:05:15.000
Terry Flood. Terry's both of a
shock and a pleasure to see you

2308
03:05:15.120 --> 03:05:18.680
competing here in the best territorial wrestling
in Taylor. They spoke a little bit

2309
03:05:18.760 --> 03:05:22.000
earlier. You you discussed competing in
front of the smaller crowds compared to the

2310
03:05:22.120 --> 03:05:28.760
large arenas. How does it lend
to the flavor of the competition? Hotly,

2311
03:05:28.879 --> 03:05:33.200
I really like it here. I'm
not a real app because of the

2312
03:05:33.399 --> 03:05:41.559
WWNLC WCW, which is keed Turner
and Vintentman shows. It's a different type

2313
03:05:41.559 --> 03:05:43.879
of wrestling that they do AP And
I'm tired of the nunders giving the whole

2314
03:05:43.879 --> 03:05:48.639
lot, giving the silly one liners
from your joke book. And I'm tired

2315
03:05:48.680 --> 03:05:56.600
of Artcare of the hot anounchers making
their own stars so to speak, and

2316
03:05:56.719 --> 03:06:01.079
talking about who they like, Anderson
of the television, And I'm really into

2317
03:06:01.159 --> 03:06:07.079
the independent the World Professional Rest.
I think that that's where you see the

2318
03:06:07.159 --> 03:06:11.959
greatest rest of the day. I've
always been a lover of poor fans.

2319
03:06:11.559 --> 03:06:16.520
I've always felt that I've tried to
give a hundred percent or if I don't,

2320
03:06:16.680 --> 03:06:20.040
und I sure want to do that, and I don't want to I

2321
03:06:20.159 --> 03:06:24.680
want to continue doing that. I
want to continue. I don't want to

2322
03:06:24.719 --> 03:06:26.680
overstay, you know, on my
mean I stay. I'm getting up there

2323
03:06:26.719 --> 03:06:31.000
an age right now, and I
want to retire at the right time.

2324
03:06:31.120 --> 03:06:33.239
And I don't want to ever embarrass
myself and my family in the New York.

2325
03:06:35.079 --> 03:06:39.680
I love my profession, and I
think at the professional that I grew

2326
03:06:39.799 --> 03:06:43.719
up with in the profession, I
know all my life, the majority part

2327
03:06:43.760 --> 03:06:48.520
of my life is not with those
two major groups. It's out here in

2328
03:06:48.559 --> 03:06:54.959
an independence and it's performance like staff
who with the Shane Douglas's and the like

2329
03:06:54.120 --> 03:07:01.399
all tonight. And this group here
in has got right individuals within it,

2330
03:07:01.040 --> 03:07:05.399
and I think it's a wonderful chance
and an opportunity for some of these guys

2331
03:07:05.440 --> 03:07:13.760
to develop that this operation or this
wrestling promotion will continue. And I really

2332
03:07:13.799 --> 03:07:16.159
believe it he will, because I
think it's because it's just going to be

2333
03:07:16.200 --> 03:07:20.040
growing and growing grow because I think
people enjoy themselves and I know they do

2334
03:07:20.159 --> 03:07:22.159
it, and I don't think.
I don't think there's a womman that can

2335
03:07:22.200 --> 03:07:26.360
come out here and say, damn, I saw that on WW. Damn

2336
03:07:26.520 --> 03:07:31.159
I saw that on w C.
I mean, I'm physically and I'm not

2337
03:07:31.280 --> 03:07:35.040
trying to be smart to say that
I'm wonderful thing. Yeah, I'm physically

2338
03:07:35.120 --> 03:07:39.040
hurt right now, and I'm sure
that's sad who he is too. And

2339
03:07:39.360 --> 03:07:43.520
but I did it for the people, did it for the dams, for

2340
03:07:43.639 --> 03:07:46.120
my profession's part of my life,
and that's what I want to really.

2341
03:07:46.959 --> 03:07:50.959
So I guess An E. C. W and some of these hard orcore

2342
03:07:50.000 --> 03:07:54.920
indies he sees something more again of
the business he grew up in. Does

2343
03:07:54.959 --> 03:07:58.360
that make sense to you? Not
at all? Yeah? I don't.

2344
03:07:58.639 --> 03:08:05.520
Maybe maybe maybe I'll tell you what. There's only one thing maybe he could

2345
03:08:05.559 --> 03:08:13.319
be talking about heart, Yes,
that speak to it. Only thing I

2346
03:08:13.360 --> 03:08:18.040
can think about is that he looks
at you know, It's like it's like

2347
03:08:18.079 --> 03:08:24.479
how some people look at the NFL
versus college football, and that they you

2348
03:08:24.639 --> 03:08:30.399
see one, you see the pros
and they're playing for money, whereas the

2349
03:08:31.520 --> 03:08:39.120
the the college kids are playing for
pride and they're playing with heart. And

2350
03:08:39.840 --> 03:08:46.959
maybe that's what he sees, which
is incredible, honestly on a level that

2351
03:08:46.360 --> 03:08:52.079
I don't know that I can get
to. But if he sees that the

2352
03:08:52.600 --> 03:08:56.600
the ECW guy, I mean,
in a way, it's true because you're

2353
03:08:56.639 --> 03:08:58.399
not getting paid. I mean,
if you're an ECW, you're not gonna

2354
03:08:58.399 --> 03:09:03.040
pay anything because you know, Hyman
is just going to defer your payment anyway.

2355
03:09:03.760 --> 03:09:07.000
But right you know, you're trying
your hard is to just like do

2356
03:09:07.920 --> 03:09:11.360
what you do to the best of
your ability. And Funk we've heard talked

2357
03:09:11.360 --> 03:09:15.600
about it one hundred times. Big
on the camaraderie at the locker room.

2358
03:09:16.120 --> 03:09:20.120
Yes, big on like an atmosphere
where guys can get ahead by you know,

2359
03:09:22.479 --> 03:09:26.239
blending in well with the other guys
they work with and forming a sense

2360
03:09:26.280 --> 03:09:28.920
of you know, fraternity and common
mission. And when you go to work

2361
03:09:28.920 --> 03:09:31.079
for the big two companies, and
he's already got the sense of this,

2362
03:09:31.159 --> 03:09:33.479
he'd worked for both at the highest
levels. It's every man for himself.

2363
03:09:35.120 --> 03:09:39.079
There's no three musketeers, there's no
all for one, there's none of that.

2364
03:09:39.200 --> 03:09:43.120
There's no sense of like everyone pulling
together. Because if you didn't,

2365
03:09:43.159 --> 03:09:46.040
there wouldn't be a promotion to collect
a paycheck from the next time you came

2366
03:09:46.120 --> 03:09:50.000
to the town, earning the people's
return business every time you went in the

2367
03:09:50.079 --> 03:09:54.920
ring, as opposed to knowing that
no matter how hard you did or didn't

2368
03:09:54.959 --> 03:09:58.000
work, it was pretty much the
promotional machine behind you that was going to

2369
03:09:58.040 --> 03:10:00.280
decide if anybody was in the building
the next time you came or not.

2370
03:10:01.559 --> 03:10:03.680
You know, there's nothing Terry Funk
could do in WWF in nineteen eighty five

2371
03:10:05.120 --> 03:10:07.120
that would ensure a big house that
he felt like he could take credit for

2372
03:10:07.280 --> 03:10:11.159
the next time if he worked really
hard this night. And he did work

2373
03:10:11.200 --> 03:10:16.040
hard, but it just wasn't the
same effort and rewards system that he grew

2374
03:10:16.120 --> 03:10:18.479
up with. And I think that's
what he's pointing to. It's the closest

2375
03:10:18.520 --> 03:10:22.760
thing he can remember or sense in
the business in the nineties to where you

2376
03:10:22.879 --> 03:10:26.719
really feel like you earn your keep. And it makes sense for everyone to

2377
03:10:26.760 --> 03:10:31.120
push in the same direction because everyone's
kind of on the brink of not having

2378
03:10:31.200 --> 03:10:35.639
money coming in. No one's that
comfortable. It's certainly nothing approximating guaranteed money.

2379
03:10:37.120 --> 03:10:39.879
No one's covered when they're hurt all
of that stuff, and it just

2380
03:10:41.000 --> 03:10:48.200
forms a different mentality about the business
that he he strongly preferred, clearly because

2381
03:10:48.239 --> 03:10:50.760
he's at this level doing these matches
when he could be working for the Big

2382
03:10:50.840 --> 03:10:56.440
two, he could be booking for
WWF and he's just not. And there's

2383
03:10:56.479 --> 03:11:00.120
a lot to be said about that
and him clinging to a vision of the

2384
03:11:00.159 --> 03:11:05.079
business that we lose when we lose
Terry Funk, and he keeps it alive

2385
03:11:05.079 --> 03:11:07.399
as long as he can, and
he tries to foster the kind of talent

2386
03:11:07.639 --> 03:11:11.920
that can only thrive in that atmosphere
because if they go to the Big two,

2387
03:11:13.440 --> 03:11:16.920
we saw it with Saboo's disastrous WCW
run short lived ww fronts, it

2388
03:11:18.079 --> 03:11:22.000
just doesn't gel. What he had
to do to get noticed and stay relevant

2389
03:11:22.600 --> 03:11:26.520
just does not work in those systems. Just can't do it. You can't

2390
03:11:26.680 --> 03:11:28.719
throw the window open to the degree
you have to to let him just totally

2391
03:11:30.360 --> 03:11:33.399
sort of define what's going to be
most memorable on the night. It's like

2392
03:11:33.479 --> 03:11:39.879
we all could go out there and
do the things nobody will ever forget in

2393
03:11:39.040 --> 03:11:43.280
ten you know, rapid fire succession, But only e CW was set up

2394
03:11:43.319 --> 03:11:45.719
in such a way where they could
actually do that. I mean, Hayman

2395
03:11:45.840 --> 03:11:48.600
was very judicious about it. He
wouldn't he wouldn't allow every single match to

2396
03:11:48.680 --> 03:11:52.440
be forty table crashes, though it
felt that way sometimes, But for the

2397
03:11:52.520 --> 03:11:58.479
most part, everyone out there felt
like they could do what made them stand

2398
03:11:58.559 --> 03:12:03.319
out every match they had. They
didn't feel like they had to battle to

2399
03:12:03.360 --> 03:12:07.879
get their stuff in or that they
had to mold what got them to the

2400
03:12:07.000 --> 03:12:11.000
dance in the first place, to
fit, you know, a formula that

2401
03:12:11.040 --> 03:12:13.920
didn't necessarily suit them, and ECW
was a place where you could play that

2402
03:12:15.000 --> 03:12:18.920
way, and that's what Terry Funk
prefers to operate in. So there was

2403
03:12:18.000 --> 03:12:22.200
reference there to the Triangle Match,
the Triple Threat, the three Way Dance,

2404
03:12:22.920 --> 03:12:26.879
and this was Terry Funk versus Shane
Douglas versus Sabu in nineteen ninety four.

2405
03:12:28.399 --> 03:12:31.479
The show would be called the Night
the Line was crossed for reasons that

2406
03:12:31.520 --> 03:12:35.280
will become clear in just a moment, but it was for the ECW World

2407
03:12:35.360 --> 03:12:39.200
Championship, and it was widely considered
the match that created the buzz that made

2408
03:12:39.239 --> 03:12:45.479
ECW more than just one of ten
fifteen indies going under the surface of the

2409
03:12:45.520 --> 03:12:48.440
Big Two in the nineties. It
was this match where people realized, wait

2410
03:12:48.479 --> 03:12:52.360
a minute, if you went to
the CCW thing, you could see sixty

2411
03:12:52.399 --> 03:12:56.879
minute knock down, drag out world
title affairs on top of all of the

2412
03:12:56.959 --> 03:13:03.159
high flying, extreme violence and spectacle
stunt moves that guys like Sabou brought to

2413
03:13:03.200 --> 03:13:05.399
the table. And so we're going
to close out this section of the lapsed

2414
03:13:05.399 --> 03:13:09.639
Funk focused on this, focused on
this match and all that it Saeid in

2415
03:13:09.719 --> 03:13:13.799
motion. First, we're gonna hear
from the Funker talking about what this match

2416
03:13:13.879 --> 03:13:18.200
means to him, because it's not
just ECW fans that remember this one really

2417
03:13:18.680 --> 03:13:22.200
really fondly. Yeah, what do
you rememory that that three way match with

2418
03:13:22.280 --> 03:13:28.280
you and Shane and Taboo one of
the better matches that I've been in.

2419
03:13:28.719 --> 03:13:33.000
Yeah, it just it just went, you know, we just went and

2420
03:13:33.120 --> 03:13:37.479
just kept on getting better. Yeah, It's just one of those things that

2421
03:13:37.719 --> 03:13:41.360
just take place in that And he
said that was well, that was great.

2422
03:13:43.360 --> 03:13:46.040
You didn't know's gonna be great?
God, that was good. Yeah.

2423
03:13:46.159 --> 03:13:52.959
Yeah, And we'll hear a promo
spot that Funk did after the conclusion

2424
03:13:52.959 --> 03:13:56.280
of the match with Shane Douglas where
we really get at least for our purposes.

2425
03:13:56.319 --> 03:13:58.319
Here in the Lapsed Funk, our
first glimpse at what the franchise character

2426
03:13:58.479 --> 03:14:03.600
that Shane was embraced to great heights
in ECW would look like feel like it

2427
03:14:03.719 --> 03:14:07.159
was Terry Funk. Of course,
in so many ways, that short gives

2428
03:14:07.159 --> 03:14:11.200
shape to what the franchise was provided
the foil that Douglas needed to cut that

2429
03:14:11.319 --> 03:14:15.600
promo style and get across the character. And here is Shane Douglas, another

2430
03:14:15.680 --> 03:14:18.879
participant in the Fames triple Threat match, the three Way Dance, as ECW

2431
03:14:18.079 --> 03:14:24.319
coined it, talking to Shun Oliver
on KFAB Commentaries about all Terry Funk meant

2432
03:14:24.360 --> 03:14:26.520
to him in this pivotal part of
his career, his defining run in so

2433
03:14:26.559 --> 03:14:31.479
many ways in the industry. For
here Shane Douglas at that point, I've

2434
03:14:31.479 --> 03:14:37.719
been in the business for about eleven
years, I think maybe going twelve at

2435
03:14:37.760 --> 03:14:39.680
that point, So I've been around
the business a long enough to know that

2436
03:14:41.280 --> 03:14:46.479
being put into that position work or
no work, is a slap on the

2437
03:14:46.520 --> 03:14:50.159
back from the company that they trust
you in that position to draw the money

2438
03:14:50.479 --> 03:14:54.159
to help take that company on the
ride that they expected to draw the crowd

2439
03:14:54.239 --> 03:14:58.159
in. So from that standpoint,
you know, it was intimidating to me

2440
03:14:58.479 --> 03:15:03.200
to some degree, but also rewarding
to know that to this you know,

2441
03:15:03.239 --> 03:15:05.799
it snos kid that grew up watching
wrestling, you know, get in trouble

2442
03:15:05.799 --> 03:15:09.040
for jumping off the couch on my
brother and sisters. That you know,

2443
03:15:09.120 --> 03:15:11.879
here I am standing at the you
know, the peak of his company.

2444
03:15:11.479 --> 03:15:16.920
The fact that it's with Funk that
a he was as gracious as he was,

2445
03:15:16.000 --> 03:15:20.040
as professional as he was to take
the time to teach me how to

2446
03:15:20.200 --> 03:15:24.399
be the heel that I would become. You know, when I first went

2447
03:15:24.440 --> 03:15:28.399
to play that He'll rule, my
mentality was, well, just do the

2448
03:15:28.440 --> 03:15:31.280
opposite of what a babyface does,
and that is so not what a great

2449
03:15:31.319 --> 03:15:35.879
heel does. Uh. You know, but again I learned that from Funk

2450
03:15:35.200 --> 03:15:39.719
night in and night out, and
by making a whole lot of mistakes.

2451
03:15:41.120 --> 03:15:43.319
You know, it was Funk was
never one to come back and say,

2452
03:15:43.360 --> 03:15:46.760
God, damn it, Shaaney fucked
up tonight because of this or that.

2453
03:15:46.239 --> 03:15:48.280
He would come back and say,
well, damn you fuck that one up.

2454
03:15:48.920 --> 03:15:52.639
And you know, it was just
like a comment to let you know

2455
03:15:52.799 --> 03:15:54.479
that he knew you fucked it up, and then you went on from there.

2456
03:15:54.600 --> 03:15:58.559
It was not a lecture. There
was not a brow beating that came

2457
03:15:58.600 --> 03:16:03.760
associated to it, you know.
And again, like I said earlier,

2458
03:16:03.159 --> 03:16:07.840
there's no doubt in my mind that
had anybody you could think, in any

2459
03:16:07.840 --> 03:16:11.559
other veteran, in any steamboat or
whomever put him in that role, the

2460
03:16:11.680 --> 03:16:16.399
franchise character, I think, with
the tools that I brought to the table,

2461
03:16:16.479 --> 03:16:20.920
but built on the foundation that Funk
had taught me in the Ring,

2462
03:16:20.440 --> 03:16:24.879
that that franchise character became the character
that everybody would talk about in ninety six

2463
03:16:24.479 --> 03:16:28.879
and really what I think changed the
way the heels are are introduced and built

2464
03:16:28.920 --> 03:16:33.879
today. That's something I'm proud of
the fact that, you know, like

2465
03:16:33.959 --> 03:16:35.360
I said prior to that, you
know, you had to be a three

2466
03:16:35.440 --> 03:16:41.280
hundred pound ward faced ogre to be
a heel. And you know, suddenly

2467
03:16:41.360 --> 03:16:46.559
here's a guy that looks like he
could be the babyface champion and instead is

2468
03:16:46.159 --> 03:16:54.280
so full of rage and contempt and
himself that this character works, you know.

2469
03:16:54.399 --> 03:16:58.200
And those were things again that Funk
taught and again not in the camp.

2470
03:16:58.200 --> 03:17:01.280
Page one to have the attitude,
and page two you gotta be a

2471
03:17:01.399 --> 03:17:05.399
prick, and on page three,
you've gotta be a tough guy. It

2472
03:17:05.520 --> 03:17:09.559
was that kind of learning experience with
Terry. But I think part of the

2473
03:17:09.600 --> 03:17:13.200
reason I could get what Terry was
explaining or trying to explain with his with

2474
03:17:13.319 --> 03:17:16.920
his entering work, was I had
been a mark for Terry for years and

2475
03:17:18.040 --> 03:17:20.360
years and years. I mean from
you know, back at the time that

2476
03:17:20.440 --> 03:17:22.959
he made the movie with Stillone.
You know that, you know, I

2477
03:17:22.120 --> 03:17:26.959
was watching the Funks. I dorient
Terry both and that whole style of wrestling.

2478
03:17:28.000 --> 03:17:31.879
I was never growing up. I
was never the guy that was nothing

2479
03:17:31.879 --> 03:17:35.079
against all Coogan, but that wasn't
my style. I loved, you know,

2480
03:17:35.360 --> 03:17:39.760
the wrestler like Flair, steamboat funks, and there was something about the

2481
03:17:39.879 --> 03:17:43.479
Funks that, especially Terry, that
even as a kid, used to enamor

2482
03:17:43.559 --> 03:17:45.399
me because you'd look at this guy
and say, man, he looks like

2483
03:17:45.440 --> 03:17:48.879
he's half insane, but what a
great wrestler. You could never really classify

2484
03:17:50.000 --> 03:17:52.840
Terry. You could say, well, he's crazy, but he knows every

2485
03:17:52.920 --> 03:17:58.079
move. He's he's nuts, but
he can counter anything. He could talk

2486
03:17:58.680 --> 03:18:03.399
with that out screaming and convince you
that he meant it. Uh. You

2487
03:18:03.479 --> 03:18:05.719
know, there were so many facets
to the Funk character. Terry Funk's character

2488
03:18:07.239 --> 03:18:11.879
that for me to pull from and
to learn from. And I think for

2489
03:18:11.040 --> 03:18:15.719
anybody that's as big a fan of
Terry Funk as I was all those years,

2490
03:18:16.120 --> 03:18:18.760
if they look at the franchise character, they can they can pull it

2491
03:18:18.840 --> 03:18:20.239
out. They'll say, Okay,
that he got that from Funk or this

2492
03:18:20.319 --> 03:18:26.639
from Flair or whatever. But he's
uh, I asked Terry one time.

2493
03:18:26.719 --> 03:18:28.079
You know he's because his business can't
really get to you. As you know,

2494
03:18:28.239 --> 03:18:31.879
sometimes you get ready to strangle somebody. And one night there I forget

2495
03:18:31.920 --> 03:18:35.879
even what it was over, but
I was so pissed off at everything right

2496
03:18:35.920 --> 03:18:37.079
around this time when I was working, right when I was at the outset

2497
03:18:37.120 --> 03:18:39.799
of working with Terry, and I
went to him. I was so pissed.

2498
03:18:39.799 --> 03:18:41.399
I was ready to strangle somebody.
And I said, God damn,

2499
03:18:41.479 --> 03:18:45.000
Terry, how do you keep your
sanity in the middle of all this bullshit?

2500
03:18:45.079 --> 03:18:48.200
I mean, how do you keep
yourself from not wanting to strangle somebody?

2501
03:18:48.840 --> 03:18:52.280
And he said, you know,
god damn saying. You know what

2502
03:18:52.280 --> 03:18:54.120
I'm saying. I'll tell you,
Shanel, it's you know, he's got

2503
03:18:54.200 --> 03:18:56.840
to be crazy. That's a Shane. You gotta be crazy. You know

2504
03:18:56.879 --> 03:19:01.680
what I'm talking about, be crazy, crazy like a fox. And they

2505
03:19:01.719 --> 03:19:05.520
went right back into character. And
it was the only time and even till

2506
03:19:05.559 --> 03:19:09.239
today, that I've ever seen him
drop in the facade of Terry Funk that

2507
03:19:09.399 --> 03:19:15.319
crazy old cowboy routine just last plus
second. And that was another way for

2508
03:19:15.479 --> 03:19:18.280
him to teach me, you know, don't lose your temper like this and

2509
03:19:18.319 --> 03:19:20.719
don't get all pissed off and or
to strangle somebody. You know, that

2510
03:19:20.920 --> 03:19:24.239
was his way of teaching me,
just one more business side of the of

2511
03:19:24.319 --> 03:19:28.120
it. You know, it was
always learning experience with Terry. That glimpse

2512
03:19:28.239 --> 03:19:31.799
of the noun, well, you
know, cowboy bullshit. He said,

2513
03:19:31.879 --> 03:19:35.639
like a fox. And if you
see the video, Shaneuglas makes like wide

2514
03:19:35.680 --> 03:19:39.440
eyes to imitate with Terry. How
Terry's countenance changed when he said that,

2515
03:19:39.600 --> 03:19:43.520
like crazy like a fox, like
b nuts, b nuts beneath the surface,

2516
03:19:43.360 --> 03:19:46.799
b nuts And look, I mean
that was like a full, a

2517
03:19:46.920 --> 03:19:52.799
full dissertation there from Shane Douglass on
how Terry Funk underpinned everything he did to

2518
03:19:52.879 --> 03:19:58.319
reinvent himself in ECW. It's all
there, It's all Terry Funk. Basically

2519
03:19:58.479 --> 03:20:01.959
at the very east we can say
without Terry Funk, a lot of these

2520
03:20:01.000 --> 03:20:05.680
ECW breakout stars wouldn't have been because
they would have missed those little nudges along

2521
03:20:05.719 --> 03:20:09.559
the way, those little pieces of
connective tissue to how to really connect on

2522
03:20:09.600 --> 03:20:13.799
a higher level to where they were
all employable by the big leagues at you

2523
03:20:13.879 --> 03:20:16.360
know, a few years in it. It's funny to hear Shane Douglas talk

2524
03:20:16.360 --> 03:20:20.360
about reinventing the heel and all that
and talking about, you know, getting

2525
03:20:20.360 --> 03:20:24.200
the endorsement to be the guy to
draw the houses for the company, and

2526
03:20:24.239 --> 03:20:26.360
then you watch these shows and there's
not a hell of a lot of people

2527
03:20:26.360 --> 03:20:31.319
in the building, although they did
go to larger arenas, including a I

2528
03:20:31.360 --> 03:20:35.520
forget what the name of the place
is. It's like a dome of some

2529
03:20:35.680 --> 03:20:37.879
type in Pittsburgh that you know,
being a Pittsburgh boy himself, that Shane

2530
03:20:37.920 --> 03:20:41.520
Douglass convinced DCW to run and they
did a pretty good house there. And

2531
03:20:41.840 --> 03:20:43.879
when they had some bigger houses and
like ninety nine and stuff for their pay

2532
03:20:43.879 --> 03:20:46.520
per views, like in Chicago,
the Anarchy Rules show did like forty five

2533
03:20:46.600 --> 03:20:50.520
hundred people. But Paul Haman wasn't
about trying big buildings he was kind of

2534
03:20:52.159 --> 03:20:56.559
gun shy about overdoing how big they
could draw and how big of a venue

2535
03:20:56.559 --> 03:20:58.719
they could try to run, So
there was a lot of you know,

2536
03:20:58.760 --> 03:21:03.639
on unexplored upside. I feel like
in terms of crowd size that they could

2537
03:21:03.639 --> 03:21:07.479
have done. But at the same
time, it's it's funny that these guys

2538
03:21:07.520 --> 03:21:13.319
are learning these real fundamentals and feeling
like they're draws and top guys. And

2539
03:21:13.399 --> 03:21:16.399
there's like a thousand people in building
every single week, and it's like eight

2540
03:21:16.520 --> 03:21:20.440
hundred of them are the same people
you know every single time, right right,

2541
03:21:20.200 --> 03:21:24.159
the same fucking clouds there. But
they're learning, you know, these

2542
03:21:24.239 --> 03:21:26.920
lessons and feeling like big time draws
because Terry Funk was telling them that they

2543
03:21:26.959 --> 03:21:31.239
were doing everything right. That's good
enough for them even if they're not working,

2544
03:21:33.000 --> 03:21:35.280
you know, the biggest arenas in
the cities for the biggest promotions in

2545
03:21:35.319 --> 03:21:39.639
the world. So before we get
into the match here, to close this

2546
03:21:39.760 --> 03:21:43.200
one out, we're going to listen
to two pieces of sound from a sit

2547
03:21:43.319 --> 03:21:46.600
down interview that Terry Funk and Shane
Douglas both did with Gabes of Pulse Get

2548
03:21:46.639 --> 03:21:50.280
the time booking for Ring of Honor, and he did a shoot interview series

2549
03:21:50.639 --> 03:21:54.760
and they talk about the February fifth, nineteen ninety four, three way dance

2550
03:21:54.799 --> 03:22:01.479
for the ECW Championship. I don't
think I never dreamed that it was gonna

2551
03:22:01.479 --> 03:22:05.719
be as creative as it was at
time. I never thought it would be

2552
03:22:05.840 --> 03:22:09.280
that creative. And I thought it
was a very creative match. Who been

2553
03:22:09.399 --> 03:22:11.680
just close to that or laid it
out cause it was so there went on

2554
03:22:11.799 --> 03:22:15.440
and a lot of that one Yeah, well any points to me. I

2555
03:22:15.639 --> 03:22:18.520
point to him, He said,
I hope you know. I we considered

2556
03:22:18.559 --> 03:22:20.479
it was about that. It was
again, it was just one of those

2557
03:22:20.680 --> 03:22:24.680
nights where it just started bowing,
you know, and it just wait,

2558
03:22:24.920 --> 03:22:26.360
it wouldn't wanted to flee. Well, all, I'll say this a very

2559
03:22:26.399 --> 03:22:30.079
little we really we only spoke for
about a half an hour before that.

2560
03:22:30.159 --> 03:22:33.760
We didn't we didn't plant out a
ton of spots on who was out.

2561
03:22:33.879 --> 03:22:37.200
We were in there and and pretty
much about just from one move to the

2562
03:22:37.280 --> 03:22:41.000
match. Yeah, we we just
dancing inside each other and aga a again

2563
03:22:41.040 --> 03:22:43.680
as one as uh, you know, un selvish things where especially on a

2564
03:22:43.719 --> 03:22:46.319
lot of the creative stuff, it
was too Yeah, it just flowed.

2565
03:22:46.440 --> 03:22:48.719
Yeah, it just kind of flowed. Yeah when you and and I think

2566
03:22:48.840 --> 03:22:52.280
part of the you know, a
big part of the reasons the success of

2567
03:22:52.319 --> 03:22:56.799
that match was it was original,
but also because you had three dinner most

2568
03:22:56.799 --> 03:23:00.120
people say, the conventional wisdom would
be, let's put three guys that can

2569
03:23:00.440 --> 03:23:03.840
fly and you have a great match. You had three very different styles.

2570
03:23:03.920 --> 03:23:05.440
I mean you you know, you
had so set I do with all his

2571
03:23:05.559 --> 03:23:09.760
homicide and suicidal and anything else.
You had this guy that had the legendary

2572
03:23:09.840 --> 03:23:13.760
hardcore subject' gonna have a strong wrestling
heritage too in there. And then you

2573
03:23:13.879 --> 03:23:18.200
had this this trash talking heel that
had a matt wrestling uh, you know,

2574
03:23:18.280 --> 03:23:20.600
a building. And so you had
three different styles that we played off

2575
03:23:20.639 --> 03:23:24.239
each other. Each went really well, and we knew how to feed off

2576
03:23:24.319 --> 03:23:28.159
each other. So you know,
And I gotta say one other thing about

2577
03:23:28.239 --> 03:23:33.559
that though, the most important thing
about it was only because somebody was very

2578
03:23:33.719 --> 03:23:39.520
smart anyone and said Shane and I
and I said, hum and sap,

2579
03:23:39.680 --> 03:23:45.799
We'll go ahead start. They say, I'll come wait in about fifteen minutes.

2580
03:23:45.840 --> 03:23:48.360
And I went, sure, collab, I'm telling you, but I'll

2581
03:23:48.399 --> 03:23:54.040
tell you what because I and I'm
serious about this. It's Uh, they

2582
03:23:54.159 --> 03:23:58.200
set to they set the match before
I ever got in there. What really

2583
03:23:58.280 --> 03:24:03.680
did the temp? Oh? Which
set? And uh the fans were hot

2584
03:24:03.799 --> 03:24:05.639
whenever I came it was just honter. So I had a I had a

2585
03:24:05.760 --> 03:24:09.159
reach that night. So they keep
on, you keep on saying about the

2586
03:24:09.200 --> 03:24:13.319
sixteen minutes. The funker was pretty
smart. I acted Kate the first spit

2587
03:24:13.440 --> 03:24:16.840
tea. If I recall, we
started off we they would do something who

2588
03:24:16.920 --> 03:24:20.120
jumped to earlier in the night and
then he was sat to hurt and uh

2589
03:24:20.319 --> 03:24:22.040
so he wasn't supposed to make the
match, but then Saboo got hurt.

2590
03:24:22.559 --> 03:24:26.200
Well, it just an insane dive. He had a table at about a

2591
03:24:26.879 --> 03:24:28.680
guy. It was I'm almost straight
up and down, leaning against the railing

2592
03:24:28.719 --> 03:24:33.079
and he did a flipping a dive
and he hit and slid down and landed

2593
03:24:33.120 --> 03:24:35.799
on his head on the concrete floor. I I thought he was then for

2594
03:24:35.200 --> 03:24:39.680
for legits here and uh, you
know, we carded him out, and

2595
03:24:39.760 --> 03:24:41.680
of course came me the opportunity to
you know, start my heir. I

2596
03:24:41.760 --> 03:24:45.000
know, funks not coming. His
knees hurt and Sabba he was done.

2597
03:24:45.040 --> 03:24:46.399
I'm in the I'm in the runner
of this match. And he come to

2598
03:24:46.440 --> 03:24:50.840
Spirit at seventy six, and it
just it just fed the fans the right

2599
03:24:50.879 --> 03:24:52.639
amount of food in the right side
of bites at the right times. You

2600
03:24:52.680 --> 03:24:56.440
know, it just kept building and
building. And to be honest with you,

2601
03:24:56.559 --> 03:24:58.520
I've said this pump player before.
I you know, it was such

2602
03:24:58.559 --> 03:25:01.399
a different match to me. At
the end of it, I was disappointed.

2603
03:25:01.639 --> 03:25:03.799
I rolled over on the apron.
I was blown out first of all.

2604
03:25:03.799 --> 03:25:07.200
And I was lying on the apron
closest to the hod camera right and

2605
03:25:07.520 --> 03:25:11.440
and and I I was still there, going Jesus, this was it.

2606
03:25:11.639 --> 03:25:13.079
It just cause it didn't feel like
a way gear wrestling, I said.

2607
03:25:13.079 --> 03:25:16.440
We talked earlier about the dance and
being in the groove, and it never

2608
03:25:16.600 --> 03:25:20.000
felt to me like we got in
that groove and we wanna dance. But

2609
03:25:20.079 --> 03:25:22.200
again, looking back, it was
because he and I would do a spa

2610
03:25:22.440 --> 03:25:26.799
or wrestle some you know, a
couple of minutes, and then I would

2611
03:25:26.840 --> 03:25:28.200
sell away and he and Sab we
would go. So you never really got

2612
03:25:28.200 --> 03:25:31.399
a chance to get it that one
group and keep ran on. You know,

2613
03:25:31.440 --> 03:25:33.959
you wanna were in and out,
in and out, and uh,

2614
03:25:33.079 --> 03:25:35.559
I was lying on the apron and
just trying to catch my window and just

2615
03:25:35.879 --> 03:25:39.360
just think of myself, God,
we would really miss that one, you

2616
03:25:39.440 --> 03:25:41.239
know. And and I, you
know, I heard the applause, but

2617
03:25:41.319 --> 03:25:43.360
I, you know, I was
more worried about getting my wind back.

2618
03:25:43.440 --> 03:25:48.479
And and I heard Sherry Martell at
the time of my valet going holy shit,

2619
03:25:48.559 --> 03:25:50.200
holy shit, look at this.
And I pulled my head up,

2620
03:25:50.200 --> 03:25:52.799
and I look around, and I
said, the fans getting as a standing

2621
03:25:52.840 --> 03:25:54.319
ovation. I thought, well,
it was being polite. And even after

2622
03:25:54.360 --> 03:25:56.239
the match, I still didn't get
it. I mean, I was still

2623
03:25:56.239 --> 03:26:00.559
disappointed afterwards in the dressing room.
But when I went back, I watch

2624
03:26:00.639 --> 03:26:03.959
the tape of it as if I
was I'm a big mark for I said,

2625
03:26:03.000 --> 03:26:05.799
I love watching professional wrestling. And
I was sitting at home watching the

2626
03:26:05.840 --> 03:26:09.120
match him and I'm and I remember
sitting down and thinking myself, you know,

2627
03:26:09.159 --> 03:26:11.079
I really kicked yourself in the aswers
cause it sucked. And as I'm

2628
03:26:11.120 --> 03:26:15.280
watching it, I'm thinking, man, getting more interesting than that. I'm

2629
03:26:15.479 --> 03:26:16.159
you know, cause I was over
here selling. I would see, you

2630
03:26:16.239 --> 03:26:18.120
know, I was paying a thing
and thinking about that. I was seeing

2631
03:26:18.159 --> 03:26:22.399
from the fans perspective that in one
man funk and Sabo were busting the mass

2632
03:26:22.399 --> 03:26:24.000
over there and then you know,
and then you know, me and Saber

2633
03:26:24.079 --> 03:26:26.799
were busting ns over here and then
and it just seemed like it just fit

2634
03:26:26.879 --> 03:26:31.319
together right. And after I'd watched
on TV, then I started seeing you

2635
03:26:31.399 --> 03:26:35.719
know, what the fans brought into
him, you know, and and even

2636
03:26:35.840 --> 03:26:39.680
I'm I'm still amazed now that it
seemed like it is and that it's you

2637
03:26:39.760 --> 03:26:43.360
know, that it's it's seen as
that first historic match in ECW. Uh,

2638
03:26:43.040 --> 03:26:46.680
you b but I you know,
again after I having watched it,

2639
03:26:46.799 --> 03:26:48.680
man, I thought it was a
very good match, but you know,

2640
03:26:48.760 --> 03:26:50.280
I'm proud of the fact that it's
that the legacy is what it is from

2641
03:26:50.319 --> 03:26:54.360
that match, and and uh then
it became the match that I really set

2642
03:26:54.399 --> 03:26:58.280
ECW on that course, that became
the the first of many great matches in

2643
03:26:58.319 --> 03:27:03.959
ECW UP. So a lot there
from both, but totally, as with

2644
03:27:03.040 --> 03:27:07.719
any great legendary match, the guys
involved feel like it sucked during the match.

2645
03:27:09.000 --> 03:27:11.280
Shane Douglas ling on the apron feeling
like this isn't working. It was

2646
03:27:11.360 --> 03:27:15.399
a fort I mean sixty minute matches
in nineteen ninety four, I mean,

2647
03:27:16.079 --> 03:27:18.920
not really something the audience was equipped
to handle the kind of thing you heard

2648
03:27:18.920 --> 03:27:20.799
about happening back in the day,
but you'd never had really seen it.

2649
03:27:22.559 --> 03:27:24.840
Yeah, and you certainly didn't see
it coming here because it wasn't forecast as

2650
03:27:24.920 --> 03:27:30.479
some kind of you know, a
sixty minute iron man battle. And indeed,

2651
03:27:30.840 --> 03:27:33.239
as Saboo mentioned, he'd even wrestled
earlier in the night in a tag

2652
03:27:33.319 --> 03:27:35.479
match and then came back for the
title match. There was a mention there

2653
03:27:35.520 --> 03:27:37.440
of how Terry funk enters the match
late. That is, in fact,

2654
03:27:37.479 --> 03:27:41.639
as Shane Douglass made reference to,
due to an injury angle they did to

2655
03:27:41.680 --> 03:27:43.760
explain funk Er entering late in the
contest. So a lot of it'll just

2656
03:27:43.840 --> 03:27:48.600
be Douglas and Saboo in the beginning, but in the final math, I

2657
03:27:48.680 --> 03:27:52.840
mean, Terry Funk stands by this
being one of his proudest achievements. Oh.

2658
03:27:54.799 --> 03:28:00.159
I loved it. Love something very
special. Yeah, something very that's

2659
03:28:00.200 --> 03:28:03.719
well. Uh, I saw your
your comments on Forever Hardcover. You said

2660
03:28:03.719 --> 03:28:05.159
about, uh, you know,
in thirty years, you know you only

2661
03:28:05.280 --> 03:28:09.319
have you have you know, a
lot of matches, but a handful that

2662
03:28:09.440 --> 03:28:11.920
really stand out in your mind.
Oh and and and you you you look

2663
03:28:11.959 --> 03:28:15.719
back at it and you're really proud
of and and that that was one last

2664
03:28:15.840 --> 03:28:18.600
very h mine on that But back
ten years ago, sure, and I'm

2665
03:28:18.600 --> 03:28:20.920
still thinking of that match, and
you know, and and a lot of

2666
03:28:20.959 --> 03:28:26.920
the fans look back ECW fans especially, and they're still proud of what they

2667
03:28:26.040 --> 03:28:31.200
saw that night. I mean really
seriously, you know, and uh uh

2668
03:28:31.000 --> 03:28:35.719
got here's there's just a hand.
Really I looked further back in that,

2669
03:28:37.000 --> 03:28:39.280
you know, and there are certain
times that I I can remember, like

2670
03:28:39.360 --> 03:28:43.440
getting in the ring with LU fans, you know, I tell you it

2671
03:28:43.520 --> 03:28:48.239
must have been awesome. Huh yeah, scared Tess, I bet yeah,

2672
03:28:48.239 --> 03:28:54.440
I did, you know, and
uh uh you know Shay and us being

2673
03:28:54.479 --> 03:28:58.920
a very wrestling for Sam mashm you
know, and uh uh some of the

2674
03:28:58.959 --> 03:29:03.840
Briscoe matches and Florida Bengs, so
the Japanese matches and they after the matches

2675
03:29:03.920 --> 03:29:11.280
and then the sheet matches, you
know, and and uhlen ECW match.

2676
03:29:11.639 --> 03:29:16.719
You know. I mean it just
stands right up there. You're ready to

2677
03:29:16.760 --> 03:29:28.520
make your own decision. I suppose
twenty one forty two Eastern Championship Wrestling Presents

2678
03:29:28.600 --> 03:29:33.479
the night the line was crossed,
CW Champion Terry Funk, who had already

2679
03:29:33.559 --> 03:29:46.520
uh won the title. Again,
we're looking at forty thirty two. Okay,

2680
03:29:46.440 --> 03:29:54.079
so Funk had won the ECW title. Uh, let's see, Uh

2681
03:29:54.360 --> 03:29:58.920
when did you win it for the
first time on July sixteenth. No,

2682
03:29:58.079 --> 03:30:01.440
that's not it. Okay, we'll
get it as we go. Let's prepare

2683
03:30:01.600 --> 03:30:11.840
all all systems YEP three two one
play. So this is off ECW home

2684
03:30:11.920 --> 03:30:26.319
video and they still have a lot
of development to do. See Douglas's manager

2685
03:30:26.399 --> 03:30:37.840
boss is a Sherry. Imagine it's
her. Well, they were in W

2686
03:30:39.040 --> 03:30:46.520
together. That's a good point.
So before there was Francine the second to

2687
03:30:46.600 --> 03:30:52.719
Douglas, it was you know who
the first DCW champion was. It was

2688
03:30:54.000 --> 03:30:58.440
Jimmy Snooker. Yeah, Funk one
at December twenty sixth ninteen ninety three,

2689
03:30:58.559 --> 03:31:07.879
the Holiday Show, uh defeating Saboo
and then Shane Douglas. A look at

2690
03:31:07.879 --> 03:31:13.959
that Saboo coming out and Paul Hayman's
in the ring getting head butted by Douglas

2691
03:31:13.000 --> 03:31:18.200
and it's automatically chaos. Sherry's down, Saboo blindsides Douglas and we are underway

2692
03:31:20.440 --> 03:31:26.840
with a three way dance tabo and
loves the rights corner of the corner of

2693
03:31:26.840 --> 03:31:35.040
the whip. They're going fast.
Oh yeah, I don't think I've seen

2694
03:31:37.639 --> 03:31:41.639
Shane Douglas fast a long time.
Yeah, this before. He really packed

2695
03:31:41.680 --> 03:31:45.079
on a lot of that bricked up
muscle in NCW. By the end there

2696
03:31:45.159 --> 03:31:48.559
he was all like, hghd out. The big head in there is so

2697
03:31:48.760 --> 03:31:52.840
fucking slow. Here he's very He's
like the ninety one rumble guy. Yeah,

2698
03:31:52.959 --> 03:31:56.559
right, like the Hasbro you have. That's right, big boot on

2699
03:31:56.600 --> 03:32:01.600
the charging Saboo puts him down.
Shane Douglas just thoughts overall boss. I

2700
03:32:01.639 --> 03:32:07.719
don't know. He's so kind of
middle of the road. I've never been

2701
03:32:07.440 --> 03:32:15.239
away, Yeah, kind of.
I don't know. Iffy, his big

2702
03:32:15.319 --> 03:32:18.920
thing in e c W was he'd
say fuck and you'd get in the ring

2703
03:32:18.000 --> 03:32:22.319
and call Rick Flair Dick Flair and
right like I feel like he get over

2704
03:32:22.440 --> 03:32:33.559
on on on to get over on
belt had it's like cheap tricks. Yeah.

2705
03:32:33.600 --> 03:32:37.000
He was an excellent promo. I
mean they he came out and he

2706
03:32:37.079 --> 03:32:41.600
was cutting like hour long promos right
into the camera at a time when ECW

2707
03:32:41.719 --> 03:32:43.639
didn't have a whole hell of a
lot of guys coming through that could do

2708
03:32:43.719 --> 03:32:46.239
that. Joey Styles on the call. This is one of his first assignments.

2709
03:32:48.079 --> 03:32:52.479
We've now transitioned off of Jay Sully
and his idiots, the Ragdag Crew

2710
03:32:54.559 --> 03:33:00.399
Outside in Soup play by Douglas,
Vertical Prescott's two on Saboo. And you

2711
03:33:00.440 --> 03:33:01.559
know, Joey Styles went on to
be pretty much the only guy of his

2712
03:33:01.639 --> 03:33:05.120
type, I mean, the single
man announcer. Sure, And I guess

2713
03:33:05.120 --> 03:33:11.120
you could say at Whalen and you
could say Lance Russell flew solo Gordon Soli

2714
03:33:11.159 --> 03:33:13.040
to some degree, although we often
had color. Other guys did it,

2715
03:33:13.120 --> 03:33:20.280
but Styles like exclusively did all the
work anybody cares about. Not to denigrate

2716
03:33:20.319 --> 03:33:24.760
his WW run, but as a
solo guy made his whole bones. It's

2717
03:33:24.840 --> 03:33:28.280
just the only the defining voice of
ECWN was key because he played like almost

2718
03:33:28.319 --> 03:33:31.879
like a straight laced broadcaster who would
take exception to the immorality of certain things.

2719
03:33:31.959 --> 03:33:41.079
And and he had like a good
straight man counteraction to the ECW spirit.

2720
03:33:41.440 --> 03:33:45.479
Still no Terry Funcus. He's still
selling the injury as the snap mare.

2721
03:33:45.520 --> 03:33:48.040
And now Jane Douglas digging into the
face of Saboo, slowing down the

2722
03:33:48.120 --> 03:33:54.559
aerial attack spitting at people. Yeah, big name guys coming through. I

2723
03:33:54.639 --> 03:33:58.639
mean you had Snooka, then you
had Don Morocco, uh, Sandman beating

2724
03:33:58.680 --> 03:34:05.920
Morocco o Moronco beat Sandman Titos Indiana
also winning the UCW World titles. It's

2725
03:34:05.040 --> 03:34:09.280
bizarre. It was bizarre. It's
fucking weird. It's halfway between like you

2726
03:34:09.360 --> 03:34:13.920
know, one of those fallback indies
and like this startup group. You know

2727
03:34:15.040 --> 03:34:20.440
what happened is they started getting guys
like Shane Douglass from WWWCW who had you

2728
03:34:20.479 --> 03:34:24.000
know, kind of mid card status
and found men of venter in him and

2729
03:34:24.079 --> 03:34:26.639
pushed him that way, and so
all of a sudden, his W became

2730
03:34:26.680 --> 03:34:31.280
this place where the underappreciated could shine. So here's a right hands and a

2731
03:34:31.319 --> 03:34:35.280
spinning heel kick by Sabou Douglas hits
the floor. That's Paul him and next

2732
03:34:35.280 --> 03:34:37.319
to him is nine to one one. Do you ever hear about nine to

2733
03:34:37.319 --> 03:34:41.079
one one before? Boss? I've
heard that name. It's a big guy

2734
03:34:41.159 --> 03:34:45.239
that they basically hired to just come
in and choke slam people at random points

2735
03:34:45.280 --> 03:34:50.360
in the show. They'd play his
music and Jesus people would go nuts as

2736
03:34:50.440 --> 03:34:54.840
he would like choke slam. It
like they'd set up like these big elaborate

2737
03:34:54.959 --> 03:34:56.440
moments where it was like it would
die down and then his music would hit

2738
03:34:56.559 --> 03:35:01.000
like when you would least expect it, but they'd set it up in really

2739
03:35:01.040 --> 03:35:05.959
creative ways. And the Sky had
like the most unbelievable run because he was

2740
03:35:05.040 --> 03:35:09.799
just like he barely knew anything about
wrestling. They just taught him the choke

2741
03:35:09.879 --> 03:35:13.639
slam and he was over like the
fucking mate Hayman and a lot of those

2742
03:35:13.719 --> 03:35:20.000
man only Paul Hayman could make certain
guys over from Paul Hamon guys right,

2743
03:35:20.639 --> 03:35:24.120
That's exactly it. Sabo back in
on Douglas slam's and middle rope springboard,

2744
03:35:24.159 --> 03:35:28.079
and Saboo takes a hafunk. Jesus, it's like a lion salt. But

2745
03:35:28.159 --> 03:35:33.479
he did the rotating front flip,
almost laying it on his fucking head that

2746
03:35:33.600 --> 03:35:37.200
the Saboo was and almost landing on
his head. He's afraid that you might

2747
03:35:37.280 --> 03:35:45.159
not have gotten your money's worth.
Here's the straw hat guy still there in

2748
03:35:45.239 --> 03:35:46.840
the front row. Now this looks
more like ECW. What a difference it

2749
03:35:46.920 --> 03:35:50.680
makes when you can't see the wall
on the hard camera. It makes a

2750
03:35:50.799 --> 03:35:52.559
huge difference. Building isn't that much
bigger than the ones we were seeing for

2751
03:35:52.600 --> 03:35:58.440
the funk Eddie Gilbert stuff. But
man, what a difference of the People's

2752
03:35:58.639 --> 03:36:03.840
a huge difference. Sabo with the
dragon sleeper applied now to Shane Douglas.

2753
03:36:05.760 --> 03:36:09.440
This Douglas bridge is up. Yeah, I'm about to take a dragon sleeper

2754
03:36:09.520 --> 03:36:13.079
myself. Yeah, I know.
Yeah, this is a tough one.

2755
03:36:13.120 --> 03:36:16.319
This is a tough one. Asked
the boss to go through. These are

2756
03:36:16.360 --> 03:36:20.520
the moments Jesus Hanging's noose neck Breaker
by Douglas puts down Sabo in the middle

2757
03:36:20.559 --> 03:36:24.280
of the ring. Douglas limping about, drops the elbow. Nobody home.

2758
03:36:31.000 --> 03:36:33.959
I mean, I will say it's
better than watching seth rawlins, so I'll

2759
03:36:33.000 --> 03:36:39.959
take okay, all right. I
wouldn't necessarily expect you to say that walking

2760
03:36:41.000 --> 03:36:43.719
on an arm bar now cross arm
breaker of Saboo. He would do matt

2761
03:36:43.760 --> 03:36:48.239
stuff. He would He would almost
insist on, like some chain sequences in

2762
03:36:48.280 --> 03:36:50.879
some of his matches, just so
that I couldn't say he didn't know how

2763
03:36:50.920 --> 03:36:58.639
to do it. I don't know
something. I just you know, he's

2764
03:36:58.719 --> 03:37:03.000
not. No. That's the thing
that bothers me is that I don't understand

2765
03:37:03.040 --> 03:37:07.920
the reputation of him being so great
when he is so sloppy. It's just

2766
03:37:07.959 --> 03:37:11.440
the stuff he was doing was so
like second third degree passed. When anybody

2767
03:37:11.479 --> 03:37:13.120
else had been doing it, it
was you had to see it. It

2768
03:37:13.239 --> 03:37:16.799
was like a buzz, the way
the buzz would build for the stuff he

2769
03:37:16.799 --> 03:37:20.440
would do. And I suppose that's
kind of it. Like I saw so

2770
03:37:20.559 --> 03:37:26.600
much stuff that was kind of on
that level and probably a little bit less,

2771
03:37:26.719 --> 03:37:30.319
not not as dangerous right before I
ever saw him do anything that.

2772
03:37:30.399 --> 03:37:33.360
I just he just doesn't He's not
interesting to me. Yeah, you know,

2773
03:37:33.840 --> 03:37:37.079
yeah, It's definitely a you had
to be there kind of thing,

2774
03:37:37.440 --> 03:37:39.600
right. I mean, it always
goes back to that, like you know,

2775
03:37:43.319 --> 03:37:46.399
imagine like hearing about some crazy spot
he did on a show. I

2776
03:37:46.479 --> 03:37:50.520
thought this was a triple threat match. Yeah, and they had entered Funk

2777
03:37:50.559 --> 03:37:52.399
earlier in the card, so it
was like we'd have to go out there

2778
03:37:52.399 --> 03:37:58.479
and wrestle. They were kind of
explaining in those soundbites that it was kind

2779
03:37:58.479 --> 03:38:01.799
of by design that that that was
a way they thought they could break up

2780
03:38:01.879 --> 03:38:05.559
the hour long match a bit is
to have someone come in late just seemed

2781
03:38:05.600 --> 03:38:11.280
like a no, basically a world
rumble, a most god work in that

2782
03:38:11.440 --> 03:38:18.719
arm Cherry in ECW that doesn't get
talked about enough. Oh not at all.

2783
03:38:18.120 --> 03:38:20.799
I went off Shawn Michaels right at
this point. She would have been

2784
03:38:22.000 --> 03:38:26.479
yeah, this is ninety what now, ninety four ninety four? Yeah,

2785
03:38:26.600 --> 03:38:31.000
so she would have just been out. I mean she she left Summer in

2786
03:38:31.079 --> 03:38:35.799
ninety three. Wow, actu she
was a Summer Slam ninety three right with

2787
03:38:35.920 --> 03:38:37.719
him. I don't know if she
no, no, no, no,

2788
03:38:37.959 --> 03:38:41.719
she wasn't there. It was so
rumble. Ninety three is when they broke

2789
03:38:41.840 --> 03:38:48.840
up, and so she was basically
managing anybody who you know, went against

2790
03:38:48.879 --> 03:38:54.760
Sewn Michaels, and then Luna Vashan
came into play and at WrestleMania. Yeah,

2791
03:38:54.760 --> 03:38:58.600
I just seemed to associate Sherry with
Summer Slam nineteen ninety three for some

2792
03:38:58.719 --> 03:39:09.840
reason. Yeah, she's like eight. Oh that that's Joey Styles for you.

2793
03:39:15.760 --> 03:39:22.680
The franchise, the franchise of what
well, he's the franchise of ECW

2794
03:39:22.000 --> 03:39:26.159
is what he is, but it's
barely even alive, right, and he's

2795
03:39:26.200 --> 03:39:31.799
sort of cockily assuming it's going to
be him. Oh well, the character

2796
03:39:31.920 --> 03:39:37.360
is kind of like like a high
school quarterback that everybody hates because he's you

2797
03:39:37.440 --> 03:39:41.680
know, he's got he's swag,
he's got swagger, he's he's clean cut.

2798
03:39:41.920 --> 03:39:48.280
You know, he's all the things
that you know, we say make

2799
03:39:48.360 --> 03:39:50.959
you all American, but also make
you a heel in reality, you know,

2800
03:39:50.440 --> 03:39:54.920
right? Uh? Do you want
to know something fun? Actually?

2801
03:39:56.280 --> 03:40:07.159
Yes I do. Oh, Saboo
actually helps qualify a number of movies for

2802
03:40:07.319 --> 03:40:15.079
Under the Cinema. Is that because
Sabo based his name off of his uncle's

2803
03:40:15.760 --> 03:40:20.079
favorite actor, whose name is Sabo. Oh my goodness, is that right?

2804
03:40:20.440 --> 03:40:26.840
Yeah? So Sabo's the actor.
Saboo's movies qualified because of that.

2805
03:40:26.680 --> 03:40:33.559
That's really remarkable. Oh it's funny
because I was actually I sat there wondering,

2806
03:40:33.680 --> 03:40:37.799
like, you know, is it
is it? Uh, like,

2807
03:40:37.959 --> 03:40:41.239
is it a coincidence or whatever?
And then you know, I happened to

2808
03:40:41.239 --> 03:40:41.959
look it up one time and I
was like, Nope, no, it's

2809
03:40:43.000 --> 03:40:48.799
not a coincidence at all. It's
remarkable. Yeah, I didn't. I

2810
03:40:48.879 --> 03:40:50.520
certainly read his book, but I
don't remember that part of it. Yeah,

2811
03:40:52.479 --> 03:40:54.239
I'm looking forward to that. I
mean, it's not like he said

2812
03:40:54.239 --> 03:40:58.719
a lot in his lifetime, especially
in his prime, so we can contribute

2813
03:40:58.719 --> 03:41:05.239
on sco he just standing switch and
a lot of you know, essentially chain

2814
03:41:05.280 --> 03:41:09.840
grappling here between Saba and Chane Douglas, significant amount of the chain grappling and

2815
03:41:09.920 --> 03:41:13.680
not the chain grappling we saw between
Terry Funk Andy Gilbert earlier. I think

2816
03:41:13.719 --> 03:41:18.319
that's called Texas chain grappling. That's
right, exactly, Texas death chain grappling

2817
03:41:18.399 --> 03:41:26.120
with right, taking reference to the
fact that Terry Funk still doesn't come under

2818
03:41:26.120 --> 03:41:35.639
the ring yet. So that's it's
so stupid. It's like the least interesting

2819
03:41:37.079 --> 03:41:41.959
thing about this. Yeah, it's
a curious choice. I think the idea

2820
03:41:43.000 --> 03:41:48.079
of a three way was so exotic
to these guys, right that they sort

2821
03:41:48.120 --> 03:41:50.799
of felt like, you know,
two guys have to get shined to start.

2822
03:41:50.840 --> 03:41:52.559
I mean, of course, we
still see it today with's triple threat

2823
03:41:52.600 --> 03:41:56.000
matches in every company, where the
whole formula is one guy gets knocked out

2824
03:41:56.040 --> 03:41:58.959
on the outside of the rings so
two can take center stage. Here.

2825
03:41:58.079 --> 03:42:03.639
That wasn't you know, the pattern
that hadn't been canonized yet, and w

2826
03:42:03.799 --> 03:42:07.879
CW didn't do that either. WW
actually had you know, they had some

2827
03:42:09.120 --> 03:42:15.440
actual three ways like that. You
know, if I remember correctly earlier one

2828
03:42:15.479 --> 03:42:18.399
were in play. Yeah, except
for when they had there was I think

2829
03:42:18.440 --> 03:42:22.799
there was a difference between a triangle
match and in a triple threat match.

2830
03:42:22.840 --> 03:42:24.399
It was because a triangle match had
one guy in the apron right right,

2831
03:42:24.760 --> 03:42:28.319
tag right, Oh my god,
look at is that? It's nine one

2832
03:42:28.360 --> 03:42:31.239
one picking up a table. So
action hit the floor, reversed, whip

2833
03:42:31.280 --> 03:42:35.239
Shane Douglas whip by Sabo over the
guardrail, sharing and nine to eleven causing

2834
03:42:35.360 --> 03:42:39.479
terrorism. I'll say, Cherry lunches
over the guardrail checking the franchise, and

2835
03:42:39.520 --> 03:42:43.760
Sabo is now positioning the table not
just on the floor but passed the guardrail.

2836
03:42:43.760 --> 03:42:48.559
As fans, i'd be concerned about
the franchise as well. Absolutely,

2837
03:42:48.719 --> 03:42:58.719
yeah, also concerned about the franchise. Bob Kraft laid across the table past

2838
03:42:58.799 --> 03:43:01.079
the rail, Sabo to the apron. He's bring boards. He moon salts

2839
03:43:01.079 --> 03:43:05.719
for the industry. That's it.
And again a one camera shoot, big

2840
03:43:05.799 --> 03:43:09.600
time problem, oh for sure,
because Saboo on the far side of the

2841
03:43:09.680 --> 03:43:11.040
ring just moon salted out of the
ring over the rail, through a table

2842
03:43:11.079 --> 03:43:13.639
on the concrete and all we could
see is him disappear behind the apron.

2843
03:43:16.280 --> 03:43:20.280
Is nine to eleven supposed to be
like dieseler or something. Yeah, pretty

2844
03:43:20.319 --> 03:43:24.719
much. Yeah, that's a good
analogy, because he's wearing that stupid biker

2845
03:43:24.920 --> 03:43:28.799
fringe. Shit hops the guard rail
to check on Saboo on behalf of poly

2846
03:43:28.920 --> 03:43:31.559
Dangerously of course, with Saboo's manager
at this point in time, is that

2847
03:43:31.680 --> 03:43:35.319
guy actually security is you're just trying
to fucking help out. I don't know

2848
03:43:35.440 --> 03:43:37.799
the other the Polo Paulo shirt.
Yeah, he's dressed a little too country

2849
03:43:37.879 --> 03:43:43.879
clubby for this crowd. Up guys, Back up, guys, huh,

2850
03:43:43.040 --> 03:43:48.840
Jerry, Jerry Stoules, We're not
in Atlanta. That's a big thing called

2851
03:43:48.959 --> 03:43:50.920
ww F New York. You know, he was being sarcastic. We're not

2852
03:43:52.079 --> 03:43:56.000
in New York here, huh.
Back to center ring. Douglas has Saboo

2853
03:43:56.159 --> 03:43:58.879
right where he wants him. If
the look on his face is any indication,

2854
03:44:00.159 --> 03:44:05.920
the shitting breaker goes to franchise the
size of Shane Douglas's head, like

2855
03:44:05.040 --> 03:44:09.639
it's just not appropriate. It's it's
prominent. Yeah, it's a it's a

2856
03:44:09.719 --> 03:44:16.040
dome. It really is, like
it's it's it's really you know, he

2857
03:44:16.079 --> 03:44:20.319
should have taken care of that early
Carnegie Mellon. Yeah, I'm from Pittsburgh.

2858
03:44:24.360 --> 03:44:28.079
Uh Carnegie Mellon met at the Carnegie
Deli that right, what a minute?

2859
03:44:28.600 --> 03:44:33.719
Uh? There he is their feet
is Terry Funk forehead wrapped, emerges

2860
03:44:33.760 --> 03:44:37.479
from the locker room, walks down
the rail and tosses he's got something in

2861
03:44:37.520 --> 03:44:39.879
his hand. He went ahead and
dropped it. I want to hadn't dropped

2862
03:44:39.920 --> 03:44:43.000
it. I want to ahead and
put a thing on my head. That's

2863
03:44:43.000 --> 03:44:46.920
where he started doing the bandana,
and that's what it was. Kinda well,

2864
03:44:46.159 --> 03:44:50.840
yeah, I guess I want to
head and ban Dan in my head.

2865
03:44:50.600 --> 03:44:54.360
I said, you know what,
I think, I'm gonna go ahead

2866
03:44:54.360 --> 03:44:56.319
and enter the match. He entered
the match like a guy's entered rumbles and

2867
03:44:56.319 --> 03:45:01.680
wrestle fest right exactly ahead and tax
Shane dounb this and threw him out of

2868
03:45:01.680 --> 03:45:03.879
the ring. I want ahead and
join the three way dance. I want

2869
03:45:03.920 --> 03:45:09.399
ahead and decided this dance has gone
long enough two way. It's time for

2870
03:45:09.559 --> 03:45:15.600
three way. And even though for
anajut right in the ring, a manaja

2871
03:45:15.719 --> 03:45:22.040
extreme because I'm gay for fake sport. He's so Queery's standing in the guardrail,

2872
03:45:22.079 --> 03:45:28.200
thrown punches behind a big ass pole. I got a big ass pole

2873
03:45:28.239 --> 03:45:31.959
in my pants. I need Vicky
to take care of it. Who Ivan

2874
03:45:33.000 --> 03:45:46.799
Putski? What Douglas gets the upper
Hell, yeah it is. Douglas gets

2875
03:45:46.799 --> 03:45:48.719
the upper hand of the Funker in
the crowd. They brought back into the

2876
03:45:48.799 --> 03:45:50.760
ring and Douglas with forearm shivers and
the battered Funk. Terry Funk was actually

2877
03:45:50.840 --> 03:45:56.239
introduced by ring announcer Bob Artees despite
it entering their match twenty minutes late.

2878
03:45:56.760 --> 03:46:00.760
He still announces him. I guess
now you're gonna enter, and it's legal.

2879
03:46:00.799 --> 03:46:03.559
You can introduce somebody whatever you want. Shanon Douglas looks like you know,

2880
03:46:03.680 --> 03:46:07.559
he does look like a fucking quarterback. Oh, totally yeah. He

2881
03:46:07.639 --> 03:46:09.799
look like a little fucking high school
bitch. He does. He looks like

2882
03:46:09.799 --> 03:46:13.200
a high school bitch. Yeah,
he looks like that quarterback and Ken Hardly

2883
03:46:13.239 --> 03:46:16.200
Wade who comes back to the high
school party. Yes, I mean he's

2884
03:46:16.239 --> 03:46:20.479
a little better shape. That guy
was kind of like fat for a reason,

2885
03:46:20.520 --> 03:46:22.520
you know. But Pnell wasn't it. I think it was Jerry.

2886
03:46:24.680 --> 03:46:26.200
Watch it with that. I can't. I'm not always ready for you to

2887
03:46:26.440 --> 03:46:31.840
name him. Little of the Ring
franchise with the bear Hug and the Funker

2888
03:46:31.879 --> 03:46:37.280
Pep bring him with tight punches,
Funk having suffered a beatdown earlier in the

2889
03:46:37.399 --> 03:46:41.799
card, entering worse for wear.
And you see that front row sign Terry

2890
03:46:41.840 --> 03:46:45.440
Funk. The true legend, true
true legend. Is that what it says

2891
03:46:45.520 --> 03:46:50.280
legend legend says twice or something?
Does it say twice? It's also signed

2892
03:46:50.319 --> 03:46:54.639
that said Shane Dufis, which is
prepared with that. I'll take that one

2893
03:46:56.399 --> 03:46:58.079
ahead and again on the fire side. Can't see a damn thing as Funk

2894
03:46:58.159 --> 03:47:03.399
or Pile drives Shane and the concrete. You know, it was my way

2895
03:47:03.440 --> 03:47:07.879
of telling the easter w folk that
they got to have cameras on other places.

2896
03:47:07.719 --> 03:47:09.479
So I said, fuck it,
I'm just going to do it in

2897
03:47:09.559 --> 03:47:13.159
places where they can't see. I'm
gonna show you what I mean. I'm

2898
03:47:13.200 --> 03:47:16.280
going to show you how to do
business, and that that that that problem

2899
03:47:16.319 --> 03:47:20.520
will be fixed real quick. I
like the fans, the front row fans

2900
03:47:20.600 --> 03:47:24.799
high five each other. Would Funker
Pile drove Shane Douglas on the concrete because

2901
03:47:24.840 --> 03:47:28.559
they did something like it's like football
fans or Fock's egg, you know,

2902
03:47:30.319 --> 03:47:33.879
like they fucking scored a touchdown Oh, Terry's chasing Sherry, and she knows

2903
03:47:33.879 --> 03:47:37.920
how to run away. Look at
her, Terry and Sherry got that right,

2904
03:47:37.440 --> 03:47:43.879
Cherry, Oh Terry Ann. She
obviously went to WO. She always

2905
03:47:43.879 --> 03:47:46.680
went to WW manae Haarlane heat and
everything after this. But you, yeah,

2906
03:47:46.840 --> 03:47:50.840
I'm really interested in like a Sherry
during ECW's peak, you know,

2907
03:47:50.959 --> 03:47:54.600
like her unhinged, you know,
allowed to be extreme, tussling with Beulah

2908
03:47:54.879 --> 03:48:01.440
and frank Out and all that,
and maybe them in people's faces. I

2909
03:48:01.559 --> 03:48:05.719
could the ring the Funker d DT
Shane Douglas, I want ahead and dropped

2910
03:48:05.760 --> 03:48:11.920
him on his head. Sure did
another DDT by the Funker. Bunker always

2911
03:48:11.959 --> 03:48:16.719
complimentary towards Douglas, gave him like
a forty minute classic for the ECW title

2912
03:48:16.760 --> 03:48:20.639
at this rough stage of the company's
evolution. And true living Legend is what

2913
03:48:20.760 --> 03:48:28.000
it says, True living legend and
uh covered by funk gets too. No

2914
03:48:28.159 --> 03:48:31.879
foot on the rope, no one's
sitting down in the front row. That's

2915
03:48:31.920 --> 03:48:35.440
a good song. Yep, where's
Shamou? I don't know, Saboo and

2916
03:48:35.520 --> 03:48:39.120
Moon salted into the into a black
hole because where his body should be everyone

2917
03:48:39.200 --> 03:48:45.040
standing, everyone. I'd love it
if he's like eating a hot dog or

2918
03:48:45.120 --> 03:48:50.399
snorting coke or something awesome. Well, that's actually a valid reason to hit

2919
03:48:50.440 --> 03:48:54.040
the floor and not do anything,
unlike other triple threat matches, because there

2920
03:48:54.079 --> 03:48:56.520
isn't a camera to observe what you're
doing. So yeah, right, it's

2921
03:48:56.520 --> 03:48:58.760
a good time to do it.
Why I bother doing anything if no one's

2922
03:48:58.760 --> 03:49:05.000
going to see Cherry Shery grabs a
franchise. Funk throws a hay maker Cherry.

2923
03:49:07.440 --> 03:49:09.479
Let's not forget if the guy's gonna
give him a chair. They're feeding

2924
03:49:11.000 --> 03:49:16.959
chairs from the fans. I said, what's this for? Oh? Are

2925
03:49:16.000 --> 03:49:22.000
these the things you're throw into the
ring. It's like it's like there's a

2926
03:49:22.120 --> 03:49:26.440
magnet that draws the chairs in.
There's like four chairs. Cherry's in the

2927
03:49:26.520 --> 03:49:30.600
ring. She leaves the ring again. Funker's whipping. I think Terry Funk's

2928
03:49:30.600 --> 03:49:33.559
trying to hit Sherry with these projectaile
steel chairs. Oh, and she likes

2929
03:49:33.600 --> 03:49:37.520
other projectiles. Actually, indeed,
that's what I've heard. After look at

2930
03:49:37.559 --> 03:49:39.799
Funker. He's waving on the ECW
arena. He's calling for more chairs and

2931
03:49:39.840 --> 03:49:43.120
they're giving it to him. Heirs, come on, I want ahead,

2932
03:49:43.120 --> 03:49:48.159
and called for the chairs. I'm
gonna go ahead and say, give me

2933
03:49:48.239 --> 03:49:54.639
a fucking chair. I need to
sit down. These fans are like you.

2934
03:49:54.719 --> 03:49:58.280
Sure I wouldn't be that way for
long as we go through the ECW

2935
03:49:58.440 --> 03:50:03.440
Journey of Terror, Funk, there
would come a point where it became highly

2936
03:50:03.479 --> 03:50:07.120
inadvisable to tempt the rabbit ECW craft
to throw steel chairs in the seriously,

2937
03:50:07.239 --> 03:50:09.879
you know once, because you know, you know, these are the kind

2938
03:50:09.920 --> 03:50:15.079
of people that once you give them
permission, that's exactly it. It's it's

2939
03:50:15.399 --> 03:50:24.879
it's gonna be anarchy. You open
that door. Forget it. It's a

2940
03:50:24.959 --> 03:50:28.399
wild Texas looking to Joey Styles.
Starry Funk has that wild Texas look in

2941
03:50:28.479 --> 03:50:33.520
his eyes. So dd Douglas on
the floor. Douglas back in though there's

2942
03:50:33.520 --> 03:50:37.000
still no sign of saboo here we
go, went ahead and dropped him on

2943
03:50:37.079 --> 03:50:41.159
his head. Jesus Christ made another
steel chair bonfire in the middle of the

2944
03:50:41.239 --> 03:50:52.440
ring. Look at Sherry. The
thing is I did ted him on all

2945
03:50:52.479 --> 03:50:56.079
those chairs. But you notice I
sold as well because I hurt my back.

2946
03:50:58.639 --> 03:51:01.239
Well, it wasn't really selling.
Actually did myself. I went ahead

2947
03:51:01.280 --> 03:51:03.600
him, broke my fucking back,
broke last sick room again. You know

2948
03:51:05.159 --> 03:51:11.120
it was ECW. We did what
we had what but I'll still gut up?

2949
03:51:11.200 --> 03:51:13.639
Oh did you? I'm still waiting. He's crawling at all fours like

2950
03:51:15.040 --> 03:51:18.200
like he's in a smoke filled room. Oh wow. Jane comes off the

2951
03:51:18.200 --> 03:51:20.719
middle with a big splash across the
back of the bunker, and Terry's selling

2952
03:51:20.799 --> 03:51:26.399
like he's having a seizure. He's
grabbing off this funk, rolling around on

2953
03:51:26.479 --> 03:51:30.079
the mat, grabbing chairs like you
can do anything with him and throwing them

2954
03:51:30.120 --> 03:51:37.639
around, just moving them. Basically
you can't Mars over there. Well,

2955
03:51:37.920 --> 03:51:46.559
uh, you got the last name
right? I think I said a groucho.

2956
03:51:46.920 --> 03:51:54.840
His first name is Buncha. Led
it back by Shane Douglas gets two

2957
03:51:54.879 --> 03:51:58.360
in the latter goal. Press still
fight in the funker. C W World

2958
03:51:58.440 --> 03:52:07.079
Championship on the line here at the
Arena on South Swanson by Terrence Fumek as

2959
03:52:07.200 --> 03:52:13.639
Fumek punning up a spirited effort,
but Douglas proving a bit more spry.

2960
03:52:13.840 --> 03:52:20.239
Let's see we've never got a match
between Terrence Fumeke and Norbert Group. That'd

2961
03:52:20.239 --> 03:52:22.799
be a good idea, right,
when is it? Big Red? What

2962
03:52:22.920 --> 03:52:31.840
is his name? Red Red?
Groupa to the floor, they go funk

2963
03:52:31.840 --> 03:52:35.840
whipped into the steel guard rail and
everyone's standing they are counting down the time.

2964
03:52:37.000 --> 03:52:39.360
So the idea that this one could
go sixty was kept alive through the

2965
03:52:39.399 --> 03:52:45.840
whole match. There has been several
call outs by Bob Arties of how much

2966
03:52:45.920 --> 03:52:50.000
time has elapsed. Again in nineteen
ninety three, that wasn't the giveaway that

2967
03:52:50.079 --> 03:53:01.879
it would be today. Yeah,
yeah, what are you making the Funker

2968
03:53:01.959 --> 03:53:05.559
so far in this one? Ah? Yeah, he's funking. Yeah,

2969
03:53:05.680 --> 03:53:07.840
yeah, it's a very very good
way to put it. Yeah, funking

2970
03:53:07.840 --> 03:53:11.319
doesn't necessarily mean great, It just
means only Terry Funk could create this mood

2971
03:53:11.360 --> 03:53:18.440
of the match. Yeah, Like
he's he's doing what he does all the

2972
03:53:18.440 --> 03:53:20.760
way to the back of the arena
towards the wall itself, and the ladder's

2973
03:53:20.799 --> 03:53:24.440
there and Funk, you better believe
gets driven into that head first. Is

2974
03:53:24.479 --> 03:53:28.760
he going to moon salt off the
fucking ladder? Yeah? Would I?

2975
03:53:28.879 --> 03:53:33.399
When I hadn't moon salted landing out
my head, I said, this is

2976
03:53:33.440 --> 03:53:37.360
the one drop sault up my hand? Yes, well, like this is

2977
03:53:37.799 --> 03:53:41.120
this is one of the drawbacks of
not doing this strictly chronologically. This match

2978
03:53:41.159 --> 03:53:46.079
actually took place before the first moon
salt Oh really, yeah, it was

2979
03:53:46.120 --> 03:53:54.120
a year before that. Just think
about, like, you know, Royal

2980
03:53:54.200 --> 03:53:58.840
rumbled ninety three, having just wrapped, and this is going on in Philly.

2981
03:53:58.440 --> 03:54:03.319
That's this Douglas slam's fun hard on
the floor near some chairs as well.

2982
03:54:05.120 --> 03:54:09.159
No, uh no, real proper
guardrails. After this is when will

2983
03:54:09.200 --> 03:54:13.639
it take place again? February fifth, nineteen ninety four. Oh four,

2984
03:54:13.760 --> 03:54:18.319
Okay, yeah, I'm sorry,
I said nine ninety three and four looking

2985
03:54:18.799 --> 03:54:22.440
there, right, yeah, exactly, Yeah, we just first talking about

2986
03:54:22.440 --> 03:54:24.280
what she was doing in ninety three. She should not be there. It's

2987
03:54:24.319 --> 03:54:26.840
like two weeks before the moon salted, I think, or a week all

2988
03:54:26.920 --> 03:54:31.159
right, I think Funk just threw
a punch at the at the post with

2989
03:54:31.280 --> 03:54:41.959
no one anywhere nearby. But oh
my, pull my head and hit me

2990
03:54:41.040 --> 03:54:46.760
on my head. But already a
little more lively than those very early ECW

2991
03:54:46.920 --> 03:54:50.319
shows we saw from the year prior. Yes, it's not like this thing

2992
03:54:50.399 --> 03:54:52.719
looks like Madison Square Garden, but
it actually looks like a happening, you

2993
03:54:52.760 --> 03:54:56.520
know what I mean, on the
ground happening right right, not just the

2994
03:54:56.559 --> 03:55:03.440
thing people like found themselves in with
no intention of actually like walking down the

2995
03:55:03.559 --> 03:55:09.159
Jersey boardwalk and ah, I heard
there's wrestling going on. See what that's

2996
03:55:09.239 --> 03:55:13.559
about. Huh, that's Douglas turning
the tide on the Funker DDT and him

2997
03:55:13.600 --> 03:55:16.760
in the center of the ring.
Looks like Terry Funk's been opened up as

2998
03:55:16.760 --> 03:55:26.040
well. Oh yeah, he's lifeless. Well, I guess today strictly speaking,

2999
03:55:26.120 --> 03:55:31.520
that's true. Terry Funk taking an
issue with the cadence of the count

3000
03:55:31.719 --> 03:55:35.159
that allows Funker to do a perfect
O'Connor roll. What is he doing?

3001
03:55:35.319 --> 03:55:37.120
He's great, he looked awesome doing
that. Yit he did. It's like,

3002
03:55:37.360 --> 03:55:41.680
just you know, unacceptable. At
the same time, absolutely Funk exploding

3003
03:55:41.680 --> 03:55:45.639
into the spinning toe hold on on
Douglas, who counters with the inside cradle

3004
03:55:45.639 --> 03:55:52.239
well scattered by the franchise that gets
to move the spin told so stupid.

3005
03:55:52.520 --> 03:55:56.159
Yeah, back up, and Douglas
quick to the draw, dropping Terry Funk

3006
03:55:56.200 --> 03:56:00.719
with a swift lariat before Funk could
begin building momentum. Doesn't he doesn't even

3007
03:56:00.799 --> 03:56:05.120
like spin the toe. You spin
the ankle, well, the toe is

3008
03:56:05.239 --> 03:56:09.559
like lodged in your crotch, so
like when you spin around you're supposed to

3009
03:56:09.680 --> 03:56:11.120
like you know, use the tip
of the toe to push the ankle.

3010
03:56:11.239 --> 03:56:16.360
Yeah. I mean it's not strictly
a move that grabs you by the toe

3011
03:56:16.399 --> 03:56:18.600
and tries to bend the toe.
But the point of leverage, the fulk

3012
03:56:18.639 --> 03:56:24.520
croom of the whole thing is the
toe. Like the heel hook is it

3013
03:56:24.120 --> 03:56:28.399
something that actually attacks the knee,
But the heel is what you grab,

3014
03:56:28.760 --> 03:56:35.239
what you latch onto. Long bloodied, having trouble standing as Shane Douglas continues

3015
03:56:35.239 --> 03:56:39.799
to pepper him with shots. Shane
Douglas coullins, like Glenn Jacob's a little

3016
03:56:39.840 --> 03:56:45.280
bit there. Interesting, I guess
you could say that, Oh so I

3017
03:56:45.360 --> 03:56:48.639
want had and killed the referee.
He did. He just funk through a

3018
03:56:48.760 --> 03:56:50.920
wild haymaker, no idea where he
was, and took out the referee right

3019
03:56:52.000 --> 03:56:54.239
in the metal buckle. That's it, that says, removed that buckling pad.

3020
03:56:56.399 --> 03:56:58.879
That's it. And the funker eats
steal. Still no sign of the

3021
03:57:00.120 --> 03:57:05.200
uh homicidal, suicidal, genocidal maniac. I think he's eating falafel actually,

3022
03:57:07.479 --> 03:57:15.079
and that's what I heard. And
champions in trouble. I'm in trouble.

3023
03:57:15.440 --> 03:57:16.479
Oh, actually, I take that
back. Paul Haman is right, there

3024
03:57:20.559 --> 03:57:22.600
the funker here he is just all
up in the ropes. Oh you gotta

3025
03:57:22.639 --> 03:57:26.719
know it. Oh my god,
is that up for a wrestling crucifixion version?

3026
03:57:26.760 --> 03:57:31.120
There the way he's hanging like that, and oh oh oh oh he

3027
03:57:31.200 --> 03:57:35.399
gets a shot in. So funk
got one arm and one leg wrapped up

3028
03:57:35.399 --> 03:57:39.920
in the bottom rope like hanging halfway
to the floor and in perfect equipoise as

3029
03:57:41.639 --> 03:57:45.559
Cherry gets some shots in on the
prone funker. But all Shane Douglass here

3030
03:57:48.000 --> 03:57:50.920
off the apron and a kick to
the head Terry's he tries to regain his

3031
03:57:50.079 --> 03:58:01.479
uh, his balance, his footing
or Shane Douglas and ECW and you have

3032
03:58:01.559 --> 03:58:13.360
to consider, oh is that his
music? And you remember, that's one

3033
03:58:13.399 --> 03:58:18.239
thing I did back when I got
my first PC Home PC in eighteen eighty

3034
03:58:18.280 --> 03:58:22.040
six, the packard bell I downloaded
the ECW theme songs off a website and

3035
03:58:22.120 --> 03:58:26.719
then only years later, not years
later, but months later, did I

3036
03:58:26.799 --> 03:58:30.200
realize that what I'd actually downloaded was
a bunch of actual songs, not things

3037
03:58:30.280 --> 03:58:35.680
ZCW created Jesus songs that people would
recognize that knew nothing about wrestling, like

3038
03:58:35.840 --> 03:58:39.959
war Machine by Kiss was Taz his
entrance and I had no idea it was

3039
03:58:39.959 --> 03:58:46.719
a kiss song. And this time
back in the ring, the Funker beats

3040
03:58:46.959 --> 03:58:50.799
Shane Douglas to the punch show to
speak, sending him face first into the

3041
03:58:50.840 --> 03:58:56.120
exposed buckling Funk slapping the shit out
of shape. It's like we get we

3042
03:58:56.200 --> 03:59:00.639
get a we get a half hour
with no Terry Funk, a half hour

3043
03:59:00.760 --> 03:59:03.600
with no Saboo. Right, That's
how they were. We're gonna close with

3044
03:59:03.639 --> 03:59:07.559
a with a half hour of no
Shane Douglas. I don't know is that

3045
03:59:07.680 --> 03:59:09.639
is that? Is that a wish? Or is that a question? I

3046
03:59:09.719 --> 03:59:16.120
mean oath Maybe so Funk's going off
with the hands a big left hay maker

3047
03:59:16.159 --> 03:59:18.879
drops the franchise, Funk working them
over now in the corner with those all

3048
03:59:18.959 --> 03:59:22.680
japan punches. Baby this Shane.
I'm gonna go ahead and punch in the

3049
03:59:22.840 --> 03:59:28.079
head like Japan style, and then
I'm gonna eat a sandwich. I'm gonna

3050
03:59:28.879 --> 03:59:33.760
I'm gonna go ahead and punching here
in e c W until well curfew in

3051
03:59:33.840 --> 03:59:37.600
ec W, I'm gonna punch in
the head. I'm gonna punch an ec

3052
03:59:37.920 --> 03:59:50.200
W like I do in Japan.
Japan Wump extreme Championship Went Ahead. Extreme

3053
03:59:50.399 --> 03:59:56.520
Championship Japan e c J series of
chops whipping a back elbow puts down Douglas.

3054
03:59:56.959 --> 04:00:03.000
Terry Funk standing tall despite being more
than on the ropes literally and figuratively.

3055
04:00:03.079 --> 04:00:07.799
At several junctures in this three way
dance, the floor goes Douglas courtesy

3056
04:00:07.840 --> 04:00:18.159
the Funker. Who's gonna mix it
up? All right, Chino, I'm

3057
04:00:18.200 --> 04:00:22.319
gonna go ahead and put you on
the head in the front row. I'm

3058
04:00:22.319 --> 04:00:26.879
gonna come out after you and uh, you know, just walk some spots

3059
04:00:26.920 --> 04:00:31.920
and it'll I'm gonna I'm gonna float, I'm gonna touch you where you stink,

3060
04:00:31.799 --> 04:00:37.719
and I want you to just accept
it, understand it. I'm celebrating,

3061
04:00:39.959 --> 04:00:43.920
and I wondered they thought he'd be
a good replacement for Patterson. Deep

3062
04:00:43.959 --> 04:00:48.399
into the crowd now on the hard
camera side, Funk was throwing punches the

3063
04:00:48.520 --> 04:00:52.879
mob encircling them, flyers jerseys in
case you forgot what city you're in.

3064
04:00:54.159 --> 04:01:03.479
All right, I am pretty fascinated
by the ECW crowd before they realized they

3065
04:01:03.520 --> 04:01:07.040
were a thing. Yes, yeah, this is a crowd that's like really

3066
04:01:07.280 --> 04:01:11.760
dialed into what's happening. And of
course bloodthirsty and extra rowity and all the

3067
04:01:11.840 --> 04:01:16.159
things we would come to associate with
nineties Philly wrestling crowds. But they're still

3068
04:01:16.239 --> 04:01:20.840
not aware. They're just a time
call there by Bob artiz I missed what

3069
04:01:20.920 --> 04:01:24.360
they said. How many minutes?
Somebody said fifteen minutes. Things have been

3070
04:01:24.360 --> 04:01:28.719
way more than fifteen minutes. But
they're not like performing yet. The crowd,

3071
04:01:28.920 --> 04:01:31.479
you know, they're not like if
we say this, chan, it'll

3072
04:01:31.559 --> 04:01:37.040
end up on home video. They're
like, well, they're they're yeah,

3073
04:01:37.120 --> 04:01:41.760
it's kind of in a very very
neat spot where they're actually truly invested in

3074
04:01:41.840 --> 04:01:46.559
what they're thinking. Here's the comptro
home alone one there keeping order that doesn't

3075
04:01:46.639 --> 04:01:50.399
want to hear. The house looks
like cure. Yeah, the house looks

3076
04:01:50.399 --> 04:01:52.239
secure, right, Officer, there's
about eight hundred and fifty through the turnstiles.

3077
04:01:56.399 --> 04:02:05.319
Tell them to count their tickets again, exactly just a little sojourney to

3078
04:02:05.360 --> 04:02:09.399
the crowd and back, and now
Douglas is on the floor, Terry Funk's

3079
04:02:09.440 --> 04:02:13.840
on the apron, and Sherry's trying
to grab the Funker and prevent him from

3080
04:02:13.840 --> 04:02:20.680
attacking fans still handing chares. Hey
you want this, Terry, you want

3081
04:02:20.719 --> 04:02:24.079
to smack her in the head of
this fucking chair. Who's that guy running?

3082
04:02:24.120 --> 04:02:28.399
I don't know who's that idiot somebody
else. Funk has decided to run

3083
04:02:28.440 --> 04:02:31.239
after he's got the wrist tape.
What if he What if all of a

3084
04:02:31.239 --> 04:02:37.200
sudden, Terry Funk just started,
you know, fucking Sherry from behind,

3085
04:02:41.120 --> 04:02:43.440
grabs her like he's trying to like
and to give her the spanking spot,

3086
04:02:43.479 --> 04:02:50.120
and then he enters her and she
just tock her hands on the apron and

3087
04:02:50.200 --> 04:02:56.799
he's just going to fucking town.
I was such a Sherry fan. She

3088
04:02:56.920 --> 04:03:00.719
was wonderful. But we know,
we know that she ripped through the locker

3089
04:03:00.799 --> 04:03:05.719
room like nobody else. Absolutely,
so there was a midring collision. Funk

3090
04:03:05.719 --> 04:03:11.159
did his drunk man stumble cell out
of the ring, and now Saboo with

3091
04:03:11.319 --> 04:03:15.799
a taped right knee, drawing an
explosive chance of Saboo has re entered the

3092
04:03:15.840 --> 04:03:18.399
three way dance and they want you
know, you know what's so funny about

3093
04:03:18.440 --> 04:03:24.799
these things is that, you know
when is that they really can't. They

3094
04:03:24.840 --> 04:03:30.120
don't know how to fucking book a
triple threat match for real. Yet in

3095
04:03:30.319 --> 04:03:33.959
video games, video games, you
really know how to fucking book a triple

3096
04:03:33.000 --> 04:03:37.639
threat match, right, Well,
the games don't have this thing of like

3097
04:03:39.079 --> 04:03:43.360
we can't shine, we can't control
who has the shine if it's not one

3098
04:03:43.440 --> 04:03:46.680
on one. I don't understand why
they need to just has the mic.

3099
04:03:48.280 --> 04:03:56.440
The match is what shines like,
just you dirty, rotten gossard. You

3100
04:03:56.719 --> 04:04:05.559
please a shitt talking to both of
you talking now, damn it? You

3101
04:04:05.840 --> 04:04:30.799
know he tosses the mic down all
right there it is. Yeah, So

3102
04:04:31.319 --> 04:04:33.639
on the on the cam side,
if you go all the way to the

3103
04:04:33.680 --> 04:04:35.879
back of the arena, that's where
I guess a house mic was set up

3104
04:04:35.920 --> 04:04:41.159
and Funk took the opportunity to start
screaming at both Shane Douglas and Saboo on

3105
04:04:41.280 --> 04:04:45.079
them idiots and fools and anything.
He called them a geek also at one

3106
04:04:45.120 --> 04:04:48.440
point that's hilarious idiots, that's a
big If you let Terry go long enough,

3107
04:04:48.440 --> 04:04:52.959
he'll eventually say something like pervert or
something. Whoa what? Yes,

3108
04:04:52.879 --> 04:04:56.000
So the Funker has re entered half
drunk, collar and elbow with the franchise

3109
04:04:56.040 --> 04:05:00.520
and they're throwing fisticuffs. Douglas really
piling up the shots. Oh, Funk

3110
04:05:01.559 --> 04:05:05.879
almost spilled to his death through the
ropes there now there it is thirty five

3111
04:05:05.920 --> 04:05:11.479
minutes of a lapse already. That's
that's interesting. I don't know if that

3112
04:05:11.559 --> 04:05:20.120
was on purpose, but and Funker
takes the opportunity to hook the spinning toe

3113
04:05:20.159 --> 04:05:28.920
hold on the bad right wheel of
Saboo. Saboo ailing right now, What

3114
04:05:30.040 --> 04:05:33.079
do you think did Shane Douglas mean
to throw himself under the ropes and clothesline

3115
04:05:33.120 --> 04:05:37.159
himself like that? Who the fuck
dons? Here comes nine to one one,

3116
04:05:37.479 --> 04:05:41.000
nine eleven in the ring. Somebody
called nine one one and here he

3117
04:05:41.200 --> 04:05:43.799
is. Oh, did he waffled
him in the head with what? Now?

3118
04:05:43.879 --> 04:05:46.120
When was that? Polly got him
with the phone and hit Funker in

3119
04:05:46.159 --> 04:05:50.920
the head that stupid phone. I
was in Funk to relinquish the spinning toe

3120
04:05:50.959 --> 04:05:58.120
hold on Polly's charge. Saboo almost
convulsing on the canvas. It Funk's kicking

3121
04:05:58.159 --> 04:06:01.360
out. Look at him, his
ticking out of a phantom cover. There's

3122
04:06:01.399 --> 04:06:05.440
nobody on top of them, but
it's just instinct jy D style. All

3123
04:06:05.479 --> 04:06:09.280
fours headbutts now by the Funker to
both Shane Douglas and Saboo. And this

3124
04:06:09.360 --> 04:06:11.000
is where they start doing the three
way innovations. At this point in the

3125
04:06:11.040 --> 04:06:15.760
match. This is where it's like
we start seeing combinations of moves we haven't

3126
04:06:15.760 --> 04:06:22.360
seen before because of the unique you
know, dynamic here. It is weird

3127
04:06:22.399 --> 04:06:28.319
to think, you know that that
this had never been done before pretty much.

3128
04:06:28.680 --> 04:06:31.360
I'm sure you could find an example, but yeah, it hadn't been

3129
04:06:31.360 --> 04:06:35.120
done in a way where anybody bothered
to repeat it or talked about it as

3130
04:06:35.159 --> 04:06:39.920
a success. Eric Hengman's noose neck
breakers on both Shane Douglas and Sabo Funk

3131
04:06:41.000 --> 04:06:45.760
covers Saboo gets one, gets two, and Paul puts Saboo's foot on the

3132
04:06:45.840 --> 04:06:48.879
rope for the break. Wow for
a no DQ company. It was kind

3133
04:06:48.879 --> 04:06:56.440
of funny that they adhere to the
rope break. Verry Funk thinking as well,

3134
04:06:56.479 --> 04:06:58.639
shove Jim Molino, the referee to
the canvas for that. Gotta blame

3135
04:06:58.680 --> 04:07:03.559
somebody, that's true. Right hand
and Funk laid across the middle rope and

3136
04:07:03.600 --> 04:07:09.040
Sherry's choking the Funker across the middle
strand Funk can't catch a break. He's

3137
04:07:09.079 --> 04:07:11.200
getting Polly and nine one one in
one direction on behalf of Saboo and he's

3138
04:07:11.239 --> 04:07:15.639
getting Sherry on the other on behalf
of the franchise. Douglas is going to

3139
04:07:15.760 --> 04:07:20.079
town now on that knee with a
leg grapevine, dropping an elbow, trying

3140
04:07:20.120 --> 04:07:24.440
to really force the Uh you sure
brought mc foley in. Oh look at

3141
04:07:24.479 --> 04:07:30.360
this. Wow, that's something Shane
hadn't acounted for while he's got the legs

3142
04:07:30.360 --> 04:07:33.200
admission on. Funk just rolls over
and covers Terry Fun up, covers Saboo

3143
04:07:33.239 --> 04:07:37.000
and gets two. I don't think
Shane Douglass realized it. He didn't even

3144
04:07:37.000 --> 04:07:46.079
try to stop the cover. When
ahead, Oh, when ahead ahead,

3145
04:07:48.040 --> 04:07:52.239
Cherry? Uh got Sherry niplock.
Yeah, oh no head butt to Sherry

3146
04:07:52.319 --> 04:07:56.680
by the funker. Douglas has a
sleeper on Saboo, and this is a

3147
04:07:56.719 --> 04:08:01.280
famous one, the triple sleeper.
Look at this ship ever been done.

3148
04:08:01.719 --> 04:08:03.799
And Douglas would say that he had
no idea what was coming, and they

3149
04:08:03.840 --> 04:08:07.639
didn't work out the triple sleeper moment. He expected Funk to actually hit him

3150
04:08:07.680 --> 04:08:11.120
and try to break up the sleeper
hole. A Funk called it on the

3151
04:08:11.159 --> 04:08:13.760
fly, and this is this is
fucking clever for that. That's great.

3152
04:08:15.040 --> 04:08:16.799
So you got Shane Douglas with a
sleeper on Saboo, and he got Terry

3153
04:08:16.840 --> 04:08:20.000
Funk with a sleeper on Shane Douglas. All at the same time, referee

3154
04:08:20.040 --> 04:08:24.319
Jimmalino has his hands full here.
I mean, who's gonna yeah, who's

3155
04:08:24.360 --> 04:08:28.319
gonna win? If I guess if
Sabu concedes, Douglas wins, I guess,

3156
04:08:28.600 --> 04:08:33.319
I guess. Eventually the Saboo collapses
to the canvas, out cold,

3157
04:08:33.760 --> 04:08:39.200
Shane Douglas releases his sleeper, Funk
still has his on elbow. There it

3158
04:08:39.319 --> 04:08:43.959
is. Douglas gets free, hits
the ropes flows Lyne three sixty over the

3159
04:08:43.000 --> 04:08:54.040
top to the floor, goes Terry
Funk, Chunk right back to the bat

3160
04:08:54.159 --> 04:08:58.840
knee. If Sabou goes Shane Douglas, Sabu wasn't uh, you know,

3161
04:08:58.000 --> 04:09:01.520
it wasn't really out too. I
guess. Yeah. That's the thing for

3162
04:09:01.600 --> 04:09:07.440
ECW's reputation as being, you know, emphasis on the ultra violence. You

3163
04:09:07.520 --> 04:09:11.920
know, Shane Douglas was their first
poster boy, and he couldn't have been

3164
04:09:11.040 --> 04:09:16.719
less of a table crasher, you
know. And the problem too, you

3165
04:09:16.799 --> 04:09:20.760
know, the ultra violence means that
violence, you know, you lose the

3166
04:09:20.840 --> 04:09:28.239
impact of it. It's no different
than than seth rollins oh, in terms

3167
04:09:28.280 --> 04:09:33.000
of like, yeah, believing it
actually hurts mattering. You know, the

3168
04:09:33.120 --> 04:09:39.559
more you do, the the the
violence and the less impact it has.

3169
04:09:39.239 --> 04:09:43.840
Yeah, Big Get four applied now
by Shane Douglas on the Bad Wheel of

3170
04:09:43.920 --> 04:09:48.040
Saboo. Sabo's shoulders dropped me a
couple of times here for the cover,

3171
04:09:48.200 --> 04:09:52.799
but not enough. Yeah, it
was weird. Like at the time when

3172
04:09:52.840 --> 04:09:56.840
ECW would stack up violent, crazy
stunt spots, you know, the thought

3173
04:09:58.040 --> 04:10:01.239
was like, oh my god,
this is like just like a blatant stunt

3174
04:10:01.280 --> 04:10:03.159
show just to like. And then
now we look back and it looks like

3175
04:10:03.239 --> 04:10:09.000
these guys were actually doing it to
win matches, compared to the the the

3176
04:10:09.120 --> 04:10:13.399
hyper pointlessness of some of the violence
we see and some of the garbage promotions

3177
04:10:13.399 --> 04:10:20.959
and stuff. Long tries to re
enter the fray, Sabo keeps him at

3178
04:10:20.959 --> 04:10:22.479
bay. Saboo, despite the bad
Wheel, is now taking the fight to

3179
04:10:22.520 --> 04:10:28.319
Shane Douglas scooping a slam down,
goes the franchise we go, Sabo's gonna

3180
04:10:28.319 --> 04:10:33.319
position him, takes off of the
Arabian press. He totally blows it.

3181
04:10:33.399 --> 04:10:37.680
But it's a bad knee, all
right, I'll take that, all right,

3182
04:10:37.479 --> 04:10:41.360
not bad, that's good. That's
actually good, good storytelling. There

3183
04:10:41.159 --> 04:10:45.200
they tried it again? Will we
get it the second time? That time

3184
04:10:45.239 --> 04:10:50.120
he got it right across Douglas's chest. Cover two the Sherry's in the rings

3185
04:10:50.159 --> 04:10:54.120
screaming, did she just kick him? Maybe some of the script called for

3186
04:10:58.079 --> 04:11:00.840
we had those ropes shat shake,
they were I'm not ready for Sabo.

3187
04:11:01.399 --> 04:11:03.959
No, well they're not ready for
a match. Sabu climbing to take off

3188
04:11:05.000 --> 04:11:07.040
the top rope again. At this
time, Cherry goes right up to him

3189
04:11:07.040 --> 04:11:09.559
and stops him. Cherry, look
at her, what a what a fucking

3190
04:11:11.239 --> 04:11:18.399
you know, we were spoiled.
Oh what a pro so spoiled pro A

3191
04:11:18.479 --> 04:11:20.760
pleasure every time she was on TV, A pleasure to watch, Yeah,

3192
04:11:22.200 --> 04:11:28.399
screaming her everything. She was just
an absolute. She was brilliant And then

3193
04:11:28.440 --> 04:11:31.520
out of the ring in all fours
of Saboo tries to give chase, but

3194
04:11:31.559 --> 04:11:35.280
he's get the bad wheel and that
allows Douglas to hit the floor. It

3195
04:11:35.360 --> 04:11:41.120
looks like Funk is attacking over the
chair. Funks few good men. I

3196
04:11:41.120 --> 04:11:46.440
don't understand. I think it's an
Axel Rotten and Ian Rotten, right,

3197
04:11:46.600 --> 04:11:50.920
yeah, yeah, he kind of
formed like an alliance with them at this

3198
04:11:52.040 --> 04:11:56.680
point in time. So Joey styles
sells us. We can't see it.

3199
04:11:56.719 --> 04:11:58.920
The funks on the ground not moving. Meanwhile, back in the ring,

3200
04:12:00.040 --> 04:12:03.319
Shane Douglas hooking up the Fisherman's buster
on Saboo. He turns into a bridge.

3201
04:12:03.360 --> 04:12:13.959
Combination gets too not enough, it's
to get there. I think he

3202
04:12:13.079 --> 04:12:18.760
was touching himself. Maybe. Oh, Sabu tries to explode up with a

3203
04:12:18.879 --> 04:12:22.879
hurricane ron and lands on his head. On his fucking head, no problem.

3204
04:12:24.040 --> 04:12:28.600
The problem with Saboo is that you'd
never know if it's if he meant

3205
04:12:28.639 --> 04:12:31.879
to do it or not. Well
is that a problem? Though? Is

3206
04:12:31.879 --> 04:12:37.799
that a good thing said, something
that sets him apart? It depends because

3207
04:12:37.440 --> 04:12:43.200
it's one thing to make it.
But sometimes he just looks like an idiot,

3208
04:12:43.360 --> 04:12:46.559
right, you know? Yeah?
Yeah, And you if you're convinced

3209
04:12:46.600 --> 04:12:50.040
he was actually trying in that moment, but I think the fact that he

3210
04:12:50.079 --> 04:12:54.879
would he would claim and others claim
that he purposely would mess up spots sometimes

3211
04:12:54.399 --> 04:13:00.639
to keep alive. The mistique that
there's just something about him that that I

3212
04:13:01.319 --> 04:13:05.040
don't like. It really bugs me
the way he does it, because like

3213
04:13:05.079 --> 04:13:11.079
I don't I don't feel like it's
a it's a it's just because he's just

3214
04:13:11.159 --> 04:13:16.120
so sloppy. I find him to
be so sloppy overall, and so that's

3215
04:13:16.159 --> 04:13:24.239
where I guess it it. I
don't like it because he just, yeah,

3216
04:13:24.280 --> 04:13:28.000
he just comes across sloppy. Whereas
you get someone who's normally crisp and

3217
04:13:28.120 --> 04:13:31.319
clean and then they screw up,
it's like, Okay, that's actually good

3218
04:13:31.639 --> 04:13:37.159
story. You know that that works
for me. But when you're generally sloppy

3219
04:13:37.239 --> 04:13:41.440
and just fucking doing shit for the
sake of doing shit, which you know,

3220
04:13:41.479 --> 04:13:43.559
I don't know if that's what he
is at all, but that's just

3221
04:13:43.680 --> 04:13:48.559
how I see him, because yeah, you're making you're making I think,

3222
04:13:50.120 --> 04:13:52.399
very understandable observations about the guy,
and I don't disagree with anything you're saying.

3223
04:13:52.440 --> 04:13:56.319
I think he came along at a
time before there was a way,

3224
04:13:56.719 --> 04:14:01.239
a way to do it right,
So everything he did was like creating a

3225
04:14:01.319 --> 04:14:05.280
new category of wrestling. So it's
kind of hard to see him as messing

3226
04:14:05.399 --> 04:14:07.520
up because he was doing things no
one else had done cleanly. Yeah,

3227
04:14:07.559 --> 04:14:09.479
it's like, what do we know? What are you expecting? You know?

3228
04:14:11.040 --> 04:14:13.639
Meanwhile, Axe Lean rotten Ha hit
the ring and completely double team swung

3229
04:14:13.799 --> 04:14:16.680
chairs on both Douglas and Saboo and
cleaned house on behalf. I guess if

3230
04:14:16.760 --> 04:14:26.360
Terry funk they are rotten fucking Brian
Knobs stunt doubles here. Ah, I

3231
04:14:26.440 --> 04:14:33.719
know forty five minutes of elapsed according
to Bob Artes Rice speaking of Bob Artistes

3232
04:14:33.760 --> 04:14:37.760
in the ring here. Oh uh, Sherry's up on the apron now is

3233
04:14:37.799 --> 04:14:41.239
the Rotten brothers continue to assault that. She rakes the back of Ian Rotten

3234
04:14:41.319 --> 04:14:45.559
breaks the back, Sherry, have
you seen how much fat they're there?

3235
04:14:45.680 --> 04:14:48.639
He can't feel bad. I had
to take more than that. Douglas low

3236
04:14:48.680 --> 04:14:50.760
bridges Ian Rotten on a clothes line. Rotten hits the floor. Axel Rotten

3237
04:14:50.840 --> 04:14:54.360
sends a Saboo hard over the ropes
with the clothesline, hits his face on

3238
04:14:54.399 --> 04:15:01.959
the mat too. That was pretty
That was actually pretty cool. He just

3239
04:15:01.079 --> 04:15:05.120
looks like Knobs, especially from this
far away. It really does. Like

3240
04:15:05.399 --> 04:15:11.760
just a fucking idiot Axel tossing Sabo
over the railing. Never I like,

3241
04:15:11.079 --> 04:15:18.639
just they so grotesque. Weeks after
uh Luger and Brett tie and the rumble

3242
04:15:18.680 --> 04:15:22.639
here deal with that. It's wild, Like you said pre Ladder match,

3243
04:15:22.680 --> 04:15:28.440
that's a key insight. Yeah,
up the aisle Go, Axel Rotten and

3244
04:15:28.479 --> 04:15:33.120
Saboo. Saboo send him to the
wall. I'm gotta be carefully keeps running

3245
04:15:33.200 --> 04:15:39.639
like that, he's gonna fucking collapse, definitely. Paul Hayman ECW trademark.

3246
04:15:39.879 --> 04:15:45.920
You know world title matches that like
have sixteen people involved, seventeen people involved,

3247
04:15:46.879 --> 04:15:52.319
it still comes down, will finish. It's not like I think the

3248
04:15:52.399 --> 04:15:56.879
match is over when twenty five people
get involved. And it really explained it.

3249
04:15:56.920 --> 04:15:58.639
You know, they didn't bother to
do ref bumps. Really, they

3250
04:15:58.760 --> 04:16:02.959
just did it. They didn't give
a shit. He didn't They didn't like

3251
04:16:03.079 --> 04:16:06.200
explain that their worn't count outs.
Really, they just never counted anybody out

3252
04:16:06.440 --> 04:16:08.239
right. I'm gonna say, if
there's no DQ, there's no point in

3253
04:16:08.399 --> 04:16:15.680
even having rough bumps. Yeah.
Yeah. Jane Douglas finally catches up to

3254
04:16:15.680 --> 04:16:18.680
Sabos who's fighting Axel Rotten in the
back of the building, runs him down

3255
04:16:18.680 --> 04:16:27.520
the island back into the squat circle. Douglas with the Irish whip and Funk

3256
04:16:27.559 --> 04:16:33.479
collapses a pardon me, Sabo collapses
on the bad wheel. Sabo is like

3257
04:16:33.479 --> 04:16:37.799
a Kamakazi and he's like a fucking
right throwing his body at you, and

3258
04:16:37.920 --> 04:16:44.440
so yeah, sometimes it sometimes the
rocket misfires, you know. And again

3259
04:16:44.559 --> 04:16:48.520
I said before I do, I
do wonder if my opinion would be differently

3260
04:16:48.559 --> 04:16:52.520
if I had seen him. Yeah, think about you as a wrestling fan

3261
04:16:52.559 --> 04:16:55.879
in nineteen ninety four. Yeah about
if you saw Saboo tape, Like a

3262
04:16:56.120 --> 04:17:02.920
very very good possibility that I would
have been a bigger fan. We're just

3263
04:17:03.040 --> 04:17:04.200
interested, like in what this guy's
up to, you know, like,

3264
04:17:04.319 --> 04:17:10.719
what is this pressed by it?
Yeah, for sure. So now Terry

3265
04:17:10.760 --> 04:17:12.959
Funk has re entered the fray and
he's battling with Shane Douglas on the floor.

3266
04:17:15.600 --> 04:17:18.079
You know, it's they got all
this credit for doing three way innovations,

3267
04:17:18.120 --> 04:17:22.079
but it's actually a twelve way match. There's Yeah, it really is.

3268
04:17:22.319 --> 04:17:23.399
It's actually just a battle royal,
That's what it is. A million

3269
04:17:23.440 --> 04:17:27.920
things to look at, not just
Funk, Douglas and Sabou as a axe

3270
04:17:27.920 --> 04:17:32.440
of rotten is held wide open by
nine one one and Paul Hayman keeps wrapping

3271
04:17:32.520 --> 04:17:41.360
him over the head with a cell
Punk rotten Human beings here, and we've

3272
04:17:41.360 --> 04:17:45.319
actually reached the point in the match
where none of the principles are on the

3273
04:17:45.360 --> 04:17:49.040
screen. Yeah, just see Paul
Haman attacking. We don't see Terry Funk.

3274
04:17:49.079 --> 04:17:52.200
We don't Oh, by god,
they've left the building. We panned

3275
04:17:52.200 --> 04:17:56.120
to the right and we realize the
reason we can't see the three wrestlers in

3276
04:17:56.120 --> 04:18:00.600
the match is because they've exited the
door. They've gone home. Not just

3277
04:18:00.639 --> 04:18:04.920
still going everyone's going home. They're
leaving. Like fuck, this this shit

3278
04:18:06.040 --> 04:18:10.799
sucks. It's an absolute fucking maniac
streaming out into the parking lot. Imagine

3279
04:18:10.840 --> 04:18:12.680
it's like, you know, this
fucking match sucks. It's been going on

3280
04:18:12.840 --> 04:18:18.239
too damn law I'm going home February
and Philly. Imagine how cold it is

3281
04:18:18.280 --> 04:18:26.680
out there and how the fuck reemerges
and like it just like came up out

3282
04:18:26.680 --> 04:18:29.079
of a hole in the ground.
Is that? What the fuck is that

3283
04:18:29.440 --> 04:18:33.399
barrier thing? It's I don't know, it's it's weird. I think it's

3284
04:18:33.440 --> 04:18:37.959
a screen to prevent people from seeing
inside through the front window front doors,

3285
04:18:37.559 --> 04:18:45.840
but it's like it's like weirdly detachable. It's bizarre substance. Yeah, the

3286
04:18:47.920 --> 04:18:49.879
and Todd Gordon has great stories about
this in his book. The UCW Arena

3287
04:18:51.000 --> 04:18:53.000
was very much a work in progress. They every time they came to the

3288
04:18:53.040 --> 04:18:57.239
building. There was some new leak
or some new issue and and also some

3289
04:18:57.319 --> 04:19:00.760
little improvement they'd made to where by
the time they got to their first pay

3290
04:19:00.760 --> 04:19:03.319
per view and I actually addressed the
building up and lit it up pretty nicely.

3291
04:19:03.399 --> 04:19:07.280
But they had to learn show in
and show out, not actually uh.

3292
04:19:07.719 --> 04:19:11.399
Fifteen minutes into the match and Terry
Funk, the Bloody Terry Funk is

3293
04:19:11.440 --> 04:19:12.879
back in the middle of the ring
with Shane Douglas, and the Funker dropped

3294
04:19:12.920 --> 04:19:17.920
another referee by the by the way, and then he kicked Shane Douglas in

3295
04:19:17.920 --> 04:19:23.120
the nuts. Douglas cells Saboo re
enters the Fray kind of go home,

3296
04:19:23.200 --> 04:19:27.319
boss, like you said. Yep, another low blow from the Funker,

3297
04:19:27.319 --> 04:19:37.559
at this time towards Saboo and the
Funker standing tall, hug it a hole.

3298
04:19:38.360 --> 04:19:41.440
I gotta give these people credit,
man, They've been in their feet

3299
04:19:41.479 --> 04:19:45.239
for sixty minutes. They have no
one has sat this whole match, and

3300
04:19:45.360 --> 04:19:49.239
I'm talking like five six rows back
rzi. I can see, oh,

3301
04:19:49.280 --> 04:19:52.959
a series of headbuts by Terry Funk
to Saboo and then he stumbles around like

3302
04:19:52.040 --> 04:19:56.920
that wasn't the best idea. Look
at him, he's such a fucking meat.

3303
04:19:56.000 --> 04:20:00.280
He's such a fucking lunaticus collapse from
his own head. But I did

3304
04:20:00.440 --> 04:20:03.959
by one I had and hit my
head and I said, fuck it,

3305
04:20:04.399 --> 04:20:08.879
I'm out, Absolutely I quit.
Sabo runs over Douglas and Funk with a

3306
04:20:08.920 --> 04:20:18.479
pair of clothes lines, and Sabo
scoops and slams Terry in the center of

3307
04:20:18.520 --> 04:20:23.000
the ring. Hair Saboo in coming
middle rope top rope alight, loses the

3308
04:20:23.040 --> 04:20:30.280
footing as a springboard and loses his
footing again. Yeah, he's definitely fucking

3309
04:20:30.319 --> 04:20:33.159
these up. I think top rope
Saboo. Now I'm gonna set a springboard.

3310
04:20:33.159 --> 04:20:37.440
A Funk rolls in a position moon
Salt press by Saboo, fucking crotch.

3311
04:20:38.799 --> 04:20:44.120
Yeah, Funk comes up and falls. Got God damn, he's a

3312
04:20:44.319 --> 04:20:48.559
He's such a he is so wild
like the move lands and the fun is

3313
04:20:48.639 --> 04:20:52.600
just begun because now you get to
watch to Terry Funk react like you just

3314
04:20:52.639 --> 04:20:56.159
got took a bullet in the back, you know, yep. Sabo now

3315
04:20:56.200 --> 04:20:59.440
turning his attention to Shane Douglas,
scooping a slam towards the corner of the

3316
04:20:59.520 --> 04:21:03.799
ring and going up top again.
Boon Salt Pruss across the knees of Douglas.

3317
04:21:04.920 --> 04:21:10.079
Terry Funk meanwhile, climbs over to
try to take advantage. No referee

3318
04:21:10.079 --> 04:21:12.840
to count, poly dangerously is trying
to wake up an official that Funk dropped

3319
04:21:12.840 --> 04:21:19.360
about ten minutes, five minutes ago, we had got no referee. Well

3320
04:21:19.399 --> 04:21:22.879
there that there's one reason to attack
a referee, right, I guess it's

3321
04:21:22.920 --> 04:21:29.479
not there to count if you're in
a bad position. Bunker over to the

3322
04:21:29.520 --> 04:21:30.600
reft trying to wake him. U
maybe should have knocked him out. Terry

3323
04:21:33.000 --> 04:21:36.200
what Douglas capitalizes, pounces on the
Funker, lifts him in the middle of

3324
04:21:36.239 --> 04:21:41.719
the ring and spike pile driver.
Yeah, tough landing for Terry. Saboo

3325
04:21:41.840 --> 04:21:45.280
next in the cross heirs of the
franchise. He's thinking, soup Lex,

3326
04:21:45.319 --> 04:21:48.600
what's fun? What's Douglas gonna do
here? It's gonna dunk. Yeah,

3327
04:21:48.680 --> 04:21:52.840
that's it. Supplex is Saboo cross
Funk. But Taboo is pinning Terry Funk

3328
04:21:53.959 --> 04:22:02.799
ges no referee to worry about.
Yeah a referee, Well, Sabo is

3329
04:22:02.840 --> 04:22:06.280
covering. They might want to address
that first. When in a triple threat

3330
04:22:06.360 --> 04:22:08.079
environment, just use your opponent as
a weapon and hit the other guy with

3331
04:22:08.200 --> 04:22:15.760
him two As Douglas covers Funk and
gets too we continue. All right,

3332
04:22:15.799 --> 04:22:22.399
guys, it's time. It's time. It's December ninety six in your house,

3333
04:22:26.600 --> 04:22:30.079
he said, Sabo with a splash
and a prone Funk, a pair

3334
04:22:30.159 --> 04:22:36.440
of splashes. There's no reft account
well, Molino's showing some sentience cover one

3335
04:22:36.680 --> 04:22:42.879
not enough. Funk kicks out Saboo's
cover take back up. Douglas with a

3336
04:22:42.920 --> 04:22:48.840
snapmare on the Funker and drops a
leg across Funker's blooded face. Here comes

3337
04:22:48.920 --> 04:22:59.000
Terry. He's past No, Douglas
cuts him right off. Huh eave vertical

3338
04:22:59.040 --> 04:23:03.159
suplex by Douglas walks Fun his foot
Raf is right in the way, and

3339
04:23:03.239 --> 04:23:07.239
then Sabo splashes both prone opponents.
Crowd's going nuts at the prospect of this

3340
04:23:07.360 --> 04:23:12.319
being in two count. Both men
kick out. I hadn't seen that before.

3341
04:23:12.600 --> 04:23:17.319
That was actually pretty cool, a
near fall. That was pretty cool.

3342
04:23:19.440 --> 04:23:23.479
Sabu grabs a camel clutch. Look
at this on Terry Funk, and

3343
04:23:23.479 --> 04:23:26.760
then Douglas basically does want a Sabo
Another three way submission here in the three

3344
04:23:26.799 --> 04:23:30.719
way dance. Maybe not a submission? Now? Is that a peer?

3345
04:23:30.760 --> 04:23:33.799
Shane Douglas, He's just straight up
sticking his fingers in Saboo's nose and yanking

3346
04:23:33.879 --> 04:23:40.760
backwards. Yes, that's a submission. At DCW single leg pick up by

3347
04:23:40.799 --> 04:23:44.719
the Funker takes down Douglas. He
but Sabo to keep him at bay while

3348
04:23:44.760 --> 04:23:48.920
he twists the toe hold. Fifty
five minutes have elapsed, according to Bob

3349
04:23:48.040 --> 04:23:55.799
Artiz. Sherry enters the freight,
jumps on Terry Funk's back. Fucking chaos.

3350
04:23:55.920 --> 04:24:03.520
Here Uncer peels her off his back. She takes the bump. How

3351
04:24:03.680 --> 04:24:10.479
is this one going to end?
Terry Fox got a suplex Sherry. Oh,

3352
04:24:10.639 --> 04:24:18.479
he's touching, totally fucking grab that
puss. I want a taste.

3353
04:24:18.000 --> 04:24:22.479
That was a key thing about ECW
man when the guys would attack the valets

3354
04:24:22.479 --> 04:24:25.479
and the people loved every second of
it. Of course, it was nothing

3355
04:24:25.600 --> 04:24:29.239
like because you get a lot of
angry men out there. Yeah, watching

3356
04:24:29.319 --> 04:24:32.120
this ship all the way back to
Terry Funks, soup Plex and Sherry.

3357
04:24:32.239 --> 04:24:34.840
He's not gonna put Sherry in the
spinning toe hold. That creates the opening

3358
04:24:34.879 --> 04:24:37.600
for Douglas to run him over with
the clothes line. Funk down across the

3359
04:24:37.600 --> 04:24:44.239
bottom rope. Saboo backed his feet
Douglas steps to him, Ducks underneath Douglas

3360
04:24:44.319 --> 04:24:48.239
with the back soup a. Four
minutes remaining as Douglas drops Saboo with the

3361
04:24:48.280 --> 04:25:00.840
back suplex. Somebody's got to go
for a pinfall. Have we seen fifty

3362
04:25:00.879 --> 04:25:03.239
eight year falls in moment, Joey, We have not seen fifty minute.

3363
04:25:03.239 --> 04:25:10.399
That would be a near fall.
Every minute right hand down goes a falling

3364
04:25:10.520 --> 04:25:15.760
dangerously. What does Funk got?
He's got a boot, Sherry's boot,

3365
04:25:17.159 --> 04:25:22.760
Cherry's boot from Lord and Taylor.
Douglas tries to pile drive Saboo. He's

3366
04:25:22.799 --> 04:25:26.120
back dropped out. Hit him,
hit him. This must be the moment

3367
04:25:26.200 --> 04:25:30.840
she remembers laying on the apron thing
in this match sucks. Oh it's the

3368
04:25:30.920 --> 04:25:33.520
funker. Oh nice, nice,
that's brilliant. It's Sherry's leather, high

3369
04:25:33.559 --> 04:25:40.280
heeled boot on his hand like a
glove. Low blow Saboo. He's gonna

3370
04:25:40.319 --> 04:25:42.360
tell you what was he gonna do
to Sherry? She's dead. Shove that

3371
04:25:42.440 --> 04:25:52.799
heel up er pussy do it.
Thirty minutes remaining as Terry Funk He's got

3372
04:25:53.399 --> 04:25:56.920
Sherry's heel. Sherry is a heel. It's all it's all working, and

3373
04:25:57.079 --> 04:26:02.280
he's scraping and gouging at Shane Douglas
his eye and head his ear with the

3374
04:26:02.399 --> 04:26:04.959
with the boot. Douglas gets free
of the clutches. Sabbo attacks Terry Funk

3375
04:26:04.959 --> 04:26:08.159
from behind, knocks him to the
apron time running out here in the E

3376
04:26:08.239 --> 04:26:18.719
CW arena, brother went black for
a second? Okay, two minutes remaining.

3377
04:26:18.799 --> 04:26:29.680
Joey Styles tells us Terry Funk attacking
Sabo on the floor giving chase to

3378
04:26:29.719 --> 04:26:40.440
Paul Hayman. They called him Paul
back then oh, big tom Y drop

3379
04:26:40.479 --> 04:26:47.920
on the floor to Paul by the
Funker Joy and while Funk gives chase and

3380
04:26:48.799 --> 04:26:49.959
theanders around. No, he's back
in the ring, as is Saboo,

3381
04:26:51.120 --> 04:26:56.559
both going over to Sherry rolling her. Covering Sherry. Terry Funk is covering

3382
04:26:56.639 --> 04:27:02.760
Sherry while Shane Douglass goes to the
top rope. He soars body. Funk

3383
04:27:03.239 --> 04:27:06.959
took out Saboo and hit Funk with
his leg. Funk scrambles to cover Saboo

3384
04:27:07.079 --> 04:27:10.200
with one minute remaining. Funk then
scrambles to cover Douglas. He's going back

3385
04:27:10.239 --> 04:27:12.799
and forth between the two. H
Terry, I don't think either one's really

3386
04:27:12.840 --> 04:27:21.360
ineligible. Uh oh, there's no
referee either, absolute chaos and the closing

3387
04:27:21.399 --> 04:27:26.600
moments his panic sets in, Douglas
and Saboo exchanging chops. Sabu dropped with

3388
04:27:26.680 --> 04:27:33.319
one by Douglas, who covers.
Saboo makes his own count no ref Douglas

3389
04:27:34.520 --> 04:27:41.360
thirty seconds as Paul loads Jimmalino back
in the ring, Douglas up behind Funk,

3390
04:27:41.799 --> 04:27:47.159
Collin Spots holds him open for what. I don't know. It's Sherry.

3391
04:27:47.760 --> 04:27:49.719
Yeah, Sherry's recovered, She's back
to her feet. She swings and

3392
04:27:49.760 --> 04:27:59.360
hits Douglas by mistake. Here's the
countdown. Saboo splashes Douglas ten nine.

3393
04:28:00.040 --> 04:28:03.680
Funk falls on top of them,
one to no. Douglas foot of the

3394
04:28:03.719 --> 04:28:15.680
rope God Savo covers kick out.
Oh not the reaction for a classic.

3395
04:28:15.719 --> 04:28:22.479
You expect that from the crash.
It's stupid. Ah. There it is

3396
04:28:47.520 --> 04:28:51.159
refree's decision. There is no winner, boss. Yeah, yeah, I

3397
04:28:51.280 --> 04:28:57.799
agree, definitely not me. That's
one of the matches I'm most proud of.

3398
04:28:59.520 --> 04:29:03.200
Yeah, I mean, you know, he didn't go an hour.

3399
04:29:03.440 --> 04:29:08.360
Saboo didn't go an hour. Shane
Douglas went the hour. He's the only

3400
04:29:08.440 --> 04:29:15.319
one planet. Joey Styles talking about
uh, nobody else can do this on

3401
04:29:15.440 --> 04:29:21.719
his planet the wrestling promotion. Okay, I mean and I the line was

3402
04:29:21.760 --> 04:29:26.200
crossed. So that's how it finished. Harry Funk remains ECW World Champion.

3403
04:29:26.239 --> 04:29:29.559
And now we're going to take a
look. We're here immediately at the post

3404
04:29:29.639 --> 04:29:33.760
match festivities. Joey styles with the
champion. Let's listen to Terry Funk fantastic

3405
04:29:33.920 --> 04:29:40.559
athletically contested n w WA Eastern Championship
Wrestling. Noticed that off not one but

3406
04:29:40.719 --> 04:29:44.319
two challengers in Shaboo and Shane Douglass
and Terry. If we can just get

3407
04:29:44.319 --> 04:29:48.399
a few words from your oh he
was crying. You know, I'm want

3408
04:29:48.399 --> 04:30:03.159
to tell you people something that I
love wrestling. I've loved it all my

3409
04:30:03.239 --> 04:30:08.159
life, and I'm going to tell
you that I'm not real proud of the

3410
04:30:08.239 --> 04:30:18.600
way that it's evolved in a lot
of places in the country. I don't

3411
04:30:18.639 --> 04:30:26.440
believe that the WCW is worth the
damn wow. I think it ridicules my

3412
04:30:26.600 --> 04:30:33.879
profession, and I think that we
have a bunch of people that don't have

3413
04:30:33.959 --> 04:30:40.959
any respect for a profession running those
organizations and a WWF. I'm not talking

3414
04:30:41.079 --> 04:30:49.680
about the the guys individually, but
I'm talking about the way that they have

3415
04:30:52.399 --> 04:30:56.280
belittled my profession because I think that
I'm an athlete, and I think that

3416
04:30:57.920 --> 04:31:03.159
I was out here tonight with a
hell of a lot of competitors in that

3417
04:31:03.360 --> 04:31:07.040
ring that, uh, we're not
even only wrestling. They were they were

3418
04:31:07.079 --> 04:31:11.840
wrestling with their heart. And I
don't particularly like the opponents that I was

3419
04:31:11.879 --> 04:31:21.479
against, but they damn sure gave
the fans their money's worth, and I

3420
04:31:21.639 --> 04:31:26.479
think that the I did too.
I think ECW has come a long way.

3421
04:31:27.079 --> 04:31:32.399
I think that you got guys like
that that have come from from nowhere.

3422
04:31:32.559 --> 04:31:37.319
I'm talking about the Sandman's, I'm
talking about the other guys. I'm

3423
04:31:37.360 --> 04:31:41.360
talking about the old timers. I'm
talking about Jimmy Snooker, and we've all

3424
04:31:41.479 --> 04:31:49.479
seen this organization grow and I am
really proud of it, and I am

3425
04:31:49.639 --> 04:31:55.200
very proud to be wearing this belt
around my waist. And I told you

3426
04:31:55.319 --> 04:32:00.680
people before, I I'm an old
man, but I'm making my stand and

3427
04:32:00.799 --> 04:32:04.120
I'm making it here with the ECW. And those other people can go to

3428
04:32:04.200 --> 04:32:11.040
hell, because we're here and we're
here to stay, and we're going to

3429
04:32:11.079 --> 04:32:17.360
become a it's not producing straight to
help for kids. I mean, we're

3430
04:32:17.440 --> 04:32:23.799
not We're athletic, and I think
that we're a sport. And I know

3431
04:32:23.959 --> 04:32:27.479
that we've got a lot of guys
here that are wrestling their heart off.

3432
04:32:27.680 --> 04:32:33.319
And I'm not trying to take anything
from anybody else, but I have respect

3433
04:32:33.360 --> 04:32:38.559
for Shane Douglas, and I have
respect for Saboo, and I have respect

3434
04:32:38.600 --> 04:32:41.680
for all of the guys that are
with ECW. And I want to thank

3435
04:32:41.719 --> 04:32:47.200
you people out there for being hardcore
fans, and that's what we're playing too,

3436
04:32:47.319 --> 04:32:51.040
is a hardcore fans, and I
want you to know that I love

3437
04:32:51.079 --> 04:32:56.639
you and thank you very much for
supporting me, and I really appreciate it.

3438
04:32:57.600 --> 04:33:00.719
Terry fun Well, they have from
a very emotional Terry Funk, who,

3439
04:33:00.760 --> 04:33:03.639
as I said before, it's not
one but not just getting a promo

3440
04:33:03.720 --> 04:33:07.919
post match, he's giving a franchise
and he would do that just about every

3441
04:33:07.919 --> 04:33:11.680
time I touched the microphone. It
was the most amazing match I have ever

3442
04:33:11.840 --> 04:33:17.560
seen. The press conference tonight,
of course, and will be coming to

3443
04:33:17.639 --> 04:33:19.919
the microphone and said that again,
I'm sorry he's talking about hardcore fans.

3444
04:33:21.520 --> 04:33:22.599
You know, pretty soon it's going
to be a whole different meaning with that

3445
04:33:22.680 --> 04:33:26.000
phrase. Right, that's kind of
where it came from. It didn't so

3446
04:33:26.080 --> 04:33:30.959
much come from describing the style of
wrestling in the spots. That came from

3447
04:33:30.240 --> 04:33:33.959
anyone who's waiting for that. You
know the nature of the fan that would

3448
04:33:33.000 --> 04:33:37.080
want to see this kind of wrestling. Boy, it's a press conference format

3449
04:33:37.119 --> 04:33:41.919
in the ballroom. So now Sabo
is being led in restraints. You know,

3450
04:33:42.080 --> 04:33:48.040
Todd, you can do this nine
one one and Paul Hayman, I

3451
04:33:48.080 --> 04:33:53.080
don't know what that is in the
Zubaz. I don't say. John Cromnis,

3452
04:33:53.240 --> 04:33:57.040
let's not to say about this match
to trap Justice. Shane Douglass is

3453
04:33:57.159 --> 04:34:00.880
absolutely the most disgraceful human being I've
ever met in my life. As for

3454
04:34:02.000 --> 04:34:03.360
Terry Funk coming out of like a
cry baby, this is not impressed.

3455
04:34:03.400 --> 04:34:07.240
Sabboo. Sab Boo should still be
the ec WA A champion. There was

3456
04:34:07.279 --> 04:34:11.880
a conspiracy between Terry Funk and Shane
Douglas and I'm not so emotional about any

3457
04:34:11.919 --> 04:34:15.639
innty sixty minute draw, the referee
was unconscious for too long. Terry Funk

3458
04:34:15.720 --> 04:34:18.599
was eliminated. We all saw Terry
Funk get eliminated and at the referee.

3459
04:34:18.599 --> 04:34:23.520
Now, she's not showing the table
find The fact of the matter is that

3460
04:34:23.759 --> 04:34:26.840
is that when Terry Funk went down
with the injured knee, Shane Douglas could

3461
04:34:26.840 --> 04:34:30.400
have pounced on top of him.
The referee, the reft the referee played

3462
04:34:30.439 --> 04:34:34.360
favorite chose to protect Terry Funk was
disgusting. Cars Oft concerned that would have

3463
04:34:34.439 --> 04:34:37.400
Terry Funk should have been eliminated right
there, and then Saboo would have Shane

3464
04:34:37.439 --> 04:34:41.959
Douglass all himself. When Shane Douglas
cannot fight man to man, a shatboo.

3465
04:34:41.080 --> 04:34:44.520
And that's all I have to say. And that's all I gotta say

3466
04:34:44.560 --> 04:34:47.119
to you. We want our money, and that's all I gotta say to

3467
04:34:47.159 --> 04:34:48.840
you. And I don't think you're
very good. Announce her the hell with

3468
04:34:48.919 --> 04:34:53.720
the book. Thank you very much. Members of the media. I hope

3469
04:34:53.720 --> 04:34:56.639
you all go to hell. There's
no one there. By the way.

3470
04:34:56.799 --> 04:35:04.279
The objective opinion from Paulie andels a
touchgoing man. And here Tom Shane Douglas

3471
04:35:04.680 --> 04:35:10.279
words for you tonight. I took
the living legend, so called self proclaimed

3472
04:35:10.560 --> 04:35:12.880
Terry Funk, and I beat his
ass right in the center of the ring.

3473
04:35:14.479 --> 04:35:17.520
I took Saboo, the crazy man
of wrestling, and I beat his

3474
04:35:17.639 --> 04:35:19.159
ass in the center of the ring. I sent him both back to the

3475
04:35:19.279 --> 04:35:22.919
dressing room, mister Gordon, as
a result of that, I want you

3476
04:35:23.080 --> 04:35:26.240
to declare me right now in front
of this TV camera, in front of

3477
04:35:26.279 --> 04:35:30.919
the entire world, as the ECW
Heavyweight Champion, to prove that I am

3478
04:35:32.000 --> 04:35:36.400
the franchise Cherry Solid. The whole
world sow it, Philadelphia. You witnessed

3479
04:35:36.400 --> 04:35:41.560
it live professional wrestling as it was
meant to be. Ass kicking, take

3480
04:35:41.639 --> 04:35:45.599
no names. Beat the hell out
of whoever's in front of you. Terry

3481
04:35:45.720 --> 04:35:48.439
Funk, I smashed your knee to
a bliatrey when I took you in a

3482
04:35:48.560 --> 04:35:52.200
chair outside the ring. Even the
crazy man saboo, and if people looked

3483
04:35:52.200 --> 04:35:55.279
at they said, oh my god, it's the end of an era.

3484
04:35:55.759 --> 04:36:00.720
Finally put to rest. Fuck family, I don't give it. Come on,

3485
04:36:02.159 --> 04:36:06.040
media, keep your mouth shut.
You can fire me if you want,

3486
04:36:06.520 --> 04:36:07.520
You can take me out of this
territory if you want to, but

3487
04:36:07.680 --> 04:36:12.400
you can't stop the franchise someplace sometime
I will be heavyweight champion now as it

3488
04:36:12.479 --> 04:36:15.000
goes. For you, mister Stoules, and anybody else and all you other

3489
04:36:15.159 --> 04:36:19.000
sons sitting out here today, I've
had it up to here. I've come

3490
04:36:19.040 --> 04:36:22.919
to Philadelphia. I've watched Peter and
the audience hold up signs and call me

3491
04:36:23.000 --> 04:36:27.279
every name in the book. I've
seen people outside the arena call me names,

3492
04:36:27.479 --> 04:36:32.560
say things about my family, say
things about Sherry. I've seen people

3493
04:36:32.799 --> 04:36:34.439
And what do you want? And
what do you want? It comes the

3494
04:36:34.479 --> 04:36:41.840
Funker? Wow, what's wrong with
you? Are you some kind of a

3495
04:36:41.919 --> 04:36:48.520
fool? Or what am I some
kind of a fool? What are you

3496
04:36:48.680 --> 04:36:52.240
out here? All? I've got
to ask you, mister Funk. What

3497
04:36:52.400 --> 04:36:56.759
you were ten years ago was a
legend. What you are today is an

3498
04:36:56.799 --> 04:37:00.360
old man, a shell of yourself. The legs after tonight certainly aren't what

3499
04:37:00.400 --> 04:37:03.080
they used to be. Muhammed Ali
knows what it's like when the legs go.

3500
04:37:03.599 --> 04:37:07.159
Look at your face. Take a
look in the mirror around you.

3501
04:37:07.479 --> 04:37:10.840
Ask the media, how's this face? Look? You've been beat to a

3502
04:37:10.919 --> 04:37:15.560
pulp. Now I've been beat up
tonight. Take a look Philadelphia. Look

3503
04:37:15.599 --> 04:37:19.560
at his face, Look at my
face. Look who's standing tall? Terry

3504
04:37:19.599 --> 04:37:23.000
Funk, you were a beaten man
tonight. I'm just scaring to listen to

3505
04:37:23.080 --> 04:37:27.080
you. Call me an old man. I've listened to you ridicule me,

3506
04:37:27.200 --> 04:37:30.959
and yeah, maybe I've had better
days, damn, But I don't think

3507
04:37:32.000 --> 04:37:33.520
that you have any right to go
ahead and say that I came in here,

3508
04:37:33.560 --> 04:37:40.639
I paid compliments to you, I
paid compliments to Sabou. I paid

3509
04:37:40.720 --> 04:37:45.240
compliments to everybody because I think you're
a good athlete and the heck of a

3510
04:37:45.279 --> 04:37:51.759
guy. But you didn't walk out
of there with this thing around your waist,

3511
04:37:51.799 --> 04:37:55.479
and you know you didn't. Terry
Funk, let me tell you something,

3512
04:37:55.799 --> 04:37:57.279
and you ought to know this after
twenty five years, and this man,

3513
04:37:59.279 --> 04:38:02.119
don't call me old man. I
gave you your time. You let

3514
04:38:02.159 --> 04:38:04.319
me talk. As the franchise of
VCW, have got every right to come

3515
04:38:04.360 --> 04:38:08.040
out here and say what I want
to say. Paying compliments to Shane Douglas,

3516
04:38:08.279 --> 04:38:11.880
paying compliments to Saboo, don't pay
the bills. The Gold pays the

3517
04:38:11.959 --> 04:38:17.319
bills. Now, I want Todd
Gordon right here and now to declare me

3518
04:38:17.400 --> 04:38:19.200
the champion because you were dragged out. You were carried out of the arena

3519
04:38:19.279 --> 04:38:23.200
tonight by your own men. That's
not a champion to me. Shaboo was

3520
04:38:23.279 --> 04:38:27.040
carried out by his own men,
both of you at the hands of the

3521
04:38:27.080 --> 04:38:32.439
franchise to me. That means that
I'm the heavyweight champion. No fens or.

3522
04:38:32.439 --> 04:38:36.680
But's about it, mister Funk.
You want this belt so bad.

3523
04:38:37.000 --> 04:38:41.599
I said earlier that I've drawn a
line. I'll tell you something. You

3524
04:38:41.720 --> 04:38:45.840
made a mistake. I'm put by
calling me an old man. I won't

3525
04:38:45.880 --> 04:38:48.759
put my finger in your face.
I have no intention of doing that.

3526
04:38:48.599 --> 04:38:52.439
But your biggest mistake was whenever you
called me an old man, because first

3527
04:38:52.479 --> 04:39:03.000
of all, what is it gonna
look like whenever this old man whips your

3528
04:39:03.599 --> 04:39:12.000
butt? And as far as this
belt is concerned, you can have this

3529
04:39:12.200 --> 04:39:21.200
belt. I'm giving it to you. I'm giving it. I'm giving it

3530
04:39:21.240 --> 04:39:25.240
to you. Give me the belt. That is so silly. No,

3531
04:39:25.360 --> 04:39:27.240
No, i'd be quiet because that's
that's silly. And I know that.

3532
04:39:27.400 --> 04:39:33.560
I'm I'm sorry that wasn't very respectful
to you. But I'm telling you you

3533
04:39:33.759 --> 04:39:37.159
take that belt. And you know
why you can take that belt, because

3534
04:39:38.360 --> 04:39:45.439
it's gonna be the biggest thrill to
me on the fifth whenever I whenever I

3535
04:39:45.599 --> 04:39:48.959
take the thing back from you,
that's what's gonna give me the biggest elation

3536
04:39:48.680 --> 04:39:56.159
because I'm gonna show you that this
old man is not as easy to push

3537
04:39:56.279 --> 04:39:59.400
him around as you think he is, as you should have found out tonight,

3538
04:40:00.520 --> 04:40:04.080
Terry Funk, don't put my finger
on your chest. I understand that

3539
04:40:04.159 --> 04:40:07.639
I don't have to give me any
belt. Terry Funk, I won't touch

3540
04:40:07.680 --> 04:40:08.959
you with my You don't have to
give me a belt. You will piece

3541
04:40:10.799 --> 04:40:14.840
the gentlemen. You don't have to
give me belt because I'm taking the belt.

3542
04:40:15.240 --> 04:40:21.240
How's that standing there before the brated
No, the less slap from funking.

3543
04:40:21.279 --> 04:40:23.439
Here we go, you guys,
back to the studio. They're brawling

3544
04:40:23.479 --> 04:40:26.880
on the carpet. Oh my god, he bump has no police. He's

3545
04:40:26.880 --> 04:40:44.240
got socks on the locker rooms here
breaking this fight up. Johnny Grunge in

3546
04:40:44.279 --> 04:40:56.639
there, call for the police.
Let's go Kevin Solomon to look at Yep,

3547
04:40:56.759 --> 04:41:06.360
yep, mister Hughes. All right, we can pause there. So

3548
04:41:06.439 --> 04:41:10.080
there it is the big first three
way dance, a match that's pointed to

3549
04:41:10.319 --> 04:41:15.759
is a pivotal moment for ECW and
the post match festivities. We see their

3550
04:41:15.840 --> 04:41:19.080
boss at Terry Funk. That's gone
with a different character in ECW. He's

3551
04:41:19.720 --> 04:41:23.119
you know what I mean, he's
straight laced, he's he's sincere, he's

3552
04:41:23.240 --> 04:41:29.119
calm, and you know he takes
exception to personal insults. It's it's a

3553
04:41:29.119 --> 04:41:32.159
different Funk than we just saw in
NWA, that's for sure. Oh for

3554
04:41:32.240 --> 04:41:37.479
sure. I'm I I can appreciate
that. I never knew he did that.

3555
04:41:37.919 --> 04:41:41.639
Yeah, And it's kind of a
further illustrative of just the role they

3556
04:41:41.680 --> 04:41:45.240
saw Terry Funk playing for this the
cc W. I think what's remarkable is

3557
04:41:45.279 --> 04:41:49.000
when you go back and watch ECW
before it really sunk in as a phenomenon,

3558
04:41:49.639 --> 04:41:52.799
all these guys were talking on their
promos like it was inevitable that they

3559
04:41:53.479 --> 04:41:57.880
It really was like a called Babe
Ruth shot from a lot of these guys,

3560
04:41:57.919 --> 04:42:00.279
and Terry Funk in particular, I
mean he, as you just heard

3561
04:42:00.279 --> 04:42:03.639
there at the top of that post
match segment, gave voice to the whole

3562
04:42:03.680 --> 04:42:07.319
idea of the whole company and explaining
why it is that he chose to,

3563
04:42:07.400 --> 04:42:10.360
as he put it, take his
stand in ECW, and it had just

3564
04:42:10.400 --> 04:42:14.439
as much to do with the shortcomings
of the Big Two in his mind,

3565
04:42:14.479 --> 04:42:17.680
and in particular how the Big Two
just didn't illustrate what it was that he

3566
04:42:17.880 --> 04:42:21.680
loved about pro wrestling and what he
sacrificed for to be a part of the

3567
04:42:21.720 --> 04:42:26.400
business, and that was that was
the exact rallying cry of the whole promotion.

3568
04:42:26.680 --> 04:42:30.240
They would build the identity of VCW
around the kinds of things we just

3569
04:42:30.319 --> 04:42:33.360
heard Terry Funk say on that promo. After the night the line was crossed

3570
04:42:33.560 --> 04:42:37.400
the triple threat match with Sabou and
Shape, Douglas thoughts on Shane Douglas's might

3571
04:42:37.479 --> 04:42:42.080
work there as he berates Terry Funk, He's fine, He's fine. I

3572
04:42:42.279 --> 04:42:45.720
just, you know, he's just
not someone that I've ever really, I've

3573
04:42:45.759 --> 04:42:52.560
ever really said, you know,
yes too, right right? Yeah,

3574
04:42:52.680 --> 04:42:56.919
Now, I just I just can't
get you know. I mean, maybe

3575
04:42:56.000 --> 04:42:59.599
someday something will click and I'll be
like, ah, fuck it, look

3576
04:42:59.639 --> 04:43:03.360
at this, But I don't,
you know, again, he's fine,

3577
04:43:03.400 --> 04:43:07.159
He's totally fine, He's totally adequate. I don't see I don't see main

3578
04:43:07.240 --> 04:43:11.840
event. Yeah, and you noticed
nw Way Eastern Championship Wrestling on the on

3579
04:43:11.919 --> 04:43:15.599
screen graphics. Yep. Do you
know the story of what ended up happening

3580
04:43:15.799 --> 04:43:22.279
with Shane Douglass in the NWA World
Heavyweight Title. I feel like I've heard

3581
04:43:22.319 --> 04:43:27.119
it. I don't remember the same
ten pounds of gold that Terry Funk wore

3582
04:43:27.439 --> 04:43:30.000
when he was champion in seventy five
and seventy six, And in fact,

3583
04:43:30.040 --> 04:43:33.599
I feel like what we just saw
there was kind of a glimpse of,

3584
04:43:33.720 --> 04:43:37.520
you know, NWA World Champion nineteen
seventy six Terry Funk, the way he

3585
04:43:37.680 --> 04:43:41.799
was, you know, a little
nuts, a little wild, but choosing

3586
04:43:41.959 --> 04:43:45.959
to sound sane on the promo.
It's like that interview he did with Gordon

3587
04:43:47.040 --> 04:43:51.159
Soley after they played him defeating Jack
Briscoe to become world champion on Florida television,

3588
04:43:51.200 --> 04:43:55.000
and they're discussing the rematch afterwards,
and Funk is all smiles and he's

3589
04:43:55.040 --> 04:43:59.360
all clean cut, and he couldn't
be happy or U doosh Garnet to be

3590
04:43:59.479 --> 04:44:03.479
a world's heavyweight champion. But as
soon as Gordon solely says that the rematch

3591
04:44:03.479 --> 04:44:07.080
won't be in his backyard, suddenly
that facade there's a little crack in it,

3592
04:44:07.759 --> 04:44:11.720
and you can see him start to
bubble and boil again. Yep,

3593
04:44:11.240 --> 04:44:15.560
And that's the Terry Funk that ushered
in ECW. That character. I think

3594
04:44:15.599 --> 04:44:18.319
it's a I think he went back
a couple of decades in terms of his

3595
04:44:18.439 --> 04:44:21.479
presentation here because we didn't see the
Terry Funk we just saw. We didn't

3596
04:44:21.520 --> 04:44:25.599
see him against Flair, we didn't
see him against Hogan, we didn't see

3597
04:44:25.639 --> 04:44:27.319
him against Dusty Rhodes or Jerry Lawlard. That's for sure. He had to

3598
04:44:27.400 --> 04:44:30.479
dust that character off. You had
to go back to, you know,

3599
04:44:30.919 --> 04:44:37.080
the Terry Funk that would beat you
with Holtz yep, yep. And what

3600
04:44:37.159 --> 04:44:41.720
happened with the championship and why it's
sort of smirk worthy that the graphics on

3601
04:44:41.799 --> 04:44:47.400
this show showed NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling
was of course, as Todd Gordon's ECW

3602
04:44:47.639 --> 04:44:49.439
grew, it did form an alliance
with the NWA, which still was a

3603
04:44:49.479 --> 04:44:55.040
going concern with that. Dennis Corluzzo
in particular being the promoter most associated with

3604
04:44:55.040 --> 04:44:56.599
the NWA at the time, and
they and they had a belt, but

3605
04:44:56.680 --> 04:45:00.560
they were trying to figure out what
to do with it because of course Jim

3606
04:45:00.680 --> 04:45:07.159
Hurd dropped the NWA affiliation and in
nineteen ninety three, Bill Watch brought it

3607
04:45:07.240 --> 04:45:11.400
back in nineteen ninety two and they
put the strap on a massa chono,

3608
04:45:11.479 --> 04:45:15.599
remember that, and yep, I
do crude. And then when they finally

3609
04:45:15.680 --> 04:45:19.880
dropped association with the NWA, in
nineteen ninety three, shortly before Rick Flair's

3610
04:45:19.880 --> 04:45:26.000
returned from the WWF, they created
the International Championship. The Big Gold Belt

3611
04:45:26.040 --> 04:45:30.000
became the International Heavyweight Championship in the
secondary world title that, of course Hulk

3612
04:45:30.040 --> 04:45:33.720
Cogan would go on to merge,
right, he would go on to put

3613
04:45:33.759 --> 04:45:37.439
the WCW title together with Flair's belt, or did Flair wrestle Sting on a

3614
04:45:37.520 --> 04:45:41.919
clash before he wrestled Hogan. Flair
wrestled Sting on the Clash and they merged

3615
04:45:41.959 --> 04:45:47.840
the Big Gold Belt with the Luger
the Luger title, and then Flair lost

3616
04:45:47.840 --> 04:45:51.400
to the merged belt to Hogan.
Right, it was yeah, right,

3617
04:45:51.479 --> 04:45:55.680
right? Sting lost the match and
Flair held the Big Gold Belt as the

3618
04:45:55.959 --> 04:46:00.840
championship. And then yeah, so
in WA, you stop referring to the

3619
04:46:00.880 --> 04:46:04.000
Big Gold Belt as the NWA World
Championship and stopped any association within the NWA

3620
04:46:04.119 --> 04:46:07.599
had had a problem on their hands. They had an organization, an infrastructure,

3621
04:46:07.639 --> 04:46:10.759
a championship that meant a lot in
wrestling, and they didn't have a

3622
04:46:10.840 --> 04:46:12.759
champion, and they didn't have,
you know, a company to fix their

3623
04:46:12.840 --> 04:46:15.200
name to and say this is where
the world champion is parked you know this

3624
04:46:15.479 --> 04:46:18.479
world. Of course, long gone
were the days that the World Champion would

3625
04:46:18.479 --> 04:46:25.159
take dates for promoters other than WCW. But still the NWA saw themselves as

3626
04:46:25.200 --> 04:46:29.360
sort of like acceding to this reality. They convinced themselves that they somehow had

3627
04:46:29.400 --> 04:46:33.400
a say in how WCW was presenting
the NWA World Champion. They found out

3628
04:46:33.439 --> 04:46:37.479
that, you know, they were
just that wasn't the case that they could

3629
04:46:37.479 --> 04:46:41.040
give a fuck less about the affiliation
and dropped that, especially where like Bischoff

3630
04:46:41.040 --> 04:46:44.720
takes over, forget it, I
mean, oh, forget it, No

3631
04:46:44.919 --> 04:46:47.520
no association with that belt in his
mind at all. It means in a

3632
04:46:47.720 --> 04:46:52.680
WA guy to begin with, and
so and so the promotion, the NWA

3633
04:46:52.880 --> 04:46:56.680
starts to try to loosely, you
know, cobble together another circuit based on

3634
04:46:56.159 --> 04:47:00.360
the state of the American independent wrestling
scene in the early nineteen nineties, and

3635
04:47:00.400 --> 04:47:06.080
of course ECW what we've been watching
was one of the more vibrant scenes out

3636
04:47:06.119 --> 04:47:07.560
there. And they thought, you
know, if we're going to stage a

3637
04:47:07.599 --> 04:47:11.240
tournament to crown a new NWA World
Heavyweight Champion who's going to carry the ten

3638
04:47:11.240 --> 04:47:15.279
pounds of gold, let's do it
in ECW. Let's do the whole tournament

3639
04:47:15.319 --> 04:47:18.000
there. Let's call talent in from
the best talent we can from all over

3640
04:47:18.000 --> 04:47:22.000
the world, including guys like Chris
Benwah who is looking to get a break

3641
04:47:22.000 --> 04:47:23.799
in the US at the time,
and of course ECW was it for him.

3642
04:47:25.520 --> 04:47:27.680
Guys like Too Cold Scorpio who'd just
been cut loose by WCW when we're

3643
04:47:27.680 --> 04:47:33.319
looking for some moorings in the industry, and a lot of the other important

3644
04:47:33.400 --> 04:47:37.840
early stage ECW guys that were given
a new code of pain or brand new

3645
04:47:37.880 --> 04:47:41.400
exposure under that promotional auspice. And
in fact, Terry Funk, if I

3646
04:47:41.400 --> 04:47:45.119
remember correctly, was supposed to be
in the NBA World Title tournament and didn't

3647
04:47:45.159 --> 04:47:48.439
end up making it. Thus they
would make hay about that in ECW after

3648
04:47:48.520 --> 04:47:52.479
the tournament was overclaiming that Terry Funk
ducked the opportunity or tried to leave ECW

3649
04:47:52.639 --> 04:47:57.799
high and dry. Nonetheless, what
happened was that Todd Gordon and Paul Hayman

3650
04:47:57.880 --> 04:48:02.119
got together with Dennis corleye Uzzo in
the NWA and put on this tournament at

3651
04:48:02.119 --> 04:48:06.080
the ECW arena, and the decision
was that Shane Douglas was to win the

3652
04:48:06.080 --> 04:48:08.560
tournament, beating too Cold Scorpio.
Ultimately I believe it was and to become

3653
04:48:08.720 --> 04:48:14.599
a NWA World Heavyweight Champion. It
went down like that. Shane Douglass was

3654
04:48:14.840 --> 04:48:18.159
handed that traditional NWA championship. He
took the microphone and what did he do?

3655
04:48:19.119 --> 04:48:22.159
He threw the belt down on the
canvas. That's what I remember that.

3656
04:48:22.360 --> 04:48:26.599
Yep, to hell with that belt, to hell with the NWA,

3657
04:48:26.159 --> 04:48:32.279
to hell with whatever you think that
belt represents. This is the ECW World

3658
04:48:32.279 --> 04:48:34.360
Heavyweight Championship. As he holds up
the belt, we just saw these guys

3659
04:48:34.400 --> 04:48:37.799
fighting over and this is now the
premier championship. This is the belt that

3660
04:48:38.599 --> 04:48:42.159
signals what it was that this tournament
represented and where this whole thing is going.

3661
04:48:42.479 --> 04:48:45.919
And the key to it is that
Dennis Corluzzo on the NWA side did

3662
04:48:47.000 --> 04:48:49.040
not know that was going to happen. It was a double cross Dennis cor

3663
04:48:49.159 --> 04:48:52.919
looser yea as it turns out,
and Funk had a pretty good relationship with

3664
04:48:52.959 --> 04:48:56.880
Dennis Corluzzo and you know, kind
of on shoot interviews and stuff, shies

3665
04:48:56.919 --> 04:49:00.959
away from this subject. I think
he probably was strategically missing from this tournament,

3666
04:49:02.080 --> 04:49:06.279
sensing subterfuge in the air and wanting
to keep up appearances and relations.

3667
04:49:06.880 --> 04:49:11.919
He wasn't negatively disposed towards Cordluso as
Todd Gordon was. Todd Gordon tells a

3668
04:49:11.959 --> 04:49:14.959
ton of stories in his book about
Dennis Corluso trying to cut him off at

3669
04:49:14.959 --> 04:49:18.959
the knees and playing all kinds of
games and you know, trying to keep

3670
04:49:18.080 --> 04:49:22.560
under his thumb. Essentially, Jim
Cornett was aligned to Dennis Cordaluso and sort

3671
04:49:22.560 --> 04:49:26.840
of set up and an opposing viewpoint. You got remember Cornett's trying to make

3672
04:49:26.840 --> 04:49:30.799
Smokey Mountain work at this exact same
time, a different vision, but a

3673
04:49:30.880 --> 04:49:34.759
similar attempt to get a circuit like
this running where you know, it's back

3674
04:49:34.759 --> 04:49:41.560
to a territorial sort of geographically limited, a different older style presentation, or

3675
04:49:41.560 --> 04:49:44.680
a presentation at least designed to appeal
to an older style fan that had been

3676
04:49:44.720 --> 04:49:48.319
disillusioned for whatever reason by the Big
Two, be it it being too cartoonish

3677
04:49:48.360 --> 04:49:52.119
and not violent enough in Philadelphia's case, or it just being so far removed

3678
04:49:52.159 --> 04:49:56.159
from the rastland traditions of the South. Hayman and Cornett rafted the same thing,

3679
04:49:56.240 --> 04:50:00.479
and Funks got his toe in both
waters because he's deeply respect them on

3680
04:50:00.560 --> 04:50:03.159
both sides, and so it puts
him in a tough spot. So he

3681
04:50:03.279 --> 04:50:06.880
kind of conveniently is missing from this
night where Shane Douglas makes the move,

3682
04:50:06.959 --> 04:50:10.119
and Douglas has talked about it.
They had to convince him. He wasn't

3683
04:50:10.119 --> 04:50:11.400
sure about doing it. It was
kind of like a last minute, gut

3684
04:50:11.479 --> 04:50:15.639
checked moment, and when he threw
that belt down, it was war in

3685
04:50:15.720 --> 04:50:18.959
the eyes of the NWA guys.
Basically, they just said, you know

3686
04:50:18.000 --> 04:50:23.479
what, this is now Extreme Championship
Wrestling. This is now ECW, and

3687
04:50:23.599 --> 04:50:29.159
it's not this NWA affiliate. It's
not this thing trying to fit into this

3688
04:50:29.360 --> 04:50:33.959
superstructure of a bygone era. This
is its own revolution. And Shane Douglass

3689
04:50:33.080 --> 04:50:37.200
just did the ballsiest thing you could
do at that stage, at that level

3690
04:50:37.240 --> 04:50:41.639
to launch its formation. But here
on the three way Dance that had yet

3691
04:50:41.680 --> 04:50:45.959
to happen, So there's still keeping
up appearances that Eastern Championship Wrestling is an

3692
04:50:47.040 --> 04:50:51.240
NWA affiliate. It's pretty rich considering
where it's heading. That's wild. Yeah,

3693
04:50:51.400 --> 04:50:52.080
it was a wild night, it
was, and not a lot of

3694
04:50:52.080 --> 04:50:56.279
people appreciated what was actually happening in
the building. It's one of those things

3695
04:50:56.599 --> 04:50:59.000
that as people came out and told
the story over the years, the lore

3696
04:50:59.080 --> 04:51:02.159
of it grew so much it was
clear and if he heard the sheets and

3697
04:51:02.159 --> 04:51:03.799
stuff that Shane Douglass went into business
for himself. But the fact that there

3698
04:51:03.840 --> 04:51:08.040
was actually like this thing being engineered
to break off ECW in its entirety and

3699
04:51:08.119 --> 04:51:11.759
go in its own sort of self
controlled direction with its own world championship was

3700
04:51:12.319 --> 04:51:15.400
so he just, you know,
Shane Douglass just stole all the cloud of

3701
04:51:15.479 --> 04:51:18.319
what it meant to be n WA
World Champion and just put that cloud on

3702
04:51:18.360 --> 04:51:22.639
the ECW belt and said, this
is actually the belt that matters. And

3703
04:51:22.759 --> 04:51:26.720
so that's the breaking off point that
everybody was looking for. But on this

3704
04:51:26.880 --> 04:51:32.439
night in February nineteen ninety four,
after an hour in the ECW arena,

3705
04:51:33.040 --> 04:51:37.959
Terry Funk still the champion, but
as we just heard, dissatisfied with the

3706
04:51:37.080 --> 04:51:41.520
level of respect or lack thereof that
Shane Douglas is showing him, and they

3707
04:51:41.560 --> 04:51:44.720
will continue to battle over the championship
in the weeks to come. Sabou continues

3708
04:51:44.759 --> 04:51:48.759
to be unhinged and off off the
chain. So closing thoughts here, as

3709
04:51:48.840 --> 04:51:52.279
we take our first bite out of
the ECW pie on the lapsed Funk Boss,

3710
04:51:53.200 --> 04:51:57.599
It's I'm not sure it holds up
looking back on it, I'm not

3711
04:51:57.680 --> 04:52:03.520
sure that the mystique of this match
is evident and a parent just watching it

3712
04:52:03.639 --> 04:52:07.040
without hearing all the the you know, the color of people talking about what

3713
04:52:07.119 --> 04:52:10.919
it meant in its time. But
we're in the CW land, We're in

3714
04:52:11.080 --> 04:52:12.840
Terry Funk trying to make ECW a
thing, trying his hardest. What do

3715
04:52:12.919 --> 04:52:15.680
you think? What do you make
of it so far? I mean it's

3716
04:52:15.840 --> 04:52:22.520
I definitely appreciate the effort. I
think it was fine. I think it

3717
04:52:22.799 --> 04:52:30.599
was you know, uh, I
don't know. There. You know,

3718
04:52:30.919 --> 04:52:37.000
when you can feel that people don't
know what they're doing, people as in

3719
04:52:37.639 --> 04:52:42.880
as in the wrestlers in a triple
threat match and then also kind of the

3720
04:52:42.919 --> 04:52:47.720
company and how to book a fucking
triple threat match, you can feel that.

3721
04:52:48.240 --> 04:52:49.400
You can feel that in this in
this match, or at least I

3722
04:52:49.479 --> 04:52:53.240
could, but you can feel it
knowing how it looks, how it came

3723
04:52:53.319 --> 04:52:59.759
to evolve. Yeah, yeah,
And I don't know, like I mean,

3724
04:52:59.799 --> 04:53:04.000
I didn't, I didn't hate it. I just and I and I

3725
04:53:04.200 --> 04:53:08.919
definitely you know, I mean I'm
I'm kind of at this point, I'm

3726
04:53:10.000 --> 04:53:15.479
kind of biased towards Terry Funk stuff, you know, And so I go

3727
04:53:15.680 --> 04:53:17.439
go in on it. If you
think it wasn't good, I mean,

3728
04:53:17.439 --> 04:53:18.599
I'm not not to put words in
your mouth, but absolutely, I mean

3729
04:53:18.919 --> 04:53:22.680
no, this is Terry Funk tribute. But eyes wide open, like always,

3730
04:53:22.799 --> 04:53:26.360
it's a weird thing, like I
didn't I didn't hate it, but

3731
04:53:26.400 --> 04:53:29.159
I didn't like it, right,
And that's probably the first time you've felt

3732
04:53:29.159 --> 04:53:32.479
that way during the laps Funk.
Yeah, yeah, you know, And

3733
04:53:32.759 --> 04:53:34.720
and I know that the ECW stuff
is probably gonne the hardest stuff for me

3734
04:53:34.840 --> 04:53:38.680
to to try to enjoy, just
because I just I just don't get it.

3735
04:53:40.400 --> 04:53:48.880
And but like watching Funk in this
there is there there there are elements

3736
04:53:48.000 --> 04:53:53.400
of him just bringing great ship to
this, right, you know, the

3737
04:53:53.479 --> 04:53:59.319
way that he sells kinda like like
you know when he when he got right

3738
04:53:59.439 --> 04:54:02.479
up and and fucking walked around and
stumbled and fell down to his feet,

3739
04:54:02.560 --> 04:54:08.040
like that's that's something that makes it
special, because that's that's a Funk thing.

3740
04:54:08.959 --> 04:54:17.000
But it's like, you know,
he just kind of he makes it

3741
04:54:17.080 --> 04:54:19.240
special. But at the same time, they're not. They do. I

3742
04:54:19.240 --> 04:54:25.200
don't know, they don't seem they
didn't seem to be really maybe adjusting themselves

3743
04:54:25.279 --> 04:54:29.479
to maybe fit the moment around him
and the moment and stuff. It just

3744
04:54:29.560 --> 04:54:33.799
kind of felt like, you know, at times they're just going through the

3745
04:54:33.880 --> 04:54:37.639
motions for sixty minutes. He's pulling
them up. He's trying to pull them

3746
04:54:37.759 --> 04:54:41.840
up. Whether they get on board, yeah the question. But he's there,

3747
04:54:41.119 --> 04:54:44.479
Like he said, he's taking his
stand. He realizes that by doing

3748
04:54:44.560 --> 04:54:49.319
this and saying these things and presenting
himself this way, that he's really marking

3749
04:54:49.360 --> 04:54:53.759
his territory and saying that if ECW
fails, I mean, that's the end

3750
04:54:53.799 --> 04:54:59.040
of me in terms of like taking
anything I say seriously about being able to

3751
04:55:00.240 --> 04:55:03.599
what's around the corner in the wrestling
industry and being able to be at the

3752
04:55:03.680 --> 04:55:07.479
vanguard of the next evolution and be
connected to the fans and the hardest core

3753
04:55:07.560 --> 04:55:11.119
fans, the most passionate fans and
what they look for at of pro wrestling,

3754
04:55:11.200 --> 04:55:15.200
and being obsessed with studying that and
delivering that to them. So he's

3755
04:55:15.520 --> 04:55:18.319
he's taking his bet now, of
course, is we'll get through. As

3756
04:55:18.400 --> 04:55:23.040
the ECW portion of our program unfolds, the ultimate irony is that while he's

3757
04:55:23.080 --> 04:55:30.439
out there preaching the gospel of ECW
at every moment and you know, defining

3758
04:55:30.479 --> 04:55:33.360
what ECW is in direct contrast to
WWWWF, during the entirety of that run,

3759
04:55:33.560 --> 04:55:37.200
he goes to work for wcw Right, goes to work for the WWF.

3760
04:55:38.279 --> 04:55:44.119
But somehow he's Terry Funk and he
knows how to twist the interpretation of

3761
04:55:44.200 --> 04:55:47.880
those decisions in such a way where
he's still keeping it real. You know,

3762
04:55:48.400 --> 04:55:49.959
even though he sold out, he
didn't sell out in the way that

3763
04:55:51.959 --> 04:55:53.520
guys do when they leave a group
like that and go to one of the

3764
04:55:53.560 --> 04:55:56.159
Big two, because he predated the
Big two in so many ways, And

3765
04:55:56.279 --> 04:56:00.959
so how can you say that he's, you know, giving himself over like

3766
04:56:02.000 --> 04:56:07.360
an ECW original would to a system
that you know would seek to control him.

3767
04:56:07.840 --> 04:56:11.319
When he's going to be Terry Funk
no matter where he goes, and

3768
04:56:11.439 --> 04:56:15.360
he's gonna be more than happy to
bring executives in those two companies to the

3769
04:56:15.400 --> 04:56:22.119
brink in terms of doing whatever the
fuck he wants and almost daring them to

3770
04:56:22.159 --> 04:56:23.840
do something about it, because he's
more than happy to be told to or

3771
04:56:25.479 --> 04:56:27.240
you know, he's more than happy
to feel like he should leave now that

3772
04:56:27.319 --> 04:56:30.720
it's time to go. Yep.
And that's the thing throughout the nineteen nineties

3773
04:56:30.759 --> 04:56:34.200
for Terry Funk. As many places
as he journeyed after it was time to

3774
04:56:34.240 --> 04:56:37.560
go, and he put the cowboy
hat on. The horse always pulled into

3775
04:56:37.560 --> 04:56:44.840
a stall at the ECW Arena.
Watching that night as Douglas Saboo and Terry

3776
04:56:44.880 --> 04:56:48.279
Funk had the three way dance for
the ECW World Championship was Todd Gordon,

3777
04:56:48.319 --> 04:56:52.599
of course, and he wrote the
following in his book. The reality was

3778
04:56:52.799 --> 04:56:55.919
we were still losing money every month, but we were improving in other ways.

3779
04:56:56.400 --> 04:56:59.400
We were putting on good shows and
our fans were amazing. We closed

3780
04:56:59.400 --> 04:57:02.400
out nineteen tenty three with a big
card called Holiday Hell at the Arena the

3781
04:57:02.479 --> 04:57:06.000
day after Christmas. You could feel
something coming just around the corner for us.

3782
04:57:06.040 --> 04:57:10.319
That around the corner what happened on
February fifth, nineteen ninety four.

3783
04:57:10.799 --> 04:57:12.479
Our February card was a regular monthly
house show. We didn't bring in any

3784
04:57:12.479 --> 04:57:15.680
big outside names other than Terry Funk. He'd been working with us pretty regularly

3785
04:57:15.759 --> 04:57:19.159
and was involved in our heavyweight title
angles. Our lineup looked pretty much as

3786
04:57:19.200 --> 04:57:22.680
it had for the previous few months, but there was an energy and the

3787
04:57:22.720 --> 04:57:26.279
packed building that night I hadn't felt
prior. We also managed to create a

3788
04:57:26.319 --> 04:57:29.799
new match for that show. Our
main event was something we dubbed a three

3789
04:57:29.880 --> 04:57:32.959
way dance for the heavyweight title between
Funk, Shane Douglas, and Saboo.

3790
04:57:33.599 --> 04:57:36.720
All three wrestlers would compete against each
other at the same time. It proposed

3791
04:57:36.720 --> 04:57:40.479
a unique challenge for the three participants
and that they had to tell a story

3792
04:57:40.520 --> 04:57:45.159
from three simultaneous perspectives. Now,
I don't know about telling stories, man,

3793
04:57:45.200 --> 04:57:47.799
it's just fucking chaos. Yeah,
I don't know, you know what

3794
04:57:47.840 --> 04:57:49.119
I mean. I mean, I'm
sure Shane Douglas is in there trying to

3795
04:57:49.240 --> 04:57:53.360
keep like a logistical glue to it
all, and it wasn't a mess.

3796
04:57:55.159 --> 04:57:59.000
But it's just so funny that that
is telling stories what we just saw.

3797
04:57:59.479 --> 04:58:02.639
Of course, of course they all
stop with telling stories. It's ridiculous.

3798
04:58:02.880 --> 04:58:07.279
Ah, they have to delete that
from wrestling vocabulary because it always makes a

3799
04:58:07.319 --> 04:58:10.400
mockery out of the person that says. It's just not what they're doing.

3800
04:58:10.439 --> 04:58:14.040
They're telling stories. They're out there
trying to keep the crowd interested. That's

3801
04:58:14.080 --> 04:58:18.919
what they're trying to do and get
to the destination, and so there it

3802
04:58:18.119 --> 04:58:25.159
was those it led to creative spots, Todd Gordon wrote, like the now

3803
04:58:25.200 --> 04:58:27.919
famous double headlock. Those three guys
put together what was the prototypical match of

3804
04:58:27.959 --> 04:58:32.759
that sort. Three way matches called
by various other names, have since appeared

3805
04:58:32.799 --> 04:58:36.040
in all federations, but that one
between Funk, Douglas and Saboo was the

3806
04:58:36.119 --> 04:58:38.880
first history was made. Our amazing
audience was right there for the ebbs and

3807
04:58:38.919 --> 04:58:41.959
flows of the entire sixty minute match. I hadn't seen the crowd reactions like

3808
04:58:42.000 --> 04:58:47.479
that from any federation. Wrestling redder
Dave Scherer told me a spectator's wife seated

3809
04:58:47.520 --> 04:58:49.759
beside him passed out from the heat
and fell through the bleachers down to the

3810
04:58:49.799 --> 04:58:52.520
floor. When Chery told the guy
he couldn't even take his eyes off the

3811
04:58:52.599 --> 04:58:56.639
match, fuck her, he said, I'm sure that happened. By the

3812
04:58:56.680 --> 04:59:00.319
way, though I would have liked
a happier ending to that story, it's

3813
04:59:00.360 --> 04:59:03.319
undeniable that the fans' passion helped make
that match. More telling was what I

3814
04:59:03.439 --> 04:59:07.840
saw upon arriving at the nearby Marriott
after the show, wherein Paul and I

3815
04:59:08.040 --> 04:59:12.520
were greeted by a couple hundred fans. They began chanting for us, chanting

3816
04:59:12.599 --> 04:59:18.159
ECW, E CW. We had
no wrestlers with us, and they weren't

3817
04:59:18.200 --> 04:59:22.560
chanting our names. They were mentioning
the company. This was next level stuff.

3818
04:59:22.959 --> 04:59:26.040
They were cheering us like we were
the stars. Maybe we were.

3819
04:59:26.319 --> 04:59:29.360
We stepped into the packed bar and
thanked everyone for a great show. The

3820
04:59:29.439 --> 04:59:33.639
place exploded and Paul and I couldn't
help but exchange glances. We were both

3821
04:59:33.680 --> 04:59:37.240
speechless. Something was happening. We
went upstairs to smoke adobe and process the

3822
04:59:37.279 --> 04:59:41.360
scene downstairs in that night show,
which felt perfect. Smoking pot was another

3823
04:59:41.439 --> 04:59:45.560
commonality I shared with Paul. It
relaxed us. We finally sat down and

3824
04:59:45.599 --> 04:59:48.560
put our feet up. No one
gets a reaction like that, I said.

3825
04:59:49.080 --> 04:59:53.720
I knew something had changed, and
Paul agreed. WWE and WCW might

3826
04:59:53.759 --> 04:59:57.279
get some fans waiting at the bars
to see the wrestlers. Ring rats,

3827
04:59:57.279 --> 05:00:00.360
a crude term for wrestling groupies were
cut customary in the bars and hotels,

3828
05:00:00.959 --> 05:00:07.400
but not fans waiting to thank the
owner and booker. This was special tonight,

3829
05:00:08.080 --> 05:00:15.240
Paul said, we crossed the line. You know, good for nothing

3830
05:00:15.680 --> 05:00:36.639
eggs second, dumb. We did
it our way because we love it that

3831
05:00:36.959 --> 05:00:44.319
way. We love it that way, and I have this wonderful gut feeling

3832
05:00:44.360 --> 05:00:48.119
that I've had all my life.
When it's time, Joe, now, time