Remembering Dory Funk Jr: The Wrestler's Wrestler

There have been so many wrestlers throughout the years that it is impossible to keep track of them all.  While the vast majority of them do not wind up doing much in their career and certainly don’t make any kind of a huge impact, there are some instances where those wrestlers are remembered for decades to come.  One such wrestler passed away earlier this month and we’re going to look at him a bit more today.

Earlier this month, wrestling legend Dory Funk Jr. passed away at the age of 85 years old. While I’ll pass on even trying to sum up Funk’s career accomplishments, we’ll go over some quick highlights.  Not only was he a major star in Florida and Texas, but also in Japan, primarily with his brother Terry.  His greatest in-ring accomplishment though is winning the NWA World Title in 1969 and holding it for 1,563 days, or more than four years.  That is the second longest NWA World Title reign of all time, longer than Hulk Hogan’s first WWF Title reign and longer than John Cena held the WWE Title over his fourteen reigns combined.

That’s just in the ring though, as Funk was far from done wrestling when he...well mostly retired (a bit more on that later).  Funk also trained a bunch of wrestlers at his Funkin Conservatory wrestling school, having a hand in the training of names such as Kurt Angle, Edge, Christian, the Hardys, Mark Henry and Mickie James among others.  In other words, a lot of the talent in the Attitude Era can be attributed to Funk, which is not exactly bad for someone who hadn’t wrestled for the company since 1996 (when he showed up in the 1996 Royal Rumble at 54 years old and outworked most of the field).

Funk started wrestling in 1963 and had his final match in 2024 at age 83, and of course it was a….let me get this right…..a Double Hell Current Explosion Death match (and of course he won).  Yeah there’s something strange about those Funk Brothers and the weird matches they get into.  Not bad for someone known as the straight up technical wrestler though, and that’s what we’re going to get into today.

Dory Funk Jr Was A Wrestler's Wrestler

In a word, Funk was a wrestler.  You can say all you want about him and how he might not have been the most thrilling star from bell to bell, but he was a wrestler.  The point of seeing Funk in the ring was to see someone who was one of the best wrestlers in the world. That’s the kind of reputation that Funk had and it was a special moment to see him getting back in there and doing his thing.

It’s also the kind of thing that kept him in the ring for so long.  Funk started wrestling in 1963 and was still regularly working for decades.  He would eventually come to the WWF (as Hoss Funk, because Vince McMahon) in his mid 40s and still more than have it in the ring.  Yes he and his brother Terry were just being the usual evil cowboys team, but it’s not like it was a miserable failure.  Terry eventually left so Dory joined up with Jimmy Jack Funk, which went as well as you would expect.

Dory Funk Jr's Reputation Followed Him Everywhere

The catch with Dory was that he would always wind up getting work because of the reputation that he has.  Dory lost the NWA World Title in 1973 and was still regularly wrestling in the 1990s and beyond.  Yes he was in his 50s by then and was often out of his element (such as wrestling for ECW in a no rope barbed wire match, because of course that’s how you use him).  And why did that work out so well for him for such a long stretch of his career?

It’s very simple: it’s because Dory had the reputation of being one of the best wrestlers of all time and no matter what you’re doing, that is going to work at a wrestling show.  The ECW fans were not the choice for the old school NWA style, but how do you argue with getting to see Dory Funk Jr. in person?  He might have been older and he might not have been the most charismatic, but fans are always going to appreciate seeing that kind of talent and skill in the ring at any point in his career.

There Will Always Be A Place For Great Wrestling

While most of them might not exactly be at the same level as Dory, there is always going to be a place for a “wrestler” on a wrestling show.  You might not want to focus on someone like that, but there is an expression that sometimes you need to “remind them that it’s a wrestling show”.  On occasion, you need to just go out there and have a good wrestling match, no matter what kind of insanity you have going on elsewhere.

It works every time and that’s because, as Arn Anderson famously said, it says WRESTLING on the marquee.  You can have all kinds of things going on around them, with storylines, violence, chaos or whatever else there is in a given promotion, but ultimately it comes down to having a wrestling match.  Fans understand that concept no matter what and can appreciate what they are seeing.  Dory was a legendary wrestler and people wanted to see it as a result.

That kind of skill and staying power are among the reasons that Dory wound up being such a lifer in wrestling.  He could have a completely find match in the ring even in his seventies and beyond, which is not something you see very happen.  Yes there are people like Mike Jackson out there who are basically freaks of nature, but how many of them are among the biggest and most successful names in the history of wrestling?  You don’t often see wrestlers doing this so late in their careers, though Dory (and oddly his brother) managed to pull it off.

With so much skill/talent and longevity in the ring, it’s no surprise that Dory was able to pass on what he had learned later on.  The Funkin Conservatory wound up being one of the best wrestling schools in the industry with quite the list of talented students to his credit. That was something he continued to do for decades, as he continued to wrestle at the same time.  Dory was nothing short of a lifer in professional wrestling and that is the kind of thing you can love to see in a lot of ways.

Why Dory Funk Jr's Wrestling Style Still Matters

I get that Dory’s style might not be the most thrilling, especially to modern audiences.  He was only so interesting in the ring even back in his own day, but he has become an all time legend for a reason.  Simply put, Dory was a wrestler and he was able to continue using his talents long after his time on top was over.  He was wrestling for the ECW World Title 26 years after losing the NWA World Title in the first place.  That’s not something many people can say, but even fewer people can say that they made it work.

Dory is a prime example of someone who had the talent and got to showcase what he was able to do.  The fans appreciated what he was able to do and it worked for decades.  At the end of the day, Dory was not someone who was going to change the business with what he was doing but it was something that worked like a charm every chance he had.  A lot of it was built on his legendary status, but he was more than able to pull it off.  Throw in the knowledge that he passed on, with quite the level of success, and it is great to see how much of an impact he has had on the industry.  Dory is a legend, and he is a legendary wrestler.