WARNING: The following text contain graphic descriptions and references pertaining to bloody occurrences in professional wrestling. It is not recommended that the squeamish or easily offended read on. Read on at your own risk.
MICK FOLEY vs. TERRY FUNK
BACKGROUND/INFO: Mick Foley's childhood wrestling hero was none other than Terry Funk. At over 50 years old, the 30+-year veteran of professional wrestling has scars covering much of his body, each of which came from some dangerous material like a tack, nail, barbed-wire board, etc. He, along with men like Atsushi Onita and Bruiser Brody, had begun to plant the seeds of the garbage/hardcore wrestling revolution that dominates some Japanese promotions (and even some U.S. ones) today.
Barbed-wire? Sure. Beds of nails? Yeah. Thumbtacks? Of course. Fire? In many cases, a welcomed weapon. Funk made a name for himself in promotions like the IWA, where deathmatches are commonplace. Blood is like water. In the hardcore wrestling culture, it's a necessity for survival. Funk and the revolution of hardcore wrestling greatly influenced so many of today's (or yesterday's) promotions, including Big Japan (BJPW), ECW, and Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW).
Meanwhile, a young Mick Foley performed (w/ friends) wrestling moves in his backyard on a regular basis, and was one of the first to begin doing so, as "backyard wrestling" is common today, with crazy fans performing sick spots and using deadly weapons, all the while being actually leaped off the top of his house's roof onto untrained in doing so. In his late teens, Foley the hard grass surface below. His childhood and teenage obsession with the industry quickly led him to enroll in a training program. Taught by Dominic Dennucci, he (along with men like Shane Douglas) quickly learned the basics and, eventually, the higher level aspects of the business.
His life became wrestling at indy shows, and he soon struck deals with Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling (and even the World Wrestling Federation, albeit for only a few shows). He made wrestling headlines around the world with his unbelievable risk-taking style and ability to absorb pain. Jumping off of a high place of some sort were common occurrence each night. Somewhere throughout his journey of wrestling companies, he encountered his childhood hero, Terry Funk.
- On January 8, 1995, IWA (International Wrestling Association) Japan held a show at Tokyo's Korakuen Hall, boasting a seemingly "scorching hot" (yeah, there's a pun intended there because there's bound to be fire) No-Rope Barbed-Wire Scramble Bunkhouse Deathmatch between Cactus Jack and Terry Funk. Even though they're in Japan, Cactus does a prematch interview in English, insisting that Terry Funk isn't his friend anymore: "Danger is the love of my pathetic life...Nothing left to lose." Couldn't have said it better myself...
Anyway, Funk says a few things as Cactus enters the ring with a barbed-wire plank and tosses some chairs into the ring. He does his "Bang! Bang!" taunt on the apron, and is hit by a chair Funk throws at him, causing him to topple off the apron. Some chairshots are exchanged in the crowd, and they soon re-enter the ring and each tease being thrown into the wire. Funk is eventually whipped toward the wire, but sinks down and rolls under, avoiding it and ending up outside the ring. This leads to another brawl in the crowd.
Back in the ring, Cactus escapes the Funk spinning toehold a few times and eventually rubs Funk's face in the barbed-wire! Funk retrieves a chair from rinside and sets it on fire, using it to swack against Funk's back (he luckily doesn't catch on fire) a few times. At ringide, though, Funk gains control and hiptosses Cactus onto the flaming chair! Back in the ring, Cactus again uses the flaming item to swack Funk's back with. Cactus covers and gets 2, and eventually is front-suplexed onto the barbed-wire!
An especially sick spot sees Funk whip Cactus toward the wire. He leaps up and over it, but his hands graze it, and he eventually crashes like an airplane onto the concrete below, and sees that his hands have been cut open. Funk stabs Cactus with the wire, so Cactus tries to scamper away. Cactus is whipped into a table laying against the turnbuckle leaving some blood stains on it. Funk reappears with a flaming branding iron in hand, and uses it to dig into Cactus' stomach, back, and eventually forehead!!!
Cactus eventually escapes and hits a backbreaker on the outside, an then hits his signature apron-diving elbow drop. Funk's whipped into some chairs, and then swacked with a few. Cactus covers back in the ring and gets 2, so he hits a double arm DDT, but gets 2 3/4. Each get a few covers, and Funk eventually reverses an attempted inverted atomic drop into a DDT, which is enough to keep Cactus down for 1-2-3! After the match, they shake hands and embrace to a huge reception, but Cactus eventually turns and piledrives Funk on the concrete floor. In postmatch interviews, Funk praises Cacdtus and compares him to The Original Sheik, while Cactus gives a scary interview while surrounded by streaks of his blood on his clothes and the floor. Most rate this as a very good deathmatch, one that's considerably better than most of the ones done at the time.
- At an ECW house show on March 18, 1995, the main event tag team match pitted Cactus Jack and Shane Douglas, whom he had trained alongside under Dominic Dennucci, against Terry Funk and ECW fan favorite The Sandman. Sandman and Shane immediately target eachother, and Cactus and Funk brawl with eachother throughout the arena. Shane takes Sandman's trademark gimmick and begins gaining the beer-guzzling lunatic, while Cactus and Funk fight over a chair, which Cactus eventually gets the best of. He smacks Funk with it a few times, but accidentily hits Shane at one point, allowing the faces to take the advantage. Cactus eventually gains back control, clotheslining each of his opponents down twice. He soon leaps off the apron and connects with his signature flying elbow drop on Funk, while Sandman and Shane brawl. Shane evenutally switches targets, and begins brawling with Funk.
Cactus assists his partner in beating down Funk, who eventually fights back, though, grounding Shane with a DDT. He and Cactus begin trading blows on the outside. Sandman soon recovers and DDT's Shane. The guardrail is eventually thrown into the ring. Shane gets the living shit kicked out of him with it. Funk tries to keep Cactus out of the ring with a chairshot, but Jack continues the fight and the two begin trading blows in the crowd. Funk soon DDT's Cactus on the hard concrete floor, and they, along with Sandman and Shane, eventually end up brawling on the entrance ramp. They trade targets, and Cactus and Sandman soon find their way back into the ring, where leg drops a chair onto the face of Sandman. Sandman takes control with a low blow, and he grounds Jack with a DDT. Sandman heads up top and comes off with a flying leg drop. Cactus escapes at two.
Shane enters the ring and attacks Sandman, while Funk hits Cactus with a flaming branding iron! Cactus is dropped with a piledriver, and it's academic from there. 1-2-3 (12:56). Terry Funk pins Cactus Jack in the middle of the ring! This match is regarded as a pretty good one; Not a classic, but a memorable bout, as Funk debuts the flaming branding iron that would become so famous in his repertoire. It had tons of good brawling, some weapons use, and even a few wrestling moves. It had a good balance of the many factors that the typical ECW match should've had. The match is featured on the ECW Pioneer Entertainment commercial home video, "Deep Impact," so you may want to check that out.
- In an IWA Japan tag team match on April 2, 1995 at the Tokyo Dome, Terry Funk teamed with Leatherface and Shoji Nakamaki to defeat Cactus Jack and The Headhunters (A & B) via pinfall in a gruesome "Barbed-Wire Board Scramble Bunkhouse Death Match."
- At ECW Hostile City Showdown (4/15/95), which occurred at Philadelphia's ECW Arena, the night's main event pitted the two hardcore icons toe-to-toe. A brawl begins the match and eventually leads the two up onto the eagle's nest structure, where several chairshots are exchanged. Funk moves off a table, causing Cactus to crash through it via a missed elbow drop off of the edge of a nearby stairway. They brawl their way back to the ring area, where Cactus twice throws Funk into a table. Funk, though, regains control and pushes Cactus off the ring apron to the concrete, and then takes a broken beer bottle and uses the sharp remnants to slice open both Cactus' arms and face!
Both Cactus' underdog tag team partner, Mikey Whipwreck, and Hack Myers attempt to interfere, but are fought off by Funk. A chairshot to Cactus' leg subdues him temporarily subdues him, so Funk wraps on his dreaded Funk spinning toehold, but Cactus is quick to counter with an inside cradle, getting 2. He quickly rises and DDT's Funk on a nearby chair. After fighting off attempted interference by The Sandman, Cactus drops Funk with a second DDT, which is enough to gain the 1-2-3 pinfall win (12:58).
After the match, though, is a different story, as Sandman pours lighter fluid on Cactus and Funk shoots a fireball at him. Funk then pokes him with a firing branding iron, causing a few more burns and prompting Cactus' back to erupt in flames for a split second. Some more fiery pokes by Funk eventually lead to Cactus stealing the weapon and chasing his two adversaries off.
- On August 13, 1995, ECW held their Hardcore Heaven supercard at the famed ECW Arena. The main event saw Cactus Jack go one-on-one with Terry Funk. Before the match, though, the two combatants were face-to-face in the ring, and Cactus had some words for Funk: "Terry, it's going to hurt me to kick your ass all over the ECW Arena, but...not as bad as it's going to hurt you." He then handed the mic to Funk, who also had some words: "That's what I've always loved about you, Cactus - you've always been a dreamer." With that, the two shook hands and the match began. The match immediately became feast of violence, with chairs, cooking pans, stop signs, and so many more weapons being used. They brawled throughout the ring for several minutes.
Eventually, they had an exchange back in the ring. Funk whipped Cactus into the ring-ropes, and the insane one caught himself in a hangman's position in the cables, the same position that had cost him his ear a few years before. Cactus struggled to get loose, but he couldn't, and Funk took advantage of this, nailing him with a stiff fist that knocked him out of the position and onto the cold, hard, concrete floor. It was only a matter of seconds before Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock - collectively known as The Public Enemy (who were the current ECW World Tag Team Champions) - ran down and began attacking both participants. However, when they realized that they were no match for P.E., the two hardcore icons began teaming up to fight off the opposition. They eventually succeeded, and both Grunge and Rock were lying on the mat.
Funk told Cactus to get him a chair to use on them, but none were in close sight. So, knowing that one would have to be more than happy to do so, Cactus signaled to the fans to toss him a chair, which was happily obliged to, as one quickly came soaring into the ring. Then came another. Looks like there'll be one for each man. Uhh...then another. Another. Another. Another. Another. Another. Soon, it was literally raining chairs, with tons being thrown into the ring each second. Cactus was clearly mesmorized by the sight, standing in the middle of the ring in awe at the amazing spectacle he was witnessing, until...one clocked him right on the head, and he knew it was time to leave.
Within minutes, the ring was filled with over 200 chairs, and P.E. was underneath the gigantic pile! By the time they fought their way out of the mess, the main event for the show two weeks later was set - Cactus Jack & Terry Funk vs. Public Enemy for P.E.'s ECW World Tag Team Titles. The clip of this moment would be replayed on ECW television for years, and is sometimes seen in the intro of ECW Pioneer Entertainment Home Videos. The day of that match, Cactus arrived at his hotel to and was told by Todd Gordon (ECW's original owner) that Funk had missed his flight and couldn't make it to the show. The decision was eventually made to have the skinny, young underdog named Mikey Whipwreck team up with Cactus against P.E. In quite a shocker, he and Cactus would end up winning the world tag team titles from P.E. However, before he and Mikey shocked the wrestling world by winning the ECW World Tag Team Titles, Cactus would have another, even more famous show to wrestle on...
- On August 20, 1995, one of the most infamous shows in the history of all professional wrestling occurred at the Kawasaki Statium: the first annual (and only) IWA King of the Death Match Tournament. The object was simple: eight different men (Hiroshi Ono, Leatherface, a young Mr. Gannosuke, Paul Gordy, Shoji Nakamaki, Tiger Jeet Singh, and of course, Cactus Jack and Terry Funk) would be entered into a one night, single-elimination death match tournament. In the first round, they would participate in death matches, two of which would feature barbed-wire boards and chains, the other two featuring a barbed-wire baseball bat and thumbtacks. Two semifinal matches would be held, one of which featuring barbed-wire board and glass shards, the other featuring barbed-wire boards and nails/spikes. Then, in the final round, a No-Rope Explosive Barbed-Wire Time Bomb Death Match would occur, where the ring would explode after several minutes.
In the night's opener, Tiger Jeet Singh beat a young Mr. Gannosuke in a Barbed-Wire Board and Chain Death Match, and Terry Funk did the same to Leatherface. Cactus Jack would then defeat Terry Gordy in a Barbed-Wire Baseball Bat & Thumbtack Death Match, and Shoji Nakamaki would do the same when he defeated rival Hiroshi Ono to force Ono into retirement. Two other non-tourney matches occurred, and then a semifinal Barbed-Wire Board & Glass Death Match between Terry Funk and Tiger Jeet Singh. Cactus interfered and attempted to swack Funk with Tiger's trademark sword, but he missed and hit Singh, allowing Funk to score the win, securing his spot in the finals. Next, Cactus defeated Nakamaki in a Barbed-Wire Board & Spike Nail Death Match. So, the final exploding ring match would see a battle between Cactus Jack and his idol, Terry Funk. After two more non-tourney matches, it was time for the final.
Everything was set up: there were C-4 Explosives secured on the barbed-wire boards, and the ring-ropes were replaced with barbed-wire. The match began with Funk hitting his usual hangman's neckbreaker. Cactus is whipped toward the corner wire board, but slides under to the outside, avoiding it. Cactus is eventually thrown into the wirey ropes, and Funk has already been cut open, too. Funk soon collapses into the corner where one of the boards is, prompting a <!BANG!>, as one of the mini-explosions rocked the ring. What the...The board is going up in flames, and Cactus is whipped toward it! Can he avoid...NO! He Flair Flips right into it, and another <!BANG!> sounds, signaling another mini-explosion! Funk uses the time to recover, and eventually gets Cactus up and drops him with a piledriver. Cactus is tossed into a non-explosive board. Funk covers and gets two. Funk is soon grounded, so Cactus places a board on him and bashes it into him with an elbow drop.
The two quickly end up on the outside ring area and begin brawling. One they're back in the ring, Funk uses his spinning toe hold. Tiger Jeet Singh enters and attacks Funk with his sword. Terry is soon tossed into an explosive board, prompting another <!BOOM!>. The explosion is rather small, but it obviously did the damage. Funk somehow kicks out. The timer is ticking dangerously far down: 10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...<!BOOM!> The C-4 explosive goes off, but...it was about the same size as the others! The damn explosion as supposed to engulf most of the ring, but it only was big enough to effect one corner! The two immediately realize what's just happened, and try to halt the fans boos for a moment with another explosion, this one thanks to Cactus' backdrop suplex on Funk onto the last explosive board.
Cactus gets a ladder from ringside and bashes Funk with it, eventually dropping it on the crazed old guy. Cactus sets it up and climbs up the ladder, leaping off and delivering his trademark elbow drop to the chest of Funk. Two. Cactus' face is completely ripped open. No white skin is visible; Only blood can be seen. He goes to climb the ladder again, but midway through his ascent, Funk pushes the ladder toward the wirey ropes! Cactus falls CROTCH-FIRST on the BARBED-WIRE ring-ropes!!!!! Sick!!! However, a blood-covered Cactus eventually recovers and covers Funk for the 1-2-3 pinfall win (13:21). Cactus Jack has defeated Terry Funk in the final round of the tournament, and is now the champion of the first annual (and only) IWA King of the Deathmatch! Blood was a given on that night, and it's abundance was no disappointment to the fans.
Foley discusses the match a lot in his first book, "Have A Nice Day!" His whole arm was burnt severely, and Funk was burnt very badly, too. They planned on having Funk push the ladder down and have Cactus sail over the barbed-wire and to the concrete below, but he was way short, and landed on the wire, almost having his one good ear cut off (he lost one of them in a match with Vader in Munich, Germany). He also discusses how shocked he and Funk was at how small the "big" explosion actually was.
He said that he planned on having Funk be the man that would be remembered for kicking out of the C-4 ring explosive, but he was practically unconscious, and therefore the match had to end fairly quickly. The plan was for the two to shake hands after the match, but Funk was too injured and immediately wheeled away to the hospital. Cactus was handed the King of the Deathmatch trophy, and held it up for all to see. According to his book, he then put it down and hasn't seen it since. He then went backstage and had his wounds attended to.
- On November 18, 1995, ECW held their historic November To Remember 1995 supercard and boasted a tag team main event pitting Cactus Jack and Raven against Terry Funk and Tommy Dreamer. Cactus is in the middle of his famous pro-Eric Bischoff/WCW angle, and therefore wears a "Dungeon of Doom" shirt, a WCW stable consisting of Big Bubba Rogers, Brutus Beefcake, John Tenta, Kevin Sullivan, Loch Ness, The Yeti, and several other WCW rejects. This, as would've been expected, prompted tons of boos from the ECW Arena crowd, as WCW was obviously not their favorite company (nor was the WWF, for that matter).
The angle saw Cactus continually suck up to Bischoff and the WCW guys, such as wearing t-shirts and praising them on the microphone during his legendary promos. All of the WCW guys, especially Bischoff, were loathed by the ECW fans. In what may be of note, Funk had recently promised to retire (for the seemingly the "umpteenth" time). Wrestling fans, though, are still waiting to this day (I remember how, during a Nitro episode, he promised to retire on I think it was July 31, 2000, but still has yet to do so).
With the heels (Cactus & Raven) playing mind games, Funk tosses a steel chair into the ring, and it connects with Raven's head perfectly, swacking him hard. As Raven's lackie, Stevie Richards, comes running out to assist the heels, Funk bashes Cactus and Raven with a speed limit sign. Funk and Dreamer then put Stevie in a shopping cart and throw him into the turnbuckle. Dreamer gets a VCR from the crowd and tosses it at Raven in what would become a famous clip, while Funk chooses a snow shovel as his ideal weapon to use upon Cactus. A cheese grater is also used, bloodying up a few of the combatants. By this point, the buzz in the ECW Arena is going through the roof. There's incredible heat towards the heels, while the faces are way over and being urged to use every weapon in sight on the heels. Anyway, Funk goes berserk and smacks out the referee and Cactus swacks Dreamer with a chair, as the ECW fans break out into an "EC Fuckin' W!" chant.
The heels use a metal chain to bash Tommy with. Raven, a bloody mess by now, does his signature crucifix pose. He goes back to his arch-nemesis and drops Dreamer with the Evenflow DDT. Some more brawling quickly leads to Dreamer countering a second attempted use of the chain by causing both heels to collide into eachother. Once recovered, Cactus' heat with the ECW fans jumps from hot to scorching when he takes off his DoD shirt to reveal a "Forgive Me, Eric" shirt, which has a big picture of the despised face of Bischoff. An incensed and bloody Dreamer attacks Cactus, puts the shirt over his head, and begins punching the blinded Cactus. He then takes a chair, and then a garbage can, smacking them over the insane one's head. Raven takes to the air and hits Dreamer with his trademark pescado.
Cactus is able to fight back and plant Dreamer on the chair with a Double Arm Underhook DDT. The ECW fans begin a "Vader!" chant to annoy Cactus (Vader was responsible for tearing off Cactus' ear in Munich, Germany, so those two have some heat with one another). Raven covers Funk, who also looks to be out, but the referee was knocked out earlier, so Cactus counts the pinfall. The pinfall obviously doesn't count, though, because Cactus isn't an official referee. Bill Alfonso and Taz, both of whom turned heel earlier that same night, run down and Alfonso counts to two before Funk kicks out. Dreamer and Taz, who are former friends (now enemies because Taz turned heel earlier in the night) get in eachother's face, but nothing happens, as Raven drills Dreamer from behind. Alfonso and Taz leave the ring area, once again leaving it two on two.
Dreamer hits two DDT's on Raven, and then drops him on a chair via a piledriver, but is distracted by Cactus. Funk, though, the veteran that he is, uses his great ring prescence and covers the fallen Raven. John Molineaux, who's by now run down, makes the count: 1...2...3 (13:39)!!! After the match, Stevie Richards arrives and assists the heels in a three on two beatdown, leaving Dreamer and Funk lying bloodied as the show came to a close. Terry Funk and Tommy Dreamer have defeated Cactus Jack and Raven. However, by having Funk pin Raven (and not Dreamer), the Dreamer/Raven rivalry is still at an all-time high, as Dreamer still has yet to pin Raven, and he wouldn't for another one and a half years, at Wrestlepalooza '97.
That match is regarded as one of the best in ECW's history. The brawling was booked to perfection, and the incredible heat was always apparent. Also, the Cactus/Funk and Dreamer/Raven feuds blended perfectly together for the tag team match. Both were still alive and well, but this match struck a serious blow in who had the upperhand. It was also booked in such a way that made it seem as though there was legitimate heat between the two feuds, an abundant factor in the classic Dreamer/Raven saga. This match showed just what Paul E. Heyman could do with the right guys and with enough motivation.
Scott Keith of TheSmarks.com rates this match ****, something not often seen, especially when pertaining to ECW, a promotion that prided themselves on the abundance of bloody violence. That's not to say, though, that this match wasn't bloody and violent. Damn near every weapon in the building was used, and all four participants were bloody messes by the time the bell rung for the second time. The spectacular intensity involved in this match helped dramatically in making November To Remember '95 what many call ECW's greatest overall show of all-time.
- On December 9, 1995, an IWA Japan tag team match saw Cactus Jack teaming with Tiger Jeet Singh to take on Terry Funk and Keisuke Yamada. Early in, Funk drops Cactus head-first onto the bare concrete floor via a piledriver. Singh tries to help his partner out and begins digging his signature sword deep into the forehead of Funk. After an actual wrestling exchange, Yamada sends Cactus to the outside with an enziguri, and follows that up with a nice plancha onto the insane one. Back in, Yamada's spinning heel kick and backdrop suplex each get two. Cactus avoids another attempted kick and drills Yamada with his trademark Double Arm Underhook DDT. 1-2-3. Cactus and Singh defeat Funk and Yamada. After the match, Cactus and Singh continue beating on the faces. Funk is cut dangerously deep, but Tarzan Goto, who Cactus had been feuding with at the time, runs in and scares them off. He and Funk shake hands.
- Both Foley and Funk would eventually jump to the World Wrestling Federation, where they would have a few more battles. At the January 21, 1997 Royal Rumble, Funk entered at #24, and Foley (as "Mankind") at #26. The two brawled for a good while, but Mankind eventually ended up eliminating his nemesis. Mankind would be the next eliminated, as he was sent up and over the ropes by The Undertaker. About a year later, Foley bought up a unique possibility to McMahon, who surprisingly agreed...at first. The plan was for Foley (as Cactus) and Funk to begin feuding, and eventually have a showdown at WrestleMania XVI (14, in '98). Foley convinced McMahon that if they put a discretion warning on the pay-per-view, a No-Rope Barbed-Wire Deathmatch could occur once again.
The WWF was in dire need of interesting storylines, as they had lost Bret Hart to WCW a year before and were about to lose Shawn Michaels to retirement. Actually, in '97, believe it or not, McMahon met with Japanese hardcore legend Atsushi Onita, and another surprising plan was almost agreed upon, where Onita would wrestle an Exploding Ring Deathmatch for the WWF. It eventually, of course, fell apart, though, and the deal was never finalized. The same goes for the Cactus/Funk showdown. The plan never fell through.
- However, they did have a few battles during this period. At January 18, 1998's Royal Rumble, Cactus Jack was the #1 entrant and Terry Funk (as "Chainsaw Charlie") was #2. Anotherwards, the two hardcore legends would square off to begin the historic annual event. Cactus enters with several trash cans, while Charlie enters with his chainsaw prop. Cactus threw several chairs into the ring, and the match quickly began. They exchanged some chairshots, but it quickly became a war of fists, with each daring the other to take a shot, which both happily obliged to. The #3 entrant was a lowcarder named Tom Brandi, and Cactus and Chainsaw teamed up for a moment to eliminate him without any problem. They quickly went back to their war against eachother, though.
Cactus set up two chairs right next to eachother, and then suplexed Charlie onto them! The Rock entered at #4, and quickly attacked both. Cactus quickly subdued him with a garbage can shot, though, and then put the item over Rock's head, blinding him completely. He hammered the metal object, and then swacked it with a chair, which sent Rock through the ropes to the outside. He wasn't eliminated, though, as one must be thrown over the top-rope in order to be officially eliminated. The next three entrants ended up being Mosh, then Phinneas Godwinn (a.k.a. Mideon), and then 8-Ball (one of the Harris Brothers, of WCW fame). Charlie threw Cactus up and over the top, eliminating him. Charlie had eliminated his arch-rival, or so he thought...
After eight others entered, the Mankind music (one of Foley's other personas) hit and out came the demented, deranged one, Mankind. He had already been eliminated, but that was as Cactus Jack; He could still participate under his other alias, Mankind! Mankind entered the ring and immediately targeted Charlie, throwing him over the ropes, eliminating him from the match. Foley had come back under a different persona and eliminated Chainsaw Charlie. Mankind was the next one eliminated, though, that being by Goldust.
However, after nine others entered (including Stone Cold Steve Austin, who eliminated several), the Dude Love music played and...what the hell!? Dude Love is coming out! Mick Foley has entered the 1998 Royal Rumble under three different aliases! Dude survived for awhile and even eliminated some, but was eventually assaulted by Austin and clotheslined out by Faarooq. Either way, it had been quite a night for Mick Foley, who had, under three different personas, wrestled, and succeeded in eliminating Chainsaw Charlie (a.k.a. Terry Funk).
- The plan for their rivalry eventually turned into a partnership between the two (w/ Funk playing "Chainsaw Charlie"), and they actually won the WWF World Tag Team Titles at the WrestleMania event that year (3/29/98) by beating the New Age Outlaws in a Dumpster Match. Their luck ran out the next night, though, as they lost the titles on RAW(3/30/98) to the Outlaws in a Steel Cage Match (this was the night the Outlaws joined DX). The next week on RAW (4/6/98), he did a partial shoot promo, berating the fans for their lack of respect of all they blood and all the years he's given them. His finishing line was "You're not going to see Cactus Jack in this ring for a long time."
- On the next RAW (4/13/98), Terry Funk announced that he was dumping "the quitter, Cactus Jack," for his new partner, Flash Funk (a.k.a. Too Cold Scorpio). The main event for that night was scheduled to be Stone Cold defending his WWF Title against Mr. McMahon. Before the match got underway, some 70's-like music hits and out comes Mick Foley, in tie-dye clothes. It's the WWF debut of Dude Love!!! He gets on the microphone: "Can't we all just get along? The Dude does not feel a lot of love here tonight. We all know there's only one cat who can bring peace to the WWF, and that's Dude Love!" McMahon eventually pushes him down, so he tries to lock on the Manible Claw. Austin comes over, though, and he locks it on him. Dude and Austin brawled to the outside ring area as the show went off the air.
- Dude had some quality TV time over the next few weeks, getting into confrontations with both Austin and McMahon. Meanwhile, Funk's new partnership with Flash Funk found some success, defeating some good tag teams. On the May 4, 1998 edition of RAW (from the Coliseum in Richmond, VA), a confrontation between Dude and McMahon saw Dude accuse McMahon of trying to punish him by making him fight his former best friend, Terry Funk, in a No Holds Barred Falls Count Anywhere Match. McMahon, though, promised that it was a reward, as, if he won, he'd become the number one contender for Stone Cold's WWF Title. This was enough to at least satisfy Dude for the timebeing. Austin, though, would end up breaking up the confrontation by attacking McMahon and destroying the scenery for Dude's TV segment, "The Love Shack." It was also announced that Austin would do special guest commentary for the bound to be gory main event.
Before the match, a video vignette ran, recapping the good and the bad history between Mick Foley and Terry Funk. Foley's home video footage was shown, exchanges between the two in their gory Japanese deathmatches were shown, and some WWF footage was shown, making for a truly awesome piece of history. The video features the following line from Funk: "I love him like a son, but if I have to beat him to death, I will." Anyway, also before the match, WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin is introduced, and he downs a few beers before sitting down at the announcing booth.
Funk comes out first, and then Foley enters. He has no music, and instead of "Dude Love," is introduced as plain old "Mick Foley," proving that WrestleMania 2000 was not the first time he used that alias. McMahon "stooge" Pat Patterson is introduced as the special guest referee. Austin: "What in the hell is this crap?" The match almost immediately becomes a full-fledged brawl, with both competitors exchanging hard chairshots and irish whips into the guardrail and steel steps. They eventually end up back in the ring, where Funk whips Foley into the ropes, but is downed with Foley's surprising Swinging DDT-like counter. Austin's headset goes out, so he takes that of Jerry Lawler, and then hammers "The King," sending him to stumble his way to the back. He and Jim Ross begin arguing over why he just did that.
On the outside, Funk knocks out Patterson, and then reverses Foley's piledriver and backdrops the insane one onto the hard concrete floor, as the protective mats had been pulled up. A brawl in the crowd quickly ensues, and they eventually end up at a concession stand, where Foley bodyslams the hot dog vendor. They brawl their way around more, Foley is subdued and layed right next to the fallen hot dog vendor (who still hasn't risen), and climbs up onto the guardrail of the building's next level (a balcony). Funk balances himself and...MOONSAULT!!! Terry Funk Moonsaults off of the guardrail of a balcony, crashing onto Mick Foley and the hot dog vendor several feet below!!! What a spot!!! Funk looks like he may have landed on the back of his neck and is receiving a stinger.
Foley actually recovers first and destroys a popcorn display while Austin is able to non-sarcastically say that "This is quality wrestling." Foley brings Funk up onto a nearby table and piledrives him onto it (it doesn't collapse)! Once recovered, the two begin brawling under the bleachers, so a commercial break commences. When they arrive back on the air, replays are shown of the brawl backstage, one that featured a garbage can and a table. They quickly brawl their way back out to the main arena, where Foley gets a two count after a DDT on the entrance ramp. Foley tosses Funk into the ring, but they end up back out rather quickly. Foley takes off the top "sheet" of the announce table and throws it at Funk. He then lays Funk on the table and charges him, slamming the chair into his face.
Austin and Foley have a quick verbal exchange before Foley brings the action back into the ring, where he gets two. His trademark Double Arm Underhook DDT gets the same result. Foley hits a piledriver, and then adds a chair to the equation, dropping Funk head-first on the steel with a second piledriver. Patterson counts the fall: 1-2-3 (16:32, including the ad break)! Mick Foley has pinned his arch-rival and has become the number one contender to the WWF World Heavyweight Title in the process! After the match, though, Foley continues the assault, repeatedly bashing Funk with the chair. Austin enters the ring and tosses beer into Foley's face.
Patterson tries to break them up, receives a kick to the gut and a Stone Cold Stunner for his efforts! Austin's music hits, but the P.A. quickly switches to the tunes of Dude Love's theme. Vince McMahon and the "dudettes" walk down the ramp and enter the ring. "I knew you could do it!," McMahon says, congratulating the new number one contender. Dude Love (who he's supposedly back to portraying), Vince McMahon, and the dudettes are all breakin' out in some moves as the show goes off the air.
That match was basically a streetfight, and it's regarded as one of the WWF's greatest hardcore matches ever. The brawling was entertaining and the bumps were scary to watch at times (like Funk's moonsault). That match would end up being Funk's last match in the WWF, as we would leave the company not too long after. Foley, on the otherhand, would end up winning the WWF World Heavyweight Title in 1999 from Austin and would, just a few months later, wrestle The Undertaker in the infamous bloodbath that was Hell In The Cell. Funk would wrestle in Japan for awhile, and then have a stay in WCW in 2000-2001, winning the WCW Hardcore Title a few times.
Tag Team Match Results
TALLY: Foley: 1 win; Funk: 4 wins
ADVANTAGE: Funk (4 wins)
One-On-One Match Results
TALLY: Foley: 3 wins; Funk: 1 win; No-Decisions: 1 No Contest
ADVANTAGE: Foley (3 wins)
FINAL TALLY: Foley: 4 wins; Funk: 5 wins; No-Decisions: 1 No
Contest
UNDISPUTED WINNER of the MICK FOLEY vs. TERRY FUNK Feud:
Terry Funk (5 wins)
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