It’s time to update the Greatest Wrestler Ever project. Continue reading
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Category Archives: ECW
Review: Monday Night War (ECW) Episode 7
Ironically, the latest episode of WWE’s Monday Night War documentary series focuses on a product that wasn’t even on Monday Nights – Extreme Championship Wrestling. Continue reading
Video – Paul Heyman Joins Ariel Helwani On The MMA Hour
WrestleMania 30 For 30 – WrestleMania XIX Part 1
It’s a bit of a transitional era for WWE as we cover the post WrestleMania X8 months and head into 2003, leading up to WrestleMania XIX from Seattle.
In part one, Brandon Draven, Big D, and GG discuss the following on this WrestleMania XIX podcast:
– The brand extension
– Getting the F out
– Triple H’s insistence on holding titles
– The return of HBK!
– A bit about some of the companies that started up after WCW and ECW died
Check it out and let us know what you think.
Lost Heroes: Pat Tanaka
With September being the month of the infamous Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame honoring the greatest names in the history of the business who made a difference, its kind of sad that many people who DO deserve it will be left out (see the Rock N Roll Express, Dick Murdoch, Arn, Sting. etc). But what about those journeymen who, maybe didn’t sell out the Garden or the Tokyo Dome, or even the ECW Bingo Hall, but still hold a place in the hearts of many.
Today I want to talk about Pat Tanaka. Continue reading
Greatest Wrestlers Of The WrestleMania Era: #11 – Terry Funk
When the WrestleMania era started, Terry Funk was, by all measures, in the twilight of his career. Aged 41 and having done more in his career than 99% of wrestlers (including a short lived retirement in 1983), most men would have faded into the sunset, content with their undeniable status as a legend of the business. Terry Funk is not most men. He pressed on with his legendary career in All Japan Pro Wrestling and he surfaced back on American television in 1989 for the NWA/WCW. His role was simply to sit in on a panel of judges for the final Flair/Steamboat match of that year. Little did anyone know that on that night Funk would take part in an angle for the ages, as he attacked Flair post match and piledrove him through a table. It set off an epic feud between the two which brought Funk right back to the top of the national scene. Their I Quit match at Clash Of The Champions IX in Troy, New York was one of the best brawls ever to take place on a major US television show and saw Funk put over Flair in the selfless fashion that he did with so many others.
The 90s saw Funk’s career go in a whole new direction. Having always been one of the more believable brawlers in the world, the popularisation of “hardcore” wrestling in Japan and in the US gave Funk a whole new avenue to grow his popularity and feed his insanity. Bordering on 50 years of age, Funk was lighting himself on fire, jumping into C4 explosives and doing moonsaults off balconies. In doing so he helped two fledgling companies in FMW and ECW solidify themselves in the wrestling world with their own niche audience. In a gripping scene from the movie Beyond The Mat, Paul Heyman was shown rallying the ECW crew before their first PPV Barely Legal. With conviction in his voice, he told them all to thank Terry Funk because without him they wouldn’t be where they are. Funk’s role in ECW’s success is often underrated – he really was a key force in establishing what they became at their peak.
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