Ric Flair v Terry Funk (WCW Great American Bash, 7/23/89)
What an incredible bit of pro-wrestling. "My favourite Flair at this point is the one who gets pissed off and surly." "My favourite Flair is the one who'll just chop you to ribbons and forget about the begging off." "Babyface Flair is probably more interesting me at this point than heel Flair." How many times have I said any or all of those things on this here blog over the last few years? A bunch. This was that Flair, the Flair on the side of good, the Flair who'll still get pissed off and surly and chop you to ribbons, working a guy on the side of despicable who will also get pissed off and surly and chop you to ribbons. And my god how amazing was Terry Funk? When he wanted to play the wildman there was nobody wilder. There are a small handful of guys in wrestling history who could do it like him, with that aura and presence that had you thinking things could go south at any minute. It was like a chemical reaction with Funk, not too dissimilar to how it was with Hansen. You dropped them into an environment and they altered their surroundings completely. Their madness radiated outwards and it touched everyone. Everything he did in this had a hint of the crazies. On his way to the ring he's escorted by a horde of security and still about manages to start three separate fights, then a fourth when one of those security guards tries to intervene on his behalf. Even his stalling has an underlying chaos. He'll take a powder, jump over the barricade and get in a fan's face, shout abuse at folk, threaten to punch someone, throw furniture around, swing a chair at nobody in particular. When it comes right down to it that's stalling. It's in the pursuit of gettin' heat. It's different to how a Larry Zbyszko or Buddy Rose would do it but the end goal is the same. And people are just rabid for Flair to put him in his place. This was pretty much a wall to wall fight, but there were a bunch of cool layers to go along with the blood and chops and biting. It was that piledriver on the table a couple months back that started this and so the neck was always in play. Flair was in a fucking plane crash that one time so why wouldn't Funk want to drop him on his neck again? If you're Flair and you really want to revel in your vengeance then why not go after Funk's neck in return? Of course Funk sells the piledriver like only he can, but I loved Flair just trying to twist his head off as well. When Funk took over - with a shot from the branding iron, which ruled - what was the first thing he went for? The piledriver, obviously. At one point Flair was crawling around the floor and Funk just flung his entire body weight down across his neck. The revenge spot with the branding iron was great as well, not just because it led to the double juice and more forehead-biting and so on, but because it really hammered home how this match was about payback. No good deed goes unpunished and these two had been in the game long enough that they knew it. Also thought the finish was great. When Flair missed that knee in the corner I expected your standard Flair opponent applies the figure-four spot, but then naturally Funk went to the spinning toe hold instead because he is a by god son of Funk. Then it leads into the cradle reversal and we get a satisfying finish that leaves plenty on the table for an inevitable rematch. Flair running around like a maniac post-match covered in blood and green mist is fucking tremendous. His face looked like a busted paint palette. "Terry Funk, we're just gettin started, pal. I'm gonna dog you until I wear your Texas. Ass. Out. WOOO!" And he did, too.
