#31: Terry Funk vs. Harley Race, NWA Houston Wrestling (7/1/1977).
Hello to anyone reading this! If you're here, you're in for a treat this week. The theme for this week is all about the legendary Terry Funk. The Middle Aged and Crazy Legend from the Double Cross Ranch in Amarillo, Texas is one of the absolute greatest to ever do it, and his passing in 2023 is still felt by wrestling fans worldwide.
I didn't want to just stick to the obvious choices for a Funk themed week. I tried to be diverse in my selections, because let's face it - Terry Funk has been all over the damn place.
Starting out is this incredible bout between he and Harley Race from 1977. This is a 2 Out of 3 Falls Match for Race's NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship.
Funk's 420 day reign as the Worlds Champion ended at the hands of Race, so he's hoping to regain it on this night. The bell sounds, and they circle each other. Funk fakes some leg movements to throw Race off his game. I absolutely love that little bit of Funk's game.
They lock up and pull away quickly. They do it again, and Funk gets Race into the ropes hard. Funk chops Race against the ropes. Funk takes control of the arm and pulls it behind Race's back. He jerks the arm back and forth without bending it, adding immense pressure.
Funk stands on the shoulder and chest of Race and falls backwards while maintaining control of the arm, which causes it to be stretched even further. He hammerlocks the arm and uses his legs to hook the arm and falls back again. Funk maintains the hammerlock and puts Race in a half nelson stretch on the opposite arm! Now that's something more technical/submission wrestlers should do.
Race gets back to his feet, and chops Funk. The challenger returns it in kind. Funk hits a high powerslam, and goes right back to the armbar. Funk is merciless and meticulous in his control of the arm. A chop from Funk, followed by a press slam. Funk drops multiple knees to the arm next.
Funk uses his legs to do a Dragon Screw Legwhip of sorts to Race's injured arm. The YouTube video I was watching of this match has some of the match missing, so it transitions from this sequence to Race applying a headlock to Funk. Funk tries to forearm the kidney to escape, but the champion will not release the hold.
After some time, the Funker finally escapes the headlock and he whips the injured arm back into an armbar. Race, the clever champion, is quick to trap Funk in a head scissors. Race lifts his leg and drops it hard onto Funk's face. He transitions to a crooked head scissors next, which adds more pressure to the neck.
I don't know who is doing commentary for this match, but he is fucking awesome. He's focusing on the action, and he's educating you on the holds. I love it! Funk tries for a back body drop and Race grips the midsection. He still has the head scissors in, while Funk is on his feet. This, if I may say, is quite the spectacle to see.
After some struggling, Funk finally collapses, and Race still has the head scissors in. We're 20 minutes into this match, and not much has happened. That said, this is riveting stuff! Funk gets back to his feet, and drags Race to the corner on his knees, which forces the referee to break the hold. That's smart. Race unloads with some hard left hand strikes. They lock up and Race twists at the arm.
Funk chops the chest, and then headbutts Race - which ends up hurting himself more. More hard chops in the ropes from Funk. They lock up once again at the 25 minute call. How often do you see that? Funk avoids a straight left hand and jabs Race. Funk may have the best worked jab in the world. He trips Race and goes right for the Spinning Toe Hold. Race is quick to kick him away.
A knee lift to Funk, and Race tries for the Figure Four Leglock. Funk is able to reverse it and roll Race up for a 2 count. A shoulder tackle next from Funk. He goes for another, and Race sends him through the ropes and straight to the floor. Race grabs Funk on the apron and brings him back inside with a suplex.
Race locks Funk in the Abdominal Stretch submission. After light struggle, Funk submits, and Race takes the first fall. After a small break, the second fall starts. Funk slaps Race repeatedly in the corner. A powerslam follows, and Race follows that with a fireman's carry that keeps Funk down.
He drops an elbow to the back. Race gets a backbreaker locked in next. Funk is able to escape, and Race goes for the Abdominal Stretch again. Funk is able to counter it and hits the Piledriver, and that's enough for Funk to get the 3 count, and take the second fall. Another small break, and the final fall begins.
Race pops a chop off in the ropes, followed by a hard left hand. Funk, double tough, ain't backing down! Big chop exchange goes off, and Funk is able to get the upper hand. Funk gets a big knee to the face, and he gets a nearfall off of that. Swinging neckbreaker follows, and that gets the Funker another 2 count.
Funk just kicks Race right in the fucking face. Atomic Drop to the champion next. Growing up, I used to think that move was weak, but now, as a 31 year old male, that shit looks painful. Race gets his legs on the ropes to break the count. Funk trips Race, and he locks in the Spinning Toe Hold. Race clobbers Funk to break it up.
Funk tries the Toe Hold again, and Race punches him again to break it up. Funk is now busted open over his eye. Race continues the assault, but Funk is able to get the Toe Hold in again. More punches from Race, and he's out again. Race targets the cut with hard left hands, which causes Funk to bleed even more.
Funk is able to get the Toe Hold on, and Race escapes once again. Race drops his knee right on Funk's face, which also hurts Race! Race headbutts Funk on the mat, and Funk is quick to drop his knee over Race's thigh. Another Toe Hold attempt, and another moment of Race breaking out.
Funk is relentless in trying for the Toe Hold. Race clocks him again, and Funk tries to grip onto the leg. He takes a shot at the referee, who he thinks is Race, and the referee calls for a doctor stoppage. Funk can't see! Race has taken the 3rd fall, and ultimately wins the match to retain the championship.
I enjoyed the fuck out of that! Though I have to say, I think I would've liked it more a year ago. You may or may not know, but I recently completed a wrestling book, called "King's Road: 25 Years of Wrestling Fandom Condensed Into 100 Matches." I picked the 100 best wrestling matches, and I wrote about them. It took 11 months to finish. In doing all of that work, I picked up on a few things that I now can't help but notice in every match I see. One of those is limb psychology.
In this match, Funk works on the arm of Race early on, while Race works on the head early on. So, why then did Race win a fall by stretching Funk's arm, and Funk won a fall by doing a move to Race's head? That bothered me so much as I watched this. But a year ago, when I didn't know any better, I wouldn't have even noticed!
Anyway, I still loved this match, and it's definitely one of the better ones I've seen. Whether it made sense in the long run or not, I absolutely loved the limb work during the first 25 minutes of this match. It felt like an actual chess match before my eyes. It felt like a legitimate contest between two real athletes. Commentary took this really far as well. Whoever that was, job well done.
My only ding on this is that the limb work was pointless by the end. But I don't think that takes away from the quality presented here. If more 1970s wrestling is like this, sign me up!