Happy Saturday Everyone!
We’ve got Terry Funk’s Wrestlefest this week, an event that you may have heard of before if you’ve ever watched the movie Beyond The Mat. This was supposed to be Terry Funk’s retirement show, as he’s managed to get the WWF involved meaning that Mankind and Bret Hart will be here, along with some wrestlers from Japan and ECW also.
For some reason the version I have omits one match, but I’ve found it on a certain video streaming site so I’ll include it just because I’m fascinated to see if it’ll actually be any good.
You can view the full card by clicking below;
The event is emanating from Amarillo, Texas on the 11th of September 1997
Calling the action is Joey Styles
We get a moment of silence for Fritz Von Erich to start, who had passed away the previous day according to the ring announcer. It is observed without incident.
Opening Match
Roadkill Vs W*ING Kanemura
Roadkill was still very green here after only recently graduating from Taz’s wrestling school. He’d had about 10-15 matches I think if CageMatch.net is anything to go by. Kanemura is a hardcore guy who has wrestled for most of the hardcore groups in Japan such as W*ING, FMW and APACHE-Pro. Roadkill is actually announced as being from New York here and is dressed in black rags to make him look like a discount Raven. He would eventually start dressing in Amish styled attire and change his hometown to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in order to fit the gimmick.
Kanemura runs wild to start, getting a nice TOPE SUICIDA out onto Roadkill at one stage in order to pop the crowd. Roadkill attacks Kanemura in the nether region in order to take over and work some heat, with his offence being simple stuff like punches and some chair shots to the back. Kanemura sells all of that well and it’s a serviceable heat segment as a result, although you can see that Roadkill was still honing his craft as he kind of just does moves in the heat and doesn’t show off a lot of character or crowd work outside of a few moments. He does fine for the most part though.
Roadkill ends up missing a splash off the top and that leads to Kanemura making the comeback with some kicks, with the crowd seemingly enjoying it. Roadkill tries to fight back with a Powerbomb, but Kanemura slips out of that and then heads up with a Senton Back Splash off the top for the three count and a nice reaction from the crowd.
WINNER: W*ING KANEMURA
RATING: **
Thoughts: Solid opening bout here for the most part. Roadkill was lacking polish but looked fine and Kanemura showed some good fire and took some nice bumps for his bigger opponent
Match Two
ECW World Television Title
Champ: The Human Suplex Machine Taz Vs Mr. No Gimmicks Needed Chris Candido
Taz and Candido wrestled one another quite a bit during this timeframe and the matches were usually good. Taz had turned babyface in the spring of 97 after a pay per view match with Sabu, whilst Candido was part of the Heel Triple Threat faction and had challenged Taz at ECW’s August pay per view event. Joey stresses on the commentary that this isn’t an ECW show but Taz insisted on defending his belt anyway due to being a fighting Champion.
This one only has a 10 minute time limit, which means we’ll probably see an abbreviated version of their usual match. Taz out wrestles Candido to start, leading to Candido trying to turn it into more of a slugfest instead in classic Heel fashion. Taz makes Candido regret that though with some vicious crossface punches following a waist-lock takedown at one stage. Candido bumps around and sells well for Taz in the early exchanges here, making Taz look like a strong Champion.
Candido eventually manages to catch Taz with a Powerbomb for what appears to be the cut off and starts taunting to accentuate it. Taz sells well during the heat, whilst Candido looks good on offence, but Taz eventually catches Candido with some big suplexes in order to get himself back in the match. Candido replies with a rana off the top, but Taz is able to kick out at two, leading to Taz locking in the REDRUM for the tap out.
WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: TAZ
RATING: **1/2
Thoughts: They only had about 7 minutes to work with there, but what we got was a fun outing as both wrestlers looked good and the clean finish was appreciated. It would have been nice to see them get an extra few minutes to work with, especially for a Title match, but what we got was fine and it felt like a solid TV match
Match Three
Shark Tsuchiya Vs Lady Cooga
Shark is a Japanese competitor who worked in FMW from 1989 to 1998 until leaving and working freelance in numerous different women’s promotions. Cooga started out in All Japan Women and was apparently doing most of her wrestling for Yoshimoto Pro at the time of this event. I’m sure the Joshi Boyz here on the Blog can furnish you with more information should you so desire. Shark is working Heel here, showing that off right from the opening bell by choking Cooga on the ropes and tearing at Cooga’s face with her hands. I can just picture Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan calling this match actually;
“Shark is trying to tear out Cooga’s eyes with her fingers there Brain”
“You’re wrong Monsoon. Shark isn’t using her fingers to do that”
“Then what is she doing?”
“She’s using her fins”
“WILL YOU STOP IT!!!”
Anyway, sorry for that diversion, let’s get back to the match, which is mostly just Shark clobbering Cooga whilst Cooga occasionally gets a hope spot. It’s not like it’s a terrible match or anything, but it’s not particularly good either. Cooga does get a nice swinging DDT at one stage, but she’s soon cut off again and gets worked over some more. Cooga can’t put more than one move together in this one, as Shark just keeps cutting her off after every move, which is a strange way to structure a match as it never lets the babyface get any real momentum and makes it difficult for the crowd to get into it. The seven point match structure exists for a reason after all. Shark eventually gets some clotheslines and that’s three.
WINNER: SHARK TSUCHIYA
RATING: *1/2
Thoughts: An oddly structured match with the occasional nice move
Match Four
The Bushwhackers (Luke and Butch) Vs The Youngbloods (Chris and Mark) w/ Ricky Romero
Luke and Butch were actually quite a feared wild hardcore team until they jumped to the WWF in the 80’s to become comedy guys. I’m surprised ECW never tried bringing them in under their old gimmicks actually. The Youngbloods appear to have mostly teamed up in All Japan throughout the 90’s with a stint in WCW as well. The Whackers seem to be doing the WWF wacky babyface version of their act here, whilst Joey mentions that the two teams have been feuding in Puerto Rico.
The Youngbloods are waving the American flag around here in Texas, against a team from outside of MURICA, so I’m guessing they will be working babyface here, which seems to be the case when The Whackers attack them from behind and hit them with the American flag. Oh hey, maybe we’re getting The Sheepherders and not The Bushwhackers on this show? The Youngbloods fight back to clear the ring and The Herders regroup on the floor.
The Youngbloods don’t do much in the way of offence outside of basic punches and kicks, but it looks fine, even if The Herders don’t always take good bumps for it. The Herders were pretty physically shot by this stage in their career, although psychologically they know what they are doing in there, so this match has some crowd interest at least, with The Herders playing the role of evil foreigners and trying to cheat whilst The Youngbloods are babyfaces fighting for the USA.
The Herders eventually cut Chris off and work him over for a bit for the heat, with Chris doing a decent job as the babyface in peril. Eventually it’s hot tag to Mark, who runs wild on The Herders, although his offence doesn’t look especially sharp and The Whackers aren’t really in the right place for a lot of it, which makes it feel a bit messy. The Herders end up getting a double Rib Breaker on Mark, but the ref is distracted and can’t get the pin, leading to Chris dropkicking one of The Herders on a slam so that Mark lands on top for three.
WINNERS: THE YOUNGBLOODS
RATING: *1/2
Thoughts: It told a story and the crowd enjoyed it, but it was a pretty sloppy bout from an in-ring perspective. Still, if the punters enjoyed it then they were doing something right
Match Five
No DQ
ECW World Tag Team Champion Buh-Buh Ray Dudley Vs Balls Mahoney
It looks like it’s supposed to be Sandman taking on Balls Mahoney here, but Buh-Buh jumps Sandman and lays him out, leading to Balls having to face off with Buh-Buh instead. Well, that’s a bit of a downgrade seeing as Sandman was a bigger star in 1997 than Buh-Buh was. The poor ring announcer gets confused by the whole thing, leading to Joey brutalising him on commentary. To be fair, the ring announcer hasn’t had the best of nights bless him. We’ve all been there. Balls does cut a good promo to challenge Buh-Buh actually, with the crowd responding well to it.
The match itself is a decent brawl, with Sandman staying at ringside in order to cheer Balls on against his attacker. This is one of those matches where if you enjoy brawling then you’ll probably have fun with this, but if brawling isn’t something you enjoy then you’ll probably find this one to be a bit of a bore. It’s mostly guys just punching one another with the occasional flashier move thrown in, such as when Balls comes off the ropes with a flying clothesline at one stage.
There is a bit of a botch at one stage where Balls tries coming off the ropes with a chair shot and Buh-Buh tries to counter with a dropkick, but the timing is off and Buh-Buh doesn’t really get high enough, so it doesn’t end up working in the end and they both kind of tumble to the mat. Sandman passes his Singapore cane to Balls not too soon after that though, with Balls getting some shots with it for the three, although it looked like Buh-Buh kicked out and the ref missed it.
WINNER: BALLS MAHONEY
RATING: **
Thoughts: This was going along okay until the botched finish
Sandman sends Buh-Buh packing following the match with some cane shots, which makes me think that the plan was for Sandman to eventually cost Buh-Buh the match more directly seeing as the bout was being fought under No DQ rules.
Match Six
ECW World Title
Champ: The Franchise Shane Douglas w/ Francine Vs The Innovator of Violence Tommy Dreamer w/ Beulah
Douglas had won the belt in a match involving Funk and Sabu back in August, whilst Dreamer is Funk’s protégé and would like to honour his mentor by winning the belt at his retirement show. Douglas cuts a Heel promo before the match insulting both Funk and Texas, before saying that he isn’t going to put the belt on the line tonight. Dreamer cuts a babyface promo in response saying the belt will be on the line, and Beulah insults the size of Douglas’ package for good measure, which I guess means that Douglas is now mad enough to defend his belt?
Joey points out that Douglas signed a contract for a Title match, so the belt is on the line here regardless of what he said in his promo. Dreamer runs wild on Douglas to start, hitting him with a microphone, a cup of bear and a chair. A fan in the crowd shouts that someone in the match is a “Lex Luger wannabe”, which I can only assume means Douglas because it’s not like Dreamer really gives off any Luger vibes. Eventually Douglas dropkicks Dreamer off the apron for the cut off and works some heat, which Dreamer of course sells well because he’s Tommy Dreamer.
Douglas targets Dreamer’s left knee for the most part, with even Francine helping out at certain points, which I’m guessing is building to Douglas going to the Funk Spinning Toe Hold just to be a jerk? Actually, as I was typing that, Douglas locked in the Figure Four instead, which is always ironic due to how much Douglas hated Ric Flair. Dreamer continues to do a good job selling, as this has been a solid match and the crowd have mostly been into it.
Dreamer eventually hip tosses Douglas into the corner in a nice spot you don’t see a lot and makes the comeback, with Douglas selling and bumping well for it. We get our contractually mandated CAT FIGHT of course, with Franny and Beulah going at it. Dreamer of course is too distracted with going after the Heel valet that he leaves himself wide open for a Douglas cheap shot, leading to Douglas then attacking Beulah with a Belly to Blely Suplex for good measure. Dreamer gets some near falls and appears to have it won, but Francine breaks up the pin, leading to a very safe piledriver from Dreamer. Douglas quickly gets a suplex though and that’s enough for three.
WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: SHANE DOUGLAS
RATING: ***
Thoughts: Good match there, as they worked well together and they gave Dreamer some near falls until Douglas pulled it out of the fire at the end. It was very Tommy Dreamer for him to fail to win the ECW Title on his mentors’ tribute show of course
Steve Nelson, a local MMA fighter, joins us with his Title belt. I’m thinking there’ll be an angle, but then he just takes his belt and leaves. I wonder why that made it onto the tape?
Match Seven
Rob Van Dam w/ Bill Alfonso Vs Dory Funk Jr.
This is the match that isn’t on the RF Video cut tape for whatever reason, although it did make it to the Laser Light Digital version. This seems like a bizarre styles clash and I’m genuinely intrigued to see how it goes. Dennis Stamp famously derided RVD in Beyond The Mat saying that he (Stamp) would have a much better match with Dory if given the chance. There is no commentary on this one. Alfonso cuts a promo on Dory before the match, although I can’t quite make out what he’s saying, either because the audio is bad or because Fonzie is just that bad of a promo that what he says is unintelligible.
RVD is drawing some good heat from the crowd here actually, as they don’t like him and of course love Dory due to him being Terry Funk’s brother and all. RVD works really hard here, taking some big bumps for the elder statesmen from basic moves such as shoulder tackles and uppercuts, which the crowd absolutely loves. RVD manages to knock Dory out to the floor and follows with a dive, although Dory doesn’t really do much to catch him, which I don’t really blame him for. RVD works some heat in the ring following that, mostly by kicking and punching so that Dory doesn’t have to take any particularly difficult or extravagant bumps for him.
Dory sells everything well and isn’t put in a position to do anything he can’t, so he looks good in the match in general and the crowd being so HOSS for him really helps. Dory eventually starts Funking Up, no selling some RVD forearms and getting a very nice Double Underhook Suplex before going to the famed Funk Spinning Toe Hold. RVD sells that big but makes the ropes to break the hold and then manages to catch Dory with the Van Daminator whilst Fonzie takes the ref, which is a move I didn’t expect a grizzled old-timer like Dory Funk Jr to take in all honesty as I just figured he’d think it wasn’t very realistic to just hold onto a chair whilst a dude kicks you.
RVD heads up with the Five Star Frogsplash following that, but makes a lazy cover and that leads to Dory kicking out. I like how they sort of protected the finisher there by having RVD delay on the pin and then not pinning Dory properly either. Dory makes the comeback not too soon after that, complete with high back body drop, and keeps looking for that Toe Hold submission. Dory gets a nice slingshot back suplex following that and then gets a cradle hold for the flash three count and a big pop from the crowd.
WINNER: DORY FUNK JR
RATING: **3/4
Thoughts: I quite enjoyed that. It was a major styles clash, but they mostly made it work and Dory was WAY over, so it had a fantastic atmosphere throughout
Match Eight
Sabu w/ Bill Alfonso Vs Mankind
Sabu had wrestled Mick Foley previously in ECW, so they have history to draw from, even though it was Cactus Jack that Sabu faced. Foley has since jumped to the WWF and now wrestles as Mankind, although he occasionally wrestled as Dude Love and Cactus Jack during this timeframe as well. The WWF have signed off on Foley being here for this show, seeing as Foley also has a strong connection with Funk following their wars together both in Japan and in ECW.
They start this one off pretty hot, with Sabu sending Mankind to the floor and following with a dive. Mankind comes in limping following that, leading to Sabu targeting the injured appendage. Well, when I thought about this match I didn’t think we’d see Sabu working over a body part, that’s for sure. Sabu tries going for Air Sabu by running off a chair and attacking Mankind in the corner, but Mankind gets a back elbow to prevent that. Sabu keeps coming though and gets a nice rana off the top for two.
Mankind manages to fight off another rana attempt, but Sabu manages to maintain his control of the bout. Mankind tries to suplex Sabu through a table at one stage, but Fonzie provides a distraction and that allows Sabu to give Mankind a cross body off the apron through the table. Mankind’s mask ends up coming off as a result of that, leading to Foley delivering a series of expletives when Sabu moonsault’s onto his legs back inside the ring. The leg psychology has come and gone in this one, more because Sabu hasn’t consistently gone after it, as Mankind keeps limping.
Mankind eventually channels a bit of Cactus Jack by getting a Double Arm DDT and delivering a BANG BANG, before indulging his Mankind side again by applying the Mandible Claw to Sabu. Fonzie runs in to break that and ends up with some Foley fingers down his gullet as well. The match seems to have been thrown out following that, especially when Mankind applies the Claw to the referee as well. The ring announcer just declares it to be a DQ, but he doesn’t mention who won. Joey seems to think it was Mankind because Fonzie ran in, so we’ll go with that.
WINNER BY DQ: MANKIND
RATING: **1/2
Thoughts: I didn’t think they were really going to end an inter-promotional match like this with a proper finish as it would have been a bit of a political nightmare, so I get the screwy finish. The match itself was okay but I was a bit disappointed. The abbreviated run time didn’t really help things. It had some good moments but it felt quite rushed to me
Both wrestlers continue to brawl following the bouts’ conclusion.
Semi-Main
Jake The Snake Roberts and The Headhunters (A and B) w/ Victor Quinones Vs Hakushi, Hayabusa and Masato Tanaka
I’m guessing this one is IWA Vs FMW as those two companies were feuding at the time? Roberts was going through a litany of issues at the time, so I’m guessing his performance won’t be to a high standard here. The Headhunters are two fat blokes who do Moonsault’s. Hakushi wrestled for both Michinoku Pro and FMW, whilst Hayabusa and Tanaka are FMW originals. Hayabusa’s career and life sadly ended far too soon, especially as he seemed like a nice guy in real life. Tanaka is not only still going today but can still tear it up now and then, as he showed with Takashi Suigiara in 2022.
The ring announcer sadly butchers the Japanese wrestlers’ names, turning Hakushi into “Hakusa” and Hayabusa into “Hayakuchi”. He’s not having a good night. Roberts actually looks decent here, doing some good back and forth with Hakushi at one stage before cheap shotting him and tagging out. Classic Jake there. The crowd is kind of flat for this one outside of Roberts, possibly because he’s the only wrestler in the match they know and it’s getting quite late on in the show. The actual wrestling isn’t bad though, mainly due to the Japanese team.
The Roberts and Headhunter team work some heat on Tanaka for a bit, with Roberts even hitting Tanaka with his cowboy boot at one stage. The crowd chants for a DDT, even though Roberts is technically supposed to be a Heel in this one. Tanaka does a good job selling during the heat and the Heels look okay working him over. The Headhunters moved far better than guys their size really should have done, and it gets over with the crowd after a while, especially when one of them comes off the top with a splash onto Tanaka at one stage.
DDT eventually sets up Tanaka for the DDT, but both Hakushi and Hayabusa come off the top to break it up, even though the crowd was clearly very excited to see it. One of The Headhunters heads up top for a splash on Hayabusa, but Hayabusa dodges it and there’s no water in the pool, leading to Hayabusa knocking The Headhunter down and coming off the top with a 450 Splash for the pin. This gets scattered boos as Roberts never managed to DDT anyone, which was the main thing the crowd wanted to see.
WINNERS: HAYABUSA, HAKUSHI & TANAKA
RATING: **1/4
Thoughts: This was okay, although they had the wrong team playing Heel in hindsight. If they’d had Roberts get the win with the DDT then the place would have exploded
We’re supposed to see two women’s wrestlers following that, but they just go straight to Terry Funk’s entrance instead. That poor ring announcer, he’s had a really long night.
Main Event
No DQ
Non-Title
WWF Champion Bret Hitman Hart Vs Terry Funk
Funk apparently requested to wrestle Bret in his “final” match, so the WWF agreed to let Bret come and work the show. Dennis Stamp is the referee, and for those who haven’t seen Beyond The Mat, Stamp is a lifelong prelim wrestler who was hurt that Funk didn’t include him in the show so Funk has kindly asked him to come in and referee. I wonder if John Cena and Orlando Jordan will have a similar exchange when it’s time for Big Match John to hang it up?
“Come on OJ, I want you to be there, it’s my last match”
“No John, I’M NOT BOOKED!”
Funk’s Family and representatives of the ECW locker room come to the ring before the match starts, with Paul Heyman stating how important Funk was in ECW getting going. This leads to Heyman declaring Funk the lifetime ECW Champion, with Dreamer presenting Funk with a Title belt. That was a very nice moment and the crowd responded well to it. Paul Heyman is always smooth as silk on the mic and that was no exception here. Bret also takes the mic and says that he considers Funk to be the greatest ever and how much of an honour it will be to face him tonight. He then says he’s going to whup Funk’s behind so that he can go back to being a Heel for the bout itself.
Big Dave Meltzer supposedly gave this one four stars, so my expectations are high. Funk was past his best by this stage but Bret did some of his best work in 1997, so Funk couldn’t have asked for a better opponent for his last match in Amarillo. They work it on the mat to start and it’s good believable looking wrestling. You can suspend your disbelief and believe that these two wrestlers are actually trying to out grapple one another, which is usually what you got in Bret Hart matches. Bret always committed to keeping that believability and that legitimacy to his bouts, which was a big reason as to why he was such a good wrestler.
Bret leans into the Heel side of things again by being the first wrestler to abandon technical grappling for brawling, as he throws some trademark Hitman punches before doing some choking for good measure. Bret Hart’s punches really looked great and it’s an underappreciated part of his game that doesn’t really get mentioned enough sometimes. Bret continues to work Terry over, with Terry selling it all well. Bret is drawing some really good Heel heat from the crowd now, especially when he switches his target to Terry’s leg knee, possibly aiming to weaken it for a submission victory.
Bruce Hart has found his way to ringside somehow and is trying to get involved in the match at certain points by passing Bret a chair, but Bret swats him aside, possibly because he already has a plan for this that didn’t involve Bruce randomly showing up and trying to make it all about him. Ah Bruce, he’s a one isn’t he? Bret goes to the Figure Four inside the ring on Terry, with Terry doing the great dramatic sell whilst getting into an argument with another Hart brother. Stu Hart is at ringside as well watching on, as I ponder why they didn’t make a bigger deal of The Hart Family being involved if they were going to be here anyway?
Bret seems genuinely annoyed that his family is getting involved, especially when Bruce clonks Terry with a chair at one stage, although that then leads to Terry making the big comeback whilst the crowd goes nuts. Bret is happy to sell big for Terry now that the tables have turned of course, and Terry gets some near falls from both a DDT and a piledriver. We head into the crowd for some brawling following that, as you can take The Funkster out of ECW but you can’t take the ECW out of The Funkster. Terry gets the better of the brawling out in the crowd, but Bret responds with the ring post Figure Four until Stamp breaks it up.
Bret brings a chair into the ring following that and targets the leg with it, even Pillmanising it with a leg drop at one stage. Terry keeps coming though, whilst still consistently selling the beating he’s taken in the match, grabbing a chair of his own and dishing out some payback. Funk puts Bret on a table at ringside following the chair shots and tries to give Bret a Pump Splash through it, but Bret is able to move and Funk finds nothing but table waiting for him. Thankfully we don’t get an “I Am The Table” moment, as the table breaks as it should and Terry comes up bleeding after bonking his forehead on the way down.
Bret tries to finish things with The Sharpshooter, but Terry counters it into a cradle and then takes Bret down for the Spinning Toe Hold whilst the crowd goes nuts. Bret refuses to submit though and counters to his own cradle for two in a good near fall. The finish comes not too soon after that, as Terry gets a back suplex and makes the pin. Terry’s shoulder is down as well though, so when Bret rolls his shoulder it leads to Terry getting counted out in order to give Bret the win.
WINNER: BRET HART
RATING: ***3/4
Thoughts: This was a great old school wrestling match, with intensity, consistent selling and really good storytelling, as Terry sold and sold in the early going until it was time to make the comeback and fight on a more even keel, at which point the match really kicked into a higher gear. Terry losing was a bit of a downer, but the WWF wasn’t going to send their Champion in to do a clean job, even for a guy like Terry Funk. Plus, Terry is an old school guy and the philosophy back then was that you should lose your last match, because if you win then why are you retiring?
Both wrestlers shake hands following that, although the fans are naturally disappointed that Terry Funk couldn’t win his last ever match in Amarillo. Funk says he has no complaints about the match and that he loves everyone. This was kind of a flat finish, and it possibly would have made more sense to do the belt presentation at the end just to send everyone home on more of a high.
In Conclusion
Terry Funk would of course wrestle again following this event, even making it to WrestleMania in 1998. The show isn’t as historically significant as it could have been as a result of that, but it was still a decent watch for the most part. The Main Event is great and there’s little on the undercard I would say was awful, mostly because they kept most of the prelim matches relatively short so as not to overstay their welcome. Overall I’d say this is a decent show and an interesting historical curio what with the inter-promotional matches, but you probably don’t need to go out of your way to watch it.
Mildly recommended show
