ALL JAPAN
Aug. 31 1983 Kuramae Kokugikan (Tokyo)
I wonder why Terry Funk was a favorite with Japanese fans in the 80's. Truly, young boys and girls went crazy on him. May be they liked Terry's innocent fight style and his honesty. But I am surprised that Terry is known as a cruel heel in USA. In Japan, that is an unbelievable thing. For Japanese boys and girls, Terry was an absolute baby face and a great hero. And in 1980, when he declared to retire three years after, Japanese fans got up a panic.
In 1970, Terry visited to Japan with Dory for the first time. At that time the biggest organization in Japan was Japan Pro-wrestling. The Funks wrested International tag title from Baba and Inoki in 1971. And the next year, when Baba established All Japan, Terry took part in it with Dory. The Funks showed a terrible bloody pro-wrestling with The Butcher and The Sheik in The Open Tag League '77, and Terry's popularity reached a peak.
That was a memorial match of Terry's retirement. Of course Terry formed a tag team with his brother, and their opponents were powerful young stars, Hansen and Gordy. Hansen was a pupil of The Funks in his rookie days. Though Hansen had been active in New Japan, Dory and Terry hired him away to All Japan. Since then, a good guy Hansen acted the part of a heel, and he supported Terry's popularity in Japan.
And in this match, Terry showed wonderful Rolling Clutch Hold and took a fall from Gordy !! Terry cried and shouted for the spectators, "I'm very happy, good bye Japanese fans, sayonara !!" That was a memorable scene in the history of Japanese pro-wrestling. At this day Terry surely retired. As you know, Terry came back again and again. Even now he is fighting on rings of independent organizations. But I want to believe that memorable scene was not a phantom.
No comments:
Post a Comment