Over the course of a 50-year career, “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair has enjoyed a number of huge feuds including his classics with Dusty Rhodes, Randy Savage, Harley Race, and Ricky Steamboat. Slightly overshadowed by those storylines but no less great was his rivalry with Terry Funk, which unfolded in WCW in 1989.
While Flair is best known for his work as a heel, his rivalry with Funk saw The Nature Boy working babyface, resulting in some great moments as well as classic matches. Let’s take a look at the Flair/Funk rivalry, from their earliest counters all the way to their last.
10/10 First Met In All Japan
Surprisingly, Ric Flair and Terry Funk only met a handful of times over the years, with most of their matches happening in WCW. However, their first encounter would happen overseas in 1981 for one of the top promotions in Japan at the time, All Japan Pro Wrestling. Because AJPW was part of the US’s National Wrestling Alliance, some of NWA’s biggest stars showed up in the promotion, including Ric Flair, who defended the NWA World Heavyweight Title against Terry Funk in a 2/3 falls match in October of 1981, which ended in a draw.
9/10 Followed Flair’s Legendary Trilogy With Ricky Steamboat
The big Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk WCW rivalry happened in 1989, which was the same year as Flair’s legendary trilogy of matches with Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. In fact, the Flair/Steamboat rivalry happened first, with their classic bouts happening at February’s Chi-Town Rumble, April’s Clash of the Champions 6, and May’s WrestleWar, with all three being considered some of the best matches to ever happen. It was obviously tough to outdo, but Flair was able to deliver some more classic matches with Funk in the months following.
8/10 Funk Piledrived Flair Through A Table At WrestleWar ‘89
The Flair/Funk rivalry didn’t just come after the Flair/Steamboat rivalry — it actually kicked off as soon as the latter ended. At the aforementioned WrestleWar, Terry Funk was a judge for the NWA World Title match alongside fellow former champions Lou Thesz and Pat O’Connor. Once Flair came out of the match victorious and the new World Champion, Funk issued a challenge to Flair.
Flair rejected Funk’s offer, and Funk created by not only attacking the Nature Boy, but also piledrived Flair through a table. The piledriver legitimately hurt Flair’s neck, but the injury was also made part of the story.
7/10 Their First WCW Match Was At The Great American Bash ‘89
Once Flair recovered from the piledriver, two months after the WrestleWar incident came the first match between Ric Flair and Terry Funk, at late July’s Great American Bash. Of course, Flair’s aforementioned injury played into the match, with Funk targeting the neck via piledrivers, neckbreakers, and the like. In the end, however, Ric Flair was able to get the win in this initial bout, reversing a pin attempt to score a pinfall victory of his own to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
6/10 Terry Funk Was Part Of The J-Tex Corporation
Terry Funk wasn’t alone in his efforts in combating Ric Flair, however. He was actually part of a whole stable called the J-Tex Corporation. Led by talented but forgotten manager Gary Hart, the J-Tex Corporation was a group that featured wrestlers from Japan and wrestlers from Texas, hence the name. In addition to Terry Funk and fellow Texan “Dirty” Dick Slater, the Japanese side of the faction included The Dragonmaster as well as Japanese legend The Great Muta.
5/10 The Feud Caused The Four Horsemen To Reunite As Babyfaces
After Ric Flair retained against Terry Funk at The Great American Bash, the Nature Boy suffered a post-match beatdown from Terry Funk and his J-Tex compatriot Great Muta. This not only led to Sting making the save and forming a partnership with his former rival Flair, but also a reformation of Flair’s Four Horsemen faction as babyfaces to combat the J-Tex Corporation. This new lineup of the Four Horsemen saw Arn and Ole Anderson returning to team with Flair and Sting.
4/10 Funk Choked Flair With A Plastic Bag
Sting’s rescue of Ric Flair at The Great American Bash led to a tag team match at Clash of the Champions 8 wherein Sting and Flair took on the team of The Great Muta and Dick Slater. While entertaining, the tag team match ended in a disqualification, but the aftermath saw Terry Funk stage another attack on the Nature Boy.
In the attack, Terry Funk strangled Ric Flair with a plastic bag, an act that reportedly proved to be controversial, as viewers complained to TBS about it.
3/10 Flair & Sting Teamed Up Against Funk & Muta
Clash of the Champions 8 wasn’t the only tag team encounter between the Four Horsemen and the J-Tex Corporation. Another tag team bout with a bigger stipulation ensued at Halloween Havoc ‘89 as Sting and Ric Flair teamed up against the Great Muta and Terry Funk in a Thunderdome Match — an electrified cage — with Bruno Sammartino as a guest referee. Flair and Sting ended up getting the win here thanks to Gary Hart accidentally dropping a towel in the ring, signaling a submission on behalf of J-Tex Corporation.
2/10 Flair Defeated Funk In A Classic I Quit Match
The rivalry between Ric Flair and Terry Funk finally reached its conclusion at the TV special Clash of the Champions 9 in mid-November 1989 as the two competed in an I Quit Match that also carried the stipulation that the loser had to retire. The result proved to be the critically acclaimed, must-see match in their rivalry as the two put on quite the violent match, with Funk finally saying “I Quit” after Flair applied his signature Figure Four Leglock.
1/10 Rekindled Their Rivalry In 2000
The Clash of the Champions I Quit Match marked the end of the Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk feud, with the two not sharing the ring again until early 2000. After teaming up in a match in late January, Flair and Funk were on opposite sides of the ring as Flair and Lex Luger beat Funk and Dustin Rhodes in a tag team match on Thunder. Days later came their big match at SuperBrawl 10, wherein Flair defeated Funk yet again, this time in a Texas Deathmatch.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)