[1997-01-18-WWF-Shotgun Saturday Night] Steve Austin and Terry Funk

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

"Oh my goodness, Terry Funk is here." -- Vince McMahon's delivery of that is really funny.

 

Austin is on commentary and Funk shows up excited to be in Texas and ready to fight. Funk wants to know what number he's going to be, and says George Bush designated him to represent Texas. He wants to start the Rumble now and asks if he can fight Pettengill, who is understandably not interested.

 

He calls everyone in WCW scum-sucking snakebags and calls Vince McMahon a yankee bastard! He tells Pettengill his mother is a whore! Then he sees Steve Austin and attempts to start a fight. Austin doesn't bite at first, but finally has enough, saying this ain't the Terry Funk Show.

 

Funk slaps him in the ring and they end up in a fight, which is broken up way too quickly for my tastes. Everything about this is awesome.

[Johnny Guitar]

Fantastic! There was a real danger to this segment at the time.

 

It's a shame that Terry was locked into ECW for most of the year. They needed him more than the WWF and he did some good stuff there.

 

But I'd have much rather seen him work with Austin,Foley & Bret, which he did a bit. Plus Shawn and Pillman. Than Shane and Sabu which was old hat at this point.

[soup23]

Funk gives one of his nonsensical promos that veers all over the place but works beautifully in the Shotgun setting. Austin listening in deterred works well also. Todd got a kick out of his WCW quip. The brawl with Austin was good while it lasted.

[Kevin Ridge]

If we only got a few more minutes of them brawling. Funk was great on the mic taking shots at WCW and McMahon. They gave him some freedom there letting Terry talk so much on the mic. Credit to McMahon to allow Terry to be Terry.

[Robert S]

Wasn't Vince angry with Funk with some of the stuff he said here? I thought I remember reading something like that.

[Loss]

Wasn't Vince angry with Funk with some of the stuff he said here? I thought I remember reading something like that.

Yes, he vowed to never use him again.

[Robert S]

In this case "never" lasted longer than the average Terry Funk retirement. Had they any immediate plans for Funk back then? I would suppose not with Funk being ECW bound at that point, but still. I remember reading in Foley's first book that he suggested a hardcore series against Funk, but I think that was 98, not 97.

[BackToBionic]

Yeah, Vince didn't look too impressed when they cut to him.

[bradhindsight]

In this case "never" lasted longer than the average Terry Funk retirement. Had they any immediate plans for Funk back then? I would suppose not with Funk being ECW bound at that point, but still. I remember reading in Foley's first book that he suggested a hardcore series against Funk, but I think that was 98, not 97.

From what Funk says on Borash's Forever Hardcore documentary, he was the one that turned down the WWF's contract (substantially more $) in 1997 to go back to his friends in ECW. His wife was not pleased.

[El-P]

Insane promo from Funk who probably thinks he's in ECW still. He really doesn't give a fuck. Austin is great here, and we get a tease of what could have been an amazing feud. Yeah, it's too bad Terry didn't sign with the WWF, if only for that match alone.

[PeteF3]

Now *this* is the ideal of the Shotgun format--instead of mildly amusing but ultimately toothless stuff about Fondle Me Elmos and wrestling nuns, this had the feel of something getting out of control. Well, I guess it was--you can tell once Vince starts talking over Funk's promo that he's trying to suppress this any way he can. Hey, you reap what you sow, Vince. Funk goes off on everybody he can, including WCW, Pettingill, Vince, and that Okie asshole JR, until Austin finally has enough.

[Exposer]

This is fucking amazing. I love Terry Funk. He cuts an awesome promo on entering the Rumble match & rips on WCW, Jim Ross, & threatens Vince, Pettingill, & Austin. I loved the look on Austin's face when Funk finally addresses him. Austin has enough & they get into eventually ending in Austin sending Funk out of the ring. Tremendous segment. Really fun stuff & a nice way to hype the Rumble.

[KB8]

This is honest to god one of my favourite segments ever. I first saw it on Will’s Terry Funk comp (think it’s still the only thing I’d seen from Shotgun prior to the yearbook) and couldn’t believe they let Funk go wild like that. The fact they didn’t and Funk did it anyway isn’t surprising, and if anything makes it even more awesome. Funk calling McMahon a yankee bastard, Pettingill’s mother a whore, Ross an Okie asshole, going off on the cowards from the Dubya See Dubya, all of it ruled. Austin came across perfect as well. He was calm and composed through Funk’s tirade, but he had that underlying badass aura down and managed to get a few great lines in himself. 

JR: “he’s an icon!”

Vince: “he is indeed.”

Austin: “he’s a jackass.” 

I’d be surprised if this isn’t the highlight of the Shotgun experiment.