[2000-02-20-WCW-Superbawl] Ric Flair vs Terry Funk (Texas Death)

[soup23]

I couldn't help but be shocked that it was only ten years since their last major feud when they had this match. Yet, it felt like a lifetime ago. If CM Punk vs. Chris Hero had a match next month 15 years after their marquee match, it wouldn't feel as long or dated. Still, they do a good effort here to try to salvage something within the match. They work the Texas Death Match stip well and none of the pinfalls felt too cheap. The piledriver through the table especially looked brutal. It wasn't the ***** classic they had a decade earlier, but on an awful looking show, it was damn good enough. ***1/4

[Loss]

This match left me a little depressed and confused. Not quite sure what to make of this. I really wanted to like it, because Flair looked really good in the Hogan match and Funk has worked hard in this WCW run and even though he hasn't hit every match out of the park, he's made the most of what he's been given. These two also had a classic rivalry ten years earlier and were both known as great brawlers in their 50s, so the stip should have suited them well. Technically, the work was pretty good. They did a lot of selling to get over the brutality and they hit each other with pretty stiff shots, which I'll get into in just a moment, because that's important. In terms of moving around the ring, neither guy showed his age at all. Neither looked quite like he did in 1989, sure, but neither guy looked embarrassing either.

 

The problem with this was that the crowd just did not give a shit at all. Terry Funk wasn't over one bit on this WCW run no matter how much they tried. The crowd was a little more into Flair, but even he was less over than he normally is with WCW audiences. When they turned up the stiffness with the hard strikes and chops, they seemed to wake the crowd up, but they could never sustain it. I'm not sure why they worked the match the way they did, considering the build. Flair was clearly the heel in the buildup, but this match was pretty ambiguous with Flair not doing anything particularly heelish, and even at some points fighting valiantly from underneath after getting piledrived on the floor and Funk doing a mic spot threatening to break Flair's neck again by piledriving him through the table. The crowd did pop for the table spots, but even then, not that much, even though they added some nice veteran touches to the garbage stuff by selling the hell out of it.

 

There was some stuff to like here, but I think Flair needed to work with a younger guy who was a good worker and Funk was positioned too high on the card and fans just didn't accept him. I do think with the stars properly aligned, these two had a great match in them if they'd exaggerated the face-heel divide more and if Funk (and even Flair) were more over with the San Francisco crowd, but it didn't make its way to the surface here.

[Laney]

This is definitely the highlight of this absolutely awful WCW PPV. Both guys put in a good effort with great selling, but the crowd just sits on their hands and doesn't care. It is depressing how the crowd was more into the James Brown shit that happened earlier in the night. WCW is in such a sad state at this point and it seems like nobody really cares. There are crowds in the sign "I thought this was WWF" and "Free Tix".

 

Everything in-ring is technically good, but it is hurt by the apathetic crowd.

 

***1/2

[GSR]

Tony Schiavone explains the rules of the ‘death match’ and that there are no DQs or count outs. After every successful pinfall or submission there will be a ten count, and the man who is unable to get to his feet within that ten will lose the match. Funk has got Dustin Rhodes seconding him for this, but he ends up just being a bystander.

 

Flair starts with the chops early and great facials from ‘The Funker’ here. Funk fires back with some lefts and the guy still throws a mean looking punch. Flair rolls to the floor as he tries to slow Funk down. It’s no good though, as Funk suplexes him back into the ring, Irish whip and a back body drop that he takes on his shoulders/side. Some awesome looking rights from Funk, and a left drops the Naitch. Spinning toe hold, but Flair is able to fight from the bottom and force his way out the hold. Flair rips Funk’s shirt open, chops him some more and throws him to the outside. Funk blocks a suplex on the floor and reverses it into one of his own, with Flair again taking the bump on his side. The Naitch whips Funk into the guard rail and goes for another suplex. Again Funk blocks it and reverses it into one of his own. He covers him on the arena floor for the first fall, however Flair is able to get to his feet within the ten count. Flair with a knife edge chop that sends Funk backwards over the guard rail and into the crowd. He then starts attacking Funk’s knee with a chair but the crowd are surprisingly dead at this point. Figure Four and Funk submits early so he doesn’t take any undue punishment, and he is also able to beat the count. Flair heads to the top turnbuckle, but Funk catches him and throws him to the canvas. Whip to the corner and he takes his bump over the turnbuckles and to the outside. Piledriver on the floor and Flair kicks out of the cover. The two trade punches and chops (With Funk’s chest now bleeding), before a second piledriver, this time on the concrete. Funk gets the pin and Flair manages to drag himself up to his feet with the help of the guard rail. In the meantime Funk has set up a table in the ring. He gets on the mic and asks Flair is he wants to quit, and when he says ‘no’, he clobbers him with the microphone. PILEDRIVER THROUGH THE TABLE!!! Holy fuck and the crowd have finally come alive. Funk makes the covers but pulls Flair’s shoulders up at two. The commentators speculate that he must want to punish Ric some more. Funk pulls out another table and sets it up in the ring. He rams Flair’s head into the table and Funk climbs to the top turnbuckle (presumably for a moonsault), but the Naitch is off the table and nails Funk who take a fall backwards through the table. Flair drags himself over to make the cover, but that’s enough as Funk is unable to beat the subsequent ten count.

 

Sure it’s not 1989, but great effort from both and you certainly can’t accuse these two of phoning in a performance. Funk’s facials and selling of the leg were superb and I really enjoyed when they were just trading chops and punches with each another. Those backdrops Flair took didn’t look the most comfortable to take, and Funk’s bloodied chest was showing the after effects of all those chops he received. Kudos to the commentary team who I thought did a good job calling the match and explaining the nuances and tactics involved in a match like this. Crowd were quiet at times (Mark Madden tries to claim they were almost dumbstruck at what they were watching), though they popped huge for the piledriver through the table. Funk’s nestea plunge off the top through the table for the finish seemed kinda weak after what we’d seen earlier in the bout. Really good match nonetheless.

[drew wardlaw]

I really liked the build to this with the David Flair I Quit match, but this didnt live up to the build for me. I thought it was strange they did a Texas Death Match instead of an I Quit Match, although I get not wanting to totally repeat the past feud. At the same time though, they rely heavily on the narrative that they had this intense feud 10 years ago and commentary really plays that up, and even Funk gets on the mic and explains hes going to piledrive Flair through the table like he did 10 years ago. The match itself isnt too bad, and even though I dont think they fill the time super well and they are slow moving, I enjoyed all the pinfalls. One note about the commentary, I think Tony has been really good in 2000, much better than I remember and much better than his reputation.