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[1979-04-27-Houston Wrestling] Terry Funk vs Mark Lewin


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We get a feeling out process to start. Hart is active at ringside early. Lewin tosses Funk to the outside to a waiting Hart who attacks. This sets up the heat. Funk is back in, but it looks like his arm has been hurt. Lewin follows up by posting the arm. Lewin chops the arm, puts a nerve hold on it, more chops, wristlock with the arm extended, then into a hammerlock. Funk is tremendous in selling this big. Lewin with judo thrusts to the arm, and posts the arm again. Lewin has just destroyed Funk's arm. Funk fires off some jabs to get some seperation to no avail.More arm work, then Funk tries standing headbutts to get seperation, again no luck. Funk with an ankle pick and knee drop, but Lewin catches him with a judo thrust to the neck for a 3 count.

 

The 2nd fall starts with Lewin on the arm. He puts Funk on a table and slams his head onto the table for a bit. Back into the ring and Terry catches Lewin with the ankle pick/knee drop combo. Funk still slling th damage of his arm big. Big Atomic drop by Funk. Spinning boot scrape by Terry. Terry peppers him with jabs . Then he locks on his spinning toe hold for the fall.

 

The 3rd fall starts with Terry going after the leg. Hart is massaging Lewin's leg. Funk bites Lewin. We this awesome leg lock by Funk that no one ever does anymore. Funk moves into a grapevine of the leg. Lewin teases a FO, then hits Funk with it. This was timed perfectly. Lewin works Funk over with the FO. Funk goes for the anklepick/spinning toe hold combo. Then he goes after Hart. Bronco calls for the bell for the DQ while Lewin has Funk in the Oriental sleeper. 4 3/4*

 

Final Thoughts.

 

I think this is my favorite match that has been uploaded. The limb work and selling is top notch here. The timing of the comebacks and cut offs were tremendous. This was a great Terry Funk performance. Shows why he's the legend . Easily my favorite Mark Lewin match ever.

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  • 5 weeks later...

This starts slow and builds to quite the epic 3rd fall. Lewin's chops and nerve holds were unusual and nasty looking. I dig the chop to the throat as a finisher and him attacking Terry's face in the 3rd was nasty. This was the Terry Funk show through and through. He does all his awesome signature punches and bumping and throws in a bunch of amazing ankle picks. It felt like something a high end UWF wrestler would bust out. The best being in the 3rd where he does this awesome amateur switching and sliding to weasel into the toe hold. His staggering selling alone comfortably pushes this into the EPIC territory. Nuclear reactions in the 3rd are a testament to the greatness here.

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  • 1 year later...
  • paul sosnowski changed the title to [1979-04-27-Houston Wrestling] Terry Funk vs Mark Lewin
  • 7 months later...

Terry Funk vs Mark Lewin - Houston 4/27/79

Mark Lewin is billed as Maniac Mark Lewin, but he is more weird than he is vicious. I guess Idiosyncratic Mark Lewin wouldnt sell. I know Mark Lewin mostly from being the Purple Haze in Kevin Sullivan's Army of Darkness in Florida. Also, I know he was a big star in Australia, but never seen any of that. Great body I will say. 

First Fall: Lewin proves how much of a maniac he is by going into the fetal position in the ropes and sticking his ass out a lot. He is more of a maniac in the sense of a Shinsuke Nakamura than a violent heel. Funk tries to use a top wristlock but Gary Hart keeps interfering. On the outside, Lewin uses a chair to attack Funk's left arm. This is definitely a 100% Funk carry job as he is uses his great selling to keep you interested. Lewin is slashing at the arms with chops and working wristlocks and hammerlocks. Funk keep it interesting by selling and mixing it up. He tries to turn it into a boxing match. When that does not work he goes for headbutts in the clinch. That only serves to hurt him too. He dives for the ankle and picks it. He goes for the Spinning Toehold, but Gary Hart distracts and Lewin hits an illegal karate chop uppercut to the throat with the point of the fingers jutting into Funk's throat. Great finish. The heel panics because the babyface almost puts on is finish so the manager distracts and the heel hits a devastating cheapshot for the fall. Good shit. Lewin 1-0!

Second Fall: As is customary a short fall. Lewin begins the fall as expected by working on the arm. He gets Funk outside and bounces his head off the table. Funk slows him down some kicks to the mid-section. He dives for the leg and picks it. This screws up Lewin's leg and he is selling. Funk hits an atomic drop and does his spinning boot rake. Gary Hart sensing danger hands Lewin a foreign object which temporarily swings things in his favor, but Funk with dogged determination gets the Spinning Toehold to win the fall. Gary Hart comes in to get Funk to release the hold and massage Lewin's leg. Solid fall to tie it up. Tied 1-1

Third Fall: Funk wants to that Spinning Toehold again just like Lewin was going after the arm after the first fall. Lewin sells the leg really well.  Lewin was using the ropes and Gary Hart to try to keep the Funker at bay. At one point, Terry pulled Lewin and Hart to the middle ring, great spot. Also great was when Lewin went to the eyes, Funk bit his nose. Funk settled for a leg lace, but Lewin got a hold of a foreign object which looked like a ring for a lack of a better term. He started raking Funk's eyes. Funk's selling here is magnificent. Then he started going for those illegal karate thrusts with the point of the fingers, but only got two. Funk came back picked the ankle and applied the Spinning Toehold. Here comes Gary Hart. Never liked Gary Hart always thought he was lame for not bumping for anyone. Funk puts him in the Spinning Toehold, partially I think because he was blinded by all the eye-raking. Lewin grabs a sleeper and the ref calls for a DQ because he knows Lewin wouldnt have managed that sleeper without Hart's distraction. 

Amazing Funk performance both selling and on offense. Lewin besides his leg selling was pretty useless. It was good heel offense, but he did not have that larger than life feel. Funk is so unique in his selling and it was really credible in the match. I loved how dogged he was in trying to get that Spinning Toehold. This is a great match to show why Funk is a great wrestler more than it is a great match in its own right. ***3/4

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  • 2 years later...

While I can't agree with Sleeze's Gary Hart hate, I do generally agree with his assessment of this match. Excellent Funk performance but just a pretty good match overall. Something about the way Mark Lewin wrestles feels small to me. It's fascinating watch Funk punch down but more so laterally down, figuratively speaking here. He gives a lot but always feels like the much bigger star and the more explosive performer. There were aspects of this that were frustrating but generally in a way that built anticipation for a rematch. Well worth a watch and one of the more interesting Terry matches I've watched in a while.

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