WWE WVR NWA TITLE GENE KINISKI VS DORY FUNK HESTERLY ARMORY FLORIDA 2/11/1969 REMASTERED 4K60FPS

Dorrance Earnest Funk (born February 3, 1941),[2][5] known professionally as Dory Funk Jr., is an American professional wrestler and wrestling trainer. The son of Dory Funk (Dorrance Wilhelm Funk) and brother of Terry Funk, he was the promoter of the Amarillo, Texas-based Western States Sports promotion.

Dory Funk Jr.

Funk in 1973
Birth name
Dorrance Earnest Funk
Born
February 3, 1941 (age 84)[1][2][3]
Hammond, Indiana, U.S.
Spouses
Jimmie Funk
​
​(m. 1960; div. 1983)​
Marti Funk ​(m. 1989)​
Children
5
Family
Dory Funk (father)
Terry Funk (brother)
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)
Dory Funk Jr.[4]
Hoss Funk[4]
The Long Tall Texan
The Masked Outlaw
Billed height
6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[4]
Billed weight
240 lb (109 kg)[4]
Billed from
The Double Cross Ranch[4]
Trained by
Dory Funk[4][5]
Ricky Romero[6]
Pedro Morales[6]
Debut
1963
Retired
August 24, 2024[7]
Funk held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship once. He is the second-longest reigning NWA World Heavyweight Champion of all time after Lou Thesz. He held the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship once and the CWA World Heavyweight Championship once. He is a 2009 WWE Hall of Fame inductee.

Funk works for All Japan Pro Wrestling as the Pacific Wrestling Federation (PWF) chairman[8][9] and runs the Funking Conservatory, a professional wrestling school.

Professional wrestling career
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Training
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With a background in amateur wrestling and football, Funk's career in professional wrestling began in 1963 just after a college football career with West Texas State University (now West Texas A&M University), culminating in a 15 to 14 victory over Ohio University in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas. Funk's first match was a victory over Don Fargo in Amarillo, Texas. West Texas State University All American Jerry Logan was in Funk's corner and Fargo's brother, Jim, was in his corner. Funk was supported by the whole West Texas State University football team and the Tascosa High School amateur wrestling team. He was doing his student teaching as coach of the Tascosa High wrestling team under coach James Kyle.[citation needed]

National Wrestling Alliance (1963–1987)
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See also: Western States Sports

Ring introductions as Funk (background, facing camera) prepares to defend the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
Funk started in his father's Amarillo, Texas-based Western States Sports promotion and fought Harley Race, Iron Mike DiBiase and Wild Bull Curry. He demonstrated a rugged hard-hitting style that gained attention. He would eventually move on to Florida, Missouri and Japan where his skills improved as he used uppercut forearm smashes, a variety of suplexes and leglocks. Funk won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Gene Kiniski on February 11, 1969 [10] in Tampa, Florida with a spinning toe hold and remained NWA World Champion for the next four and a half years, which is the second-longest uninterrupted reign of any NWA World Champion[4] (Lou Thesz held the NWA world title from November 27, 1949, to March 15, 1956).

Dory and Terry are the only brothers in history to each hold the title.[11] Funk finally lost the NWA World Championship on May 24, 1973, after a hurried recovery from a pickup truck accident on his father's Flying Mare Ranch in West Texas. Dory was forced into the ring in Kansas City, losing the belt to Harley Race.[12] He performed regularly throughout the NWA, particularly in the Mid-Atlantic and Ontario as a heel, Georgia, Florida and Central States regions, through the 1970s and early 1980s. In Toronto he fought Ric Flair for the NWA championship on October 17, 1982. Flair retained the title. In 1987 he feuded with Mike Rotunda in Florida. Rotunda defeated Funk for the vacant Florida Heavyweight title on June 7. Later on a lot of the matches ended in draws.

All Japan Pro Wrestling (1973–1987)
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Dory Funk Jr. in 1985
In 1973, Funk made his debut for All Japan Pro Wrestling which had just started the year before. Eventually he became a veteran of the company. He feuded with Giant Baba, The Destroyer, Jumbo Tsuruta, Abdullah The Butcher, The Sheik, Genichiro Tenryu, and Harley Race. Terry Funk and he worked frequently as a tag team in a series of matches against Abdullah the Butcher and The Sheik; and Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta. Funk won many World's Strongest Tag Determination League awards with both Terry and Baba. Together Terry and he won the World's Strongest Tag Determination League tournaments in 1977, 1979, and 1982.