First Terry Funk. Now Bray Wyatt. Two months ago, it was The Iron Sheik.
This shit is tough. While Funk was before my time, I’ve heard all the stories. I do remember him in the late 90’s when he was way past his prime. But damn.
Chucky, I saw Bray Wyatt’s last match ever at a house show in Rockford in February. Here is the picture.
Fire Ryan Poles | Fire Ben Johnson 
August 25, 2023 at 10:42 am
Goddamn Fro, this is a really rough year for us fans. It’s not the Shiek, Funk and Wyatt. We lost Superstar Billy Graham, Lanny Poffo, Jay Briscoe, Droz, Jerry Jarrett, Bushwacker Butch, and Exotic Adrian Street, and more. A lot of these guys I grew up watching. Some of them were around when I first started watching wrestling in my mom’s kitchen on Sunday mornings at 11:00 in the earl-mid 1970s. The AWA was all there was for me back then, and it was so awesome. Graham was being managed by Ivan Koloff back then. Then I saw bits and pieces of Bob Luce, and Chicago Championship Wrestling, along with Dick the Bruisers WWA, based in Indianapolis at my grandmothers house. It was there when I saw a wrestler who literally struck fear in my heart, the legendary King Kong Brody. He was the very definition of the term “monster” to me. Then I started seeing some of the other wrestlers when I would travel to Tennessee and found the Memphis territory on TV. That’s when I discovered the National Wrestling Alliance, and I was hooked. Then the WWF came along, and nearly ruined it all for me. Way the hell too cartoonish for me, and I hated it. And I hated Vince McMahon for that too! Even back then I could tell was the ringmaster of that circus. So I tried sticking with the NWA and AWA as much as I could. Later on, on local channel 60, before they went to a Spanish format, I found World Class. It was in WCCW that I saw a man who changed everything for me, Ric Flair. WCCW was part of the NWA, and Flair was there defending the world title. I also saw Harley Race defend the title there. I think you know the rest of my story from that point after, so I won’t rehash it now.
I’m sorry I went so long Fro. I hope you don’t mind. I guess I kind of needed to get this out. It’s kind of weird for me to think about, but I’ve been a wrestling junkie for nearly 50 years. And I’ll be damned if I’ll apologize for it. I’ve seen a lot of my favorite guys die along the way, and it really fucking sucks. Thank you for posting this thread, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.