The Good
Conducted in 1998, not too long after Terry Funk's WWF run, Terry Funk delivers what was perhaps the best RF Video shoot at this point in time. He is a natural storyteller and this was at a great point in his career for him to look back. Before his autobiography, his numerous interviews and coverage in "Beyond the Mat," this was an amazing piece of pro-wrestling history. Several parts of this such as looking at Amarillo, his NWA Championship run and the early days of ECW were interesting, but have been covered in greater detail in various places (including in future shoots by Funk himself). I felt the highlights of this, which stand up are the details concerning his time with All Japan and relationship with FMW head Atsushi Onita. Stories of Japan are not uncommon in shoot interviews, but Terry Funk's experiences are distinctly different as he worked in the All Japan office, saw many changes and worked with many of the top wrestlers (like Onita) when they were "young boys." This is also back in the day of matches being integrated into RF Video shoots, so you can catch some great (and not-so-great) action from Terry Funk's career.
The Bad
Although this was the first Terry Funk shoot I heard and was, at the time, one of my favorites, this seemed so old and limited looking back. I don't think RF Video really started delivering quality shoot interviews for another five years, but they sure secured some great names, did longer interviews and had one of the only forums for shoot interviews. I've since heard Terry Funk partnered with all kinds of people from Harley Race and Bob Backlund to Shane Douglas and Steve Corino. I have to say, I've preferred those. His interaction with others and that necessarily limiting structure just work so well for a rambler who has seen so much. This "was" amazing nearly fifteen years ago, but it is not as great today.
The Rating: ****1/4
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