WWE has always prided itself on being the place where the biggest dream matches happen. However, for every Rock vs Cena, they miss out on matches like Ric Flair vs Hulk Hogan and Undertaker vs Sting.
This was also the case for a huge pay per view main event of Hulk Hogan vs Terry Funk. Funk is one of the most legendary wrestlers of all time, wrestling for 52 years in one of the greatest careers in wrestling. As a supremely hated heel or a beloved babyface, Terry Funk could do literally everything.
He won multiple world championships across the decades, and by the time he had his run in the WWF in 1985 was a 20 year veteran, perfect for a battle against the biggest star in wrestling history.
Hulk Hogan vs Terry Funk did happen in early 1986, with the pair battling it out for the WWF Championship. However, this took place on TV, on WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event IV on January 4, 1986. While this was a big main event match, the real huge match ups took place on Pay Per View.
The pay per view match between the two titans never took place, however.
Hulk Hogan vs Terry Funk
On the 24th June 2021 edition of the Grillin JR podcast, AEW Commentator Jim Ross and co-host Conrad Thompson dedicated a whole episode to the legendary gunslinger in wrestling Terry Funk. They discussed his early successes, and he had the courage to reinvent himself multiple times and kept his career going long after most men would be ran out of the business.
This was most evident when he reinvented himself as a hardcore wrestler in the 1990s. He competed in some incredibly dangerous matches, first in Japan and then in ECW. He helped elevated ECW into one of the world’s top promotions and became a two-time ECW World Champion in the 1990s.
On Grillin JR, Jim Ross discussed the reasons behind Vince McMahon refusing to book Hulk Hogan vs Terry Funk as a Pay Per View main event. Ross revealed that McMahon had reservations about putting the 6’8 Hogan against the smaller challenger, as it wouldn’t create the right visual for WWE.
“Terry could’ve been a great opponent for Hogan because Terry would’ve known how to work with Hogan to embellish Hogan’s skills.
McMahon was very cautious to not book Hogan with average sized guys. He wanted him to sell for a guy that was bigger than him.
It’s the same concept I used when I hired Mick Foley to use for The Undertaker. You’re looking for an opponent and Foley was 6’4, 300 pounds and I think that’s the same theory that we’re talking about in this topic.
Vince was going to make sure, and I don’t blame him for this, that Hogan was booked with the right guy that can create the right visual and right dynamic so that when the Hulkster sold, it had more believability. I think there’s a lot to say for that, protecting your golden goose that’s now spitting out these golden eggs in the form of tickets sold.”
It’s sad we never got to see Hulk Hogan vs Terry Funk for the WWE Championship on a Pay Per View event, but you can view their battle on Saturday Nights Main Event on the video just below.
Hamish is a writer and podcaster and wrestling fan who is a key part of the Atletifo team.
After playing countless hours of WrestleMania X8 on the Gamecube, he discovered Rey Mysterio getting his head crushed by The Great Khali, and thus a love for professional wrestling was born.
He is also a Media Graduate, as well as writing for multiple sites about Premier League football and the culture of Wales – his home country.
