Following the death of the legendary Terry Funk earlier this week, Cody Rhodes made a special appearance on tonight’s WWE SmackDown, paying tribute to Funk in front of the live crowd. Rhodes told a story about traveling through an airport with his father as a child and hearing Funk throw insults across the hall as he traveled in the opposite direction.
“Modern nomenclature being what it is, we get to call ourselves – those who get into these rings – we get to call ourselves the coolest things,” Rhodes said. “We get to call ourselves WWE superstars. Now, over the years, we have been called other things. We’ve been called wrestlers, we’ve been called athletes, we’ve been called artists, we’ve been called competitors. Some of us have been called carnies. But then there’s a fabled, fabled few who earn the right to call themselves cowboys. And both Terry Funk and Bray Wyatt were cowboys in the best of ways.”
The WWE star gave a brief rundown of Funk’s career, highlighting his time at West Texas State University, where Funk played football. Rhodes then talked about Funk’s ability to evolve as a performer and stay relevant for 50 years in the professional wrestling industry before introducing a video package focused on Funk. The clips included Funk’s fellow WWE Hall of Famers “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Ric Flair, and protege Mick Foley discussing what the legend meant to them, as well as showing off some footage of Funk in the ring.
After the video package, Rhodes happily introduced the next match as a Terry Funk Hardcore Match. The tag team bout featured the Brawling Brutes, Butch and Ridge Holland, against Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford of the Street Profits. The bout was interrupted by Bobby Lashley, who came out to support the Street Profits, eventually helping them to victory.