Bret Hart vs Terry Funk (Wrestlefest - 9/11/97)

Damn! I need to rewatch this because I remember liking but reading my review I apparently LOVED it! Elliot nailed it this old school NWA wrestling with technique, babyfaces/heels, heat and brawling.

Bret Hart vs Terry Funk - WrestleFest 9/11/97

One of the many Terry Funk Retirement Matches to happen throughout history and as with most Funk retirement matches it is absolutely awesome. I had never heard of this match until I joined PWO about 5 years ago. It has always been something that I really wanted to watch, but I always had something else to watch. Here at 1am in a hotel room after 14.5 hour manufacturing run, I decided this was the perfect time and damn any time would be a perfect time to watch this. In 1997, this was about as good as you could hope for with these two. Bret is one of the all-time great offensive wrestlers. I dont think there is any North American wrestler I would rather watch grind out a control segment than Bret Hart. Everything looks crisp and is interesting. Funk is naturally sympathetic as old hometown hero retiring, but add in his crazy charisma and this selling is top notch and then throw in a couple crazy Funk bumps to the floor and this was just great.

Bret gets touted as a technical wizard by WWF machine but we all know that he is a better brawler/grinder. Here he actually shows he is pretty good at chain wrestling when it comes down to it. Funk was great working headlock control. I would have waited a bit longer for Bret to get frustrated before he showed his heel colors, but he went full heel early. Bret is great as an old school bruising heel. He does not give Funk a clean break. He targets the leg. Thumbs to the throat, jawing with the ref, choking, eye rakes. Great work on the leg. I mean just superb Bret work on the leg. Funk takes a couple great bumps to the outside. Bruce shamelessly tries to interject himself to get himself over. Bret seemed annoyed by his antics. There was a great part where Funk tries to use the jab to keep Bret at bay but never connects as Bret dodges and finds an opening to kick the bad wheel. Loved it! I loved Funk's first comeback. He starts throwing wild Funk punches from his knees and Bret starts punching him in the head. Funk absorbs gets up to his feet and absolutely LEVELS Bret with a left. They do a great standup where Funk levels Bret again with a left. Why did Bret have to go to WCW? He was in his prime right here. I loved how Funk earned this comeback and it was head shots that won him control. Funk has to play from behind so everything is big and to the head: neckbreaker and piledriver. Then he takes Bret to the outside to throw him into hard stuff. He gets distracted and Bret trips him up and it is the Figure-4 around the post. Someone needs to crib that spot. Bret goes back to work on the knee. Chair shots to the knee. Bret as a heel rules. Funk desperately punches Bret's knee from his ass. That is the story of this match. Funk's dogged determination against the Best North American Wrestler at this time. Funk wins control attacking the knee and wins a brawl on the outside. Again he goes for a Hail Mary but just ends up Vaderbombing himself through a table on the outside. Bret goes in for the kill. Enough fucking around, it is time to put Old Yeller down in front of his hometown fans. He goes for the Sharpshooter, inside cradle for two. Funk grabs the Spinning Toehold! Big pop! Bret escapes. Bret sells this so well! His use of the ropes to do clotheslines because he can barely stand is great. They go with ultimate old school, championship match finish. Funk Back Suplexes Bret and Bret lifts his shoulder up at two for the win.

Funk is so old school and he wanted to go out on his back. He tried so hard in this match. Bret in his prime had to stretch the rules to gain the advantage over the old man. The old man was put in a hole, but he kept coming back with punches from his ass and his knees. But it looked like Bret was too good and then when Funk put himself through that table it looked like it was all over, but Funk had that one Hail Mary left and it was his old Spinning Toehold with that one move. Old Yeller took the Best North American Wrestler to the limit. It was only on a last second shoulder raise and Funk just being too old to properly bridge that cost him the match. The Old Man pushed The Champ to the limit, but just came up short even with the Champ taking shortcut after shortcut. Amazing. ****1/2