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Dory Funk Jr., a pro wrestling icon and one of three members of the Funk family to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, has died at age 85.
Marti Funk, Funk’s wife of 40 years, told Florida’s Ocala Gazette that her husband died Tuesday while in hospice care. No further details were given.
Born on Feb. 3, 1941, in Hammond, Ind., Funk was the oldest of Dory and Dorothy Funk’s two sons. Spending most of his childhood in Amarillo, Texas, Funk grew up admiring his father, a professional wrestler and promoter who once wrestled in Canada as a heel named the Outlaw who hailed from the fictitious location Double Cross Ranch. As wrestlers, Funk and his brother, Terry, often were billed as being from there as well.
“As a kid, I used to dream I could do all the things my father could do,” Funk said during a 2007 interview for World Wrestling Entertainment. “I wanted to be just like him.”
Legendary professional wrestler Terry Funk was inducted into five hall of fames after a career that lasted 52 years and included several championships.
Funk played offensive and defensive line on the West Texas State University football team (now West Texas A&M) from 1959 to 1962 — he was inducted into the university’s athletics Hall of Fame in 1990 — and went straight into professional wrestling. His 50-plus years in the business included stints in a number of associations across the U.S. and Japan.
He was the National Wrestling Alliance heavyweight champion for more than four years uninterrupted (February 1969 to May 24, 1973). In 1986, Funk and his brother joined WWE (then known as WWF) as a team and defeated Tito Santana and Junkyard Dog at WrestleMania 2.
Funk’s involvement in wrestling also expanded into promotion. In addition, he and Marti owned and operated the Funking Conservatory, a wrestling school where he trained a number of future WWE superstars including Kurt Angle, Christian, Edge, the Hardy Boyz, Mark Henry and Mickie James.
“He was such a good guy,” Marti told the Ocala Gazette, “such a good guy!”
Brazilian UFC flyweight Allan Nascimento, nicknamed “Puro Osso,” has died at 34 after an apparent heart attack in his sleep, UFC said on Monday.
The Funk brothers were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009. Dory Funk Sr., who died in 1973 at age 54, was inducted posthumously to the hall’s Legacy Wing in 2025. Terry Funk died in 2023 at age 79.
WWE chief content officer Triple H announced Funk’s death Tuesday afternoon on social media.
“From the Double Cross Ranch to the @WWE Hall of Fame, Dory’s style inspired countless performers in our industry” Triple H wrote. “Whether it was at WrestleMania 2, WCW, ECW, or the dozens of NWA-affiliated promotions, his travels across North America and Asia were a part of the early blueprint that helped build this business into a global phenomena.