News broke earlier this year that WWE Hall of Famer Terry Funk had been moved into an assisted living facility due to a battle with dementia. The 77-year-old former NWA World Heavyweight Champion’s official Twitter account responded to that news breaking back in July, saying, “Yes, Mr. Funk is currently receiving residential care for his multiple health issues, which do affect his mind as well as the rest of his body. As you can imagine, some days are better than others. He & his family appreciate all of your kind words!”
John Arezzi of Pro Wrestling Spotlight provided an update on Funk during a recent podcast episode. He said (h/t WrestlingNews.co), “I spoke to him earlier this year and he had a hard time remembering and he snapped back in. I was trying to get him on one of these Pro Wrestling Spotlight Live [shows] that I did on YouTube. I talked to him but I just knew after that conversation that it wasn’t gonna happen because he was in the middle of a conversation and he goes, ‘am I John, who are you?’
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“He didn’t really remember very much but when I was with Mick Foley not too long ago, a couple of weeks back here in Nashville, he had talked to Terry recently and he said that Terry was sounding better,” he added. “He’s getting the care he needs and it looks like Terry Funk is fighting as he always has done to this time just remain cognizant and just be the legend that he is and we wish him the best and we pray for him all the time.”
Funk’s wrestling career began in 1965 in the NWA Western States Wrestling promotion. In the decades that followed he’d have legendary runs in Championship Wrestling from Florida, All Japan, the WWF/E, WCW and ECW. He was inducted into both the WWE and NWA Halls of Fame in 2009. He latest onscreen appearance came earlier this year during a Dark Side of the Ring episode that covered Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling in Japan in the 1990s.
