FUNK'S CORNER: THE SHOW MUST GO ON
By Dory Funk Jr. on 5/21/2009 9:01 AM
Funk's Corner - The Show Must Go On
Due to the Debacle caused by Kroenke Sports Enterprises WWE is moving Monday
Night Raw and Smackdown to Los Angeles and the shows will go on.
I remember one Wednesday night in Lubbock, Texas at the Fair Park Coliseum
there was an electrical storm and the electricity went out just as the
matches were about to start. Nick Roberts and Dory Funk Sr. made the
decision the show would go on and they opened the back garage doors at the
Fair Park Arena and pulled four pickup trucks in the back and shined their
headlights on the ring. The show went on.
On a Thursday night back in the early seventies I was booked to defend the
NWA World Championship at a sold out Memorial Hall in Kansas City. The
weather was bad and my flight over-flew Kansas City airport and went on to
St. Louis where I called promoter, Bob Geigle. Geigel just said, "Get here
and we will hold the crowd. I arrived at the building at 11:00pm for an
8:00pm show. As I entered the building the preliminary matches were over and
the fans had listened to thirty minutes of country music. I hurriedly
changed clothes and the show went on.
Again in the Kansas City Territory I was scheduled to wrestle in Waterloo
Iowa. The local promoter had a dispute with the Kansas City Office and left
town with the ring behind his pickup truck. 6,000 wrestling fans showed up
and there was no ring in the building. From the back of the building they
pulled out a bunch of used carpet and some old amateur wrestling mats and
set up for the show to go on. With the announcer's table in place, wrestlers
could bounce off the table (No ropes) and still do their high spots.
I have traveled from Amarillo to St. Louis by train because of a blizzard in
the Midwest and I have left my Lincoln Continental Mark III broken down on
the side of the road and hitch-hiked to make my shot at the Ector County
Coliseum in Odessa, Texas. The show goes on.
Thanks to the ingenuity of the WWE team and courtesies of the Los Angeles
Lakers who I believe Vince McMahon will be cheering for, we can all enjoy
current editions of Raw and Smackdown this week.
If you would like to become a professional wrestler, call 352-895-4658.
The next !BANG! TV taping returns to the Funking Conservatory Sunday June
14th with Wahoo McDaniel Jr. challenging Shane Chung for the Funking
Conservatory World Championship and newcomer, Sa Rah challenging Claudia
"the Claw" Reiff for the Women's Championship.
