Dory Funk Jr., one of the toughest and most respected men wrestling has ever produced, has died at 85. His wife, Marti, told the Ocala Gazette that Dory passed away Tuesday under hospice care. The two had been together for 46 years and married for 40.
News of his passing spread quickly through the wrestling community. B. Brian Blair of The Killer Bees posted one of the first tributes:
“It’s hard to find the right words to say goodbye to a man who became a mentor, a leader, and a dear friend, Dory Funk Jr.,” Blair wrote. “My love for him started all the way back as a kid at the Bayfront Center, booing him as the ultimate heel while he took on my hero Jack Brisco. He was an absolute legend who commanded respect just by being himself. My heart goes out to his wife, Marti, and his family. You will be deeply missed, Dory. I know God is welcoming you with open arms. Rest easy until we meet again.”
Triple H also paid tribute, writing that “from the Double Cross Ranch to the WWE Hall of Fame, Dory’s style inspired countless performers in our industry,” and that his travels across North America and Asia “were a part of the early blueprint that helped build this business into a global phenomena.” The Cauliflower Alley Club called him “a champion, a teacher, a gentleman, and an ambassador for our great sport.”
Four and a Half Years as NWA World Champion
Funk was born February 3, 1941, in Texas, the son of wrestler and promoter Dory Funk Sr. and older brother to Terry Funk, who died in August 2023. Dory debuted in 1963 working his father’s Western States Sports promotion, and by 1969 he was one of the biggest stars in the business.
On February 11, 1969, Funk beat Gene Kiniski for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship with a spinning toe hold, a move he’s credited with inventing. He held the title for four and a half years, the second-longest reign in the championship’s history behind only Lou Thesz. That run took him constantly between the United States and Japan, where he worked extensively for All Japan Pro Wrestling across three separate stretches spanning 1973 to 2017, and where he built a legend that in some ways outgrew his American career.
He also wrestled for WCW, ECW, WWC, and the then-WWF, with his WWF run highlighted by a win alongside Terry as The Funks over Tito Santana and the Junkyard Dog at WrestleMania 2.
The Man Who Built the Dojo
Funk’s second act may have mattered even more than his first. Following his father’s example, he opened the Funking Conservatory in Ocala, Florida, in 1991, running it alongside Marti and teaching what he called the Dory Funk Method: a curriculum built around safety, in-ring performance, and how to actually work a television camera.
The school became a direct pipeline into WWE, formalized for a stretch as the company’s own Funkin’ Dojo. According to WWE’s own obituary, Funk personally helped train Kurt Angle, Edge, Christian, Matt and Jeff Hardy, Mark Henry, and Mickie James, among others, a list that covers multiple world champions and a future WWE Hall of Famer in Angle alone.
In 2009, Dory and Terry Funk were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame together, introduced by longtime friend Dusty Rhodes.
Still Going at 83
Funk officially retired in 2017, but that didn’t fully stick. On August 24, 2024, at 83 years old, he teamed with Osamu Nishimura for a Double Hell Current Explosion Death Match against Atsushi Onita and Raijin Yaguchi at FMW-E’s Terry Funk Memorial show in Kawasaki, Japan, an event built around his late brother. Funk took an exploding bat shot from Onita directly and kept going, eventually picking up the win with, fittingly, a spinning toe hold on Yaguchi. It stands as his final match.
The Ocala Gazette reports a private ceremony will be held for family soon, with a public memorial service planned for Thanksgiving Day. Details on that service are expected at a later date.
The Stunner sends its condolences to Marti, the Funk family, and everyone who came up through a dojo built on the belief that this business was worth teaching properly.
