Why Terry Funk's Time In WWE Was So Bizarre, Explained

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• Terry Funk Has A Confusing Debut In WWE

• Terry Funk Had A Short Tag Team Run With Mick Foley's Cactus Jack

• It Was Too Late When The Chainsaw Charlie Gimmick Was Dropped

Terry Funk joining WWE in 1997 should have been a great moment for both parties. ECW had recently used Funk as a top main event act to help them grow as a company with such a noteworthy name. Funk retiring turned into a running joke, especially in this timeline when he ended it after just eleven days.

WWE decided it was the right time to hire Funk when diversifying their roster with names of every style contributing to the show. However, things got quite strange when Funk was introduced with a new look and persona as Chainsaw Charlie. This entire run deserves a deeper look at what made this time so bizarre for a legend coming to WWE.

Terry Funk Has A Confusing Debut In WWE

WWE came up with a strange way to introduce Terry Funk to the audience in 1997. A box was on the stage of Raw for quite some time with fans not being sure what to make of it. Vince Russo later revealed this was Jim Cornette’s idea, intending to build interest for the reveal. The payoff came when Funk used a chainsaw from inside the box to cut his way out.

RELATED: 10 Backstage Stories About Terry Funk Fans Should Know

Funk had a weird look with pantyhose and powder over his head, while going by the name of Chainsaw Charlie. The character debuted by uniting with the Cactus Jack persona of Mick Foley to even the odds against the New Age Outlaws. Even though the box wasn’t his idea, Funk was the one to come up with the Chainsaw Charlie persona.

The autobiography of Funk confirmed that Bruce Prichard informed him of the box idea, and he wanted to add to it. Funk came up with the Chainsaw Charlie name and suggested the outfit he wore. WWE went for it, but Funk did express regret over the name he came up with on the spot. The second-guessing saw Funk claiming he wished he used the name Chainsaw Terry instead to tie together both characters.

Terry Funk Had A Short Tag Team Run With Mick Foley's Cactus Jack

The real-life bond between Mick Foley and Terry Funk saw them having many hardcore matches in Japan and ECW before working together in WWE. Cactus Jack being the hardcore persona of Foley meant that Funk wanted to channel the same thing with Chainsaw Charlie. WWE made them a tag team when Foley badly needed a trustworthy partner to even the odds against the New Age Outlaws.

The two teams went back and forth with violent matches trying to one up each other. One of the most infamous instances of this came when Billy Gunn and Road Dogg threw a dumpster off the stage with Foley and Funk inside. Their matches weren’t as violent as ECW, but they started to show new aspects of hardcore wrestling to WWE.

Cactus and Chainsaw saw their peak as a team coming at WrestleMania 14 when winning the WWE Tag Team Championship, but they lost it back to the New Age Outlaws one night later. WWE decided to split them up shortly after this since it felt like Foley was losing some luster from his singles success. Funk’s gimmick didn’t help make the tag team work as much as expected.

It Was Too Late When The Chainsaw Charlie Gimmick Was Dropped

WWE eventually decided to change things up by having Terry Funk use his normal name and identity after the tag team run ended. Mick Foley moved into Dude Love persona to feud with new WWE Champion Steve Austin, so it would not have made much sense to continue the Chainsaw Charlie character. Funk felt more natural in the role wrestling fans knew him for rather than an outlandish gimmick.

Unfortunately, the low placement of Funk on the card already made him come off less important following the Chainsaw Charlie run and moving on without Foley. WWE placed Terry in a couple of short-term tag teams with Flash Funk and Justin Bradshaw, but they went nowhere. Funk couldn’t find a role to fit on his own after losing any momentum from his ECW run.

Coincidentally, the best times from Funk featured him interacting with Foley once again. WWE had them facing off in an underrated hardcore match on Raw with Steve Austin on commentary. Even a smaller moment in the bigger picture like Funk trying to stop The Undertaker from destroying Foley in the infamous Hell in a Cell match was an effective idea.

Funk could have been wisely booked from the start, but the run was an overall disappointment. Both WWE coming up with weak ideas and Funk himself coming up with the Chainsaw Charlie gimmick led to a weird and often forgotten tenure.