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Funk Versus Flair: The Last Great Feud Under the NWA Banner

Posted: May 15th 2026 By: Brian Damage - RingTheDamnBell.com

In November of 1988, Jim Crockett Promotions sold all of their wrestling assets to Ted Turner. Even though the company was under new ownership, they still competed under the National Wrestling Alliance name until 1991. It was at that time, that the promotion started pay per views under the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) name. In the middle of the transition from NWA to WCW, there was one final feud that capped off the old school way to the new school way of wrestling.

The feud in question was the battle between ‘The Nature Boy’ Ric Flair versus the grizzled, old veteran named Terry Funk. It all began on May 7, 1989 in Nashville, Tennessee…the site of NWA’s Wrestle War pay per view. Flair was challenging Ricky Steamboat for the World Heavyweight title in the culmination of a classic wrestling war. For this main event, Steamboat was defending his title against Flair with three wrestling legends serving as ringside judges. Lou Thesz, Pat O’Connor and Terry Funk were to decide the match, if Steamboat and Flair wrestled to the one hour time limit.

During the Flair/Steamboat feud, many fans were siding with the brash heel Ric Flair over the family friendly Ricky Steamboat. It was only natural that the booking committee (which included Flair) decided to turn the Nature Boy into a babyface after this feud concluded. It all went down immediately after Flair defeated Steamboat to regain the world title. Jim Ross entered the ring to interview the new champion, when Funk continuously interrupted the interview by congratulating Flair. Funk then asked for a title opportunity, to which Flair turned him down by saying that while Terry Funk was making movies in Hollywood, there was a top ten list of contenders that earned the shot first.

Looking like he was on the verge of tears, Funk sucker punched Flair and proceeded to attack the newly crowned champion. The attack culminated with Funk dragging a beaten and battered Flair on to the top of the judges table and used a piledriver through the table. The announcers sold the move as career threatening and in reality, Flair said he legitimately suffered a stinger because of it. He stated that he couldn’t move his neck for a couple of weeks after.

For a month after the attack, Flair sat at home selling the injury to fans. He said whenever he went out shopping or out to eat, he would wear a neck brace to give the illusion that he was seriously hurt. The announcers would speculate that the injury was so severe…that Flair was considering retirement. While Flair was doing his part to sell the neck injury, Terry Funk was doing his part to sell the forthcoming battle. He would go out on television each week and bad mouth Flair as being yellow and a coward, who was afraid to face him for the title.

According to Funk, he did such a great job badmouthing Flair, that Flair actually got insulted and asked Funk to tone down his insults of him. Funk was confused by the request, because it was all about hyping their eventual match and the beating Funk would take. Funk relented and did in fact tone down his comments in the weeks that followed. Ultimately, Flair returned and instead of announcing his retirement challenged Funk to a match at the Great American Bash pay per view.

Flair would go on to retain his world title against Funk in a hard hitting match…but the feud didn’t end there. The two continued to go at it on television with Flair using Funk’s own branding iron to “break” Funk’s arm. During a tag team match at Clash of Champions VIII between Flair and Sting vs Dick Slater and Great Muta….Funk attacked Flair once again. This time, he pulled out a plastic bag and attempted to suffocate Flair with it.

Flair sold the attack brilliantly and as the credits rolled on the show….was getting CPR administered to him. The angle was a powerful one, so much so, that some Turner executives were livid over it. They refused to replay the plastic bag assault, for fear that kids watching at home would emulate the angle. Their classic feud would come to a brutal end with an “I Quit” match at Clash of Champions IX.

The idea for the I Quit match came from Terry Funk himself…who had many classic I Quit matches in various territories throughout the years. He felt that it was the perfect way to end their brutal and bloody rivalry. The ending of this classic match had Funk utter the words “I quit” and thus ended the feud. After the feud wrapped up…Funk says that Jim Herd thought that an I Quit match meant a retirement match. Herd forced Funk to retire and become a color commentator.

Being a team player, Funk agreed to the new job title, but when Herd decided to cut his pay in half…Funk legitimately said I quit to WCW and walked away. There were several other good feuds in the NWA/WCW after Flair/Funk….but none came close to the old school intensity that this one had.