{"id":28302,"date":"2026-08-05T07:48:34","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T02:48:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=28302"},"modified":"2026-08-05T07:48:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T02:48:34","slug":"dory-funk-jr-pro-wrestling-legend-dead-at-85","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=28302","title":{"rendered":"Dory Funk Jr., pro wrestling legend, dead at 85"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F08%2FDory-Funk-Jr-comp-1.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Wrestling great Dory Funk Jr. died at the age of 85, the WWE announced on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Dory Funk Jr. had a decades-long career wrestling after following in the footsteps of his father Dory Funk Sr. and was the brother of the legendary Terry Funk.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>No cause of death was announced and WWE said that it was \u201csaddened\u201d by the loss of the wrestling icon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Dory Funk Jr. is ringside during Saturday Night\u2019s Main Event at Frost Bank Center on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, in San Antonio, Texas.  <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Dory Funk Jr. was born in Hammond, Ind., and he and his brother became stars in the wrestling world in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, wrestling across the globe, including regularly in Japan.\u00a0He won the NWA World Heavy Championship\u00a0in Feb 1969, when it was the most prestigious title in the industry, and held it for four-plus years for the second-longest uninterrupted reign in the belt\u2019s history<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom the Double Cross Ranch to the @WWE Hall of Fame, Dory\u2019s style inspired countless performers in our industry,\u201d WWE Chief Content Officer Paul \u201cTriple H\u201d Levesque <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TripleH\/status\/2084725462660456953\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said in a post on X.<\/a> \u201cWhether it was at WrestleMania 2, WCW, ECW, or the dozens of NWA-affiliated promotions, his travels across North America and Asia were a part of the early blueprint that helped build this business into a global phenomena. A hard-nosed and fierce competitor, his rugged in-ring style was only eclipsed by the decades he spent training athletes to perform in the squared circle he loved so much.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Dory Funk Jr. in action against Harley Race during an NWA show on May 24, 1973, in Kansas City, Missouri. <span class=\"credit\">WWE via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cMy thoughts and those of the entire [WWE] Universe are with his loved ones during this difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dory Funk Jr. was inducted into the NWA Hall of Fame in 2006 and WWE inducted him, and his brother, into its Hall of Fame in 2009.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He went on to open up the Funking Conservatory wrestling school with his wife, Marti, which would go on to train WWE superstars like Kurt Angle, Edge, Christian, The Hardy Boyz, Mark Henry and Mickie James.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Dory Funk Jr. on stage during the WWE Hall of Fame 2009 at the Toyota Center on Sunday, April 5, 2009, in Houston, Texas. <span class=\"credit\">WWE via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NatbyNature\/status\/2084749967017812377\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wrestler Nattie Niedhart wrote in a post on X<\/a> that Dory Funk Jr.\u2019s legacy \u201cwill live on forever\u201d and that her grandfather, legendary Canadian wrestler and promoter Stu Hart, had said that he was \u201chis favorite champion in Stampede Wrestling.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDory defined the word CLASSIC. He was a genuine draw, made everyone he stepped into the ring with look like a million bucks and he was always respected for how easy he was to do business with. Those qualities are what made him one of the true greats,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThe Funk family has meant so much to professional wrestling and Dory\u2019s contributions helped shape this business for generations to come. We are grateful for the respect and friendship shared between the Funks and the Harts over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wrestling great Dory Funk Jr. died at the age of 85, the WWE announced on Tuesday.\u00a0 Dory Funk Jr. had a decades-long career wrestling after following in the footsteps of his father Dory Funk Sr. and was the brother of the legendary Terry Funk.\u00a0 No cause of death was announced and WWE said that it&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Dory-Funk-Jr-comp-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}