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The passing of Terry Funk has led to several wrestling veterans sharing their memories of the WWE Hall of Famer. Dutch Mantell recently opened up about working a tag team match with the Funks during the good old days of pro wrestling.
Mantell was part of a formidable tag team with 'Cowboy' Frankie Laine in Puerto Rico. They even had the opportunity to have a match with Dory Funk Jr. and Terry many moons ago.
Dutch Mantell revealed that while Frankie was familiar with the Funks before their bout, he had to introduce himself to the brothers before they went on to have an impressive 15-minute match. The former WWE manager stated that even though it was a tag team contest, there were differences in the in-ring styles of Dory and Terry, as he explained on this week's episode of Smack Talk.
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"I reintroduced myself in the ring. I said, 'Hey guys, I'm Dutch.' Because I think Frankie knew him, but I didn't. So, we had a 15-minute match. It was like having two separate matches within the same match because Dory was so much different than Terry." [15:00 - 15:30]
Dutch Mantell said that the entire match changed once Terry Funk got the tag, as the former ECW Champion followed a different pace whenever he wrestled.
Mantell was glad that he got to work with the Dory and Terry Funk as they helped him and Frankie get even more over after delivering an entertaining match that ended in a draw.
"I mean, Dory was in there, and we were actually doing a lot of wrestling. Then Terry got in there, and the whole match just changed, and we remembered what Terry Funk was going to do. I will say one thing: I went into the ring with those guys, and we went 15 minutes, and at the end, the people were standing. We were more over holding the Funks to a 15-minute draw than we went in." [15:31 - 16:20]
"They impressed me that night" - Dutch Mantell on Dory and Terry Funk
While Dutch Mantell was a highly rated and proficient worker inside the ring, he admitted that the Funk brothers certainly did all the work that night.
Mantell humbly claimed he was a "dummy" in that match and followed everything Terry and Dory instructed him and Frankie to do during the time-limit draw.
The wrestling veteran gained a lot of respect for Dory and Terry Funk as he realized they were legitimate professionals who always delivered memorable performances. Mantell even revealed that the legendary duo thanked him and Frankie Laine for the match a day later:
"I've said this forever: Terry did my work, and Dory did too, and their work too. So, all I was was just a dummy in there listening to what they told me to do. So, they impressed me that night that these guys are real pros. Of course, the next night, they said thank you for the match." [16:21 - 17:00]
Dutch Mantell also paid tribute to Bray Wyatt on Smack Talk, and you can check out what he had to say here.
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