Starting in NJPW as the youngest trainee (at 15), Funaki would make his “bones” in UWF Newborn under the guidance of Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Akira Maeda; Funaki is most remembered as one of the founders of Pancrase (along with Minoru Suzuki), one of the first MMA promotions; Funaki has a great run in AJPW, even winning the vaunted Triple Crown; he is now one of the best 50+ wrestlers in world as a member of Pro-Wrestling NOAH.
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Love the guy honestly, he was a beast in Pancrase and even choked out Minoru Suzuki around 1993 or 1994( I can’t recall the year he choked out Suzuki). His fights and victories over the Shamrock brothers are top tier, also his fight and victory of Bas Rutten in 1994 is great too(Bas would get his revenge though 2 years later in 1996 with a brutal knee to Funaki’s face). I did enjoy his All Japan work from 2009~2013(although most people didn’t like the Mutoh era that much). Yeah that’s it the guy is still a beast and is mostly known for his MMA record in Pancrase, but his pro wrestling career shouldn’t be slept on either.
The G of All Gs! He is still a killer!
I caught him in early 2000’s ? When he was in AJPW. That style is my favorite so it was cool seeing him mix and finding out later on who he was and why him being there was such a big deal.
Don’t sleep on his recent run in NOAH.
If there is a list somewhere of elderly japanese men who could murder you, I’m sure he is on it, along with Suzuki.
The type of dude you watch with a pen and pad
I’ll be honest I’ve only seen his recent run in NOAH so I might not have the full scope on how good he is but he is fascinating to watch.
That vest would be really good at tenderizing chicken.
Oh yeah
Match recommends:
Funaki vs Tatsuo Nakano (UWF Newborn) – https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4cm43l
Funaki vs Suwama (AJPW) – https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7ud598
Funaki vs Minoru Suzuki (AJPW inside a steel cage) – https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T4U77mHZ_MQ
Funaki vs Minoru Suzuki (AJPW Champion Carnival match) – https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hzht5YuY-JM
Funaki vs Bob Backlund (UWF Newborn) – https://youtu.be/XU8XXwgaGHw
Funaki & Naomichi Marufuji vs Takashi Sugiura & Kazushi Sakuraba (NOAH) – https://youtu.be/uovGHhwPugM
If anyone wants me to give links for his stuff in Pancrase (it’s more MMA than Puro, but early stuff was worked), let me know.
Legend, the best 50+ wrestler on the planet. Maybe the smoothest wrestler in the world as far as mat work goes. His recent GHC National Title run was pretty fun.
Underrated as a whole. I might be alone here, but I consider Funaki’s work in Pancrase when evaluating his career. Pancrase was a shootfighting promotion, but it was an extension of the “Long UWF” and obviously has roots in catch wrestling. He was very popular in the 1990s and it was clear why Inoki viewed him as a potential successor before he left for UWF 2.0 in the late 80s. Funaki had some gems in UWF 2.0 and PWFG before Pancrase launched. But other than that, his work post-Pancrase is pretty good. He had some great matches in Mutoh’s AJPW and has been quite solid despite his age during his recent NOAH run.
I also think Sakuraba’s run in PRIDE shouldn’t be ignored when considering his career as a whole because he always considered himself a pro wrestler, even in MMA. Both Funaki and Sakuraba actually had fights like the Bas Rutten fight in 1996 and Sakuraba’s match against Newton that more or less looked like pro-wrestling.
I prefer To Funaki
He’s basically Ricky Steamboat if Steamboat took up MMA.
Love that hammerlock piledriver thing.
He’s Suzuki without personality