A Year Of Tears

 

While 2023 was widely celebrated as one of the most incredible years for in-ring action ever seen in modern wrestling history (if not THE greatest), there was news within the business that made just as much of an impact, if not more.  From retirements from the likes of Tyrus and Keiji Mutoh (aka The Great Muta) to the on-again, off-again saga of Vince McMahon and his legal issues that carried over from the previous year, to the partnership between WWE and UFC's parent company, Endeavor, to become TKO, inc., no story hit the strings of the collective wrestling family more so than the sudden and tragic deaths of two of the sports brightest stars, Jay Briscoe and Bray Wyatt, plus the passing of one of the true icons and faces of wrestling, Terry Funk.

As one-half of The Briscoes, Jay Briscoe was seen as the all-around tougher Briscoe.  Along with real-life brother Mark, Jay was a thirteen-time ROH World Tag Team Champion, while they also held championships in New Japan, NOAH, GCW, Impact, and HOG.  As a solo performer, Jay was a former two-time ROH world Champion and considered one of the toughest bastards to step foot in any ring.  On 1/7/23, Briscoe, real name Jamin Pugh, was instantly killed when he was in a head-on collision in Delaware with his daughters in the vehicle with him. He was 38 years young.  They, too, were critically injured but thankfully survived.  The outpouring was swift and emotional.  Colleagues from all over the wrestling world paid respects and gave love to the memory of Jay and his brother Mark.  Their last televised match together was at ROH Final Battle '22, where they faced FTR for the ROH World Tag Team titles in an INSANE Dog Collar Tag Team Match.  Regarded as one of the greatest tag team matches of all-time in modern wrestling, this bloodbath was also hailed as the greatest Dog Collar match ever as well, as the match topped many year-end lists and won many year-end awards for 2022.  Former adversaries such as Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn all paid tribute to him wearing armbands and commenting on his death during podcasts and interviews.  Also, companies such as NJPW and Impact did ten bell salutes to Jay in his memory.  The tribute show on ROH's weekly show was wrenching, but everyone that gave their salutes to him were honest and clearly moved by his abilities in the ring and as Jamin the man.  On the 1/25 edition of AEW Dynamite, a driven Mark Briscoe came out to a standing ovation from the audience while chanting Jay's name.  He faced another Jay, in Jay Lethal, one of both Briscoe's most known adversaries throughout the years. A clearly grief-stricken Lethal struggled within the first few minutes of the match to keep himself together, as us viewers felt the pain of these men.  the match, however, was as competitive as we knew it would be in Jay Briscoe's honor.  Mark defeated Lethal with his brother's finisher, the Jay Driller, to finish this highly emotional match.  With Lethal back to tears after the match, as was Mark at this point, the entire locker room area came out to give love and respect to Mark and the Briscoe name in a very proud, yet tear-jerking, moment that we've sadly seen too many times in this business.  At the most recent Final Battle, Mark teamed up with, whom both Briscoes referred to as their "blood brothers", FTR, to face fellow Briscoe fans and friends, Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, and Claudio Castagnoli of the Blackpool Combat Club in a "Tribute to Jay" match. this blood-stained street fight that Jay would have clearly loved to witness, if not been a part of.  The impact Jay left behind is substantial, as Mark is a solo guy now, but the legacy of The Briscoes is one of pride and toughness, as they're arguably the best team ever seen in the business never signed to WWE.

* Peep this fight along against his brother in the Fight on The Farm match, with "Papa" Briscoe (their real father) as the special referee. *

From there, we didn't anticipate another death this rough to get through, but we were hit with the proverbial double whammy with the deaths of former WWE Champion, Bray Wyatt, and wrestling icon, Terry Funk.  Funk passed away at the age of 79 after several health-related issues, and the mourning was widespread.  Funk has been regarded by many as the greatest to ever do it.  His passion, knowledge, and in-ring ability was second to none, and his historic rivalries with the likes of Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, and Mick Foley helped change the business. Aside from his groundbreaking feuds with the previously mentioned, he was also in a few movies, and even had a country album get released in Japan, which was arguably his second home because of how revered he and his brother, Dory Jr, were over there.  He had a mid-life career surge once he went to ECW and became ECW World Heavyweight Champion while helping to elevate the prodigious company get to a higher level at the company's first PPV, Barely Legal.  He was then thrusted into another notorious moment within his already legendary career when fought Sabu for the World Title in a Barbed Wire Match that is, perhaps, the most infamous Barbed Wire match in wrestling history.  Never one to just fold his tent, Terry continued wrestling, even having a brief stint in WWE as Chainsaw Charlie, and it had him and Foley in his Cactus Jack persona winning the WWE Tag Team Titles from The New Age Outlaws at WrestleMania 14.  Literally if there was a wrestling promotion, Terry stepped foot in it, even if briefly.  His love of the business was rarely matched within his peers or even generations after his prime.  He and his brother, Dory Jr, were inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame in 2009.  His last active match was reportedly in 2017 at a show in NC, but this time it was for good (he was notorious for off and on retirements).  The mourning of the passing of Funk was hard and very saddening, as the Busted Open Radio team of Bully Ray, host Dave LeGreca, and especially Tommy Dreamer were all audibly distraught over his passing and how much he meant to their lives, professionally, personally, and as fans.  

* Check out one of the greatest, and most violent, fights in Funk's career against Jerry "The King" Lawler in the legendary Empty Arena match from Memphis! Viewer discretion is advised! *

Not even twenty-four hours later, the wrestling world was hit with even worse news, as Windham Rotunda, known professionally as Bray Wyatt, tragically died from heart failure at the young age of 36. Reportedly, he had severe effects from COVID earlier in the year that exacerbated underlying cardiac issues he was suffering from.  Wyatt had just returned to WWE after just over two years being away from the company and was in the midst of his split personality angle as "Uncle Howdy".  Wyatt came on board in the WWE within their developmental system, FCW, as far back as 2009, but after some hits and misses with his character, along with Vince not being crazy of his heavy size (thus the Husky Harris gimmick for a brief span), he eventually came up with the character that would define the remainder of his career.  A partially supernatural cult leader, Wyatt brought with him Erick Rowan and Luke Harper (otherwise known as the late Brodie Lee) as The Wyatt Family, and they instant became mainstays within on the main roster.  Developing a cult-like following of their own, the group eventually embarked on a feud with another highly regarded trio faction, The Shield, which consisted of Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose (otherwise known as Jon Moxley), and Seth Rollins.  They had a match at the Elimination Chamber PPV in 2014 that still holds up as one of the most intense matches of that year, and certainly the best overall match of The Wyatts as a group.  Bray was getting more and more over with the fans up to where he faced John Cena at WrestleMania XXX.  While he lost in that match, the backlash from the fans was swift and noticeable.  He defeated Cena at the next PPV but in many people's eyes, the damage had already been done.  Eventually the Family parted ways and Wyatt was on his own, at least for a spell until he linked up with "Broken" Matt Hardy and they became an unlikely team that became Tag Team Champions.  This wasn't the first time Wyatt held gold, as he had been Tag Team Champions within The Wyatts when Randy Orton briefly was a part of the group, and in 2017, he won an Elimination Chamber match to win his first WWE Title.  He would lose the title the next month to Orton who had turned on the group the next night after Wyatt won the Title. 

 After being off television for a year or so, Wyatt returned to television with his most daring and ambitious role yet.  Instead of being the cult leader or his "Eater of Worlds" persona, he returned as a deranged and conflicted Mr. Rogers-type character, who was really hiding a monster within himself, that revealed itself to be known as The Fiend, an evil, malevolent manifestation of the rage within. This side of Wyatt resulted in him being among the most intriguing and spellbinding characters in the business.  It hit a detour, however, when he faced Seth Rollins for the Title in a Hell in A Cell match that received universal panning from fans and critics alike for the rather shitty booking of both men and the confusing outcome of the match.  Wyatt, once again, couldn't fully recover from this blow, even with him winning another WWE Title the next month in Saudi Arabia.  Although he was beginning to feel his momentum come back, he faced Hall of Famer, Goldberg, in another Saudi Arabia show just before WrestleMania 36, and lost to him in another moment fans were enraged over.  He ended up facing John Cena in a "Firefly Funhouse Match" that was regarded as one of the most original conceptual matches seen in modern wrestling.  With his Fiend persona going through a bunch of twists and turns that were making this persona look more and more baffling and confusing, Wyatt was off television again. 

 He was eventually fired in 2021, but we wouldn't hear or see the last of him just yet.  As rumors were going around that Wyatt was coming back, the song "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane would play during house shows in dark light with ominous red lighting appearing near the song's end.  Plus, random QR codes would appear during Raw and Smackdown with clues of his impending return.  Most were very cryptic, but we knew what everything weas leading up to.  At Extreme Rules '22, Wyatt returned with a building-rattling ovation and pop from the fans and what appeared to be a return to his original "Eater of Worlds" gimmick with a slight twist.  We were now introduced to another level of evolution for Wyatt, as he presented himself as this sorrowful, peace-attaining guy, who still was at war internally within himself and was seemingly being controlled by a force known only as "Uncle Howdy".  He embarked on a rivalry with LA Knight and the result was a "Lights Out Match" at the 2023 Royal Rumble, in which the lights would be out, and they would wrestle under special lighting.  The match was panned, as fans and critics were again confused about the direction of the match and how over the top it was presented (although Wyatt in the fluorescent, menacing paint was quite a visual).  This would be the last match Wyatt would have on PPV. 

 Wyatt was the son of famed legend, Mike Rotunda (early to mid-90s WWE fans would remember him as Irwin R. Shyster), the brother of another WWE star, Bo Dallas, the nephew of Barry and Kendall Windham, and the grandson of another Hall of Famer, the late, great Blackjack Mulligan.  Seen as one of wrestling's most fascinating and original minds, Wyatt was often misunderstood within creative and most, namely McMahon, couldn't seem to just have him direct and steer the direction of his own creation.  Outside of the ring, while obviously a brilliant creative mind, he was a family man with four children and was engaged to former WWE ring announcer, Jojo Offerman.  On the 8/25 edition of Smackdown, both Funk and Wyatt were honored, as the locker room emptied out and a ten-bell salute was given in honor of their memories.  The highly emotional visual of a tearful Braun Strowman (another former Wyatt Family member) and previously released Erick Rowan looking emotionally worn out and drained (as he had just lost his Wyatt Family tag partner Harper two years earlier) gripped our collective hearts.  Stories from the likes of Orton, Rollins, on-screen love interest and real-life great friend Alexa Bliss, and Otis all came in from social media and on the tribute show to fully represent how special of a character and a man Rotunda was.

* Check out this match against famed rival, Daniel Bryan (aka Bryan Danielson) *

The year also had unfortunate passings from other legends and icons within the wrestling world as well.  Among them were several former WWE Champions and Hall of Famers. Those include The Iron Shiek, Superstar Billy Graham, and Butch Miller of The Bushwhackers/Sheepherders.  Other significant deaths included "Leaping" Lanny Poffo (otherwise known as the Genius and "Macho Man' Randy Savage's real-life brother), former NFL player turned WWE Tag Team Champion Darren "Droz" Drozdov, Adrian Street, revered promoter (and father of Jeff Jarrett) Jerry Jarrett, Joyce Gable, former WWE star Mantaur, and Jeff Gaylord.  None more or less unfortunate than others, and any loss is sad and full of mourning.  

Very similar to the year of 2015 when both Dusty Rhodes and Roddy piper died within a month of each other, 2023 saw Briscoe, Funk and Wyatt pass within 6 months apart (with Funk and Wyatt not even 24 hours apart as previously mentioned).  Tears flowed, memories were abounded, and legacies secured.  Rotunda is highly being considered to be in WWE's Hall of Fame for 2024 and rightfully so.  While they're at it, put his father in the same HOF, as his contributions to the sport should never be ignored or overlooked.  Although never a World Champion as a single guy, he won numerous championships within his career, including an aforementioned Tag Team Title with Ted Dibiase, but also former NWA Television Champion on three occasions, NWA Tag Champ with the late "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, and multiple championships in Florida.

  As time passes, let's continue to give our legends their flowers while they're still here, and truthfully everyone that mean something special to us their flowers.  2023 was a very memorable year, both for the good and the bad, but for everyone we lost last year, they will forever be immortalized within our hearts and every time we have access to watch them in action through YouTube, Peacock or wherever you get access to them and their form of art and entertainment.  The Heavenly Wrestling Federation continues to expand its roster per year, but we will treasure them while they still remain here with us down here.  Until next time folks!