Dory Funk, Jr. vs. Jack Brisco
September 17, 1973

This great feud made it way to El Paso at summer's end, 1973. This time, it was Brisco who wore the title. The Funks were popular in El Paso and Brisco received the crowd's jeers. The two battled evenly early on, but by the time 26 minutes had passed, Funk had the champ reeling with a series of European uppercuts. The action spilled outside the ropes. Brisco slammed Junior's head into the ring post and drew blood. The two returned to the ring where Brisco began pounding Dory's forehead with a series of closed fists to deepen the cut. Funk rallied and began pounding Brisco. A series of blows took Brisco to the canvas. Funk straddled his chest and began slugging Brisco unmercifully. The once scientific bout had turned into a complete pier six brawl. The referee, Ken Farber, tried to restore order by pulling Funk off the dazed champion.

Dory, however, was in no mood to relent and ended up punching Farber. Dory was disqualified and Brisco retained the title, much to the displeasure of the crowd.

Terry Funk vs. Boris Malenko
September 3, 1973

Boris Malenko arrived in the territory in the Spring of 1973. He played the Russian heel brilliantly. He cut a promo on the Funks and Ricky Romero one time that had me laughing so hard my stomach hurt. It was absolutely priceless. He started out by commenting on the poor hygiene of the wrestlers in the area. He specifically mentioned the Funks and Romero, and accused them of not bathing regularly. He said they had an odor about them, much like the dirty fans. The fans, he understood, as they had little money for such luxuries as soap and toilet paper.

The wrestlers, however, had no such excuse. He concluded by urging those fans too poor to buy soap to contact him and he would see if he could help. I wish I had that one on tape. He also applied a Russian sickle on Les Thornton one time on TV. Thornton submitted, and it seemed like the next hour of the show featured Malenko refusing to break the hold. Malenko was classic.

OK, on to the match. Malenko claimed to have introduced the Russian Chain match to the United States ( I guess after his defection from the Soviet Union). Terry Funk had a fair amount of success in these types of bouts also. So, a chain match was booked. The El Paso fans were treated to a typical chain match, donnybrook-juicefest. Both combatants got colorized. Terry had a huge cut above left eye and the Professor looked like he would prevail as he began to drag Terry around the ring. Terry recovered with a series of blows with his chain-wrapped fist. Malenko wilted and Terry dragged him around the ring, touched all four corners, and gained the victory at the 9:46 mark.

NEXT MONTH:

All right, I didn't cover any other towns this time around. I'll focus on Odessa in the next installment.