Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Funk

[4.0] "Wants to be the ? corporate wrestling" vs. indie diehard old school TRUE wrestling" kind of match these two worked a few years earlier in Philly for 3PW in 2003 but fails mostly with a slower pace, a tepid crowd (what did they draw maybe 100 people to this thing? ) and not much effort put forth here, and none of the intensity and heat you expect from Lawler/Funk. **"

[6.0] "Obviously these two have had far better showings but this was fine for two guys who weren't actively wrestling all the time. Despite this being billed as a hardcore match, Lawler makes his promo about the dangers of the piledriver instead: it's banned in the WWE, but he can use it just fine here. The match itself is a bit weird: the Extreme Rules stip means weapons are allowed but the ref still takes them off Lawler early, and rope breaks are permitted. The fickle crowd chants and cheers for Lawler, then turns on him a few minutes later when he keeps doing his usual shtick, and he plays into that well as you'd imagine. Funk still takes chair shots to the head and bleeds hard to at least make this semi-interesting, a lot of it is just the two slowly shuffling around with the occasional weapon spot. I did like their creativity though, stuff like Lawler using a folding chair to choke Funk and him walking around with it on while in a daze was a funny spot. Funk sells great as per standard as he spends most of this on the backend and bleeding. Lawler lands a piledriver on the outside, which is pretty nuts, Funk selling it like he legit died by going limp and twitching was a amazing sell job of what was a pretty safe move. Funk's comeback is done well as he somehow makes a low blow a babyface move and goes all crazy with punches and hurling shit around. The crowd react big when Lawler pulls out the barbed bat and when Funk manages to inevitably counter his swing and use it himself. I thought the last third was particularly strong as Funk tries for a fist drop but hits the barbed wire instead in a pretty nasty bump as his arm goes right into the wire; you can see the gash afterwards and it is tremendously gross. Lawler immediately jumps at it with stomps and even biting it all while Funk cusses him out like a very drunk sailor. Funk eats multiple really good piledrivers but manages to either kick out or get a rope break, after the third Lawler gets annoyed and faces away, allowing for his opponent to steal the win with a roll-up. As you might be able to tell this is a kinda/sorta rehash of their 2003 match only not as solid pacing wise and with a far more limited Funk: Lawler's basically been the same for the last 20 years or so. It certainly gets great in places and I do love the more old-school structure they bring to the table here and the two work a good enough showing with their respective limitations. Lawler doesn't quite get the heat he got in said 2003 match and I found this version of the piledriver finish to be a tad silly as Funk just magically walks off three piledrivers as opposed to fumbling to get there."