WWE pays emotional tribute to Bray Wyatt and Terry Funk on Smackdown
WWE honored both Terry Funk and Bray Wyatt last night on a special episode of Friday Night Smackdown on FOX.
The broadcast started with an In Memory Of graphic featuring both Funk and Wyatt and that led to the whole WWE roster, including officials, on the top of the stage as the camera panned to show the fireflies.
Michael Cole then took over and explained how the WWE lost two of its family members and Smackdown would be a tribute to both men and invited everyone to join for a ten-bell salute.
Triple H stood front and center and was flanked by Cody Rhodes, and Wyatt Family members Braun Strowman and Erick Rowan, who now has the unfortunate distinction of having to go through two tribute shows for both Brodie Lee and Bray Wyatt.
Throughout Smackdown, several videos aired of both men’s accomplishments in the ring and several WWE Superstars talked about them, including Cody Rhodes who was brought in for an in-ring segment talking about Terry Funk.
It was an emotional night for all those involved and the broadcast ended with the arena slowing going to black, a lantern in the middle of the ring, an eerie silhouette of Bray Wyatt, and the WWE Universe honoring Wyatt by showing their fireflies while chanting “Thank you Bray.”
I get that this was an emotional week and an impossible situation, BUT…the tributes for Bray Wyatt were fantastic and I have no complaints about them, but they completely overshadowed the tributes for Terry Funk. Wyatt was around more recently, yes, so younger fans know him better than Funk, but Funk was a Hall of Famer and deserved more than one video package and a speech by Cody that was good, but was essentially used as an intro to a match. At the very least, they could have thrown in a few of the video highlights in and out of segments like they did with Wyatt. Time was a factor, I’m sure, but all I’m saying is Terry Funk deserved more.
If there is a silver lining, we did get a night off from having the Bloodline in our faces for 1/4 of the show after what feels like a few years. Maybe they could do that more often, even once every few months, without the terrible events that led to it happening this time.