The wrestling world is still mourning the loss of the legendary Dory Funk Jr., who passed away on August 4 at the age of 85. Many people have already paid tribute to the late WWE Hall of Famer, and the latest tribute came in the form of fellow WWE Hall of Famer and current AEW commentator Jim Ross, who opened up about his relationship with Dory on his "Grilling JR" podcast."I felt terrible about the passing of Dory Funk Jr.," Ross said. "Class act guy, and a man I had so much respect for and I just had a great relationship with him you know?" JR went on to recall his first main event assignment as a referee back in the 1970s was a match between Dory and Harley Race for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship which would end in a 60 minute draw. However, when Ross was told by someone backstage that the match would be a "Broadway," a term to describe an hour-long draw in wrestling, he didn't have a clue what that meant, and was only told the meaning of it when he was in the ring with Dory.Dory Funk Jr. had a hand in training a number of top stars over the past three decades, such as Kurt Angle, Adam "Edge" Copeland, and Christian Cage, and JR remembered Dory working wonders with the younger talents. "He and Tom Pritchard did an amazing job of training a lot of young talents that went ahead and made it, that made a success of themselves. It was a great relationship, one built out of respect and love and appreciation. He was just...he was a hell of a teacher. Hell of a teacher, hell of a coach, and that's what he had, he had the coach's mentality."Ross rounded off by saying that Dory was always in great shape, never did drugs or drank too much and was always on top form around people. He's unsure whether he will be able to attend Dory's funeral due to an upcoming surgery on his brain, but he will be thinking of everyone while he makes his own recovery.Please credit "Grilling JR"when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
