Dory Funk, Jr. and the Domed Globe

Dory Funk Jr. with the Ten Pounds of Gold
(Photo from the Pete Lederberg Collection - plmathfoto@hotmail.com)

Dory Funk, Jr. believes he has one the NWA world championship from Ric Flair in Florida, but in the end, the title was returned to Flair.

It's hard to think of Dory Funk, Jr. as world champion without the classic "Thesz" style belt he held from 1969 through 1973. The domed-globe version of the title belt came along shortly after he lost the title to Race.

We have a few photos collected of wrestlers who never held the NWA title, but came close, and these photos feature them with the "ten pounds of gold." It's a feature called "Great Pretenders" You can see those by clicking the links below.

Funk, Jr. doesn't really fit here becasue he wasn't a pretender to the thrown (to say the least), but we've included the photo in that section becasue of how interesting it is to see him with the domed globe belt.

See earlier posts with other photos featuring great pretenders to the NWA title:

• Great Pretenders (featuring Bruiser Brody, Mr. Wrestling II, Wahoo McDaniel, Jerry Lawler, and Buddy Landel)
• More Great Pretenders (featuring Jumbo Tsuruta)
• A Sure Bet to be Champion? (featuring Magnum T.A.) 
• Another Great Pretender (featuring Mil Mascaras)

* * * * * *

Check out Ten Pounds of Gold, the book that takes a close look at the 1973-1986 NWA title belt: www.TenPoundsOfGold.com

The American Dream

National Wrestling Alliance Champion "The Amercian Dream" Dusty Rhodes (1981)

Japanese NWA Wrestling Collage

The Japanese magazines still do an excellent job of remembering the old NWA champs. These are images from a special section of a recent magazine there that looked back at the history of the NWA World title and presented a special interview with Harley Race.

Nice Collection

Justin Zimmerman Photo

Nice photo by my buddy JZ, who is always so great about popping one of my books into his belt photos on Twitter. He has quite the collection.

These are his replicas of the Ten Pounds of Gold, including a rare "red velvet" replica.

Thanks as always, JZ!

Now We Go to School

Learn the history. Love the hobby. pic.twitter.com/ZwnsC4P4sl

— Dave Hancock (@dhancock110) March 14, 2016

Thanks for the nice photo of my books, Dave!

The Domed Globe

Para Ser el Hombre ...

Para ser el hombre, tienes que vencer al hombre! 

(To be the man, you have to beat the man!) 

No hablo español, but even I could figure this one out.

A great t-shirt featuring a classic early 1980s image of Ric Flair wearing the ten pounds of gold. (Thanks to Scott Bowden for sending us the pic.)

Ex-NWA Champs in the WWF

It broke my heart when the NWA champions of my youth (Jack Brisco, Terry Funk, Harley Race) all left for the WWF in the mid-1980s during the early days of the wrestling wars. I was an NWA loyalist!

But in retrospect, I'm glad they did as it gave all of them an additional run in the spotlight they so richly deserved but might not have received in the remaining NWA territories which, with the exception of Jim Crockett Promotions, were all falling by the wayside.

Here are a few "Piper's Pit" segments that featured the Brisco Brothers and Terry Funk, from 1984 and 1985. Fun stuff.

NWA Champ Dusty Rhodes on the cover of Florida's "Grapevine"

Championship Wrestling from Florida program "The Grapevine"
Dusty Rhodes with the Ten Pounds of Gold
The post first appeared on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Mike Cline: Jack Brisco - The Champ

Check out Mike Cline's great post on former NWA champion Jack Brisco on his website "Mid-Atlantic Grapplin' Greats":

Jack Brisco: The Champ

Somebody Say Somethin' About Ten Pounds of Gold?

Photo courtesy of GeorgeSouth.com