The event was held in the Tri-State Fairgrounds Coliseum in Amarillo, Texas (Funk's adopted hometown) in the United States.[2] The event was released on VHS and on DVD in 2002, while excerpts from the main event featured in the 1999 documentary Beyond the Mat. The main event was later made available for streaming on the WWE Network.[3]
Funk broke his retirement 11 days later on September 22, 1997, wrestling in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling.[4]
Event
The commentator for Terry Funk's WrestleFest was Joey Styles.[5] It was attended by approximately 3,800 people.[2]
The event began with a moment of silence for Fritz Von Erich, who had died on the previous day.[1][6]
The eighth bout was a singles match between Mankind and Sabu. At the time of the match, Mankind was working for the World Wrestling Federation. Mankind won the bout by disqualification after Sabu's managerBill Alfonso attacked him.[1][5][6]
The main event was a no disqualification match between Bret Hart and Terry Funk in what was billed as Funk's retirement match. The referee for the bout was Funk's friend Dennis Stamp. At the time of the match, Hart was working for the World Wrestling Federation, where he was the WWF Champion; Hart wrestled at the event at the request of Dory Funk Jr.. Before the match began, the ECW roster and Funk's family came to the ring. ECW promoter Paul Heyman gave a speech in which he thanked Funk for his support for ECW, while Tommy Dreamer presented Funk with a "Lifetime ECW Championship". Hart went to defeat Funk in an "old school" match by pinfall after lifting his shoulder when Funk performed a bridging belly-to-back suplex on him, resulting in Funk effectively pinning himself.[1][5][6][7][8]