Heel Champion
Compared to Thesz, Kiniski was a heel and was very comfortable in his role as a “bad guy” world champion. As world champion, Kiniski wrestled many well-known luminaries. These included Bobo Brazil, Dick the Bruiser, Johnny Valentine, Bill Watts, Edouard Carpentier, Pat O’Connor, and the Funks, Terry and Dory, Jr., respectively.
He travelled worldwide to defend his title during his three-year reign as champion, including making frequent stops back in Vancouver to defend his title in NWA All Star, taking on challengers such as Lou Thesz, Don Leo Jonathan, Dutch Savage, Bill Dromo, Bearcat Wright, John Tolos, Chris Tolos, Abdullah the Butcher, Haystacks Calhoun, Bobby Shane, Dean Higuchi, Tex McKenzie and Paddy Barrett in the promotion.
After stops in Honolulu, Tokyo, and becoming the first World Champion to appear in Los Angeles in more than 11 years in November 1968, Kiniski was exhausted. At the 1968 NWA Convention, Kiniski announced that it was time to step down. He agreed to lose the championship to Dory Funk, Jr, and eventually went down to a spinning toehold on February 11, 1969 in Tampa. However, he later claimed in a WWE DVD release that the manner of his loss was accidental, as he submitted early to the toehold believing that the match was a two out of three falls encounter.
Read more about this topic: Gene Kiniski
Famous quotes containing the words heel and/or champion:
“Fair is the world.
I sing. The ache
up from heel to knee
of the weights
gives to the song its
ground bass.”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)
“Let’s not quibble! I’m the foe of moderation, the champion of excess. If I may lift a line from a die-hard whose identity is lost in the shuffle, “I’d rather be strongly wrong than weakly right.””
—Tallulah Bankhead (1903–1968)