Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Canadian Wrestling Legend by Steven Verrier Rasslin Memories Then and Now with Greg Anthony (4/14/19) Glen Braget and Grizzled Vet Michael McCurdy welcome Independent Professional Wrestler Greg Anthony to the program to share some of his own Rasslin Memories of his 18 years in the ring. Rasslin Memories Then and Now Remember Andre the Giant (4/7/19) Glen Braget and the Grizzled Vet Michael McCurdy pay tribute to the “8th Wonder of the World” Andre the Giant with Chris Owens one of the foremost experts on Andre’s life and career. Rasslin Memories Then and Now with Jerry Jarrett and Adam Parsons (3/31/19) Glen Braget chats with Adam Parsons and the Legendary Jerry Jarrett about the recent launch of their free Roku Channel Jarrett-Parsons TV Wrestling. Jarrett-Parsons TV Wrestling contains decades of pro wrestling actions from such promotions as Memphis Wrestling, International Championship Wrestling, Southwest Championship Wrestling, IWA, the Indys and more. All of the content is shown in its original form. Rasslin Memories Then and Now Remembers (3/21/19) George Schire and Glen Braget look back on the life and career of the late great Dick Beyer aka The Destroyer and Dr. X. Rasslin Memories Then & Now with Bill Anderson (3/18/19. Glen Braget & the Grizzled Vet Mike McCurdy welcome back former pro wrestler/trainer/author Bill Anderson to the program to talk about his career in the business and what he’s been up to lately. New book chronicles life of wrestling legend Gene Kiniski. A brute in the ring, the one-time Eskimo player was a genuine character. Sometimes introduced as the meanest man in , the late professional wrestler Gene Kiniski remains the stuff of legend. The former world heavyweight champion became infamous as a brutish, trash-talking villain with a cutting wit and a bulldog scowl. His signature move, the back-breaker, was sure to draw boos from the crowd. His legacy as a man wrestling fans the world over loved to hate is being honoured in a new biography, Gene Kiniski: Canadian Wrestling Legend. "I watched Kiniski as a wrestler over the years and I found him, as many Canadians did, to be a very entertaining character," author Steven Verrier said in an interview Monday with CBC Radio's Edmonton AM. "But I learned he was a great deal more than I thought, and I just wanted to chronicle his life." 'Larger than life' While he was known as one of the era's biggest wrestling heels, in real life Kiniski was an endearing man, Verrier said. Beyond the ring, Kiniski — often billed as Big Thunder or the Greatest Athlete in Canada — was a gregarious man, a survivor of Depression-era poverty, a father, husband and professional football player. "He was a larger than life kind of character," Verrier said. "He attracted people whether he was in an arena or on television. He just drew people to him. He spoke his mind. "One longtime friend called him the ultimate child. "At first, I just saw him as an entertaining character. That's what drew me to him at first. But I would not have spent all this time working on this book had I not realized he was more than that." Wrestling's Gene Kiniski stirs the pot. Born in 1928 in Lamont, Alta., the youngest of six children, Kiniski was raised in nearby Chipman, Alta., where his family struggled through the Depression. They moved to Edmonton when Kiniski was 11, and within a few years he was a promising athlete. As a teenager, he started learning amateur wrestling holds at the YMCA in the late 1930s. He wrestled and played football at St. Joseph's High School, and soon caught the attention of CFL coach Annis Stukas. Kiniski played football for the Edmonton Eskimos and got a full ride football scholarship at the . The family has strong ties in Edmonton. Kiniski's mother, Julia, served four terms on city council between 1963 and 1969. His brother, Julian, also served on city council. Kiniski started his pro wrestling career in 1953 after a knee injury forced him to quit the Eskimos after three seasons. His six-foot-four, 272-pound frame and freight-train fighting style propelled him quickly to wrestling's top rung. After his debut in Tucson, Ariz., on Feb. 13, 1952, he went on to win individual and tag-team championships across North America and Japan. He beat for the American Wrestling Association world title in 1961. His biggest win came on Jan. 7, 1966, when he conquered to become National Wrestling Alliance world champion. His big personality made Kiniski a favourite among reporters and radio broadcasters. "He was considered entertaining and he was a main-eventer everywhere he went," Verrier said. "He didn't just ad lib. He prepared for his interviews. He was considered one of the best of his era at that. "He worked at that. He just sold himself." After retiring from the ring at 62, Kiniski settled in Blaine, Wash. Even in his final years, his wild personality was never tamed. He was sometimes spotted in his backyard shooting targets with guns from his collection or going out of daily jogs in tiny Speedo. He died of cancer in April 14, 2010 at age 81. "He was the kind of guy who made people take notice," Verrier said. "I think he would be proud of the legacy that he left." Review of Gene Kiniski: Canadian Wrestling Legend. Verrier, Steven. Gene Kiniski: Canadian Wrestling Legend. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2018. Pp. 246. Bibliography and index. $35 paperback. Reviewed by Bob D’Angelo has always been about business. It has evolved from matches in dimly lit carnival tents before a few hundred curious onlookers to WrestleMania 35, which reportedly drew 82,265 fans to… Patterson’s “Moral Crusade”: Islamophobia in Ali v. Patterson. By Michael T. Barry Jr. One of the most anticipated sporting events of 1965, and the 1960s in general, was the North American Boxing Federation’s heavyweight championship bought between Floyd Patterson and Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali just came off an impressive victory over Sonny Liston, and Floyd Patterson was once a two-time world champion. Like… Review of The Art of Football. Oriard, Michael. The Art of Football: The Early Game in the Golden Age of Illustration. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2017. Pp. 243. Notes, References, Index. $39.95 cloth. Reviewed by Rich Loosbrock Michael Oriard continues his exploration of the intersection between American football and the popular imagination with this sumptuously illustrated examination of early football… Review of Here’s the Pitch. Newman, Roberta J. Here’s the Pitch: The Amazing, True, New, and Improved Story of Baseball and Advertising. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2019. Pp. 319. Bibliography, epilogue, illustrations, index and notes. $34.95 hardback. Reviewed by Bob D’Angelo. “What a combination, all across the nation.” The 1960s jingle, “Baseball and Ballantine,” hawked beer, but it aptly… PROJECT WCW. Reliving the history of the National Wrestling Alliance Jim Crockett Promotions and World Championship Wrestling. Profile: Gene Kiniski. Holding the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for 1,131 days, former Canadian football star Gene Kiniski was one of the most successful champions in the record books. In a time when champions were known as squeaky clean good guy wrestlers, with his aggressive nature and natural charisma, “Big Thunder” broke that precedent. Kiniski was born on 23 rd November 1928 in Lamont, , Canada before moving onto the nearby town of Chipman at an early age. Times were hard financially for his family after the Stock Market Crash in 1929 and they moved to Edmonton by the time that Gene was 11. By the time he was a teenager, At six feet tall with a robust build, Kiniski was a promising athlete practising amateur wrestling and football at St. Joseph’s High School. By the time he was 20, Gene was recruited by the Edmonton Eskimos, sporting the number 50 and played defensive lineman in the Western Interprovincial Football Union, which was the predecessor of the . Quoted as making a paltry $200 a year with the Eskimos, Kiniski moved onto college at the University of Arizona and played lineman for the Wildcats and became a strong NFL prospect. His aggression was highlighted after being chucked out of three games for unnecessary roughness. While staying in Tucson, Gene and close friend Steve Paproski needed jobs and became working for wrestling promoter and Edmonton native Rod Fenton as ushers and selling programs at his events. Kiniski became an asset at the events due to his size protecting the wrestlers from over- excited fans and began to start to work out at the local gyms with fellow wrestlers and Fenton and got involved in the basics of wrestling training. It is rumoured that Kiniski and Paproski started wrestling in different towns under pseudo names so that the University would not find out, but eventually, their cover was blown and the Wildcat coach Robert Winslow demanded they immediately stop. Later that year, although it was against the wishes of his family back in Edmonton, Kiniski decided to trade in the football pads for wrestling boots and was set to make his debut on Fenton show. So, on February 13 th 1952, donning the cover of the programs he used to sell, Kiniski made his in-ring debut at the Sports Center in Tucson defeating Curly Hughes in around 12 minutes. Gene went on to gain in-ring experience in Tucson, El Paso and Albuquerque working a few times per week. Kiniski began working out with Sr. and Dory Jr. in a friendship that would work out well for both parties in the future. By 1954, Kiniski was plying his trade in working NWA Hollywood TV shows frequently against a young before moving onto Hawaii to form a tag team with Lord Blears to face Japanese duo Kokichi Endo and Rikidozan . Moving onto Dallas, Kiniski and his aggressive nature became a great draw, he was ruthless with sharp wit and possessed a mean streak. With the vicious back-breaker as his signature move, fans were buying tickets to see Gene get beat up but much to the crowd’s dismay, Kiniski usually came out on top. At the age of 29, Gene returned to Canada and received his first NWA Worlds Heavyweight Title shot against Lou Thesz and managed to hold the champ to a draw in front of thousands packed inside the . Kiniski started to get massively over proclaiming himself as “Canada’s Greatest Athlete” and grappling with former world champions Bill Longson, Pat O’ Connor and “Whipper” Billy Watson . His trash- talking rogue persona started to turn promoter’s heads and he was booked across the States and Canada. Come 1960, Minneapolis promoters Wally Karbo and Verne Gagne broke away from the NWA and created the American Wrestling Association and they contacted Kiniski to headline their events. Gene alternated between AWA and NWA promoted events and on 11 th July 1961, Kiniski dethroned Gagne to win his first world championship, the AWA World Title. Although the reign did not last long and less than a month later, inside the confines of a Steel Cage, Gagne regained the title. Gene’s career went from strength to strength winning singles titles in various territories and received a WWWF title shot against top draw at Madison Square Garden in November 1964 with over 18,000 in attendance. Kiniski believed he had pinned Bruno and left ringside with the title belt, but he was counted out. Gene kept the belt until a rematch a month later in which Bruno regained possession of his championship. St. Louis promoter booked Kiniski to wrestle , and . After clinching a win over former champ Pat O’Connor, Gene was awarded another shot at Lou Thesz’s NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship. The bout, booked by Muchnick was set to take place at the Kiel Auditorium on 7 th January 1966 in front of a packed house and the NWA board voted to give “Big Thunder” a run with the strap. In a best of three falls match, history was made. Thesz went ahead with the first fall but was disq ualified for throwing Gene over the top rope tying up the bout at 1-1. After less than two minutes inside the third fall, Kiniski pinned Thesz and referee Joe Scheonberger slammed his hand on the canvas three times and Gene had become the world champion. Kiniski was the first man in history to hold the AWA and NWA World titles. In a true contrast to Lou Thesz, Kiniski was a natural bad guy and his heel behaviour made him a very successful touring champion. He drew big crowds in all the NWA territories including the JWA in Japan where he faced and Shohei (Giant) Baba , even challenging the latter for his NWA International Heavyweight belt. However, like many champions, the schedule became exhausting to Gene and at the NWA convention in November 1968, he told the Alliance members that he wished to drop the title. Being a close friend to the Funk family, Gene ended his three-year reign to Dory Funk Jr. via spinning toe-hold on 11 th February 1969 in Tampa, Florida. After resting up, Gene travelled back to Japan to win the International Heavyweight championship from Baba in Osaka for a short 16-day reign before failing to the big man in Los Angeles in a rematch. Throughout the 1970s, Gene was still a profitable draw for the NWA promoters and received many title shots against Dory, , and but failed to clinch that second reign. He started to book his own shows with All-Star Wrestling promoter Sandor Kovacs, buying out his trainer Rod Fenton’s share, and he brought many World title matches to the British Columbia area. He vastly eased up his schedule by 1976 and climbed into the ring intermittently in the early 1980s until quietly heading into retirement come 1985. Always being the athlete for all his life, Kiniski stayed fit later in life training daily. However, in early 2010, congestive heart failure hospitalised Gene and his weight massively decreased. He had been secretly battling cancer for years and it had grown to his brain. He passed away with family at his bedside on April 14 th 2010. He was 81 years old. Kiniski was a true champion, a true athlete and to fill his bank account, a true heel. Fans paid to see Gene get beat and he didn’t. For over three years he was World Heavyweight Champion and in his own words, Gene made sure that even if the fan went home sulking, they got their money’s worth. “ When you spent a buck to see Kiniski, you got a ten dollar value.” – Gene Kiniski. Gene Kiniski: Canadian Wrestling Legend by Steven Verrier (Paperback, 2018) The lowest-priced, brand-new, unused, unopened, undamaged item in its original packaging (where packaging is applicable). Packaging should be the same as what is found in a retail store, unless the item is handmade or was packaged by the manufacturer in non-retail packaging, such as an unprinted box or plastic bag. See details for additional description. What does this price mean? This is the price (excluding postage) a seller has provided at which the same item, or one that is very similar to it, is being offered for sale or has been offered for sale in the recent past. The price may be the seller's own price elsewhere or another seller's price. 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