Gene Kiniski

Early life One of six children to Polish immigrants of local politician Julia Kiniski (and her husband Nicholas), Gene Kiniski grew up in Edmonton. At the age of seventeen, he was over six feet tall. Kiniski wrestled and played football at St. Joseph's High School. In March 1947, he entered the annual Edmonton School's Boxing and Wrestling Tournament at Westglen gymnasium. Due to his size, he was the lone heavyweight competing.

Kiniski captured the attention of Annis Stukus, a scout for the Edmonton Eskimos, of the then Western Interprovincial Football Union in 1949, (which later merged with the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union to form the Canadian Football League). Along with Kiniski, wrestlers Al Oeming and Stu Hart were at the training camp as well. Two of his Eskimos teammates were future wrestlers Wilbur Snyder and Joe Blanchard.

Kiniski secured himself a spot on the defensive line and his play earned him a scholarship to the University of Arizona. Kiniski's first exposure on television was in Southern California in 1954 alongside other wrestlers such as Wilbur Snyder and Bobo Brazil. One year later, he teamed up with John Tolos to win his first major championship, the International TV Tag Team title, in Los Angeles, then challenged NWA World Champion Lou Thesz in November 1954.

He acted as the cornerman for Dory Funk Jr. in a match between Funk and Nick Bockwinkel (with Verne Gagne) at Slamboree 1993.

Legacy He was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 1996, and into the Tragos/Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in Newton, Iowa, in 2004.

In 2000, he was the interim president (commissioner) of All Japan Pro Wrestling's Pacific Wrestling Federation title governing body, but only while they searched for a permanent replacement for Lord James Blears and to present the vacant Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship to the winner of a tournament. The winner turned out to be Genichiro Tenryu; Kiniski left thereafter, and in 2001 the permanent PWF president was announced as Stan Hansen, who had competed in the tournament and lost to Tenryu in the semifinals.

In other media Kiniski went into acting on occasion, appearing in the 1978 Sylvester Stallone movie Paradise Alley, as well as Double Happiness (which also starred Sandra Oh) and the made-in-Vancouver cult film Terminal City Ricochet (with former Big Valley regular Peter Breck), playing a bit role as a policeman. On the TV side, he appeared as one of the wrestling legends interviewed on The Comedy Network series Wrestling with the Past, and he served as a commercial pitchman in several TV ads aired in the Vancouver area. He also made an appearance on an episode of the CBUT arts and entertainment magazine show Zero Avenue in 1993, discussing art with host/interviewer Christine Lippa in a Vancouver-area art gallery.

Death On April 4, 2010, Jim Ross reported on his blog that Kiniski had "taken a turn for the worse and is battling to stay alive. 'Big Thunder's' cancer has spread to his brain and some speculate that is just a matter of time [before he dies]". Kiniski died on April 14, 2010, aged 81, at his home in Blaine, Washington. A celebration of his life was held on April 25, 2010, at Kiniski's Reef in Point Roberts, USA, where Gene often appeared at his son Nick's tavern.

Championships and accomplishments

50th State Big Time Wrestling NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship (2 times) NWA North American Heavyweight Championship (Hawaii Version) (3 times) NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Lord James Blears American Wrestling Association AWA United States Heavyweight Championship (4 times) AWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) AWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Hard Boiled Haggerty Cauliflower Alley Club Other honoree (1992) George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2004 Japan Wrestling Association All Asia Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Caripus Hurricane NWA International Heavyweight Championship (1 time) Maple Leaf Wrestling NWA British Empire Heavyweight Championship (Toronto version) (2 times) NWA Canadian Open Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Fritz Von Erich (1) and Don Leo Jonathan (1) Montreal Athletic Commission MAC International Heavyweight Championship (1 time) National Wrestling Alliance NWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2009) NWA All-Star Wrestling NWA British Empire Heavyweight Championship (Vancouver version) (2 times) NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (10 times) – with Mr. X (2), Don Leo Jonathan (1), Bob Brown (2), The Brute (1), Dutch Savage (1), Mr. Saito (1), Dale Lewis (1), and Siegfried Steinke (1) NWA Pacific Coast Heavyweight Championship (Vancouver Version) (7 times) NWA Pacific Coast Tag Team Championship (Vancouver Version) (3 times) – with Killer Kowalski (1) and Hard Boiled Haggerty (2) NWA Chicago NWA World Tag Team Championship (Chicago Version) (1 time) – with Dick Afflis NWA Los Angeles NWA Los Angeles International Television Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with John Tolos NWA San Francisco NWA World Tag Team Championship (San Francisco version) (3 times) – with Lord James Blears NWA Western States Sports NWA International Heavyweight Championship (Amarillo version) (1 time) NWA World Tag Team Championship (Amarillo version) (1 time) – with Fritz Von Erich Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame Television Era inductee to the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (2008) Southwest Sports, Inc. NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship (1 time) NWA Texas Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Len Crosby St. Louis Wrestling Club NWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship (1 time) NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) World Wrestling Association WWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) World Wide Wrestling Federation WWWF United States Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Waldo Von Erich St. Louis Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2007 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)