Kelly Kiniski (born May 27, 1960) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

-born American retired

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

. He is the elder son of the legendary wrestler

Gene Kiniski Eugene Nicholas Kiniski (November 23, 1928 – April 14, 2010) was a Canadian athlete who played football for the Edmonton Eskimos and then became a three-time professional wrestling world heavyweight champion. "Canada's Greatest Athlete", as he ...

and is best known for his work with

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling Jim Crockett Promotions, at times branded as Eastern States Championship Wrestling and Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, is a family-owned professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. Founded in ...

and WCCW.

Career

Early career

Kelly Kiniski was trained by his father, former world champion

. He made his professional debut with

Stampede Wrestling Stampede Wrestling was a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta. For nearly 50 years, it was one of the main promotions in western Canada and the Canadian Prairies. Originally established by Stu Hart in 1948, the prom ...

on August 1, 1980, in Calgary, defeating Texas Red Miller.Vance Nevada's Canadian Wrestling Results Archive - Western Canada 1980-1984 (August 1, 1980)
/ref> On December 26, 1980, he teamed with his father to defeat Moose Morowski and The Destroyer in an

NWA All-Star Wrestling NWA All Star Wrestling (sometimes referred to as NWA Vancouver) is a Canadian professional wrestling promotion, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. All-Star Wrestling folded in 1989. History Early history Although other wrestling promotions e ...

tag team match in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, British Columbia. He spent his first year in the sport competing primarily in Canada, splitting his time between Stampede and NWA All-Star.

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and Mid South (1982-1984)

In 1982, Kelly debuted in

. but had a short set of matches later that year in Mid South Wrestling before returning to MACW In 1983, he formed a tag team with

One Man Gang George Gray (born February 12, 1960) is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, better known by his ring name (The) One Man Gang. For three years in the WWE, World Wrestling Federation (WWF), he was Akeem "The Africa ...

. They defeated

Mike Rotunda Lawrence Michael "Mike" Rotunda Jr. (born March 30, 1958) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling in the 1980s and 1990s under the r ...

and Rufus R. Jones in a tournament final on May 23, 1983, to win the vacant NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship. On July 20, 1983, they lost the titles to Rufus R. Jones and

Bugsy McGraw Michael Davis (born November 1, 1944), best known by the ring names Bugsy McGraw and The Skull, is an American retired professional wrestler. McGraw is known for his long beard and for his philosophical, crazed rants during wrestling interviews. ...

. Kelly and OMG challenged Jones and McGraw in several rematches but were unsuccessful in regaining the belts.

World Class Championship Wrestling (1984-1987)

In early 1984, Kelly Kiniski signed for

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

based

World Class Championship Wrestling World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), later known as the World Class Wrestling Association (WCWA), was an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. Originally owned by promoter Ed McLemore, by ...

which was owned by

Fritz Von Erich Jack Barton Adkisson Sr. (August 16, 1929 – September 10, 1997), better known by his ring name Fritz Von Erich, was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, wrestling promoter, and the patriarch of the Von Erich family. He was ...

, who was one of Gene Kiniski's best friends. When Fritz's son Jackie died of electrocution and drowned in a puddle of melted snow, it was Gene Kiniski who broke the news to Fritz, thus prompting Fritz to break a car window with his fist. He defeated Iceman King Parsons on February 20, 1984, to win the

WCCW Television Championship The WCWA Television Championship was a secondary professional wrestling championship that was used and defended in the World Class Wrestling Association (WCWA). Originally created in 1979 as the NWA Television Championship, one of many television ...

. On May 7, 1984, Kiniski, who had previously been injured, gave the title to Killer Khan to defend in a match against Johnny Mantell. At WCCW's Christmas Star Wars event on December 25, 1984, he defeated Rock "N" Roll Buck Zumhofe. He wrestled for WCCW, as well as later competing in the

American Wrestling Association The American Wrestling Association (AWA) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that ran from 1960 until 1991. It was founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo. The promotion was born out of the Minneapolis ...

, until 1987 and then retired from pro wrestling.

Championships and accomplishments

** NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) - with

( 1 time)

References

External links

Profile At OWW
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiniski, Kelly 1960 births Living people Canadian people of Polish descent Canadian male professional wrestlers American male professional wrestlers Canadian emigrants to the United States Professional wrestlers from Calgary Professional wrestlers from Washington (state) People from Blaine, Washington Stampede Wrestling alumni WCWA Television Champions 20th-century Canadian sportsmen