Once considered American wrestling’s biggest prize, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship’s legacy was built by men like Lou Thesz and Pat O’Connor, who’d hold the gold for years at a time. It was an era of wrestling that almost seems alien in today’s environment, and there was an old rule stating that the belt could only change hands in 2 out of 3 falls matches, which saw many title fights stretch towards (and beyond) 60 minutes in length.
In 1969, Gene Kiniski wrestled Dory Funk Jr. under the assumption that this rule was in play. As per the man himself in WWE’s History Of The World Heavyweight Championship DVD, the original plan was that Kiniski would retain, so when Gene tapped to Funk’s spinning toe hold early in the match, he thought he was merely conceding the first fall.
Wrong.
The bout was actually booked as a rare single fall bout, and Kiniski suffered a lapse in judgement. Dory took his championship abruptly, but went on to hold it for a staggering 1,563 days. He was pencilled in to eventually take the belt from Kiniski later that year anyway, so really, Gene’s mistake only accelerated the inevitable, and the NWA ran with it.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
