Professional Wrestling in the Pacific Northwest by Steven Verrier

Author:Steven Verrier
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Published: 2017-10-27T00:00:00+00:00

To fans in the U.S. Northwest in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the von Steigers represented a foreign menace and a reminder of events that had transfixed the nation a generation earlier. But the arrogant and diabolical Manitobans playing Germans also provided wrestling fans a measure of escape from events transfixing the nation during the early years of the Portland Sports Arena era. While Cold War references often figured into wrestling storylines during much of the 20th century, promoters during the Vietnam War era generally kept references to Vietnam to a minimum. As a result, while perhaps indirectly reminding fans of the conflict gripping the United States during the early years of the Sports Arena, the von Steigers provided a welcome escape from some sobering events of the day—much as Portland Wrestling provided television viewers a welcome respite from the wartime images and reports from Vietnam that had Americans glued to the nightly news in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Another dominant tag team during the early era of the Portland Sports Arena was formed as a tribute to one of the most prominent and innovative tag teams of the late 1950s and 1960s, the Fabulous Kangaroos. The original version of the Fabulous Kangaroos, composed of the Australian duo of Al Costello and Roy Heffernan, achieved national and international success, holding numerous titles over a seven-year period, including—four times from 1964 to 1965—the Vancouver territory’s NWA Canadian Tag Team title.

Bursting on the scene in Pacific Northwest Wrestling in the summer of 1971 was a new tag team, the Royal Kangaroos, comprising real-life cousins Jonathan Boyle, aka Jonathan Boyd, and Norman Lowndes, aka Norman Charles III. The Royal Kangaroos made an immediate impact by putting an end to the von Steigers’ seventh and final reign as NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team champions in early July.

Prior to teaming in the Pacific Northwest, both members of the Royal Kangaroos had wrestled individually for a few years, mainly in their native Australia. Boyd was the first to gain notice in the Northwest, introducing his compact frame, menacing look, and brawling style to fans around the Owen circuit in the early spring of 1971 while competing in hard-hitting matches for a few months against the likes of Stasiak, Borne, Snuka, Mayne, and, individually, the von Steigers. Boyd quickly established himself as a top singles contender in Pacific Northwest Wrestling, and in June he had an unsuccessful title challenge in Salem against NWA World Heavyweight champion Dory Funk, Jr. While Boyd’s initial reign, the following month, with the newly arrived Charles as an NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team champion was brief, Boyd followed it up—just a week after losing the tag team title—by ending the second and final Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship title reign of Kurt von Steiger, who had a measure of success as both a tag team and singles wrestler in Pacific Northwest Wrestling to rival Boyd’s.

Boyd held the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight title twice in 1971 and once more late in the

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