September 1966 in the Territory Era
September 1966 was month 9 of the second year of the strongest 10 year period in the territory era, Stage 5: Consolidation.
September 1966 was one of the most revealing months of Gene Kiniski’s first year as NWA World Heavyweight Champion. Eight months into his reign, Kiniski was no longer simply the man who had defeated Lou Thesz for wrestling’s most prestigious championship. He had become the National Wrestling Alliance’s traveling champion, moving through several territories in a single month and defending the championship against an extraordinary variety of challengers. The schedule demonstrated the fundamental philosophy of the NWA World Championship during the Territory Era: the champion belonged to the entire Alliance rather than to any one territory, and his value was measured by his ability to walk into a promotion, face its strongest available challenger and give that market a meaningful world-title attraction.
Kiniski entered September with the NWA World Heavyweight Championship that he had won from Lou Thesz on January 7, 1966, in St. Louis. The victory had ended Thesz’s remarkable final reign, which had lasted 1,079 days, and Kiniski had spent the first eight months of his championship establishing himself as a fighting champion. He had already defended the title against Fritz Von Erich, Don Leo Jonathan, Karl Gotch, Ernie Ladd, Wahoo McDaniel, John Tolos, Dick the Bruiser, Eddie Graham, Dory Funk Jr.’s fellow territory stars and a long list of regional challengers. By September, however, the most important question surrounding his reign was increasingly obvious: could anybody finally defeat the former champion, Lou Thesz?
That question dominated the beginning and middle portions of September.
Jim Crockett Promotions and the Carolinas’ Big Greensboro Finale
On September 1, Kiniski returned to Greensboro, North Carolina, for one of the most important title defenses of the month. He faced Lou Thesz in a best two-out-of-three-falls match at the Greensboro Coliseum. The show drew 4,408 fans, a significant crowd for the market, and the match received the kind of main-event treatment expected whenever the NWA champion and his legendary predecessor met.
