Karl Steiner vs. Nick Kiniski (4/26/86)

[goodhelmet]

Karl Steiner vs. Nick Kiniski (4/26/86)

Disc 9

 

[garretta]

I started the matches with Disc 9 because I'm not in the mood for a bunch of two-out-of-three fall matches at the moment, and this was my opener.

 

I don't know if it's fair to call this a training match for Nick, but he certainly couldn't have been very experienced here. He managed to hit everything without any noticeable botches, though. Nothing really stood out, but he was good at the execution of basic moves, which is all he needed in this match.

 

Steiner was Portland's answer to Baron Von Raschke, I guess. He has a similar shaved head, and if I'm not mistaken the Baron had a goatee occasionally, just like Steiner did here. He doesn't show much offense other than stomping, punching, and posting, so it's hard for me to say how good of a worker he really was. I'll have to see more of him.

 

Stoney Burke looked like he got called out of the stands to referee this match. If I heard Coss right, he was pressed into service after Sandy was knocked for a loop in the previous match (Billy Jack-Assassin, which precedes this one on the disc). As an aside, what's the difference between an NWA-sanctioned referee (Sandy) and a plain old referee (Stoney)? I'm guessing that Stoney wouldn't be able to referee NWA World title matches, but other than that, they're both the same to my eyes.

 

Coss is much better solo than he is with a partner, especially a heel partner. He just didn't seem to know how to take the likes of Levy, which isn't really his fault, I guess. Still. he should have made a better stab at it.

 

Does anyone know why Don did his own ring announcing? Usually if there's no specific ring announcer at a TV taping, the play-by-play guy takes care of it. Don's not as good as dedicated ring announcers like Howard Finkel or Gary Cappetta, but for his own promotion, he isn't bad.