16 Oct 2026
The Cream of the Crop #10 — The Von Steigers: The Brothers Everyone Loved to Hate!
They were arrogant. They were vicious. They were German.
Except they weren't German. And they weren't even brothers!
Kurt Von Steiger was Arnold Pastrick. Karl Von Steiger was Loren Corlett. Two wrestlers from Winnipeg who became one of the most hated tag teams in Pacific Northwest wrestling history.
But in professional wrestling, the question was never whether the story was true.
The question was whether the fans believed it.
And Portland wrestling fans believed every word!
Welcome to Episode 10 of The Cream of the Crop: The Main Eventers, Money Draws, and Territory Legends, hosted by Frank Culbertson.
This week, we travel back to 1968, when two men who weren't German and weren't related helped establish the identity of a brand-new wrestling arena—and gave Portland fans somebody they absolutely loved to hate!
October 12, 1968.
Don Owen's promotion finally had a permanent home. The Portland Sports Arena opened its doors for the first time, and Lonnie Mayne and Beauregard defended the Northwest Tag Team Championship against the Von Steigers.
By the end of the night, Kurt and Karl were champions.
And then they threw Lonnie Mayne from the Crow's Nest interview area!
New building. New champions. A major star injured.
Portland Wrestling had found its villains.
Over the next several years, the Von Steigers would capture the Northwest Tag Team Championship an astonishing seven times.
They battled some of the biggest names in the territory, including Lonnie Mayne, Tony Borne, Luther Lindsay, Shag Thomas, Billy White Wolf, Johnny War Eagle, Frankie Laine, and Bobby Nichols.
And the fans couldn't wait to see somebody finally beat them!
In March 1969, Billy White Wolf gave those fans something special: two chain matches in one night, defeating Kurt and Karl individually.
But the Von Steigers were far more than a successful tag team.
Kurt Von Steiger became a two-time Northwest Heavyweight Champion and later helped train wrestlers, including Afa of the Wild Samoans, contributing to a wrestling family whose influence continues today.
Karl Von Steiger built his own championship career, winning titles in Amarillo and Hawaii. In 1979, he captured the Hawaiian State Championship after defeating Chris Markoff, Buck Zumhofe, and Kevin Von Erich in a one-night tournament.
And together, the Von Steigers achieved something even bigger.
They defeated Mad Dog and Butcher Vachon to become AWA World Tag Team Champions!
Their reign lasted only about a week, but the championship represented something important: the trust and respect they had earned throughout professional wrestling.
The German gimmick made fans dislike them before the bell rang.
But their wrestling ability, psychology, and credibility kept those fans buying tickets.
The Von Steigers understood something essential about the business: great heroes need great villains.
Someone has to make the audience angry enough to come back next Saturday night.
For years, Kurt and Karl Von Steiger were those men.
They weren't German. They weren't brothers.
But when the bell rang, none of that mattered. Portland believed. And Portland hated them!
The Von Steigers had made plenty of enemies. One of them was Johnny Boyd.
In July 1971, Boyd promised to bring his cousin, Norman Frederick Charles III, to Portland.
One week later, a new tag team had arrived.
Lord Jonathan Boyd and Norman Frederick Charles III — THE ROYAL KANGAROOS!
The boomerangs. The bounty hunter matches. And a team so hated that even the sponsors wanted them stopped!
That's next Friday on The Cream of the Crop!
Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. New episodes every Friday!
This series is based on Mike Rodgers' The Encyclopedia of Portland Wrestlers and Katie Bar the Door, with additional historical material from Ohh Yeahh: The History of Hawaii Wrestling, all available on Amazon.
One ring. One city. A thousand stories.
The main eventers. The money draws. The territory legends.
THE CREAM OF THE CROP!
