Keirn graduated from Robinson High School in Port Tampa. His father, Richard Keirn, was a B-17 pilot who was shot down over Germany in September 1944 and became a POW. In July 1965, when Stephen was 13, Richard was shot down over Vietnam and again taken prisoner. He was held in the Hanoi Hilton for seven and half years. While his father was imprisoned, Steve hung out with his school friend Mike Graham whose father Eddie Graham was a wrestling booker, who was later inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame.
Professional wrestling career
Championship Wrestling from Florida (1972–1982)
Steve Keirn (left) and Mike Graham (right) with the NWA Florida Tag Team Championships on August 21,1987.
In 1980 and 1981, Keirn focused on his career as a singles wrestler. He won many titles in Florida and Georgia, including the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title by defeating Chavo Guerrero Sr.[5][6] This title reign was recognized by New Japan Pro-Wrestling, as well as the Los Angeles and Florida NWA territories, but not by the NWA as a whole, which considered the title vacant and held a tournament to crown a new champion. The title Keirn held was later renamed the NWA International Junior Heavyweight Title.[6] Keirn also won the NWA National Television Championship twice, defeating Terry Funk and Kevin Sullivan.[7]
In the summer of 1991, Keirn debuted in the WWF as Skinner, an alligatorhunter from the Florida Everglades.[13] He was portrayed as a generally nasty individual, always chewing on tobacco and sometimes spitting it on his opponent. He carried an alligator claw to the ring with him, which he would often use as a weapon against his opponents. He competed in the 1991 King of the Ring tournament, defeating Virgil in the first round but losing to Bret Hart in the second round.[14] While still being billed as undefeated, he challenged Hart for the WWF Intercontinental Championship at This Tuesday in Texas on December 3, 1991, but lost by submission.[15] Skinner competed in the 1992 Royal Rumble, lasting 2:13 before being eliminated by Rick Martel. At WrestleMania VIII, he was defeated in one minute and eleven seconds by Owen Hart.[16]
Along with Bobby Eaton, Keirn wrestled in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1994 in a tag team known as "Bad Attitude".[14] Despite the tag team success both Keirn and Eaton enjoyed in the past (with The Fabulous Ones and the Midnight Express respectively, with Lane as a common partner), the team made little impact, losing dark matches to Brian and Brad Armstrong at Bash at the Beach 1994 and Fall Brawl 1994.[18][19] While in WCW, Keirn was also involved in an angle in which masked men attacked Hulk Hogan. Several times in October 1994, Keirn wore a black mask to attack Hogan during and after Hogan's matches.[20][21]
Later career (1994–2001)
After WCW, Keirn worked in the independent circuit mainly in Florida and Tennessee. He retired in 2001 after a tour for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
His last match was on December 10, 2007, at the 15th Anniversary Raw participating in a Battle Royal where he was eliminated from the match by Sgt. Slaughter. On August 14, 2012, FCW was discontinued and the WWE Performance Center opened on July 11, 2013.[24]
The second edition of Keirn's memoirs, The Keirn Chronicles Volume Two: The Phenomenal Wrestling Resurgence of Steve Keirn, was released on April 15, 2024. [28] This book was also coauthored by Ian Douglass, and includes a foreword from Drew McIntyre and an afterword from Ted Dibiase.
^"Bash at the Beach 1994". Pro Wrestling . One of their few victories came on the November 5, 1994 episode of WCW Pro. History. Retrieved December 28, 2007.
^Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2006) [2000.]. "(Memphis, Nashville) Tennessee: Southern Tag Team Title [Roy Welsch & Nick Gulas, Jerry Jarrett from 1977]". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, Ontario: Archeus Communications. pp. 185–189. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
