After stops in Honolulu, Tokyo, and becoming the first World Champion to appear in Los Angeles in more than 11 years in November 1968, Kiniski was exhausted. At the 1968 NWA Convention, Kiniski announced that it was time to step down. He agreed to lose the championship to Dory Funk, Jr., and eventually went down to a spinning toehold on February 11, 1969 in Tampa. However, he later claimed in a WWE DVD release that the manner of his loss was accidental, as he submitted early to the toehold believing that the match was a two out of three falls encounter.