The Legacy And Tragedy Of The Von Erichs

Sportskeeda Wrestling

Dive into the captivating and heartbreaking tale of wrestling's royal family – The Von Erichs. ‍♂️ Join us on a riveting journey through the highs and lows, triumphs and tragedies that define the legacy of this iconic wrestling dynasty.   From patriarch Fritz Von Erich laying the foundation to the rise of his sons - Kerry, Kevin, David, Mike, and Chris - witness the unparalleled success and the profound impact they made on the world of professional wrestling.  In this video, we'll explore the dazzling moments of glory in the wrestling ring, the familial bonds that made them a force to be reckoned with, and the unimaginable tragedies that unfolded, forever altering the course of their legacy.  Share your thoughts in the comments below - What are your favorite memories of the Von Erichs? How has their legacy influenced the world of wrestling today?  Don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to stay updated on our latest videos exploring the rich history of professional wrestling and its unforgettable personalities.  You can also visit our site: https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe  #TheIronClaw #VonErichs #Wrestling #Sportskeeda

Transcript

00:00 Among all of the great wrestling families that we know, the Anawahis, the McMahons,

00:05 the Harts, the Rhodes, the Colons, there are quite a few that have spanned through multiple

00:10 generations.

00:11 But one has a story that is both tragic and heartbreaking, the Von Eriks.

00:18 They went through one of the major boom periods in the 1980s.

00:21 Yes, when you think of the 80s, you think of the big boom of WWE and Hulkamania, but

00:26 let's not forget what the Von Eriks were doing with WCCW, World Class Championship

00:33 Wrestling.

00:34 Sadly, the Von Eriks name is attached to tragedy, heartbreak, and loss, but there is a lot of

00:39 triumph within there as well.

00:41 With the release of the A24 critically acclaimed movie, The Iron Claw, coming to theaters soon,

00:47 it brings up the story of the Von Eriks once again on this silver screen.

00:51 We're going to give you a rundown of the wins and the sad loss of wrestling's most enduring

00:57 family.

00:58 Buckle up, because this is going to be a heavy one.

01:00 Warning, this video involves talk about death and suicide, so if you're uncomfortable with

01:05 those things, you may want to stop here.

01:08 Our story starts with a man named Jack Baron Adkisson, who married his high school sweetheart

01:13 Doris, something that would cost him his scholarship in sports and force him to transfer to Corpus

01:18 Christi University before eventually moving to Dallas, Texas.

01:23 As the age old story goes, if you don't have a successful career in pro sports, pro football,

01:28 you try pro wrestling.

01:30 Jack couldn't make his way into the Canadian Football League in Edmonton, but he did connect

01:35 with someone who would be a formidable part of his life, the Hart family's Stu Hart,

01:40 who was then running the Stampede Wrestling Territory.

01:44 Though this was his break into the business, this was the 1950s.

01:47 Pro wrestling was a good three decades away from the glitz and glamour of international

01:51 cable TV that we would see in the 80s.

01:54 For Jack, this meant living in a trailer park and driving hours at a time just to do a match

01:59 to earn $5, making the towns and taking the bumps.

02:03 And lest we forget that Jack also adopted a retrospectively controversial villainous

02:07 heel persona who was a World War II Germany sympathizer named Fritz von Erich.

02:14 As his career grew in the ring, his family with Doris began to grow as well and they

02:18 had children.

02:19 In 1952, their first son Jack was born, followed by Kevin in '57 and David in '58.

02:25 The first of many sad losses would strike the von Erich family when their oldest son

02:29 Jackie lost his life in an accident in the trailer park while playing outside, tripping

02:34 on a live wire, being electrocuted and losing his life in a puddle of melted snow.

02:39 This was an understandably draining moment for both Fritz and Doris.

02:43 Dallas Magazine, in a story published in 1988, summed up the situation of Jackie's tragic

02:49 passing.

02:50 "The death of Jackie put the von Erichs through the same type of emotional ordeal that draws

02:55 many to watch professional wrestling.

02:58 They often felt like helpless spectators of their own lives who would wait through each

03:03 day to see what new misfortune the world had in store."

03:07 For Fritz, this was a sign to get even further into pro wrestling, and at the same time breeding

03:13 the next generation of superstars within his own family.

03:16 Only a month after Jackie's passing, Doris was pregnant with Carrie.

03:20 While Fritz may have gotten his start as a World War II German villain in the ring, his

03:25 image changed over the next two decades.

03:28 And while the Iron Claw was a menacing maneuver that put many a good guy away, it became the

03:34 weapon that changed his image.

03:37 Fritz von Erich, who by the 70s, had now cultivated an image of being a family man.

03:42 Fritz was a huge star in pro wrestling across the Northeast, but by the mid 60s, the road

03:46 had worn thin, and he decided to move the family back to Texas, taking a short run with

03:51 the Dallas Wrestling Territory, but eventually buying the territory from promoter Ed McElmore.

03:56 His status as a former Southern Methodist University football player allowed him to

04:00 transfer his villainous image into the toughest men in Texas with an all-American family.

04:06 And this proved to be a very successful move by Fritz, as he was able to promote massive

04:10 stadium events.

04:11 But by the time he turned babyface, his goal was eventually to phase himself out of wrestling

04:15 while grooming the next generation of the Von Erichs.

04:18 Kevin Von Erich was the first of the Von Erich sons to enter the pro wrestling ranks, and

04:23 just like his father, had a successful college football career that couldn't turn into

04:27 a professional football career.

04:29 He made his pro wrestling debut in 1976.

04:32 Kevin would be followed by David, Kerry, Mike, and then Chris in the pro wrestling business.

04:36 Fritz Ever a ring general was also just as strict outside of the ring, and was open about

04:41 the fact that he had a ranking for his favorite children.

04:45 Kerry was the favorite, reportedly, and Kevin was second with David third.

04:49 The reason why Fritz went extra hard on David was probably because he reminded him a lot

04:54 of himself, and turned into a young man when he had no filter, telling things as they were.

04:59 But incidentally, David Von Erich, the second oldest brother, was described by many as the

05:04 best thing to happen to world class championship wrestling, the promotion that Fritz Von Erich

05:08 mostly ran out of the iconic Dallas Sportatorium.

05:12 Before we get further into the brothers Von Erich, let's look at the scene of pro wrestling

05:16 in the United States in the late 70s and early 80s, a big period of transition and growth

05:22 for the entire genre.

05:23 There was essentially three major promotions, the World Wrestling Federation out of New

05:27 York, the American Wrestling Association out of the Midwest, and the National Wrestling

05:31 Alliance, a consortium of different promotions across the country with the NWA World Heavyweight

05:36 title as their grand prize.

05:38 The National Wrestling Alliance worked in the old-fashioned territorial system where

05:43 there were several promotions across different territories, all under one NWA banner.

05:48 You had an NWA world champion who would travel from territory to territory defending their

05:52 title.

05:53 While you're probably aware how Vince McMahon and WWE secured broadcasting deals and went

05:58 international essentially crushing all the competition across the United States and doing

06:02 away with the territorial days as we remember them, what you might not know is that WCCW,

06:08 the home of the Von Erichs, were quite ahead of their time in that regard.

06:12 Starting with local syndicated television, WCCW hired more cameramen and went national

06:17 and even international, leading to a boom period where many great wrestling talents

06:21 were competing in Dallas with the new generation of the Von Erichs at the forefront of this

06:25 group.

06:26 With Fritz getting increasingly busy with the backstage duties of being a promoter at

06:30 this scale and pushing his son to the heights of the superstardom that he had in WCCW, he

06:36 would retire from in-ring action in 1982 in grand fashion.

06:41 And that's where we move to his sons completely.

06:44 Out of all the brothers, it was David Von Erich who showed the most promise by far.

06:48 He was considered the heart and soul of world class and became a massive star not only in

06:53 Dallas but across the United States.

06:56 He challenged legends like the Nature Boy Ric Flair and Harley Race several times for

07:00 the NWA world title and just always fell short, but it seemed to be his destiny to finally

07:06 win the precious 10 pounds of gold.

07:09 He was also involved in some of the top feuds in world class, including the Von Erichs against

07:14 those dirty, nasty, fabulous freebirds.

07:17 Around this time is when world class really hit its strides, with the Von Erichs as its

07:21 top drawing act in the Texas region, international television, on ESPN, and a big Texas stadium

07:29 event headlined by the visiting Nature Boy Ric Flair, it seemed to be clear that David

07:35 was going to be the one to dethrone him for the NWA title and finally become world heavyweight

07:42 champion.

07:43 Given that wrestlers have always had to tough it out despite having various ailments and

07:47 injuries, it's a general attitude that they go to the ring and work hard.

07:51 It wasn't surprising the same thing happened to David, but in this case he had the additional

07:56 pressure of his family running the promotion, the big match, the big prize, and his ever

08:02 overbearing father Fritz.

08:05 David also suffered the unfortunate loss of a child with his first wife, eventually leading

08:09 to the end of their marriage, but 5 years after that, at the peak of his career, tragedy

08:14 would strike.

08:16 David Von Erich went over to Japan on a tour of All Japan Pro Wrestling, but was unfortunately

08:22 found dead in his hotel room at just the age of 25 years old.

08:25 The official 1984 autopsy stated that David Von Erich died of heart failure due to acute

08:30 enteritis from an intestinal infection.

08:34 The rumors of other factors in David's passing will always be there, but what is factual

08:38 is that Bruiser Brody, a man who was involved with world class, discovered his body when

08:43 everyone was waiting for the bus to leave.

08:45 People will talk and build up the story on pure speculation around the idea that this

08:49 was a drug-related overdose, which has never been proven in any way, but David Manning,

08:54 a former referee and booker for world class, attested the official report that stated it

08:59 was heart failure.

09:00 David Manning was also the man who received the phone call earlier in the morning from

09:04 wrestling journalist Bill Apter about the news of David Von Erich's death.

09:07 After that unfortunate phone call with All Japan officials confirming the passing of

09:11 David, Manning made a two-hour drive in just an hour to go to Fritz Von Erich, who simply

09:17 asked "which one was it?"

09:19 almost knowing why Manning drove all that way down to him.

09:26 The unfortunate story is that Manning revealed how avoidable the situation could have been.

09:31 He said that David Von Erich was in a lot of pain virtually after every match, and all

09:35 he really needed was a doctor's visit and some antibiotics to cure him of this ailment.

09:41 But that's something that was neglected, and when he went to Japan anyway, it exacerbated

09:45 the situation.

09:46 Manning also revealed while they expected a few hundred people to attend David's funeral,

09:50 there was a turnout of around 4,000 and a whole line of police officers to control the

09:55 crowd that wanted to pay a tearful tribute.

09:58 David's passing was a massive local news story, with hundreds of wrestling fans calling into

10:02 TV newsrooms to find out whether or not the sad news was true.

10:06 This was a massive blow to world-class championship wrestling, because David was also one of their

10:12 biggest stars, and had so much personality that connected with thousands of fans.

10:17 But Fritz had a clear "the show must go on" policy, which is sort of the standard within

10:23 pro wrestling, and did exactly that.

10:26 In a tribute show, you had legends like Harley Race, Ric Flair, Michael "PS" Hayes, Jimmy

10:31 Garvin, and other villainous heels breaking character and showing their emotions for the

10:36 first time.

10:37 Harley Race had even stated that if David lived on, he would have indeed, no doubt,

10:42 become a world champion.

10:44 In a way, Fritz and others close to the situation keeping themselves busy with the machine of

10:49 pro wrestling didn't really go through the grief process, and he also ensured that Kevin

10:54 and Kerry were regularly going to shows that David was booked in, previously taking his

10:59 place and just carrying on the mantle.

11:02 This meant that Kerry and Kevin were now wrestling 2-3 times a night to carry on the name, and

11:08 that added a whole lot of pressure.

11:10 Let's get into Kerry Von Erich, the modern day warrior himself, the feathered hair, chiseled

11:16 physique, he was the chick magnet of the Von Erich family, women would grab at him if they

11:21 saw him leaving a club after a show.

11:24 But in terms of his career overall, he was incredibly successful, 40 championships throughout

11:29 his time in the ring, including a WWE Intercontinental title run during his brief time there.

11:35 The groundswell of support in the region for the Von Erich family and world class was skyrocketing

11:41 under the sad circumstances.

11:43 Taking his place in the main event against Ric Flair was Kerry Von Erich, who was seeking

11:48 to dethrone the nature boy and finally bring the NWA World Championship to the Von Erich

11:55 family.

11:56 It was a beautiful and fitting moment for Kerry to win the title, who had universal

12:01 support from the NWA committee to become the next man to hold down the strap.

12:07 Obviously the circumstances were bittersweet, but still wildly emotional.

12:12 By all accounts, David Von Erich was supposed to become NWA World Champion at this event,

12:17 and this isn't taking anything away from Kerry at all.

12:19 It's simply about how much bigger of a star David was believed to be at that point in

12:24 his career, and something that was sadly just cut short.

12:28 Within WCCW, the dynamic of things began to change a lot.

12:32 The fabulous Freebirds emerged as the promotion's biggest stars, and were essentially babyfaces

12:38 against everyone except the beloved Von Erichs.

12:42 The pressure was now on Mike Von Erich to jump into the family business by his father.

12:46 Mike initially worked for the family promotion as a cameraman on the production side of the

12:51 business.

12:52 His father's word eventually prevailed, but Mike's career in wrestling didn't last as

12:56 long.

12:57 During a tour of Israel, yeah, the Von Erichs were an international attraction and very

13:00 popular, he suffered a shoulder injury that required surgery.

13:04 The surgery led to a staph infection known as Toxic Shock Syndrome, something that only

13:09 four athletes up to that point had ever suffered, and in all those cases, death soon followed.

13:15 Mike was one of the miraculous incidents where doctors worked around the clock on his well-being,

13:20 enduring a viral fever between 106 to 108 degrees.

13:23 The doctors unfortunately told the Von Erich family he wasn't going to make it, but somehow

13:28 he survived.

13:30 The fever was so bad, and the damage of the entire situation was clear on him on the other

13:35 side of it.

13:36 He couldn't speak coherently and had issues with his motor capabilities.

13:40 Still, it was an inspirational story, and Bill Apter awarded Mike the Pro Wrestling

13:44 Illustrated Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year award for his brave battle.

13:49 But Fritz Von Erich, in what can only be described as an absolutely shocking move, pushed Mike

13:54 to get back into the ring.

13:56 At least, that's what's been reported.

13:58 There was always the pressure for Mike to become the next David Von Erich, and it led

14:03 to an incredible amount of frustration for him, with one incident reportedly seeing him

14:07 attacking a streetlight in anger at the entire situation.

14:11 Even to the people working directly with Fritz Von Erich, many of his actions were described

14:14 as just suspect.

14:16 This poured onto the business side of things, where Fritz offered a deal requiring him to

14:20 hire a touring crew so they could go and do televised shows outside of the Dallas region,

14:26 something that was required to get more broadcast revenue and keep the talent of the promotion

14:30 moving.

14:31 But Fritz's old school ways resulted in him refusing to change and adapt to the times,

14:36 wanting to simply stick to his territory without any competition whatsoever.

14:40 This is something that would backfire on him and world class in a tremendous way.

14:44 WWE and WCW's increasing revenue allowed them to snatch some of the best talent from WCCW,

14:52 which was a big blow to them apart from just the momentum they lost with David's death.

14:58 In 1986, Carey Von Erich suffered an unfortunate motorcycle accident and had to have surgery

15:04 on his leg.

15:05 But when he tried to walk prematurely, he did further damage, forcing doctors to amputate

15:10 part of his foot, if not all of his foot.

15:13 To hide this from everyone, he began to use a prosthetic leg, and nobody even knew it

15:17 except a very few people.

15:19 It led to him becoming, unfortunately, addicted to painkillers.

15:23 Things were only going to get worse from there.

15:26 In 1987, Mike was feeling the effects of the Toxic Shock Syndrome, and four days after

15:31 an arrest, he proceeded to take his own life with a lethal dose of alcohol and sleeping

15:36 pills.

15:37 This was at a time when there wasn't instant access to information in the 1980s, and only

15:41 three weeks after the passing of Mike, they had a show, once again at Texas Stadium, and

15:46 this time in tribute to both David and Mike Von Erich.

15:50 Remember how we mentioned the staggering, massive tens of thousands in attendance for

15:54 David's tribute show?

15:55 For Mike's tribute show, there were hardly 4,500 people in a stadium, a shocking decline

16:01 in attendance.

16:02 The boom period, and the peak of the Von Erichs and world class, had unfortunately passed.

16:08 This was representative of not only the momentum they had found in David's passing, sadly,

16:13 years earlier, but in Fritz's failure to adapt to modern times and the fierce competition

16:19 in the world of pro wrestling.

16:21 Gary Hart, who worked on screen as a villainous manager and also a backstage advisor to world

16:27 class, said that a decade's worth of work was ruined in just a couple of years.

16:33 This was followed by an unfortunately and miscalculated merging with the American Wrestling

16:38 Association.

16:39 The youngest brother in the Von Erich family, Chris, had an unfortunately small stature

16:43 compared to his brothers.

16:45 Standing at just 5'5", he was also dealt with the incredible pressure of never being able

16:49 to live up to his brother's athletic prowess.

16:52 While he made several appearances in the 1980s, his career only took off in 1990, and by that

16:58 point, world class was well past its glory days.

17:02 Chris also had the major disadvantage in that he had suffered from severe asthma as well

17:08 as a bone disorder.

17:09 The frustration of not being able to succeed like his brothers as a result of those physical

17:14 limitations proved to be too much for him.

17:17 Along with the depression he experienced after Mike's passing, in 1987, he was the next to

17:24 pass.

17:25 In 1991, he was on his family farm when his oldest brother Kevin saw him sitting on top

17:30 of a hill.

17:32 Revealing his suicidal tendencies, Kevin begged him not to take his own life, to which Chris

17:37 assured him he wouldn't, but after Kevin left, he unfortunately took his own life, only 18

17:42 days before his 22nd birthday.

17:45 Given the intensity of this sad string of loss the family had endured, the pain they

17:50 had to suffer through and live with, alcohol and drug abuse were present.

17:55 Kerry, who we mentioned earlier, was unfortunately hooked on painkillers, and took a turn for

18:01 the worse after this.

18:03 He was now in WWE, WWF at the time, and had long expressed to Bret Hart his desire to

18:10 join his brothers in heaven.

18:12 Bret Hart responded by telling him that his children on earth needed him more than his

18:17 brothers in heaven, and that this seemed to be enough to keep him at bay for a little

18:21 while.

18:22 But in his personal life, things were getting increasingly bad.

18:26 Not only was he arrested once on a cocaine possession charge, but while he was on probation,

18:32 he was caught with faking a prescription to get more painkillers.

18:35 He would get a much harsher jail sentence because of this, so instead of dealing with

18:39 that, he went into the house, hugged his father Fritz, and said he loved him, before taking

18:47 his own life.

18:48 Kerry Von Erich had otherworldly charisma.

18:51 He was truly a guy who looked like an action figure came to life, someone who arduously

18:57 wrestled for years after losing his foot.

19:00 Bruce Prichard revealed on his Something to Wrestle With podcast that Vince McMahon and

19:05 WWE officials were internally aware of Kerry's secret situation with his foot, with McMahon

19:10 even intending to portray Kerry's ability to compete at a high level despite the handicap,

19:16 though Kerry expressed reservations about that even being a public thing.

19:21 This left Kevin Von Erich as the only surviving brother of the Von Erich's second generation.

19:26 He would eventually call it a career in the mid-90s, with his legacy of world-class championship

19:31 wrestling having lived through his brothers and passed along with them.

19:35 In 1997, Fritz was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and was not given long to live.

19:42 Because of the nature of the disease, it's only natural that he wasn't himself at all.

19:47 But one incident recounted by Kevin in the incredible Heroes of World Class documentary

19:52 revealed that Fritz had fallen ill and the cancer had affected his brain and he pointed

19:57 a gun at Kevin.

19:59 And it wasn't just any gun, it was the same .44 caliber revolver that Kerry had used to

20:04 take his own life.

20:05 He told Kevin that he didn't have the guts to take his own life like his brothers did.

20:10 Kevin simply responded by stating that it takes a lot more than guts to stay on this

20:14 earth.

20:15 According to Kevin himself, he holds no resentment about what Fritz did at that moment and fully

20:20 acknowledged the fact that he wasn't thinking straight by the time the cancer had spread

20:24 to his brain.

20:26 Even by all accounts, he rarely seems to blame his father for what his family went through.

20:30 And even though it seems to be a common belief that Fritz's allegedly maniacal behavior at

20:35 times influenced the family's tragedies, Kevin has endured.

20:39 Unfortunately, the sadness within the Von Eriks family is something that stretches beyond

20:44 them in world-class championship wrestling as a whole, and these are highlighted quite

20:49 a bit.

20:50 Some other names that went through world-class also had tough times.

20:53 Gino Hernandez, a man who many believed would have become a bona fide mega star in world-class

20:58 championship wrestling, passed under some suspicious circumstances even though his death

21:03 was officially ruled a cocaine overdose.

21:06 Gentleman Chris Adams was one of world-class's biggest stars.

21:09 He was fatally shot in 2001.

21:11 There's a whole list of names who were once associated with world-class, including the

21:15 likes of Bruiser Brody, who passed away and was murdered on the road outside of the company

21:20 in Puerto Rico.

21:21 Skandar Akbar, once a huge villain in world-class, said in the early 2000s that he had personally

21:27 known of 18 men who died before their time had come, and he was only talking about those

21:32 deaths since 1982.

21:35 In a way, it sums up the state of wrestling for decades, and how people aged and suffered

21:40 because of the abuse their bodies took along with their minds of those wild knights in

21:45 the ring and the wild knights outside of it.

21:48 And this isn't something connected just to world-class wrestling, but the old, outdated

21:53 culture that has thankfully passed within pro wrestling.

21:56 As for world-class championship wrestling, their iconic Dallas Sportatorium was unfortunately

22:01 set on fire in 2003 and was demolished later that year, a seemingly perfect allegory for

22:07 the sad passing of time and the wonderful times that were had in the past.

22:12 Kevin Von Erich knows that a lot of people felt sorry for him, given how things played

22:17 out with his family, but he said that as bad as things got, there were some extremely good

22:21 times as well, and that's something he doesn't forget.

22:25 In the Heroes of World-Class documentary, Kevin Von Erich said that dealing with grief

22:29 never gets easier, but you simply learn how to deal with it better.

22:34 What he found hardest was the finality of the grief he experienced.

22:37 But rather than just looking back, he looked forward to the next generation of the Von

22:42 Erichs, emerging in the form of his sons Ross and Marshall Von Erich, who have been an effective

22:48 tag team for major league wrestling, recently appearing on AEW, and who knows where else.

22:54 Terry's daughter Lacey Von Erich has also made her mark in the wrestling business.

22:58 They may not have had as big an impact on wrestling overall, but they are still the

23:01 ones who are carrying on the name in the business today.

23:04 As for Kevin, he eventually sold the big property in Texas, and moved to Hawaii.

23:09 The Von Erichs were eventually inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009 by the Fabulous

23:14 Freebirds, yes, they're sworn rivals for such a long time.

23:18 In that special speech, which took place in Houston, Texas, Kevin Von Erich shared that

23:23 though his brothers had passed, his family within wrestling rallied around him in the

23:28 tough times that would follow.

23:30 In 2015, Doris, the mother of the Von Erichs, and Fritz's wife until 1992, passed away peacefully

23:36 in Hawaii at the age of 82.

23:38 And in short, that is a summary of the triumphs and the unfortunate tragedies of the Von Erich

23:43 family.

23:44 It'd start with a man named Jack Adkisson Jr. who planned to open a bait shop in Corpus

23:49 Christi, Texas, only to build a wrestling empire.

23:53 Whatever your opinion is of Fritz or the Von Erichs, wrestling today would not be the same

23:58 without them.

23:59 While most of us use the Von Erichs as an example of the toxic culture that prevailed

24:03 in the past of wrestling, you can also use them as an example of the inspiring family

24:07 they were, being heroes to hundreds of thousands of people across the globe, inspirations to

24:13 many about what it means to be good, hardworking people within the unwavering grit and determination

24:20 that wrestling demands.

24:22 Seek out the great pro wrestling that WWE has now on Peacock and the WWE Network from

24:27 World Class Championship Wrestling.

24:29 Thank you for watching.

24:30 [MUSIC]

24:40 (upbeat music)

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