What Happened To The Iron Claw Wrestlers?

WrestleTalk

The Iron Claw movie depicts one of the most tragic stories in pro wrestling - the demise of the Von Erich family. Oli Davis recounts what happened to each wrestler portrayed in the movie, in real life.  WATCH Survival Series  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrFIfNt6Nic More wrestling news on https://wrestletalk.com/  0:00 - Welcome... 1:51 - Jack Jr. Von Erich 2:53 - David Von Erich 3:30 - Mike Von Erich 4:13 - Chris Von Erich 4:45 - Kerry Von Erich 6:14 - Lance Von Erich 7:07 - The Fabulous Freebirds 8:06 - Gino Hernandez 9:16 - Bruiser Brody 10:09 - The Sheik 10:52 - And the rest… Where Are The Iron Claw Wrestlers Now? #VonErich #ironclaw #wwe #WrestlingNews #WrestleTalk #WWERAW #AEW  Subscribe to WrestleTalk Podcasts   https://bit.ly/3pEAEIu Subscribe to partsFUNknown for lists, fantasy booking & more  https://bit.ly/32JJsCv Subscribe to NoRollsBarred  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5UQPZe-8v4_UP1uxi4Mv6A Subscribe to WrestleTalk  https://bit.ly/3gKdNK3 SUBSCRIBE TO THEM ALL! Make sure to enable ALL push notifications!  Watch the latest wrestling news: https://shorturl.at/pAIV3 Buy WrestleTalk Merch here! https://wrestleshop.com/   Follow WrestleTalk: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_WrestleTalk Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WrestleTalk.Official Patreon: https://goo.gl/2yuJpo WrestleTalk Podcast on iTunes: https://goo.gl/7advjX WrestleTalk Podcast on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3uKx6HD  About WrestleTalk: Welcome to the official WrestleTalk YouTube channel! WrestleTalk covers the sport of professional wrestling - including WWE TV shows (both WWE Raw & WWE SmackDown LIVE), PPVs (such as Royal Rumble, WrestleMania & SummerSlam), AEW All Elite Wrestling, Impact Wrestling, ROH, New Japan, and more. Subscribe and enable ALL notifications for the latest wrestling WWE reviews and wrestling news.  Sources used for research:  Youtube Channel Comments Policy We appreciate the comments and opinions our viewers provide. Do note that all comments are subject to YouTube auto-moderation and manual moderation review. We encourage opinions and discussion, but harassment, hate speech, bullying and other abusive posts will not be tolerated. Decisions on comment removal are made by the Community Manager. Please email us at support@wrestletalk.com with any questions or concerns.

Transcript

00:00 Remember the glory days when the movies treated wrestling like it was a joke? Like No Holds

00:04 Barred? Nacho Libre? Or my personal favourite, Ready to Rumble?

00:20 Mike, what is this?

00:31 King me!

00:32 Hollywood has always looked down on wrestling. They call it fake. Unlike all that documentary

00:37 footage Hollywood makes, like this real footage of humanoid cats that did so well for them.

00:43 Even when one of cinema's most celebrated auteurs Darren Aronofsky released The Wrestler in 2008,

00:49 some believe its lead Mickey Rourke lost out on the Best Actor Oscar because he appeared on a

00:53 segment with Chris Jericho on Monday Night Raw. But as great work from Vice's Dark Side of the

00:58 Ring and the wrestling films and TV shows from Rock that Dwayne Johnson has shown,

01:03 professional wrestling is as real as it gets. And there are far more tragically true stories

01:09 in its history than the Von Eriks. A24's Ironclaw movie tells the tale of the

01:14 Von Eriks, who for a brief period in the early 80s were wrestling megastars in their home state

01:19 of Texas, but whose dynasty ended in an almost unbelievable series of tragedies. The film also

01:25 centres on world class championship wrestling, the Dallas-based promotion where they made their name,

01:30 which was also home to some of the craziest characters in 80s wrestling, many of whom

01:35 show up in the movie. Some had their lives cut short, like most of the Von Eriks. Others are

01:40 still with us, and a few are amongst the biggest and most impactful names in wrestling history.

01:46 Here is what happened to all the Ironclaw wrestlers in real life.

01:51 Jack Jr. Von Erik Let's start with the main characters in

01:54 the film, the Von Eriks themselves. Or are they? Because the Von Eriks aren't actually

02:01 the Von Eriks. Their real last name is Adkisson. But the family father in the movie, Jack,

02:07 changed his name to Fritz Von Erik when he was an active wrestler in the 1950s,

02:11 which was designed as a post-World War II 'evil foreigner' gimmick. Which means a group that

02:15 would go on to be the ultimate All-American family had kayfabe roots of their public name in Nazism.

02:22 Fritz was a big time heel in 50s North America, which was when the first family tragedy struck.

02:32 While staying at a trailer park in Niagara Falls in 1959, Fritz and his wife Doris' oldest son

02:38 Jack Jr. died after touching the metal part of a caravan that had somehow been electrified,

02:44 and then falling face down in a puddle where he drowned. He was only 6 years old,

02:49 and some say Fritz never truly got over the loss. David Von Erik

02:54 By 1984, Fritz was running the NWA territory in their home state of Texas, where his three

02:59 oldest surviving sons Kevin, David and Kerry had become huge stars. But another tragedy was about

03:05 to strike. David, who was viewed by many as a future NWA World's Champion, was found dead

03:11 in his hotel room during a tour of Japan at the age of 25. Some have speculated his death was

03:17 caused by a drug overdose, but the Von Erik family have always insisted it was a case of acute

03:22 enteritis, which is inflammation of the small intestine. The official cause of death registered

03:27 by the authorities backs up their version of events. Mike Von Erik

03:31 With David dead, his 19-year-old little brother Mike Von Erik was fast-tracked into a prominent

03:36 spot at world class to take his place alongside Kevin and Kerry. But the following year,

03:41 on a tour of Israel, Mike suffered a separated shoulder during a match. That's a normal injury

03:46 for wrestlers to suffer, and he underwent successful surgery after returning to Texas for

03:50 it. But soon afterwards, he developed a rare post-surgery infection called Toxic Shock Syndrome,

03:56 causing him to develop a fever of 107 degrees and taking him to the brink of death. He survived,

04:03 but suffered some brain damage and was never the same afterwards. In April 1987, not long after

04:08 his 23rd birthday, Mike tragically took his own life. Chris Von Erik

04:14 This is one Von Erik brother who isn't featured in the Iron Claw movie. Chris was just 17 when

04:20 Mike died, and was desperate to become a pro wrestler like his older brothers. The problem was,

04:24 he was only 5 foot 5, weighing 175 pounds, at a time when body image was far more important,

04:30 and he suffered from asthma and brittle bones that would sometimes break when he performed

04:35 even simple moves in the ring. Spiralling into depression and drug use after Mike's death,

04:40 Chris also took his own life just over four years later, at the age of 21.

04:46 Meanwhile, middle child Kerry had become a global star, signed by the World Wrestling Federation,

04:52 and competing as the Texas Tornado. But he too had addiction problems, not helped by the fact

04:58 his right foot had been secretly amputated after a motorcycle accident in 1986. For years,

05:05 he wrestled while wearing a prosthetic, and managed the pain with drugs. He was eventually

05:09 released by the WWF in the summer of 1992, and six months later found himself facing potential

05:15 jail time for violating probation on drug-related charges. At that point, he also took his own life.

05:23 Dying in February 1993 at the age of 33, leaving Kevin as the only surviving brother.

05:30 Meanwhile, Fritz died of cancer in 1997, aged 68.

05:35 Wanting to get away from where all the tragedy took place, Kevin moved with his wife and four

05:39 children to Hawaii in 2006. On behalf of his father and brothers, he accepted a WWE Hall

05:45 of Fame induction in 2009. Now 66 years old, Kevin makes occasional appearances for WWE

05:52 and other promotions, and has been supporting his sons Ross and Marshall, who have kept the

05:56 dynasty alive by becoming wrestlers themselves. Kevin and his wife moved back to Texas within

06:01 the past year, and they now have 11 grandchildren. And that's what happened to all the Von Erick

06:07 family members. It's a tragic tale, but at least Kevin's doing well. Oh, just one more thing.

06:13 Lance Von Erick. There's one more Von Erick that we haven't mentioned yet because…

06:19 he wasn't a Von Erick. When Mike Von Erick was recovering from his

06:22 toxic shock syndrome in 1985, Chris was still far too young to take his place. So Fritz decided to

06:28 pretend the boys had a cousin called Lance - a handsome young bodybuilder who had a vague resemblance

06:34 to the family. The problem was, the kid chosen for the role was from Dallas, so loads of people

06:40 who would go to the shows already knew him and how he wasn't a member of the Von Erick family.

06:45 Surprise, surprise, it didn't work. Lance, whose real name is William Vaughn,

06:49 was out of world class within little more than a year, and went on to own a chain of health clubs

06:53 in South Africa, which he sold in the mid-90s for a multi-million dollar sum. Vaughn now lives in

06:58 South Texas, and released his brilliantly titled autobiography Lance by Chance in 2020. He was

07:05 played by MJF in the Iron Claw movie. The Fabulous Freebirds.

07:10 Moving on from the Von Ericks, or people who claim to be the Von Ericks, the Fabulous Freebirds

07:14 were the Von Ericks' biggest wrestling foes. A group of brash Georgia boys with questionable

07:19 morals who were the total opposite of the good Christian values that the Von Ericks were presented

07:24 as standing for. The Freebirds themselves are considered to be amongst the greatest teams of

07:29 all time. Their leader was Michael Hayes, who kept wrestling until the mid-90s before becoming

07:33 a manager and agent in WWE, where he still works today as a senior producer, being entrusted with

07:39 the company's biggest storylines like the Bloodline. The Freebirds' enforcer was Terry 'Bam Bam' Gordy,

07:44 a bruising 300-pounder who was considered to be among the best big men in the business. He was

07:49 still wrestling around the time of his 40th birthday in 2001, but later that year, he died

07:55 of a heart attack caused by a blood clot. Buddy Roberts, the third member of the group,

07:59 died of pneumonia in 2012. The Freebirds were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2016.

08:06 Gino Hernandez Played by Ryan Nemeth in the Iron Claw,

08:10 Gino Hernandez was one of the biggest stars in world class outside of the Von Ericks and the

08:15 Freebirds. Only in his early and mid-20s for most of his run, Hernandez was considered one of the

08:20 best heels of his generation, portraying a fast-living, arrogant playboy with expensive tastes.

08:26 Much like Ric Flair. He was being tipped as a big future star, but he didn't live long enough to

08:30 realise that potential. Hernandez somewhat lived the gimmick, and was known to socialise with some

08:36 shady figures involved in organised crime. By early 1986, he had become paranoid that

08:41 powerful people were out to get him. After no-showing a couple of world class events,

08:46 company officials went to check on him at his condo in Dallas and found his body.

08:51 He was only 28. For years, there has been speculation as to whether his death was caused

08:56 by a cocaine overdose as it appeared at first glance, or whether there was foul play involved.

09:02 A 2019 episode of Dark Side of the Ring may have answered that question, as one of Hernandez's

09:07 associates contacted them to claim that he had not been murdered and the death was a legitimate

09:12 overdose. But some people still have their doubts. Bruiser Brody

09:17 Bruiser Brody was another staple of world class in its heyday. But the real-life Frank Goodish

09:22 had a reputation for being a Frank Badish, difficult to work with and making enemies

09:27 backstage. One of those enemies would be the end of him during a trip to Puerto Rico in 1988.

09:33 Brody was set for a match at a big stadium show organised by regional promoter Carlos

09:38 Colón, but ended up having an argument in the locker room prior to the show with a man

09:42 called Jose Gonzalez, who wrestled under the name Invader One. Brody was stabbed in the altercation,

09:49 and later died of his wounds in hospital. Gonzalez claimed self-defence and was acquitted

09:54 of murder in a trial in 1989, but some of those with first-hand knowledge of the incident have

09:58 claimed that Gonzalez killed Brody in cold blood, and that the trial was a sham. Brody was 42 years

10:05 old at the time of his death, and left behind a 7-year-old son.

10:09 The Sheik Another wrestler depicted in the Iron Claw is

10:13 The Sheik, who's not the same person as The Iron Sheik. They're different people. In fact,

10:19 he's referred to as 'Original Sheik' to help separate them, like he's a flavour of Coca-Cola.

10:24 He was a pioneering hardcore wrestler who competed in world class for years,

10:28 but was in his late 50s by the time the Von Erich Boys became main eventers. He was a successful

10:32 promoter for many years in his native Detroit, and is also the real-life uncle of ECW legend Sabu.

10:38 His real name was Edferhat, and he lived until 2003, where he died of heart failure at the age

10:44 of 76. He was posthumously inducted by Sabu and Rob Van Dam into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007.

10:52 And the rest! Legendary wrestler Ric Flair is also in the Iron Claw,

10:55 portrayed by Aaron Dean-Isenberg. He ended up a 16-time world champion,

10:59 not too shabby, and has probably had a similar amount of retirement matches.

11:04 Harley Race, one of the most iconic world champions of all time, was played by Kevin

11:08 Anton in the movie. Race died of lung cancer in 2019 at the age of 76.

11:13 And finally, two non-wrestler characters were Gary Hart, the dastardly heel manager who also booked

11:19 some of world class's finest moments - he died of a heart attack in 2008 - and the fascinating sports

11:25 commentator and news journalist Bill Mercer, who provided play-by-play announcing for world

11:30 class championship wrestling. Fascinatingly, he covered JFK's assassination in Dallas in 1963,

11:38 and is believed to be the reporter who told Lee Harvey Oswald that he had been charged

11:43 with the President's murder. Mercer is still alive, living in a retirement home at the age of 96.

11:50 After all that tragedy, cheer yourself up. Watch us try to name every WWE Tag Team

11:55 Champion in Survival Series by clicking the video on the left.

11:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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