WCCW Documentary

VersaceVyper

last month

Transcript

00:00:00world-class comes along it exceeded anything that any of us ever had imagined

00:00:05it was wrestling taken to a whole nother level Texas Stadium 40,000 people

00:00:11Cotton Bowl 30 or 40,000 people they'd have to get police dogs to get us out of

00:00:15buildings and I mean girls would be fainting it was wildly unbelievable we

00:00:19didn't deserve any of that it just happened it was like a big blessing then

00:00:25in a way maybe I'm kind of turned into a monster the death of David von Erich was

00:00:31the beginning of the end for world-class championship wrestling and Mike killed

00:00:36himself I'm listening to the radio and I heard von Erich tragedy strikes again

00:00:41Chris von Erich found dead it was a tragedy more than this great wrestling

00:00:50show the von Erich's died off and the show died

00:01:07hiya wrestling fans this is best box again with Texas wrestling from the

00:01:12Motorhead McLemore's Sportatorium Dallas wrestling goes back a long way

00:01:21the Sportatorium was built in 1934 there were great wrestling stars Danny

00:01:26Savage Duke Kiyomuka Dizzy Davis Jumbo Jack Kennedy those are names probably

00:01:32some of you people will not recognize but in the Dallas area you will remember

00:01:37that week in and week out you'll see the very best here at the Sportatorium in

00:01:41Dallas these southwestern wrestling fans like the going hot and heavy rough

00:01:49and fast if a man can't take it as well as fish it out he doesn't stay in Texas

00:01:55Matt circle very long Texas has always supported athletics whether it's rodeo

00:02:01high school football or wrestling they lived for Friday nights my dad would

00:02:08take me early get off the Friday nights the routine would be we'd go to to eat

00:02:15in Texas chicken fried steak get some iced tea he catch a chick would go to

00:02:20wrestling professional wrestling was for many people a way of life and in many of

00:02:26the smaller towns it was their only entertainment that came to save the

00:02:30circus once a year you know every week here at the Sportatorium in Dallas

00:02:34promoter Ed Macklemore presents the nation's outstanding wrestling talent

00:02:39some of the finest wrestlers in the entire country show right here at the

00:02:44Sportatorium if you go back to when I started here in the 1950s it was two

00:02:50falls out of three and a lot of headlocks held for a long time on the

00:02:56mat before Jack Atkinson before Fritz von Erich the people that were before him

00:03:02they were great wrestlers in there but nobody had the impact this man had he

00:03:08brought an enthusiasm and a type of physical activity that was I guess you

00:03:16could say enormous my dad was a football player at SMU a good athlete a big guys

00:03:24a discus thrower too my dad had the Southwest Conference record and stood

00:03:28for like 20 years and they were gonna use him on the Olympic team but he got

00:03:33married and back then you couldn't be on the Olympic team and be married to or

00:03:37what the school wouldn't have paid for his tip his trip you know it was in

00:03:41Finland and Helsinki and he couldn't afford to he couldn't afford to go on

00:03:46his own so so he didn't go but he did have a throw that was a good enough

00:03:51float to a place in the Olympics as a matter of fact it would have it would

00:03:56have worn it true back then things were a lot different evidently and being

00:04:01married the school couldn't send him he went from SMU down to the University of

00:04:06Corpus Christi because you could be married and still be in the AAU then you

00:04:12know so he was down there and his parents lived in Dallas my grandparents

00:04:18and he was coming up through Dallas and he was looking for work you know he was

00:04:22a fireman and then he was a detective and he just did anything for you know

00:04:26for a work and he talked to Ed Macklemore he was the guy that had the

00:04:30support for him had Dallas started off working underneath matches and doing

00:04:37Ed's taxes doing the taxes for the support for him there and he really had

00:04:42something you know he had appeal he had charisma in the ring

00:04:57don't get disqualified but he was still just Jack Atkinson he

00:05:01wasn't the German he wasn't Fritz von Erich so he went up and worked for Ed a

00:05:06while and then came up here to Niagara Falls my brother Jackie and I just been

00:05:13born

00:05:16my brother my oldest brother a lot of people know this Jackie Jack Atkinson

00:05:22Jr. was electrocuted in 1959 in Niagara Falls and it did something to my dad he

00:05:32quit me and he wasn't like Jack Atkinson anymore he even changed his name he

00:05:35became he was a German

00:05:38he was so ferocious in the ring he was like he wanted someone to kill him I

00:05:42think he just didn't want to be alive anymore but he wanted you know to punish

00:05:49himself or something I'd punish other people too so he just wanted to get back

00:05:53to Dallas he was gonna open a bait shop in Corpus Christi is what he's gonna do

00:05:58going through and wound up stopping off at the Sportatorium on the way back to

00:06:03Russell and it just clicked he was Fritz von Erich then and he never really

00:06:10looked back

00:06:19he was quite remarkable when you saw him he was big rough domineering

00:06:27outspoken wanted to intimidate you if he could he was very hard to Russell you

00:06:32had to fight him or he would beat you down

00:06:42the really rugged type guy one of the probably the most rugged individuals

00:06:47that you'd never step into the ring with his wrestling style was just beat

00:06:58the hell out of somebody but Eric he's as mean as he looks boy he's as big as

00:07:04he's mean and he had a finishing hold the claw which was over probably

00:07:11segmented very few finishing holds ever in the business I got the idea of it

00:07:15originally originally in Japan I'm an old friend of mine over there about the

00:07:21temple and they knew the strength of this hand is getting stronger all the

00:07:23time and that's where the idea came from I was really waiting for the opportune

00:07:27time to do it it didn't come along for maybe 20 or 30 matches later he goes for

00:07:33that hole again that's a new one he's developed apparently cuz we haven't seen

00:07:37it digs right in there with both hands I think the bout is over I think Bobby

00:07:42I think without a doubt he was the best of the Vaughn Eric's my dad was a real

00:07:49good wrestler good psychologist knew exactly what he's doing just as he was a

00:07:55domineering wrestler he was a domineering force in professional

00:07:59wrestling as a promoter in Dallas in 1965 the booking office for the Dallas

00:08:09Fort Worth San Antonio and Houston was controlled out of the Houston wrestling

00:08:15office more Siegel and Paul Byshe when Fritz came Ed McLemore and Fritz made a

00:08:20huge move and broke away from Houston and several years later Ed McLemore had

00:08:27a series of heart attacks and one of them was fatal and Fritz became the sole

00:08:33owner of Southwest championship sports Fritz became the man he was the big

00:08:39cog he was the guy that had the territory as a promoter Fritz would have

00:08:47been better known as a rustler than a promoter Fritz wasn't a promoter like

00:08:53Vince McMahon would be or a Paul Byshe or a Jim Barnett he was mainly known as

00:08:58a rustler who happened to be a promoter as the owner he could trust his top

00:09:03superstar not to walk out on it because it was one the same that was the theory

00:09:08that many of the old promoters slash top stars had for instance Vern Gagne was

00:09:13the owner and also the top star in the AWA Eddie Graham same situation in the

00:09:19Florida Territory and of course we had a similar situation down in Memphis and

00:09:22the reason that usually comes about is because when you own the territory when

00:09:28you own the company I mean that's your that's your not only your baby but

00:09:31that's your livelihood and so it's hard to trust that top spot to someone who is

00:09:40not going to be as passionate about the welfare of your company as you are he

00:09:46was very powerful man screw screw elaborate yeah you know he went to the

00:09:57bank he went to the bank yeah you did too you bought his car yeah

00:10:04Fritz was okay he was like every other promoter right he set up there and bossed

00:10:09everybody around and made all the money made all the money don't

00:10:13misunderstand me I'm not disrespecting Fritz I'm just I'm just saying that we

00:10:17were getting screwed back then really bad he ran his promotion the same type

00:10:21way that he competed in the ring very aggressive

00:10:25as a wrestler and did a very very good job with it Fritz liked perfection just

00:10:33like any successful man Fritz needed to know that you could get the job done out

00:10:39there he had the air about him when he walked in that he was the man he was

00:10:44important he was huge everybody got out of the way when he came through at first

00:10:49when you first met him you're you know he was a big guy came through had this

00:10:52deep voice and of course you know everybody got out of his way but as you

00:10:58got to know him and you know you met him a few times and he found out who you

00:11:03were you know he actually turned into a very nice guy he became a legend here he

00:11:09was a legend and his sons followed in his footsteps he was a great wrestler he

00:11:15knew exactly he's doing in the ring and as far as a promoter he was great at

00:11:18that too my dad was a great guy a great man a good man and it makes me mad

00:11:23sometimes when people think that everyone wants to tell the story that

00:11:26big mean Fritz beat the kids up and made us Russell and and made us you know do

00:11:33things we didn't want to do it's not true we he didn't make us do anything

00:11:37he's a good man a really good father too

00:11:42I had such a good time with my brothers we would go out and spear fish off a

00:11:47reef for hours and hours just hover over the water and put the fish in the

00:11:51boat and we all hunted we all fished and we had fun together these boys have been

00:12:01trained in the gym out of the house we have a 600 square foot of weights and

00:12:05wrestling mats and boxing paraphernalia the whole bit it's really great to watch

00:12:10these guys come up from just youngins up to where they are right now and in my

00:12:15opinion every one of my sons Kevin Kerry David at one time or the other sometime

00:12:20in the future will be a world heavyweight champion David was a

00:12:25tremendous basketball player Kevin was a tremendous football player on the

00:12:30college level Kerry I think was a nationally ranked discus thrower David

00:12:36Kevin Kerry a fantastic athletic ability when their background is basketball

00:12:41football play Kerry and Dave and I were the closest Dave and I were so busy with

00:12:46football and and then wrestling that we really didn't have time to bring Mike up

00:12:52like we would have wanted to so Kerry pretty much raised Mike and and Chris

00:12:59they were good strong tough athletes and it would only be natural for them to

00:13:04want to pursue in their father's footsteps they took to wrestling it was

00:13:08in their blood we knew that eventually one of the boys would be in wrestling

00:13:14but we didn't know all of them it's your family's livelihood I think it's a

00:13:18natural fit for all of them first one I really met was Kevin in the dressing

00:13:23room he's standing there and I said to him so you want to be a wrestler huh kid

00:13:28and Kevin looked right at me said he said no you know I never did want to be

00:13:31a wrestler I want to be a football player I was playing ball at North Texas

00:13:36and so during the season I would play football and during the offseason I'd

00:13:39wrestle Kevin kind of set the tone for the run of the dynamic Vaughn Erick crew

00:13:45after a year of that Dave came on as a wrestler but they've kept wrestling he

00:13:49stayed in the business dropped out of college was a wrestler a great wrestler

00:13:53too good psychology knew how to work with the people and how to do an

00:13:57interview he was really gifted like dad was hey there ain't no place for Texas

00:14:01baby I'm glad to be home I think that David Vaughn Erick probably was the best

00:14:06ring general of them all and so Dave really started before I did because I

00:14:10played so much football back then Dave was wrestling all that time a little

00:14:14more experience than I was even though I started first there's something magic

00:14:18with Kevin I in that ring together we know it baby we'll take on any challenger

00:14:21this belt because Texas can show the all-Asian in the whole world

00:14:27David didn't have the charisma and the good looks of Kevin but when it came to

00:14:34in-ring talent and interviews I believe David was the superior one we wrestled

00:14:40for about two years together Kerry was throwing the discus for University of

00:14:44Houston and had the the farthest thrill for under 19 years old in fact he had

00:14:48the world record at it and that was a year that Carter that Jimmy Carter

00:14:52boycotted the Olympics one of the finest high school athletes at the state of

00:14:55Texas has ever produced Kerry Vaughn Erick so all the people that were

00:14:59throwing as far as Kerry were you know the East Germans and the Russians both

00:15:03had great discus throwers Kerry couldn't compete against him you know and so rather

00:15:07than wait another four years and to go in the Olympics the next go-around he

00:15:11went ahead and came into wrestling Kerry he had the charisma and the looks of his

00:15:16older brother Kevin but at the same time he had a lot of the in-ring ability that

00:15:22David had from then it was just three of us for a long time until we finally

00:15:26brought back on one but it was really the three of us wrestled all over the

00:15:30place

00:15:38we had some wrestling matches together you know tag teams or four-man tags and

00:15:42things like that so dad wrestled a little bit with us he was getting older

00:15:45he didn't have to get in the ring anymore we were drawing and there wasn't

00:15:48any reason for him to do that I was never one for rustler getting in the

00:15:53ring and when you do when your time comes and goes nothing sadder to see

00:15:58somebody you know it's time is gone and they're the only one that hadn't hit it

00:16:01well it was kind of tough to see Fritz stop wrestling you know he was beat up

00:16:08and arthritic so we kind of talked him into it and he did get out of it you

00:16:13know it all started when I was a Mustang at SMU and played ball there and then a

00:16:17brief stand of professional football right into wrestling I guess it seems

00:16:21appropriate that my last match will be on a football field right at Texas

00:16:25Stadium that was the first big stadium show that we had here you know a huge

00:16:30crowd Texas Stadium back then you didn't people didn't have matches in football

00:16:34stadiums

00:16:47it was a big deal that Fritz von Erick was retiring you know everyone knew that

00:16:51it was like uh it's the last time we're gonna be able to see this guy this is

00:16:54for the American Heavyweight Championship a belt that Fritz von Erick

00:16:59at one time held longer than any other human being in the history of wrestling

00:17:02I can't tell you what it was like in that match

00:17:10that brought a pretty big crowd in there it was retirement match

00:17:17I believe it was a good decision to him to back away completely and allow his

00:17:30children to be the main guys in his organization

00:17:37I'm gonna be World Heavyweight Championship we got five of them I'm

00:17:41Fritz then was developing this promotional part of himself more than

00:17:49ever and really taking charge of it the boys were supposed to come along and

00:17:54take that over later on difficult in a booking situation because you have three

00:18:01von Erick's on every card a lot of wrestlers resented the fact that the

00:18:08boys were being pushed so hard and it was easy to say they're getting the push

00:18:14because of their father and who their father is

00:18:26they weren't little kids that their father protected I mean these boys they

00:18:32would fight anyone who didn't show them respect they had great huge gigantic

00:18:38balls I have the time now to go ahead and devote to my sons as you know

00:18:43they're in demand all over the world now and I can work with them I as I've

00:18:47stated before I want my kids to enjoy this great business this great industry

00:18:51like I held I would imagine there was a lot of prodding at the same time I would

00:18:56imagine it probably didn't take much because the boys idolized their dad like

00:18:59most sons do they're the von Erick's you know they're the sons of the

00:19:06superstar in your town he was bigger than the football team I mean there

00:19:11wasn't any Dallas football but there was Fritz von Erick and he was bigger than

00:19:15they were and so those guys lived up there in Lake Dallas they were gods the

00:19:21greatest name in professional wrestling today the von Erick's have been for years

00:19:25he knew he being Fritz that he was building a franchise the boys are doing

00:19:31great I'm very very proud of them and I guess Fritz von Erick as a promoter

00:19:34realized that hey you know what other wrestlers might leave me but my kids

00:19:38aren't going to leave me I can count on my children and Fritz marketed them as

00:19:42stars and they were believable the thing is they filled up arenas Kevin when he

00:19:50started he looked like he walked right out of a movie set body-ripped I mean

00:19:55handsome women went crazy here are two of the greatest draws of

00:20:01professional wrestling it could be that we were just young kids the one and only

00:20:05von Erick boys wrestlers all around the world had gimmicks you project some type

00:20:10of image but we didn't have to do that in fact by not having gimmicks that was

00:20:14a great gimmick because we're the only guys that had that gimmick you know that

00:20:18we were ourselves I was shocked and amazed at how over the von Erick kids

00:20:22were in Texas the von Erick boys became folk heroes at a very young age my

00:20:30goodness you Fritz von Erick you're one of the von Erick's they were the band

00:20:33everywheres and consequently channel 11 that we had it and then channel 39 here

00:20:39in Dallas he's that was going out and it was almost like WTBS like the

00:20:44superstations that time right here on channel 39 we had KTVT channel 11 in

00:20:52Fort Worth which was our flagship station but because of the power of

00:20:57world-class television it opened so many doors it started around Texas and then

00:21:03they move out to another state another state another state and all of a sudden

00:21:06it just was beyond comprehension good evening ladies and gentlemen Gene

00:21:10Goodson with world-class championship wrestling and when you see these matches

00:21:13you'll know that that's a truth we're in places that we weren't even supposed to

00:21:18be because our show was pirated out in the Middle East you know and so we're

00:21:21getting letters from Kenya and Taiwan and places we weren't supposed to be so

00:21:26we wound up putting our show pretty much everywhere all these people wanted our

00:21:28show they want to know how can we get it legally you know and so we start

00:21:32syndicating and things went real well probably in almost three-quarters of the

00:21:37country you know as far as syndication somebody had the vision to see there

00:21:41was a bigger world out there than just Dallas and the boys wanted to go they

00:21:47wanted to take off and go nationwide with it but see Fritz was an old-timer

00:21:52and the agreement was you stayed in your own yard you didn't go in somebody

00:21:55else's backyard and try and run a show that was the old style but the new style

00:22:00was you followed your show wherever it went Fritz wouldn't go but Kevin, Kerry

00:22:06they all they all wanted to go he would not go now looking back you know

00:22:11hindsight 2020 that was a mistake if he'd have gone I think there'd be you'd

00:22:17see a different world out there as far as the wrestling industry at the moment

00:22:22the world-class championship wrestling syndicated show what was a fresher

00:22:26approach I was amazed there was 30 40 people in the production crew seven or

00:22:32eight cameras all kinds of microphones placed on and around the ring handheld

00:22:39cameras guys up on the apron that was all brand new

00:22:45when they introduced that into wrestling guys became bigger than life WCCW is the

00:22:52first people to really get in there that allowed you to see the emotions of the

00:22:56wrestlers that allowed the wrestlers to become personalities that the audience

00:23:01could become emotionally invested in I mean in world-class you could hear a guy

00:23:05get hit and grunt you could hear him breathe you know I mean it was like more

00:23:09live than wine unheard of unprecedented at that time it was wrestling taken to a

00:23:14whole nother level had a different feel to it and they were very innovative one

00:23:20of the first programs ever to do personality profiles things outside of

00:23:25the ring that would let you inside let you know what made the wrestlers tick we

00:23:30put in those features one of them in fact gorgeous Jimmy Garvin had to go out

00:23:34and work with David at the ranch load hay and shovel dirt manure and and wash the

00:23:41dogs listen I want you to know I'm only doing this because I have to find Eric

00:23:49otherwise I wouldn't be here my favorite was called out to do this water slide

00:23:53thing and I'm in a sport coat tie and all of a sudden he pulls me in do you

00:23:59have fun and shoves me down and I go sliding down this water slide in my

00:24:12clothes then the camera people said okay we've got to set up on the various

00:24:17places and you have to go down a couple three more times so we can get these

00:24:20shots of you going down and that would turn out to be quite a thriller I think

00:24:27the fans are gonna really be excited at night we have one of the greatest courts

00:24:30in the sport of tournaments ever had before don't forget the world famous

00:24:33auditorium if it's there it's the best in professional wrestling

00:24:38this auditorium was a tin shed down on industrial Boulevard in Dallas probably

00:24:45the most famous show that anyone could ever imagine on TV it looked absolutely

00:24:53fabulous but it was an old tin building with no AC hot oh geez it was hot on hot

00:25:04Dallas days when it would rain the roof would leak it was very uncomfortable

00:25:11especially with all the additional lights in the summer months sometime it'd

00:25:17be 120 130 degrees in the rain it was hot I can't say enough how hot it was in

00:25:24that place it was hot so I mean it was a historic landmark I don't know why they

00:25:30tore it down it was a great building and we fought to we thought that they'd make

00:25:35a historical landmark out of it would have paid for itself three years but

00:25:40nobody would buy it that landlord so that was it I have at my house a piece

00:25:46of the siding they gave to me and I love that building to me the sport

00:25:53auditorium was a temple for wrestling the inside of the sport auditorium if

00:25:59anyone was ever there could appreciate the environment that it created as being

00:26:04like a Roman Coliseum we sold out the sport auditorium I don't know how many

00:26:09times in a row on a Friday night which is you know during the fall is Texas

00:26:14football night which draws huge all over Texas but we would draw and and

00:26:19drew a new customer we don't say thanks to people in Dallas Texas because it's

00:26:23the biggest crowd ever to be in the sport auditorium you never heard of

00:26:28anybody going to Texas to further their career it was just dormant nothing was

00:26:34going on except the Bon Erics they just didn't have in the fans eyes in my

00:26:38opinion competition I went to Texas I went out there for two shows and I hit

00:26:47it off right away with Gary Hart I offered Terry and Michael a job in Texas

00:26:52you guys want to come to Texas I I can do really really well with you and he

00:26:57booked me on their Star Wars shows which was their big shows that they had

00:27:00quarter-annually I couldn't believe it when I got there and saw the crowd I

00:27:04called Terry that night I said you need to finish up in Georgia you need to get

00:27:08your ass down here there's something going on here we need to do it I want

00:27:12everybody to know like I said before I'm not here by myself free bird is the

00:27:15double thing and I got a brother that stands walks and talks right beside me

00:27:19and the next time we come here baby we are coming here to get down and my

00:27:24brother's gonna be right beside me and I think the the wrestling fans were

00:27:28looking for something fresh and something new and obviously we brought

00:27:31that

00:27:38I mean Michael get needs to get a lot of credit for stuff he's done over the

00:28:00years would to help promotions along the way and I mean I really was very

00:28:05influential and really helped the promotion in Texas I think Michael's the

00:28:09first guy has adjusted musical entrances you know Michael Hayes played the song

00:28:13going to the ring and I thought man that is a sweet he were to crank that up a

00:28:19little louder and play it before the match and then when the music comes in

00:28:23to a crescendo kick the door open you know I could feel that he broke the

00:28:28barrier with the rock and roll musical entrance

00:28:35and so we started to put some big old studio speakers in the square touring

00:28:41makes the people on fire and us too I thought wrestling and rock music

00:28:46were just made for each other it was just a madhouse not like you think you

00:28:53may think that would that's fine but after a few months that gets old you

00:28:59know because you've got to walk to the ring with one hand down here to protect

00:29:02yourself and then they're trying to kiss you you know and so you're trying your

00:29:06best to keep your lips together you know and it was not it was it was a hard way

00:29:11to get to work every day the response at first and which I think made the whole

00:29:17angle work was very positive towards the fabulous free birds

00:29:23I said at the beginning of the year that three bird fantasy was gonna rock

00:29:27and roll all over this country

00:29:31and we were buddies with the Bon Erics in and out of the ring which was real you

00:29:35know it just sucked everybody into the whole story Michael Hayes was such a

00:29:39personality people really either wanted to love him or hate him

00:29:45semi-good and the crowd loves him some of them hate him I think one of the

00:29:52greatest and of course I'm gonna be biased here rivalries that ever took

00:29:56place in the history of our great industry was the free bird Bon Eric feud

00:30:01and it all started Christmas night 1982 Ric Flair vs. Kerry Bon Eric and special

00:30:07referee Michael Hayes I was a little bit pushy as the referee

00:30:16finally the opportunity comes Flair hits me I hit Flair back

00:30:30tell Kerry take advantage of this pin him Kerry wouldn't do so because that's

00:30:34the Texas thing to do I grabbed Kerry throw him on top of Flair pin him Kerry

00:30:40gets up off the cover that's when Terry Gordy who was the gatekeeper outside

00:30:45says you know what screw it Michael just come on let's get just leave him

00:30:49let us go Flair gets up behind Kerry knees him in the back which knocks Kerry

00:30:54into me which knocks me out of the cage so when I hit the floor and turn around

00:30:58there's Kerry and Flair's out of the scene so my assumption is Kerry just hit

00:31:04me from behind and that was the impetus for Terry to grab the door slam it on

00:31:08Kerry's head and as they say the rest was history

00:31:34and we woke up and I'll never forget Gary Hart got a hold to us and called us

00:31:38and said just so you know I've quit Christmas week 1982 I helped the office

00:31:46get a quarter of a million dollars for that quarter of a million dollars if I

00:31:54would tell you what the guy gave me you'd probably never want to talk to me

00:31:57again $3,500 for a quarter of a million I'm sitting in my office I'm looking

00:32:07at the check I'm saying this cannot be right this cannot be right we're in big

00:32:16buildings who helped get you there who built your talent who ran your business

00:32:22and he says to me I think you're too big for your britches so I said you can take

00:32:28this job and stick it up your ass like what we just did this big angle I mean

00:32:35we're ready to rock and roll and we thought well if Gary quit then we're

00:32:38quitting and Gary talked us into no not quitting go down and talk to Fritz we

00:32:42went and talked to Fritz Ken Mantel was there Ken Mantel took over as the

00:32:46booker Ken on many levels and once again in my view one of the greatest bookers

00:32:53ever in this industry he knew how to handle talent nobody else could have

00:32:58handled that era like Ken Mantel nobody I think they may have been one of the

00:33:03first companies that that really started featuring young talent I came

00:33:11in I'm here to tell you that I am the Texas heavyweight champion nobody will

00:33:16beat me three people have tried since I gained the title and nobody has come up

00:33:22successful

00:33:25Iceman King Parsons these are young guys coming in he was kind of like the soul

00:33:32brother and changed his hair it was all cornrowed you know and he even shaved

00:33:36part of it in the middle he could talk to talk and he can move I beat everybody

00:33:41they ever put up against me the whole time I was out there winning I was

00:33:44boogieing getting down doing everything I ever do but anybody I step in the ring

00:33:51we had a hair match and I went to put the free bird cream on his hair and he

00:33:57turned around and put it on to me I lost all my hair

00:34:04as hot as everybody was at the time once as Buddy alluded to and he lost his hair

00:34:09and started wearing the wigs and the headgear nobody stole the show like

00:34:13Buddy and Iceman they were the hottest thing going at that time and that stuff

00:34:18just started clicking and he got over like the rainbows

00:34:27Jimmy Garvin and sunshine she was the valet to Jimmy Garvin sunshine taking

00:34:32care of his personal needs

00:34:39that's what life's all about you know you have to be comfortable you have to

00:34:43like what you're doing and I like what I'm doing I like to wrestle a whole

00:34:47lot the fashion plate of wrestling from Miami that's gorgeous Jimmy Garvin he's

00:34:52like one of the hairband guys and he had the big huge hair he was always spraying

00:34:55and fluffing his hair I had no idea the impact that he would have on world-class

00:35:04championship wrestling as far as drawing power Jimmy why don't we cool down huh

00:35:10we'll take a swim you want to take a swim? I want to take a swim. Okay why don't you go get Jimmy's swimsuit my swimsuit Jimmy and I are

00:35:19gonna go for a swim before you start your chores okay she's on the ball this

00:35:22girl's on the ball she has a good coach sunshine's on the Jimmy Garvin knew

00:35:26better than anybody how to use the valet so then they brought precious in to be

00:35:31sunshine's valet and precious you know obviously Jimmy's wife she's gonna watch

00:35:37the Lincoln she's gonna make reservations we're going to San Francisco

00:35:40and she's gonna take my silk blouses to the dry cleaners go to the health food

00:35:45store it sounds like a lot you're not a slave driver sounds like you're a slave

00:35:49driver honey but you know she's kind of like me you know we're busy people well

00:35:53then Jimmy liked precious more and of course you know that started the girl

00:35:57thing everybody thought that Garvin and sunshine were married and they didn't

00:36:03know what this deal was so we decided we'd have a feature and I'd go out to

00:36:07the house and interview see what's going on Oh Jimmy Garvin please hello

00:36:13can we speak to Jimmy Garvin please I want to talk to Jimmy Garvin about the

00:36:17sunshine just is he here is well he is here and we know that the new valet is

00:36:24here I guess I looked startled because I didn't know what she was gonna be

00:36:28dressed in that thing was just so unbelievably important because now we

00:36:34know that precious has taken over for sunshine and she's in the Garvin house

00:36:40if I get close enough to you I'm gonna scratch your eyes out and if that little

00:36:46tramp ears comes near me I'll pull every hair out of her head Jimmy Garvin and

00:36:51precious now that was really something special but I preferred Jimmy Garvin and

00:36:57sunshine the original sunshine and Jimmy Garvin that was a match made in heaven

00:37:03they had more chemistry than Jimmy and his actual wife in my estimation gorgeous

00:37:11Jimmy feels so good tonight I think WCCW was one of the pioneers using

00:37:17beautiful young attractive women to help bring in viewers and bring in fans now

00:37:23you've got good-looking girls coming to the ring so the guys got something to

00:37:28look at now Chris Adams put a different spin on WCCW he was the English

00:37:34gentleman wrestler it just made it seem more worldly I find the wrestling here

00:37:39is a lot rougher you know kicking punching a lot more physical I guess you

00:37:45call it dirtiness he had style he had that English accent he had the moves he

00:37:51had this karate and judo background there is a man who has come in and

00:37:57gained a tremendous amount of popularity very very fast an extremely

00:38:02talented young man a very pleasant personality and he is very popular with

00:38:07the fans

00:38:11Kamala is something that has never been seen in this area this man is six foot

00:38:17seven three hundred and seventy-five pounds he is a brute he does not know

00:38:22wrestling as a knowledge as finesse the man is simply uncontrollable at times

00:38:28Kamala is a classic nobody can forget Kamala Kamala the Ugandan giant Kamala

00:38:34came in there got over so big one of the best at his gimmick I've ever seen in my

00:38:39life when I got here Bundy was with me then we started bringing in all our

00:38:43superstars that was the beginning the inception of Devastation Incorporated

00:38:47not one Von Eric has come forward with any particular type of challenge against

00:38:53Devastation Incorporated particularly Kamala

00:39:07Missing Link his name was Dewey Robertson he came up with that he said I

00:39:12want to be somebody like a prehistoric guy one of my favorites how do you come

00:39:20up with an idea to grab the back of your head and ram yourself into people

00:39:29he was he was strange first there came the Kabuki and then there came the

00:39:37Kamala and then there came the Missing Link I put Kabuki number one Kamala

00:39:44number two I think he was third in the group in my opinion I promise you you

00:39:53got Bruiser Brody anytime you want it Bruiser Brody he was so tough and so

00:40:00strong and so determined I think when you're that big probably you can just

00:40:07tear down walls Bruiser pretty good care of himself he was very detrained you

00:40:12know he wasn't really a drinker or carouser or any of those types of things

00:40:17but he was forced to be reckoned with

00:40:26he scared people

00:40:31Bruiser Brody and Abdullah Butcher it was just two guys who were just known

00:40:36for being very sadistic Brody was just the destroyer and Abdullah was the

00:40:41butcher you know guys talk about hardcore which I hate that term it's

00:40:46just I don't consider that a style but that was the hardcore style of that era

00:40:53Bruiser Brody was a very larger-than-life guy we had you know

00:41:01Bruiser Brody on our show and he was a great draw everyone loved him there are

00:41:06a whole lot of other guys did did well they're probably the most powerful angle

00:41:11we ever had with Freebirds and lasted several years too

00:41:14Von Erich's Freebird rivalry was was a match made in promoter's heaven and a

00:41:20lot of that success should be handed out to the Freebirds because without a great

00:41:29antagonist the great rivalries don't exist I didn't get where I'm at by

00:41:34having people clapping for me and I'm not going to get where I want to be by

00:41:38having people clap for me you guys were the first real serious threat to the

00:41:42family yeah and in that in saying that you were the first real threat to Texas

00:41:46it's great to be alive and be in Texas you know the reason I say this is

00:41:52because we're taking all the titles in Texas as you can see right here we got

00:41:56all the gold man and once we got there and we were from Georgia and they were

00:42:01from Texas it was just like a college football game and it just did just

00:42:05multiply. This war is not between Texas and Georgia, it's between decency and filth.

00:42:12When an outsider like the Freebirds would roar into Dallas and start knocking the

00:42:17Von Erich's you know they might as well been knocking Sam Houston or or the

00:42:21Dallas Cowboys or or anything that was Texas. We are without a doubt the greatest

00:42:27combination of wrestling has ever seen today. At that time people in world class

00:42:32were so proud of their Von Erich's that anybody who cost a Von Erich a shot at

00:42:36the world championship would become the most hated man in the promotion and Hayes

00:42:40played it to a hill. So when he switched heel the people were ready I'm gonna

00:42:45switch heel you know and so then Michael in that interview too you know just made

00:42:49it perfect. We're here to stay and not to play and if we got to run over the Von

00:42:55Erich's we'll do it with pleasure. Michael Hayes was made for wrestling.

00:43:02Get Michael on the microphone and he just can have the people just live in.

00:43:07Hey man we're running these Von Erich's out of Texas. I think one of the best

00:43:11talkers ever in the business. We've been running over people all our lives to get what we want.

00:43:15Michael Hayes isn't performing a character, that's really Michael Hayes.

00:43:24He's got his own style just like everybody else but his style is a little more colorful and more appealing to the ladies.

00:43:30Michael the wild one. One of the free birds. One of the leader of the pack.

00:43:35Go look at the tapes. You look at how many people were not in the audience.

00:43:40There you see an excellent shot of the crowd. Before Michael Hayes showed up

00:43:45then brought Terry Gordy, then brought Buddy Jack Roberts, then you watch and see

00:43:50how many rows and seas of people you saw after that.

00:43:54That'll tell you who made world-class championship wrestling. Bottom line.

00:44:00Von Erich's have always had three on one or three on two. I think the people are sick and tired of it.

00:44:05We got our family and we are free and they are free. Hey I'm here for a purpose baby.

00:44:09All the right chemistry came together all at the same time in Texas and that's why you couldn't beat it.

00:44:19It was the best out there. It was like the Hatfields and McCoys.

00:44:23It was just natural that these two factions were never going to see eye to eye.

00:44:29The fans related to it as a personal deep-seated hatred between the free birds and the entire Von Erich family.

00:44:37Go home free birds. Go home free birds.

00:44:41Go home free birds. Who can send us home? There's nobody here that can send us home.

00:44:45You put the Von Erichs and the free birds in the ring and it would just draw people.

00:44:48People just wanted to watch that match. They knew it would be a good one.

00:44:51We want the Von Erichs anytime that they want to sign the paper baby.

00:44:56I love to beat up on a Von Erich or anybody else that wants to stick their nose in our business.

00:45:04They were like, I don't know, neighborhood gang bully brothers. You know what I mean?

00:45:10They ran together. They drank together. They traveled together. They were brothers.

00:45:14So you got this three-on-three thing. You're going, you know, and you got the flamboyancy of Michael.

00:45:20I got a brother in the stands, 290 pounds of walking, talking, roping, stomping, graveyard destruction, baby.

00:45:27You know, in the Von Erichs, you had the guys that could bring in the fans and the free birds.

00:45:31The perfect combo of the Big Heater and Terry Gordy.

00:45:34Terry Gordy came behind. Now he's your muscle and your mass.

00:45:38Terry was just the greatest. What can somebody say about somebody that was born to wrestle?

00:45:43I mean, he had it in his blood. He was so gifted. He was such a big guy.

00:45:47But his heart was even bigger than he was, which is even hard to imagine.

00:45:52Terry Gordy was God's gift to wrestling. The greatest ever in my mind.

00:45:57Buddy's the guy. You can't beat Buddy.

00:46:00Buddy was a tough son of a gun. He was just tough as hell.

00:46:04No matter what you do, you can't beat him, and you couldn't hurt him, and that was Buddy.

00:46:09While Terry and Michael are on the floor, you know, running us into tables and chairs and throwing us out into the parking lot and stuff like that,

00:46:16Buddy's the one that's in the ring getting beat or, you know, having the match.

00:46:22So he was a real important part of the free birds.

00:46:25Buddy was kind of the guy to go in there and get bounced all around and make it exciting.

00:46:30It was just the perfect combo, I think, at the time.

00:46:33You couldn't hurt him. No complaining. You know, he just kept it coming.

00:46:37Those were the toughest matches I ever had in my 23 years in the wrestling business,

00:46:44was against the free birds against the binary.

00:46:47The roughest matches I've ever been in.

00:46:50Yeah, I think there was an unspoken pact between us that,

00:46:54try not to break our teeth out, try not to break any bones,

00:46:58but anything up to that point was okay.

00:47:01Fair game, yeah.

00:47:02We took pride in that, and I still take pride in that.

00:47:04I will tell you today, nothing has been like that. Nothing.

00:47:10You couldn't have a bad match with any one of the three.

00:47:13They were all great hands. My brothers, too.

00:47:16Before there were the road warriors, before there were the four horsemen,

00:47:21before there was D-Generation X,

00:47:24the first that broke the mold was the fabulous free birds.

00:47:29And nobody, and I mean nobody, can dispute that fact.

00:47:34Tremendous battle, this war of the feuds of the binary and the free birds.

00:47:39They were just so good together.

00:47:41I think this was one of the better feuds that they had.

00:47:48We were wrestling in Raleigh, North Carolina, having a tag match.

00:47:53And I looked at Dave and he was white as a ghost.

00:47:55I said, Dave, what's the matter?

00:47:56He said, I feel like I'm going to fall down.

00:47:59I said, you stay in the corner. I'll work the match, you just stay here.

00:48:03So I worked the match, and I went somewhere else to work,

00:48:06and Dave flew to Dallas.

00:48:08And so I worked the town, I come back,

00:48:10and Dave's going to go to Japan the next day.

00:48:12So we're sitting at the table there, and I come in,

00:48:15and he's talking to my brother.

00:48:18And I said, Dave, what was wrong with you in Raleigh the other night?

00:48:22And he said, I don't know, I just,

00:48:25it must be the stinging stomach thing of mine.

00:48:28And I looked at Dave and I said, Dave, don't you go over to Japan and die.

00:48:34Because I could just, I don't know why,

00:48:36I was thinking maybe by saying it, it wouldn't happen,

00:48:38because I just had a really, really sick feeling.

00:48:42I looked at Dave and I kissed Dave on the cheek.

00:48:44I said, don't you die, Dave.

00:48:46He said, I won't give.

00:48:47His grandmother didn't want him to go because she said he was sick,

00:48:50and he was, he'd had the flu, and he wasn't feeling good.

00:48:53But he had this obligation to go to this big match,

00:48:56and the Bon Erics are very big in Japan.

00:48:58When we got into Japan, we went to a news conference,

00:49:01you know, we did all this stuff, you know, in character, blah, blah, blah,

00:49:04I'm here to take on so-and-so, we went on with it.

00:49:07Then you go out and, of course, you drink and you eat.

00:49:10Everybody has a steak and a big meal.

00:49:12Well, David had two.

00:49:13So we get out of there, we go back over to the hotel,

00:49:16went into his room, he says,

00:49:18you know, I'm going to call my wife.

00:49:20I says, you know, the night's over, I'm gone.

00:49:23I'll see you in the morning, right?

00:49:25And I left him on the side of the bed where we found him the next day.

00:49:32Somebody from the hotel opened the door,

00:49:34and right there where I left him sitting,

00:49:37and he's going to make a phone call to his wife, there he was.

00:49:40He was laid back, just laid back on the bed like he laid back and fell asleep.

00:49:47And then come the paramedics,

00:49:48and these guys jumped on him and started trying to resuscitate him.

00:49:52And every time they moved this mask, they were wiping away food.

00:49:57And so I believe what happened was we went out, we ate and drank real big.

00:50:02When we got back to the hotel, he went upstairs and probably purged.

00:50:06Came back downstairs, ordered more food.

00:50:09We're all full.

00:50:10We don't understand how is he eating more food, right?

00:50:13And he ate more food.

00:50:15When he got up and sat down, I think he laid back and went to sleep.

00:50:20His stomach ruptured or he regurgitated automatically or whatever,

00:50:25and he choked on it.

00:50:28I believe to this day that David's life would have been saved

00:50:31had he had somebody with him because he ruptured during the middle of the night.

00:50:36I wish he would have got checked because they'd have found that he had an abrasion

00:50:39in his lower intestine, and they called it gastroenteritis.

00:50:43It's supposed to be really painful.

00:50:46And he'd drink, you know, to kill the pain, take pills, get by,

00:50:50and a real unhealthy way to live when you put month after month,

00:50:55you know, a couple of months of that.

00:50:57It was an accident. He was on a long plane trip.

00:51:01He had jet lag. He probably had a few beers.

00:51:04He probably forgot, you know, how many he had taken.

00:51:09It wasn't a drug overdose. It wasn't any of that.

00:51:13His stomach ruptured, and he just died.

00:51:18Man, to this day, if my phone rings before daylight, that feeling hits me again.

00:51:23You know, it could be a tragedy again.

00:51:27I feel like, really, I never really got over that.

00:51:39Boy, you felt like we were part of that family.

00:51:44It was really close, and it was just so unbelievably sad.

00:51:50David had too much going for himself, had too bright a future.

00:51:54Hell, he was going to be the world's champion.

00:51:57What I'm standing here talking to you about right now

00:51:59is probably one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my entire life.

00:52:04I'm talking about a superb athlete and a superb person in his own right.

00:52:10It's David Von Erick.

00:52:12In my mind, if life had not been cut short,

00:52:18the kid would have been world's heavyweight champion.

00:52:21I always thought that David was the best in-ring performer

00:52:24of all the Von Ericks, including the old man.

00:52:27I'm sure we would have seen that David had not passed away prematurely.

00:52:31One of my great rivalries might have been Ric Flair and David Von Erick.

00:52:35I have nothing but respect for the memory of David Von Erick.

00:52:39I can tell you right now, he was close to being the world heavyweight champion.

00:52:43With or without the world heavyweight championship,

00:52:46he died a champion, and he will always be remembered as a champion.

00:52:51David, I think, was far and away the best performer and a real good guy.

00:52:56He had a lot of fun to be around. It was very tragic.

00:53:00I think David appealed across the board.

00:53:02From that perspective, I think David was definitely going to be the one

00:53:06to go to that next level.

00:53:08His death was extremely unfortunate.

00:53:11I think it hurt a lot of things in that company.

00:53:14See, he could have run this office.

00:53:16He learned, he learned.

00:53:18He had a lot of savvy about the business and how it works.

00:53:24Had David lived, I believe this territory went on and on and on.

00:53:28But unfortunately, he didn't.

00:53:38When this thing happened, they drew the biggest house at that time,

00:53:41attendance-wise, ever.

00:53:43The largest crowd ever to see wrestling anywhere in the world

00:53:46is on hand here at Texas Stadium for this great card.

00:53:50David's death drew a lot of that house.

00:53:52Fritz coming out of retirement drew a lot of that house

00:53:55because I remember how the advance jumped

00:53:57when he announced he was coming out of retirement.

00:53:59Fritz von Erich has returned to Texas Stadium where he retired

00:54:03for this one time only to team with his boys.

00:54:06And look at him.

00:54:07Fritz von Erich has the ironclad Michael Hayes,

00:54:10and you are seeing it right here.

00:54:13The von Erichs have won the world's six-man title

00:54:17and 50,000 fans go wild.

00:54:21That was respect of those 40,000, 50,000 people that showed up.

00:54:25It was awesome to realize that this show

00:54:28was as big as anything probably on TV right then.

00:54:31I think for the fans of Texas and the wrestling fans around the world,

00:54:34that was a very special moment.

00:54:36You got to remember that the fans in Texas and around the world

00:54:39had seen the von Erich boys grow up before their very eyes.

00:54:42These boys have decided they're all three going to be world champions,

00:54:46and one of them, Kevin or Kerry, will be the next world champion

00:54:50because now they plan to do it as a memorial to their brother David.

00:54:54And so on that day, it made all the sense in the world for Kerry

00:54:58to be in the main event, I guess Ric Flair, for the NWA title.

00:55:0350,000 fans are here for this.

00:55:06This is what they've come to see.

00:55:08The von Erich dream is underway.

00:55:11And this is the toughest bout probably either of these men will ever be in.

00:55:15And it's a ironclaw!

00:55:20Kerry's got him! Here's the Nelson pin!

00:55:22Go!

00:55:23Hey!

00:55:24The dream comes true!

00:55:26Yes!

00:55:27You know the thing that surprised me the most was that he won with a backslide.

00:55:31Kerry von Erich is the new world heavyweight champion!

00:55:36It was the first real feeling of some of the really good stuff

00:55:39that comes from our line of work, that really feel-good feeling

00:55:43where you go, wow.

00:55:44The wrestlers pouring out of the locker room.

00:55:47The sound in Texas Stadium was a roar.

00:55:50It was deafening.

00:55:5150,000 fans standing and roaring.

00:55:54It's like the people were thinking that finally,

00:55:56finally one of the von Erichs won.

00:55:58For us as fans of the state of Texas, I thought it was awesome.

00:56:06I'll never forget that.

00:56:07Being in the ring, I ran over to Kerry and jumped on him.

00:56:12And we just, it was a great day.

00:56:16It was like a great day where I had 45,000 friends there to share it with too.

00:56:22It was a good day.

00:56:24Kerry, how does it feel?

00:56:25Oh, Mark.

00:56:26You know, it's speechless.

00:56:28It feels great.

00:56:29You know, today the world belongs to Texas

00:56:31because if it wasn't for the Texas people, we wouldn't have nothing.

00:56:34And you know what else?

00:56:35My brother David tonight, he had the best seat in the house.

00:56:38Right upstairs looking down.

00:56:40And just God bless him, man, because he saw everything I did.

00:56:43We're just so happy.

00:56:44All right.

00:56:45Now, Fritz, this has been a goal for you and your family for years.

00:56:48How do you feel?

00:56:49It's a belt I was never able to get.

00:56:51David was on the way.

00:56:52Kerry did it tonight.

00:56:53All the way, 100%.

00:56:55All for David.

00:56:56I think it was very emotional for the fans when Kerry defeated Ric Flair.

00:57:01And I love Kerry, don't get me wrong.

00:57:03But to me, I didn't care.

00:57:07We were still reeling over the death of David.

00:57:10We miss David.

00:57:12Plain and simple.

00:57:13We miss David.

00:57:14We knew David should have been there.

00:57:16It was done in such a manner that it was kind of,

00:57:21well, David didn't get to do it, so Kerry's going to do it.

00:57:25And I've always felt that Kerry was disappointed

00:57:28that it wasn't better accepted, him becoming NWA world champion that night.

00:57:34I remember Kerry was kind of, you see the match

00:57:37and you see him holding the belt up in the ring,

00:57:39but it was almost subdued.

00:57:41I really thought that that was going to be basically the beginning of a new era.

00:57:46I really thought that Ric Flair was pretty much passing the torch,

00:57:51so to speak, to Kerry Von Erich

00:57:53and that Kerry Von Erich was going to be a long-term champion.

00:58:12I think Kerry was a great performer and a great wrestler,

00:58:17but not a good businessman.

00:58:20It's not just about going out on television,

00:58:23seeing the fans, signing autographs, having great matches,

00:58:27holding the belt up and being a star.

00:58:30There's also other responsibilities that go with that.

00:58:33There's responsibilities of, first and foremost,

00:58:38being reliable, making your bookings,

00:58:40being where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there.

00:58:44I think there may have been some issues about Kerry's reliability.

00:58:50I think that that really cost him a long-term title reign.

00:58:55You might have the world champion booked

00:58:57and you didn't know for sure if he was going to be there or not,

00:59:00and they just, you know, you could not risk that with that title.

00:59:05I had left, as I had said, with Kabuki,

00:59:08because of the payoff and difference in direction,

00:59:12where they wanted to go.

00:59:14And I got a phone call from Fritz Von Erich,

00:59:18and he said,

00:59:20how would you feel about coming back to Texas?

00:59:23So he told me, he said,

00:59:25I'm having some problems with Ken Mantell.

00:59:27I don't trust Ken Mantell.

00:59:29I worry about his health.

00:59:31I don't trust Ken Mantell.

00:59:33I worry about Kim Mantell and Bill Watts.

00:59:36I think they might be trying to make a move on my office,

00:59:40and I would like for you to come home

00:59:43and sort of keep an eye out on the boys and what's going on.

00:59:49And he said, I have a guy here by the name of Chris Adams

00:59:52that, at the time, really was comparable to the Von Erichs in popularity.

00:59:58Coming into the ring, Chris Adams and Kevin Von Erich.

01:00:02Fritz Von Erich wanted Chris to make a switch and become a heel.

01:00:06Chris is upset with Stella Mae.

01:00:09Stella Mae pulled the leg out from under Gino Hernandez.

01:00:12And Gary Hart evidently talking rather strongly to Stella Mae and Kevin.

01:00:20And, oh, a super kick on Kevin Von Erich.

01:00:24He asked me, he said, would you take Chris under your wing?

01:00:27Try to get the switch, because that's very hard to take a good guy

01:00:31and make him a bad guy.

01:00:33And now, Kevin is in trouble, and Chris just walks away.

01:00:38A strange, strange turn of events.

01:00:41Everybody's asking me, hey, Kev, what happened to Chris?

01:00:43What's the matter with him? Is it money? Is it Gary Hart?

01:00:46That's probably a little of both.

01:00:50For everyone that thinks that Chris Adams made a mistake

01:00:52and that Chris Adams is a traitor, he ain't no Benedict Arnold.

01:00:56Is jealousy a motive for something like that? No way.

01:00:59Man, he's got something, some screw loose upstairs.

01:01:01All he needs is a good bash in the face.

01:01:04You know, since I have been with Gary, I have had a real super streak of success.

01:01:10I do think that I deserve to be where I am right now.

01:01:15I'm going to embarrass you in front of your brothers,

01:01:18in front of your father, and in front of everybody here!

01:01:22We like to wrestle really snug, you know.

01:01:26A lot of people would call it stiff.

01:01:29But it makes great TV.

01:01:32Kevin Van Erick beats Chris Adams!

01:01:35I'm going to make you a deal, and I'll tell you what.

01:01:38You fire Gary Hart, get rid of him,

01:01:42and I'll try to bury the hatchet, forget it ever happened,

01:01:44and be water under the bridge.

01:01:47All right, Kevin Van Erick hit from behind by Chris Adams.

01:01:55And hammering the chair of Kevin Van Erick has gone absolutely crazy here.

01:02:01We had quite a few shoots in the ring,

01:02:04but we respected each other because of that.

01:02:07Anybody, we're going to need an ambulance now!

01:02:10Kevin, at least!

01:02:14Chris became a great opponent for the Van Ericks.

01:02:17Chris Adams was very unique.

01:02:25A member of the famous Van Erick professional wrestling family

01:02:28is in critical condition at this hour in Baylor Hospital.

01:02:3121-year-old Mike Van Erick is suffering from toxic shock syndrome.

01:02:36Tom Landry, the coach for the Cowboys, was a friend of my dad's

01:02:39and came back from Israel with his wife Alicia

01:02:41and told my parents that everywhere they went,

01:02:44people were talking about Van Ericks, Van Ericks.

01:02:46So my parents went over there, and sure enough,

01:02:49the whole country was like, you know, really into it.

01:02:52So we had a tour over there.

01:02:54Mike and me were the first to go over.

01:02:59And so Mike's wrestling Gino Hernandez in Tel Aviv,

01:03:02and popped his shoulder right out.

01:03:05So we flew Mike back to Texas and operated on his shoulder.

01:03:11And in the incision, he got toxic shock syndrome.

01:03:16He probably had a small infection in the area of the surgery,

01:03:23but as a result of having a particular kind of bacteria

01:03:27that elaborates a very potent toxin,

01:03:31he's had a lot of symptomatology

01:03:34and problems with damage to many organs as a result of this toxin.

01:03:39The doctors even told us to go up and say goodbye to him.

01:03:42And he pulled through.

01:03:46Mike's the only one of all of them to live.

01:03:49The reason Mike lived through that is that we prayed so hard,

01:03:54with our faces on the carpet,

01:03:56just begging God to not make this come about,

01:03:58you know, we couldn't lose another brother.

01:04:00Last night was really scary,

01:04:02and I mean scary to the point of where it was almost hopeless.

01:04:05Folks, let me tell you, a miracle took place last night,

01:04:08just that we have Mike with us today.

01:04:11And we really feel fortunate,

01:04:13and we feel like things are going to take a definite upward turn.

01:04:18Now, Dr. Bill Sutker was a genius and a brilliant doctor,

01:04:23but I think that it was a miracle that Mike lived.

01:04:26He was in the hospital for multiple weeks.

01:04:30He had a temperature of like maybe 1-7, 1-8, something like that,

01:04:36really fried the kid's brain.

01:04:38He said he's going to have a really lasting problem.

01:04:43Everybody thought he was going to die.

01:04:45The power up there was great.

01:04:47He answered our prayers. He's brought Mike back to us.

01:04:50Let me just say this about Mike.

01:04:52He is a champion doctor.

01:04:54Let me just say this about Mike.

01:04:56He is a champion, and this boy will come back.

01:04:59It may take time.

01:05:01The big thing is we have him back now.

01:05:03The other things are nothing compared to what we just went through,

01:05:06and Mike will be back.

01:05:08You take that from his old dad.

01:05:10He'll be back, and he'll be a champion again.

01:05:12It took forever, a year before he could come back.

01:05:15He just didn't have the spark that he used to.

01:05:18He was never the same kid,

01:05:21or the same person that he had been prior to that terrible illness.

01:05:31I'm pleased to present to you a living miracle.

01:05:34Welcome to the Cotton Bowl, Mike Connery.

01:05:38You give Mike a few months, he'll be back just like he was before.

01:05:41We thank God, and we thank all of you people for your prayers,

01:05:44just like old Mike said.

01:05:45Without him, Mike wouldn't be with us today,

01:05:47and there's no question about that in my mind or anybody else.

01:05:50It is certainly a tremendous day,

01:05:52and I think it's a good chance here and time to welcome in Lance Vaughan Eric,

01:05:57Waldo's son, and the cousin of Mike.

01:06:00We had a wrestler come in, Kevin Vaughan.

01:06:03Dad wanted to call him Vaughan Eric.

01:06:05All the family was against it.

01:06:07None of us wanted that to come about.

01:06:09We were trying to run three shows a day with only two wrestlers,

01:06:11so one of us would have to work twice every day,

01:06:14and so Dad thought we needed the extra help.

01:06:16Well, the fans didn't buy into him.

01:06:18They didn't believe in him.

01:06:19Lance didn't have charisma.

01:06:21Kevin Vaughan was a local high school athlete,

01:06:25so they took this kid from here and said he was Waldo Vaughan Eric's son.

01:06:33On my return to Texas, I had a lot of people come up to me on my way into the arena,

01:06:41saying, what do you think of Kevin Vaughan?

01:06:44And I said, who?

01:06:46And they said, Kevin Vaughan.

01:06:48I said, I don't know who you're talking about.

01:06:50Oh, he's Lance Vaughan Eric.

01:06:52The Vaughan Erics lie.

01:06:54We don't like them anymore because we thought they only told the truth,

01:07:00but they lied.

01:07:04He was a good-looking guy.

01:07:06He was a good-looking guy,

01:07:08but the underlying factor being that for the first time,

01:07:14something the Vaughan Erics had said to be true was an out-and-out lie.

01:07:20With Kerry losing the belt, with David's death,

01:07:24people could overlook that.

01:07:25But when you lie to them and you present someone as an authentic Vaughan Eric

01:07:30and they're not, it didn't do any good.

01:07:34It hurt quite a bit.

01:07:37He was a good athlete.

01:07:38He looked good, but he didn't have the passion.

01:07:41He didn't have the heart.

01:07:43And one of the worst moves Fritz Vaughan Eric ever made in his career.

01:07:48I want to announce, yes, ma'am, it is true.

01:07:49He is not related in any way, shape, or form to the Vaughan Eric family.

01:07:52Because of several past recent events,

01:07:54our association with Mr. Vaughan has been officially terminated.

01:07:58And I don't plan to mention this boy's name again.

01:08:02Comparing the Vaughan Eric clan to Gino Hernandez

01:08:06is like comparing a single-engine plane to my Learjet.

01:08:10Everyone knows that I had to buy a Learjet

01:08:12because flying commercial growth in the airports,

01:08:14women are ripping on my Xenia tuxedos

01:08:16and trying to rip on my Brioni suits and touch my beautiful body.

01:08:21Gino was a beautiful young man.

01:08:24Tremendous personality for what he was doing.

01:08:27And he could do anything.

01:08:28Let me tell you, we've told you before, we're bad.

01:08:30We're real bad.

01:08:31Let's go. Let's go.

01:08:32We're bad to the bone.

01:08:33All right.

01:08:34They're bad to the bone.

01:08:36Well, there they go, Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez.

01:08:38See you guys.

01:08:41I'm not sure everybody bought it with Chris.

01:08:44He had a hard time being nasty like Gino did.

01:08:48He couldn't overcome the Vaughan Erics who were number one.

01:08:52And so he thought he'd go bad guy with Gino

01:08:55and they'd make a pair and really do well.

01:08:57You know what, Bill?

01:08:59I've always told you people the truth.

01:09:01You know I told you I was the best-looking wrestler?

01:09:03I am.

01:09:04I told you I am the best wrestler?

01:09:06And I am.

01:09:07I told you one time that I was not under the shadow

01:09:10of the Vaughan Erics?

01:09:11And I'm not.

01:09:12And I told you one time that I didn't need Gary Hart?

01:09:15And I don't need Gary Hart.

01:09:17Both of them were so good, so essential to wrestling.

01:09:21When they wanted to be, they were just excellent.

01:09:25People would be jumping over them,

01:09:26trying to punch them and stuff.

01:09:28They had good heat.

01:09:30For your information, Gary Vaughan Erics,

01:09:32I am the champion.

01:09:34I'm your champion.

01:09:36I'm surprised that your baboon brain

01:09:40is ignorant enough to get up here

01:09:42and say put my name on the dotted line

01:09:45because you know I'll put my name

01:09:47on any dotted line anytime.

01:09:53You've seen the hair match.

01:09:58One of the great episodes.

01:10:00My gosh, just unbelievable.

01:10:03You would have thought they didn't know

01:10:04that they were going to lose their hair.

01:10:08If you knew Gino, he lived it up over the top.

01:10:16He invited us out one night.

01:10:18We were going to do a little feature of nightclub.

01:10:20But it erupted into a terrible situation.

01:10:23And we had to get the heck out

01:10:25because he just, just like he was in the ring,

01:10:29just absolutely incorrigible and out of control

01:10:33and just ready for a fight.

01:10:35Shut up!

01:10:37I liked, I liked all those guys.

01:10:42Look out, we may see some hair, oh no!

01:10:46They did some kind of scenario

01:10:48where Gino had blinded Chris.

01:10:52We come out to see Chris Adams off

01:10:54as he leaves for England.

01:10:55He's been in seclusion since he was blinded

01:10:57and now preparing to head off to his homeland.

01:11:01And Chris, we just came out to tell you goodbye

01:11:04and we're very sorry.

01:11:05That was the one that I didn't like.

01:11:08I thought we were way over the edge

01:11:12of indicating somebody's blind when they really aren't.

01:11:15And we knew that.

01:11:17Chris was excellent in that ring.

01:11:21He was a tremendous worker, tremendous.

01:11:24Gina Hernandez became a very, very good wrestler,

01:11:28very good worker.

01:11:30But then he had a problem.

01:11:33And this problem is a big, huge black cloud

01:11:37that started coming in the 1980s.

01:11:40D-R-U-G-S.

01:11:43Drugs.

01:11:47We've reached a milestone, a sad moment

01:11:49in world-class championship wrestling.

01:11:52Gino Hernandez is dead.

01:11:55He was found this past week in his apartment.

01:11:58Gino was 29 years old from Houston, Texas.

01:12:02For 10 years, he has given us, this brash young man,

01:12:07an excitement, a frustration at times,

01:12:11but a personality that beamed across the television sets

01:12:15and the arenas that we view

01:12:17and that we watch world-class championship wrestling.

01:12:23Gino Hernandez was a natural in the business.

01:12:26He was great on the microphone, and he was...

01:12:29He just had a personality that was made for wrestling.

01:12:32He was really hateable, you know, to the people,

01:12:36but he was really a good guy.

01:12:37He was a really good guy,

01:12:39but he'd gotten into the drugs, too.

01:12:42You know, he was into the cocaine.

01:12:45Gino was worried about being killed.

01:12:48Somebody was hiding in his car in the back seat,

01:12:50and the guy ran off, and so he went and bought a gun,

01:12:53and he was worried about somebody killing him, you know,

01:12:56and sure enough, I was in Japan, and one of the guys told me

01:12:59they found Gino Hernandez dead, a cocaine overdose,

01:13:03but they found the cocaine in his stomach.

01:13:06So I don't think people really drink cocaine,

01:13:09but he did, and it killed him.

01:13:15I met Gino and took him under my wing.

01:13:20He was just a lost soul that I couldn't bring back,

01:13:24and I tried. I really did.

01:13:28So sad. He was so...

01:13:33He was just everything you could want,

01:13:36but he had demons, and demons just wouldn't let him go.

01:13:40No matter what I tried, I couldn't chase him away.

01:13:44I loved him to death, and he died way too soon.

01:13:49And I feel responsible in many ways

01:13:52that I couldn't get him away from them demons,

01:13:56but I couldn't, but I tried. He knows I tried.

01:13:59I can't have a picture of Gino.

01:14:02I can't look at Gino.

01:14:05I have a lot of pictures of a lot of my guys,

01:14:08but I can't have one of Gino.

01:14:11It just upsets me too much.

01:14:15It's hard to really find the words to make the meaning

01:14:18or make the feeling come out right.

01:14:20When you talk about someone like Gino Hernandez,

01:14:23man who lived the life in the fast lane

01:14:25and loved the life in the fast lane,

01:14:27the man's seen everything he wanted to in 29 years,

01:14:30seen a lot more than a lot of people say.

01:14:32He'll be gone, but he surely won't be forgotten.

01:14:34Gino, live on.

01:14:41The devil has emerged at Will Rogers Memorial Auditorium.

01:14:45The fabulous Freebirds have hit the ring.

01:14:49I don't believe it. The crowd is aghast.

01:14:51Kevin is thrown to the orchestra pit.

01:14:54Hayes, Gordy, Roberts coming from the parking lot

01:14:58during the commercial break.

01:15:01Nobody can believe it here. Nobody.

01:15:05Freebirds, oh, my Lord.

01:15:08You never knew what was going to go on.

01:15:10Golly, they were just crazy.

01:15:13You're a little bit worried if it went out of their features

01:15:16because you never knew what they were trying to prove.

01:15:18They were fantastic.

01:15:20All the girls around the world

01:15:22love that steroid-free Kerry Von Eric.

01:15:25Well, you know what? He's beatable, he's gullible,

01:15:28and he's just as stupid as he looks.

01:15:30It takes him an hour and a half to watch 60 Minutes.

01:15:33Michael was one of the greatest talkers in wrestling.

01:15:38I mean, he was on the lines of a Dusty Rhodes or Roddy Piper.

01:15:42Michael was really, really special.

01:15:45You want to get rid of Bam Bam?

01:15:47Because that's our big gun. You want to get rid of Buddy?

01:15:50You want to see me out there by myself

01:15:52because you hold me responsible.

01:15:54You hold me responsible for what happened to your punk kids,

01:15:58your teenage punks.

01:16:00He had a lot of things to say about Fritz,

01:16:03and Fritz liked him a lot.

01:16:05He really liked the Freebirds

01:16:07because they drew him a tremendous amount of money.

01:16:09Freebirds invited me out to lunch one day.

01:16:12And we went out, and I set out, and we're going to have lunch.

01:16:17You guys going to eat?

01:16:19No, I guess not.

01:16:21It looks like good food, yes.

01:16:23Why don't you go get us some ketchup?

01:16:25Help her out, man. Make yourself useful.

01:16:27You know, the Von Erics would go to a nice restaurant.

01:16:29You're meant to have Freebirds.

01:16:31You're down at some dumpy diner someplace.

01:16:33If they were hungry, they might go over to a dumpster

01:16:37and sit in there for something to eat.

01:16:41I'm glad they're not around anymore for me to get hurt.

01:16:44It felt good to come back and draw money again with the Von Erics,

01:16:47but make no mistake about it, it was never the same.

01:16:50It was never the same. It never had the same pizzazz.

01:16:53It never had the same pop.

01:16:55The bloom was off the rose.

01:16:59The World Class Wrestling Association

01:17:02is going to recognize the holder of the American belt,

01:17:06Rick Rude, as our World Heavyweight Champion.

01:17:12In 1986, you got to remember,

01:17:14that was the time that WWE was starting to just grow tremendously.

01:17:21The NWA was failing.

01:17:23The AWA was doing an independent promotion on their own.

01:17:26World Class thought they could do the same thing

01:17:29and kind of make their own champions and go their own directions.

01:17:33In 1986, we did pull out of the NWA,

01:17:36but the reason was the demand was for a different type of wrestler.

01:17:40In that day, I think the people had seen a quicker pace

01:17:43and NWA wasn't really doing that and we wanted to do something else.

01:17:47Fritz felt that the National Wrestling Alliance

01:17:51didn't want to give Kerry the belt back.

01:17:54I believe it was Fritz's decision to show them

01:17:59that he could live without the National Wrestling Alliance.

01:18:02He was totally against it.

01:18:04After all those years trumpeting the importance

01:18:08of being a part of the National Wrestling Alliance,

01:18:11and then one day just come out and say,

01:18:14we're not part of that anymore, and here's Rick Rude.

01:18:17And everyone's been asking me since I became the world champion,

01:18:21has our lifestyles changed?

01:18:23Well, no, our lifestyle has not changed.

01:18:25We've always lived life in the fast lane.

01:18:27And here's Chris Adams.

01:18:29As much as I love Chris and as good as Chris was,

01:18:31he wasn't Harley Race and he wasn't Ric Flair,

01:18:34and neither was Rick Rude.

01:18:38But then what really got bad,

01:18:41they took a mid-card guy by the name of Black Bart.

01:18:45They made Black Bart our world's champion.

01:18:49World class want to name their own champion.

01:18:51They thought that they could make the world-class champion

01:18:54as big as the NWA champion,

01:18:56and it certainly gave the Von Erich boys

01:18:59an opportunity to be the recognized world's champion.

01:19:09And right here with us, Kevin Von Erich first.

01:19:11Let's talk about Kerry.

01:19:12He's had an operation on his fractured leg.

01:19:14How's he feeling?

01:19:15Well, he had a motorcycle wreck,

01:19:16but everything is going to be just fine.

01:19:18It was a compound fracture of his leg.

01:19:20I got a call that Kerry had been in a motorcycle wreck.

01:19:23He had run into a car.

01:19:25First, he had 15 hours of microsurgery

01:19:28to get all those little vessels and everything back.

01:19:30Within 3 months, I'll be back in the ring full speed.

01:19:33I'll tell you right now, I'm not going to rush this thing.

01:19:35I'm going to come back in better shape

01:19:38than I ever have been,

01:19:41and I don't want another injury like this.

01:19:45Motorcycles are silly.

01:19:46I'll stay away from them.

01:19:48Again, thank you for all your support.

01:19:50Thank you for your prayers,

01:19:52and we'll see you real soon.

01:19:54Kerry got up in the middle of the night,

01:19:57and they had him on a lot of pain medicine, I suppose,

01:19:59so he crunched all that stuff up again,

01:20:01and by then they couldn't fix it,

01:20:03so they just amputated it.

01:20:05WCCW really took a major hit

01:20:07when Kerry had that motorcycle accident.

01:20:10You know, Kerry was the star.

01:20:11He was the center of attention,

01:20:13and he was the guy that everything was built around.

01:20:15When you took Kerry Von Erich out of the picture,

01:20:18it was a void that was pretty much impossible to fill.

01:20:21Hey, here's the guy that's the number one attraction

01:20:24in this company.

01:20:25The company, he's carrying it on his shoulders.

01:20:28He should know better than to put himself at risk

01:20:31by riding a motorcycle.

01:20:34That injury that he sustained in that motorcycle accident

01:20:37was something that sometimes outwardly

01:20:40it appeared that he fully recovered from,

01:20:43but I think we in the business knew

01:20:46that he never, never fully recovered from that.

01:20:49After the wreck where he lost his foot,

01:20:52he was never the same.

01:20:55Kerry was like Gino. He was a poor soul.

01:20:58You know, the demons got him,

01:21:00and they took him away, and he never came back.

01:21:05One day, one of the people who worked for Fritz

01:21:08went to him and said,

01:21:09so-and-so is giving drugs, selling drugs to the rascals.

01:21:15They're moving drugs.

01:21:18Fritz didn't want to hear that. He fired the messenger.

01:21:22Drugs were, gosh, they were rampant.

01:21:25It was no secret. They were just doing it.

01:21:29We knew it was around.

01:21:31We knew it was around, but, you know, what can you do?

01:21:36I don't know.

01:21:38I'd never seen it done in the dressing room.

01:21:41I will say that right now.

01:21:43It was everywhere.

01:21:47I remember you could get it anywhere you wanted.

01:21:50I can't say I wasn't in on it. I was, you know.

01:21:53We were all in on it.

01:21:54Did I think it affected the production and the whole show?

01:21:58No, I don't.

01:21:59I think it was more of a situation where, you know,

01:22:02the guys would get into it afterwards or at a party.

01:22:05It didn't have anything to do with the promotion

01:22:07as far as a company.

01:22:08It wasn't like, you know, they were providing it.

01:22:11When you go back in there,

01:22:13even though, you know, things went on

01:22:15and you see what was happening,

01:22:20Mike should never have gone back in the ring.

01:22:23I can't wait till the carnival show.

01:22:25I'm going to be there.

01:22:27Do you have a message for your fans?

01:22:29Yeah, be at that carnival show if they want to see me back.

01:22:33Mike was an outstanding young man.

01:22:35He interned at Channel 39 before he went into wrestling.

01:22:39Mike took David's place or tried to,

01:22:42but he didn't have the physical ability

01:22:44or the mental attitude toward that.

01:22:46He tried.

01:22:48I never really thought Mike wanted to be in wrestling.

01:22:51He wanted to hang out with his brothers, have a good time,

01:22:54but I don't think Mike was cut out for wrestling.

01:22:57One day I was called to the office,

01:23:00and Fritz said, Gary, would you look at this?

01:23:03And I read this note.

01:23:05I paraphrased it.

01:23:07It said it was from Mike,

01:23:09and he said he was tired of embarrassing the family

01:23:13and that he didn't want to bring

01:23:16any more shame on the family,

01:23:19and he thought it would be best if he ended it all.

01:23:23And apparently he was very sincere

01:23:26because he went to Lake Dallas,

01:23:29got 6 beers, a bottle of Placidil's,

01:23:32and a sleeping bag,

01:23:34and we couldn't find him for 4 or 5 days.

01:23:37But we knew he was dead long before the public did.

01:23:41I think Mike realized

01:23:44that in his mind he could not live up to that binaric idea,

01:23:50and that's what he wrote in the note,

01:23:53couldn't live up to it,

01:23:55even though he'd never lost a wrestling match.

01:23:58When Mike died, oh, man, that just tore my guts out.

01:24:03But grief is like, it's too much for a man to take,

01:24:08but you can't lie down and die.

01:24:11You just got to keep going because, you know,

01:24:14I have a wife and kids, you know, and I have a family,

01:24:18you know, so you got to be strong.

01:24:21It's a high price, but you got to pay it.

01:24:25That pretty well did us all in when Mike killed himself.

01:24:30It was frightening.

01:24:33Back in, like, 1987,

01:24:36Buddy and Terry had gone back to world-class championship wrestling.

01:24:40I think Buddy and Iceman and the Angel of Death

01:24:43attacked Fritz, and he had a heart attack.

01:24:46Oh, that was terrible.

01:24:49It was Ken Mantell.

01:24:51Fritz had hired me to run his business,

01:24:55and Ken Mantell was brought back in.

01:24:59I was called to a meeting for the Christmas show

01:25:03that they wanted Iceman King Parson, Terry Gardy,

01:25:08and Buddy Roberts, the new Freebirds,

01:25:11to really re-establish themselves

01:25:14by beating up Fritz von Erick in the middle of the ring

01:25:17on Christmas night in the reunion arena.

01:25:21And I was totally against it.

01:25:24I said, all you're doing is making me look bad.

01:25:28All you're doing is dredging up old memories.

01:25:33You want the guy to have a heart attack,

01:25:36and then you want to take him to the hospital

01:25:39hoping von Erick tragedy, all the TV would jump on it.

01:25:44But it didn't happen because the TV was smart enough to know.

01:25:48You're out here with the title shot,

01:25:50and you can't even ride a motorcycle,

01:25:53so don't you think that you're the man that should be out here?

01:25:59Uninvited visitor, Terry von Erick responds.

01:26:03Here's Buddy Roberts. He's asking for more help.

01:26:07What are they doing to Fritz?

01:26:09Enough tragedy already in world class.

01:26:12Let's do some positive things.

01:26:14Why do you want to beat up a 60-year-old man?

01:26:17Fritz von Erick is in a dangerous position.

01:26:21I fear for Fritz.

01:26:23Fritz von Erick still having difficulty with his equilibrium.

01:26:27He's being helped by Kevin and Kerry.

01:26:32Fritz von Erick is a hero to these fans.

01:26:38Wait! Wait!

01:26:42Fritz von Erick has collapsed here right in front of me.

01:26:47Kerry wants everybody back.

01:26:49Get the people back for crying out loud.

01:26:52Fritz von Erick has collapsed.

01:26:56An ambulance unit has arrived here on the scene to the arena.

01:27:00The attendants, along with two doctors who were in the crowd,

01:27:03are ministering to Fritz von Erick,

01:27:05who collapsed here at ringside

01:27:07after he was trying to get out of the ring

01:27:09following the horrible attack on him

01:27:12by several wrestlers on this wrestling Star Wars card,

01:27:16namely Buddy Roberts, Terry Gordy, and the Iceman King Parson.

01:27:21It was just 100% bad.

01:27:27He never staged a heart attack.

01:27:29But we'd had so many tragedies, the fans thought,

01:27:32heart attack, oh, no, what could be worse?

01:27:35Hey, it's his back, it's his rib, it's supposed to be his rib.

01:27:39But the fans, by then, were pretty much freaked out.

01:27:44They thought, what's next with this family, these von Ericks?

01:27:47What the hell can we expect next?

01:27:49Now Fritz is having a heart attack right in front of us.

01:27:52But he didn't have a heart attack, and he didn't fake a heart attack.

01:27:55No one wanted him, the fans, to think he had one either.

01:27:58That would be really cheesy to fake a heart attack.

01:28:01Now, had you done that 3 years earlier, oh, my God.

01:28:05That'd have been all over everywhere.

01:28:07Too little, too late.

01:28:09Part of that was done to try to resurrect, if you will,

01:28:13the Freebird von Erick rivalry.

01:28:15How, in God's name, can you resurrect anything

01:28:17to do with the Freebirds without Michael Hayes?

01:28:19Michael Hayes was the spark.

01:28:22Was Terry Gardy great? Yes.

01:28:24Was Buddy Roberts great? Yes.

01:28:27But without Michael, it was just not the same.

01:28:31Iceman could not fill that void.

01:28:36Fritz came to me one day and said,

01:28:38Gary, selling Ken Mantell a portion of the office,

01:28:42do you have problems working with him?

01:28:46And I said, yes, I do.

01:28:49I have no confidence in him,

01:28:51and I don't want to work with someone

01:28:54that I can't have confidence or respect, don't trust.

01:28:58So I left once again.

01:29:01You know, that was a strange day.

01:29:04Kerry and I were in Dad's office.

01:29:06Dad had already stepped out of the business,

01:29:08and Kerry and I were running it.

01:29:11Dad called somebody up to the office, and Ken Mantell came in,

01:29:14and Dad said, y'all, this is Ken Mantell,

01:29:16and we're giving him a third of the business.

01:29:19In my opinion, Ken Mantell was very destructive in world class.

01:29:25I think some of the things he did, believing unnoticed,

01:29:29taking a lot of the talent with him,

01:29:31ran shows, didn't pay the guys,

01:29:34didn't pay a building, didn't pay TV.

01:29:38I didn't like a lot of people in the business,

01:29:42and I liked Ken Mantell.

01:29:44There was no chance of recapturing the momentum

01:29:47that this promotion once had.

01:29:49I mean, the triumph was already over.

01:29:51The tragedy was well cemented.

01:29:53A number of us went back and tried to live that moment again,

01:29:56including Ken, way too many times.

01:29:59Wasn't going to happen. Over.

01:30:02In 1988, Vince McMahon and the WWE was pretty dominant,

01:30:07and the fact that most of the other promoters

01:30:09felt like they were being shoved to the side

01:30:11because they just didn't have the firepower

01:30:13to compete with the WWE.

01:30:16Jerry Jarrett from CWA,

01:30:18Fritz from World Class Championship Wrestling,

01:30:21and Berne Gagne from the AWA decided

01:30:23that they would combine their talents

01:30:25and try a pay-per-view themselves.

01:30:27That's where the idea of having the Super Clash pay-per-view

01:30:31came about and having the unification of the title,

01:30:35so to speak, because WCCW had their world champion.

01:30:39That was Kerry Von Erich.

01:30:40I was the AWA world champion,

01:30:42and I was recognized also in the CWA.

01:30:45Coming into the Super Clash, he's thinking,

01:30:48am I going to let my family down again?

01:30:51Kerry, you are. You're going to lose.

01:30:53I promise you that.

01:30:55I have such high expectations tonight.

01:30:57I'm planning on taking that title.

01:30:58I've come here for one reason,

01:30:59and that is to show the world

01:31:01that there's only one world champion.

01:31:03It is still one of my favorite matches of all time

01:31:05and I think one of the most talked-about matches

01:31:07that I was ever in with Kerry

01:31:09was that unification match.

01:31:11This is a match where two men are going to walk into the ring,

01:31:14both of them with belts.

01:31:16One man is going to walk out with two belts.

01:31:19And Lawler going in his tights after that.

01:31:21And down goes Von Erich.

01:31:23You're right, Lawler reaching into his tights.

01:31:25Von Erich's busted wide open.

01:31:27Von Erich's cut open.

01:31:29Now he's got it on his forehead.

01:31:31That's where the iron claw is most effective.

01:31:35Kerry Lawler's in a very bad way right now.

01:31:37But Marty Miller keeps looking at Von Erich's forehead.

01:31:40Lawler going back into his tights.

01:31:42And Lawler hits Von Erich again.

01:31:45A dismal punch by Von Erich.

01:31:47And still Marty Miller wants to check the eye of Kerry Von Erich.

01:31:51These guys are a bloody mess.

01:31:53And there's the iron claw again applied by Kerry Von Erich.

01:31:56And there's Marty Miller still checking the eye of Kerry Von Erich.

01:32:01Marty Miller's going for the bell.

01:32:03The referee stops the match.

01:32:05Kerry Von Erich unable to go on.

01:32:08He cannot perform, cannot see.

01:32:11The referee awards the match to Jerry The King Lawler.

01:32:18The referee did the right thing.

01:32:20He saved the man's eyesight.

01:32:22Because if he had not stopped that match,

01:32:24I would have blinded Kerry Von Erich, I promise you.

01:32:31In Jerry's view, I think he thought Kerry was impaired.

01:32:35I can't say for certain that Kerry was under the influence.

01:32:40I just know he was very hyper before the match.

01:32:44And before the match there was even an incident

01:32:46where he wound up accidentally cutting himself

01:32:50as he was getting prepared for the match.

01:32:52And we then had to incorporate that in the match

01:32:56because it happened right before the match.

01:32:58As he went to the ring, his blood was pouring out of his arm.

01:33:02It just seemed that he wasn't necessarily

01:33:07exactly as he should have been.

01:33:09But by the same token, once the match started,

01:33:12once the bell rang, he was right there.

01:33:15I didn't notice any problems once the match started.

01:33:19The plan all along was for Kerry to get the title back.

01:33:22And get it back with even more meaning and more significance.

01:33:27So, you know, I think it was just a grand plan

01:33:32to underscore the importance of that particular title.

01:33:36A lawler could beat Kerry without...

01:33:38And the way they did the match

01:33:40didn't really affect Kerry's image or his status.

01:33:44And a lawler could talk to the fans in the seats,

01:33:46much like Michael Hayes did with the Freebird feud in the Von Erichs.

01:33:50Creative aspects of that whole presentation was a train wreck.

01:33:54I think it was just too many cooks in the kitchen.

01:33:58It was a futile attempt at getting back at Vince McMahon.

01:34:02And it was kind of like three sinking ships

01:34:05and they just all put all their stuff on one ship

01:34:08and said, well, at least we just have one sinking ship now.

01:34:11I guess there would be some people who would say

01:34:14that world-class championship wrestling

01:34:16ended the day that Jerry Jarrett became majority owner.

01:34:19You know, world-class started to spiral down.

01:34:22Fritz found a sucker to buy his business.

01:34:26But that involved lawsuits.

01:34:28You know, he got sued by Kevin, but Kerry went along with it.

01:34:32I was dead set against it.

01:34:34I didn't want to bring Jarrett in at all.

01:34:36I didn't trust him and I didn't want to do that,

01:34:41but Kerry and Dad did.

01:34:43I was there the day that the initials were changed,

01:34:46the day that world-class championship wrestling

01:34:48became United States Wrestling Association, USWA.

01:34:51And it was odd because the same fans

01:34:53who had stood by the Von Ericsson

01:34:55and supported world-class so thoroughly

01:34:58were actually cheering at the name change.

01:35:00I believe Eric Embry tore down the initials

01:35:03and the crowd went crazy.

01:35:04I was proud in a sense because it was a well-told story

01:35:07and I was part of that story.

01:35:09But at the same time, clearly something died that day.

01:35:13And I think it was that sense of pride and tradition.

01:35:15And although the company would go on under the USWA banner,

01:35:19it was never really the same after that.

01:35:22So that was the end of one of the greatest

01:35:25high-profile wrestling companies the world has ever known.

01:35:36But right now, here he comes in his debut,

01:35:39his very first appearance in the World Wrestling Federation.

01:35:43They call him the Texas Tornado, Kerry Von Eric.

01:35:47It's a whole different ballgame when you cover the WWE.

01:35:50By then, they were the number one show by far.

01:35:54Part of me wanted to say, you know, we should stay here,

01:35:56but the other part of me thought, you know,

01:35:58go up there, hit a homer.

01:35:59Part of the thing was the boys were always

01:36:03in their hometown area, you know?

01:36:05Get out of there, go up here, work for somebody else.

01:36:08You're not, you know, now you're just one of the boys.

01:36:11I was hoping that that would straighten him out.

01:36:15I really did.

01:36:16I think Kerry did amazingly well in WWE,

01:36:19considering his handicap.

01:36:21When you saw Kerry walk through a curtain

01:36:25to come to the ring, just upon first seeing him,

01:36:28you knew he was a star.

01:36:29From one of the greatest wrestling families

01:36:31in the history of wrestling, Kerry Von Eric.

01:36:34Tremendous physique, tremendous agility,

01:36:37tremendous ability.

01:36:41I mean, he just had that X factor

01:36:43that none of us can put our finger on what it is,

01:36:46but all the top guys have, I guess, you know?

01:36:49And Kerry had a lot of it.

01:36:51So when he came here, it was a big deal, you know?

01:36:53And I think the highlight of him coming here

01:36:55was probably winning the Intercontinental title,

01:36:58I believe, from Kurt Hennig.

01:37:00We have a new champion!

01:37:05This place is erupting!

01:37:06Again, the Intercontinental Championship

01:37:09is a very prestigious title.

01:37:11It has always meant a great deal in the WWE,

01:37:14but Kerry was not the athlete when he got to the WWE

01:37:18that he was in his early career in world class.

01:37:23He was older, he had been injured,

01:37:26he had personal issues,

01:37:28and he had been through hell

01:37:30and got a little charred around the edges.

01:37:33Kerry was involved heavily

01:37:36into the drug culture by that time.

01:37:40Kerry abused steroids.

01:37:43Kerry abused pain medication.

01:37:46Kerry abused Kerry.

01:37:51After I lost a few of my brothers,

01:37:54every time I'd go into a ring,

01:37:55I'd look up and see the lights.

01:37:56It'd remind me of something.

01:37:58There's something magic

01:37:59when Kevin and I are in that ring together.

01:38:01What was really hard was going in those buildings

01:38:03that we'd been in before, and I remember

01:38:05the kids would always hand us these marksalots,

01:38:07you know, to sign their autographs,

01:38:08and we'd write on the turnbuckle,

01:38:10hi, Kerry, or hi, Dave, and he'd write,

01:38:12hey, Kev, you know, we'd write little messages

01:38:14to each other on the turnbuckle.

01:38:15I remember going to towns and seeing hi, Kev,

01:38:18written on the turnbuckle there.

01:38:20Man, you know, it's hard to,

01:38:22that's what made, I thought,

01:38:24this is, it's not fun anymore.

01:38:26I don't want to be here anymore,

01:38:28so I got out of it.

01:38:31Well, my little brother, Chris, had asthma,

01:38:35and he had to take kind of a medicine called prednisone.

01:38:38He wanted to be a wrestler so bad.

01:38:40He wanted to be huge like Kerry,

01:38:42and he wanted to be quick and have a balance and agility,

01:38:46and it just wasn't there.

01:38:48He was barely taller than the ropes,

01:38:51and I think he tried really hard,

01:38:54and that, that is what he did.

01:38:57I think he tried really hard,

01:38:59and that, it ate him up that that didn't happen.

01:39:03He was prone to fractures,

01:39:06so he couldn't take the pounding and the beating.

01:39:09So we tried to get him to maybe draw cartoons

01:39:12in the program or something, you know,

01:39:14or we found little things for him to do, you know, in the show,

01:39:17but he wanted to wrestle, that was it.

01:39:19So we started wrestling, and we're in the ring one night,

01:39:21and so he was, threw a dropkick,

01:39:24and when he came down on his hands to break his fall,

01:39:26I saw an arm go.

01:39:28I mean, it veed, you know, both bones broke.

01:39:32So I said, Chris, tag me, and he said, wait, wait.

01:39:35He wanted to do something else in the ring.

01:39:37I said, get your butt over here right now,

01:39:39and I pulled him to me and tagged him, you know,

01:39:41and hell, he wanted to keep wrestling.

01:39:44He's tough inside, but he just wasn't going to happen.

01:39:48It wasn't in the cards for him.

01:39:50A couple weeks later, I'm coming home from a show,

01:39:54and I'm listening to the radio,

01:39:56and I heard Von Erich tragedy strikes again.

01:40:00Chris Von Erich found dead.

01:40:03His whole life, all he could dream of was being a wrestler,

01:40:06and so the fact that that wasn't going to happen

01:40:08made it where I think he just didn't want to be alive anymore.

01:40:13And then there were drugs, too,

01:40:15and when there's drugs, there's no logical thinking,

01:40:19there's no rationale.

01:40:21That night that it happened,

01:40:23I was staying the night out on the ranch with Tyler,

01:40:26and I could hear his motorcycle up in the woods.

01:40:31So I drove up there, and he was all by himself in the woods,

01:40:36and I said, what are you doing out here in the woods, Chris?

01:40:39And he said, can't I be alone?

01:40:41So he said, you found my note, didn't you?

01:40:43And I said, what note?

01:40:45And he said, just get out of here.

01:40:47So I went back up to his house.

01:40:50Went and there was a note on his bed,

01:40:53and it was a suicide note.

01:40:55So I hauled ass back up there to that hill,

01:40:59and when I got there, he was laying on the ground,

01:41:02and he was just kind of choking a little, you know.

01:41:05So I thought that maybe he'd taken some pills or something.

01:41:09So I hooked my arm around his and went to lift him up,

01:41:12and my thumb went in the hole, and I could tell then

01:41:15that with all that hot blood on my thumb,

01:41:19he shot himself in the head.

01:41:22My mother was with me, too.

01:41:26No way for me to protect her from that.

01:41:28You know, she saw it.

01:41:31Terrible night.

01:41:35And I think to myself, if only I could have got up there quicker,

01:41:38you know, if only I hadn't have left.

01:41:41You know, but...

01:41:45That's not the way it worked.

01:41:48Too bad.

01:41:50Lord, please don't take any more of my children.

01:41:57It just seemed that there was a controlling negative providence

01:42:04that said, okay, you've had the glory,

01:42:06now let's see if you can handle the pain.

01:42:08I was just in another world. I couldn't believe it.

01:42:11He was gone.

01:42:16When Kerry killed himself,

01:42:18it was actually in the newspapers and everything.

01:42:20I mean, it was a bigger story.

01:42:23You know, he had been put in that position

01:42:27where he had abused and been caught abusing these painkillers.

01:42:31I believe Ed forged prescriptions for a lot of painkillers,

01:42:35and he had been arrested for that

01:42:37and was probably going to go to jail and spend some time in jail,

01:42:40and he couldn't take it and just shot himself.

01:42:43I think Kerry thought that I've humiliated the family so much now

01:42:48that I think Kerry killed himself out of shame and guilt too.

01:42:52I think he was thinking of his fans when that happened,

01:42:55that he took his own life rather than put his fans and his family

01:42:59through the embarrassment of a trial, you know, over drug abuse.

01:43:05I'd rather die than let you folks down.

01:43:09Two days before he died,

01:43:11he had tried a reconciliation with his wife and his children,

01:43:16and that did not work out,

01:43:19and he was very, very despondent.

01:43:23And he gets his gun and goes out on his father's land

01:43:28with his father at the house, and he shoots himself in the chest.

01:43:33Kerry had bought Fritz a gun for Christmas the Christmas before

01:43:38and he asked his father, he said,

01:43:40could I take the gun out and do a little target practice?

01:43:43I'll come back after a while and we'll have some dinner.

01:43:46So Fritz said sure, and Kerry went back into the field.

01:43:50He jumped on his truck and he drove back into the field,

01:43:54and a couple hours went by and Kerry hadn't come back.

01:43:57It began to get dark, and Fritz sort of got concerned.

01:44:01There's one glove laying here, and that jeep was right there.

01:44:04I just almost knew Kerry had done it.

01:44:07There's a big tree, a big, huge tree that the boys, all of them,

01:44:12Kevin, Kerry, David, Mike, Chris,

01:44:14all would play in when they were children,

01:44:17and that's where Kerry went.

01:44:19He went to that tree and he sat down and put the gun to his heart

01:44:23and pulled the trigger, blew himself away.

01:44:26I've been told that he did leave a note

01:44:31that he would join his brothers on that particular day

01:44:35that I'm talking about.

01:44:36I'm sitting at home, I'm watching TV,

01:44:39and it pops up on the screen.

01:44:42Von Erich tragedy.

01:44:44Kerry Von Erich kills himself at his father's ranch.

01:44:48I felt like there had to be some reason for all this.

01:44:51It kept happening.

01:44:54That was probably the most shocking one of all

01:44:57because Kerry was bigger than life.

01:45:00I guarantee if Kerry was here now, he would tell you right now,

01:45:04that suicide is no option at all.

01:45:07Please no one do that.

01:45:09You'll put your family through so much hell.

01:45:12You don't want to do that.

01:45:15So that was Kerry.

01:45:18That's why he did it.

01:45:20The shame, the guilt.

01:45:23I've been a big brother all my life,

01:45:25and now I'm not even a brother.

01:45:28Our fans are really loyal fans.

01:45:31They hurt with us.

01:45:35One death, they hurt with us.

01:45:36Two deaths, they're still with us.

01:45:38Three, four, it starts to get too painful.

01:45:43The houses start tapering off with us.

01:45:47The crowds weren't like they'd been before.

01:45:49It used to be record crowds.

01:45:50Every week we'd break last week's record.

01:45:53After all the deaths, the people quit coming.

01:45:56I think it was because it was uncomfortable for them.

01:45:59I don't think it's silly to say there's a curse or anything else.

01:46:04I think it's a tragedy, but not a curse.

01:46:08I mean, you can look back and see why it happened.

01:46:10Here are a bunch of young kids who were in a business

01:46:15that propelled them to a level of success that nobody could imagine,

01:46:20but without some guidance and without reins put on somebody in that situation,

01:46:25a lot of people can stray and can start to get into bad things,

01:46:29and that's what happened.

01:46:30And I think Von Erick's a prime example of that.

01:46:33I don't necessarily think it's a curse as much as it is a public service announcement for kids.

01:46:37It's a don't do drugs.

01:46:40I think anything that happened to us, we brought on ourselves.

01:46:44It was the 80s, and it was wild, and everything we did, we did to the max.

01:46:50But then again, all young guys, all dead before they're 30.

01:46:55It makes you wonder, doesn't it?

01:46:57I think the downfall of WCCW was just simply it had run its course.

01:47:02I think it was just the rise of the other promotions that ended up hurting WCCW,

01:47:07like every other promotion.

01:47:09You take the Von Erick boys out of world class,

01:47:12and you take the heart out of world class, and that's what happened.

01:47:16The Von Erick's died off, and the show died, slowly went away.

01:47:22It was time for it to go down.

01:47:24We didn't pretend to be anything we weren't.

01:47:27And when we died, we really were dead, and it was really over.

01:47:32And so just as it grew, it died.

01:47:35And so that's kind of the way it was.

01:47:36Not anyone's fault except just the way the pages turned.

01:47:47World class will always be remembered for the highs and the lows,

01:47:55the joys and the sadness, and all the great talent that was a part of it.

01:48:03Passionate crowds.

01:48:05The roof is being blown off the auditorium by this crowd!

01:48:10Great rivalries, bringing the action into people's living rooms

01:48:14the way it had not been seen before.

01:48:16It was a quality of workmanship, and that's what made WCCW explode.

01:48:23There's never been a dynasty like the Von Erick's,

01:48:26and probably never will be again.

01:48:28But there'll always be that dark cloud hanging over us.

01:48:34With all that tragedy, how could you ever find any good in it?

01:48:37I mean, you can talk about things that were good along the way,

01:48:40but at the end of the day, it was a very tragic crisis.

01:48:43I hope that the wrestling fans remember the Von Erick's

01:48:47as a vibrant, exciting wrestling territory,

01:48:51and not for funerals and premature deaths.

01:48:55That would be a shame for that legacy.

01:48:58A true shame.

01:48:59In one word, it's magic.

01:49:02The world-famous auditorium.

01:49:04If it's there, it's the best in professional wrestling.

01:49:07The world-famous auditorium.

01:49:08If it's there, it's the best in professional wrestling.

01:49:11The Fenway Park of professional wrestling.

01:49:14The day has come, and the dream has come true.

01:49:18World-class championship wrestling shows you why it's number one

01:49:23with this kind of excitement from this kind of talented individuals.

01:49:32I count the whole thing as positive, really.

01:49:34You know, if I look back on the whole thing,

01:49:36I'm grateful to have lived 25 years with such great, great brothers.

01:49:41And so I consider myself a lucky guy, believe it or not.

01:49:44It might be strange to hear, but, you know,

01:49:47so I didn't get to keep them as long as I wanted,

01:49:50I still got to have them as long as I did.

01:49:52So I call it a good day.

01:49:54I call it a good life.

01:50:04I call it a good life.

01:50:34I call it a good life.

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