Original subtitles

[birds chirping]

[footsteps]

[Kevin Von Erich] I think I had to grow up to realize

that life is not about just laughing it up all day.

There's a lot of terrible things that happen, but in between

those moments are those good ones, too, you know,

the laughing children.

You remember being a little kid, too, and it's just beautiful.

I love life now.

Can't wait to wake up in the morning.

So, I just say thank you, Lord, for another day.

You know, He doesn't owe me a thing but a place

to be born and a place to die.

[bell rings]

There was a time I thought life is too long.

[bell rings]

And now I think life is too short.

[laughing]

[bell rings]

[Commentator] Here come the Von Erichs.

[Steve Austin] You gotta understand how big a stars

the Von Erichs were in Texas.

If you knew anything about professional wrestling,

you knew who and what the Von Erichs were.

[Reporter 1] The Von Erichs, the royal family of wrestling,

with Father Fritz as the king of the ring and each of his sons

waiting to take over the throne.

[Speaker] Fritz had six kids.

[Fritz Von Erich] Each of these boys are gonna be world

heavyweight champions.

I'm dedicating my life to it.

[Reporter 2] The greatest name in professional wrestling today,

the Von Erichs.

[Shawn Michaels] You begin to really understand how important

the Von Erichs were to the state of Texas.

[Undertaker] They were superheroes.

[Presenter 3] The Von Erichs were a prime attraction.

[Lacey Von Erich] They were on their way to greatness

until all the tragedy struck.

At six years old, Uncle Jackie is just gone.

[Reporter 4] David Von Erich was found lying

across his bed early this morning.

It's awfully hard to believe it could have been a heart attack.

[Reporter 5] Michael Von Erich remains in critical condition

at Baylor Medical Center.

[Reporter 6] Doctors say the wrestler

has toxic shock syndrome.

[Reporter 7] Investigators found a handwritten note,

"Mom and Dad, I'm in a better place."

[Reporter 8] Kerry Von Erich was in an accident recently.

[Reporter 9] This crumpled wreckage is all that's left.

[Reporter 10] Some call it The Curse of the Iron Claw.

[Fritz Von Erich] It doesn't get easier.

Lord, please don't take any more of my children.

[David Shoemaker] Was it a curse?

Was it just a series of tragic coincidences?

Was it the pressure of the wrestling business?

The pressure of family?

The pressure of the fans?

[Cathy Murray] They did go through a lot of tragedy.

It was made for movie.

[Reporter 11] It's a new film.

It's called the Iron Claw.

[Holt McCallany] Don't you dare question me.

[David Manning] Great acting.

Zac Efron did a phenomenal job, but it'd been nice

if they'd had the real story.

[Kevin Von Erich] This one is a little different.

I've never talked about the things I talked about,

but I wanted it to be said.

It might sound like the craziest story you ever heard,

but I know it's true.

[Kevin Von Erich] Down, set, hut.

[Speaker] Granddad.

[laughing]

[Kevin Von Erich] There you go.

When I'm out here with my grandkids,

to me this is as good as it gets.

Had I not been raised the way I was,

maybe I'd be different, but it's just important to me.

Oh, Benji.

When I think about my youth, my time with my brothers,

that's- it was so great.

So much fun we had then.

And then my dad, he didn't have any idea

what it was like to have brothers.

You know, it's too bad too, because, uh,

because he was an only child, and I can't imagine

what that would be like to be the only child.

Fritz von Erich is my father.

He was born Jack Adkisson in Jewett, Texas.

He had a pretty rough life, I think.

He's the only child, and my granddad was busy

and didn't have a lot of time for him.

My granddad didn't really pay any attention to my dad.

It was like, if they weren't hunting,

well, they weren't talking.

[Kristen Nikolas] Any stories I have about granddad being little

are things that he told me.

In their town, the dads would bet on their boys

and have them fight in the woods.

And when-when granddad would lose, um,

his dad would just beat him in front of everyone.

The one person that my granddad felt like loved him

was his daddy, Ross, his grandfather.

And so, Daddy Ross lived a few hours away, and for granddad,

that was his one source of, you know, love and encouragement.

There was a guy in town who asked my granddad if-

You know, he's-

he was maybe 12 or 13 years old,

my granddad was at the time.

And he said, "You know, Jack, if you want a ride,

I'll give you a ride.

You can ride in my truck with me,

and I go out there every weekend.

I'd be happy to take you."

And granddad was so excited to take that chance.

The man drove him.

In the truck on the way there, the man, um,

molested my granddad.

My granddad said, I wanted to se- see Daddy Ross so bad that

I'd let that happen every couple of weeks, you know,

to go see Daddy Ross, and it was worth it.

So, that-that, you know, broke my heart whenever

he told me about that.

[Kevin Von Erich] That he was molested as a little boy,

I didn't know that, you know.

There are things he didn't tell me, but he did tell Kristen.

It's just really, I guess he had no reason to tell me.

I didn't need to know, I suppose.

It's kind of surprising.

[Kristen Nikolas] I think that granddad had felt invisible

for a large part of his childhood and recognized

that the best way to get people to notice him

was his athletic ability, his size.

And so he went to college, and he actually had a scholarship

for football, and he threw discus at SMU.

[Interviewer] Here you were at SMU with a scholarship,

and you met this young lady named Doris.

[Kristen Nikolas] At the time that my grandparents met,

they loved each other so much.

And Meme, she wasn't going to let this boy go, you know?

Like, this was a boy that was going places.

[Interviewer] And, uh, you eventually married Doris,

but what did that cost you?

[Fritz Von Erich] You mean up to now or at the end up of it?

[Interviewer] At that time?

[laughing]

[Fritz Von Erich] Well, it cost me my scholarship.

When I started as a freshman at SMU, they put a non-marriage

rule in that any freshman that came in from then on

at that time and later, if they got married,

they lost their scholarship.

[Interviewer] So, because you married-

[Fritz Von Erich] Partner, I didn't think that meant me.

I was too great.

[Interviewer] Uh-huh, and you lost the scholarship.

[Fritz Von Erich] Yes, sir.

Just to condense it, brother, that's what happened.

Well, as time went on, uh, I had had a wife and a young baby

on the way, and, uh, I really didn't-didn't know

what I was going to do, Ed.

[Kevin Von Erich] He tried lots of jobs.

He was a detective and a bus driver.

[Fritz Von Erich] Ed "Strangler" Lewis came along, and Ed was

one of the greatest of all-time wrestlers

I guess there ever was.

He said, "Fritz, you got a big name at SMU."

He said, "Man, we can train you for about six months, put you in

that Sportatorium, you'll sell that building out."

And when he mentioned how much money I was going to make,

partner, I mean to tell you, he got my attention.

[Interviewer] Yes.

Yes.

[Fritz Von Erich] He said, you'll be able to make $20 or

$25,000 your first year in the business.

Man, I belonged to him after that.

[Kevin Von Erich] That's when my dad started

professional wrestling.

[Commentator] Jack Adkisson of Dallas, 251 pounder.

Adkisson is the tall boy on the right.

[David Shoemaker] So, Jack Adkisson started off as a local

hero, football player from SMU, but he set out to travel far

and wide to really make this his full-time career.

[Kevin Von Erich] In wrestling, there's no middle ground.

You either want the people to love you or to hate you.

[Kristen Nikolas] People love to cheer for the good guy

and boo the bad guy.

I think he was really smart in seeing the opportunity there to

be a memorable heel, a bad guy.

[Kevin Von Erich] And so that's what my dad did.

He thought, "Well, the most detestable person

I can think of would be a Nazi."

[Kristen Nikolas] He changed his name to Fritz Von Erich,

basically the most German name he could think of.

[Commentator] From Berlin, Germany, Fritz Von Erich.

[Kristen Nikolas] And there was a lot of potential

in that character.

[Commentator] And he is rough, and tough, and nasty.

[David Manning] Growing up as a fan, if you watched TV,

you knew Fritz.

[Commentator] This guy is just vicious.

[David Manning] He just looked the part of a villain, and, uh,

and he played the part of a villain unbelievably.

[Commentator] Fritz Von Erich and the master of the Iron Claw.

[David Shoemaker] The Iron Claw was Fritz's infamous finishing

hold, where he would take his big mitts and just wrap it

around the skull and just squeeze until,

sometimes until blood came out or until they gave up.

[Kristen Nikolas] That character was beneficial for his family,

and he was a family man.

He wanted Jackie to have everything,

his wife to be taken care of.

[Speaker 1] Granddad, what year were you born?

[Kevin Von Erich] Um, 1957.

[Kristen Nikolas] Aww, that is- so that's daddy, right?

[Speaker 2] Oh, okay.

[Kristen Nikolas] Okay, so Uncle Jackie and you.

[Speaker 2] Yeah.

[Kevin Von Erich] By 1957, it was just the two of us, me,

Jackie, and my mom and dad.

My mother loved her two children.

She loved me and Jackie so much.

My mother was so full of love, and my dad loved her.

We were happy and jovial, and it was a great time.

[Kristen Nikolas] There you are.

Look at that cute baby.

[Kevin Von Erich] Yeah, that's me.

Jackie, uh, he was my big brother.

[Kristen Nikolas] Aww, he loves you.

Oh Jackie.

[Kevin Von Erich] He had the best personality.

He was, like, so funny, and-

[Kristen Nikolas] Look, he's trying to make you laugh.

[Kevin Von Erich] Jackie.

[Kristen Nikolas] Big brother stuff.

[Kevin Von Erich] It was in 1959 up in Niagara Falls.

We didn't have money back then.

We were- we lived in a trailer house, and one day Jackie wanted

to go play, and my mother was busy, and so she said,

"Yeah, go play."

[Kristen Nikolas] Uncle Jackie asked if he could go to his

friend's house a couple of mobile homes down,

and Meme said, "Yes, just go ahead.

Come- You can come home for lunch, but yes, go."

Later on, Meme called her friend, and they chatted for a

few minutes, and then she said, um, "You can send Jackie home.

Thank you so much for having him."

And her friend said, "Well, Jackie's not here."

Meme said her heart dropped.

She immediately knew something was wrong.

[Jillian Caneda] That day, Meme was cleaning,

and it was cold outside, and when she called her friend

and said, "Hey, will you please send Jackie home?"

She said, "Jackie never came over."

I mean, as a mother, when you say-

when you hear that, that's- I just can't imagine.

[Kristen Nikolas] Meme dropped the phone, and just ran outside,

looking, screaming his name.

[Kevin Von Erich] And, uh, they couldn't find him,

so everybody in the little town was looking for him.

[Kristen Nikolas] Eventually, the neighbors say,

just go home and wait.

Go home and wait, and-and we're looking.

Cops are on their way.

So, Meme goes home.

So, an officer knocked on the door.

When she opened it, he said, "We found him."

But she said his countenance didn't match his words.

And she was just like, "Okay, give him to me.

Give him to me."

But she said there was this siren in her mind like,

"Why is this- Why's he not happy?

Why does his face not match what I'm hearing?"

And, um, he just, you know, said, "We found him."

And Meme said that she, like, he went to hug her,

and she just punched him on the chest over and over, and,

um, screamed and cried.

At six years old, he was just gone, just like that.

What happened was, in this mobile home park, someone had a

little, uh, trailer or equipment room or something that had

the sheet metal siding.

[Kevin Von Erich] And so he was walking by it, rubbing his

finger along it, and he touched a spot where the skin on the

trailer had been electrified.

The guy had wired his trailer wrong.

[Kristen Nikolas] He touched it.

It knocked him out.

He was face down on the ground.

Some snow had melted, so his face was in a puddle, um,

and I think the actual cause of death was-was drowning.

And then, whenever granddad finally did get home,

I-I-I cannot even imagine, but just holding that news,

and then he comes home, and you say,

here's what happened today.

[Kevin Von Erich] My dad came home and punched

the car window and broke the glass.

And it was, uh, you know, such a terrible time.

[Doris Von Erich] Losing Jackie, our first baby,

was a terrible blow to me.

[Kristen Nikolas] Listening to her tell that story

made me realize, oh, she changed at that point.

She had an anger towards God.

"God, if you're real, why did you let my little boy die?"

She loved Him, but she felt like, almost like that God owed

her one for letting her baby be taken.

And at the time, granddad blamed himself for being gone.

Meme blamed herself too, but she also blamed granddad

for being gone.

So, I think that sort of cumulatively, as time went on,

that, you know, anger, that resentment, sort of,

just built upon itself.

[Fritz Von Erich] Anyone that loses a child, um,

there's no pain and no hurt anyone can ever go

through unless you lose one of your children.

[Interviewer] How did you feel about God at that time?

[Fritz Von Erich] I didn't- I didn't have a-

I didn't have a Lord at the time.

I didn't-didn't know he was there,

didn't think he was there.

I just turned.

I said, "Lord, if you're there, if you'll get me back to Texas,"

I said, "I will follow You the rest of my life."

He got me back to Texas.

It took a long time, and it wasn't in a straight line.

We went like this, but we got there.

[Kristen Nikolas] After Uncle Jackie died, granddad, when he

had the opportunity to wrestle in Dallas regularly or in Texas,

I think that they wanted to pursue that for sure because

it meant that they could, you know,

be together more and wouldn't have to be separate.

So, my grandparents and my dad, they moved back to Texas.

[Joe] Oh, wow.

[Kevin Von Erich] There's our ranch.

[Speaker] Wow.

[Kristen Nikolas] That's where your great uncles grew up.

[Kevin Von Erich] So, after I was born,

my mother had four kids, all boys.

Dave was born in 1958, Kerry in 1960, Mike was born in 1964,

and then Chris was born in 1969.

[Kristen Nikolas] Look at Uncle Chris.

[Speaker] What's he riding there?

[Kevin Von Erich] There's Chris.

My little brothers thought the world of me,

and I was really protective of them.

And-and I just fell into the job.

That was me, now I'm-I'm big brother and I-

and I loved my brothers.

[Kristen Nikolas] Look at you and Uncle Dave, Daddy.

[Kevin Von Erich] Yeah, skinny Dave.

We always hunted and fished and, uh, spent time together.

You know, what great memories we had.

We all had horses.

We rode horses everywhere.

[Speaker] Didn't everyone have their own motorcycle

and their own dog?

[Kevin Von Erich] Yeah, we sure did.

And our own BB gun and we- that's what we did all day.

[Brian Adias] Kerry and I grew up together at their house out

there in their ranch.

Uh, it was like Disneyland.

Wear shorts and barefooted, no shirt all through summer.

So, that type of stuff.

[Kevin Von Erich] Oh, that was me.

That's a flip.

[Speaker] Really?

[Kevin Von Erich] Twist- a twisting flip.

[Speaker] You never told me you could do a-

[Kevin Von Erich] Oh, yeah.

[Speaker] A front flip.

[Kevin Von Erich] I said to my dad one day,

"Dad, what should I do for a living?

I-I-I like to brag and I'm a show off."

He said, "You might want to try pro wrestling, son.

[laughing]

[Kristen Nikolas] After Uncle Jackie passed away,

Meme and granddad had this idea that the world is dangerous,

and they both had the desire to keep their family safe

from the ugliness of this world.

So, they tried to make their house be the fun house

where you wouldn't wanna leave.

[Jillian Caneda] At that time, my Meme was unbelievably strong.

I mean, she had to- she had to keep it together.

To lose a six-year-old is, how do you go on?

And whatever she did, I think she did it right.

I just think it's amazing that both of them had this mentality

to hold it all together like that, both of them.

[Interviewer] Tell me about raising the boys.

[Fritz Von Erich] The greatest memories I have in my life

is raising those young ones.

Um, gosh, it was fun.

I wish I could do it again.

[Kevin Von Erich] I think that my dad learned

a lot from his youth.

Even though his father didn't- He wasn't around.

He learned from that.

He's gonna be the kind of father that is around.

[Fritz Von Erich] Don't misunderstand me.

I made a lot of mistakes raising my children,

but my wife and I loved every minute of it.

That may be the difference in a lot of folks.

They don't love it.

[Kristen Nikolas] A lot of the home movies that we have,

you can hear grandad talking.

He's narrating the whole thing and just laughing and chuckling.

[laughing]

[Kristen Nikolas] He didn't have parents that wanted

to spend time with him, so he wanted to be a dad that-

that did, that wanted to spend time with his kids.

[Commentator] In the history of wrestling,

who would you say is the greatest wrestler of all time?

[laughing]

[Fritz Von Erich] That's a rather leading question,

don't you think?

Who do you think the answer is going to be there?

[Commentator] I would say Fritz Von Erich.

[Fritz Von Erich] Right.

There's no doubt about that.

The most winning wrestler.

The wrestler that's drawing the most money in the world today

has got to be Fritz Von Erich.

[Brian Adias] At the time, Fritz, he just became, uh,

an idol around here in Dallas-Fort Worth area.

[Commentator] Fritz Von Erich, by his own admission,

the world's greatest wrestler.

[JBL] People in Texas loved

Fritz Von Erich.

I mean, he was- That guy could have been king of Texas.

[Kevin Von Erich] I remember Coach Landry and guys from the

Cowboys would call my dad for advice and I-I-

just never really dawned on me how important he was.

And not just Texas, but all over, all over the world.

My dad was a big star in Japan and, uh, he took each one of us.

[Fritz Von Erich] Kevin's the first one of my sons

to go on the trip.

I don't think Kevin even had any idea, uh,

what to expect when he got there.

[Kevin Von Erich] The first time I went with him,

I looked out the window and there

were all these photographers, like, so many,

a-a hu- a hu- at least a hundred photographers.

I said, "Dad, there's some kind of movie star.

You should see all the photographers outside."

And my dad, that's who they were there to see.

I couldn't believe it.

[Fritz Von Erich] They just wanted to see us.

They wanted to see, uh, yeah, the guy with The Iron Claw.

[Kevin Von Erich] When we were young kids, you know,

just like any other little fella out there,

we, uh, we wanted to be just like our dad.

I guess all of y'all are the same way.

[Commentator] True.

[Kevin Von Erich] And, uh, you know, so we tried extra hard

to- I-I guess, you know, young kids are just that way.

Anything my dad did, you know, he was like-

we just wanted to be like him.

[David Shoemaker] Someone with Jack Adkisson's mindset,

he wants to conquer the world, and by this time,

you know, he knew how the business of pro wrestling

worked, and I think he probably just thought,

if I'm gonna make a go of this,

if it's worth my time to be a wrestler,

it's more worth my time to be running everything.

He kind of took over the Dallas promotion.

[Bruce Prichard] Now, Fritz was the promoter, and Fritz then

used that opportunity to exert his power and to, kind of,

take over the booking of the Texas territory

in all of the Texas towns.

[David Shoemaker] Nobody realizes it at the time,

but the path for the Von Erich boys is being set here,

and in a lot of ways, that would be a shadow

over the family forever.

[Kevin Von Erich] All of my brothers were in sports.

Me, Dave, Kerry, Mike, we're all athletes,

and we were good at it,

but with Chris, uh, he had asthma and had

to take medicine for it,

and it, uh, it stunted his growth and it-

He couldn't breathe.

He really couldn't get enough air to-

to really be a successful athlete,

and that's just too bad.

That's just the way it is, but me, Dave, Kerry, Mike,

we just had a gift for it.

[Brian Adias] Kevin, I mean, in high school,

he really loved football, man.

Nobody could tackle him.

He'd just run over everybody, you know.

So, there was one game, he-he averaged,

like, 21 yards a carry.

[Kevin Von Erich] When dad would come to the football games,

it'd be a touchdown or something.

I'd look up in the audience, and I'd see his hands do this,

[claps]

and that's all I cared about.

That's all I wanted to see, was how he felt about it.

[Brian Adias] David was 6'7",

so he was a great basketball player.

[Fritz Von Erich] In Lake Dallas, the only All-State

athletes that that school has ever had were my sons.

David's All-State in basketball, two consecutive years,

but the kids, um, I've been very proud of them.

[Brian Adias] It was, kind of, cool.

David and Kevin both got scholarships to North Texas

which when North Texas was really a Division One,

you know, powerhouse.

Kevin went first, and then David went the next year and played

basketball and football.

[Kevin Von Erich] I went to college to play football.

I didn't care about my degree or anything like that.

I loved football, and that's all I could think about.

[Brian Adias] It was his freshman year.

I was there, me and Kerry went to watch the game in Denton

at North Texas, and I think, somebody got blocked into him,

his own man or something, and just tore his ACL.

You know, just one of the worst things.

And he came back with a vengeance, and I'll be dadgummit

if he didn't hurt the other one his sophomore year.

[Kevin Von Erich] With my knees out, I could tell it took

something from my quickness.

Football wasn't as much fun to me, and so, uh,

it was just a matter of time before I quit playing it.

It was over, and now a time to make a living.

So, I dropped out of college, and I gave wrestling a try.

[David Shoemaker] Kevin Von Erich was the oldest son,

and the first to give pro wrestling a shot.

When he decided to get in, he didn't have to look far.

I mean, his dad ran the local promotion.

By then, Jack had taken over the Dallas promotion, what's now

known as World Class Championship Wrestling.

So, this is slowly becoming a family business.

[JBL] I remember when Kevin debuted

like it was yesterday.

I remember it because I was such a big fan of Fritz Von Erich.

And then Kevin debuts, and he's this- he's this really

good-looking young guy with this great body.

He's this incredible star athlete.

You're like,

"Wow, this guy could carry on the Von Erich legacy."

[Commentator] Kevin majored in football and suffered an injury,

and football's loss became professional wrestling's gain.

[Kevin Von Erich] In fact, when I started out wrestling,

we had to change buildings

because the crowd was getting bigger.

[Commentator] From the Will Rogers Complex in Fort Worth,

here's Saturday Night Wrestling.

[Kevin Von Erich] There was the writing on the wall.

I could never make this kind of money cleaning catfish and

[laughing]

washing dishes.

[David Shoemaker] Meanwhile, David starts to take notice of

what his brother Kevin was doing out there in the wrestling ring.

So, even as a college student, he begins to dabble

in his dad's business as well.

[Commentator] David Von Erich, high school All-Stater

in basketball.

[Kevin Von Erich] Dave loved basketball.

When Dave got his first wrestling paycheck-

[crowd cheers]

[Commentator] Whoa, that must have broken some boards.

[Kevin Von Erich] -he thought, "Goodbye basketball."

[Announcer] Introducing from Denton, Texas,

weighing 236 pounds, David Von Erich.

[Brian Adias] David was the one that picked up

on the psychology of the- of matches really well.

[Commentator] Reversal.

Rolling cradle by David.

[Brian Adias] Man, he was really good.

[Commentator] David blocks Race's suplex.

Lifts Race.

Suplex by David Von Erich.

[Bruce Prichard] David had all the tools.

David was a natural.

[Commentator] It has been simply all David Von Erich

who has dominated Harley Race.

[Kevin Von Erich] 18 years old, he had his first sell out.

That's pretty young to sell out a building like he did,

Dave and Harley Race.

[Commentator] Oh, he caught him in the claw.

He caught Race in the claw.

That's it.

[bell rings]

[Commentator] David Von Erich.

[crowd cheers]

[Harley Race] I've known his old man for a long time.

He's legend, and this kid right here is not damn far behind.

[crowd cheers]

[Commentator] Harley Race.

[Kevin Von Erich] Dave and I were pro wrestlers now.

My dad, he never really wanted us to wrestle.

He really didn't.

He wanted us to go to college and have desk jobs.

[Fritz Von Erich] I never wanted my boys to be in wrestling.

What I didn't realize was that's the only life they'd ever known.

[Kevin Von Erich] My dad was a pro wrestler,

and so that's the way we were brought up.

We wanted to be the best we possibly could, and so, uh,

my dad never pressured us into wrestling or pressured

us into anything.

We just wanted to compete.

[David Manning] They literally had to talk Fritz

into letting them start working.

[Commentator] And there's David.

Look at that.

Over the top and a big dropkick.

[Kevin Von Erich] Dad really didn't like that.

I say he didn't like it, but the buildings were packed.

We got sell-out crowds every week.

[Commentator] Kevin Von Erich,

that's what the people here wanna see.

[Kevin Von Erich] My dad was the promoter too, so he liked that.

[Fritz Von Erich] I think we have the very finest

professional wrestlers in the world.

Coming up, my son, Kevin, my oldest boy, Kevin Von Erich.

Just stay with us, you're gonna enjoy this.

[Commentator] I don't believe this.

Look at Kevin.

Oh.

[Jillian Caneda] The oldest brother wrestled,

so the younger brother wanted to wrestle.

And my grandmother, she said that whatever they did,

my granddad made them do it 110%.

So, he did give them a choice, but if they wanted to,

he made sure that they committed 100%.

And she was supportive of that.

[Kevin Von Erich] And then also, my dad didn't have to pay us

like he did the other guys.

We didn't mind that dad didn't pay us like the other wrestlers.

It was okay with us, you know, 'cause everything

was working out great.

[David Von Erich] We have probably the-

the greatest wrestling father of all times, uh,

a man by the name of Fritz Von Erich.

Our ambition in life is to live up to his name

and do as well as he's done in this sport.

[Kevin Von Erich] We had a family, and we're a family,

and we did it for the family.

And-and it's not for my family or for Dave's family.

It was for the family.

At the time, my brother Dave got married young.

Uh, he had a girlfriend and, um,

wanted to do the right thing and marry her, and he did.

[David Shoemaker] Around this time, David's girlfriend,

Candy, gets pregnant.

And in 1978, their daughter, Natasha, is born.

[Brian Adias] David was real excited about her, you know.

And, uh, Candy was just a-a wonderful mother.

[David Manning] Once they had the child, he was already

talking like, "Man, I-I don't wanna be on the road as much.

It makes it hard.

He was so excited about the cruise.

I'll never forget.

He was-

They were going on a cruise.

They had never been on a cruise.

And back then, hardly anybody had been on a cruise, but-

And then, sure enough, Dave, he gets a phone call.

They were able to get a hold of him and, uh,

let him know that the child had died.

?

[Brian Adias] It was SIDS, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

It was just horrific, man.

[David Manning] We didn't understand.

I mean, how does a child just, you know.

Back then, SIDS was a huge question.

And, you know, that a- that a child could just-

a baby could just die in the middle of the night

that had been perfectly healthy.

Uh, but that's what happened, you know.

Obviously, that was a big blow for Dave.

[Brian Adias] David and Candy, it affected their relationship.

They just kind of drifted apart, and they ended up

getting a divorce.

It was tough, you know.

Nobody-nobody wants to bury their kids.

[David Shoemaker] Jack Jr., Fritz's firstborn son, had died.

And then Jack's first grandchild dies of SIDS.

I don't know at that point if you start thinking in terms

of a curse, but it really does seem like

there's a bad moon hanging over this family.

[Announcer] On our left, the sensational

Von Erich brothers, David and Kevin.

[crowd cheers]

[Kevin Von Erich] Dave and I were on the road a lot.

[Commentator] Off the ropes and a big dropkick.

[Kevin Von Erich] We were performing,

and so we weren't home like, uh, like Kerry was.

At home, when Kerry was the big brother and Dave and I were out,

Kerry was a lot more permissive than Dave and I were.

Kerry was that way with Mike and Chris, and he'd let things go.

Things like, uh, drinking, staying out.

Dave and I would have never let that go, and Kerry was all about

fun, about- Everybody loved him, and he was so good inside.

He just wanted to make you laugh.

[Brian Adias] Kerry was pleasant all the time,

laughing and joking.

Uh, playing ribs constantly.

But, uh, also, Kerry was, uh, the- really an elite athlete.

[Kevin Von Erich] The Von Erichs were all athletes,

but my brother Kerry was gifted.

In fact, Kerry was offered a full-ride scholarship

at the University of Texas to play football.

And Kerry, I heard him say it.

I was sitting right there, and he said, "I don't want-

I don't really like football, Coach.

I don't think I wanna do that.

I'll-I'll throw the discus."

[Brian Adias] He was number one in the nation, uh,

when we were seniors in the discus.

[Kerry Von Erich] And I'll tell you what, folks.

Every day, my mother was out there- lugging four or five

discuses that weighed four pounds apiece,

throwing them back to me every day,

and if she couldn't throw it that far,

she'd run again that far.

But my mother was there every-every workout.

[Kevin Von Erich] And he wound up throwing the discus,

but for the University of Houston.

[Brian Adias] Tom Tellez was the University of Houston coach.

He was the Olympic coach.

So that's another reason Kerry went to Houston.

He was really wanting to go try out for the 1980 Olympics,

and then they boycotted it.

Kerry said, "I don't wanna wait till 1984."

That's four, five years away, basically, nearly.

And he-he wanted to leave college.

[Cathy Murray] So that's when Kerry came back home,

and I knew Kerry from his younger brother, Mike.

Because Mike and I were in-

in class together since third grade.

And so Mike was the strongest male athlete in school,

and I was the strongest female athlete in school.

So we used to get all the awards together and things like that.

So Mike and I were best friends.

One day, Mike said to Kerry, "Can I have a party?"

and Kerry said, "Only if you invite Cathy Murray."

Kerry and I got to talking, and the rest is history.

We just stayed together after that.

You know, that young love that's so raw and so real,

and you're so young, and it's your first.

And so that was really powerful for me.

Hi, Dad.

[laughing]

[Fritz Von Erich] Hey, Kev.

Get your shot here.

[Jillian Caneda] My dad and my mom.

What a beautiful love story they have.

My mom adores my dad, and my dad loves and treasures my mom.

[Kevin Von Erich] I got married in 1980.

My sweet Pam.

I've been so happy with her.

We've been married 45 years.

[Jillian Caneda] I mean, yes,

it probably was scary to her to see.

This is a semi-famous family.

They're all wrestlers.

But I think when she saw what a beautiful family they were,

behind closed doors, and she wanted to be a part of that,

and they cherished her.

And she said she had always prayed,

"I wanna marry a godly man."

That's who my dad was.

And on the outside, that's not what my dad looked like.

He just looked like this handsome jock, you know?

[crowd cheers]

[Announcer] Here's what they're waiting for.

Kevin Von Erich, David Von Erich.

[David Manning] Kevin and Dave, I mean,

the story was already of the Von Erichs.

They were drawing everywhere they go.

[Announcer] And look at this pandemonium.

[David Manning] But the other thing was, it was-

it was eating on Kerry.

[Cathy Murray] Kerry saw that and was just thinking,

"Wow, this is a really big deal."

[David Manning] Kerry wanted to wrestle,

but Fritz wanted him to finish college.

Kerry was adamant.

He- Matter of fact,

Kerry literally had a meeting with Fritz.

He-he said, "I want a meeting with my dad."

And he told Fritz, "Either I start working here,

or I'll go somewhere else."

[Commentator] You are looking at the spotlight on Kerry Von Erich

as he makes his way to the ring.

[Cathy Murray] After the Olympics, I don't really know

that he ever thought of doing anything else.

[crowd cheers]

[JBL] Kerry just had this innate ability of this charisma.

Some guys just walk into a room and-and have this light come on.

[Commentator] Kerry Von Erich, listen to the crowd.

[crowd chants "Kerry"]

[David Manning] Now you got Kevin,

Dave, and Kerry, so three Von Erichs on the card.

They had the look, they had the feel, and they could work.

Dave was the best worker of all of them.

[Commentator] The headscissors.

[Bill Irwin] Kerry had the good looks and the charisma.

[Commentator] Look at Kerry, up top.

[Bill Irwin] Kevin had kind of a little mix of all of them.

[crowd cheers]

[Undertaker] All these boys who just dominated

every aspect of Texas wrestling.

[Kevin Von Erich] There was a short time when Kerry, me,

and Dave could all be in the same town.

[Commentator] There they are, the Von Erichs.

[Kevin Von Erich] Eventually, after about a year, we-

one town had Kerry, one town had me, one town had Dave.

And the houses were all good, you know,

they were all sellouts.

[Bill Irwin] They were great.

[Commentator] Listen to this crowd roar,

they're on their feet.

[Bill Irwin] It was like a fairy tale for two, three years.

And then it all come crashing down.

[Fritz Von Erich] A good wrestler is one that, uh,

you know, a-a-a natural athlete, first of all.

Like my sons, and it's kids like this that make wrestling

what it is today.

[Commentator] Kerry Von Erich as his brothers David and Kevin

have almost a religious responsibility to learn the art

of wrestling from their father since they were small children.

[Kevin Von Erich] Winning is something our dad instilled in

us a long time ago, and we do it as fairly as we can,

but number one goal is to win.

[Commentator] Two, three.

[bell rings]

[Commentator] Oh what a dazzling show of wrestling ability.

[crowd cheers]

[David Shoemaker] There's a misconception that

Fritz sort of dragged all his sons into the ring,

kicking and screaming,

but I think for Kevin and then David and then Kerry,

it was hard to turn down the allure

of the pro wrestling ring.

And once they got in there and the crowd started reacting

to them, Fritz basically said,

"Well, if they're all in, let's make the most of it."

[La Grange by ZZ Top music]

[crowd cheers]

[Commentator] Fantastic.

What excitement!

There's just nothing like it in the whole world.

[David Shoemaker] They would come out through the crowd

to different songs, like La Grange by ZZ Top.

?

[Kevin Von Erich] We wanted to put the kind of wrestling out

there that we'd like.

[crowd cheers]

[Commentator] The fans are on their feet.

[Kevin Von Erich] So rock was a big part of our presentation.

[Commentator] Sort of a pied piper of the youth of this area.

[JBL] All of a sudden, you have something

that becomes this rock show, and it was a rock show.

You watch the other matches, they're all good,

but when they came out, that was the show.

[crowd cheers]

[Undertaker] It was just pure energy.

The guys wanted to be like them,

the girls wanted to be with them.

[crowd cheers]

[Commentator] Everyone trying to grab a hold of Kerry,

perhaps, get a kiss.

Boy, she is lucky, isn't she?

[Undertaker] It was just a spectacle any time that they

would come to the ring.

[Fritz Von Erich] Every match that you'll see tonight is not

from a studio, it's from a live arena, one of the oldest,

most well-known arenas, certainly in Texas,

probably in the world itself.

The world-famous Sportatorium.

If it's there, it's the best in professional wrestling.

["Stone Cold" Steve Austin] The home of the Von Erichs,

Sportatorium, the greatest building in the world.

An atmosphere personified.

[Commentator] This crowd is going wild.

One of the wildest nights in the history of Texas wrestling.

[Mark Henry] I only was able to go once at the Sportatorium.

I bragged to my friends for weeks.

"Bro, I saw the Von Erichs live."

[Commentator] Watch this.

[crowd cheers]

[Bill Irwin] It wasn't your daddy's wrestling anymore.

They changed the-the demographic and I think also the show

on TV was completely different.

[Kerry Von Erich] Hi, I'm Kerry Von Erich,

and this is my dog, Shay.

For several weeks now, we've been telling you about

the changes in the new World Class Wrestling show,

and this is just some of the improvements we've made.

[David Manning] "We wanna to put boom mics in the ring, cameras,

not just by the ring, they climb up on the ring."

[Brian Adias] I'll never forget it.

Fritz sat Kerry and I down in his office, and he said,

"I'm getting ready to do this thing called syndication,

that we're going to go all over the country

and all over the world.

It's cable TV."

And we were like, "What is that?"

[David Manning] You know, when we first started syndication,

we had 10 or 12 markets, then we got 20.

Pretty soon we were in 47 markets.

[Shawn Michaels] When cable started coming around,

we finally got World Class Wrestling out of Dallas,

and that's when I was exposed to the Von Erichs,

and how important,

the Von Erichs were to the state of Texas.

["Stone Cold" Steve Austin] You know, I would watch KTTV,

Channel 11, in my dorm.

It was absolutely amazing.

[Commentator] Kerry Von Erich wins the bout.

[bell rings]

[David Shoemaker] The rock concert atmosphere,

the Sportatorium craze, the way they looked on TV, uh,

all of this combined to make the Von Erichs, like,

the hottest thing in all of Texas.

[Undertaker] The Von Erichs in Texas was almost religion.

It was a family of superheroes.

[David Manning] Here, obviously, Dallas Cowboys,

how popular they were.

[Presenter] If there's anything a Texan loves more than chili,

it would have to be the sport of football.

[David Manning] If you saw a Dallas Cowboy at the local

sports store, you didn't know who he was, because he didn't

have the helmet and the number on, where with wrestling,

you know, there they were right there in your living room every

Saturday night, doing an interview right in your face.

[crowd cheers]

[laughing]

[Kerry Von Erich] Yeah, baby.

We told you, Bill.

There's something magical when Kevin and I are

in that ring together.

[Timmy Newsome] We would get tickets to go watch 'em wrestle,

and so they were pretty popular in terms of what

we would talk about in the locker room.

[JBL] There was two things

that were big in Texas.

It was football and the Von Erichs.

It wasn't football and wrestling.

It was football and the Von Erichs.

[crowd cheers]

[David Manning] I think what really made the Von Erichs

more popular than a lot of other great babyfaces around

the country was, you saw 'em grow up, and everybody felt

like, almost like they're part of the life, they're part of

what's happening to them.

[David Von Erich] They've really come behind us, and we're like

their kids, and they're like our parents, and all the young kids

around and everything else.

They're really nice to us here, so we love it.

[JBL] They're part of us.

We took an ownership of the Von Erich boys.

These were salt-of-the-earth guys.

[Commentator] Tell us a little bit about Kevin.

[Kevin Von Erich] I've been getting into some cliff diving.

I've- I did- I went cliff diving out in Acapulco

a couple of weeks ago, and, uh-

[Kerry Von Erich] I like to write poems.

I like to ride horses.

I like to, uh- I like to fish, and Kevin and I have just gotten

into a little bit of, uh, skydiving.

We've been doing that for about two months now.

[Kevin Von Erich] We weren't big shots.

We acted like we were your big brother, your son,

your grandson, your uncle, your cousin.

Von Erich was the name Dad gave me, and I'm proud to have it.

It was so important to be a good role model, be respectful.

My dad was like that.

[Bill Irwin] I didn't think any of 'em were presumptuous about

who they were or ever even said, "Hey, do you know who I am?"

Or, "Hey, I'm this.

I'm that."

No.

No.

I think that's Fritz teaching them,

"Hey, you're somebody, but you're nobody.

The people make you who you are."

[Kerry Von Erich] With my brothers and I,

if we lose a fight, the people are right there,

they're cheering for us just as loud as if we lose

because they want us to know

that they're behind us all the way.

[Kevin Von Erich] It was just a great life, you know.

??

[Kevin Von Erich] I can remember the three of us just

being young and getting in the car and head up to Oklahoma

for spot shows or down to the middle of Texas for spot shows,

and when we were kids, everything was fun.

Everybody was our friend.

The police all knew us.

We all liked each other.

It just kind of spoils you 'cause you can get in your car,

all you've gotta do is take your boots and your trunks and

go to another town and make a living

[laughing]

and swim in the rivers all the way-

[laughing]

all the way back and just laugh the whole time.

Man, that was fun.

Just me and my brothers.

[crowd cheers]

?

[Commentator] The greatest name in professional wrestling

today, the Von Erichs, have been for years.

[Presenter] Today, the allegiance of a lot of wrestling

fans belongs to the Von Erichs, to father, Fritz,

and his three wrestling sons.

And there are still two more Von Erichs waiting

to jump into the ring, Mike and Chris.

Right now, the Von Erichs are a prime attraction,

a guaranteed draw at dozens of wrestling arenas,

but as successful as they are, they've never forgotten that

the most important ingredient

in any family business is the family.

[Michael Hayes] You talk about Fritz,

family man, businessman.

His business is his family.

They're your meal ticket right now.

[Commentator] A dramatic arrival of the Von Erichs as hundreds

of youngsters come to the ring seeking autographs,

their pictures.

[David Shoemaker] But there's this just constant demand.

The feeling that, like, "If we let anything slip,

then this could all come crashing down."

It was just a ton of pressure on them to keep it going.

[Kevin Von Erich] We would have a weekly family reunion in

there, you know, on Friday nights.

[Commentator] Good evening, and welcome to the world-famous

Sportatorium, the home of World Class Championship Wrestling.

[Kevin Von Erich] I'd come down right here.

Always be people here, you know, and hanging their arms out.

And I've got scars all over my shoulder from the girls

scratching like this.

You should see my shoulders.

[Commentator] Kevin Von Erich.

What a beautiful specimen.

[Kevin Von Erich] Oh, I grew up in here, you know.

It's like my little playground.

[crowd cheers]

[Commentator] Oh, off the rope.

[Kevin Von Erich] Yeah, had some good memories.

It's where it all started.

[David Shoemaker] Kevin was a- He was an entertainer,

but as a person, he was a pretty simple guy, you know.

Like, he just wanted to have that sort of isolation,

that sort of getting away from everything else.

?

[Commentator] You're working nearly every night.

This must-must be a great way to just to take some edge off.

[Kevin Von Erich] Oh, man, you're right, Bill.

I'd-I'd probably crack up if I didn't have

the country to come out to.

I don't get off on disco dancing.

And, uh, this is really where I'm at.

This is where my head is.

[Commentator] Hey, wait for your daughter to get old enough

to come out here.

[Kevin Von Erich] We'll have to see about that.

[laughing]

[Kevin Von Erich] Once I had my first baby, uh,

once Pam had Kristen, well, my priorities changed,

and wrestling became work.

[Michael Hayes] I don't think wrestling was the number one

priority for Kevin anymore.

He's obligated to do the wrestling.

He wanted to do the family thing.

[Bill Colville] He would show up at the matches,

he would leave immediately.

You know, he didn't hang around and go home and be dad.

[Kevin Von Erich] And then also my life went from loving my dog

and my .22 to that baby, and Pam, my queen,

that gave me that baby.

I had somebody to protect.

[Fritz Von Erich] Kristen, come here.

Come on, you pretty girl.

[Kevin Von Erich] My father, big, mean, tough Fritz,

he loved being a grandfather.

Kristen and him were like that.

[Fritz Von Erich] Come here, Kristen.

Yeah, good girl.

[Kristen Nikolas] My granddad was one of the best men

that I've ever met.

[Fritz Von Erich] Hi baby girl.

[Kristen Nikolas] He was just the epitome of safety for us.

[Fritz Von Erich] Now that's what I call

pretty, pretty, pretty.

Now, Meme, let's have one of your pretty face.

[Kristen Nikolas] Meme was also so loving, and my grandparents

did a really good job of making us feel like we were

all a community, and we had each other.

[Fritz Von Erich] Look at me, Kristen.

[Kristen Nikolas] I love you, granddaddy.

[Fritz Von Erich] Oh, you're so cute.

[Kristen Nikolas] The first time I realized that there

was something maybe different about our family,

we were gonna have a Six Flags Day as a family.

?

[Kristen Nikolas] And when we arrived at the park,

there were police everywhere, and they put us right on a golf

cart, and we had a couple of hours of the park exclusively,

but they opened the gate, and I just have this image in my mind

of- I was sitting on the back of this golf cart, and these

people chasing us and screaming, and this one lady had mascara

running down her face, and I remember thinking, you know,

"They're not chasing anybody else, and don't they know how

boring my dad is, and how boring my uncles are?"

Like, "Why do they think it's so cool?"

[David Manning] You never realized what kind of rock stars

these kids-these kids had become.

[crowd cheers]

[Commentator] And here they come,

the trio of wrestling personified.

[JBL] Everybody wanted to see The Von Erichs,

but they needed a nemesis, you know,

and when the Freebirds came in,

that's when wrestling just blew up.

[Commentator] Michael Hayes, and Terry Gordy,

Buddy Roberts.

The Freebirds.

[JBL] You finally had somebody that could

go against the Von Erich boys, and that was the perfect

antithesis in the Freebirds.

[Michael Hayes] Hey, man, we're running these Von Erichs

out of Texas.

When it comes to notorious, bad mother [bleep]

that you love to hate, that'd be us.

[crowd cheers]

[Michael Hayes] If we gotta run over The Von Erichs,

we'll do it with pleasure.

[Undertaker] Oh, my goodness.

Well, the Freebirds were just so easy to hate.

[JBL] The Freebirds brought their own flags

from Georgia into Texas, which is something you don't do.

[Michael Hayes] It kind of became like a college football

rivalry in a sense.

Georgia versus Texas.

[Kevin Von Erich] This war is not between Texas and Georgia.

It's between decency and filth.

[crowd cheers]

[JBL] It was like setting a

nuclear bomb off in the state of Texas.

I'd-I'd never seen anything like it.

[Mike Von Erich] We gotta say thanks to the people of Dallas,

Texas, 'cause it's the biggest crowd ever to be

in the Sportatorium.

[David Manning] Shows that used to, on a Saturday night, do 500

people, all of a sudden, we were doing 8,000,

just packed to the walls.

[Commentator] And so this one is gonna start in a hurry.

[Michael Hayes] The rivalry worked, I think,

because when we would get in that ring,

you could tell that these guys really don't like each other.

[Commentator] It may take everybody in the arena to

separate these two.

[Michael Hayes] But there was a respect between us

that really made it work, too.

You're gonna get knocked flat out

in front of the whole world.

[Michael Hayes] You're supposed to make them mad,

that's your job.

And, of course, the fans ate it up.

[Commentator] The whole family sticks together.

That's been their motto and their creed.

[David Manning] For two hours or three hours,

they got to cheer for the good.

[Kevin Von Erich] It's not just our win, it's all of our win.

[David Manning] And boo the evil.

And, uh, that's what wrestling is.

[Fan 1] I get so wrapped up in it.

I mean, I just love it.

[laughing]

I really do.

[Fan 2] This is one of the few places where you come

and holler and scream, and they don't take you to jail.

["Stone Cold" Steve Austin] Me and my buddies would ride down

there every Friday night.

I was there watching The Von Erichs

and The Freebirds go at it.

[crowd chants "Go home, Freebirds"]

[Kevin Von Erich] You could see those TV ratings shooting up,

and all we had to do was keep doing what we're doing, just

make it a little more dangerous, and a little more reckless.

[Commentator] This looks like it's gonna be a wild slugfest.

Whoa, and over.

[JBL] When you watch those guys, yeah,

they're beating the [bleep] out of each other.

I mean, this is incredible, and that's what Texans love

so much about it.

People love to fight.

[Kevin Von Erich] I never wanted to be a fake.

I really enjoyed what I did.

I loved it, and I felt real doing it.

I gave people real entertainment,

so did my brothers.

[Michael Hayes] I mean, they were really into it and really,

really believed that what we were doing was real.

[Commentator] Kevin Von Erich is now covered in blood.

[Michael Hayes] A lot of times after the matches,

I felt like it was real, because it hurt.

[Commentator] And the Freebird is a loose bird as he goes

to the floor and says, "Man alive, what hit me?"

[Commentator] And a criss-cross.

Whoa, man, oh.

And look at that thrust kick.

[Kevin Von Erich] When you're young,

you feel like you're bulletproof.

Nothing can hurt you.

[Commentator] And now, Kevin Von Erich struggling.

[Kevin Von Erich] You can break a bone and keep going.

[Fritz Von Erich] My boy's got a broken nose.

He's got about a dozen sutures in his lip.

[Kevin Von Erich] Hey.

That's- When you're right, you win every time.

This doesn't hurt a bit.

There's plenty more where-

[Michael Hayes] You were pretty much always playing with pain.

You had to wrestle, or you didn't get paid.

[Kevin Von Erich] My nose has been broken dozens of times.

I've got broken ribs.

My elbows have been both dislocated.

My shoulder.

My knee operations.

A tooth knocked out from Michael Hayes' boot.

We used to take injections, xylocaine, Marcaine, procaine,

but they're not drugs.

They just numb nerve endings.

And I didn't want to live like that anymore,

and so to deal with that pain, I grew my own marijuana.

Look what sprouted up here in the carpet.

[laughing]

[Kevin Von Erich] I don't want to be a proponent

for such a thing, but I have to say

that I took a healthier approach by growing it myself.

Hey man, when are we going to smoke one again?

[Pam Adkisson] Kevin.

[Kevin Von Erich] If God makes it, if it's a vegetable,

if it grows on a tree or in the ground, I want it,

but I don't want anything made by man.

[crowd cheers]

[Commentator] And here comes

"The Modern Day Warrior" Kerry Von Erich.

[Cathy Murray] For Kerry, the business was becoming very

taxing on the body in general with the amount of time in the

gym, and pumping iron, and then just getting hurt in the ring.

[Commentator] Oh, Kerry is pretty well shaken.

[Cathy Murray] When you're getting hurt all the time,

and you start asking for prescription drugs, right, and

then how much is enough, and do I need something even harder,

stronger to relieve this pain?

You know, you can just get caught up in that.

And there were these doctors, because of who they are, they're

famous, who would just write a prescription and, "Here you go."

[Michael Hayes] And then you take it and you go,

"Well, it does help me feel better.

Well, the doctor just prescribed it.

It's legal."

And I think a lot of people got fooled by that.

[Cathy Murray] Kerry felt a big responsibility to the business.

He took care of his fans.

[Kerry Von Erich] It's tough, but we know it's a job, it's a

responsibility that we have to do, and my father bred us to-to

be winners, not losers, and to fight 100% every night whenever

we were in that ring.

[Cathy Murray] So Kerry fought between his health and keeping

up with the image that was so important to The Von Erichs.

?

[Kevin Von Erich] Dave was the only one of all of us

that liked strong liquor, had a bottle of it in his bag.

And then he told us he had a really bad stomachache and booze

was helping him.

Stomach pain must have been something else.

I mean, he said it was like a knife.

He had diarrhea for months.

At the time, Dave was married to Trish.

I know she did think he had a virus or something because he,

you know, had some symptoms, but he didn't want her to worry,

you know, so he wouldn't have said anything.

So, Kerry and I made sure he went to the doctor about it.

A proctologist, I guess it was.

They told Dave to lean against this little wall thing.

They put his elbows down and strapped him in, strapped his

elbow here and his knees, and, uh, Dave got mad easy.

The doc hit a switch and Dave was butt up.

He was furious.

He said, "Absolutely not.

I'll tear this place down."

And he had to unstrap Dave and let him go.

But if they would have done the examination,

I think they would have found something.

[David Shoemaker] It's around '83 that David first starts

complaining of stomach pain.

And also, I think, you know, you've taken a lot of hard bumps

in the ring, and especially coming up in the Adkisson

household, you- maybe you're just taught to rub some dirt

on it, you know.

Because he wasn't being treated for it,

he started turning to painkillers.

[Brian Adias] One time he'd showed up on, uh, uh,

Quaaludes, you know.

You know, when you can't talk, and you're slurring your words,

that's-that's when it becomes bad.

[Bill Irwin] I've seen him where he's a puddle in the middle

of the floor, and he's supposed to be going to the ring.

Ah, you know, so you've got to try and get him up

and get him going.

[David Manning] Before long, he almost couldn't overcome it.

Looking at today's world, I'd say Dave had an opioid problem.

He was addicted to pills.

[Brian Adias] And boy, I know Fritz was-

was just irate about it.

[Fritz Von Erich] You're doing your fans a disservice any time

you get out of line, because you are an image to them

that they want to live up to.

And so many pro athletes, uh, and-and you know what I'm

talking about, man, they have no use for their fans.

The fans is what made 'em.

It's what made us.

And, uh, we need to always be aware of the responsibility

that goes with that.

[Kristen Nikolas] Image was really important to granddad,

but Meme was, I think, more concerned about family image

and reputation than granddad was.

She wanted to have a perfect family that didn't fail.

And Meme was really concerned about media.

Granddad maybe was to a point that it affected the business.

[Brian Adias] Fritz always said, "It's one thing what a man does

on his own time, but when you're on my time,

you need to be in top shape."

[David Manning] They're under pressure.

They were pretty much on call 24 hours a day,

dealing with the public, dealing with the news.

[News Journalist] Several thousand waiting in line

for hours to see the famous wrestling Von Erichs.

[David Manning] It was fun, though.

Everywhere you went, you were treated like you were royalty.

[Kevin Von Erich] We'd get endorsements through wrestling,

and so we'd get free cars from these dealerships.

[Cathy Murray] They were top stars,

and Mike and Chris always looked up to them.

And they were like, "If they can do it, I can do it."

[David Manning] Mike and Chris were super close.

They came to the matches every week.

[Cathy Murray] Right after high school,

Mike wanted to be a part of what his brothers were doing.

[Commentator] I've seen the debut of all these guys, uh,

Kevin, David, Kerry, and now a debut in just a few minutes

of Mike Von Erich.

[David Manning] For Mike, it was hard not being a Von Erich,

you know?

If he was anywhere with the brothers,

he was treated as if he was in the business.

And it was contagious.

[Kevin Von Erich] Little Mike, I say, is a big old stud,

but tonight I think he's going to show his colors.

He's a Von Erich right down to the wire.

Mike wanted to wrestle so bad, he wanted to be like Dave.

[David Von Erich] Mike's been taught by the best,

because we were taught by the best.

[Kerry Von Erich] You lock your leg in here, Kev.

[Kevin Von Erich] Oh, just step- Yeah.

[Kerry Von Erich] Yeah.

[Kevin Von Erich] Oh, that's an excellent-

[Kerry Von Erich] And roll forward right here.

And now I got his leg.

Oh, he ain't going nowhere.

[Commentator] And here he comes, Mike Von Erich.

[crowd cheers]

[Commentator] He has not only his own career

to think about, but, of course, he's upholding the honor

of the Von Erich families.

[Cathy Murray] Part of it, for him,

was just being with his brothers.

Like, "Okay, they're not going out on the road and

leaving me anymore.

I get to come along.

I'm the baby brother, and we're going to have a good time

together," you know, and they did.

[Kevin Von Erich] You know, a lot of people think

the Von Erichs have bit off more than we can chew.

They think that Mike's too young to be getting

in the ring with us.

This kid is not going to let me down.

We're going to take those Freebirds-

[Commentator] Oh, look at that move.

[Michael Hayes] At this point, the Von Erichs

and the Freebirds, our story was so hot-

[Commentator] Gordy wrapped up, one, two, three.

[crowd cheers]

[Michael Hayes] -that it was time to take it to

the stadium, which was unheard of back then.

[David Manning] We were doing the Six-Man Tag Team

Championship, which at that time would have now been Kevin,

Kerry, and Mike against the Birds.

[Kevin Von Erich] Now, if the Freebirds think they can beat

us, go ahead and come on with it all you got.

[David Manning] And then the main event was going to be Flair

versus David for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

[Michael Hayes] "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair, arguably,

the greatest wrestler of all time.

[Ric Flair] I thrive, woo, I thrive on being

called the greatest.

[Michael Hayes] But it was already decided.

It was very hush-hush that David was going to beat

Ric Flair for the title.

[David Manning] And then about five weeks before the show,

Dave goes to Japan to work over there.

[Kevin Von Erich] For months before the Japan trip,

he didn't look right to me.

But it was the stomach, you know?

Dave had that ashen look about him, you know?

White look.

His eyebrows would get white,

and so I already had an idea something bad was gonna happen.

[engine noise]

[Fritz Von Erich] This is December 24th, uh,

Christmas Eve, 1983.

[Kevin Von Erich] It was so cold that day.

Remember the pond froze over?

Wow.

That never happens.

[Kerry Von Erich] I laid some bets on it.

[Kevin Von Erich] There's Cathy.

[Kristen Rain] And Uncle Chris.

[Kevin Von Erich] There's Chris.

[Chris Von Erich] Dad, thanks for the stereo, Dad.

[Fritz Von Erich] Oh, yeah, babe.

[David Von Erich] Wow.

Thanks.

[Fritz Von Erich] Oh, you're good.

[Kristen Rain] Granddaddy, quick.

There's Uncle Mike and me.

[Kevin Von Erich] Oh, Mike.

You gotta spur him.

All the kids love Mike, don't they?

[Speaker] Pull his reins.

[Speaker] Kick him in the shins.

[Speaker] Pull his reins.

Pull hard.

[Mike Von Erich] Ow.

[laughing]

[Kevin Von Erich] Dear Heavenly Father,

thank you for everything you've given us.

All the family being together, the brothers.

It's great, Lord.

Thank you for everything you've given us.

After that Christmas, our life would not be the same.

For months before the Japan trip, Dave was white as a ghost.

He, uh- He didn't look right to me.

[David Manning] I was with him when he wrestled in Austin,

Texas, and after the matches, he was throwing up.

He was sick.

And he kept saying, "Oh, it's just some virus I got."

[Michael Hayes] And everybody just thought he had the flu,

you know?

It was- it was dead of winter, you know, early February.

[Fritz Von Erich] We knew David was sick,

but they had no idea how sick.

The boy's been raised to be there.

Thousands of people had paid their money

to see those boys' wrestle.

Short of a broken leg partner, we expect them to be there.

[Kevin Von Erich] And he looked pale,

and I could just tell on my mom's face

she was worried about Dave.

They were talking.

And I looked at him, I thought, "If I lost him," you know,

I just put my hands on him and said,

"Don't you go over there and die, Dave."

And he said, "I won't, Kev."

[Pam Adkisson] Yeah.

[Kevin Von Erich] And I thought-

I kissed him.

Now I had uh-

[Kristen Nikolas] Yeah.

It can't happen now.

[Bill Irwin] When you go to Japan,

it's always pretty much the same.

We would eat, and we'd have- drink beers and have fun.

And, you know, it was- It was great.

[Kevin Von Erich] I talked to Bill Irwin about it.

He said they got to the- to Tokyo,

and they went about six o'clock and had a big steak.

And Dave wanted two steaks, and Bill said he couldn't even

finish his, because Dave ate a lot of it.

But then, Dave ordered a third steak and ate it.

[Bill Irwin] We get out of there and go back to the hotel,

and we go into the hotel, and we're going in.

Of course, the bar's still open.

Well, shhh, you know, we've got to go in there.

And David said, "Hey, I'll be right back."

I think he left and went upstairs and puked.

And then he came back down.

Everybody that's there, including myself,

we were kind of full, but he ate.

And he ate some more.

David and I were in that- in that bar last, and David goes,

"Well, come by the room.

Come on by, you know, we'll have a drink or whatever.

The last one."

Went on into his room.

Went in and sat down.

I think we had a beer or something right there.

And, you know, after the beer, it was-

it was the end of the night.

He goes, "Yeah, I-I'm just going to call my wife."

"Okay, see you tomorrow."

Well, tomorrow comes, and everybody's on the bus

at five o'clock.

Like, "What the hell?"

You know, "Where's David?"

And in the distance, you hear sirens.

Everybody's looking at each other.

Everybody up, we all went off the bus, right into the hotel,

up the stairs, right to the corner room,

and they were there with a key and unlocked his door.

And there was David in the same spot I left him.

Just laid back, still dressed, in the same clothes, everything.

[sighs]

[Kevin Von Erich] To this day, I cannot stand a phone call

before daylight, because that's what I got that morning

that Trish called me.

And when that phone rang, it was dark, and I picked up the phone,

and she was crying.

I knew.

And she said, "He's dead, Kev."

I just said, "I have to go."

I hung the phone up.

I went outside, and, uh, I was just crushed, you know?

I couldn't stand up, and I just laid down on the forest

and I pushed the leaves back and put my face in that black dirt.

I prayed to God, "Let me die."

Seeing my dad, and knowing that he'd lost his son,

he'd lost Dave, oh, my gosh, that was-

that was the worst part.

[sighs]

It was as bad as grief can get.

[David Manning] Fritz had already said,

"Whatever that autopsy says we got to go with because

the public's probably going to get it sooner or later."

[Bill Irwin] And everybody thought David died

of an overdose, but he didn't.

[David Manning] I heard all the stories around

the industry that, "It was pills, it was this."

I'm not saying there wasn't any pills involved because,

undoubtedly, he was in excruciating pain.

And, uh, but did he do enough to OD?

No.

The autopsy said, "Acute enteritis.

Heart failure".

So, basic what they were saying was,

because of the acute enteritis, his intestines ruptured,

he filled up with blood, and it caused heart failure.

[church bell rings]

[News Reporter 1] Some say that David Von Erich's death

hit Dallas, Fort Worth, like Elvis Presley's

death hit the nation.

David Von Erich died Friday of enteritis.

He was 25 years old.

[David Manning] I mean, at the funeral that we're expecting 500

to 800 people, and we end up with almost 10,000.

[News Reporter 1] Fans from the area and foes

from the ring turned out.

The 1800-seat church was soon filled to capacity, and hundreds

stood outside hoping to catch a few strains of the service

from the loudspeaker system.

It was a quiet but unhappy group.

[Kevin Von Erich] It hit everyone like a ton of bricks.

The schools let out.

[Fan] I love and care for David, and I wanted to be here.

[News Reporter 2] The funeral procession stretched five miles

across the Lone Star State.

It was a hero's send-off.

[David Manning] They shut down the highway all the way

from Denton to Oak Grove Cemetery in Oak Cliff.

Things all of a sudden then there was like,

"This is like a president died."

[News Reporter 1] More fans waited at the cemetery

for the procession of 150 cars to arrive.

[Kevin Von Erich] I don't think that we realized how much

we were loved until we saw that.

[Fritz Von Erich] We're just overwhelmed today.

All of these people showing up for the last appearance

that David's ever going to make.

[Kerry Von Erich] Our bodies may be left here on Earth,

but our souls go to heaven.

It's made us accept death a lot easier.

Hey, we know our brother David's in a lot better place than

we are right now.

[Cathy Murray] The loss of a brother was devastating for him.

He said, "You know, I think I should just go

and be with David."

There was always this thing with the brothers that, maybe not so

much Kevin, because Kevin was the oldest trying to protect his

brothers, but beyond that, they always wanted to be together.

[Kristen Nikolas] After losing Uncle Dave, Meme was just filled

with so much pain, but she wanted to have a great image.

[Doris Von Erich] You say, "God help me through this."

You get off your duff and you start moving again.

You start laughing again, and you refuse to stay down.

[Kevin Von Erich] You don't get over it,

but we do have to keep fighting.

We have to make it for the weak ones, for our children,

for our women, for those that love us,

and those that are hurting, you know?

[Kevin Von Erich] You know, like Kerry and I were talking

about earlier today,

Dave wanted that world championship more than anything

in the world, and that world championship is going to be

around a Von Erich waist.

It has to be.

Not only for our family, for Dave.

[David Shoemaker] When David Von Erich died,

Fritz already has this giant stadium show booked at-

at Cowboy Stadium, and they have to go through with it.

And now, as much as they might have wanted to just mourn him,

they have to keep the business going.

[Kevin Von Erich] My dad was a businessman.

It's a family business.

"This is what I do.

This is my job."

[David Manning] I'll never forget after Dave died, there

was talk about, "Well, we can't put the belt on the other two

boys at that point," and Fritz was like, "It's not an option."

[Fritz Von Erich] It's a question now of which of you two

is going to be the next world champion.

So, when you take that title, there's no question in anybody's

mind in the world that you are the best that there is,

the best there ever was.

All in David's memory.

[Kevin Von Erich] And so Kerry and I have like a coin flip with

my dad, but, um,truth of it was, that I was married and I

did not want to travel like the world champion has to travel.

It's all over the place.

I had my children.

I didn't want to be the world champion, and, uh, Kerry did.

And so as far as the coin flip's concerned,

it was more like, "You win."

[Commentator] There are no seatbelts on the chairs here at

Texas Stadium, but we almost need them.

[Undertaker] My goodness.

I mean, what an atmosphere.

What a huge match feeling, and Kerry had the weight of the

state on his back.

[Commentator] From Denton, Texas, weighing 259 pounds,

Mr. Kerry Von Erich.

[Kerry Von Erich] You know, when I talk about the butterflies

or something like this, it's almost impossible

to describe in words the way I felt,

but it was like all of Texas Stadium was electrified.

[Undertaker] That title shot was supposed to be David's.

David passes away in Japan.

Now, his brother comes and steps in, and who does he have to-

I mean, Ric Flair, prime Ric Flair.

[Ric Flair] Texas Stadium sold out.

[Commentator] The largest crowd ever to see wrestling anywhere

in the world is on hand here at Texas Stadium.

A history-making event.

[Ric Flair] Kerry Von Erich in the-

in the state of Texas, phew.

[Cathy Murray] I was pregnant with Hollie,

and it was a great day for all of us.

[Commentator] Kerry Von Erich, probably,

the most beautiful ring jacket I've ever seen.

[Cathy Murray] He wanted to-to make his dad proud.

And-and all the fans too, right?

To make sure that that Von Erich image was, you know, upheld.

[Commentator] This is it.

Here we go.

[Mark Henry] Watching that one-

[Commentator] Flair can't find the handle.

[Mark Henry] -at my Papa Jody's house-

[Commentator] Kerry is rolling now.

[Mark Henry] -it was like watching a Mike Tyson fight.

[Commentator] Back to his feet.

There's the drive by Kerry.

[Mark Henry] And everybody had to go to the fight.

[Commentator] Powerslam.

[David Manning] You got 40,000 grieving people.

We had to have the pop.

[Commentator] And it's the Iron Claw.

Kerry's got him.

Here's the Nelson pin.

Two, three.

Do dream's come true?

[bell rings]

[Commentator] Yes-

-it's happened.

[crowd cheers]

[Undertaker] Man, it gives you kinda-

it gives you goosebumps thinking about it,

how special that was for Kerry to-to win the title.

[Commentator] Kerry Von Erich is the new

World Heavyweight Champion.

[JBL] To have our guy, Kerry Von Erich, you know,

that iconic stadium with the hole in the roof so God can

watch his team, it was a day of celebration in the state.

[Commentator] Oh, the Texas flag, the big yellow rose,

and the heavyweight belt.

[Shawn Michaels] Winning the ultimate prize in dedication

to your brother who passed away.

Kerry Von Erich was a God in the state of Texas.

[Commentator] Fritz there to greet Kerry.

There's Mrs. Von Erich, Kerry's mother.

[Kerry Von Erich] You know, today the world belongs

to Texas, because if it wasn't for the Texas people,

we wouldn't have nothing.

And you know what else, my brother David, tonight,

he had the best seat in the house,

right upstairs looking down.

And-and just God bless him, man, because he saw everything I did.

We're just so happy.

[Cathy Murray] It was just one of the greatest moments,

I think, in his history of wrestling.

[David Manning] Then Kerry had to take on the responsibility

of being a champion, and it's not fun.

[Commentator] Here now comes World Heavyweight Champion,

Kerry Von Erich.

[David Manning] That's a 360-day deal.

He goes from, "David's dead," you're the main event, promos,

promos, promos.

And you can't just say, "Oh, we're taking a week off."

[Cathy Murray] So, between that and losing his brother, David,

that's when I started seeing a little bit more of the drugs

starting to come in.

[Kerry Von Erich] Oh, Bill, so much going on inside my head.

I feel like I'm ready now.

I believe with all my heart I can-

[Cathy Murray] I think before David's death,

the drugs were under control,

where it wasn't causing any problems for him.

And then after David's death, it just became more of a necessity.

[Commentator] Kerry Von Erich, the new

World Heavyweight Champion.

[Commentator 2] I guess that's something

we've all dreamed about.

[Bruce Prichard] That was the right call for Kerry

to be world champion.

For that night, in that stadium, regardless of how it turned out,

it was the right call.

[Commentator] Ric switches him, pulls him back.

He's got him.

He's got him.

And that's it.

And Ric Flair, the World Heavyweight Champion,

once again.

[David Shoemaker] With an 18-day reign, the NWA was sort of doing

a solid for the State of Texas, you know, for Dallas,

for the Von Erich family, for all the tragedy

that they were going through right in that moment.

And it wasn't meant to be a long-term solution.

[Cathy Murray] I think for Kerry, it didn't matter

that he lost it so quickly because you're on top, right,

how much further can you go?

Like, "I'm accepted now."

Right?

"My dad trusted me to be able to do this, and I did it."

[Fritz Von Erich] I tried to do this all my life, the national

wrestling alliance world champion, and I was never able

to take it, but Kerry took it.

[crowd cheers]

[David Shoemaker] Even after losing the title,

the Von Erichs, they were still drawing in huge crowds,

and I think that just says something about their stardom.

[Commentator] Listen to this crowd roar.

They're on their feet.

[Fritz Von Erich] It's getting around that the Von Erichs

and World Class Championship Wrestling is the number one

sport in the world today.

[Brian Adias] World Class was just booming.

[crowd cheers]

[Commentator] Flying dropkick, and there goes Michael Hayes.

[Michael Hayes] They would play the show I think

it was at 11:00 AM Sunday mornings.

We would have a replay of that at 6:00 at night,

which was opposite of 60 Minutes,

which was the number one show in the country,

and we would almost double their ratings with a replay.

[David Shoemaker] At this point, World Class is so successful

that, you know, Vince McMahon takes notice.

[Vince McMahon] If there's one family that's dominant and

reigns supreme somewhat in the entire wrestling world,

it would be the Von Erich family.

[David Manning] There was a meeting that took place

in Dallas.

You know, Vince said, "Join forces with the WWE.

We'll go everywhere."

And at that time, they would even take 40%, we would be 60%.

We didn't do the deal.

Fritz was, "Why do we need you?

We just did 47,000 people."

[crowd cheers]

[TV Presenter 1] The wrestling family,

which has made Dallas and Fort Worth one of the hottest spots

in the sport, is still growing strong.

The people love the Von Erichs.

[TV Presenter 2] It's amazing, but wherever the Von Erichs go,

a crowd always follows.

[Brian Adias] Kerry, he was extremely popular.

People just loved him.

He was actually in an audition with Sylvester Stallone

for Rocky IV, and they picked Dolph Lundgren for it.

[Cathy Murray] But becoming famous at a really young age can

be difficult, and that was pretty tough for me as a wife,

being with somebody that was so famous.

[Brenda Bright] I love you too, Kerry, but you're married, so.

[Cathy Murray] I'm just worried about his health.

I'm worried that he's gonna get an eye out or somethin'.

[laughing]

I'm not really worried about the girls kissing

on him or anything.

I-I know how that goes.

I don't blame 'em.

I would, too.

I'd be jumping all over him, too.

[laughing]

[Cathy Murray] All of it was really hard for he and I.

I kept seeing Kerry Adkisson getting buried underneath

the Von Erich image.

I was losing a part of my husband that was very important

to me because Kerry Von Erich belonged to everybody.

Maybe taking the drugs helped him to escape from that.

Um, at least he told me that one time.

[Michael Hayes] That's a big responsibility, being on top,

because you're responsible for feeding everybody,

and drinking and doing drugs don't help you

balance that that well.

?

[David Manning] Kerry, sometimes, is he 100 percent?

Is he 70 percent?

What have we got to work with?

[Kerry Von Erich] And when we finally get him in the ring,

Michael Hayes or Terry Gordy, I don't care which one,

but when we get you in the ring, baby,

I ain't going out to hurt you,

I'm going out to cripple you, and I guarantee you that.

[David Manning] It was hard to be in that position to where

you go tell someone that their son's got a problem.

I mentioned it one time, and I got heat for it.

Not from Fritz.

[laughing]

I'll just leave it at that.

[Kristen Nikolas] My grandmother loved her boys so much.

And I love Meme, I love my grandmother, but, um,

it's frustrating because it-it-it is just

so easy to blame grandad.

It's not always as it seems.

?

[Michael Hayes] A lot of people wanted to make Fritz

the bad guy.

There was a deep love and respect between the boys

and Fritz, and it went both ways.

I saw it firsthand.

[Cathy Murray] Mr. Adkisson absolutely wanted the best

for his boys, but he also wanted the best for his business.

[crowd cheers]

[Michael Hayes] Fritz was also very consumed

with making sure that train kept running down that track,

and we are still breaking attendance records.

[Commentator] Kerry Von Erich literally having

to push his through.

[Michael Hayes] Life was great.

Everybody thought it was going to last forever.

Wrong.

??

[Kevin Von Erich] We had to deal with life as it comes.

Don't cry about it.

[Brian Adias] The tragedy started coming around.

It had its effect.

[Michael Hayes] Suicides, drugs, alcohol.

You name it.

It all played a part.

[Kevin's grandson] It's so cool

how you all got to wrestle together.

[Kevin Von Erich] Well, just imagine you and Si

just playing outside but there's thousands of people watching.

So that's what's gonna happen one day,

like playing with your brother,

in front of a bunch of people.

There was a time that we could all wrestle in any town and,

uh, sell it out.

[Commentator] The Von Erichs have won the hearts

of wrestling fans.

They're the most popular wrestling family in the world.

[Kevin Von Erich] Eh.

It's not like people think.

It's a family business.

It wasn't fun.

It was work.

[Kristen Nikolas] You're pressured to be on

all of the time.

An image that they all want to uphold.

[Fritz Von Erich] They're just good boys.

The world just needs heroes today.

That's all.

[Hollie Chilton] There's pressure

to keep that name alive.

[TV Presenter 3] Professional wrestler, Mike Von Erich,

remains in critical condition.

[Dr. Bill Sutker] If Mike Von Erich dies,

the whole world is gonna hate you.

[Kerry Von Erich] It's in the Lord's plan

for these things to happen.

The Von Erichs are strong.

[Cathy Murray] I saw a lot of depression in him.

[Hollie Adkisson] I do remember times where he wasn't sober.

[Fritz Von Erich] The doctor told him he just might never

be able to go back into wrestling.

[TV Presenter 4] Dozens of searchers have been scouring

Lake Lewisville by ground and air since Wednesday night.

[Cathy Murray] When I got the call,

I knew our world was crumbling.

[TV Presenter 5] Investigators found a handwritten note.

"Mom and Dad, I'm in a better place."

[Kerry Von Erich] I'd rather die than let you folks down.

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