1 00:00:06,760 --> 00:00:12,960 When we talk about wrestling in the 80s, it's hard to imagine how popular the 2 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:15,220 Von Erich brothers were. Those guys were ready -made. 3 00:00:18,300 --> 00:00:22,380 The Von Erich family could have been the equivalent of the Kennedys. It was a 4 00:00:22,380 --> 00:00:23,980 dynasty. It was a family dynasty. 5 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:29,360 They were the all -American boys from Texas. They are real -life Texas heroes 6 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:29,999 the flesh. 7 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:31,680 They didn't have to put them in a funny outfit. 8 00:00:31,980 --> 00:00:33,880 They didn't have to give them a different name. 9 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:36,620 They had the look. They had the physiques. 10 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:38,460 They had the athletic ability. 11 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:43,040 They were superheroes in the ring. But then there was constant bad news. 12 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:46,400 The Von Erichs could have two legacies. 13 00:00:47,160 --> 00:00:51,360 They could have a legacy of being one of the biggest attractions, wrestling 14 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:52,500 families in history. 15 00:00:53,380 --> 00:00:56,840 Or they could have a legacy as a cautionary tale. 16 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:01,580 Von Erich was found dead and Von Erich was seriously injured. 17 00:01:01,780 --> 00:01:03,120 He just couldn't take it anymore. 18 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:06,640 I've loved the wrestling business all my life, but it's not that important. 19 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:09,640 Some people say, well, it's just the pressure of the spotlight. 20 00:01:09,900 --> 00:01:12,380 Other celebrities have been unable to cope. 21 00:01:14,660 --> 00:01:18,360 Who knew we were going to have, you know, four major deaths over the next 22 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:19,360 years? 23 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:24,460 During their brief reign, the Von Erich family ascended to wrestling 24 00:01:24,460 --> 00:01:29,540 superstardom, but just as quickly suffered relentless personal tragedy. 25 00:01:30,270 --> 00:01:35,370 In this episode, the last surviving brother reflects on his unimaginable 26 00:01:35,370 --> 00:01:36,370 journey. 27 00:01:47,670 --> 00:01:51,090 You know, I wanted to get away from wrestling. I wanted to get out. I wanted 28 00:01:51,090 --> 00:01:52,090 be anonymous. 29 00:01:54,410 --> 00:01:56,470 And they say the Pacific Ocean has no memory. 30 00:01:57,350 --> 00:01:59,710 Well, here I am in the smack dab in the middle of it. 31 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:04,500 Is there any other place in the world you'd rather be than here? 32 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:06,200 No, this is it. 33 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:11,520 It's the love and the peace and the harmony. 34 00:02:12,260 --> 00:02:14,300 You can't put a price on that, you know. 35 00:02:16,380 --> 00:02:19,320 I think I'm the richest man in the world. 36 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:22,440 My childhood? 37 00:02:22,900 --> 00:02:25,640 Well, I was an older brother, and so it was a lot of fighting. 38 00:02:26,140 --> 00:02:31,040 I could overdo that power of being a big brother, but so I learned not to. 39 00:02:31,660 --> 00:02:35,760 But, man, they adored me, and I adored them. There was this us -against -the 40 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:36,760 -world kind of thing. 41 00:02:36,860 --> 00:02:41,660 Lee, don't think I'm in a bad way, that I'm suffering at all. I consider myself 42 00:02:41,660 --> 00:02:43,320 the luckiest man in the world. 43 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:47,700 These are some hunting pictures. We always hunted with our dad. These were 44 00:02:47,700 --> 00:02:48,700 we were real young. 45 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:52,260 We lived in little 16 acres in this little shack. 46 00:02:52,660 --> 00:02:55,060 That's how we lived out in the country when Dad was wrestling. 47 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:59,000 And then here's a shot just about... 48 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:03,040 Two miles from this spot is this farm, and this is where I raised my voice. 49 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:09,060 My dad always said, whatever you put into something is what you get out of 50 00:03:09,220 --> 00:03:11,520 He was a really good wrestler, a solid wrestler. 51 00:03:11,740 --> 00:03:13,480 There's no way I can be objective. 52 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:18,160 I think he was the best of all time. But he was a vicious wrestler. 53 00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:24,020 My father, you know, wanted something different. 54 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:26,720 If you want to be a bad guy, you be the best. 55 00:03:27,130 --> 00:03:33,010 So as far as my dad was concerned, a Nazi was about the most despised 56 00:03:33,010 --> 00:03:35,010 could be, and he was a Nazi. 57 00:03:35,450 --> 00:03:37,830 This is Von Erich from Berlin, Germany. 58 00:03:38,210 --> 00:03:39,210 Here we go. 59 00:03:39,270 --> 00:03:43,810 He could create a lot of heat just coming across as the German hit the ring 60 00:03:43,810 --> 00:03:45,050 was going to beat up all the Americans. 61 00:03:45,610 --> 00:03:49,390 My connection with the Von Erich family is I was Rich's right -hand man. 62 00:03:49,690 --> 00:03:50,870 Rich was the main event. 63 00:03:51,470 --> 00:03:55,890 He was a huge star in the 50s and 60s all over the country. 64 00:03:56,400 --> 00:03:59,860 If you're wondering what qualifies me to be a pro wrestling expert, it's simple. 65 00:03:59,940 --> 00:04:03,920 Almost 50 years of obsessive collecting, hoarding, and research. 66 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:08,200 So Fritz had gotten the reputation as the toughest guy in Texas. 67 00:04:09,980 --> 00:04:15,020 As little kids, our dad being the bad guy, we didn't see it that way. So 68 00:04:15,020 --> 00:04:16,920 watching wrestling to us was torment. 69 00:04:17,769 --> 00:04:20,370 You know, when the crowd was cheering, we knew that was bad. 70 00:04:20,769 --> 00:04:25,950 Because, without a doubt, he was the most hated villain of all wrestling. And 71 00:04:25,950 --> 00:04:29,750 one brother would have to watch while the other brothers would cover our ears 72 00:04:29,750 --> 00:04:31,750 and eyes and, you know, wouldn't look. 73 00:04:32,290 --> 00:04:34,310 And the other brothers would say, Dad's winning. 74 00:04:34,770 --> 00:04:36,590 So we'd start watching again, you know. 75 00:04:36,930 --> 00:04:38,530 We were so into it. 76 00:04:40,490 --> 00:04:42,730 Fritz also developed the Iron Claw. 77 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:48,320 The claw's a hold that my dad invented. 78 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:54,540 The crazy thing about it is that after years and years of doing the claw, 79 00:04:54,700 --> 00:04:58,640 you get scary, crazy good at it. 80 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:03,020 You just grab and you do this, you know, squeeze the guy in the temples with 81 00:05:03,020 --> 00:05:05,160 your big hands. You just, that's it. 82 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:09,420 My name is Dave Meltzer, and I've been writing the Wrestling Observer 83 00:05:09,420 --> 00:05:12,580 since 1982, so it's been pretty much my entire life. 84 00:05:13,470 --> 00:05:17,110 Fritz von Erich was actually wanting to get out of wrestling and raise his 85 00:05:17,110 --> 00:05:19,090 family and do a lot less traveling. 86 00:05:19,510 --> 00:05:24,110 It was always the goal of wrestlers in those days to buy a territory, become a 87 00:05:24,110 --> 00:05:25,610 promoter. That's where the real money was. 88 00:05:25,830 --> 00:05:29,010 Fritz had a big office, and he's the boss, and he's the promoter with World 89 00:05:29,010 --> 00:05:32,270 Class Championship Wrestling, but he was also a very strong business person. 90 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:37,880 Almost every wrestler that became a promoter, he wanted your sons to be 91 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:40,200 wrestlers so they can be the stars of the next generation. 92 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:44,900 I don't know that even if he realized how big a star they were going to be. We 93 00:05:44,900 --> 00:05:47,380 got into wrestling because we wanted to be like our dad. 94 00:05:48,620 --> 00:05:50,660 I was born into wrestling. 95 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:55,660 One good thing about being brothers, we knew exactly what was going on. It was 96 00:05:55,660 --> 00:05:59,860 beautiful. Almost should be illegal, what an upper hand we had on other 97 00:06:01,059 --> 00:06:04,460 Because you know exactly what they're thinking. It was a perfect storm. The 98 00:06:04,460 --> 00:06:08,500 young Von Erich boys had debuted, had gotten a couple years' experience. They 99 00:06:08,500 --> 00:06:11,300 looked great. People knew them. And all of a sudden now they're on this new 100 00:06:11,300 --> 00:06:12,300 -looking program. 101 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:14,740 They were household names. Everybody knew who they were. 102 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:18,040 Austin, we're the number one show at 9 o 'clock in the morning on Sunday 103 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:19,040 mornings. 104 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:22,200 They said, well, let's cover this like a sporting event. They would have the 105 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:25,920 cameraman and they would have the sound guy, like, actually in the ring. 106 00:06:26,340 --> 00:06:29,470 You know, during the tapings, you look at it and go like... What's he doing in 107 00:06:29,470 --> 00:06:31,210 the ring? Because no other company would ever do that. 108 00:06:31,590 --> 00:06:34,630 We literally set the stage of where wrestling would go. 109 00:06:35,150 --> 00:06:39,110 They came up with a comic book where there's some bad guys that are trying to 110 00:06:39,110 --> 00:06:42,110 take over the universe and they need the Von Erks because their hearts are so 111 00:06:42,110 --> 00:06:45,430 good. So that was just, we just cleaned up space a little bit. You know, just 112 00:06:45,430 --> 00:06:46,430 the riffraff. 113 00:06:46,770 --> 00:06:48,810 The girls just went nuts. 114 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:56,240 There's no telling what magazine you would see him in. They were teenage hot 115 00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:59,100 drops. They were teen idols. Kevin, Kerry, Dave. 116 00:07:01,180 --> 00:07:04,880 Going to the ring would be like a madhouse. The girls would cry about us, 117 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:08,620 know, and of course you've got to keep going. And so pretty soon your shoulders 118 00:07:08,620 --> 00:07:12,020 are just, you know, scratched all up and bleeding, you know, and the place would 119 00:07:12,020 --> 00:07:13,020 just go electric. 120 00:07:13,540 --> 00:07:16,720 I mean, your ears ring. You go home from that shrill scream. 121 00:07:17,820 --> 00:07:21,740 That was what we shot for. We wanted that feeling, that intensity to stay 122 00:07:21,740 --> 00:07:22,760 way until it was over. 123 00:07:23,070 --> 00:07:24,070 Kerry was the star. 124 00:07:24,150 --> 00:07:26,670 Kerry had the movie star looks, had the physique. 125 00:07:27,050 --> 00:07:29,450 He had great personality, just charisma. 126 00:07:32,090 --> 00:07:34,690 I've never seen anybody that had his strength. 127 00:07:35,070 --> 00:07:39,590 David was the best performer in the ring, all around, psychology, movement, 128 00:07:39,590 --> 00:07:40,590 cetera, athletically. 129 00:07:40,830 --> 00:07:43,570 David used to go to the ring with the big yellow rose, and he was hit there at 130 00:07:43,570 --> 00:07:44,570 the Yellow Rose of Texas. 131 00:07:44,950 --> 00:07:46,790 Dave was a technician. 132 00:07:47,390 --> 00:07:49,770 There was not a hole you could surprise him with. 133 00:07:50,719 --> 00:07:55,700 Kevin, I think, was the athlete. He was just insane, the things he could do. He 134 00:07:55,700 --> 00:08:00,960 was probably by far the best raw athlete of the bunch. Then Mike. Mike didn't 135 00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:04,560 have the size as the other brothers. He was real close with his little brother, 136 00:08:04,660 --> 00:08:05,619 Chris. 137 00:08:05,620 --> 00:08:07,540 Chris, funny, funny guy. 138 00:08:07,940 --> 00:08:09,080 Just loved life. 139 00:08:10,220 --> 00:08:14,780 The Von Eriks epitomized God, family, and country. They're heroes. 140 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:19,940 completely more popular than movie stars and more accessible. From the time the 141 00:08:19,940 --> 00:08:24,940 kids were young, if they won an award in school, athletic award, it was talked 142 00:08:24,940 --> 00:08:28,980 about on the television show, and they were in wrestling magazines with 143 00:08:28,980 --> 00:08:33,880 out hunting or fishing out in Lake Dallas with their famous father, they 144 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:34,880 in the public eye. 145 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:36,659 They grew up on television. 146 00:08:36,980 --> 00:08:38,059 That's a lot of pressure. 147 00:08:38,299 --> 00:08:42,539 I'd like to say that it was, you know, clean -cut dyes, but I think people 148 00:08:42,539 --> 00:08:43,580 realized we were human. 149 00:08:45,070 --> 00:08:49,030 You could guarantee us that we had pure hearts and we had good motives. And 150 00:08:49,030 --> 00:08:53,810 maybe that was something real about us, that we're a family. And we did love 151 00:08:53,810 --> 00:08:58,030 each other and care and regard our fans as sort of people and not tickets. 152 00:08:58,470 --> 00:09:02,930 And so to their fans, they were more members of the family in some cases. 153 00:09:03,270 --> 00:09:07,170 There's something about those boys, every one of them, that everyone loves 154 00:09:07,170 --> 00:09:10,390 and I love them. So literally, it was almost like I think everyone felt like 155 00:09:10,390 --> 00:09:11,390 they were the parent. 156 00:09:11,579 --> 00:09:14,560 and they had watched these kids grow up, they were busy on the road, because 157 00:09:14,560 --> 00:09:18,520 you've got to realize, it's a 365 -day job. In other words, these guys were 158 00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:20,700 wrestling everywhere, sometimes two times a day. 159 00:09:23,620 --> 00:09:28,320 The talks were already out there that David could be one of the top prospects 160 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:29,600 be the next world heavyweight champion. 161 00:09:30,020 --> 00:09:31,100 David was the worker. 162 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:33,100 Everybody universally said that. 163 00:09:33,460 --> 00:09:35,400 He would have been the guy the NWA picked. 164 00:09:36,420 --> 00:09:40,420 Even before Dave went to Japan, he was sitting with my mother at the table, and 165 00:09:40,420 --> 00:09:44,020 I said, Dave, I just had that really bad feeling. I said, they're looking at 166 00:09:44,020 --> 00:09:48,120 him, and it was looking more and more pale to me. 167 00:09:48,460 --> 00:09:51,120 I got a phone call and was asleep. 168 00:09:51,740 --> 00:09:55,520 To this day, I can't stand a phone call before daylight. 169 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:57,820 It just tears me up. 170 00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:05,100 This voice says, David Manning, Joe Higuchi, All Japan Pro Wrestling. 171 00:10:05,530 --> 00:10:06,530 David Von Erich Dent. 172 00:10:15,630 --> 00:10:17,670 And here is after my first knee surgery. 173 00:10:18,870 --> 00:10:22,850 On my third knee surgery, my knees were shot, and then I had to give up 174 00:10:22,850 --> 00:10:25,410 football. I guess Dave was in chronic relief. 175 00:10:25,690 --> 00:10:29,210 My parents, they knew how much I loved football, and so I said, Dave, be 176 00:10:29,210 --> 00:10:31,990 what you say to him. He's just got the worst news of his life. He can't play 177 00:10:31,990 --> 00:10:34,870 football. And Dave comes and says, so I heard you're a quitter. 178 00:10:36,560 --> 00:10:40,320 When Dave died, I never got up from that all the way. 179 00:10:40,740 --> 00:10:42,840 It hit me like no other one did. 180 00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:48,120 I say I was the oldest brother, but I was the second son. 181 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:50,220 Our oldest brother was Jackie. 182 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:53,900 They lived in a trailer park because since they were always on the road, they 183 00:10:53,900 --> 00:10:56,480 had a house trailer that they could move from place to place. 184 00:10:57,080 --> 00:11:01,500 You know, Jack was actually coming home from school and it had snowed. I think 185 00:11:01,500 --> 00:11:02,620 he was six years old. 186 00:11:03,020 --> 00:11:06,640 And as he was trying to step over the tongue or go around the tongue of a 187 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:07,800 trailer, he touched it. 188 00:11:08,220 --> 00:11:09,500 Somehow it electrocuted him. 189 00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:11,900 And he fell in the snow face first and drowned. 190 00:11:13,580 --> 00:11:18,100 I was looking for him, you know, a little three -year -old kid looking for 191 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:23,620 And I knew something was bad. And I was like watching it. My parents, they were 192 00:11:23,620 --> 00:11:24,620 all crying. 193 00:11:24,860 --> 00:11:26,960 And Jackie had been electrocuted. 194 00:11:29,900 --> 00:11:34,400 Came in and saw my dad punch the car window and just shatter it. He came out 195 00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:35,400 that different. 196 00:11:36,380 --> 00:11:40,900 He was still an honorable man on the outside, but I think inside he wanted to 197 00:11:40,900 --> 00:11:44,980 die. He was suffering. He'd think, what have I done to deserve this? 198 00:11:45,260 --> 00:11:46,820 He was at war with the world. 199 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:52,280 He wanted to make everyone suffer like him. It was the first of unimaginable 200 00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:54,920 tragedy that that one family had to go through. 201 00:11:55,760 --> 00:12:00,580 When it came to David Von Erich getting the news that he passed away, it was 202 00:12:00,580 --> 00:12:07,240 about 2 in the morning, and the phone rang, and I picked up the phone, and 203 00:12:07,240 --> 00:12:09,620 voice says, David Von Erich dead. 204 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:14,020 And I said, so what happened? We find in room dead. 205 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:18,400 It's 2 .30 in the morning, and I'm trying to decide how do I get this news. 206 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:19,400 then, there weren't cell phones. 207 00:12:19,710 --> 00:12:23,730 And so I got in my car, and I'll never forget, it was just coming daylight, and 208 00:12:23,730 --> 00:12:27,330 as I pulled in, I could see Fritz in front of the motor coach in the window. 209 00:12:27,970 --> 00:12:32,330 And I got out of the car, and I walked to the door, and he opened the door to 210 00:12:32,330 --> 00:12:34,450 the motor coach, and he looked at me, and he said, which one? 211 00:12:36,410 --> 00:12:40,590 So I think he knew for me to go all the way down there is something very, very 212 00:12:40,590 --> 00:12:44,150 serious. I said, Fritz, they just called me from Japan. 213 00:12:44,610 --> 00:12:45,610 David's dead. 214 00:12:48,170 --> 00:12:52,910 My mother, she'd been told, and she just went running off into the woods. It was 215 00:12:52,910 --> 00:12:57,230 barely daybreak. My dad just walked outside and stared in the sky. 216 00:12:57,850 --> 00:13:00,610 I went a little bit crazy. I didn't want to see anybody. 217 00:13:01,050 --> 00:13:04,390 I had to be in the woods, and I stayed in the woods, too. 218 00:13:06,270 --> 00:13:09,750 Fritz said, you go to town, you make the phone calls, you find out what happened 219 00:13:09,750 --> 00:13:14,650 to my boy. I managed to get a hold of Brody, who was also a legendary 220 00:13:14,770 --> 00:13:15,770 popular in Japan. 221 00:13:15,990 --> 00:13:20,020 Brody said that... When they opened the door, the way he was laying, it looked 222 00:13:20,020 --> 00:13:21,340 like he was trying to get to the phone. 223 00:13:21,680 --> 00:13:27,860 I knew Brody always to be so tough and such a strong, good man. But when he was 224 00:13:27,860 --> 00:13:31,600 telling me, he was like, he couldn't talk, you know. 225 00:13:31,940 --> 00:13:34,360 He's crying inside. I never saw Brody cry. 226 00:13:34,620 --> 00:13:38,500 I said, Frank, don't think about it. Don't think about it, Frank. 227 00:13:39,100 --> 00:13:41,940 And he goes, he's dead, Kevin. 228 00:13:42,500 --> 00:13:44,380 Frank. God, it was terrible. 229 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:49,700 The next day after David died, you know, going to the mall in Wichita, Texas, 230 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:54,860 and you see like these like teenage girls and they're all crying and the 231 00:13:54,860 --> 00:13:58,160 are consoling them. It was a big freaking deal in that part of the 232 00:13:58,380 --> 00:14:00,640 It was almost like the fans had lost a son. 233 00:14:01,580 --> 00:14:05,480 I mean, it was emotional on two continents because the Japanese fans 234 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:10,540 hung up in wrestling that when a big name foreign wrestler dies on their 235 00:14:10,540 --> 00:14:12,920 mean, there was memorials and the guys were broken up. 236 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:18,260 I remember that airplane coming in with Dave's coffin on it. No one would look 237 00:14:18,260 --> 00:14:21,940 us in the eye because they knew we all hurt. We hurt so bad. 238 00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:24,140 And people hurt for us, too. 239 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:29,360 The funeral was just insane. It was like one of those old funerals of the silent 240 00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:30,279 movie stars. 241 00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:32,900 There was a lot of wrestlers right here in this area. When they went to the 242 00:14:32,900 --> 00:14:35,680 funeral, the tears flowed. It was hard to take. 243 00:14:36,060 --> 00:14:41,480 And so we estimated probably 4 ,000 to 5 ,000 people showed up for this service. 244 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:43,060 It was just beautiful. 245 00:14:43,750 --> 00:14:48,570 expression of love. The schools let out. The Texas legislature convened. It was 246 00:14:48,570 --> 00:14:50,930 like Texas got hurt that day. 247 00:14:51,390 --> 00:14:57,150 You couldn't get anybody else in. They literally had to put a screen outside 248 00:14:57,150 --> 00:15:01,150 speakers outside for the thousands of people that were there. 249 00:15:01,750 --> 00:15:05,070 I didn't know that we were that big, I guess. 250 00:15:06,470 --> 00:15:07,830 Inside the business, 251 00:15:08,750 --> 00:15:11,510 We heard that he passed away in his hotel room in Japan. 252 00:15:11,970 --> 00:15:14,170 That generally only means one thing. 253 00:15:14,850 --> 00:15:18,790 There's all this word out that he overdosed, but there's no doubt that he 254 00:15:18,790 --> 00:15:19,790 didn't. 255 00:15:19,950 --> 00:15:23,730 One of the biggest rumors out there was that when Brody found him, Brody threw 256 00:15:23,730 --> 00:15:28,230 away all the pills, and we waited to hear that autopsy report. 257 00:15:28,590 --> 00:15:31,130 Fritz was adamant, I want to know what the autopsy says. 258 00:15:31,530 --> 00:15:33,950 And whatever it says, that's what we're going to have to put out. 259 00:15:34,470 --> 00:15:37,130 And it came back, acute enteritis. 260 00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:41,040 His intestines, basically from an infection, swole up to the point they 261 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:43,720 ruptured. His body filled up with blood and heart failure. 262 00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:48,340 About two days or a day before he was going to leave to go to Japan, he was 263 00:15:48,340 --> 00:15:49,299 throwing up. 264 00:15:49,300 --> 00:15:51,900 Fritz was very stern about, you make the shows you're booked at. 265 00:15:52,340 --> 00:15:53,880 So he left and went over there. 266 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:55,440 No, I'm telling you what really happened. 267 00:15:55,720 --> 00:16:00,840 We're not big shots that told the country of Japan to falsify those 268 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:02,180 You know, I'm a wrestler. 269 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:06,180 You're not going to listen to me for that. It was gastroenteritis. 270 00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:07,680 A terrible way to die. 271 00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:09,820 And we lost him. 272 00:16:22,180 --> 00:16:23,600 Every man's going to die. 273 00:16:25,160 --> 00:16:26,460 But we do our best. 274 00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:29,480 We do our best until that day comes. 275 00:16:30,060 --> 00:16:34,480 We had a guy named Glenn Goza, and he had wrote Heaven Needs a Champion. 276 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:38,620 And he literally put a song of there's a main event taking place in heaven, and 277 00:16:38,620 --> 00:16:41,460 God brought David Von Erich there to be the star. 278 00:16:41,980 --> 00:16:47,860 You wore the family name with pride. David Von Erich, as a person and as a 279 00:16:47,860 --> 00:16:49,320 wrestler, was a true champion. 280 00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:53,320 He had a great gift, and he knew how to take it to its fullest. 281 00:16:54,580 --> 00:16:59,160 After David's funeral, Fritz would hold the Parade of Champions event in his 282 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:03,220 son's honor, which at the time attracted the largest crowd ever. 283 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:05,859 to watch a wrestling event in the United States. 284 00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:12,660 There will be a new World's Heavyweight Champion crowd on that afternoon. 285 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:17,940 The brother of David Von Erich, Kerry, was going to challenge Nature Boy Ric 286 00:17:17,940 --> 00:17:21,980 Flair for the NWA World Championship that had always eluded the Von Erich 287 00:17:21,980 --> 00:17:26,240 family, and this time he said, I'm going to win it for David. We were adamant 288 00:17:26,240 --> 00:17:31,460 with the NWA, National Wrestling Alliance, we had to switch that title. 289 00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:36,680 I think that's where we saw Fritz had some clout. The dream of my brother is 290 00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:37,680 my reality. 291 00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:41,540 Leading up to that match, we knew it was going to be big. We didn't know how 292 00:17:41,540 --> 00:17:42,540 big. 293 00:17:43,420 --> 00:17:49,400 But all of a sudden, you've got 42 -plus thousand people at Texas Stadium, and 294 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:50,780 they're there to see one thing. 295 00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:52,400 That title change. 296 00:17:52,980 --> 00:17:56,820 Your referee is David Manning. Here I knew I was going to go down in the 297 00:17:56,820 --> 00:17:58,900 books. The title was changing that night. 298 00:17:59,230 --> 00:18:02,390 I was super happy for Kerry. I thought he'd make a great champion. 299 00:18:02,690 --> 00:18:03,690 Here we go. 300 00:18:04,650 --> 00:18:05,730 It was incredible. 301 00:18:07,130 --> 00:18:10,430 You can feel the tension. 302 00:18:11,070 --> 00:18:14,750 And whenever that one, two, three. 303 00:18:19,370 --> 00:18:21,150 The whole place went nuts. 304 00:18:22,350 --> 00:18:23,410 And then you got. 305 00:18:24,060 --> 00:18:27,380 Kevin hit the ring. You got Fritz hitting the ring. You can see Doris in 306 00:18:27,380 --> 00:18:31,000 background. I'm presenting the belt. The media's going crazy. We had all the 307 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:32,000 radio stations there. 308 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:35,620 The Yellow Rose in honor of Brother David. 309 00:18:35,860 --> 00:18:39,280 It was a great night. Not bittersweet at all. Sweet, sweet. 310 00:18:39,580 --> 00:18:44,560 That was probably a bigger deal to the Von Erich boys than it was to Fritz 311 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:45,900 himself and to the fans. 312 00:18:46,580 --> 00:18:52,280 With Kerry's championship win and a strong emotional bond with fans, World 313 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:54,800 -class championship wrestling was now on fire. 314 00:18:55,340 --> 00:18:58,640 But with David gone, there was a void to fill. 315 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:03,800 Fritz wanted to replace David because we were missing a piece of the puzzle, and 316 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:07,080 we decided to look for another Von Erich. 317 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:11,520 Whenever I saw Lance, he was the perfect guy. He was chiseled. He looked like he 318 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:12,519 could be a Von Erich. 319 00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:13,640 It was a terrible idea. 320 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:16,140 We had never lied to our people. 321 00:19:16,420 --> 00:19:20,780 It really hurt their image, and it started the downward spiral going a 322 00:19:20,780 --> 00:19:21,780 bit quicker. 323 00:19:21,820 --> 00:19:23,960 They knew he wasn't a real Von Erich. 324 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:26,040 They're lying to us. 325 00:19:27,100 --> 00:19:28,100 Lance. 326 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:36,860 Growing up, of course, we wanted to be just like him. He's like real -life 327 00:19:36,860 --> 00:19:40,580 Tarzan, you know, climbing trees. Any river he sees, he gets out of the car, 328 00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:42,400 he'll dive in it, doesn't care what's in it. 329 00:19:42,910 --> 00:19:47,270 We saw that fearlessness in every situation, not only in the ring, but in 330 00:19:47,410 --> 00:19:52,270 And, you know, that's what we wanted to be like. And we're just grateful to God 331 00:19:52,270 --> 00:19:56,010 that we can follow in the footsteps. And doors are opening in wrestling. 332 00:19:56,330 --> 00:19:59,810 And we get to, you know, pick up where the Von Erichs left off. 333 00:20:00,690 --> 00:20:02,970 Kevin and I talk, you know, I go to Hawaiian theme. 334 00:20:03,410 --> 00:20:05,910 He's got two great boys now, Marshall and Roth. 335 00:20:06,870 --> 00:20:10,010 Gosh, they're so talented. And when I look at them, I see the brothers. 336 00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:12,440 You're just kind of crazy. 337 00:20:13,220 --> 00:20:16,360 Thanks, sir. Can you tell us the story about Lance Von Erich? 338 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:17,600 Yeah. 339 00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:23,340 Kerry and I were dead set against that. Of all of the angles that happened in 340 00:20:23,340 --> 00:20:27,120 the final years of world -class wrestling, Lance Von Erich was the 341 00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:29,540 They needed another Von Eriks. 342 00:20:30,100 --> 00:20:34,340 Overall, it did a lot more damage than it did good. And then when they got on 343 00:20:34,340 --> 00:20:38,220 the outs with Lance and tried to disown him, the fans just said, well, you're 344 00:20:38,220 --> 00:20:42,400 the ones that brought him and sold him to us. That's where I think people lost 345 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:45,820 lot of faith. I have to say, Kevin was dead set against it. He felt it could 346 00:20:45,820 --> 00:20:49,840 exposed and that Mike would be able to step up and take the role. 347 00:20:50,610 --> 00:20:54,990 People shouldn't say that Mike was an athlete because he sure was. Mike was an 348 00:20:54,990 --> 00:20:55,990 incredible athlete. 349 00:20:56,570 --> 00:21:03,550 Mike got involved in wrestling and 350 00:21:03,550 --> 00:21:07,210 he wanted to have the size of the other brothers. And he worked out hard. 351 00:21:07,410 --> 00:21:10,050 You know, he had the drive, he had the stamina. 352 00:21:10,390 --> 00:21:11,490 So it was hard for Mike. 353 00:21:11,890 --> 00:21:15,370 Mike was a great guy, but he wasn't cut out to be a wrestler. 354 00:21:15,690 --> 00:21:19,370 Mike had to walk in there and be David Von Erich and be a main event wrestler 355 00:21:19,370 --> 00:21:23,530 19, 20 years old, and he wasn't a great athlete. The only thing he had going for 356 00:21:23,530 --> 00:21:25,850 him is that he was called Mike Von Erich. 357 00:21:26,870 --> 00:21:30,150 I mean, he just didn't look like a wrestler at all, and he's in there with, 358 00:21:30,170 --> 00:21:34,230 like, Ric Flair and these big, great wrestlers who are just carrying him in 359 00:21:34,230 --> 00:21:36,730 these matches that are just painful, in a sense, to watch. 360 00:21:37,150 --> 00:21:39,090 The injuries did bother him, you know. 361 00:21:39,470 --> 00:21:43,310 He was wrestling in Tel Aviv against Gio Hernandez. 362 00:21:44,190 --> 00:21:47,270 Gino pulled just when he wasn't ready, and out it came. 363 00:21:48,130 --> 00:21:50,190 This time it tore a lot of ligaments. 364 00:21:51,030 --> 00:21:56,290 Only a year after David's death, Mike dislocates his shoulder in the ring and 365 00:21:56,290 --> 00:21:57,490 rushed to an Israeli hospital. 366 00:21:58,350 --> 00:22:03,450 They perform emergency surgery, and soon after, Mike is flown back to Texas. 367 00:22:03,850 --> 00:22:07,990 They literally took him home, and all of a sudden his temperature is sky high. 368 00:22:08,330 --> 00:22:12,210 The fever hitting over 105 is what did the damage, I think. 369 00:22:12,570 --> 00:22:16,410 I put him over my shoulder and walked down the steps with him and put him in 370 00:22:16,410 --> 00:22:17,410 car and took off. 371 00:22:17,690 --> 00:22:22,310 Mike Von Erich, hospitalized for routine shoulder surgery, sustained a staph 372 00:22:22,310 --> 00:22:25,290 infection that escalated into toxic shock syndrome. 373 00:22:26,210 --> 00:22:28,810 It was toxic shock syndrome, what they called it. 374 00:22:30,670 --> 00:22:34,490 And the doctor comes out and he said his blood pressure has plummeted, his 375 00:22:34,490 --> 00:22:35,710 organs are starting to shut down. 376 00:22:36,030 --> 00:22:38,070 He said, we've done everything we can do. 377 00:22:39,050 --> 00:22:41,310 He said, I don't think Mike's going to make it through the night. 378 00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:44,300 You know, they told us to say goodbye to them. 379 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:50,400 The hospital was getting like 250 calls an hour where they had to hire on extra 380 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:54,300 staff. People had been offering to donate their liver and their kidneys. 381 00:22:55,560 --> 00:23:00,000 We were in the room, and Gary Holder, who was considered the chaplain of world 382 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:01,340 class, was there in the room. 383 00:23:01,740 --> 00:23:07,500 Gary Holder said, God, you stand on your word. You said anything we ask in 384 00:23:07,500 --> 00:23:13,320 Jesus' name, I will do it. That's when I didn't even look up. I thought, that's 385 00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:14,920 disrespectful. You went too far. 386 00:23:15,340 --> 00:23:20,120 He took the Bible and he slammed it down on the table. And he said, God, there 387 00:23:20,120 --> 00:23:21,039 is your word. 388 00:23:21,040 --> 00:23:22,920 So keep your word, God. 389 00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:27,900 And it was less than 30 seconds after Gary finished praying. The doors opened. 390 00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:29,040 Bill Sutker. 391 00:23:29,360 --> 00:23:34,480 came in the room with his other doctor, and his exact words were, I'm not sure 392 00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:36,860 what happened, but everything's functioning. 393 00:23:37,100 --> 00:23:40,140 His temperature has dropped, so let's see where we're at. 394 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:43,080 They couldn't believe it, but he's a fighter. 395 00:23:43,500 --> 00:23:47,980 And I want to thank everyone out there, all my good neighbors, for your prayers. 396 00:23:48,340 --> 00:23:50,680 One week later, we rolled Mike out of the hospital. 397 00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:55,220 He might have rushed it a little bit. He was so anxious to get back, and so we 398 00:23:55,220 --> 00:23:56,380 did a big press conference. 399 00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:58,320 I know I'll be back. 400 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:16,480 I saw on TV, well, Mike's going to come back, and they were milking to it and 401 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:17,920 trying to get people interested in it. 402 00:24:18,300 --> 00:24:20,440 I just didn't see how it was going to work. 403 00:24:20,810 --> 00:24:23,270 And when he first came back, I was like, God, I don't know if he should come 404 00:24:23,270 --> 00:24:26,250 back and wrestle. He probably shouldn't have wrestled to begin with. He looked 405 00:24:26,250 --> 00:24:29,130 really gaunt and hollow. 406 00:24:29,390 --> 00:24:31,110 I wondered if there was brain damage. 407 00:24:31,510 --> 00:24:36,810 And that's when he attacked a stoplight, attacked a parked car one time. Just 408 00:24:36,810 --> 00:24:39,550 outrageous, you know, nobody in the parked car. 409 00:24:39,830 --> 00:24:44,530 But they always wanted a feel -good story at the end. And it always worked 410 00:24:44,530 --> 00:24:45,990 it was stuff that they could write. 411 00:24:46,210 --> 00:24:49,890 But when it was real life and they couldn't control it, it... 412 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:51,639 It didn't work. 413 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:55,680 You got to realize when Mike came on the scene, the brothers were superstars. 414 00:24:56,420 --> 00:24:58,260 So all of a sudden you had big shoes to fill. 415 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:01,120 And I think that was a lot of pressure that went on Mike. 416 00:25:01,380 --> 00:25:05,240 And early Saturday morning, Von Erich was arrested on suspicion of drunken 417 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:06,720 driving and possession of marijuana. 418 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:11,400 The Von Erich family attorney assisted Mike during his release from jail. 419 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:14,260 He would be the last person to see him alive. 420 00:25:14,820 --> 00:25:17,900 Mike missed an event. If you were Von Erich, you didn't miss an event. 421 00:25:18,180 --> 00:25:19,240 I remember that night. 422 00:25:20,520 --> 00:25:22,400 wondering where Mike was, what he was thinking. 423 00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:28,280 They had a bulletin out everywhere, had all the police looking, and it was, I 424 00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:30,880 want to say, two days, maybe three, before they found Mike. 425 00:25:31,100 --> 00:25:35,160 The news of another tragic death in the Von Erich family has hit hard. Mike had 426 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:38,760 not been seen since Saturday and reportedly was depressed about being 427 00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:42,660 the night before. As his mother and brother looked on, the family's worst 428 00:25:42,660 --> 00:25:43,639 were confirmed. 429 00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:47,280 Professional wrestler Mike Von Erich is dead, the apparent victim of suicide. 430 00:25:49,300 --> 00:25:50,340 He overdosed. 431 00:25:50,620 --> 00:25:51,620 So sad. 432 00:25:52,380 --> 00:25:55,840 Everybody was just so sad. Dave and now Mike. 433 00:25:58,140 --> 00:26:01,640 You know, I didn't know this thing was going to get so emotional. Maybe I 434 00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:04,680 These are three big things, I guess. 435 00:26:06,420 --> 00:26:11,280 You guys, could I take another break for just about ten minutes? 436 00:26:11,540 --> 00:26:12,540 Oh, yeah, of course. 437 00:26:13,300 --> 00:26:14,720 That was taxing. 438 00:26:16,910 --> 00:26:21,250 And once again, another Von Erich brother is called upon to step into the 439 00:26:21,950 --> 00:26:26,330 Chris Von Erich was the worst part of the whole thing because he had had 440 00:26:26,330 --> 00:26:30,050 problems. I'm sure he wanted to be like his brothers because his brothers were 441 00:26:30,050 --> 00:26:30,929 his heroes. 442 00:26:30,930 --> 00:26:34,950 Kevin was actually helping Chris work out. He had to work ten times harder 443 00:26:34,950 --> 00:26:38,270 everybody else. His body wasn't built like his brother's. He wanted to be a 444 00:26:38,270 --> 00:26:39,270 wrestler so bad. 445 00:26:39,470 --> 00:26:41,510 It's just not going to happen. 446 00:26:42,330 --> 00:26:45,890 The Von Erichs were believable heroes to thousands of fans. 447 00:26:47,180 --> 00:26:51,840 But continual misfortune chipped away at their image, and they would have one 448 00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:54,580 last desperate attempt to revive it. 449 00:26:59,700 --> 00:27:03,100 My brothers taught me about wrestling, but I taught them about eating. 450 00:27:03,360 --> 00:27:05,080 Mike was really something special. 451 00:27:05,460 --> 00:27:06,460 I thought you were full. 452 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:08,040 These are for dad. 453 00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:12,280 We did a few TV commercials, shot it all night. For a joke, Carrie puts all 454 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:16,360 these foot products over in my thing. I didn't even notice it. This is a gift 455 00:27:16,360 --> 00:27:18,180 from a fan right here. 456 00:27:18,380 --> 00:27:22,800 Really old picture. We loved our fans, and to this day, they're the most loyal 457 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:27,840 people in the world. We wanted to be, like, good and be good examples to kids. 458 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:32,700 And, you know, after Dave's death and Mike's death, you feel like you're 459 00:27:32,700 --> 00:27:33,940 everybody down. 460 00:27:34,140 --> 00:27:35,260 It's really hard. 461 00:27:35,660 --> 00:27:38,900 With this being the third death in the family and being such a strong Christian 462 00:27:38,900 --> 00:27:42,540 family, I think the first thing everybody wants to do is question, well, 463 00:27:42,540 --> 00:27:45,200 they're such strong Christians, why is all this happening to them? I'm not 464 00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:47,920 saying that the boys didn't believe in God and weren't religious. They just 465 00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:51,720 sometimes didn't do things outside the ring that way. And I don't mean they 466 00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:54,920 terrorizing the population. They were damaging themselves more than anybody 467 00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:59,700 else. But because they were so closely identified as not only being Texas All 468 00:27:59,700 --> 00:28:03,700 -Americans, but God -fearing Texas All -Americans, when things came out 469 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:08,960 car wrecks or suicides or is there drugs involved in these things or whatever. 470 00:28:09,340 --> 00:28:13,620 Every move was covered by the newspapers, the Dallas Times, Herald, 471 00:28:13,620 --> 00:28:17,340 television stations. And you could tell when you watch a television show, you're 472 00:28:17,340 --> 00:28:18,380 seeing more empty seats. 473 00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:23,780 You know, like, look, they were huge in 86 and by 88, 89, they were pretty bad 474 00:28:23,780 --> 00:28:24,780 off. 475 00:28:25,420 --> 00:28:30,920 After so much tragedy and with a family legacy in jeopardy, Fritz's youngest 476 00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:35,770 son, Chris, steps into the ring attempting to pick up where his brothers 477 00:28:35,770 --> 00:28:40,750 off. I think Chris felt bad. He wanted to try to fulfill the shoes that it was 478 00:28:40,750 --> 00:28:42,890 almost impossible to fill based on his size. 479 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:46,920 The first I remember of Chris was, you know, just being like a little 480 00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:51,300 The goal was to hopefully find a way to get Chris involved into the matches. 481 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:54,600 If he was going to wrestle, I wanted to have him a really good ground game, know 482 00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:58,300 all the scapes and counters, and to be a technician. 483 00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:02,760 Physically, in no way should he have been involved in wrestling. Because of 484 00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:06,060 size, I think he had asthma. He had brittle bones because of the asthma 485 00:29:06,060 --> 00:29:07,060 medication that he took. 486 00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:09,120 Really hard for him. 487 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:12,520 Wanted to have the big muscles and all that, but... 488 00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:14,200 The muscles are just looks. 489 00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:20,380 You've got to have agility, explosive, balance, snap, all these things that 490 00:29:20,380 --> 00:29:21,380 didn't happen for him. 491 00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:25,420 And then all of a sudden, Chris broke his arm. 492 00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:28,480 He couldn't work out. 493 00:29:28,940 --> 00:29:30,900 It was a big, big setback. 494 00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:32,420 Kevin was down there. 495 00:29:32,660 --> 00:29:37,480 They were down at the house in Edom, and Chris was just all upset and depressed 496 00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:38,480 and this and that. 497 00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:39,920 He loaned me his VCR. 498 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:43,040 And so he called me at like 12 .30 that night. 499 00:29:43,420 --> 00:29:46,980 I want my VCR back right now. I said, Chris, come on, wait for me in the 500 00:29:46,980 --> 00:29:47,639 morning, okay? 501 00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:48,700 I'll give it to you in the morning. 502 00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:53,840 And I hear his four -wheeler drive around my house a couple of times and 503 00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:58,440 off. I knew he had a spot up on the hill he used to go to. 504 00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:02,060 So I drove up there, you know, and he was sitting there by himself. I said, 505 00:30:02,140 --> 00:30:04,540 Chris, what are you doing up here by yourself like this? 506 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:06,420 He said, well, did you read my note? 507 00:30:07,070 --> 00:30:09,970 I said, oh, what are you going to do, kill yourself or something, Chris? Come 508 00:30:09,970 --> 00:30:10,569 now, bud. 509 00:30:10,570 --> 00:30:14,450 I said, Chris, don't do anything crazy, okay? He said, I won't, Kev, I promise. 510 00:30:14,630 --> 00:30:16,530 I said, I'll believe that, you know. 511 00:30:18,190 --> 00:30:23,630 Went back to my parents' house to check his bedroom and said, does Chris ever 512 00:30:23,630 --> 00:30:24,710 write suicide notes? 513 00:30:25,150 --> 00:30:27,610 Dad said, I think you better get up there. 514 00:30:28,250 --> 00:30:33,670 So I did get back up there and wish I'd never left because I got there right 515 00:30:33,670 --> 00:30:35,450 after it must have happened. 516 00:30:36,330 --> 00:30:38,370 I saw him laying there on the ground choking. 517 00:30:40,190 --> 00:30:44,190 I said, Chris, what did you do? I thought he might have took some pills. 518 00:30:45,290 --> 00:30:49,970 I hooked his arm and put my hand under his head to lift him up and my thumb, 519 00:30:49,970 --> 00:30:50,970 know, found the hole. 520 00:30:51,690 --> 00:30:54,190 I thought I'd realized that he'd shot himself in the head. 521 00:30:56,770 --> 00:30:57,770 Yeah. 522 00:31:01,970 --> 00:31:05,470 With the last vestiges of the Von Erich family torn apart, 523 00:31:06,470 --> 00:31:10,090 Kerry accepts an offer to go mainstream with the WWF. 524 00:31:11,130 --> 00:31:13,250 It's another chance in the spotlight. 525 00:31:13,930 --> 00:31:16,910 You know what? When the crowd started dropping here, Kerry was getting big 526 00:31:16,910 --> 00:31:20,710 offers. Would he come up and work for Vince? Would he make some appearances up 527 00:31:20,710 --> 00:31:25,030 there? Kerry, he took a good offer from Vince, and he went up there. 528 00:31:25,990 --> 00:31:30,550 After enduring several tragedies and the decline of his family's wrestling 529 00:31:30,550 --> 00:31:31,550 promotion, 530 00:31:31,980 --> 00:31:35,780 Kerry takes the Von Erich legacy to wrestling's biggest stage. 531 00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:41,200 However, no one knew he was wrestling with an unthinkable secret. 532 00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:51,560 This is a school picture. 533 00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:54,440 What a cute little kid. 534 00:31:55,159 --> 00:31:56,940 Were you guys like really curious kids? 535 00:31:57,140 --> 00:31:58,500 Like, were you really like active? 536 00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:03,260 Kerry and I just showed off for each other all day long, I think. We just 537 00:32:03,300 --> 00:32:06,960 we took a chance a day. It was like, yeah. 538 00:32:07,860 --> 00:32:13,680 A lucrative offer made to Kerry by the WWF was an opportunity to revive the Von 539 00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:14,680 Erich name. 540 00:32:14,820 --> 00:32:18,720 However, a secret from his past was slowly catching up with him. 541 00:32:19,669 --> 00:32:23,170 Kerry was supposed to be wrestling that night. I want to say Austin or 542 00:32:23,170 --> 00:32:26,690 somewhere. I get the phone call. Kerry's been in an accident. It's not life 543 00:32:26,690 --> 00:32:29,430 -threatening, but he really busted up his leg. 544 00:32:29,650 --> 00:32:33,090 Kerry was riding his motorcycle and ran into the back of a parked police car. 545 00:32:33,390 --> 00:32:37,570 I remember Rick Hazard. I saw him. And he said, holy cow. He said his ankle 546 00:32:37,570 --> 00:32:41,490 looked like an alligator chewed on it. When they made the decision to amputate, 547 00:32:41,530 --> 00:32:43,650 I would have never, ever thought. 548 00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:48,120 It could be kept secret. I guess Fritz thought they didn't want to make Kerry 549 00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:52,580 look weak, especially after the other tragedies, so they tried to hide the 550 00:32:52,580 --> 00:32:54,220 of his foot situation. 551 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:58,060 He wanted me to promise to hide that, and we all promised. 552 00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:01,180 Anything we said to each other, if we gave our word, that's an oath. 553 00:33:01,820 --> 00:33:04,780 We weren't going to let Kerry down because he was ashamed of it. 554 00:33:05,100 --> 00:33:08,400 In Kerry's mind, I'm a fake. 555 00:33:08,860 --> 00:33:12,240 You know, the injury down on this leg, what about it now? 556 00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:19,180 It was almost to the point where I almost had to have my leg amputated. 557 00:33:19,580 --> 00:33:21,960 Now my leg is back. It's coming on strong. 558 00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:26,080 Everyone was sworn to secrecy over about a five -year period there. 559 00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:30,940 He would do everything that a person with both limbs would do. I think that 560 00:33:30,940 --> 00:33:35,800 would have just been such a testimonial. And I was proud of Kerry to come back 561 00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:39,280 like that and not only just compete, but to impress people. 562 00:33:40,190 --> 00:33:43,330 They could have presented it like that, and maybe he would have been a little 563 00:33:43,330 --> 00:33:45,890 bit more inspirational, maybe it would have made him feel better. But instead, 564 00:33:46,010 --> 00:33:49,350 it was another thing he had to hide, and it was another thing that was probably 565 00:33:49,350 --> 00:33:50,530 weighing on him mentally. 566 00:33:50,730 --> 00:33:55,050 Now I'll never be as good as I could be. I'll never make my dad proud, whatever 567 00:33:55,050 --> 00:33:56,050 the case may be. 568 00:33:56,350 --> 00:34:01,190 With his transition to wrestling's grandest stage, Kerry found himself a 569 00:34:01,190 --> 00:34:02,730 fish in a big pond. 570 00:34:02,970 --> 00:34:06,290 But with a new identity, it was a chance to reboot his career. 571 00:34:06,939 --> 00:34:09,500 Vince brings in Kerry Von Erich, the modern -day warrior. 572 00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:12,360 You know, he was one of the biggest superstars of that period. 573 00:34:12,820 --> 00:34:17,199 I mean, it was like he still had the physique, but introducing him at that 574 00:34:17,199 --> 00:34:20,679 of the game to a national audience when he was physically limited, it just 575 00:34:20,679 --> 00:34:21,679 wasn't the same. 576 00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:25,360 And he quickly drops the Von Erich name, tells him you can't do the claw. 577 00:34:25,580 --> 00:34:29,139 His name is the Texas Tornado. And they just call him the Texas Tornado. They 578 00:34:29,139 --> 00:34:32,239 didn't even call him Kerry Von Erich. All he had going for him was that he was 579 00:34:32,239 --> 00:34:33,239 Kerry Von Erich. 580 00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:40,860 When he was there, things were going down. I mean, it was not a secret things 581 00:34:40,860 --> 00:34:41,678 were going down. 582 00:34:41,679 --> 00:34:44,380 He had, you know, a series of drug -related issues. 583 00:34:44,620 --> 00:34:46,199 He was not happy at all. 584 00:34:46,500 --> 00:34:50,980 Kerry didn't handle the pain. Well, you've seen, you know, he's always out 585 00:34:50,980 --> 00:34:54,639 rock and roll people and all. And I was more of a family man, you know. It 586 00:34:54,639 --> 00:35:01,340 probably saved me. I know it saved me. Kerry was doing drugs. You just knew it. 587 00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:04,480 Once he went through the accident, they immediately fill him up with all these 588 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:08,080 drugs. They got the painkillers in you, and they got the pills they're giving 589 00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:09,080 him. 590 00:35:09,140 --> 00:35:10,940 That was not a good path for him. 591 00:35:12,340 --> 00:35:16,260 Because of the drugs. He was on probation at the time, and then he got 592 00:35:16,260 --> 00:35:17,260 again. 593 00:35:17,380 --> 00:35:20,680 And, you know, he was afraid because of the probation violation that he was 594 00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:25,420 going to go to jail this time. I remember he went to his wife and said, 595 00:35:25,420 --> 00:35:28,820 to jail if you promise that when I come out of jail you'll take me back. And she 596 00:35:28,820 --> 00:35:29,820 wouldn't promise him that. 597 00:35:30,350 --> 00:35:34,190 He talked about what Chris did in glowing terms. It's like, can you 598 00:35:34,190 --> 00:35:37,710 guts it took to do what Chris did? You know, I was like, that's pretty scary 599 00:35:37,710 --> 00:35:38,950 when you hear people saying that. 600 00:35:39,250 --> 00:35:40,750 He told me he was going to kill himself. 601 00:35:41,130 --> 00:35:43,450 I said, Kerry, you couldn't do that to me. 602 00:35:43,750 --> 00:35:47,670 He said, what are we going to do then? I said, we'll do something, but we sure 603 00:35:47,670 --> 00:35:48,670 as hell ain't going to die. 604 00:35:49,370 --> 00:35:53,070 He said, I'll tell you what, Kerry, let's, you and me, let's go to Alaska. 605 00:35:53,290 --> 00:35:57,490 Let's take our 44s and let's just get charged by a polar bear. We got six 606 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:01,220 But I thought it would be good for me to get along with Kerry, and there's no 607 00:36:01,220 --> 00:36:03,180 drug dealers up there, so it would be great. 608 00:36:03,540 --> 00:36:06,200 I wish we'd have gone up there with our .44s. 609 00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:12,680 On the morning of February 17, 1993, the same day Kerry was scheduled to be 610 00:36:12,680 --> 00:36:17,560 indicted on drug charges, he took a drive out to his father's ranch. 611 00:36:18,540 --> 00:36:20,840 Called Dad, and he said, can't talk, busy. 612 00:36:21,060 --> 00:36:22,380 Well, he was pouring a driveway. 613 00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:26,060 And I was going to tell him, Carrie's in a bad way. He's headed out to your 614 00:36:26,060 --> 00:36:27,760 place and hold him for me until I get there. 615 00:36:29,260 --> 00:36:32,480 I tried to call that a couple of times. They could not get through. 616 00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:35,140 Fritz was continuing on pouring concrete. 617 00:36:35,900 --> 00:36:40,860 Carrie came, walked up, gave him a big hug and said, Dad, I love you. 618 00:36:41,100 --> 00:36:42,900 I really, really love you. 619 00:36:44,180 --> 00:36:47,160 Carrie got in the Jeep and took off in the Jeep. 620 00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:51,700 And so Dad's sitting in the house wondering why Carrie's been out in the 621 00:36:51,700 --> 00:36:52,488 so long. 622 00:36:52,490 --> 00:36:55,090 He said he went and looked, and his pistol was gone. 623 00:36:55,770 --> 00:36:57,950 A .44 he'd given down for Father's Day. 624 00:36:58,610 --> 00:37:02,310 And when he went down, there was a clear -out area down there, and he saw the 625 00:37:02,310 --> 00:37:03,069 Jeep part. 626 00:37:03,070 --> 00:37:04,990 With one glove laying on the seat. 627 00:37:05,730 --> 00:37:10,430 So he knew then what was happening. He had taken the glove, the shooting hand. 628 00:37:10,790 --> 00:37:13,250 Fred said he walked back. There was a little row of trees. 629 00:37:13,630 --> 00:37:14,630 And there Kerry was. 630 00:37:16,430 --> 00:37:19,290 He seemed dead. 631 00:37:19,810 --> 00:37:20,990 Shot himself in the heart. 632 00:37:22,030 --> 00:37:25,490 When I was beginning to pile up, he just couldn't take it anymore. 633 00:37:26,290 --> 00:37:29,930 Dad found him and he said he'd never seen such a peaceful look on Kerry's 634 00:37:30,170 --> 00:37:31,430 It was to hit him just right. 635 00:37:32,610 --> 00:37:37,190 Kevin said the one thing one time almost made me cry. He said, I used to have 636 00:37:37,190 --> 00:37:39,430 five brothers, and now I'm not even a brother. 637 00:37:40,210 --> 00:37:43,470 Over all of that, Fritz and Doris had split up. 638 00:37:43,930 --> 00:37:47,870 I thought my dad was taking it like a soldier, you know. My mom was really 639 00:37:47,870 --> 00:37:50,870 getting hit, though, and she blamed him. 640 00:37:51,600 --> 00:37:52,600 It was bad. 641 00:37:54,240 --> 00:37:57,740 The last ten years of his life was not a picture of what I would call hell. 642 00:37:58,380 --> 00:38:01,820 You would have never thought that he would have outlived five of his six 643 00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:07,380 Dad, could you tell the story, though, of that day when Granddad pointed that 644 00:38:07,380 --> 00:38:08,238 gun at you? 645 00:38:08,240 --> 00:38:11,780 No, when he got older, he had brain cancer. It was not making sense, some 646 00:38:11,780 --> 00:38:13,560 he said. He was questioning God. 647 00:38:14,240 --> 00:38:17,760 Well, he got that gun out, and he pointed the gun at me, and he said, 648 00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:18,980 yourself, too, if you had the guts. 649 00:38:19,420 --> 00:38:22,400 I said, Dad, it takes guts to live, not guts to die. 650 00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:26,660 And he pointed the gun at me. He said, you're afraid, aren't you? And I said, 651 00:38:26,720 --> 00:38:27,720 no, sir. 652 00:38:28,060 --> 00:38:31,100 You've got to remember, there's brain cancer involved, and I didn't know if he 653 00:38:31,100 --> 00:38:32,100 was going to shoot me or not. 654 00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:34,220 I said, Dad, quit pointing the gun at me. 655 00:38:35,740 --> 00:38:37,520 I said, quit pointing the gun at me. 656 00:38:37,940 --> 00:38:40,960 And I jumped out the door because I could see he's thinking. 657 00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:44,660 I'm not going to let cancer decide if I live or die. 658 00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:46,980 You know what? I was glad he died. 659 00:38:47,720 --> 00:38:49,140 I want him to quit suffering. 660 00:38:49,880 --> 00:38:55,180 He had Sam suffer too much. What a good man he was. Way deserved better than 661 00:38:55,180 --> 00:38:56,180 that. 662 00:38:57,200 --> 00:38:58,200 What a good man. 663 00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:09,380 Not only have I lost a brother, I lost 664 00:39:09,380 --> 00:39:10,700 all of them. 665 00:39:11,180 --> 00:39:15,080 And there's talk about there being a curse on the family, you know. 666 00:39:15,630 --> 00:39:17,350 It was so ridiculous, you know, curse. 667 00:39:17,870 --> 00:39:22,030 What happened is just terrible, just a terrible thing, but no curse. 668 00:39:24,090 --> 00:39:27,170 So what happened with you after this? I mean, obviously you went through a 669 00:39:27,170 --> 00:39:28,570 really difficult period yourself. 670 00:39:28,910 --> 00:39:35,890 I thought I was doing my best, and I was, but I was mad. And there was a time 671 00:39:35,890 --> 00:39:39,890 thought that I wanted to die, you know, I wanted to be dead. 672 00:39:40,170 --> 00:39:44,250 And I knew I wasn't going to kill myself, but I just wanted to fight 673 00:39:44,750 --> 00:39:46,690 And prison felt like the perfect thing for me. 674 00:39:46,970 --> 00:39:51,750 I was going to steal a gun because I knew how much people hate guns. If I 675 00:39:51,750 --> 00:39:53,030 one, that's prison. 676 00:39:53,250 --> 00:39:58,110 Lo and behold, I tried it in a Lubbock gun store with a bunch of good old Texas 677 00:39:58,110 --> 00:39:59,110 men in there. 678 00:40:00,370 --> 00:40:03,990 I went to steal that gun, and that old man on the stop was looking right at me, 679 00:40:04,130 --> 00:40:07,050 put it down my pants, and a stiff leg walked out of there. 680 00:40:08,510 --> 00:40:11,030 I stopped and looked at him like, you got something to say? 681 00:40:11,870 --> 00:40:15,450 That's when he just looked at me like an old man. Didn't say anything for a long 682 00:40:15,450 --> 00:40:16,530 time. Just looked at me. 683 00:40:17,470 --> 00:40:19,330 And I looked right into his eyes. 684 00:40:20,230 --> 00:40:22,130 He said, love you, Kev. 685 00:40:23,530 --> 00:40:24,530 Oh, man. 686 00:40:24,970 --> 00:40:27,250 I said, thank you, sir. 687 00:40:28,130 --> 00:40:29,450 And I went out to my car. 688 00:40:30,910 --> 00:40:33,670 And I just thought about the magnitude of what just happened. 689 00:40:34,550 --> 00:40:36,210 And I came back in that store. 690 00:40:36,970 --> 00:40:40,290 Gave him his rifle and hugged him. I said, I love you, too, sir. 691 00:40:41,020 --> 00:40:44,500 And all those other men were in there. Man, it was a great day for Texas. 692 00:40:45,180 --> 00:40:46,460 Great day for Von Erich. 693 00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:48,620 I needed that so bad. 694 00:40:49,140 --> 00:40:51,540 I wanted life to get as bad as it could be. 695 00:40:54,460 --> 00:40:56,100 Anyway, I'm so glad it's over. 696 00:40:56,600 --> 00:40:57,600 Saved me. 697 00:41:00,640 --> 00:41:02,780 You want to see the story I was telling you about? Yeah. 698 00:41:20,940 --> 00:41:23,020 This is my desk, my office. 699 00:41:24,440 --> 00:41:27,520 My lazy boy lounger here. 700 00:41:28,260 --> 00:41:29,560 How often are you here? 701 00:41:30,260 --> 00:41:31,260 Every day? 702 00:41:32,320 --> 00:41:34,040 I try to. 703 00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:39,920 If I can, I get here every day. I do try to do that. 704 00:41:40,560 --> 00:41:44,260 I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. The peace I've ever had before. 705 00:41:47,320 --> 00:41:49,220 The more alone... 706 00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:54,840 You get, the more close you feel to God, it seems like to me. If I'm scuba 707 00:41:54,840 --> 00:42:00,120 diving at night on the bottom of the ocean, I love to turn my light off and 708 00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:04,560 lay on the bottom. I feel like, I think you're far away. You know, you're never, 709 00:42:04,700 --> 00:42:08,780 oh, God is right with me. I feel it. I do love it. 710 00:42:12,140 --> 00:42:13,140 Hey, baby. 711 00:42:13,340 --> 00:42:14,340 Hey, you. 712 00:42:17,600 --> 00:42:18,960 Kevin's kids, I've met them all. 713 00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:20,800 and they have beautiful kids now. 714 00:42:21,900 --> 00:42:25,280 What I sought for all my life was to be peaceful, and here I am. 715 00:42:25,620 --> 00:42:26,620 Thank you, Lord. 716 00:42:26,920 --> 00:42:29,020 I've never been so happy and peaceful. 717 00:42:30,160 --> 00:42:31,860 There's always kids playing here. 718 00:42:32,300 --> 00:42:34,980 It's the highest and best use for the land, for sure. 719 00:42:36,420 --> 00:42:41,240 He's been through so much chaos and stuff, and so for him to end up in this 720 00:42:41,240 --> 00:42:45,240 of just peaceful environment, you know, with the animals and everything, he's 721 00:42:45,240 --> 00:42:48,440 just like so at home and just so, you know. 722 00:42:48,940 --> 00:42:49,940 He loves it. 723 00:42:53,320 --> 00:42:57,220 I'm lucky in a way that I've found that the only thing that lasts is family. 724 00:42:59,120 --> 00:43:01,700 You see Ross, and you see a little bit of Kerry. 725 00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:08,460 And you see Marshall, and you see the athleticism of Kevin, and you see that 726 00:43:08,460 --> 00:43:09,460 body of Dave. 727 00:43:11,720 --> 00:43:14,640 And then in both of them, you see Devon Eric. 728 00:43:15,420 --> 00:43:17,880 And so, hey, who knows? 729 00:43:18,410 --> 00:43:19,570 Maybe the story will continue. 730 00:43:21,210 --> 00:43:25,310 Kevin officially retired on July the 17th, 2017. 731 00:43:26,870 --> 00:43:32,110 Wrestling his last match alongside his two sons in Israel, where the Von Erich 732 00:43:32,110 --> 00:43:35,290 family name is celebrated to this day. 733 00:43:37,090 --> 00:43:42,410 You know, I've seen huge crowds. I've been a guest of honor. I've been, you 734 00:43:42,410 --> 00:43:43,249 know, a celebrity. 735 00:43:43,250 --> 00:43:45,030 I've done what everybody thinks they want. 736 00:43:45,550 --> 00:43:46,690 I've had all that. 737 00:43:47,530 --> 00:43:48,830 It's not satisfying. 738 00:43:49,090 --> 00:43:50,090 Is this all there is? 739 00:43:50,630 --> 00:43:57,230 What is satisfying is dinner with the family, children laughing, real joy. 740 00:43:57,970 --> 00:43:58,970 That's the truth.