All language subtitles for Dark Side of the Ring s01e04_English

♪

When we talk about
wrestling in the 80s,

it's hard to imagine
how popular...

the Von Erich brothers were.

Those guys were ready-made.

♪

The Von Erich family
could've been the

equivalent of the Kennedys.

It was a dynasty.
It was a family dynasty.

They were the all-American
boys from Texas.

They are real-life Texas heroes,
in the flesh.

They didn't have to put
'em in a funny outfit.

They didn't have to
give 'em a different name.

They had the look;
they had the physiques;

they had the
athletic ability.

They were superheroes
in the ring.

But then, there was
constant bad news.

The Von Erichs could
have two legacies...

They could have the
legacy of being one of

the biggest attractions,
wrestling families in history.

Or they could have the
legacy as a cautionary tale.

NEWS: Von Erich is dead...
Von Erich was found dead...

Von Erich was
seriously injured after--

He just couldn't
take it anymore.

I loved the wrestling
business all my life,

but it's not that important.

Some people say, well, it's just
the pressure of the spotlight.

Other celebrities have
been unable to cope.

♪

Who knew we were
gonna have, you know,

4 major deaths over
the next 3 years.

During their brief reign,
the Von Erich family

ascended to
wrestling superstardom,

but just as quickly suffered
relentless personal tragedy.

In this episode,
the last surviving brother

reflects on his
unimaginable journey.

♪

You know, I wanted to
get away from wrestling.

I wanted to get out.
I wanted to be anonymous.

And they say the
Pacific Ocean has no memory.

Well, here I am in the smack dab
in the middle of it.

No, this is it.

It's the, the love,
and the peace,

and the harmony.
That's--

You can't put a price
on that, you know.

♪

I think I'm the richest
man in the world.

My childhood? Well,
I was an older brother,

and so, it was a
lot of fighting.

I could overdo that power
of being a big brother, but...

So, I learned not to.

But, man, they adored me,
and I adored them.

There was this us against
the world kind of thing.

Please, don't think
I'm in a bad way,

that I've suffered.

I consider myself the
luckiest man in the world.

These are some hunting pictures.
When we were living--

We always hunted
with our dad,

these were when we
were real young.

This, we lived in a little,
this is 16 acres,

and this little shack;
that's how we lived,

out in the country,
when dad was wrestling.

And then, here's a shot just
about 2 miles from this spot

is this farm, and this is
where I raised my boys.

♪

My dad always said,
"Whatever you put into

something is what
you get out of it."

He was a really good wrestler,
a solid wrestler.

There's no way
I can be objective:

I think he was the
best of all time.

But he was a
vicious wrestler.

Ah, my father...
[sighs]

You know,
wanted something different.

If you want to be a bad guy,
be the best.

And so, as far as my
dad was concerned,

a Nazi was about the most
despised creature you could be,

and he became--
he was a Nazi.

ANNOUNCER: Fritz Von Erich
from Berlin, Germany.

Here we go.

He could create a lot of
heat just coming across as

the German hitting the ring
that was gonna

beat up all the Americans.

My connection with the
Von Erich family is,

I was Fritz's right-hand man.

Fritz was the main event.

He was a huge star
in the 50s and 60s,

all over the country.

If you're wondering what
qualifies me to be a

pro wrestling expert,
it's simple:

almost 50 years of
obsessive collecting,

hoarding, and research.

So, Fritz had gotten
the reputation as

the toughest guy in Texas.

As little kids, our dad
being the bad guy,

we didn't see it that way.

So, watching wrestling,
to us, was torment.

You know, when the
crowd was cheering,

we knew that was bad
because without a doubt,

he was the most hated
villain of all wrestling,

and so, one brother would
have to watch while the

other brothers would
cover our ears and eyes,

and you know,
and wouldn't look.

And the other,
other brother'd say,

"Dad's winning!"

So, we'd start
watching again, you know.

We were so into it.
[laughs]

Fritz also developed the,
the Iron Claw.

ANNOUNCER:
A blast through the Iron Claw!

Applies it as only he can.

The Claw's a hold
that my dad invented.

The crazy thing about it is,
that after years and years

of doing the Claw,

you get scary, crazy good at it.

You just grab and
you do this, you know,

squeeze the guy in the
temples with your big hands.

You just... That's it.

My name is Dave Meltzer,
and I've been writing the

Wrestling Observer
Newsletter since 1982,

so it's been pretty
much my entire life.

Fritz Von Erich was actually
wanting to get out of wrestling

and raise his family,
and do a lot less traveling.

It was always the goal of
wrestlers in those days to

buy a territory,
become a promoter;

that's where the
real money was.

Fritz had a big office,
and he's the boss,

and he's the promoter with World
Class Championship Wrestling,

but he was also a
very strong business person.

Almost every wrestler
that became a promoter,

you wanted your sons to be
great wrestlers so they can

be the stars of
the next generation.

I don't know that even if
he realized how big 'a stars

they were gonna be.

We got into wrestling
because we wanted

to be like our dad.

I was born into wrestling.

One good thing
about being brothers,

we knew exactly
what was going on.

It was beautiful.

Almost should be illegal,
what an upper hand

we had on other teams...

because you know exactly
what they're thinking.

It was a perfect storm.

The young Von Erich
boys had debuted,

had gotten a couple
years' experience.

They looked great,
people knew 'em,

and all of a sudden,
now they're on

this new-looking program.

They were household names:
everybody knew who they were.

All of a sudden,
we're the #1 show at

9 o'clock in the morning
on Sunday mornings.

They said, well, let's cover
this like a sporting event.

They would have the
cameraman and

they would have the sound guy,
like, actually in the ring,

you know, during the tapings.
And you'd look at it and go,

like, what's he
doing in the ring?

'Cause no other company
would ever do that.

We literally set the stage
of where wrestling would go.

They came up with a comic book
where there's some bad guys

that are trying to take
over the universe and

they need the Von Erichs
because our hearts are so good.

So that was just, we just
cleaned up space a little bit,

you know, just the riff raff.
[laughs].

The girls just went nuts.

♪

There's no telling what magazine
you would see 'em in.

They were
teenage heart throbs.

They were teen idols -
Kevin, Kerry, Dave.

♪

Going to the ring
would be like a madhouse.

The girls'd grab
at us, you know,

and of course,
you gotta keep going.

And so, pretty soon
your shoulders are just,

you know, scratched all up
and bleeding, you know.

The place would
just go electric.

I mean, your ears
ring when you go home,

from that shrill scream.
That was what we shot for.

We wanted that feeling,
that intensity to

stay that way until it was over.

Kerry was the star.

Kerry had the
movie star looks,

had the physique.

He had great personality,
just charisma.

♪

I've never seen anybody
that had his strength.

David was the best
performer in the ring,

all around: psychology,
movement, etc., athletically.

David used to go to the ring
with a big yellow rose and

he was considered the
yellow rose of Texas.

Dave was a technician.

There was not a hold you
could surprise him with.

Kevin, I think,
was the athlete.

He was just insane,
the things he could do.

He was probably by far the best
raw athlete of the bunch.

Then, Mike.

Mike didn't have the
size of the other brothers.

He was real close with
his little brother, Chris.

Chris, funny, funny guy.
Just loved life.

The Von Erichs epitomized
God, family, and country.

They're heroes.

Completely more
popular than movie stars,

and more accessible.

From the time the
kids were young,

if they won an award in school,
athletic award,

it was talked about
on the television show.

And they were in wrestling
magazines with pictures,

out hunting or fishing
out in Lake Dallas

with their famous father.

They grew up in
the public eye.

they grew up on television;
that's a lot of pressure.

I'd like to say
that it was, you know,

clean cut guys, but I think
people realized we were human.

But, you can guarantee us
that we had pure hearts,

and we had good motives,
and maybe that was

something real about us,
that we were a family and

we did love each other and
care and regard our fans

as people and not tickets.

And so, to their fans,

they were more members of
the family in some cases.

There is something
about those boys,

every one of 'em,
that everyone loves 'em,

and I love 'em.

So, literally,
it was almost like, I think,

everyone felt like
they were the parents and

they had watched
these kids grow up.

They were busy on the road
'cause you gotta realize,

it's a 365-day job.

In other words, these guys
were wrestling everywhere,

sometimes 2 times a day.

♪

The talks were already out
there that David could be

one of the top prospects
to be the next

World Heavyweight Champion.

David was the worker.
Everybody universally said that.

He would've been the
guy the NWA picked.

Even before Dave
went to Japan,

he was sitting with my
mother at the table and

I said, "Dave..." I just had
that really bad feeling.

I was sitting there
looking at him, and...

Ah, was looking more
and more pale to me.

I got a phone call,
and was asleep.

To this day, I can't stand a
phone call before daylight.

It just tears me up.

This voice says,
"David Manning?

Joe Higuchi,
All Japan Pro Wrestling.

David Von Erich dead."

♪

♪ [birds chirping]

And here, is after my
first knee surgery.

After my third knee surgery,
my knees were shot,

and I had to
give up football.

I guess Dave
was comic relief.

My parents, they knew how
much I loved football and so,

they said, "Dave, be careful
what you say to him.

He just got the
worst news of his life.

He can't play football."
And Dave comes in and said,

"So, I heard you're a quitter."
[laughs].

When Dave died, I never got
up from that all the way.

It hit me like
no other one did.

I say I was the
oldest brother,

but I was the second son.

Our oldest
brother was Jackie.

They lived in a
trailer park because,

since they were
always on the road,

they had a house trailer
that they could move

from place to place.

You know, Jack was actually
coming home from school and

it had snowed.

I think he was 6 years old,
and as he was trying to

step over the tongue or go
around the tongue of a trailer,

he touched it.
Somehow it electrocuted him,

and he fell in the snow
face-first and drowned.

I was looking for him,
you know,

a little 3-year-old kid,
and...

looking for him, and...

I knew something was bad
and I was like,

watching my parents.
They were all crying.

And, Jackie had
been electrocuted.

♪

Came in and saw my dad
punch a car window,

just shattered it.

He came out of
that different.

He was still an honorable
man on the outside,

but I think inside
he wanted to die.

He was suffering.

He thought, "What have
I done to deserve this?"

He was at war
with the world.

He wanted to make
everyone suffer like him.

It was the first of
unimaginable tragedy that

that one family
had to go through.

When it came to
David Von Erich,

just you know, getting the
news that he passed away,

it was about...

2 in the morning.

And the phone rang and
I picked up the phone and

this voice says,
"David Von Erich dead".

And I said,
"So, what happened?"

"We find in room dead."

It's 2:30 in the morning and

I'm trying to decide,
how do I get this news.

Back then there
weren't cellphones.

And so, I got in my car, and -
I'll never forget -

it was just coming daylight,
and as I pulled in,

I could see Fritz in front of
the motor coach in the window.

And I got out of the car,
and I walked to the door,

and he opened the door
to the motor coach and

he looked at me and he said,
"Which one?"

♪

So, I think he knew, for me
to go all the way down there,

it's something
very, very serious.

I said, "Fritz, they just
called me from Japan.

David's dead."

♪

My mother, she'd been told,
and she just went

running off into the woods.
It was barely day break.

My dad just... walked outside
and stared at the sky.

I went a little crazy.

I didn't want
to see anybody.

I had to be in the woods
and I stayed in the woods too.

Fritz said, "You go to town,
you make the phone calls.

You find out what
happened to my boy."

I managed to get
a hold of Brody,

who was also a, you know,
legendary wrestler,

popular in Japan.

Brody said that when
they opened the door,

the way he was laying,
it looked like

he was trying to
get to the phone.

I knew Brody always to be
so tough and such a

strong good man,
but when he was telling me,

he was like [stammering]...
he couldn't talk, you know.

He's crying inside.
I never saw Brody cry.

And he goes [stuttering] I said,
"Frank! Don't think about it.

Don't think
about it, Frank!"

And he goes, [cries]
"He's dead, Kev."

And I went, "Frank!"
God, it was terrible.

The next day,
after Dave had died,

you know, going to the mall
in Wichita Falls, Texas,

and you see like
these like teenage girls,

and they're all crying, and
the guys are consoling them.

It was a big fricking deal
in that part of the country.

It was almost like the
fans had lost a son.

I mean, it was emotional on
2 continents because the

Japanese fans were so hung up
in wrestling that

when a big name foreign
wrestler dies on their soil,

I mean, there was memorials
and the guys were broken up.

I remember that airplane coming
in with Dave's coffin on it.

No one would look us in the eye
because they knew we all hurt.

We hurt so bad.
And people hurt for us, too.

The funeral was just insane.

It was like one of those
old funerals of

the silent movie stars.

There was a lot of wrestlers
right here in this area.

When they went
to the funeral,

the tears flowed.
It was, it was hard to take.

And so, we estimated
probably 4 to 5,000 people,

showed up for this service.

It was just beautiful,
expression of love.

The schools let out.

The Texas
legislature convened.

It was like...
Texas got hurt that day.

You couldn't get
anybody else in.

They literally had to
put a screen outside and,

and speakers outside for
the thousands of people

that were there.

I didn't know that we were
that big, I guess.

Inside the business, we heard
that he'd passed away

in his hotel room in Japan;

that generally only
means one thing...

There's all this word
out that he overdosed,

but there's no
doubt that he didn't.

One of the biggest rumors
out there was that

when Brody found him,
Brody threw away all the pills.

And we waited to hear
that autopsy report.

Fritz was adamant, "I want
to know what the autopsy says,

and whatever it says,

that's what we're gonna
have to put out."

And, it came back,
acute enteritis.

His intestines,
basically from an infection,

swole up to the
point they ruptured.

his body filled up with blood
and heart failure

About 2 days or a day before he
was gonna leave to go to Japan,

he was throwing up.

Fritz was very stern about,

you make the shows
you're booked at.

So, he left and
went over there.

No, I'm telling you
what really happened.

We're not big shots that
told the country of Japan

to falsify those documents,
you know.

I'm a wrestler.
You're not gonna...

no one's gonna
listen to me for that.

It was gastro enteritis,
a terrible way to die.

[sighs]
And we lost him.

♪

[chopping]

Every man's gonna die...

But we do our best...

[Ah, that was good.]

We do our best
'til that day comes.

MANNING: We had a guy
named Glen Goza.

And he had wrote,
"Heaven Needs a Champion,"

and he literally put a song of,
"there's a main event

taking place in heaven
and God brought

David Von Erich there
to be the star."

♪ YOU WORE THE FAMILY
NAME WITH PRIDE... ♪

David Von Erich, as a
person and as a wrestler,

was a true champion.

He had a great gift and he
knew how to take it to the,

to its fullest.

After David's funeral,
Fritz would hold the

Parade of Champions event
in his son's honor,

which at the time, attracted
the largest crowd ever to

watch a wrestling event
in the United States.

There will be a new
World's Heavyweight Champion

crowned on that afternoon.

The brother of
David Von Erich - Kerry -

was going to challenge
"Nature Boy" Ric Flair

for the NWA World Championship
that had always eluded

the Von Erich family,
and this time he said,

"I'm gonna win it for David."

We were adamant.
With the NWA -

National Wrestling Alliance -
we had to switch that title.

I think that's where we
saw Fritz had some clout.

The dream of my brother
is now my reality.

Leading up to that match,
we knew it was gonna be big;

we didn't know how big.

[cheering].

But all of a sudden, you got
42-plus-thousand people

at Texas Stadium, and they're
there to see one thing...

that title change.

Your referee is
David Manning.

Here I knew I was gonna go
down in the record books:

the title was
changing that night.

I was super happy for Kerry.

I thought he'd make
a great champion.

Here we go!

It was incredible.

[cheering].

It's the Iron Claw!

You can feel the pinching.

And when,
whenever that 1, 2...

[claps] 3...
[boof!]

♪

The whole place
just went nuts.

And then you got
Kevin hitting the ring,

you got Fritz
hitting the ring.

You can see Doris
in the background.

I'm presenting the belt,
the media's going crazy.

We had all the
radio stations there.

The yellow rose...

in honor of brother David.

It was a great night,
and not bitter sweet at all.

Sweet-sweet.

That was probably a bigger
deal to the Von Erich boys

than it was to Fritz, himself,
and to the fans.

With Kerry's
championship win and

a strong emotional
bond with fans,

World Class Championship
Wrestling was now on fire.

But with David gone,
there was a void to fill.

Fritz wanted to replace
David because

we were missing
a piece of the puzzle,

and we decided to look
for another Von Erich.

Whenever I saw Lance,
he was the perfect guy.

He was chiseled.

He looked like he
could be a Von Erich.

It was a terrible idea.
It was--

We had never
lied to our people.

It really hurt their
image and it started the,

the downward spiral of
going a little bit quicker.

They knew he wasn't
a real Von Erich.

They're lying to us.

Lance.

♪

Growing up, of course,
we wanted to be just like him.

He's like real-life Tarzan.
You know, climbing trees.

Any river he sees,
he gets out of the car.

He'll dive in it,
didn't care what's in it.

We saw that fearlessness
in every situation,

not only in the ring,
but in life and...

you know, that's what we wanted
to be like and it's, it's--

We're just grateful to God
that we can,

that we can follow in
the footsteps and

doors are opening in wrestling.

And, you know,
and we get to, you know,

pick up where the
Von Erichs left off.

Kevin and I talk. You know,
I go to Hawaii and see him.

He's got 2 great boys now,
Marshall and Ross.

Gosh, they're so talented.

And when I look at them,
I see the brothers.

Thanks, son.

Can you tell us the story
about Lance Von Erich?

Yeah. [sighs] Ah...

Kerry and I were
dead set against that.

Of all of the angles that
happened in the final years

of World Class Wrestling,
Lance Von Erich was the worst.

They needed
another Von Erich.

Overall, it did a
lot more damage than,

than it did good.

And then, when they got
on the outs with Lance and

tried to disown him,
the fans just said,

"Well, you're the ones that
brought him and sold him to us!"

That's where, I think,
people lost a lot of faith.

I have to say, Kevin
was dead set against it.

He felt it could get exposed
and that Mike would be able

to step up and
take the role.

People shouldn't say
that Mike wasn't an athlete

because he sure was.

Mike was an
incredible athlete.

The 4th Von Erich is getting
ready to start wrestling.

[cheering].

Mike got involved in
wrestling and he wanted

to have the size as
the other brothers,

and he worked out hard.

You know, he had the drive,
he had the stamina,

so it was hard for Mike.

Mike was a great guy,

but he wasn't cut out
to be a wrestler.

Mike had to walk in there
and be David Von Erich,

and be a main event wrestler
at 19, 20 years old,

and he wasn't a
great athlete.

The only thing he had
going for him is that

he was called Mike Von Erich.

I mean, he just didn't
look like a wrestler at all,

and he's in there with
like Ric Flair and these

big great wrestlers
who are just carrying him

in these matches that are just
painful, in a sense, to watch.

The injuries did
bother him, you know.

He was wrestling
in Tel Aviv, and ah...

against Gino Hernandez.

Gino pulled just when he wasn't
ready and out it came, and...

this time it tore a
lot of ligaments.

Only a year
after David's death,

Mike dislocates his
shoulder in the ring

and is rushed to an
Israeli hospital.

They perform
emergency surgery,

and soon after,
Mike is flown back to Texas.

They literally
took him home,

and all of a sudden,
his temperature is sky high.

The fever hitting,
went over 105,

is what did the
damage, I think.

I put him over my shoulder
and walked down the steps

with him, put him in
the car and took off.

Mike Von Erich hospitalized for
routine shoulder surgery,

sustained a staph
infection that escalated

into Toxic Shock Syndrome.

It was Toxic Shock Syndrome,
what they called it.

And the doctor comes out,
and he said,

"His blood pressure has
plummeted and

his organs are starting
to shut down."

He said, "We've done
everything we can do."

He said, "I don't think
Mike's gonna make it

through the night."

And they told us,
"Say goodbye to him."

The hospital was getting
like 250 calls an hour

where they had to
hire extra staff.

People had been
offering to donate

their liver and their kidneys.

We were in the room
and Gary Holder,

who was considered the
chaplain of World Class,

was there in the room.

Gary Holder said,
"God, you stand on your word.

You said anything we
ask in Jesus' name,

'I will do it'."

That's when I
didn't even look up.

I thought,
that's disrespectful.

You went too far.

He took the Bible and he
slammed it down on the table.

And he said, "God,
there is your word."

"So, keep your word, God."

And, it was less than
30 seconds after

Gary finished praying,
the doors opened.

Bill Sutger came in the
room with this other doctor,

and his exact words were,

"I'm not sure what happened,
but everything's functioning.

His temperature has dropped,
so let's see where we're at."

They couldn't believe it,
but he, he's a fighter.

And I want to thank
everyone out there,

all my good neighbors,
for your prayers.

One week later, we rolled
Mike out of the hospital.

He might have
rushed it a little bit.

He was so
anxious to get back.

And so, we did a
big press conference.

I, I, I know I'll be back.

I can't wait 'til the Cotton
Bowl 'cause I'm gonna be there.

Do you have a
message for your fans?

Yeah, be at Cotton Bowl if
they want to see me back,

my very first time.

I saw on TV, well, "Mike's
gonna come back," and Mike--

And they were milking
to it and trying to

get people interested in it.

I just didn't see
how it was gonna work.

And when he first
came back, it was like,

"God, I don't know if he should
come back and wrestle."

He probably shouldn't
have wrestled to begin with.

He looked really gaunt
and hollow.

I wondered if there
was some brain damage.

And that's when he
attacked a stop light.

Attacked a parked car
one time. Just...

Rages, you know.
Nobody in the parked car.

But, they always wanted a
feel-good story at the end,

and it always worked when it was
stuff that they could write.

But when it was real life and
they couldn't control it, it...

It didn't work.

You gotta realize,
when Mike came on the scene,

the, the brothers
were superstars.

So, all of a sudden,
you had big shoes to fill.

And I think that was a lot
of pressure that went on Mike.

And early Saturday morning,
Von Erich was arrested on

suspicion of drunken driving
and possession of marijuana.

The Von Erich family
attorney assisted Mike

during his
release from jail.

He would be the last
person to see him alive.

Mike missed an event.

If you were a Von Erich,
you didn't miss an event.

I remember that night,

wondering where Mike was,
what he was thinking.

They had a
bulletin out everywhere,

had all the police looking.

And, it was, I want to say,
2 days, maybe 3,

before they found Mike.

The news of another tragic
death in the Von Erich family

has hit hard.

Mike had not been seen
since Saturday, and reportedly,

was depressed about being
arrested the night before.

As his mother and
brother looked on,

the family's worst
fears were confirmed.

Professional wrestler
Mike Von Erich is dead,

the apparent
victim of suicide.

He overdosed.
So sad.

Everybody was just so sad.
Dave, and now Mike.

♪

You know, I didn't know this
was gonna get so emotional.

Maybe I got-- I'm tired.

These are 3 big things,
I guess.

You guys... Um...

Could I take another break
for just about 10 minutes?

- Oh yeah, of course.
- That was taxing.

And once again,
another Von Erich brother

is called upon to step
into the ring.

Chris Von Erich was the
worst part of the whole thing

because he had
had health problems.

I'm sure he wanted to be
like his brothers 'cause

his brothers were his heroes.

Kevin was actually
helping Chris work out.

He had to work 10 times
harder than everybody else.

His body wasn't
built like his brothers.

He wanted to be a
wrestler so bad.

He just,
it's not gonna happen.

The Von Erichs were
believable heroes

to thousands of fans.

But continual misfortune
chipped away at their image,

and they would have one last
desperate attempt to revive it.

♪

My brothers taught me
about wrestling,

but I taught
them about eating.

Mike was really
something special.

- I thought you were full?
- These are for dad!

And we did a few
TV commercials,

shot it all night.

For a joke, Kerry puts all these
foot products over in my thing.

I didn't even notice it.

This is a gift from a fan,
out here.

Really old picture.

We loved our fans,
and to this day,

the most loyal
people in the world.

We wanted to be like good

and be good examples to kids.

And, you know, after Dave's
death and Mike's death,

you feel like you're
letting everybody down.

It's, it's really hard.

With this being the
third death in the family,

and being such a
strong Christian family,

I think the first thing
everybody wants to do

is question, "Well, if they're
such strong Christians,

why is all this
happening to 'em?"

I'm not saying that the boys
didn't believe in God and

weren't religious.
They just sometimes

didn't do things outside
the ring that way.

And I don't mean they were
terrorizing the population.

They were damaging themselves
more than anybody else.

But, because they were so
closely identified as

not only being Texas
all-Americans,

but God fearing
Texas all-Americans,

when things came out about
car wrecks, or suicides,

or... is there drugs
involved in these things,

or whatever, every move was
covered by the newspapers.

The Dallas Times Herald,
the local television stations,

and you could tell when you
watched the television show,

you're seeing
more empty seats.

You know, like, look -
they were huge in '86,

and by '88, '89 they were,
they were pretty bad off.

After so much tragedy,
and with a family legacy

in jeopardy,
Fritz's youngest son, Chris,

steps into the ring,
attempting to pick up

where his brothers left off.

I think Chris felt bad.

He wanted to try
to fill the shoes,

that it was almost impossible
to fill based on his size.

The first I remember
of Chris was, you know,

him just being
like a little celebrity.

The goal was to hopefully
find a way to get Chris

involved into the matches.

If he was gonna wrestle,
I want to hand him

a really good ground game.

You know, all the
escapes and counters,

and to be a technician.

Physically, in no way,
should he have been

involved in wrestling.

Because of his size,
I think he had asthma.

He had brittle bones because
of the asthma medication

that he took.

It was really hard for him.

Wanted have the big
muscles and all that,

but muscles are just looks.

You've got to have agility,
explosive, balance, snap,

all these things that just
didn't happen for him.

And then, all of a sudden,
Chris broke his arm.

He couldn't work out.
It was a big, big setback.

Kevin was down there.

They were down at
the house in Edom,

and Chris was just all
upset and depressed,

and this and that.

He'd loaned me
his VCR, and so,

he called me at
like 12:30 that night.

"I want my VCR
back right now."

I said, "Chris, come on.
Wait for the morning, okay?

I'll give it to you
in the morning."

And, I hear his 4-wheeler
drive around my house

a couple times and took off.

I knew he had a spot up on
the hill he used to go to,

so I drove up there,
you know.

He was sitting there
by himself. I said,

"Chris, what are you doing up
here by yourself like this?"

He said, "Well,
did you read my note?"

I said, "Oh, what
are you gonna do?

Kill yourself or something,
Chris? Come on now, bud."

I said, "Chris, don't do
anything crazy, okay?"

He said, "I won't, Kev.
I promise."

I believed it, you know.

Went back to my parent's
house to check his bedroom.

And, I said, "Does Chris
ever write suicide notes?"

Dad said, "I think you
better get up there."

So, I did get back up there.

Wish I had never left
because I got there

right after it must
have happened.

I saw him laying there
on the ground kind of...

[gasps]
Choking.

I said, "Chris, what did,
what did you do?"

I thought he might
have took some pills.

Reached, hooked his arm and
put my hand under his head

to lift him up and my thumb,

you know, found the hole.

That's when I realized that
he shot himself in the head.

Mm... Yeah.

It was tough.

♪

With the last vestiges of
the Von Erich family torn apart,

Kerry accepts an offer to go
mainstream with the WWF.

It's another chance
in the spotlight.

You know what; when the
crowd started dropping here,

Kerry was
getting big offers,

would he come up
and work for Vince?

Would he make some
appearances up there?

Kerry, he took a, took a
good offer from Vince and

he went up there.

After enduring several
tragedies and the decline of

his family's
wrestling promotion,

Kerry takes the Von Erich legacy
to wrestling's biggest stage.

However, no one knew
he was wrestling

with an unthinkable secret.

♪

♪ [birds chirping]

There's a school picture.
What a cute little kid.

PRODUCER: Were you guys,
like, really curious kids?

Like, were you
really active and...?

Kerry and I just showed
off for each other

all day long, I think.
We just like,

we took a chance a day,
it was like...

Yeah.

A lucrative offer made to
Kerry by the WWF

was an opportunity to revive
the Von Erich name.

However, a secret from his past
was slowly catching up with him.

Kerry was supposed to
be wrestling that night.

I want to say Austin,
or somewhere.

I get the phone call,
Kerry's been in an accident.

It's not life threatening,
but he really busted up his leg.

Kerry was riding his
motorcycle and ran into

the back of a parked police car.

I remember Rick Hazzard,
I saw him,

and he said,
"Holy cow," he said,

"his ankle looks like an
alligator chewed on it."

When they made the
decision to amputate,

I would have never, ever thought
it could be kept secret.

I guess Fritz thought,
they didn't want to make

Kerry look weak, especially
after the other tragedies.

So, they tried to hide the
fact of his foot situation.

He wanted me to
promise to hide that,

and we all promised.

Anything we said
to each other,

if we gave our word,
that's an oath.

We weren't gonna let
Kerry down because

he was ashamed of it.

In Kerry's mind,
"I'm a fake."

You know, the injury
done on this leg...

HOST: What about it, now?

Before, it was, it was
almost to the point where...

I almost had to have
my leg amputated.

Now my leg is back,
it's coming on strong.

Everyone was sworn to
secrecy for over

about a 5-year period there.

He would do everything
that a person

with both limbs would do.

I think that would 'a just
been such a testimonial.

And I was proud of Kerry.

To do, to come
back like that and,

not only just compete,
but to impress people.

They could've
presented it like that,

and maybe he would've been
a little bit more inspirational,

maybe it'd have
made him feel better.

But instead, it was another
thing he had to hide,

and it was another thing
that was probably

weighing on him mentally.

"Now I'll never be as
good as I could be.

I'll never make my dad proud,"
whatever the case may be.

With his transition to
wrestling's grandest stage,

Kerry found himself a
small fish in a big pond.

But with a new identity,

it was a chance to
reboot his career.

Vince brings in
Kerry Von Erich,

the modern-day warrior.

You know, he's one of
the biggest superstars

of that period.
I mean, it was like,

he still had the physique,
but introducing him

at that stage of the
game to a national audience,

when he was
physically limited...

he just wasn't the same.

And he quickly drops
the Von Erich name,

tells him you
can't do the Claw.

His name's the
Texas Tornado,

and they just call
him the Texas Tornado.

They didn't even call
him Kerry Von Erich.

All he had going for him is
that he was Kerry Von Erich.

The Texas Tornado!

When he was there,
things were going down,

and it was not a secret
things were going down.

He had, you know, a series
of drug-related issues.

He was not happy at all.

Kerry didn't
handle the fame well.

You've seen the, you know,
he was always out

with rock 'n' roll
people and all.

And I was more
of a family man.

It's probably what saved me.
I know it saved me.

Kerry was, was...
doing drugs.

You just knew it.

Once he went
through the accident,

they immediately fill him up
with all these drugs.

They got the
pain killers in ya,

they got the pills
they're giving him.

That was not a
good path for him.

Because of the drugs, he was
on probation at the time,

and then he got
arrested again.

And... you know,

he was afraid because
of the probation violation

that he was gonna go
to jail this time.

I remember he went
to his wife and said,

"I'll go to jail if you promise
that when I come out of jail,

you'll take me back," and she
wouldn't promise him that.

He talked about what Chris did
in glowing terms. It's like,

"Can you imagine the guts
it took to do what Chris did?"

You know, it's like,
that's pretty scary

when you hear
people saying that.

He told me he was
gonna kill himself.

I said, "Kerry, you couldn't
do that to me."

He said, "Kev, well,
what are we gonna do then?"

I said,
"We'll do something,

but we sure as hell
ain't gonna die."

I said, "I'll tell ya what,
Kerry, let's you and me,

let's go to Alaska.
Let's take our .44's

and let's just get
charged by a polar bear.

We got 6 tries.

I thought it'll be good for me
to get alone with Kerry

and there's no drug
dealers up there,

so it'll be great.

I wish we'd 'a gone up
there with our .44s.

On the morning of
February, the 17th, 1993,

the same day Kerry
was scheduled to be

indicted on drug charges,

he took a drive out to
his father's ranch.

Called dad and he said,
"Can't talk. Busy."

Well, he was
pouring a driveway,

and I was gonna tell
him Kerry's in a bad way,

he's headed out to your
place and hold him for me

'til I get there.
I called, tried to call dad

a couple times and
could not get through.

Fritz was continuing
pouring concrete.

Kerry came, walked up,
gave him a big hug and said,

"Dad, I love you.
I really, really love you."

Kerry got in the jeep
and took off in the jeep.

And so, Dad's sitting in the
house wondering why

Kerry's been out in
the field so long.

He said he went and looked
and his pistol was gone.

The .44 he'd given
dad for father's day.

And, when he went down,
there was a clear out area

down there and he saw
the jeep parked.

With one glove
laying on the seat.

So, he knew then
what was happening,

he had taken the glove.

The shooting hand.

Fritz said he walked back,
there was a little row of trees.

And there Kerry was.

He had...
[sniffles]

He was dead.

Shot his self in the heart.

Brothers begin to pile up,

and he just couldn't
take it anymore.

Dad found him and he said
he'd never seen such

a peaceful look
on Kerry's face.

Must 'a hit him just right.

Kevin said one thing one time,
almost made me cry.

He said, "I used
to have 5 brothers,

and now, I'm not
even a brother."

Over all of that,
Fritz and Doris had split up.

I thought my dad was taking
it like a soldier, you know.

My mom was really
getting hit though,

and she blamed him.
It was bad.

♪

The last 10 years of his
life was not a picture

of what I would call health.
He would have never thought

that he would've
outlived 5 of his 6 sons.

Yeah, when he got older
he had brain cancer.

You know, he was
not making sense,

some of the things he said.
He was questioning God.

Well, he got that gun out and
he pointed the gun at me, and

he said, "You'd kill yourself
too if you had the guts."

I said, "Dad, it takes guts
to live, not guts to die."

And he pointed
the gun at me, said,

"You're afraid, aren't you?"
And I said, "No, sir."

You gotta remember, there's
brain cancer involved and...

and I didn't know if he
was gonna shoot me or not.

I said, "Dad, quit pointing
the gun at me."

I said, "Quit pointing
the gun at me!"

And then I jumped
out the door 'cause I,

I can see he's thinking.

I'm not gonna let cancer
decide if I live or die.

You know what;
I was glad he died.

I wanted him to
quit suffering.

Yeah, I'd seen him
suffer too much,

what a good man he was.

Well, he deserved
better than that.

What a good man.

[cheering].

The immortal
Fritz Von Erich!

♪

Not only have I
lost a brother.

I lost all of them.

And, there is talk
about there being

a curse on the family,
you know.

It's so ridiculous,
you know, a curse.

What happened is
just terrible,

just a terrible thing.
But no curse.

So, what happened
with you after this?

I mean, obviously,
you went through

a really difficult period,
yourself?

I thought I was doing my best,
and I was, but...

I was mad and...

And there was a
time I thought that,

that I wanted to die,
you know,

I wanted to be dead.

And I knew I wasn't
gonna kill myself,

but I just wanted
to fight anyway,

and prison felt like
the perfect thing for me.

I was gonna steal a gun
'cause I knew

how much people hate guns.

If I stole one;
that's prison.

Lo and behold, I tried it
in a Lubbock gun store

with a bunch of
good old Texas men in there.

I went to steal that gun,
and the old man that

owned the store was
looking right at me.

I put it down my pants and

I stiff-legged
walked out of there.

I stopped and
looked at him like,

"You got something to say?"

That's when he just looked
at me like an old man,

didn't say anything
for a long time,

just looked at me.

And I looked
right into his eyes,

and he said,
"Love you, Kev."

Oh, man.

I said, "Thank you, Sir."

And I went out to my car,
and I just thought about

the magnitude of
what just happened.

And I came back
in that store,

gave him his rifle
and hugged him.

I said,
"I love you too, Sir."

And all those other
men were in there.

Man, it was a
great day for Texas.

Great day for Von Erich.
I needed that so bad.

I wanted life to get
as bad as it could be.

[sighs]

Anyway,
I'm so glad it's over.

Saved me.

♪

Y'all want to see this tree
I was telling you about?

Yeah.

♪

[grunts].

♪

This is my desk, my office.

- That's your office?
- Yeah.

My lazy boy lounger here.

How often are you here?
Every day?

Ah... Try to.

Not as-- If I can,
I get here every day.

I try...
I do try to do that.

I wouldn't trade it for
anything in the world.

A peace I've
never had before.

♪

The more alone you get,
the more close you feel to...

to God.
It seems like to me.

If I'm scuba diving at night
on the bottom of the ocean,

I love to turn my light off
and just lay on the bottom.

I feel like...

you think you're
far away, you know,

you're never far.

God is right with you,
and I can feel it.

And I just, I do love it.

♪

Hey, baby!
Hey, you.

♪

Kevin's kids,
I've met 'em all.

And they have
beautiful kids now.

What I sought for all my
life was to be peaceful,

and here I am.

And I thank you, Lord.

I've never been so
happy and peaceful.

There's always
kids playing here.

It's highest and best use
for the land, for sure.

He's been through so
much chaos and stuff,

and so, for him to end up
in this kind of just

peaceful environment,
you know, with, you know,

the animals and everything,
he's just like so at home

and just so, you know,
he loves it.

♪

I'm lucky the way that
I found that the

only thing that lasts is family.

You see Ross and you see
a little bit of Kerry.

And you see Marshall and you
see the athleticism of Kevin,

and you see
that big body of Dave.

♪

And then in both
of them, you see...

the Von Erich.

And so, hey, who knows.
Maybe the story'll continue.

Kevin officially retired on
July the 17th, 2017.

Wrestling his last match

alongside his two
sons in Israel,

where the Von Erich
family name

is celebrated to this day.

[chanting: "Von Erich!"]

You know,
I've seen huge crowds.

I've been the
guest of honor.

I've been, you know,
a celebrity.

I've been what everybody
thinks they want.

I've had all that.

And it's not satisfying
because that's all there is.

What is satisfying is
dinner with the family,

children laughing.

Real joy, that's the truth.

♪