The Von Erich Family’s Tragic History: Inside Their Losses and Wrestling Legacy
The family's story served as the inspiration for the hit 2023 film ‘The Iron Claw’
Wrestling was never the same after the Von Erich family stepped into the ring and took down their opponents with the famous Iron Claw move. But don’t let their World Wrestling Federation (WWF) trophies fool you. This Texas-based family had it harder than most due to the number of untimely deaths they faced growing up. Below, we investigate who the Von Erichs are, why people believed they were cursed and what the only surviving professional wrestler is up to today. Scroll down to read.
Who were the Von Erichs?
The Von Erichs—originally surname Adkisson—were a Denton County, Texas-based family who made a name for themselves due to their wrestling skills.
The family patriarch, Jack “Fritz” Adkisson, began the empire after he won the World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) and the AWA World Heavyweight Championship in the 1960s. He never won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, though, and after marrying his wife Doris in June 1950, he began to train his sons to do just that. He was also the reason the family started using the last name Von Erich to help further the fear in his “Nazi heel” trick.
Fritz’s first son, Jack Adkisson Jr., was born in 1952 but sadly died in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, in 1959 at age six after he stepped on a trailer tongue, got electrically shocked and then face-planted into a pile of snow and drowned.
In 1957, Kevin Von Erich was born in Belleville, Illinois. He was the first son to become a wrestler and spent most of his life working toward winning the WCCW and defeating , but sadly, he never got there. Kevin has been married to Pamela J. May since 1980 and they have four children and 13 grandchildren. He currently lives in Texas and is Fritz’s only living child.
A year after Kevin was born, Fritz and Doris welcomed their third son in 1958. His name was David Von Erich, and like his father, he never won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. He was married to Candy L. McLeod from June 1978, but split after their baby died in October 1978. Kevin then married Patricia A. Matter in June 1982 and remained with her until he died in February 1984. He was 25 and died in a Tokyo, Japan hotel from acute enteritis; however, a lot of people believed that it was actually from a drug overdose. Those rumors have never been confirmed.
Flash forward to 1960, when Kerry Von Erich—aka “The Texas Tornado”—was born in Niagara Falls, New York. Throughout his life, Kerry wrestled and even won the NWA World Heavyweight Title in 1984, proving himself to be the most successful wrestler in the family. Personally, Kerry was married to Catherine “Cathy” Murray from 1983 until 1992, and they had two daughters named Hollie Brooke and Lacey Dawn during that time. During those years, Kerry got into a motorcycle crash that resulted in him losing his right foot. In response, he became addicted to painkillers, and he eventually ended his life in 1993 after a long battle with depression. He was 33.
The fifth of Fritz’s kids was brother Mike Von Erich, born in 1964, who tried to avoid life in the ring for as long as possible. He instead opted for camera work and even music, but after David’s death, he was forced into wrestling by his family. His career ended quite quickly though, because in 1985 he injured his shoulder while in Israel and soon developed toxic shock syndrome. This caused him to lose a lot of weight and develop severe brain damage. Things became even worse after he got into a car accident in 1989. Mike died in 1987 from a mixture of alcohol and tranquilizers. He was 23 and had married Shani Danette Garza in 1985.
The sixth and final Von Erich was Chris, who was born in 1969 and suffered from asthma, brittle bones and his 5-foot-5 height. Because of these injuries, Chris never succeeded in the wrestling world, despite wanting to. This eventually led to him becoming heavily depressed and taking his own life in 1991. He was 21 at the time.
The Von Erich curse: fact or fiction?
Due to all of the deaths in the Von Erich family, many have come to believe that they are cursed.
Kevin has since denied those rumors, saying, “Not only have I lost a brother, I lost all of them. There was talk about there being a curse on the family. It’s ridiculous. A curse? What happened was just a terrible thing, but no curse.”
The Von Erich family was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame back in 2009, and Kevin was on hand to celebrate. It was there that he addressed the curse rumors.
Where are the Von Erichs now?
Kevin, 67, and his wife Pamela currently live in Texas with their children and grandchildren.
Two of his sons do wrestle, but Kevin himself has left the world behind. He briefly returned for the 2023 film about the Von Erich family entitled The Iron Claw. It features Zac Efron as Kevin, Harris Dickinson as David, Jeremy Allen White as Kerry, Stanley Simons as Mike, Holt McCallany as patriarch Fritz Von Erich, Maura Tierney as Doris and Lily James as Pamela. It didn’t showcase Chris, and Kevin did not have a cameo in it.
“I was very curious about what he [Kevin] thought of the movie,” Efron shared back in 2023. “We went out to the patio, sat forehead to forehead and talked about life for an hour and a half. And he told me that he did enjoy the movie. I can’t really put into words how that feels. It’s far and away the most important review to me on so many levels. It meant the world, and everything just came full circle.”
The Iron Claw is currently available to stream on HBO Max.
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Woman's World does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.
