Von Erich Family

The Von Erich family is a legendary professional wrestling family. Their actual birth names are "Adkisson", but every member of the family that went into the wrestling business used the ring name "Von Erich", after the family patriarch, Fritz (real name - Jack).

Fritz Von Erich
Fritz Von Erich was born on August 16, 1929 in Jewett, Texas. Standing 6'4" tall and weighing 240 lbs, Fritz was an imposing figure who quickly became a top heel in the wrestling business due, in no small part due to his devastating finishing maneuver, "The Iron Claw".

Originally trained by the legendary Stu Hart, Fritz became a top star in many National Wrestling Alliance promotions, most notably in St. Louis and in World Class Championship Wrestling.

Despite never having won the NWA World Heavyweight Title, he maintained his presence within the Alliance, holding many other major belts. Fritz also served as NWA President for a short period in the 1970s, as well as President of WCCW when it moved to Dallas, Texas.

Fritz was also a major part of Japanese wrestling, where he was known as "Tetsu no Tsume" (in English, "The Iron Claw"), and helped rebuild the business after the death of Rikidozan.

Fritz is the father of the other legendary members of the Von Erich family, and the grandfather of Kevin's son, Ross. He died of lung cancer which spread to his brain in 1997.

Jack Adkisson
Fritz Von Erich's first son. Died after accidentally being electrocuted and drowning at the age of 7 years old.

Kevin Von Erich
Born May 15, 1957 in Belleville, Illinois, "The Golden Warrior" Kevin Von Erich is the second oldest son of Fritz Von Erich.

The majority of Kevin's career was spent working in World Class Championship Wrestling, where he had many memorable feuds against legendary wrestlers such as Chris Adams, The Fabulous Freebirds, and Ric Flair. It was there that Kevin became known for utilizing the body scissors and iron claw as his trademark manouvers, as well as wrestling barefoot.

Kevin retired in 1995 and is now settled down with his family and working in real estate. He has been married for over twenty five years and has two daughters, two sons, and a grandchild. He occasionally makes appearances in wrestling shows, but never wrestles. He is the sole survivor of the sons of Fritz Von Erich. Though he remained in Texas for several years after his retirement, Kevin and his family eventually moved to Hawaii.

In May 2006, Kevin sold the World Class footage to Vince McMahon and the WWE. By July of 2006, Kevin had made two brief appearances at WWE shows when they filmed in Dallas, one before the sale and one after.

In his first appearance, at WWE homecoming, he beat down Rob Conway with several other legends, even applying the legendary Von Erich Claw.

He also made a brief appearance on the 7/15/2006 episode of Saturday Nights Main Event.

David Von Erich
"The Yellow Rose of Texas" David Von Erich is the third son of Fritz Von Erich. He was born on July 22, 1958.

David had many memorable feuds, mostly in Fritz's World Class Championship Wrestling promotion. It was there that he faced off with Ric Flair several times for the NWA World Heavyweight Title (never winning), as well as teamed with brothers Kevin and Kerry against the Fabulous Freebirds. David also wrestled in Missouri, winning the Missouri Heavyweight Title on a couple of occasions.

David died in 1984, reportedly shortly before he was booked to win the NWA World Heavyweight Title from Ric Flair. The official doctor's report states that he died of acute enteritis, but as Ric Flair states in his book "everyone in wrestling knows" it was a drug overdose that really killed him and that Bruiser Brody (a fellow wrestler who found David) disposed of the narcotics by flushing them down a toilet before the police arrived. Brody, a close friend of Von Erich, would later admit that he overreacted in the moment of tragedy and flushed David's pain killers down the toilet. It has been confirmed that David Von Erich's official cause of death was a heart attack caused by ruptured intestines, which were the result of acute enteritis. It should be noted that David is, to the best of anyone's knowledge, the only person that was voted to win the NWA World Championship by the board of directors but died before actually winning the title.

A tribute show was held a couple of months later in his honor, during which his younger brother, Kerry Von Erich, won the NWA title from Ric Flair.

Kerry Von Erich
Kerry Von Erich is the fourth son of Fritz Von Erich. He was born on February 3, 1960 in Niagara Falls, New York. Known as "The Modern Day Warrior" and "The Texas Tornado", Kerry was by far the best-known of the Von Erich Family.

Much like his brothers, Kerry spent the majority of his career wrestling in World Class Championship Wrestling. Amongst the many major feuds he had were those against Gino Hernandez, Iceman Parsons, Chris Adams and The Fabulous Freebirds.

Kerry became the most successful of the Von Erich family when he won the NWA World Heavyweight Title from Ric Flair at the David Von Erich Memorial Parade Of Champions, a tribute show to his deceased older brother. Kerry lost the belt three weeks later to Flair. Kerry also wrestled for several months in both the World Wrestling Federation and Global Wrestling Federation, two national promotions that were rising to fame at the expense of regional promotions such as WCCW.

On June 4th, 1986, Kerry was in a horrendous motorcycle accident that nearly ended his life. With a dislocated hip and a badly injured right leg, Kerry was in bad shape. Doctors tried hard, but could not save his foot, eventually amputating it. According to brother Kevin, Kerry injured the foot following surgery by attempting to walk on it prematurely, thus forcing the doctors to amputate it. He was able to continue wrestling after the accident with a fused ankle and until his death kept the amputation secret to the majority of fans and even some fellow competitors.

Kerry had a history of drug problems. Amongst the many of them were two arrests, the first of which resulted in probation. After the second, which violated the probation and likely would have resulted in extensive jail time, Kerry committed suicide by a shot to the heart in 1993 on his father's ranch.

Mike Von Erich
Mike Von Erich, born March 2, 1964 in Denton, Texas, was the fifth son of Fritz Von Erich.

Mike replaced David in the feud the Von Erichs had with the Fabulous Freebirds following David's death.

After suffering a shoulder injury in 1985 on a tour of Israel, Mike was forced to have surgery. Shortly after, it was discovered that he suffered from Toxic Shock Syndrome, a rarity in men, and was forced to retire after not being able to return to the ring at full strength anymore. He committed suicide in 1987 by intentional overdose of a tranquilizer.

Chris Von Erich
Born September 30, 1969 in Denton, Texas, Chris Von Erich was the youngest, shortest, and least athletic of the Von Erich family. He made many attempts to succeed in the squared circle due to an incredible love of wrestling that kept him going despite numerous injuries. He managed one major feud with Percy Pringle in the USWA, but his career didn't take off like the rest of the family's.

After several years of not being able to succeed in the wrestling business Chris became depressed and frustrated. He was also heartbroken over the loss of his brothers. He committed suicide in 1991.

Ross Von Erich
Ross Von Erich is the stage name of Ross Adkisson. He is the son of Kevin Von Erich & the grandson of Fritz von Erich, and the heir to the Adkisson family name and Von Erich legacy. Ross, like his father before him, is also a football player at Billy Ryan High School.

Waldo Von Erich
Waldo Von Erich was the stage name of Canadian professional wrestler Walter Sieber. Though billed as the brother of Fritz Von Erich when they teamed, he is not related to the Adkisson family. Waldo is retired and currently working in therapy.

Lance Von Erich
Lance Von Erich was the stage name of professional wrestler William Kevin Vaughn. He was billed for a brief period of time in the 1980s as the son of Waldo Von Erich, but there was no biological relation between the two. Lance also has no biological relation to the Adkisson family.

Von Erich curse
The Von Erich curse is a name applied to the situation involving the legendary Von Erich family. While patriarch Fritz lived until his natural death, four of his five wrestling sons died premature deaths within a 10-year span (as well as his eldest son who was electrocuted as a child). As previously mentioned, David died in 1984 under circumstances that were disputed for years, while Michael, Kerry, and Chris all committed suicide in subsequent years.

Kevin Von Erich is the sole survivor of the Adkisson sons who recently sold the WCCW Video Library to the WWE.