The Iron Claw movie review

My buddy Mikey and I went and saw The Iron Claw, the movie based on the life of Kevin Von Erich and his family.  I  loved the movie!

Factually he movie has many flaws but this isn't a movie about professional wrestling, this is a movie based on the life of the Von Erich family who happen to be wrestlers that is a tremendous difference! Anyone, wrestling fan or not, can go and watch this movie about an overbearing father who pressures his sons to succeed and the love the brothers have for each other.

I can't say I'm a fan of Zac Efron but in this role I thought he was brilliant.  Watching him play the role of Kevin, and with all the love he was displaying to his brothers, as a wrestling fan, knowing how the tragedy plays out I was already emotional about it.  

Wrestling fans will be critical, because we all know that no one likes to hate more than a rabid fan base.  The actors they got to play Harley Race and Ric Flair were not great portrayals at all,  we see the Freebirds a bunch, but they don't talk.  The Ric Flair promo was great, the delivery of it and the actors portrayal of Flair was terrible. 

It was much publicized a lot that current AEW World Champion MJF, who got a producer credit, is portraying Lance Von Erich in the film.  Anyone that knows the story knows how badly Lance Von Erich flopped in Dallas.  In the final edit of the movie MJF has no lines, we see him in a match teaming with Kevin, however he is not identified so it's nothing more than a cameo.

The timeline in the movie does not match up with the true timeline of events.  The movie picks up in 1979 with Kevin in a singles match, and they talk about David debuting as his mystery partner.  Kevin debut in 1976 and David in 1977 so that's off a bit.  

Kevin was married to Pam on August 1, 1980 and in the movie David is going to Japan the following week where he dies.  David died February 10, 1984.

In the film the US Boycotts the Summer Olympics preventing Kerry from competing, as a result he begins wrestling for his father's promotion.  In reality Kerry debuted in wrestling in 1978 but officially didn't accept money for the matches to maintain his amateur status.  When the US Boycotted the 1980 Summer Games he went into wrestling full time. 

Kerry wins the NWA Worlds Championship at the David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions on May 6, 1984.  In the movie he goes for a motorcycle ride that night and gets in the crash losing his foot.  The crash actually took place June 4, 1986.  Kerry would hold the NWA Championship for 3 weeks before dropping it to back to Flair in Japan. 

In the movie after Kerry's accident Mike is recruited into the family business because we need a Von Erich.  Shortly after his debut it showed Mike injuring his shoulder in a near vacant Dallas Sportatorium and taking his own like shortly after.

Mike actually debuted in November 1983, was married in April 1985.  In August 1985 he injured his shoulder in Israel and suffered toxic shock syndrome after surgery in Texas to repair the shoulder.  Mike was very messed up but he did return to wrestling in July 1986, he also got in a car crash in 1986 suffering another head injury.  In January 1987 he toured New Japan Pro Wrestling coming out on the winning end in 6 of 10 matches, locking up with Antonio Inoki in a 6 man tag.  He would take his life on April 12, 1987.

In the movie Fritz gives World Class to Kevin who sells it to Jerry Jarrett.  Fritz is who sold to World Class to Jarrett in 1989.  Kevin tried to resurrect World Class in 1990 but was not able to succeed with Kerry signing with the then WWF.  

In the movie Kevin locks the Iron Claw on Ric Flair and doesn't brake this hold, this is shown to happen after Mike's death, this actually happened at the 2nd Annual David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions May 5, 1985.    

In the movie it shows Kevin has stopped wrestling and Kerry is the WWF, it was shortly after being released by the WWF that Kerry commits suicide.  Kerry was released in July1992 and ended his life on February 18, 1993.

Chris with Kerry Von Erich

Chris Von Erich is completely missing from the movie.  The youngest and the smallest Von Erich brothers a series of health problems kept him from fulfilling his dream of being in the ring like his brothers.  In 1990 after the Jerry Jarrett bought out World Class Chris has a handful of matches in the USWA and later Kevin's revived version of World Class.  On September 12, 1991 at the age of 21 Chris shot himself in the head.

Director Sean Durkin said he left Chris out of the movie because the script could not withstand one more tragedy.

All in all I loved the movie, I know it wasn't timeline accurate, but they did a good job telling the story they wanted to share.  The only part I disagree with is the exclusion of Chris.

I'm sure the only real was to tell the story of the Von Erich family, outside of a documentary, would be multiple movies, miniseries, or television event.  I look forward to buying the home video and watching it again. 

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Until next time! 

World Class: Star Wars 1981 Review

About a month ago I was looking through the Hidden Gems section of the WWE Network and found the Star Wars 1981 World Class Championship Wrestling event.  I was pretty excited to find this because I've never seen it before and I'm a fan of the old World Class wrestling. I was also surprised it wasn't in the World Class section.

WCCW Star Wars 1981

Sunday February 22, 1981

Reunion Arena

Ring Announcer: Bill Mercer

Run Time 81 Minutes

Mil Mascaras vs. "Killer" Tim Brooks

Mil looks pretty good here, of course he is only 39 years old.  At the time of this match if you threw your opponent over the top rope you were disqualified.  The highlight of the match was Brooks throwing himself over the top rope in the corner trying to claim a dq victory.  Mascaras took three bumps in the match and no sold all three.  Finish came with Mascaras coming off the top rope with a flying body press.

No Disqualification
Fritz Von Erich vs. The Great Kabuki with Gary Hart

So this match was terrible. Highlight of the match was when a fan tried to attack Gary Hart and Gary leveled him, it was tremendous!  Fritz was in trouble with Kabuki dominating, so David ran in attacking Kabuki nailing a devastating back body drop and the Fritz got the pin.  Yup.

NWA World Champion: Harley Race vs. Kerry Von Erich

21 year old Kerry Von Erich was green as grass in this title opportunity.  Match was pretty clustery but it was a decent match.  Bronco Lubich was a terrible referee, just terrible.  He was slow, got in the way, just bad.  Harley was great, some classic Harley comedy with him selling the after effects of a sleeper hold and tumbling through the ropes.

Finish came when Harley bodyslammed Kerry on one of the ringside tables and then attempted a falling headbutt, but Kerry moved.  Both men were then counted out of the ring even though Kerry was three quarters of the way back into the ring when the referee finished the count.

WCWA World Heavyweight Tag Team Championships
David & Kevin Von Erich vs. Champions: Hercules Ayala & Ali Mustafa
The tag team championship was represented by a single large trophy.  Also Kevin is wearing boots in this match!  This match was a struggle of styles in the worst way.  You had the young Von Erich brothers who wanted to work a fast paced high intensity match that the crowd was very much into, and the big, slow, and plodding Ayala & Ali just slowed it right down.  But not in that good wrestling psychology way of slowing things down to build them back up, they just didn't want to move.
The Von Erich's won the title with a sunset flip.

This was taken right after Kevin & David won the match

Texas Battle Royal

The winner would receive $5000!  It looks like about twelve wrestlers in the match, you could be eliminated by pin fall or being thrown over to top rope to the floor.  Bruiser Brody won a very lackluster Battle Royal.

At the beginning of the matches the fans would gather around the ring for autographs from the baby faces, however when Kevin and David were in there the fans surrounded the ring and climbed up on the ring apron, it was pretty wild! Really showed just how popular they were with the fans.

There was only one camera that was used for the match, the hard camera but it would zoom in and move around following the action.  It came out very well.  I don't know who was calling the action, but it was a one man booth and he felt the need to talk non-stop and at times it was rough to listen too.

According to cagematch.net there was one other match on the card with Chang Chung defeating Bruiser Brody.  If you chose not to watch this then you are missing out on nothing.

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They Wrestled in the WWE?

In this post I take a look at a few guys that you may not have known ever wrestled in the WWE.  Everyone one of these men I associated with wrestling in World Class, the NWA, Japan, AWA or anyplace but the WWE;

Jumbo Tsuruta
April 1, 1974 Madison Square Garden defeated Johnny Rodz

Tsuruta was recruited into wrestling by Shohei "Giant" Baba and sent to Texas to train with Dory Funk Jr.  He is the man who unified the NWA International Heavyweight, NWA United National, & the PWF  World Heavyweight Championships into the All Japan Pro Wrestling Triple Crown Championship on April 18, 1989.  He is also a former AWA World Heavyweight Champion and held numerous other championships.

However, I never knew that Jumbo had a match in the WWE.  His one and only appearance was on April 1, 1974 at the fabled Madison Square Garden where he defeated Johnny Rodz.  This match was part of a short 4 match tour he made in the States also wrestling in NWA St. Louis and Championship Wrestling from Florida.

Gino Hernandez
February 8, 1977 Philadelphia, PA defeated Sylvano Sousa at Championship Wrestling TV Taping
February 9, 1977 Hamburg, PA drew Johnny Rodz at All Star Wrestling TV Taping
March 7, 1977 Madison Square Garden defeated Johnny Rodz

When I hear the name Gino Hernandez the only place I think about it Texas.  Hernandez debuted in 1973 after training with Jose Lothario for Joe Blanchard's Southwest Championship Wrestling.  In Southwest he feuded with Lothario before forming a top heel tag team with Tully Blanchard; The Dynamic Duo.  In World Class Championship Wrestling he feuded with the Von Erichs teaming with "Gentlemen" Chris Adams losing a famed hair vs. hair match at the Cotton Bowl on October 6, 1985.  He turned on Adams in December blinding him with the Freebirds hair cream.

Sadly Hernandez died on February 2, 1986 from a cocaine overdose he was only 28 years old.

David & Kevin Von Erich
November 19, 1979 Madison Square Garden David defeated Davey O'Hannon 8:47
January 21, 1980 Madison Square Garden Kevin pinned Johnny Rodz with a Thesz press

The world famous Von Erich family are a Texas Wrestling institution.  There has been so much written about the Von Erich's that I don't need to rehash it here.  I knew about Kerry's run in the WWE from 1990 - 1992 but I wasn't aware of any other time on of them wrestled in the WWE.

You Tube: Kevin Von Erich vs. Johnny Rodz

However, in a five month period brother's David, Kevin, & Kerry all did.  For David and Kevin not only was it their only appearances in the WWE but it was at Madison Square Garden which is significant.  Incidentally Kerry defeated Jose Estrada on March 24, 1980 also at MSG.

"Wildfire" Tommy Rich
January 28, 1980 Scranton, PA wrestled WWF World Champion: Bob Backlund to a 60 minute time limit draw
February 18, 1980 Madison Square Garden defeated Johnny Rodz 7:41

Tommy Rich debuted in 1974 and is most likely best known for four day reign as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion defeating Harley Race on April 27, 1981 in Augusta, GA and losing it May 1, 1981 in Gainesville.

Prior to that though Rich made two appearances in the WWE where he wrestled then champion Bob Backlund and later making his only appearance at Madison Square Garden.  Otherwise Rich spent the majority of his career in the Southern Promotions and a couple years in ECW as the Big Don.

Greg Gagne
January 17, 1977 Madison Square Garden defeated Johnny Rodz
April 21, 1980 Madison Square Garden pinned Jose Estrada after two dropkicks
August 9, 1980 Shea Stadium pinned Rick McGraw

The son of promoter Verne Gagne his name is synonymous with the AWA.  I knew he had worked for both WCW and the WWE in producer or agents roles after his in ring career ended however I can't recall ever hearing about him wrestling anyplace other than the AWA.

YouTube: Greg Gagne vs. Jose Estrada

The pattern that stands out for all of these competitors is that each of these competitors wrestled at Madison Square Garden which has long been considered the mecca of wrestling venues in the United States.  The only other connection is other than David Von Erich, they all wrestled "The Unpredictable" Johnny Rodz.

"The Unpredictable" Johnny Rodz

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The Last Match: The Von Erich Family

In this edition of The Last Match we take a look at the famous Von Erich wrestling family.  I've also included people who have used the Von Erich name and even if billed as family members were not actually part of the Von Erich Family.

For more information about the Von Erich family I highly recommend that you check out the "Heroes of World Class" and "The Triumph and Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling" documentaries.  Also the Von Erich website here: https://www.vonerich.com/

Fritz Von Erich
November 27, 1986 WCWA Thanksgiving Star Wars, Reunion Arena, Dallas, Texas
defeated Abdullah the Butcher by disqualification

The patriarch of the family debuted in 1953 for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling, later he formed a tag team with his "brother" Waldo Von Erich.  July 27, 1963 he defeated Verne Gagne for the AWA World Championship holding the title for only 12 days.  He helped re-build the Japanese wrestling scene after Rikidozan's death by wrestling matches with Giant Baba & Antonio Inoki.

In 1969 Fritz took over the Dallas Territory then known as Big Time Wrestling-Dallas, from Ed McLemore.  Rebranded in 1982 as World Class Championship Wrestling the territory was very successful with the Von Erich's working on top.  Fritz left promoting by the end of 1989.  He died on September 10, 1997 at the age of 68.

Kevin Von Erich
January 21, 1995 NWA Dallas The Sportatorium, Dallas, Texas
defeated by John Hawk losing the NWA North American Heavyweight Championship

The eldest and only surviving brother, Kevin "The Golden Warrior" debuted in 1976 mostly wrestling for his family's promotion in Dallas.  However he did appear in St. Louis, Georgia Championship Wrestling, Florida, New Japan Pro Wrestling and one match in the WWF.

Since retiring Kevin has made a few appearances in the WWE including the Raw homecoming, accepting the Von Erich Family induction into the Hall of Fame and speaking during the Freebirds induction.  He has also appeared in TNA with his sons Ross & Marshall.

David Von Erich
February 3, 1984 WCCW The Sportatorium, Dallas, Texas
defeated "Bam Bam" Terry Gordy by disqualification

"The Yellow Rose of Texas" David Von Erich was born July 22, 1958 making his debut June 11, 1977 for his father's promotion in Dallas.  In 1979 he made his only WWF appearance in a match at Madison Square Garden.  In 1981 he went to Florida working as a heel under manager JJ Dillion having feuds with Barry Windham, Mr Wrestling II, and others before returning to Texas.

Back in Texas he along with his brothers engaged in a legendary feud with The Fabulous Freebirds and later "Nature Boy" Ric Flair.  Some even believe that he was slated to win the NWA World Championship from Flair when he returned from Japan.  Sadly on February 10, 1984 David dies the day he arrived in Japan for a tour with All Japan Pro Wrestling.  There has been lots of speculation as they what caused his death, he was only 25 years old.

Kerry Von Erich
February 12, 1993 GWF The Sportatorium, Dallas, Texas
with "Gentleman" Chris Adams was defeated by Black Bart & Johnny Mantell by disqualification

"The Modern Day Warrior" debuted May 7, 1979 for is father's Texas promotion.  In 1984 he defeated "Nature Boy" Ric Flair for the NWA World Championship at the David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions.  Some say his reign was only because of the death of his brother David.  He would lose the title 18 days later in Japan.  June 4, 1986 he was in a motorcycle accident that severely injured his right foot.  After returning to the ring too soon his foot was injured again and it was required to be amputated.  He wrestled the rest of his career with a prosthetic foot in his boot.

Kerry with his brothers would go on to feud with the Fabulous Freebirds in a legendary battle that blew up the territory.  As WCWA Heavyweight Champion he lost a unification match to AWA World Champion  Jerry "The King" Lawler at Super Clash III.  He would sign with the WWF as the Texas Tornado debuting July 28, 1990 on Saturday Night's Main Event.  His run in the WWF was just over two years and he has a 3 month reign as Intercontinental Champion.  I loved his entrance music in the Fed, it was bad ass.  His final run in wrestling was with the GWF.

On February 18, 1993 on his fathers ranch Kerry committed suicide by shooting himself in the heart, he was 33 years old.

Mike Von Erich
March 27, 1987 WCWA The Sportatorium, Dallas, Texas
with Kevin Von Erich defeated Al Madril & Brian Adidas

Mike never wanted to be a wrestler, he was forced into ring by his father in 1983.  After his brother David's death he took his place in the feud with the Fabulous Freebirds.  August 22, 1985 he had shoulder surgery.  After being released from the hospital he spiked a fever of 107 and suffered from Toxic Shock Syndrome resulting in brain damage.

He returned to the ring but was never the same again. On April 12, 1987 he left a suicide note for his family then went to Lake Dallas and overdosed on pills, he was found 4 days later.  He was 23 years old.

Chris Von Erich
November 02, 1990 WCWA The Sportatorium, Dallas, Texas
with Kevin Von Erich & Sweet Brown Sugar was defeated by Angel of Death, John Tatum, & Skandor Akbar by disqualification

The youngest and smallest brother, standing only 5ft 5in, Chris did many jobs behind the scenes in his father's promotion.  His in ring debut came on June 22, 1990.  However due to his poor health and asthma he simply couldn't go in the ring. On September 12, 1991 at the age of 21 Chris shot himself in the head.

Lacey Von Erich
September 7, 2010 TNA Impact Universal Studios, Orlando, Florida
with Velvet Sky as The Beautiful People was defeated by Knockout Tag Team Champions: Hamada & Taylor Wilde

The daughter of Kerry Von Erich this third generation star was signed to a WWE developmental deal in August 2007.  She made her ring debuted September 15, 2007 as a valet for Billy Kidman in Florida Championship Wrestling.  She made her in ring debut in November of that year before she was released from her deal.

Lacey toured the independents before signing a deal with TNA Wrestling where she would become a TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champion as a member of the Beautiful People.

with Lacey Von Erich at the NWA Legends Fanfest 2009, Charlotte, North Carolina

On March 16, 2009 the WWE inducted the Von Erich Family into the WWE Hall of Fame, Kevin accepted on behalf of the family after being inducted by Michael PS Hayes.  Officially Fritz, Kevin, David, Kerry, Mike, & Chris were those inducted.

Kevin accepting the families induction to the WWE Hall of Fame

The only two active Von Erich's wrestling are Kevin's sons Ross & Marshall and they only wrestle a few matches a year.  Their most recent well known bouts were in TNA, June 15, 2014 at Slammiversary XII in Arlington, Texas and then TV tapings in February 2015.  Their last match to date December 16, 2016 in Dallas, Texas defeated Big Sed & Lou Sterrett.

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BONUS 

Non-Family Members 

Waldo Von Erich
March 4, 1979 Maple Leaf Wrestling, Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
defeated Johnny Yachetti

Walter Sieber began wrestling at the age of 17 for Stu Hart and Stampede Wrestling.  In the late 1950's he began teaming with Fritz Von Erich and they would capture several tag team championships together.  They last record of them teaming I could find was May 5, 1970 in Dallas, Texas.

Waldo would go onto the WWWF challenging Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF Championship and winning the US Tag Team Titles with Gene Kiniski.  After retiring he became associated with Ontario, Canada's ICW training wrestlers including Tyson Dux.  Waldo died July 5, 2009 at the age of 75.

Lance Von Erich
March 6, 1996 NWA Kuantan, Malaysia
defeated The Vampire Warrior

William Vaughan entered World Class in October 1985 as Lance Von Erich the "son" of Waldo Von Erich.  Kevin stated he and family was against this but Fritz insisted.  Also Gary Hart stated fans told him they knew he was not a member of the family damaging their credibility in their eyes.

In 1987 Lance left WCCW for rival Wild West Wrestling causing Fritz to go on TV and disavow Lance as a member of the Von Erich family stating he never was.  He would use the name on and off until he retired in 1996.

The Von Erich Claw