FRITZ Von Erich and his sons are some of the most famous professional wrestlers ever to have graced the ring.
But despite their ability, charisma and togetherness things took a dramatic turn and a heartbreaking curse plagued the talented wrestling family for decades.
Who are the Von Erich family?
The Von Erich family is one of the most popular families in professional wrestling.
Made up of a father and his six children they dominated American wresting in it's early years.
The family started with Jack Adkisson, one of the first proper bad guy in wrestling, also known as a heel.
He portrayed a Nazi in his big break and got “nuclear heat” from fans for his ability to play the perfect villain.
Fritz’s success was passed down to his large family as his first three sons Kevin, David and Kerry all got into the wrestling business at a young age.
The three brother’s became some of wrestling’s best in ring performers and with their retired father now owning the promotion they worked for they became the biggest names in the industry.
Kerry was charismatic and built like a Greek god, David was one of the best wrestlers ever and Kevin's speed and agility made him capable of crazy stunts.
Into the 70s and 80s they became household names with the family even fighting against aliens in comics and appearing in TV commercials.
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What is the Von Erich curse?
The infamous Von Erich curse is all to do with the several unfortunate and brutal deaths in the family.
It started with Adkisson’s child Jack Jr being electrocuted before drowning in a puddle at Niagara Falls when he was only six-years-old.
David was the next victim to the curse as at 25-years-old David’s intestines had burst and filled his body with blood leading to a tragic killer heart attack.
Three years later in 1987 Mike Von Erich who also wrestled injured his shoulder and needed surgery.
After a routine operation his temperature rocketed to 107 degrees because of toxic shock syndrome that caused brain damage and severe weight loss.
He tried to fight through it both in and out of the ring until he was found in a sleeping bag near the family home, overdosed on tranquilizers.
After three deaths to Fritz’s children the curse continued to tear through one of Americas most popular dwindling families.
Chris Von Erich shot himself in the head after abusing drugs because of Mike’s death.
The most successful brother Kerry, who had beat Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship died in the same way at just 33 after a motorcycle accident ended his career.
Fritz, who had outlived five of his six sons, then got a divorce before getting brain cancer and dying at 68.
Which Von Erich brothers are still alive?
Today only one of the original Von Erich’s are left.
Kevin, 66, has gone on to tell his story and the whole families in several documentaries and news reports.
A new biopic about the legendary fighters is set to come out by the end of 2023.
Titled Iron Claw after the Von Erich’s legendary finisher move, A24 have been dropping trailers for the film for a while now.
The movie focuses on Kevin, played by Zac Efron, and brothers Kerry, David, Mike, and Chris.
It talks about their relationship with their father Fritz, founder of the legendary WCCW territory in Texas.
Marshall Von Erich – a third generation family member said on X, formerly known as Twitter: “I knew it wouldn’t be 100% accurate because my Dad (Kevin) wasn’t Involved but those of you that know our family know that God played a major role in our story.
“Still excited about it and think it can help a lot of people that are suffering from loss. They nailed the wardrobe tho.”
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Marshall is one of four children Kevin had, seemingly breaking the horror curse.
Alongside his brother Ross they still use the Von Erich surname in the ring and have found success as Tag Team Champions in various promotions.
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