Shocking true story of Iron Claw’s Von Erich wrestling family – electrocution, cocaine binges & horror gun suicides

BY rights the Von Erich wrestling family should think they’re cursed.

Out of six brothers only one is still alive, with the others losing their lives in a string of tragedies.

The first was electrocuted aged just six, another took an overdose, two shot themselves and the fifth is suspected to have taken too many drugs.

Questions were asked within the sport as to whether some of the brothers had been pushed into the ring by their domineering dad.

Now the dark history of the wrestling clan from Dallas, Texas, is being turned into a movie starring Zac Efron and Lily James, titled The Iron Claw, which is released in the UK next week.

It is named after the signature grip developed by the six siblings’ father, Fritz Von Erich, back in the 1950s.

But the two Von Erichs still taking opponents down in the ring do not believe they have been cursed.

Tag team partners Ross and Marshall Von Erich, whose dad Kevin will be portrayed by Zac and mum Pam by Lily, are determined to keep the family name alive.

Marshall tells The Sun: “We have heard that word thrown around a lot and we definitely don’t feel cursed at all. 

“We feel 100 per cent blessed. I do think everything that happened, happened for a reason because I don’t think my dad would be the man he is today.”

Young son drowned in a puddle

The brothers' real names are Ross and Marshall Adkisson.

The Von Erich moniker was created by their grandfather Jack, back in 1953, because he wanted boos to echo through arenas as he strode to his corner.

As Fritz Von Erich, he wore jackboots, an Iron Cross and spoke in a German accent during interviews.

Marshall explains: “Our grandad wanted to make as big a statement as he could, so he thought of the most villainous thing he could at the time which was a Nazi.”

The 6ft 4in tall powerhouse won American Wrestling Association’s heavyweight titles and was highly respected in Japan.

Fritz lost his first son Jack Jnr in 1959 when the little boy was electrocuted and drowned in a puddle. 

It was a shock that his wife Doris never came to terms with.

Marshall says: “Every day she would wake up and within four seconds she would think, is he still gone, was that real?”

Dead at 24

Having found religion, Fritz fazed out the fascist clothing, but kept the name and his trademark clawed grip.

That was passed on to his eldest sons Kevin and David who made their tag-team debut in 1977.

Thanks to wiley marketing skills and the growth in sports on telly the brothers became even more famous than their dad.

These long-haired, blonde Adonises were a hit with both the ladies and wrestling fans.

Fritz set up World Class Championship Wrestling and his fourth son Kerry became the most successful of all the Von Erichs when he won the NWA World Heavyweight Champion title in 1980.

An ongoing feud with the legendary Ric Flair turned him into a household name.

But the price of money and fame was an attraction to drugs for both David and Kerry.

In 1984, David was found dead in his hotel room in Japan.

According to the official version of events, the 24-year-old wrestler had died as a result of an intestinal injury sustained on the canvas.

But Flair claimed people within the industry suspected that narcotics were the true cause.

How highly David was revered was demonstrated by the 45,000 fans who crammed into a football stadium for a memorial fight held in his honour.

Double suicide

Fifth son Mike, who wanted to be a cameraman, was roped in as David’s replacement.

Just a year later he came close to dying in hospital from toxic shock syndrome brought on by an operation to fix a shoulder injury sustained in a fight in Israel.

Having already escaped a car crash and been found not guilty of punching a doctor, Mike was arrested in 1987 on charges of driving under the influence of drink and drugs.

A few days later his body was found outdoors in a sleeping bag with a suicide note after taking a sleeping pill overdose. Mike was aged just 23.

Dad said he had a stubborn streak. I guess that was the tool, the suicides, the tool that brought him full circle. 

Ross

The family sued the hospital claiming that Mike had developed “a self-destructive attitude” following the toxic shock.

The youngest Von Erich, named Chris, was also the smallest at 5ft 4in and that meant he didn’t achieve the success of his brothers between the ropes.

In 1991, the 21-year-old wrestler was found by his mother and Kevin with a fatal gunshot wound to the head close to the family farm.

There have been suggestions that Fritz pushed his sons to wrestle competitively.

But Marshall contends: “My dad says grandad didn’t pressure them at all. He said they wanted to be like him. 

“They loved being together, staying together as brothers, they had something that was working.”

Drugs and gunshot death

Neither Ross, 34, nor Marshall, 30 are old enough to remember Mike, David or Chris.

But they have fond memories of Kerry, the last of the brothers to die.

Marshall smiles: “Uncle Kerry was always joking around. He asked my dad if he could have one of us.”

Kerry’s mental health deteriorated after a motorcycle accident in 1986 damaged his right foot so badly that it eventually had to be amputated.

He was suspended from the World Wrestling Federation six years later for forging drug prescriptions and in 1993 was wanted on charges of possessing cocaine.

My dad felt like everything was working towards making him want to kill himself too.

Marshall

Ross comments: “You can’t expect to think logically when you have these drugs, in the 80s people were throwing them around like candy.”

Shortly after the arrest warrant was issued Kerry‘s body was discovered by his father with a gunshot wound to the chest. He’d killed himself at the age of 33.

For the last surviving brother this final blow was almost too much.

Marshall says: “My dad felt like everything was working towards making him want to kill himself too. 

“He couldn’t do that to mum or to us. I have nothing but respect for him. I don’t know if a lot of people could have handled that, especially as close as they were.

“My dad said that at one point in time nothing else in the world mattered because he had his brothers.”

Losing four siblings in nine years, three of them to suicide, left Kevin, 65, feeling numb.

But rather than breaking him, it helped to make the father-of-four a more thoughtful person.

Ross explains: “He said he had a stubborn streak. I guess that was the tool, the suicides, the tool that brought him full circle. 

“Now he is totally compassionate. Before everything was about having fun and being selfish.”

Lasting legacy

The brothers insist their dad never encouraged them to take up wrestling.

They developed their own love for the sport by watching The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin.

But the rough and tumble of wrestling was part of growing up as a Von Erich.

Ross smiles: “We were wrestling with him from day one basically, that’s how he hugged us, he put us in an armlock or something. 

“He would rough up our hair. A choke hold is a wrestler’s way of saying he loves you.”

One hundred per cent we want to keep the Von Erich name going, as long as one of us has a son to keep the von Erich name going we did our jo

Marshall

They also knew the original Von Erich, Fritz, who died at the age of 68 from cancer in 1997.

Marshall says: “He’s still to this day my hero. I see our baby pictures and we look identical, I can’t even tell the difference.”

They spent more time with Kevin’s mum, Doris, who died seven years ago aged 82. 

She was very protective of her one surviving son.

Marshall says: “My dad could do no wrong in her sight.”

For the past 15 years Kevin and his family have lived in Hawaii, after he quit wrestling in 2006.

Kerry’s youngest daughter Lacey, 36, also made her name for herself putting opponents in headlocks but retired over a decade ago.

Even though The Iron Claw is largely based on Kevin’s story, he was not consulted about the script.

But the family spoke to writer and director Sean Durkin and the two brothers met Zac.

Marshall says that even before the High School Musical actor was cast in The Iron Claw, which is set to be released later this year, he used to joke that Ross looks just like him.

Zac has been working incredibly hard to beef up his biceps, so much so that Kevin told his sons “he’s getting too big.”

Ross comments: “He’s definitely taking this serious.”

The brothers hope that the film will help others who have experienced suicide and loss.

Marshall says: “I know if it’s told correctly it could help a lot of people because there is a lot of tragedy in our family.”

Their job, though, is to keep the Von Erich dynasty alive.

Kevin’s sons have wrestled all over the world, including Britain, and are former tag team champions in Major League Wrestling.

Marshall, who has two sons, concludes: “One hundred per cent we want to keep the Von Erich name going, as long as one of us has a son to keep the von Erich name going we did our job.

“But I want my sons to see what happens. I won’t force it on them.”

The Iron Claw is released in the US on December 22 and in the UK on February 9, 2024