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OT - The Von Erichs

hometown frog

hometown frog

Active Member
I watched WCW live every week growing up. Ice Man among Parsons lived in our neighborhood and we would see him at the grocery store every week. Those Von Erich v Freebird matches were some of the coolest memories I had growing up.

I had several signed memorabilia from Kerry and David von Erich at one point.
 
Zubaz

Zubaz

Member
Also, the same series will be doing an episode on Gino Hernandez, another World Class star that died way too early.
 
Atomic Frawg

Atomic Frawg

Full Member
I worked at Will Rogers Coliseum through high school stocking and re-stocking the concession stands. I worked almost all of the WCCW, and I have many wrestling stories to tell. At some point I met most of the big name guys from back in the day, including the Von Erichs. Kevin was handsdown my favorite of the bunch. He was the most personable and would usually take the time to say hi or just be polite to us. On one occasion when he arrived for a match they had to go through the kitchen area by the back dock. He slung his bag over one shoulder and wrapped his arm around my neck and told me to walk with hm. He was askng me stuff about school and how I was doing, etc. Basically, he chatted up a high school kid for no reason, and I've never forgotten it.
 
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S

Showtime Joe 2.0

Active Member
Fortress Frog said:
Have always heard a story that when Kerry wrestled in WWE (well after his dad’s business folded) that his prosthetic foot once slipped off during a match and he was scrambling to put it back on. Apparently he never told anyone about it including other wrestlers. Always wore something on his foot in the locker room to hide it.
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This incident did happen. It was at the old Showboat Casino in Las Vegas on November 12, 1988 when Kerry was wrestling in the AWA (not the WWF). His opponent accidentally pulled the boot off and fans at ringside were aghast when they saw he had a missing foot. He quickly put his boot back on under the ring apron but this event caused rumors about his missing foot that he continually denied until he killed himself five years later. Of course, showering with his boots on in the locker room kind of gave the game away to his fellow wrestlers!
 
S

Showtime Joe 2.0

Active Member
Atomic Frawg said:
I worked at Will Rogers Coliseum through high school stocking and re-stocking the concession stands. I worked almost all of the WCCW, and I have many wrestling stories to tell. At some point I met most of the big name guys from back in the day, including the Von Erichs. Kevin was handsdown my favorite of the bunch. He was the most personable and would usually take the time to say hi or just be polite to us. On one occasion when he arrived for a match they had to go through the kitchen area by the back dock. He slung his bag over one shoulder and wrapped his arm around my neck and told me to walk with hm. He was askng me stuff about school and how I was doing, etc. Basically, he chatted up a high school kid for no reason, and I've never forgotten it.
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I was a ringside regular at Will Rogers back in the heyday of the Von Erichs. The atmosphere when they wrestled back then was unbelievably electric and highly unusual for pro wrestling in those days since the Von Erichs attracted a demographic that wasn't typically found at wrestling matches: young women in their teens and twenties who screamed at the brothers like girls watching Elvis in the '50s. Also, the Von Erichs were known as very "stiff" wrestlers, meaning they didn't pull their punches to protect their opponents. This pissed their opponents off and they would retaliate in kind, leading to truly violent confrontations in the ring. Those were special times, indeed.
 
Froglaw

Froglaw

Full Member
Whe
Raw Frog said:
"Bulldog" Danny Fletcher....the fans would bark at him as he scowled down at them.....
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When I was about a ten year lawyer my partner got a call from a fellow attorney regarding a Restraining Order he received and was about to serve at the Spor-A-Tourium. We repressed Gentleman Chris Adams.

So I spent the evening in the office at the SAT with one of the Von Erichs I think it was Kris Von Erich but it was a long time ago.

We had mutual friends from when we were growing up even though we did not know each other directly.

Interesting history on the Sport-A-Tourium, Bullog Pletcher, his father, the business side of local wrestling, etc.
 
Eight

Eight

Member
SwissArmyFrog said:
LOL, Saturday Night Wrestling!!! 10:00-11:30 every Saturday night on channel 11! So many memories...

Flying Red Bastien
Mad Dog Vachon
"...and here come the midgets!" I told my daughter they used to have midget wrestling, and she didn't believe me, at first, haha.
Jose Lothario
The Spoiler, a masked wrestler managed by a guy (Bronco Lubitsch?) who later became a ref.
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they said and did some things then that people who have a meltdown over today.

i had never actually watched that von erich - freebirds match i posted and watched it last night. spoiler alert, but after the von erichs win and are presented this giant trophy they of course get jumped (script never changes does it) by the free birds and a couple of other wrestlers.

one of the guys who "attacked" the von erichs was a big guy who looked asian. the tape is so crappy it could have been john wayne in his genghis khan outfit. the announce keeps yelling how he has never seen this oriental wrestler before and how it is the biggest oriental he has ever seen in his life.

geographically the world hasn't gotten smaller, but as todd d points out it was so different then that a wrestler working a few states over could have this completely different back story.

i.e. ivan putski, the polish power house who i believe grew up in austin and had the son play at tcu for wacker
 
Zubaz

Zubaz

Member
Eight said:
one of the guys who "attacked" the von erichs was a big guy who looked asian. the tape is so crappy it could have been john wayne in his genghis khan outfit. the announce keeps yelling how he has never seen this oriental wrestler before and how it is the biggest oriental he has ever seen in his life.
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I believe that's Killer Khan, who was most famous for being the guy that "broke Andre the Giant's leg" and put him out of action in the early 80's (in reality, this was around the time that Andre's acromegaly was taking it's toll, and he broke his leg getting out of a chair), led to a huge money feud when Andre came back.

Eight said:
i.e. ivan putski, the polish power house who i believe grew up in austin and had the son play at tcu for wacker
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His son later had an extremely brief run in the WWF in 1997 when they started a "Light Heavyweight" division. Because to bodybuilding fanatic Vince McMahon, this is what a Light Heavyweight looks like, while everyone else was enthralled with this. Anyway, he tagged with his father on an episode of Raw (that saw a TCU shoutout from Jim Ross, actually) before blowing his knee out and never being seen again.
 
Leap Frog

Leap Frog

Full Member
Getting in on this late, but I knew the original when he went to Crozier Technical High School in Dallas.
Don't know if I should mention his real name, but he was always a giant-- good football player too.
 
Zubaz

Zubaz

Member
Leap Frog said:
Yes, but I am hesitant about privacy. That family has built so much as Von Erichs, they may want it to stay that way.
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I wouldn't worry, the real name is out there and well established with wrestling fans.

That's how you also find out about the tragedy in the family, Jack Jr who died as a toddler in a freak accident.
 
Zubaz

Zubaz

Member
Sorry, that meant to read the *OTHER tragedy in the family. Obviously that family dealt with more than its fair share.
 

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