For how legendary Kerry Von Erich was, it’s almost a crime how few people talk about the wrestling legend. His lack of notoriety among many wrestling fans may have to do with the fact that he wasn’t with WWE for all that long, and he didn’t see all that much success with the company.

He may have led a relatively tragedy-filled life, but he was always a joy to see in the ring with several iconic opponents. His legendary status hasn’t gone completely unnoticed as he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame with his family in 2009. He feuded with some of the greatest wrestlers to step into the ring and is often regarded as having the greatest match of 1984 with none other than “Nature Boy” Ric Flair.

UPDATE: 2024/04/10 14:30 EST BY BENJAMIN VIEIRA

With the release of The Iron Claw, there has been renewed interest in the life and careers of the Von Erich family. Kerry Von Erich, who was played by Jeremy Allen-White in the film, was one of the most renowned and talented competitors of his era. He was a multi-time champion, having been a former NWA World Heavyweight Champion and WWE Intercontinental Champion. While Von Erich's life was tragically cut short, his legacy still stands and he remains an icon of the professional wrestling business.

He Held Over 40 Championships Throughout His Career

His Biggest Win Was For The NWA World Championship

Many fans who never followed the territories may only be aware of Kerry’s Intercontinental Championship reign with the WWE, but he was already a legend before he made it to the big time. Over his entire career, Kerry would pick up more than 40 different championship reigns.

A majority of his title wins were made up of NWA and WCCW championships, even winning the NWA American Tag Team and NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championships six times each. With those kinds of accomplishments, it’s almost shocking he only ever won a single title for WWE, but injuries and personal problems had slowed his career by the time he made it to the company.

Kerry Was A Record-Breaking Discus Thrower

Kerry Von Erich Threw The Discus 196.7 Feet

• The Von Erich family was based out of Texas.
• Kerry competed in track and field, as well as discus throwing.
• He almost competed in the 1980 Olympics.

The Von Erich brothers were raised in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and all of them excelled in sports as kids. When it came to Kerry Von Erich, he saw some of his greatest success as a discus thrower for his school's track and field team. His various track and field abilities likely only aided him with his future wrestling career, proving his athletic prowess.

While Kevin and David both played football, Kerry stuck with track and field, and he ended up setting a Texas state high school record with a discus toss of 196.7 feet, which was 14 feet further than the original record. The record was broken in 1991 and then again in 2001, but Kerry still ranks third all-time in the Texas 4A high school discus records (via UIL Texas). Kerry planned to enter the 1980 Summer Olympics, but the United States boycotted them that year, so he moved on to wrestling.

He Wasn't Considered A Main Eventer Until He Fought Harley Race

Harley Race Helped Put Over Kerry Von Erich

• Kerry Von Erich quickly became a main event talent.
• He feuded with Harley Race early on in his career.
• They battled for the NWA World Title.

Most wrestlers spend more than a few years at the bottom of the wrestling industry. That tends to be the time when wrestlers figure out what works for them, and their character, and it also happens to be when they lose the most. Only having made his debut four years earlier, Kerry managed to climb to the main event of the wrestling world in an incredibly short amount of time. One of his first major feuds with main event status was against the great NWA World Champion Harley Race. The two battled early at the WCCW Star Wars event in both 1981 and 1982 (via Cagematch).

While David Von Erich was considered the heir to the NWA World Championship, both Harley Race and his successor Ric Flair regularly traveled to different territories to battle top stars around the United States. In Texas, they battle David, Kevin, and Kerry Von Erich multiple times. Due to David's unfortunate death, it was Kerry who took that place instead.

Kerry Had A Short NWA Title Reign For A Strange Reason

Kerry Von Etich Only Held The NWA Title For 18 Days

• Kerry Von Erich won the title from Ric Flair.
• David Von Erich was initially supposed to win the title.
• He defended it a few times during that reign.

To the shock and delight of many, Kerry Von Erich managed to defeat Ric Flair for the NWA World Championship at a show that was in tribute to his brother. David Von Erich had died, and while he was tabbed to win the NWA World Championship, it ended up going to Kerry instead at the David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions. While many were overjoyed by the win, it was short-lived as Kerry wouldn’t even hold the title for an entire month. According to Ric Flair on his Wooooo Nation Uncensored podcast, Kerry should have had a long title reign, and that was the plan (via Wrestlingnews.co).

"He was supposed to have it. He missed his first shot. I don’t know where it was and I don’t know why he missed it... I was going over there to wrestle Harley (Race). We were getting paid a lot of money to wrestle in Singapore and then Hong Kong. We flew back into Tokyo and they called me and said, ‘You’re going to take the belt off Kerry, and we’re flying him over there now."

While this was how Ric Flair remembers the quick switch back when it came to the NWA World Championship, history sees things a little differently. Flair claims that Kerry never defended the title. However, when looking at Kerry's Cagematch listing, he had several title defenses-including against Ric Flair himself. After winning the title, Kerry's one month as champion saw him defend it against Terry Gordy twice, Ric Flair two times, Superstar Billy Graham four times, Mike Rotundo, Ron Bass twice, and Jumbo Tsuruta, before losing it back to Flair after an 18-day reign.

He Was Locked In A Five-Year Feud

The Von Erichs Vs. The Freebirds Remains One Of Wrestling's Greatest Feuds

• The Von Erichs and The Fabulous Freebirds were historical rivals.
• They traded numerous back and forth victories.
• The two groups battled in a match where the loser would leave Texas.

In modern-day wrestling, most feuds don't last more than a few months. It is rare to see a feud with long legs, but in the past, that was how the best feuds played out. Among the long-running feuds in the territory days, there might not be a better one to choose from than the Von Erich family battling The Fabulous Freebirds for well over five years. As with all the best feuds, the two sides started as friends before anger and resentment boiled over and The Freebirds turned heel on Kerry Von Erich.

Kerry Von Erich was battling Ric Flair for the NWA World Championship in a steel cage and Von Erich ally Michael P.S. Hayes was the guest referee. Flair had cheated to win so much that Hayes finally snapped and cheated to allow Kerry to win the world title. Kerry refused to take the cheap victory and The Freebirds attacked him, starting the long feud. The two groups battled in countless tag team classics across their lengthy feud, constantly trading titles back and forth between each other. One of their most high-profile matches was a steel cage match that would see the losing group leaving Texas for good.

His First WWE Match Was Against The First Man He Ever Wrestled

Buddy Rose Helped Train The Von Erich Brothers

• Rose began his wrestling career in 1973.
• He wrestled for the WWE, NWA, AWA, and more.
• He helped train Kevin and Kerry Von Erich.

Fans of old-school wrestling will no doubt know who “Playboy” Buddy Rose is. What they may not know is that he was Kerry Von Erich’s first-ever opponent in general, and he was also his first-ever opponent when he made it to the WWE. Buddy Rose was one of the wrestlers who helped train Kevin Von Erich before his debut and Kerry would often tag along and work with them as a young teenager (via Matt Farmer). This made it smart that Kerry would start against Buddy in one of his very first televised matches.

When Kerry Von Erich moved on to WWE, his first match was also against a very different Buddy Rose. At this time, Buddy had gained a lot of weight and used that as his gimmick, pretending to be much lighter than he was. The match wasn’t anything special, but the moment was probably heartwarming for the two men. Being able to share Kerry’s debut match and his first match for what was becoming the biggest wrestling company in the world is something that would be special for anyone.

His Last Televised WWE Match Was Against A Young Shawn Michaels

Shawn Michaels Also Got His Start In WCCW

• Michaels' had wrestled in various Texas promotions before joining WWE.
• He faced Kerry in his last WWE match.
• Michaels was just beginning his WWE singles career.

Before Shawn Michaels had solidified his legacy in the wrestling industry, he managed to obtain some unique accolades. One of them would be working as Kerry Von Erich’s final WWE televised opponent. Unfortunately, the match wasn’t anything special either. With how good both men were, no one could have been blamed for assuming they put on a series of incredible matches, but they were both at strange points in their careers. Michaels was still relatively new to singles competition and Kerry was on his way out of the company.

This is also interesting because Shawn Michaels got his start in World Class Championship Wrestling working with the Von Erich family. Shawn was one of many stars who made their way to WWE after their stint in WCCW. On top of Shawn Michaels, Undertaker worked in World Class as Texas Red, Ultimate Warrior was there as The Dingo Warrior, and a young wrestler named Steve Williams would soon depart WCCW and change his name to Steve Austin.

He Had An Interesting Nickname

Kerry Von Erich Wasn't Always The Texas Tornado

• Kerry Von Erich joined WWE in 1990.
• His name came from "Tom Sawyer" by Rush.
• Rush is a rock band that has released nearly 20 albums in their career.

WWE fans may know Kerry Von Erich better by the name he used for the company, that being The Texas Tornado, but before that, he had an even more interesting moniker. He was given the nickname The Modern Day Warrior and his entrance theme at the time played into that nickname. In the days before wrestling companies had to pay a large amount for popular songs, Kerry came to the ring to the song "Tom Sawyer" by Rush, which had the lines,

"A modern-day warrior / Mean, mean stride / Today's Tom Sawyer / Mean, mean pride."

The nickname was something that could have potentially seen Kerry find a lot more success during his time with WWE. Unfortunately, by the time Kerry made it to the WWE, a similarly named Ultimate Warrior had found plenty of success. Ironically, Ultimate Warrior worked with Kerry in WCCW as the Dingo Warrior before moving on to WWE. By the time they were both in WWE, there was even a Survivor Series match where they teamed up with the Road Warriors, and they used the name The Ultimate Warriors.

He Worked For ECW Before It Went Extreme

Kerry Von Erich Was Almost Extreme

• ECW was formerly Eastern Championship Wrestling.
• Kerry Von Erich wrestled one ECW match.
• There is not much avaliable about this time in his career.

Before ECW was Extreme Championship Wrestling, it was Eastern Championship Wrestling. Many remember it for its extreme name, which may cause some surprise to hear that a Von Erich competed for the company. There aren’t many details about his time with Eastern Championship Wrestling, but it is safe to say that he probably wasn’t embroiled in any kind of violent bloodbaths during his short time competing for the company.

With his wrestling pedigree, he likely could have helped elevate the status of ECW long before it became infamous. According to his Cagematch listing, he only had one match in ECW, where he beat Salvatore Bellomo at the ECW Battle of the Belts. Outside ECW, Kerry Von Erich finished his career back in Dallas working for the upstart GWF, which was the company that both Booker T and Sean Waltman broke out in.

Kerry Lost A Foot, But It Didn't Stop Him From Wrestling

His Whole WWE Career He Wore A Prosthetic Foot

• Kerry Von Erich was involved in a motorcycle accident that ended up causing him to amputate his foot.
• He kept it a secret from many in the business.
• He won the Intercontinental Championship with a prosthetic foot.

At this point, it is s widely known that Kerry Von Erich suffered a significant motorcycle accident toward the end of his life. The accident was severe, but Kerry was impatient and tried to walk on it too soon. That caused his condition to worsen to the point that he had to have a foot amputated. It’s been said that few people knew about his injury thanks to how hard he worked to keep it a secret. Some have mentioned that Kerry would shower in his wrestling boots to hide his injury from the rest of the roster he was working with. Bret Hart even mentioned it in his biography.

What is even more amazing is that Kerry Von Erich lost his foot before signing with WWE. According to Bruce Prichard on his Something to Talk About podcast, only Vince McMahon knew about the foot and kept it a secret. Despite working with a prosthetic foot, Kerry still won the Intercontinental Championship and was a huge star for at least the first year of his WWE tenure.