Could "The Von Erich curse" have been prevented?

[James Lofton]

I know most of you guys probably aren't old enough to have lived through this, but I'm sure that you've at least read about the tragedies that literally destroyed this family. While I was never a **** Von Erich fan, the story always intrigued me, even as it was playing out in real time during my childhood.

I have always felt that the fans and especially the media enabled this family which kept the deaths piling on year after year. As you all know, the 80s were a very innocent time for the industry, and it was in the midst of its biggest boom yet. Nobody wanted to look at the reality of the situation, and the wrestling media did a horrific job at covering these tragedies. The death of David was almost covered up. Other than the tribute show, anything about him was swept under the rug.

I think the red flag that people should have jumped on was the death of Gino Hernandez from a drug overdose in 1985. He was in his early 20s, an emerging star, and was the first sign of the drug epidemic that was quietly gripping the sport. Instead he got a small blurb in the middle of a PWI magazine.

One Von Erich death is understandable. When that second one rolled around a couple years later, people should have started asking questions. I remember the mags had the nerve to say Mike "died in his sleep".  Yeah.....in a ditch on his dad's property after swallowing a few bottles of pills. By the time Chris' death rolled around, there should have been a national debate on what was going on. Instead, nobody really cared. Its like the only thing that mattered was them filling up that Sportatorium, and what makes this even more bizarre is their own father ran the company. By the time Kerry died it was simply too late and World Class Wrestling had already folded and that whole dynasty was a faded memory.

These weren't old men dying in rest homes. They were brothers in their early/mid 20s either overdosing or committing suicide. Four deaths in the span of around six or seven years.  I think the media should have taken a more hands on approach to the situation, and its mind boggling how the national media never picked up on the story. Really shows how the various territories were different than the WCW/WWF juggernauts that would dominate in the 90s.

I think fans should have boycotted their events until something was done, at least an acknowledgement.

Imagine in the years 1985-1990 that Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Andre the Giant, and the Ultimate Warrior die in a similar fashion. Now imagine the media spotlight on the situation.

The same thing happened in Texas, except no one seemed to give a damn.

Always felt this story should be told on the big screen, without any propaganda or agendas involved. If done right it would probably sweep the Oscars.

Did you like The Wrestler? Imagine The Wrestler x 10000000000000.

[Hammy]

Its a tricky one because as you said for a lot of us it is before our time, I have read about it though in the past and with hindsight its easy to say these things could of been prevented, but considering how many deaths there have been since, a bigger question would be why this family tragedy didn't manage to transform the business.  (In a positive manner)  I think you highlighting how it was in the mainstream "WWF" is probably why it didn't have a profound effect like the Benoit incident has.

Aside from reading about them the only one I EVER saw wrestling was Kerry Von Erich in the WWF as Texas Tornado, I always enjoyed watching his matches on old VHS tapes his theme music was a winner to, he clearly had a wealth of potential, I think the match that I remember most is his IC Title win over Mr. Perfect, and cool as it was to see him win I remember it being surprisingly a bit meh. (Wikipedia'd it, it only went 5 minutes, that explains it).

[D]

I always wondered if the Von Erichs just had some sort of psychological disorder. For that to happen to one family is very strange and bizarre.

[James Lofton]

I think drug problems had more to do with it than anything psychological. David's death is what started it all, and his death can be attributed to drugs. Mike had toxic shock(extremely rare in men), but he had drug problems as well. They all did.

The only Von Erich death that could be classified as psychological issues is Chris. He was a wimpy kid and killed himself because he wasn't gonna get to be a wrestler like his brothers. He had a mini feud with Percy Pringle and that's it. Blew his head off not long after that.

In the 2 and a half decades since this boom happened, you could fill entire graveyards with wrestlers from that era, and none of them died of old age. I remember Tully on some religious show in the early 90s and he admitted that the business was basically drowning in **** at the time.

I just think its unfortunate that fans, media, and even wrestlers themselves let this go on unchecked.

There was a dark side to the sport back then hidden by kayfabe.