"A modern day warrior mean, mean stride - today's Tom Sawyer mean, mean pride!" is how the famous song entitled Tom Sawyer by Rush goes, and it was quite fitting that "The Modern Day Warrior" Kerry Von Erich used this as his theme song while competing. Sadly, Kerry did not die like a warrior, but by his own hand via a self inflicted gunshot wound to the heart on his father's ranch February 18th, 1993, and today Kevin (his older brother) is the only remaining Von Erich brother of that generation still alive.
Kerry was one of my favorite wrestlers growing up as a child, long before he went and worked for Vince McMahon. I was fortunate enough to catch the weekly broadcast of World Class Championship Wrestling when I was younger, and it is one of my all time favorite things to talk about when it comes to the wrestling business. World Class was ahead of it's time in many respects when I was a child. They were the first to use theme songs on a regular basis for their wrestlers. They had an amazing array of talent go through that organization as well. Future stars such as The Undertaker, The Ultimate Warrior, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and many others got their feet wet in the now defunct Texas territory before moving onto bigger and better things in their careers. But it was The Von Erich's that we're the hometown heroes, and The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts) that really set the territory on fire to start.
I remember watching Kerry Von Erich win the NWA Heavyweight Championship from Ric Flair at The David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions somehow through a friends satellite dish via tape delay (obviously, I was not there). It was a highlight reel show that week, and Kerry was a replacement for the recently deceased David, who was actually the one being groomed for the title run before he died while on tour in Japan. In a 13:00 match (much shorter than what they typically had done before), Kerry finally came out on top and was World Heavyweight Champion at the age of 24. At the time it was one of the fondest memories of my early days as a fan. I was only 8 at the time, but I certainly remember seeing it, and I was hooked on this promotion from that moment on.
Kerry was always my favorite of the Von Erich's. I never really got to see David in action until much later in life thanks to youtube. He had everything going about him. Charisma, the rock star long hair, he was in amazing shape, and I simply loved his theme song. The company itself was bursting with talent, and I certainly thought Kerry Von Erich was destined for stardom. Sadly, the pinnacle of his career was that moment, and slowly but surely he became another tragedy in this industry because he lived the life that many wrestlers did at the time, full of parties and drugs.
Kerry enjoyed a few more years of major success (along with some run ins with the law), but it was his motorcycle accident in 1986 that would really change his life forever. It was a disaster of a wreck, and Kerry eventually had his bad foot amputated. But he amazingly continued to work in the industry, and bad things continued to happen.
Early in 1990, Kerry received a call from WCW and was going to start with the company. His problems with drugs must have been taking their toll at this point, as he no showed his first scheduled appearance was WCW wrote him off. But Vince McMahon and the WWF came calling a few months after that, and Kerry finally had his run in the WWF as The Texas Tornado Kerry Von Erich. He defeated Curt Hennig for a brief Inter-Continental Title Run, but was in serious trouble by 1992, to the point that his father even made a call to the WWF and explained that Kerry needed rehab, which he went to, but he was let go by the company that summer, and it was the beginning of the end as he was dead via suicide less than one year later.
Kerry Von Erich had everything in this industry at a very young age, and sadly, he died young as well. I will always remember Kerry Von Erich every time I hear Tom Sawyer. Go to the link below and watch the match with Flair and enjoy it. It was one of the best things in wrestling I have personally ever witnessed.
Mike Barton
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Kerry Von Erich vs. Ric Flair Part One of Two
