Original subtitles

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[Fritz Von Erich] Each of these boys

are gonna be World Heavyweight Champions.

I'm dedicating my life to it.

[Commentator] The most famous family in the history

of professional wrestling, the Von Erich boys.

[Commentator] Kevin, and David, Kerry, and Mike Von Erich.

[JBL] There was two things that were big in Texas,

football and the Von Erichs.

[Kerry Von Erich] Today it's Texas, tomorrow the world baby.

[Shawn Michaels] We didn't grow up in Texas without hearing

about the Von Erichs.

[Presenter] Wherever the Von Erichs go,

a crowd always follows.

[Kevin Von Erich] Everything was fun, everybody was our friend.

[Michael Hayes] Everybody thought

it was going to last forever.

It didn't work that way.

[Presenter] David Von Erich died Friday, he was 25 years old.

[JBL] It was a shock.

Texas was in mourning.

[Fritz Von Erich] We're just overwhelmed.

All of these people showing up for the last appearance

David is ever going to make.

[David Manning] Kerry didn't even have time to grieve.

[Kerry Von Erich] It's tough, but we know it's a

responsibility that we have to do.

[David Manning] He goes from David's dead,

you're the main event.

[Commentator] Kerry Von Erich is the new

World Heavyweight Champion.

[Hollie Chilton] There was an image he had to hold up

and there's pressure to keep that name alive.

[Kevin Von Erich] For a lot of people, they need different

things, but for me, I need this.

Life throws a lot at you, but if I can get out and into nature

with my family, it-it's just the best in the world.

When I'm out here with my kids, and then with my grandkids,

it's almost like I'm getting a chance to be their dad again.

And in every one of my grandkids, I see Dave.

I see Kerry.

I see Mike.

I even see Chris.

Take it with a grain of salt, because I'm the guy

that lost family.

But to me, family is everything.

Everything.

Well, we have a lot of pictures.

You know, pictures are great.

They can be painful, too.

But my dad documented everything.

Okay, I remember the exact moment we did this.

There weren't any birds there, but we were imagining it,

and we saw Dad's face, he was looking.

So we got serious, too.

Or I did- See, whatever he did, I did.

And look at Dave.

He's fierce.

Kerry cracked a joke, and everyone's laughing.

I got two pictures of Dave laughing.

Horse laughing.

[laughing]

Mike, too.

[Child] It's so cool how you all got to wrestle together.

[Kevin Von Erich] Well, just imagine you and Si, you know,

just playing outside,

but there's thousands of people watching.

So that's what's going to happen one day, it's like

playing with your brother in front of a bunch of people.

I want to show you something.

This is a pizza commercial we did.

And it was like all night long, we took it to do that.

It was- Kerry kept cracking everybody up, you know.

Kerry was always playing tricks.

[Cameraman] Okay, you all set?

[Kevin Von Erich] Oh, it was a great day, though.

[Cameraman] Happy Mike.

[Mike Von Erich] Okay.

Okay.

[Cameraman] Here we go.

Ready, and walk, guys.

Action.

[Mike Von Erich] My brothers taught me about wrestling,

but I taught them about eating.

[Kevin Von Erich] So he brought us to Pizza Inn's

all you can eat buffet.

[laughing]

[Cameraman] Okay, gentlemen, lots of energy.

[Mike Von Erich] But I taught them about pizza.

[Kerry Von Erich] I'm hungry again now.

[Von Erich Brothers] For pizza out, it's Pizza Inn.

[laughing]

[Kerry Von Erich] What are you pointing at me for?

[Mike Von Erich] You're ridiculous.

[Kevin Von Erich] You guys forgot the words, man.

[Mike Von Erich] We got to keep going, man.

[Cameraman] Listen up, listen up.

Ready?

[Von Erich Brothers] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Kevin Von Erich] I cannot say that I was ripped off because

my brothers died too young.

[Doris Von Erich] And there's our four babies all together.

[Kevin Von Erich] Because the truth is,

we had a hell of a lot of fun.

A lot of fun.

We did everything.

[Commentator] The Von Erichs have won the hearts of wrestling

fans with their style and flair.

They're the most popular wrestling family in the world.

[Scott Murray] As a sports anchor,

I had a chance to-to cover the Von Erichs.

A remarkable family from Father Fritz right down to sons Kerry,

Kevin, and Mike.

[Timmy Newsome] They were constantly in the media.

[Doug Cosbie] So the Von Erichs are going to be watching this.

[laughing]

[David Manning] I had a knock on the door one night

and a policeman came and got me and said,

"Hey, there's a big guy at the door."

And I went and I'm looking up at this guy.

He literally reached out, shook hands and he said,

"My name is Karl Malone.

Trying out for the Mavericks.

Do you think I could meet the Von Erichs?"

[laughing]

[Karl Malone] Von Erichs.

That was our splurge every six months to go see these guys.

And I remember how nice they were.

Every one of them.

[Fritz Von Erich] They're just good boys.

The world just needs heroes today, that's all.

[Kevin Von Erich] I'm just a regular guy, you know.

The Lord has given us all this popularity

and we're lucky to have it.

[David Shoemaker] If you're watching the Von Erichs

like I was on cable,

there's something very authentic about them.

They're just like the family down the road.

[Fritz Von Erich] Come see me and the boys

at the sporting goods store that does have it all.

[David Shoemaker] In a sense, the Von Erichs family just,

like, wrapped its arms around all of Texas.

[Presenter] Kevin Von Erich recently visited the Dallas

Society for Crippled Children.

[Scott Murray] They were making a difference in this world

with those that needed a helping hand.

[Presenter] The Von Erichs donated their time, their energy

and their money so that youngsters may learn

to walk in this world of ours.

[Cathy Murray] Being a part of the community

was super important.

Their faith was when you tithe, then you will receive.

And a part of their tithing was giving of themselves.

And they did take the responsibility of the image

that they had very seriously.

You've got to be on all the time in front of your fans.

And so, for Kerry, the use of drugs got a little stronger,

even more stronger.

I can't imagine what that was like for all of them.

[Mike Von Erich] I was so young coming in, out of high school

and getting into it and-and everybody recognizing you,

you know, wherever you go, it's hard.

[Kristen Nikolas] My Uncle Chris really idolized Uncle Mike

and Uncle Kerry.

I think it was really hard for Uncle Chris when Uncle Mike

left home to go wrestle because he was just home

with Meme and granddad.

Being home alone, watching them be successful.

[Commentator] Mike, Kerry and Kevin Von Erich.

[David Shoemaker] The reach of the Von Erichs,

and of world class more broadly, was pretty incredible.

They were hugely popular in Israel of all places.

[Kevin Von Erich] Well, we were wrestling in Israel,

and we had a lot of shows there.

And Mike dislocated his shoulder in a match.

It just popped out.

So, we flew him back to America to have surgery.

A few days after that, his wife Shani called me and she said,

"Kevin, Mike is acting really funny."

Hauled ass over there.

And sure enough, his fever was so high.

So, I just picked him up and put him over my shoulder.

I couldn't wait in traffic, so I'm driving in the median,

and a cop sees me, recognizes me, pulls in front of us and we

drove down the median all the way to that little hospital.

And we got Mike there.

I thought he was going to die.

[Scott Murray] To start things off, uh, a little on the

downside tonight as far as sports goes.

I got a call about 20 minutes ago from Fritz Von Erich.

And he said a lot of people are a little concerned about the

younger boy, Mike, who has not been wrestling

for the last four or five weeks.

He had some shoulder surgery done.

Apparently, he suffered some type of toxic poisoning.

[Kevin Von Erich] Mike was in a bad way.

The incision in the shoulder, evidently, that got infected.

[Reporter] Doctors say the wrestler has toxic shock

syndrome, a type of staph infection which sends potent

toxins circulating through the bloodstream.

It causes damage to major organs and even death.

[Kevin Von Erich] And my mother, been through all this,

and she's looking at, "I may face this again.

I may lose another baby."

[David Manning] Luckily, they got Dr. Bill Sutker,

who made the diagnosis.

He was the head infectious disease doctor, really,

anywhere in the country.

[Dr. Bill Sutker] It's just this par-

one particular kind of bacteria that can be so virulent.

I practiced for 40 years.

Mike is one of the sickest patients I saw

in my entire career.

?

[Steve Bosh] One of the Dallas area's most celebrated

wrestlers is now fighting for his life

at Baylor University Medical Center.

[Reporter] The youngest Von Erich suffered kidney failure

and temperatures in excess of 106 degrees.

[Dr. Bill Sutker] You can't sustain a temperature

of over 105 or 106 very long.

And we would ice him down when his fever would go up to try

and help bring the temperature down.

He developed kidney failure

as well as other multi-organ failure.

[Phone Operator 1] Baylor Medical Center.

[Reporter] The Baylor Hospital switchboard is receiving 100

calls an hour from Von Erich fans.

[Phone Operator 1] Baylor Medical Center.

We're having to transfer Von Erich calls to public relations.

One moment, please.

[David Manning] During that whole week that Mike was

in the hospital, people were calling,

offering to donate organs.

[Phone Operator 1] In fact, several people have called

several times so they can donate their organs.

[David Manning] What does he need?

I'm here.

Take my number.

[Reporter] More than 100 fans gathered in the parking lot

of the Sportatorium to hear news of Mike.

[Fan 1] It's a sad situation.

[Fan 2] I look at him like I would my own kids.

[Fan 3] I just pray that he would pull out of this.

[Reporter] Kevin and Kerry Von Erich say they'll wrestle Monday

night and dedicate the match to their brother.

[Kerry Von Erich] It's a family business out there, and, uh,

somebody had to mind the shop.

[Announcer 1] Everybody in Chicago wishing the very best

for your brother, Michael.

[crowd cheers]

[Dr. Bill Sutker] My son said to me, "If Mike Von Erich dies,

the whole world is gonna hate you."

[Reporter] Doctors say they can't predict when Von Erich

will be out of danger, but they say that someone physically

weaker would be dead.

[David Shoemaker] Mike's whole situation, you know, zooming

out, it's like the word curse feels, like, wholly inadequate,

and also, it captures the ominous unknowableness in a way

that we don't really have another word for.

It's impossible to wrap your head around what one family

had to go through.

[Dr. Bill Sutker] There was quite a while where

he didn't seem to be responding,

and I was not optimistic that he was gonna be able

to make it through the illness.

I had gone down to tell them there was a good chance

he wasn't going to survive.

[Fritz Von Erich] He said, "We've done all we can do."

He said, Kevin says, "Doctor, how long?"

He said, "Kevin, maybe 20 minutes."

[Kerry Von Erich] The doctor gave us the bad news,

but-but we all got down with all our good friends

and prayed that the Lord would work through their hands.

[Cathy Murray] We said we're not gonna say goodbye,

so we all formed a circle and held hands, and our preacher

started these prayers.

[David Manning] Gary Holder was there, the evangelist.

Gary Holder took that Bible, and he said- he said,

"God, here's your word.

In it, you say, if we believe, if we pray, you will deliver."

And then he slammed it down on the table.

And he said, "There's your word, deliver."

And it wasn't 30 seconds till the door swung open.

It was just Bill Sutker, and he came out, and he said,

"Well, I don't know what's happened,

but his vitals are back to normal."

[Kevin Von Erich] Last night was really scary,

and I mean scary to the point where it was almost hopeless.

Folks, let me tell you, a miracle took place last night,

just-just that we have Mike with us today.

[Reporter 1] Well, professional wrestler Mike Von Erich remains

in critical but stable condition

at Baylor University Medical Center.

[Reporter 2] The best sign of all is that Von Erich's

temperature has fallen from a high of 107 to normal.

We'll update you on his condition again tomorrow.

[Dr. Bill Sutker] Things started to plateau,

and then eventually started to improve.

?

[Fritz Von Erich] He's still very, very sick.

There's no question about that.

But that boy is gonna be fine,

thanks be to the Almighty himself.

[Dr. Bill Sutker] I think he was in the hospital about a month.

I think the fact that he was a professional athlete and that

his body was in such good shape was the reason

that he was able to survive.

[Mike Von Erich] The main thing that I'm looking forward

to is-is getting back in the ring again.

Whenever I get home, you know, I have to start slow.

But whenever they say it's okay to start working out, well,

I'm gonna be in there working hard.

Bye.

[David Manning] You go from deathbed to literally six weeks,

seven weeks, whatever it was before we brought him out

for the Cotton Bowl.

[Announcer] I'm pleased to present to you a living miracle.

Welcome to the Cotton Bowl, Mike Von Erich.

[crowd cheers]

[Dr. Bill Sutker] They brought him out in a car

for all the fans to cheer.

The crowd was just crazy.

[Mike Von Erich] I'd like to thank everybody here

for being here today.

I would like to thank all the doctors and nurses

for helping me.

And I'd like to thank all of you for your prayers

and your support.

Thank you for coming and thank you very much.

It's great to be back.

[David Shoemaker] When Mike Von Erich got sick,

they were down a Von Erich, right?

So, Fritz brought in a fake Von Erich, Lance Von Erich,

who was billed as a cousin of the Von Erich family.

[Announcer] Lance, welcome to World Class.

Great to have you with us.

[Lance Von Erich] Thank you.

It's great to be here.

I feel right at home here.

[Kevin Von Erich] My dad figured that he needed extra help.

Man, I hated that idea.

He's the- he's the closest you can get to a brother, and hey,

we need a brother right now,

[laughing]

and, uh, I'm sure he's gonna surprise a lot of people.

[David Shoemaker] World Class was doing everything

it could to compete.

They were still very successful, but in the background,

the script is totally flipped for World Class, right?

It's like they were so recently, like, the biggest promotion in

the country, but now WWE had this national TV deal with NBC.

They had the rock and roll connection on MTV,

a Saturday morning cartoon.

They were finding whole new plateaus of success.

Fritz did what he thought was best to sort of band-aid

the whole thing together.

[David Manning] Life was still good.

We were still drawing, and then the phone rang,

and I picked it up.

It was Fritz, and he said, "Kerry's been in an accident."

And I'm like, "How bad?"

He said, "His leg looks like an alligator chewed on it."

[ambulance siren]

[Brian Adias] You know, before I even say anything,

everybody back then, you drank,

and you smoked weed and stuff like that.

A lot of times, even if you did get pulled over,

unless-unless you were doing something really bad,

the Von Erichs were so popular, the cops would let them go.

That day, Kerry was out at Lake Dallas.

He had a boat.

I guess he had been drinking.

And he had on flip-flops and a tank top and shorts,

and he's on his motorcycle.

[motorcycle engine]

[crash]

[Brian Adias] He ran into a cop car

that was sitting at a red light, hit it from behind,

going like 50 miles an hour, and went over the top of it.

[Cathy Murray] I was pregnant with Lacey.

When I got the call, I knew.

I was like, "Our world is crumbling."

He's really, really getting bad.

[Doctor] The fractured ankle is fairly serious.

Uh, it's an open wound to the ankle, and, uh,

that's the reason for, uh, necessitating surgery tonight.

[Brian Adias] I actually saw him in the emergency room.

The yellow paint from the paint on the stripes was right here on

top of his foot, where his foot had grinded out and had some

yellow paint on his bone.

Lucky it didn't kill him.

[sighs]

[Kevin Von Erich] That was a miracle,

no doubt about it.

That was his only injuries.

He had no other injuries at all.

[Doctor] His foot was in really pretty pathetic shape

when he came in, and we were all worried that he really had

a very good chance of losing his foot.

However, with a surgical team, they have saved Kerry's foot.

[Kerry Von Erich] Thank you for all your support.

Thank you for your prayers.

A lot of big things have happened

since I've come into the hospital.

One of the greatest things, again, thanks to Dr. Sutker,

Mike, my brother, we'll be back July 4th.

[crowd cheers]

[Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen,

a living miracle, Mike Von Erich.

[David Shoemaker] There's a lot of Greek mythology built

into pro wrestling.

It's the tragedy and the triumph and overcoming the odds.

I think that's the real power of the Von Erich story.

It's not just the tragic part,

their ability to triumph over it at times.

[Announcer] Mike Von Erich with a triumphant return to the ring.

[David Manning] There was a big push for him to get back in the

ring, and the people were like, "Come on, Mike, you can do it."

[Kevin Von Erich] When the fans really love you, you love them

too, you know, and you feel a responsibility.

You feel like you owe it to them to be what they expect you

to be, you know, and he's just doing what he's got to do.

[David Manning] Fritz's opinion was, when he's ready,

he'll know he's ready.

But he wasn't pushed to come back.

Mike wanted to get back.

[Brian Adias] Mike was never the same after he came back

from the toxic shock.

He had a look in his eyes where

he was just like he was way out in la-la land.

[Mike Von Erich] I'll tell you what, Brian Adias,

I want you to know,

I want a country whippin' match with you- with you.

Country witch- whippin' match is what it's called.

[David Manning] I don't think he was ever ready.

I give Kevin credit.

Gosh, he stepped up.

[Announcer] Kevin Von Erich.

[crowd cheers]

[Announcer] Listen to the fans cheer.

[Kevin Von Erich] It's a family business.

It wasn't fun, it was work.

And it was hard work.

We were still trying to run three towns a day,

but the people were not showing up to watch Mike.

Kerry's in bed, he's got his foot cut off,

so I've got to try to keep it going, and it was just,

"God, I'd do anything for a little bit of relief."

[Kristen Nikolas] You're pressured to be on

all of the time.

An image that they all want to uphold, to make each other

proud, and to not let each other down, that is pressure.

[crowd chants "Go, Kevin, go"]

[Kristen Nikolas] We want you to be

somebody that we can idolize.

[Announcer] And the crowd picks it up for Kevin.

[Kevin Von Erich] Those were really tough days.

Some real hard days.

I was working two or three times a day.

If one of us were hurt,

people would want their money back.

[crowd cheers]

[David Manning] 2,000, 3,000, 5,000, 10,000,

20,000, however many people, they bought a ticket,

they're expecting to see a Von Erich.

And they wanna see you, whether you're grieving

[laughing]

or hurt a lot with Kerry.

[Kerry Von Erich] I've been out now for four or five months,

and I miss the people, and I miss wrestling more than

anything I've ever missed in my whole life.

[Cathy Murray] Kerry felt a big responsibility in that

he took care of his fans.

[Kerry Von Erich] I had, you know, doubts.

It was a bad wreck.

Thank the Lord I'm still alive.

[Cathy Murray] It was really hard,

all those m- all those months that he was down.

I had to keep a smile through all of it and tell him,

it'll be all right.

[Reporter] Even though Kerry's ankle was crippled,

almost to the point of amputation,

he refused to believe that he was through.

For Kerry Von Erich, he could either give up or go to the gym.

[Cathy Murray] He worked really hard, and he had that work ethic

just to make sure that he maintained the proper image.

[Kerry Von Erich] Life deals you lemons, you make lemonade.

You keep on training, a-and you never give up.

[Bill Colville] Supposedly, if he had followed up on the

therapy and rehabilitation, it would have come back,

and he would have been fine.

But he wanted to get back, he wanted to get in front of the

fans, he wanted to get back to being Kerry Von Erich.

[David Manning] He came back, but the leg wasn't ready.

[Bill Colville] He went too early and it cost him.

[David Manning] The big thing I remember about Kerry's

motorcycle wreck was, he was working hard in the gym.

He wanted to come back, but he just wasn't ready.

'Cause he came back, and the leg wasn't getting

good blood circulation.

And so we had these steps at the Sportatorium

where you could go up and watch the matches.

He was coming down those steps, and it broke.

It was crazy.

[Brian Adias] They had tried to save his foot.

They did several operations, but it just wouldn't take.

It was damaged so badly that they couldn't get

the blood supply to it.

[Cathy Murray] It just wasn't healing like they hoped.

They decided they needed to amputate the foot,

whi-whi-which was really hard on Kerry, emotionally.

?

[Dr. Bill Sutker] But he didn't want anybody to know about it,

and he was fitted with a prosthesis

he could wear under his boot.

And so, for years, uh, nobody actually knew

that he didn't have a foot.

[Cathy Murray] Why hide it?

The image, the Von Erich image.

[Cathy Murray] No, it was his dad's decision.

But Kerry did agree to that.

To me, it would have been better to let the family talk about

that, instead of just trying to keep it a secret, like,

"No, he's still strong.

No, but look how strong he is in his disability."

Like, people could have learned from that, I think.

[Bruce Prichard] Why'd you hide it, Fritz?

Why didn't you just come out and say, "Yeah, he lost his foot"?

He didn't, because he didn't wanna lose his company,

because Kerry was his biggest star.

He needed Kerry whole.

People aren't gonna come out and see a one-legged guy wrestle.

[David Manning] You know what the worst thing

about the leg was?

Through all the pain and stuff, guess what?

They're giving him drip, so they're feeding him

the addiction he has.

[Cathy Murray] I had now two very young babies,

and a husband who needed rehabilitation,

and he was in a lot of pain.

And then the pain meds led to other horrible drugs,

like cocaine.

I asked Mr. Adkisson for help with him, and we did a family

intervention, and he went to kind of a rehab.

But then I got a phone call from Mr. Adkisson about three

or four days into it, and it's like,

"The press is gonna get a hold of this.

I'm gonna have to take him out."

And my world crashed.

[Kristen Nikolas] Granddad, he loved his boys so much

that he almost enabled them.

Granddad bailed Uncle Kerry out of jail multiple times, and if

anybody came to granddad and said, "I'm really worried about

Kerry," or, "I'm really worried about Mike," granddad's response

was like, "He's okay, I talked to him, he's okay."

He loved them so much that he didn't want them to suffer,

and if that meant going to rehab or going to jail,

he wouldn't let that happen.

He wouldn't have let any of his sons suffer.

[Cathy Murray] I'm sure it was a struggle for Mr. Adkisson in so

many ways, running a company

as well as taking care of your boys.

[David Shoemaker] The World Class is just doing

all they can to tread water.

And at the same time, the WWE is staging WrestleMania III,

breaking the attendance record that Fritz

and World Class had previously held.

And Fritz is trying to sort of balance these two things,

the business and his family.

[Bruce Prichard] It became whisperings of the domineering

influence that Fritz had.

[Cathy Murray] All the boys looked up to their dad,

but to Mike, he felt like he was gonna be a failure by not

becoming a really great Von Erich.

[Announcer] I tell you, I watched Mike last week.

His timing's been a little bit off.

You know, you can just see the determination in Mike's eyes.

?

[Cathy Murray] I saw a lot of depression

in him because of that.

[Kevin Von Erich] Mike was in a bad way.

He was going through these things of, uh, rage.

He got out of his car and attacked this traffic light.

?

[Kevin Von Erich] And when you told him about it,

he was so embarrassed.

He hated that.

He was not that way.

The brain is so complicated and how it dealt with heat.

[Mike Von Erich] Where's, uh, Mom at?

[Fritz Von Erich] She's in the house.

Where else?

[Mike Von Erich] In here?

[Fritz Von Erich] Yeah.

[Mike Von Erich] I guess not in this car.

[laughing]

[Dr. Bill Sutker] He had gone through so much to get

where he was and was making improvements as time went on.

I-I don't know i-if he ever realized how sick he really was,

even though all of us told him that.

I don't know that he saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

[Brian Adias] He was doing some of the pharmaceutical stuff and

had a deal where he wrecked several cars in a row.

?

[Brian Adias] And Fritz had actually told him, he said,

"Look, it's bad on our business.

It's bad on our name.

Don't come back to me with this anymore."

He said, "You're a grown man."

[Kevin Von Erich] We had decided to start a company

called Von Erich Bright Incorporated.

We were gonna have sponsors on world tours.

Things were looking really good.

But that was when Mike got caught with that joint.

And in Mike's mind, he has just ruined my whole deal.

He thought that he just- He loved me so much,

but he thought he'd really let me down.

He felt so bad he, uh,

shamed us.

[Reporter 1] Dozens of searchers had been scouring

Lake Lewisville by ground and air since Wednesday night.

[Reporter 2] After finding Von Erich's abandoned car yesterday

in the same park, a family attorney had reported

the wrestler missing on Monday, two days after Von Erich's

arrest on drunk driving and drug charges.

Inside the car, investigators found

an unsigned handwritten note.

It said, "Mom and Dad, I'm in a better place.

I'll be watching."

?

[Brian Adias] I remember all that just like

it was yesterday.

They found him over on the other side of the lake at, um,

what's called Pilot Knoll Park.

He just wrote a note, took a bunch of Placidyls,

and zipped himself up in a sleeping bag.

[Reporter 2] Von Erich's mother, Doris Adkisson, was at the park

this morning when her 23-year-old son was found.

Older brothers, Kevin and Kerry, arrived a short time later.

[Kevin Von Erich] It's really tough, and so-

We're gonna be fine.

Our family's- our family's had tough times before,

and we're gonna be all right.

Man, he was such a-a good guy, but, I mean, he just-

[sighs]

I-I guess drugs, I didn't know Mike was really into drugs,

but I-I guess he was.

So, it had to be that, because he had such good sense.

He was too smart to kill himself.

It was just that's not Mike.

[Fritz Von Erich] The medication was my prescription, by the way,

and-and, uh, he just took too much of it at one time,

and apparently, it was deliberate.

But just so no one misunderstands about that,

Mike was sick.

He had never recovered from the toxic shock.

[Dr. Bill Sutker] It was just a big shock to me.

I was devastated.

You know, again, after an illness like this,

I don't know that he fully recovered,

you know, psychologically.

[Fritz Von Erich] Mike loved people.

He was so considerate, loving, polite.

He was for real.

He was- I just can't believe he's gone.

[Kevin Von Erich] My dad, he was strong, and he kept the family

together, even though my mother-

my mother started to fall apart by then.

She loved so deep and so hard

that it took something out of her.

It crushed her.

[Jillian Caneda] Meme and granddad were going

through a lot.

They both had their ways of dealing with the grief,

my Meme and my granddad,

and she really wanted to stay in control.

[Cathy Murray] Mike and I had been together since third grade,

and, uh, you know, I loved him like a brother.

Another devastating moment for Kerry, where you just see it

getting deeper and deeper and darker for him.

But Kerry pushed through anything that was difficult.

Keeping up with the image that was so important

to the Von Erichs.

[Kerry Von Erich] Because we have Jesus Christ,

it makes us strong, and it makes us able to withstand things

that people who aren't

Christians can normally, uh, not take.

They don't know where to turn.

We know where to turn, and we know it's in the Lord's plan

for these things to happen, and, uh, the Von Erichs are strong.

[Kristen Nikolas] Uncle Mike was very generous.

After Uncle Mike died, multiple people reached out and said,

"I'm so sorry for your loss, but by the way,

Mike had been paying my rent."

Like, "Do you think you guys can still help with that?"

[laughing]

He loved people.

[Gary Holder] Good guys hurt worse.

And Mike was disappointed with himself.

[Cathy Murray] There was a bond between Chris and Mike

that was just undeniable.

And with Mike taking his life, I saw Chris just going downhill.

?

[Reporter] Those who followed Von Erich in the ring

say his death at age 23 is a shock, but it's said his death

reminds fans that even heroes are human.

[Kristen Nikolas] Right after Uncle Mike passed away,

just literally two months after he passed away,

we had our own traumatic event.

[laughing]

[Kristen Nikolas] Let's go.

Come on, Jules, come on.

Right after Uncle Mike passed away, I was six.

My sister was two.

And my dad was coming back from a show.

We said, "Can we go say hi to daddy?"

And we ran outside.

My dad pulled into the garage.

I was holding Jill's' hand, and I remember her pulling her hand

right out of mine and walking behind the car.

She wanted to get to the driver's door

and see my dad first.

And in the instant that she got behind the car,

my dad backed up just two or three feet.

[Kevin Von Erich] As I backed out,

Jill had come around behind the car.

And that Lincoln Continental went right up

on her little liver.

[sighs]

And Kristen said, "Daddy, you've run over Jill."

And I put it into gear and pushed the gas

and spun out on her.

[sighs]

[Kristen Nikolas] And he said, "Oh, Jesus, oh, Jesus."

And he pulled forward, picked her up,

and there was this tire track on her nightgown

that I just, like, burned into my memory.

Like, literally a black tire mark across her nightgown.

And I remember him trying to stand her on the counter,

saying, "You're okay, baby, you're okay, you're okay."

[Kevin Von Erich] She looked gray, that gray look Dave had.

And I-I, like, apologized to Pam.

I said, "She's okay, she's gonna live, she's okay."

And Pam said- she put her hand on me and said,

"She's gonna be all right."

And I said, "No, she's not."

[sighs]

Jill's' liver was ruptured, but the-the lining

that holds it intact was the only thing holding it intact.

[Kristen Nikolas] There was no long-term damage other than

that, which is just unbelievable.

And I genuinely believe that was prayer, you know,

in that instant.

'Cause it was just my mom praying her whole heart out.

And my dad just-

his prayers are just so real.

[Jillian Caneda] I do remember bits and pieces of that.

I remember the hospital visits.

My dad just not eating at all, never leaving my side.

And I just can't imagine him going through that after

everything that he's been through.

[David Shoemaker] It's hard to look at him now.

Like, how much can one man handle?

You can only imagine how that sort of could wreck

a person, right?

How that could, like, change the way that somebody

thinks about life.

[Kevin Von Erich] I lost 35 pounds that month.

It was hard for me, but I was so grateful that, you know,

my kids were healthy, that I was, um, I said,

"God, thank you for all this.

I hate the devil.

Uh, let me fight him.

All that grief, all that stress, groaning and being miserable.

Let me fight the devil.

I wanna fight him."

And I said, "I hate you, devil.

I wanna fight you."

Inside, I thought that I shouldn't have said that,

you know.

And then I thought, "Well, what's gonna happen?"

The very next day, I was washing my dog down at the lake.

I smelled blood and gunpowder.

I felt weird inside.

I felt like I was being watched.

And I saw movement up on the shoreline.

I saw these black things coming toward me.

And Pam didn't see them.

And I said, "Get in the car, get in the car."

And so, I bent down and got into a crouching position,

and I was ready to fight.

And the next thing I know I'm waking up from a seizure.

And there's blood

all over my feet where I've been kicking and fighting.

It's terrible.

And I know that I went way too far.

I'm a man.

But these demons, Satan is so much smarter than we are.

Can trick us, can make fools of us.

So, my relationship with God is just one of intense,

super gratitude.

[David Shoemaker] The Von Erich story is really

just a sort of mythological tragedy.

It's not just the tragic part, I guess, but also their ability

to triumph over it.

Kevin's daughter probably should have died

when she was really young.

Mike probably should have died when he was diagnosed

with toxic shock.

Then Kerry probably should have died when he got into the wreck.

You know, was God testing them in those moments?

Maybe those are actually moments of good fortune, that they,

like, didn't die in those moments after all this family

had been through, that they got lucky in a weird way.

Kerry had this catastrophic injury, and somehow tightened up

his boots and got back into the ring.

[Fritz Von Erich] This is Thursday night,

September the 10th, 1987.

Just like the old Kerry.

[Female Speaker] Wonderful.

[Fritz Von Erich] It really is, son.

[Female Speaker] Great.

That was great.

[Fritz Von Erich] Kerry, I wish you wouldn't get too

carried away this first time, son.

[Fritz Von Erich] No, son.

Come on.

Don't overdo this thing, now.

[Kerry Von Erich] It's nothing different.

[Fritz Von Erich] It's a miracle already.

Don't expect a bigger miracle than you already got.

[Kerry Von Erich] Folks, I feel great.

It's been a long time, a year and a half.

You know, my dad and I were just talking, uh,

way back about a year ago.

He told me not to go in that ring.

Well, I guess we all go through times when we don't listen to

mommy and daddy.

And I didn't listen to my dad that night,

and I went to the ring, and sure, it set us back.

[Fritz Von Erich] It set him way back.

It really did, folks.

Now he's listening.

[Kerry Von Erich] And I'll tell you, folks, I've been,

I guess, pushing my dad harder than anyone.

I think this time even my dad feels that I'm ready.

[Announcer] The greatest comeback in athletic history.

For tonight, we have the return

of "The Modern Day Warrior" Kerry Von Erich.

[crowd cheers]

[Brian Adias] His first night back was Thanksgiving in 1987,

and he and I wrestled at Reunion Arena.

And it was packed.

People were ready to see him again.

[Announcer] Fans have come from all over this great nation

to witness this historic event.

Kerry Von Erich looking as good as new.

Kerry Von Erich with the win.

[Michael Hayes] He came back and started wrestling.

I don't know how he did that.

I wrestled with him.

You couldn't tell that he didn't have half a foot.

We did the same old [bleep] we did, and it worked.

[Announcer] Kerry Von Erich wants to use that Iron Claw.

[Kerry Von Erich] I'd rather die than let you folks down.

[crowd cheers]

[Michael Hayes] I think deep down,

Fritz would have loved to have all his boys

in a power position.

Taking over was always the plan.

But it already had.

David's gone, Mike's gone.

The glory days, they were over by that time.

Fritz was weaning off of it.

[Fritz Von Erich] When I lost Mike in, uh, '87,

that was my third son to lose.

Um, something died with Mike that year,

and I went out of wrestling.

Uh, not that I blame wrestling for it, but, uh,

I just wanted loose.

And by the end of '87, I was out.

Sold everything I had.

[Cathy Murray] It was super devastating to Kerry when his

dad sold it, and they didn't get to have a part of that because

they helped build the dynasty.

[Hulk Hogan] It's just so hard to believe that a family with so

much control of their destiny and of this company that had

greatness right at the apex would go

the opposite way completely.

[Kevin Von Erich] I hated to see what we'd built all just passed

over and passed up and sold.

But, I mean, God bless our fans.

They'd suffered so much, but the Von Erichs were kind of,

"Gotten to be a sad story."

?

[Kevin Von Erich] We're entertainers, you know?

We don't wanna bum you out.

And so, it was the end.

World Class was over, as we knew it.

[Kristen Nikolas] This is-

[Jillian Caneda] Quality family time.

[Kristen Nikolas] Yeah, just family time.

It's like the- that makes the best memory for the kids,

and we used to do this when we were little with-

[Jillian Caneda] Yeah.

[Kristen Nikolas] -Meme and granddad and all of our uncles

and cousins, and it's a great memory.

??

[Fritz Von Erich] We're now getting pictures

from a Von Erich roller rink.

I'm gonna stay on you 'cause you're gonna take

the biggest bump, I think.

[Kevin Von Erich] I don't- not anymore.

[Kristen Nikolas] It was just a really happy family,

and it was just such a fun way to grow up.

When I was small, wrestling had really taken off,

and my dad was having a lot of success,

my uncles were having a lot of success.

We built a beautiful home,

and we just had a really comfortable life.

Some trees that Kevin planted, he planted this pine tree,

peach tree, and that's a swing that Kevin built for Kristen,

look how neat.

We had sort of idyllic, you know, upper-class childhood.

[screams]

But then, as his brothers started to pass away,

World Class wasn't as successful.

[Kevin Von Erich] With the deaths, World Class was,

you know, going down fast.

I think the fans got tired of being sad.

Our attendance really started dropping off big.

[Kristen Nikolas] Wrestling sort of lost favor with its audience.

It became really apparent in our home life.

Our water had been cut off 'cause we couldn't pay the bill.

There was a Christmas that we were on the angel tree,

my siblings and I, so people had to, you know,

pick our names off of a tree and buy-

I-I think I got a coat, and a set of jacks,

and a bike from Meme and granddad.

Meme.

[laughing]

[Kristen Nikolas] At that point,

we had our house foreclosed on.

And Uncle Kerry lived two doors down,

and their house was being foreclosed on as well.

And we had to move back to my grandparents' property,

and were living in their little guest house trailer

on the property.

When we moved there, Uncle Chris had to move out.

He had to move back into my grandparents' house,

which was also on the property.

So, I feel like that was really humbling for him, and, um,

he was kind of upset deeply about that.

?

[Jillian Caneda] But when we were all together,

you'd never think that he wasn't happy.

My Uncle Chris was like a big kid, you know,

'cause he was so young.

He was always working out with daddy.

They worked out a lot together in the barn,

and he wanted to be just like my dad.

He wanted to be a wrestler just like Daddy.

I just remember him being really protective of us kids.

Hello, Grandad.

[Fritz Von Erich] Hello, Hollie.

[Lacey Von Erich] Our family is very close,

and we look after each other, and we take care of each other.

[Kerry Von Erich] Wave Lacey.

Wave to the camera.

[Fritz Von Erich] Look at me.

[Jillian Caneda] Around that time, my brother Ross was born.

[Fritz Von Erich] Here's the dad responsible for all of it.

[laughing]

[Jillian Caneda] We were struggling,

so I can't imagine having another child

whenever you're going through something like that.

[crowd cheers]

[Kristen Nikolas] My dad's still signing

autographs for people.

People still know who he is.

People still recognize him.

But fame doesn't put food on the table.

[laughing]

[crowd chants "Go, Kevin, go"]

[Announcer] Big splash by Kevin.

One, two, and the kick out.

[Kevin Von Erich] I could go other places,

but I'd had injuries, too.

I'd had a lot of injuries, and I was waking up

so sore in the morning.

Uh, I couldn't get in the ring and just keep going.

I'm groaning all the time.

And I'm not gonna do that with the pain pills,

so I had to quit.

I kind of scrambled, you know, to just make it all happen.

I sold real estate.

I also sold insurance and, um, a lot of prayer.

Dear Lord, thank you for all of us being together and help us

to be a little bit more worthy.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

[All] Amen.

[Kevin Von Erich] There's a lot of worry out there, you know.

A lot of times, I've looked down and seen my woman asleep

and my children asleep in my bed,

and you look at her little face and think,

"She has all the faith in the world

that I'm gonna pull this out.

She knows I'm gonna do it.

She knows I'm gonna save them, even though I don't know how

the heck I'm going to do that.

[Jillian Caneda] We went through hard times,

but maybe I'm ob-oblivious, but I only remember good things.

I mean, my dad was just, uh, very consistent, so if we were

going through anything like that, I never experienced it.

[Jillian Caneda] Dinner on the table every night, go to school

the next day, we had everything we needed.

We never went without.

We were always taken care of.

[Kevin Von Erich] That's the motive right there.

They love you.

They need you.

And so you keep making it happen.

Don't give up.

It kept me going.

[Kristen Nikolas] That was really hard on my dad.

I can't imagine the pressure that they felt as dads

with kids, my dad and Uncle Kerry especially.

[Male Speaker] What are you doing?

[Female Speaker] Lacey, come here.

[Hollie Chilton] It was hard, and he did want

the best for our family.

?

[Hollie Chilton] He always took time

for Lacey and I, like, to play with us.

[laughing]

[Kerry Von Erich] Ah, hey.

Look at you putting dirt on me.

[Hollie Chilton] He loved being outside.

He loved riding horses.

He loved photography.

[Kerry Von Erich] Well, I guess my weakness

is this camera right here.

I take pictures of everything.

Everything they did, I was kind of like a-a camera buff.

[Hollie Chilton] He could have done so many other things,

but he was so great wrestling.

[Commentator] Kerry knows this crowd is behind him.

[Hollie Chilton] It was a lot of fun seeing daddy.

We were at the matches a ton.

Get to play in the ring.

I mean, a little girl should not have been up that late,

but that was my special time with my dad.

[TV Presenter 1] And who is this gorgeous young lady

you got with you?

[Kerry Von Erich] Well, this is my little girl, Hollie,

but you know, I-I have such high expectations.

[Hollie Chilton] I think he loved wrestling.

I just think it got to a point with all of the other things,

with losing your brothers, that it became less of something he

probably loved and more of like a job, maybe.

[Cathy Murray] And that's basically, I believe, when Kerry

started to make the transition over to, uh, WWE, which was

really hard for him because, you know, he wanted to be

with the family, but it was more money.

[Vince McMahon] Right now,

here he comes in his debut,

his very first appearance in the World Wrestling -.

They call him "The Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich.

[Hulk Hogan] When he came to the WWE, the name,

along with the look, the girls loved him.

I mean, he had a great fan following.

The kids loved him, you know, and he had that little spin

and the punch.

[Commentator] Oh, no.

Well, here it comes right now.

Spinning.

Lands with a big, hard right to the side of the head.

[Hulk Hogan] And he was a good worker in the ring.

His potential was unlimited.

You know, if he could have walked the straight and narrow,

I think he would have been a great champion for the WWE.

[Cathy Murray] He was great for a few months, but again,

something just grabs him that took him back down another

rabbit hole.

[Fritz Von Erich] There's a totem pole.

Come on out, Chris, do a little, maybe a little rain dance.

We sure need some rain.

[Chris Von Erich] I'll come out and flex for you.

That'll be good.

[laughing]

[Chris Von Erich] My place, church.

[Fritz Von Erich] This is Chris's hill.

And he and Mike built most of this stuff up here.

[Jillian Caneda] My uncle Chris had a hill.

It was such a special place to him.

He was up there all the time.

That was his space.

It was a very sacred place to him.

You know, he was so loving, and he did love nature.

He always had a pet.

[Fritz Von Erich] A little baby rabbit's been born

inside the teepee.

[Chris Von Erich] Yeah, opened their eyes about, uh,

two days ago.

Just opened their eyes.

Here they are down in here.

One little male.

[Fritz Von Erich] Oh, you know whether they're girls or boys

yet already, huh?

[Chris Von Erich] Yes sir, they're two males.

[Jillian Caneda] He was secluded a lot.

He seemed sad.

[Kristen Nikolas] He was just kind of disappointed

in life in general.

I always had a sympathy for Uncle Chris because

he just was obviously not like my other uncles,

and he definitely felt it, but he was determined to be

as much like his big brothers as possible.

[Kerry Von Erich] Flex.

Show your muscles to the camera.

There you go.

[Kerry Von Erich] See, someday you'll be happy

that you did that.

[laughing]

[Chris Von Erich] I'm already happy I did that.

[Kerry Von Erich] Happy.

[laughing]

[Chris Von Erich] I'm happy every time I do it.

[laughing]

[Cathy Murray] Chris was very sick with asthma.

And unfortunately, what prednisone did to Chris

was stunted his growth, and so in that,

he was never going to be the size of his brothers.

There were times when his dad would explain that to him.

You know, "Son, you're just not built the way you need to be

built to be in the ring, but, you know,

if you wanna try, you can try."

[Kevin Von Erich] He worked hard.

He worked as hard as Kerry did, but Kerry got the results,

and Chris didn't.

And I'll tell you, too, as being his big brother,

it was hard for me 'cause I'm telling him all this time,

"Chris, if you put your whole heart into it,

you'll get as big as Kerry."

But it just didn't seem like it was a fair game to Chris.

[Fritz Von Erich] Are you going to pose for me?

[Kevin Von Erich] He'd been taking this medicine

since he was 12 years old.

[Kristen Nikolas] But it really changed whenever

he had to take the higher dose of prednisone.

It changed his moods, and he definitely became more withdrawn

and more self-focused.

[Jillian Caneda] The younger brother wanted to wrestle

and I think he was fixated.

That was everything to him.

[Chris Von Erich] The best gimmick I have is my brothers

being who they are.

I mean, I'm just-just following behind.

I'll just have this- I'll probably get a little bit of

what Kev has in him, a little bit of what Kerry has in him,

a little bit of what Mike has in him, a little bit of what Dave

has in him, just mix it all together, and see what we got.

[Michael Hayes] I think he tried really hard to be a wrestler.

[Commentator] Chris Von Erich into the ring.

He grabs Percy and nails him.

[Chris Von Erich] Listen, my brother gave you a shot,

he gave you the world, he gave you the Texas title,

gave you a shot at the world title,

and I might add, you were beaten in record-

[Commentator] Hey.

Hey, Matt, please.

Wait a minute.

[Michael Hayes] His body wasn't made for it.

His bones were brittle and they'd break easily.

You know, this is not made for people with brittle bones.

[David Manning] Chris worked so hard, then he breaks his arm,

and it's almost like start over.

He couldn't deal with it.

[Kristen Nikolas] You could really see a difference in,

you know, his zeal for life after that.

I mean, even as, uh, a 10-year-old,

I was so hyper aware of depression, and of just-

I didn't want the grown-ups around me to ever get too sad.

I just felt like, "If they-" you know, "If they get really

sad, they're gonna commit suicide."

It-it was just constantly on my mind.

It felt like such a realistic possibility,

especially with Uncle Chris,

because I-I knew how he felt like he had been

treated by the world.

[Fritz Von Erich] The doctor told him he just might never be

able to go back into wrestling, and it just destroyed Chris.

[TV Presenter 2] Chris went into the woods behind

his family ranch, and just like his brother,

Mike, he took his life.

[Kevin Von Erich] Went up there, and he had just done it,

it had just happened, and so when I get there,

he's laying on the ground like this, and he's going,

[gasps]

so I thought,

"Maybe he's choking on some pills or something."

So, I put- I put my arm around his arm and this hand under his

head to lean him up, sit up with me,

and my thumb went in the spot,

and that hot blood told me right off it was-

I told mom he shot himself.

?

[David Shoemaker] I think to myself like,

"Why does this keep happening to this family?

Was it the pressure of the wrestling business,

the pressure of family, the pressure of the fans?

Was it just, like, uh, an issue of mental health struggles, or

was it just as simple as sometimes bad things happen to

otherwise good people?"

[Kevin Von Erich] That hit her so hard

that my mother kind of changed.

She loved so deep and so hard that it took something

out of her it crushed her.

Her priorities changed.

[Kristen Nikolas] I walked over to my grandparents' house,

and Meme was outside leaning against the column,

and she just put her arm out, and she said,

"I'm gonna divorce your-your granddad.

I'm going to go find happiness for myself."

You know, "I'm sick of all this grief and trauma,

and I'm gonna go be happy."

[Fritz Von Erich] Hey, Kevin.

Get your shot here.

[Kevin Von Erich] My mom flat-out blamed him.

I mean, right out, "You did it, you know, with your, you know,

pressure on football, pressure-"

[Fritz Von Erich] Each of these big boys are,

and this little one,

are gonna be world Heavyweight Champions.

[Kevin Von Erich] My dad never pushed us into anything,

really, like that, but my mother blamed him and, uh,

blamed him for not being home.

He's always on the road,

but my dad knew that she was not herself,

and dad would just take it.

He just let her say anything.

And, uh, I was so- Uh, it shouldn't have been like that,

but she hated him.

All she could think is getting us back.

All she could think is, "This world hates me, and I hate it."

It was just like, uh, so unbecoming

of what she really was.

And I've never told a soul this story.

In the Bible, it says, honor our father and mother.

So, I sure don't like telling that, but, uh,

I want you to know that my dad was a good man,

and don't blame him for this stuff.

My mom was weak.

God bless her.

[Vince McMahon] From one of the greatest wrestling families

in the history of wrestling, Kerry Von Erich.

[Shawn Michaels] He looked like he was cut out of granite

and looked like he was a superhero.

[Undertaker] He was the quintessential athlete

for that era in WWE.

[Gorilla Monsoon] Tremendous physique.

Tremendous agility.

Tremendous ability.

[Brian Adias] He was making more money up there

than he had ever made.

And his popularity, I mean, they used him real well.

He was the Intercontinental Champion.

[Roddy Piper] Oh, wow.

What a punch.

[Vince McMahon] One, two, three.

[Roddy Piper] He got it.

[bell rings]

[Roddy Piper] We have a new champion.

[crowd cheers]

[Hollie Chilton] I loved seeing Daddy on TV.

I loved it.

When I got to go with him, it was thrilling.

We had so much fun together, like on the airplanes.

He always had a Walkman.

Daddy loved music.

And, like, we'd share it, listen to songs together.

There was a song called Skyline Pigeon by Elton John.

And it was about this caged bird.

And, um-

Oh, gosh, sorry.

I shouldn't have mentioned that one.

Sorry.

I shouldn't have talked about it.

Sorry.

There's this bird that just longs to be free.

So, to me, I feel like daddy may have felt caged at that time to

his- maybe his career, um, or maybe to his addiction.

Maybe he just, you know, wanted to be free of this thing

that held him captive.

And then to also be separated from your kids and your wife,

being on the road, doing your job.

These are my most prized possession.

My notes and my postcards from my dad.

There's lots of little bits of advice in here.

Like, this one says, "Hey, Holl, I know things are tough

sometimes, but sometimes life ain't easy.

And for things in life to be easy,

something's got to be hard.

But one thing's for sure, your mom and dad will always

love you more than anything.

[laughing]

Remember, I'll be home soon.

This showbiz stuff is for the birds.

[laughing]

And I feel like one cheep cheep.

I sure do miss you.

I'm still fighting-fighting to get home to you."

[Hollie Chilton] He had to be on the road.

You have to provide.

There's an image he had to hold up,

and then there's pressure to keep that name alive.

Daddy was kind of alone at WWE.

[Kevin Von Erich] Grief works when you're alone,

but when you're all together,

it's easy to be happy and jovial.

And Kerry was all about fun and loving each other

and cracking you up.

All he wanted to do was make you laugh.

But I know that it hurt so bad when he'd step on his bad leg.

He said it was like a flash of light.

[JBL] Kerry was in a lot of pain.

I mean, a lot of pain.

And he would go out there and wrestle for however long you

wanted him to.

I mean, you talk about an athlete.

I mean, he's a peg-legged guy out there.

[crowd cheers]

[Gorilla Monsoon] Look out.

The Whirling Dervish Spinning Tornado.

It's all over.

Made it look easy.

[Shawn Michaels] He continued to go out there

and perform the way that he did.

It's nothing short of amazing.

[JBL] That was crazy what he was doing,

but Kerry was in a lot of pain.

[Cathy Murray] He was hurt, not only physically,

but emotionally as well.

[Bruce Prichard] Kerry was very particular in hiding it

and protecting it.

Kerry dressed separately from everybody else.

And if you didn't know, you didn't know.

Vince wanted to see it.

And in seeing it, in seeing how well he moved and everything

that he did, it was like, "My God, you're a miracle.

Let's tell this story."

And Kerry, I believe, was originally on board with that.

And his father did not want that to happen.

Kerry succumbed to his father's wishes and kept it a secret.

[Hulk Hogan] We went to Japan a lot together.

We were coming back from Japan.

We decided to stop in Hawaii for a couple of days.

He wanted to go diving with me.

So, we go with the company, and we went out and rented all

the gear we needed.

We get ready to go in.

He had his jeans on.

You can't go diving with a pair of jeans on and, you know,

your boots on.

You need flippers to move around.

And, you know, "I-I just don't wanna take my jeans off.

I'm embarrassed."

[Brian Adias] Having that great of a body to be imperfect from

his mind, not having that foot, not being a whole person again,

or, I mean, it can weigh on you mentally, you know.

[Cathy Murray] He saw it as a sign of weakness.

And so I think to avoid the scariness of all of that,

he would take some pills

to try and help him feel better through it.

[Michael Hayes] You talk yourself into so much stuff when

you're making excuses of why you're getting high

and why you're getting drunk.

And they all work.

"I have to take this or I can't perform.

If I can't perform, I don't get paid.

If I don't get paid, we don't pay our bills.

We don't have a house.

We don't have a car.

How's the kids gonna get this or that?"

[Lacey Von Erich] Unfortunately, I do remember times

where he wasn't exactly sober.

Like, my mom, we were late to pick her up from

the hairdressers, so we drove on the sidewalk all the way there

'cause there was traffic, so he'd just go on the sidewalk.

Things like that that were very dangerous, let us drive in his

lap on a highway going over 100 miles an hour.

I remember when I was an adult, just looking back like,

"Oh, yeah, you weren't sober.

Got it."

[Hollie Chilton] Daddy was visiting a friend that

was a wrestler, and the police came and raided his car,

and then took him to jail, and then put me and Lacey in a-

in a different police car.

That was pretty terrible.

At one point, he was digging in his arms, looking for spiders,

and be like, "Baby girl, do you see it moving?"

And, of course, I'd play into it and be like,

"Yeah, daddy, I see it," you know?

Um, yeah.

[Cathy Murray] As a mom, when she comes home and tells me

that, I'm like, "You were where?

In a hotel room with your daddy, and he thought he had spiders?"

They were so young, they didn't know that that's really not a

good place for your children to be.

Kerry threatened me with things like, um, I'm gonna plant drugs

on you and make you look like an unfit mom

if you try to divorce me."

And so there was that fear of, I'm gonna look like

the bad guy and be the bad mom 'cause he's a Von Erich.

So even the police would side with him if there

was a domestic dispute.

It's actually the first time I've ever spoken about my

relationship with Kerry on camera, so it's very hard.

I did try to get him back into rehab again.

I had talking to Kevin, and we did another intervention,

but it just wasn't going to happen again

in our time together.

I had to leave the marriage, and not because I didn't love him.

It was hard for me to leave the marriage

because of my faith as well.

Of all the things I could handle,

adultery was not one of them.

And that was super hard on me.

Um, and I know he loved me.

I know he did.

He just wanted to have both lives.

When he was working as Texas Tornado with WWE,

I know they wanted him to go to Betty Ford, and he did.

He went.

I could see the struggle with Kerry really trying to come out

of what he's already done to himself and to come back

to Kerry Adkisson, but it was just so far gone.

[Bruce Prichard] People wanted to help Kerry.

Everybody liked him so much.

He was one of the most lovable, just, God, man,

the-the soul of Kerry Von Erich was just pure.

So, you-you wanted to help him, and it just became a problem,

and that was ultimately what led to his demise

was the substance abuse.

So, WWE let Kerry go.

[Kevin Von Erich] When I talk about Kerry's life,

he was 32 years old, and 30 of those years he was a great guy,

just drugs did that to him.

I thought if I could get him away from the drugs,

we'd go up to the north-west territory, up near Alaska,

figured there are no drug dealers out there,

and we're gonna go bear hunting,

you know, and, uh, we didn't ever make it.

As a matter of fact, Kerry had a-another arrest

and was gonna go to prison this time.

[Brian Adias] He was already on felony probation when

that happened, when he got busted for the cocaine there.

I think it started going through his head, he's like,

"Man, I'm gonna go to prison, and I'm gonna have my-

have half my foot and everything."

[Cathy Murray] He asked me to go to lunch with him.

He looked so broken when I saw him, and I could tell he had

been on a binge because he just had that look, you know,

and he asked me to put our family back together that day.

We were already divorced.

Ultimately, I reminded him of everything that we had been

through, and his reaction was,

"Today, I will walk with-

today I will walk with my brothers in heaven."

I'd heard him say little things like that before,

and I reminded him of our girls, and I said,

"You know, they need you."

And the last thing he said to me was,

"They're gonna be better off without me."

And I got up and went back to work,

and within an hour I got a call from Mr. Adkisson

that he had done it, that he had taken his life.

?

[crying]

[News Reporter] News of Kerry's death seemed

more than family members could take.

Those close to him knew he had been despondent.

[Fritz Von Erich] He'd had some real problems, which is no

secret, and they just piled up to the point

where he couldn't take it anymore.

And he came out here about, uh, 1:30 this afternoon,

and he said, "Dad, I'd like to take the Jeep, and, um,

I'll just go back to a quiet spot for a while,"

and I should have realized then that-

what he had in mind.

[Kevin Von Erich] He shot himself in the heart

with that 44 Magnum, in the heart, um.

[Cathy Murray] It's just in the family dynamic,

it's almost like, if one commits suicide,

it's almost like giving permission for the next one,

and the next one,

it's was just almost like I don't wanna say

a need, but, like, well,

my brother did it, so-so can I, or so should I, I don't know.

It was just- it was really hard.

[Bruce Prichard] You see all the tragicness around their lives,

and your heart hurts, and people started pointing fingers.

Only those who know will ever know, but when you add it all up

and you look at it as a whole, you start to think,

could they have done something different?

[Jillian Caneda] It's just a lot of heartache,

and my mom was really close to my Uncle Kerry too,

it was like her best friend.

[Kevin Von Erich] Everybody loved him.

And he was so good inside, but that weak mind, drugs.

[Jillian Caneda] Around that time, my brother, Marshall,

was born, that was the hardest time

that I saw in our lives was, um, when my Uncle Kerry died.

[Hollie Chilton] He had a deep, a deep love.

I'm gonna say it's selfless, and it- and it was, and-and I s-

I have to- I'm telling you this right now because I know when

I say daddy had a selfless love for us, then you think,

"Well, then why did he kill himself

and take himself away from you?"

But I- that was the drugs, and the mental health disease,

but I always knew his heart, and that he loved us deeply.

Looks like you guys were having so much fun.

I'll never find another one like her.

[Lacey Von Erich] Aw, see.

[Hollie Chilton] That was so cute.

[Lacey Von Erich He loved you so much.

[Lacey Von Erich] Look how pretty y'all are.

You'd be like, "Let me stare off into the distance for this one."

[Hollie Chilton] They're both so, like, photogenic.

I know.

[Lacey Von Erich] What a pretty couple.

[Hollie Chilton] I like this one.

Ain't we sweet?

[Hollie Chilton] How do you feel looking back on this?

[Cathy Murray] I-I feel good about it.

This was- this was the sweet daddy time,

look how sweet he is.

[Lacey Von Erich] Aw, I know.

I remember those hands and how gentle they were.

[Cathy Murray] Yeah.

[Lacey Von Erich] I was in denial for so long.

It was really a hard thing to deal with when you're so little,

and you love your dad so much.

I couldn't hear his name, I couldn't smell his cologne, um,

but then I became the pro wrestler when I got older.

[laughing]

[Cathy Murray] She was six when her daddy passed,

and she really wanted to understand his world.

And no better way to understand the world than to get in it,

and she didn't stay with it long.

[Lacey Von Erich] I got the healing and closure

that I needed, but at the time,

I went to Uncle Kevin and Aunt Pam's house for that.

My cousins, Kristen, and Ross, and Marshall,

and Jill were our best friends, and they were the only ones

that understood the life that we lived.

[Jillian Caneda] We were like sisters, and I just remember

beautiful memories together with my cousins.

And we had really good memories with my granddad, um, and then,

you know, his health started to decline.

[Kristen Nikolas] They told him that he had really aggressive

lung cancer and that it spread and become brain cancer,

and he had a very short time to live.

[screams]

[laughing]

[screams]

[laughing]

[Hollie Chilton] Wee.

[Lacey Von Erich] Ready?

Okay.

[screams]

[Hollie Chilton] Ah, there's the tree.

[laughing]

[Cathy Murray] Be careful.

[screams]

[Lacey Von Erich] I saved you.

[Hollie Chilton] This is our childhood to a tee.

I was just thinking about some of my favorite

memories of daddy, and, actually,

whenever I went to buy this lake house and I walked out here,

like the sound of it and the smell of it

reminded me of like being at Meme and granddad's.

[Lacey Von Erich] Oh.

[Cathy Murray] Mm-hmm.

[Hollie Chilton] Like all those great memories with our cousins.

[Fritz Von Erich] Well, that's great.

[Lacey Von Erich] I have a lot of good memories with granddad.

[Fritz Von Erich] Look at me.

[shrieks]

[Hollie Chilton] I'm a witch.

[Lacey Von Erich] I think that having us was like having

his kids back, and I think it was his happy place

if the grandkids were around.

[Fritz Von Erich] Lacey, look at your granddaddy.

[Jillian Caneda] He was like my best friend.

I mean, I could not spend enough time with him.

[Fritz Von Erich] Alright, look up everybody.

[Speaker] Okay, hold on.

[Jillian Caneda] We had really good memories

with my granddad.

[Fritz Von Erich] Oh, my goodness.

[Jillian Caneda] And then, you know,

his health started to decline.

[Kristen Nikolas] When I was 17, granddad started

kind of losing his words.

He would go out on the tractor for hours and just dig holes for

no reason, and when he went to the doctor,

they told him that he had really aggressive lung cancer

that had spread and become brain cancer,

and he had a very short time to live.

[Jillian Caneda] When my granddad passed,

that was hard for all of us, because that was just-

that was the last really, really hard hit.

[Kevin Von Erich] I loved him so much, I really did,

but I gotta tell you, when he died,

that day he died, I was glad.

I was glad it was over, his suffering.

Go to Jesus where the reward is.

I just know the horns are honking and people are cheering

when he got into heaven, because I'm telling you,

he was a good man, he really was.

[Jillian Caneda] After my granddad died, though, uh,

my-my dad, he was okay, you know, he had grieved,

but he had Ross and Marshall.

[Kevin Von Erich] There's nothing like being a dad

to two sons, especially these boys of mine.

[Jillian Caneda] They wanted to play football, and so for my

dad, it was like, "Oh, good, I got my brothers back."

[Kevin Von Erich] It's just like, uh,

my life recycled itself, you know.

Now I've got all I had,

and anything I did with these boys is just-

whether we were fishing or hunting,

it's just great.

[Jillian Caneda] And we were all a big reason for my dad to keep

going, but being in Texas was really hard,

and he did it as long as he could.

[Kevin Von Erich] It was everywhere I went,

everything I saw, even the fields

and the church bells and school bells

reminded me of my brothers, you know,

uh, everything.

And, you know, I loved it, but Texas had gotten to be quite

a bit of a tight spot.

[Kristen Nikolas] It was a constant, constant reminder

of what he didn't have anymore, and Meme too.

Meme was still alive at the time and just so sad inside.

We decided to move to Hawaii.

We all felt like she just deserved this beautiful,

peaceful place to live out her days.

[Kevin Von Erich] For the time, it was perfect for me.

[Jillian Caneda] He always talked about moving to Hawaii.

He's always loved the ocean, and it was like slow-paced,

so that was, like, a perfect place for him.

[Kristen Nikolas] It was a fresh start in a lot of ways.

We got to start over without that cloud of pity that people

sort of look at you with.

[Kevin Von Erich] We were there 20 years,

and we came back to Texas just because from-

what I needed from Hawaii, I got.

This is kind of the end of the dream, you know.

I-I wanted a rock house by a river,

and I figured I could have that.

I earned that, and now here is where I need to be, in Texas,

in my Guadalupe River.

I could not be happier.

Boom.

Anybody ready for a good skip?

[Speaker] Yeah.

[Colt] Hey, granddad.

[Kevin Von Erich] Yeah.

[Colt] Watch this.

[laughing]

[Kevin Von Erich] Here you go, Colt.

[Colt] Oh, my gosh.

I want to do the skip.

[Kevin Von Erich] Hold your arms straight out

like this where you go, "Mm."

Okay?

Straight arm.

Attaboy.

Look, you did it.

Ready, you guys?

Let's launch.

One, two, three, go.

[Kevin Von Erich] Watch this one, y'all.

Mom, watch this rock.

[Kerry Von Erich] Oh, wow.

?

[Kevin Von Erich] A lot of people feel sorry for me.

I'd like them to know how happy I am.

Oh.

Good one.

I like that one.

Oh.

Especially after watching that movie.

[Kevin Von Erich's character] Ever since I was a

child, people said my family was cursed.

Bad things kept happening.

[Kristen Nikolas] It was a big surprise

when the movie came out.

[Hollie Chilton] If you say it's based on a true story about the

Von Erichs, then people are gonna think that's the story,

and that's where I had a problem with it,

because my dad's character, and granddad, my goodness,

were just not the people I knew.

[Fritz Von Erich's character] You gotta take it and get up.

[Kristen Nikolas] It was a really well-done movie.

I think it was a beautiful movie.

Well, that doesn't mean that it was accurate.

And my dad had a good point.

He just said, "Maybe someone will see this movie and become

curious and look us up, and they'll see that really

what got me through is my faith.

[Kevin Von Erich] Thanks for your prayers,

because I think they did hold me up.

I know a lot of my fans prayed, and I thank all of you for it,

because here I am, and I know I wouldn't have been here

without His hand.

So thank you.

[Kevin Von Erich] Oh, okay.

Well, it's like I wanna be, um, open when I talk.

But, uh, it's been a long time, and I think down inside

some parts of my story,

I've built little walls around, you know.

I kind of feel safe like this and that.

I don't know.

Probably a survival instinct.

I don't know.

I'm not so tough, though, I'll tell you that.

If there was a weak way, I'd have probably taken it.

I just didn't find it.

[laughing]

So, but here I am, and I did struggle,

and I suffered.

But I'm not the only one.

We've all been like that.

But I'll say this, though.

Life is good, and I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me,

because I'm as happy as I could be.

It's just a great life, you know.

[David Von Erich] There's something magical when Kevin

and I are in that ring together.

[Undertaker] It was a family of superheroes.

[Commentator] The roof is being blown off the Sportatorium

by this crowd.

[JBL] I grew up idolizing those guys.

I got to become friends with those guys.

These are some of the best guys

I've ever been around with in my life.

[Kevin Von Erich] Everybody who's behind us,

it's not just our win, it's all of our win.

[Michael Hayes] They just always liked to have fun.

[Kerry Von Erich] And this stuff right here,

I think I got it down.

[Cathy Murray] The boys had a really close bond together,

and it was infectious.

[Fritz Von Erich] Kerry, blow your good daddy a kiss?

[laughing]

[Fritz Von Erich] Starting all over, the one thing

I'd like to do is raise those kids again.

Most fun I've ever had in my life.

[Kristen Nikolas] My granddad was so joyful in those moments,

and to see my dad get to have that now is so fulfilling.

[Kristen Nikolas] Now we have this ranch here,

and Hollie brings her kids, and Lacey brings her kids,

and Jill brings her kids, and all the-

everybody can play, and they can have a similar childhood

experience to what we had with each other.

[Lacey Von Erich] I just love my family,

and I think that we're all still a very strong unit.

I think whenever tragedy hits a family,

the people that are still in the family get closer.

[Jillian Caneda] He's surrounded by love.

And instead of it making him bitter for what he went through,

it made him gentle and compassionate,

and he values family more than anybody I've ever met,

because he's had it and he's lost it.

And then to have it all again, all of his grandkids, um,

is such a blessing.

[Kevin Von Erich] The only thing that lasts is love

your family and Almighty God.

I'm just so grateful.

?

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