10 Worst Wrestling Publicity Stunts

3. Fritz Von Erich's 'Heart Attack'

By the late '80s, Texas-based World Class Championship Wrestling was virtually synonymous with tragedy. A spate of untimely deaths - many of them in scandalous circumstances - had rocked the company, and with most of its top stars having either passed on or snatched up by WWF's aggressive national expansion, business had dwindled drastically.

Tragedy hadn't touched anyone in the company quite as viciously as the promotion's owner and booker Fritz von Erich, who had lost three of his six sons before he'd reached his 60s, each of them in desperate circumstances. Cradling so much grief, the patriarch was the last person earth you'd imagine to court controversy by exploiting his deeply personal devastation.

But there was no escaping WCCW's imperilled position, and the elder Von Erich felt he had to do anything necessary to retain interest in his product. During a steel cage match featuring son Kevin at the company's annual Christmas Day bash, Star Wars, Fritz 'collapsed' after an attack by Iceman Parsons - the suggestion being that he had suffered a heart attack.

Obviously, the whole thing was a massive ruse designed to drum up coverage for the ailing promotion. But an audience worn out by so much anguish simply couldn't take any more. The distasteful angle turned fans away in their droves, and the company slowly faded. The fake tragedy had doomed the company, but in a cruel twist of fate, real tragedy would continue to curse the Von Erich family even after WCCW had reached its nadir.

Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know). He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.