1. The von Erichs
Nothing in the history of professional wrestling tops the sheer, ghastly tragedy of the von Erichs. It is a story that is so extreme in its tragedy, it is almost difficult to believe that it happened. And it is desperately depressing, although not without a ray of hope. Whenever I was a young girl, watching wrestling on satellite television, I was entranced by World Class Championship Wrestling - WCCW - a Texas based promotion run by the formidable Fritz von Erich (real name Jack Adkisson) - master of the Iron Claw and 'Nazi' Heel. Fritz was married to Doris. They had six sons. But only one son would still be alive at the age of 40. Fritz's first son - Jack Junior - was electrocuted and drowned in a puddle aged six. This is said to have made Fritz a very bitter man and influenced the way he would treat his other sons. By the late 1970s, his sons David and Kevin would follow in his footsteps and wrestle for WCCW. Both Kevin and David had glittering high school football careers and they translated this athleticism very well in the wrestling ring. Kevin was a high flying, acrobatic wrestler who went barefoot. David, arguably the most talented of Fritz's sons, was known as The Yellow Rose of Texas and stood an imposing 6 feet 7 inches. David had legendary matches against the likes of Harley Race and Ric Flair. He is said to have been temperamentally very similar to Fritz and he asserted his independence from his father by going to Florida to wrestle. In Florida, David worked as a heel (going against von Erich prerogative to be the ultimate baby faces in the world) and learned all the tricks in the trade. His wrestling was greatly improved when he came back to WCCW in 1982. By this stage Kevin and David had been joined by the next von Erich son - Kerry. Kerry was also a standout athlete at school and like Fritz had been as a youth, Kerry was particularly gifted at discus and made a record breaking throw. He really should have competed in the 1980 Olympics but when the US chose to boycott the games, Kerry turned to pro wrestling. The von Erich brothers were idolised all throughout Texas and were treated with the same adoration as rockstars from their fans. Their feud with the Fabulous Freebirds is the stuff of legend. In 1984, David left Texas to wrestle in Japan. He was found dead in his hotel room and his death has been the subject of much lurid debate with many claiming it was drug related (Ric Flair wrote in his autobiography that Bruiser Brody got rid of all the drugs) and the official line being that he died of gastroenteritis. Whatever the answer, David's death caused an outpouring of grief among von Erich fans who had held David up to be the von Erich to get the NWA title. It fell on Kerry's mantle to achieve this feat. He beat Ric Flair in a tribute show for David which was packed to the rafters with von Erich fans. The sight of Kerry holding aloft the NWA title was a moment of catharsis for the fans and for the von Erich family as a whole. Around this time, Mike von Erich made his professional debut in the world of wrestling. The problem was - Mike was not as charismatic or as athletically gifted as his older brothers. He really really tried in the ring but he was just hopeless. He never wanted to wrestle but Fritz thought that the magic of David could be recreated. In 1985, Mike suffered a shoulder injury which he had to have surgery on. He developed complications after the operation, toxic shock syndrome which gave him a fever of 107 degrees. He almost died and Fritz made the whole thing into a ghastly carnival (he was a born again Christian by this point) with regular updates and calls to prayer for the viewers of WCCW. Mike pulled through and was hailed as a living miracle by Fritz. It was clear from interviews with Mike that his brain had been fried from his illness and that a light bulb had been smashed in his brain. Fritz also forced him back into the ring too early. His physique, never along the lines of Kerry's muscles, was feeble and he had to retire. In April 1987, Mike von Erich was found dead from an overdose on Placidyl, a powerful hypnotic. Mike had been very close to the youngest von Erich brother - Chris. Unlike Mike, Chris really, really wanted to wrestle but he suffered from asthma as a child and the treatment for this stunted his growth to 5 Ft 6 inches and gave him brittle bones. He tried his heart out at wrestling, but frustrated at his inability to get his career off the ground, and missing his brother Mike, Chris died from a self inflicted gun shot wound in September 1991. Kerry was said to be Fritz's favourite son. Kerry is probably the best known of the brothers due to a stint in the WWF as 'The Texas Tornado' during which he held the intercontinental belt for a short while. In June 1986, Kerry was in a terrible crash whilst driving his motorbike. He dislocated his hip and severely injured his right foot. Surgeons battled to save it, but when Kerry walked on it prematurely, the foot had to be amputated and Kerry had to wrestle with a prothesis, in serious pain for the rest of his wrestling career. This was a major secret for years in wrestling. Kerry turned to drugs - cocaine and pain killers - to cope with his injuries and the pain of losing his brothers. He had been caught with narcotics and he forged a prescription. Facing serious jail time, Kerry decided life was not worth living and shot himself in the heart on his father's estate in February 1993. Bret Hart wrote in his biography that Kerry had been talking for months about joining his brothers. Deeply bitter about losing her sons, Doris blamed Fritz and divorced him. Fritz developed a fatal brain tumour and died in September 1997 leaving Kevin von Erich his only surviving son. Kevin has been interviewed about the tragedies that befell his family and simply states that he is a father and a husband and just has to make the best of things. He says that David's death was the worst for him and he will never come to terms with it. So an horrific story indeed but what is amazing is the emergence of a third generation of von Erich wrestlers - Lacey (Kerry's daughter) and Ross and Marshall (Kevin's sons). It remains to be seen if they will hit the heights that their fathers did, but it is a nice way to finish up a very tragic tale.