If you were a boy growing up in Southern Oklahoma during the 80s, chances are you loved wrestling. And if you lived in the Southwest and loved wrestling, chances are you loved the Von Erichs. The Von Erichs were a family of wrestlers. The Father, Fritz Von Erich, was a wrestling villain in the 50s through the 70s, holding many titles. His primary goal of winning the NWA heavyweight championship always eluded him. Fritz ended up buying World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) and running the promotion.
In those days, wrestling companies had territories they covered. Each territory had their own champions. A board of directors governed the NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) and they chose who the overall champion should be. It was political and the board had their favorites, such as Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, and Harley Race. To break the circle of the wrestlers the board loved was difficult. The NWA champion traveled to the territories and usually fought the top guy in each territory. Confusing for non-wrestling fans, I’m sure.
Because Fritz never got the chance to hold the NWA title, something he believed they robbed him of, he dreamed for his sons to carry the title. He pushed his 5 sons hard and because he ate, breathed, and slept wrestling, he pushed his kids extra hard. Since he was the owner of WCCW, he positioned his sons as the top dogs in the company. This is the central part of The Iron Claw’s story. The Von Erichs were cursed not because of a change of name (explained in The Iron Claw movie), but because of an overbearing father who lacked compassion and empathy.
The Iron Claw is a film by A24 Films and Lionsgate that focuses on Kevin Von Erich, the oldest of the Von Erich brothers. Kevin was actually the 2nd oldest, but the firstborn died as a child by electrocution and drowned. Zac Efron plays Kevin and leads an excelled cast. The other brothers are played by Jeremy Allen White (Kerry), Harris Dickinson (David), and Stanley Simons (Mike). The Patriarch and Matriarch of the Von Erichs are played by Holt McCallany (Fritz) and Maura Tierny (Doris). McCallany, Efron, and Simons deliver fantastic performances in their respective roles.
The crux of The Iron Claw is family dynamics and how toxic fatherhood can break a family. Fritz wants nothing more in life than retribution for being overlooked during his wrestling days. His main goal in life is making his sons get what he never had by any means necessary. This isn’t new to storytelling. It’s been told repeatedly. The thing with The Iron Claw though it’s a true story and was the downfall of one of wrestling’s greatest families.
The year was 1983 and I was in the 3rd grade. My mom and I stood outside a locker room where the wrestlers were escaping a crowd to get to their vehicles. Kerry and his mane of long-flowing hair emerged from the side door and tried to slide his way towards his car. Grown women stretched out their hands to touch the muscular and handsome wrestling prince. Heading my way, I stretched out a piece of paper. Kerry stopped, looked at me and laughed. The piece of paper that I was holding was a bank transaction note from the back of my mom’s checkbook.. It was the only paper she had on her and I wasn’t prepared to seek autographs. He signed the paper and looked me in the eye and asked me what I thought about his match. I stumbled my way through speaking to him and he handed back the papers and tussled my hair with the claw he used earlier to submit his opponent. He continued to slide through the crowd, apologizing as he inched closer to the open door of his vehicle. Later on, my dad would make an arrangement with a friend of a friend to get me the opportunity to get another autograph. I took that autograph to show and tell.
40-years after standing with my mom outside a wrestler’s locker room, I sat with my daughter inside a theater to watch The Iron Claw. As I watched The Iron Claw, it hit me that this amazing memory of growing up cheering on the Von Erichs and meeting my Idol Kerry, that there was a difficult war going on in Kerry’s mind while he made a young boy’s day. A day that still holds meaning to this day.
Watching The Iron Claw was a strange movie-going experience for me. It took me back to my childhood. In the 80s, if wrestling was being broadcasted, I was sitting cross-legged on the floor watching it. If there was a live wrestling show in town and my mom could afford to take me that week, we went. My heroes were wrestlers. They were larger than life and I rooted for the good guy to overcome obstacles set up by an evil opponent. It wasn’t “fake” to me. It was storytelling at its best. Pro wrestling to me was a love child of soap opera gladiators and rock musicians. A place where people would sweat and bleed through a story-telling arc. I loved every wrestling promotion and every person who laced up a pair of boots. And the Von Erichs weren’t just guys I watched on TV. For one hour every Saturday, they were my brothers.
Sitting in the theater, each time Jeremy Allen White’s Kerry appeared on the screen, the tussling of my hair was felt. I wish I could go back in time and give Kerry Von Erich a hug and let him know how much he meant to so many people.
I highly recommend The Dark Side of the Ring’s focus on the Von Erich family. If you haven’t watched the documentary, it helps tell the Von Erich story in much better detail.
I don’t want to spoil the movie for those that don’t know the Von Erich’s story. So, you can stop here if you’d like. What I say might ruin the movie going experience for you. If you know the history of the family, then what I say won’t make much of a difference. It’s like when you watch a movie about Abraham Lincoln. You know he’s going into the theater no matter how badly you wish he would skip the show.
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As the curse picks off one brother after another, audience members attach themselves to Kevin in hopes he can find a way out. This story is based on real life and is heavy. Even though I loved Kerry growing up, it especially saddened me watching Michael struggle with his role as the youngest brother. There was another brother, Chris, who was left out of the movie. The writer/director combined the two youngest brothers into one character. At the end of the movie, there is one brother left standing. Family is the most important thing for Kevin and the most emotional moment of the movie for me was Kevin’s interaction with his boys. Breaking generational toxic masculinity is hard, but the real-life Kevin shows it is possible. That’s heroic.
Lastly, I’ll bring up the question that I usually ask when writing movie reviews. Is The Iron Claw appropriate for kids?
The Iron Claw is rated R for language, suicide, drugs, and some sexuality. It earns that R rating for the language alone. There’s quite a few “F” words. A brief sexual scene occurs, but there’s no nudity. The main reason I would not want to bring young kids to see the movie was because of the suicide scenes. Watching with my 17-year-old daughter was fine, but I will not let my younger kids watch this movie till their older.
If you were or are a fan of pro wrestling, you might like these other wrestling-inspired stories:
Talking parenting with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon
WWE, Hulk Hogan, and Reliving Old Memories by Making New Ones
Waiting in the rain to get Mick Foley’s autograph with my kids
Wrestling with Fatherood
Interview with the WWE’s Titus O’Neil on fatherhood
WWE is focusing on younger fans again