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Von Erich Family Documentary 3 Pack DVD

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David's basketball career is discussed as well. His coaches pegged him to be a future great, but he opted to go into wrestling as well. Footage of his first match is shown as well, as well as some clips of him against Kamala, Jim Garvin and Harley Race.

- Kerry starts out training for the discus throw, and is even a major prospect for the Olympics. However, that was the year Jimmy Carter boycotted the event. Kevin has some pretty harsh things to say about Carter and his wrecking of Kerry's potential shot at glory.

- A bit of Kerry footage is shown (note: this footage is done to a re-mix I've never heard of Kerry's theme song, Rush's "Tom Sawyer). Kevin talks about how Kerry played to the female fans, whereas he and David had tried to ignore them. Also talks about how the older wrestlers couldn't keep up with the brothers' fast paced style.

- Mercer talks about David's death. David became violently ill with the flu, but insisted on keeping booking commitments in Japan, where he was found dead in a hotel room. Footage of his funeral is shown.

- A fairly long clip of Kerry's NWA World Title win over "Nature Boy" Ric Flair is shown. Fritz, in a bit of kayfabing, treats the whole incident in character, talking about how Kerry fought for his brother's memory and won the belt in honor of him.

- A quick outtake of Mike, Kevin and Kerry's Pizza Inn commercial is shown, followed by Mike in the ring against General Skandar Akbar.

- Not long after becoming a wrestler, Mike would hurt his shoulder, and after undergoing an operation on it, suffered toxic shock syndrome. Several newsbits from the media coverage are shown, with Kevin being identified as "Kevyn" Von Erich in one. The Von Erichs were so popular by this point, numerous fans were offering to donate kidneys to save him.

- Mike would briefly return before committing suicide by overdose. Kevin talks about how Mike was never into physical development the way the other brothers were, and how he suffered from the pressure of having to "be David" after his brother's death.

- Footage is shown of the youngest, Chris. Chris had asthma and was disheartened to know that he'd never be the athlete his brothers were. He had to take a form of steroids that stunted his grown and caused his bones to become brittle. So brittle, in fact, that he broke an arm clean just landing in the ring one time.

- Tragedy strikes again, this time with Kerry, who suffers a major injury when his motorcycle slams into a car pulling out in front of him. His foot is almost severed, and is finally amputated when Kerry tries to walk on it before it's properly healed. (Kevin says that it happened in the hospital, as Kerry got up to get a cheeseburger, but I seem to recall him making an in-ring comeback that would cause the amputation). Kerry, ever the physical specimen, hid his missing foot, rather than show that he could work without it.

- Mercer talks about the terrible chain of events the family suffered through (including Fritz and Doris's divorce), and Fritz mentions his selling off of everything in 1987 and getting out of the business.

- Mercer talks about the "epidemic" of suicide, though it never actually talks about how Chris and Kerry killed themselves, just what led them to it. We go from Chris being too small and Kerry coming back from a foot injury to Bill mentioning suicide… it's almost just implied that they did so. For the record, both Chris and Kerry committed suicide with a firearm.

- Kevin thinks his being married and thus having direction may have saved him from the same fate. He saw wrestling as a job after that. Kevin has four children, two girls, two boys. Footage of them is shown, including the boys attempting a powerbomb on a trampoline. One of them, Ross, says he wants to be a wrestler.

- Kevin thinks they changed wrestling, with their faster paced style. He doesn't think he'd want his boys in it now, as it's "too cartoony now." He's proud of what he and his brothers did, but he doesn't like what he sees now.

- Fritz talks about how proud he is of his boys, and how he'd like the chance to raise them all over again. A screen comes up acknowledging Fritz's death due to heart attack.

All in all, this is a neat little (50 minutes or so) documentary, BUT… it's definitely a glossed-over account of the family. The drug use by the brothers is kept to a minimum, mentioned only during Mike's death. I'm not saying it should have focused on the darker side of the family, just that it wasn't brought to light. Another odd omission is Kerry's WWF tenure. Though I'm sure footage of it was not an option, at least mentioning that one of the boys had a nationwide audience and became a massive superstar beyond the confines of World Class would have been nice.

Since most of the actual story we all know front and back, the most interesting aspect of the show is the massive amount of footage, both home and wrestling, which is available. From the looks of it, the Von Erichs recorded EVERYTHING that ever happened at their house. The wrestling footage is pretty good too, though I wish better prints of David and Kevin's debuts were available.

All in all, a fitting, but somewhat fluffy, to one of the greatest dynasties in the business.

This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 31 March, 2020.

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