In the Texas territory World Class Championship Wrestling, no wrestling act was as big in the 1980s as the Von Erich family.
In February 1984, during a tour of Japan, David Von Erich – assumed by many to be the heir to NWA World title – passed away. He was 25. The circumstances of his death are still much debated. Nonetheless, it left a hole in the family, with the promotion subsequently dedicating this Parade of Champions event in honour of the oldest wrestling Von Erich.
The show, attended by 32,000 mourners, sees The Von Erichs fight long-term rivals The Fabulous Freebirds while Kerry Von Erich challenges for the NWA belt against incumbent Ric Flair.
Today, it still makes for emotional coverage but for a spookier reason. In 1984, David’s death marked the end of patriarch Fritz Von Erich’s second son (eldest son Jack Jr. died in a freak drowning accident at age six in 1959). What no one could of known here – but all of us viewers with our eerie foresight know, is that by father Fritz’s death in 1997, he would outlive five of his six children, all but one of his wrestling children. The deaths of Mike, Chris, and Kerry were all suicides.
On that utterly morbid note, here is that David Von Erich memorial event.
The brilliant bombast of the WCCW theme blasts and Mark Lowrance introduces us to the Texas Stadium in Irving. Bizarrely, he makes no immediate reference to David Von Erich’s untimely death, instead opening by announcing the world premiere of Badstreet USA.
Chris Adams & Sunshine vs Jimmy Garvin & Precious
Straight onto the card and the ‘opening’ bout is a tag match with Chris Adams and Sunshine are to fight Jimmy Garvin and Precious. I say ‘opening’ as in reality, this match was filmed after the main event, hence the hot crowd – literally, as by this point, the temperature in the ring was over 100 degrees. Perhaps that has something to do too with the length of this bout.
Before we can even start however, charismatic speaker and all-round cocaine fiend Gino Hernandez shouts into the mic about how neglected he is, not being on the card. Indicating at what point of the card this really took place, he comments that Kerry Von Erich has already won the NWA World title. Now that’s good editing(!)
Before the bell rings, Adams and Precious, the latter Jimmy Garvin’s ex, tear up his ring gear, as a very Billy Connolly-looking Garvin shouts.
The two lock up as the announcer again declares Von Erich is the world champion.
Adams tries desperately to get the tag, a spot which would make more sense had the match not only been going for only a few minutes. A double clothesline spot opens the door for an Adams superkick and a tag to which the arena howls.
The two non-wrestlers do some very non-wrestly moves before the wrestlers come back in. Adams gets colour after discretely gigging himself in a front face lock. It’s very well done by Adams. The two women are tagged back in and the heels work over Sunshine.
In the chaos, Adam pins “Gorgeous” Garvin off-screen with a sunset flip. Strange since neither man was legal. Oh, well.
Precious twats Sunshine with her handbag before escaping to the safety of about half a dozen security personnel. Clearly they were not very good as the good guys catch up and force them into a hasty getaway.
A perfectly fun albeit sloppy and hectic match, the crowd were certainly behind it. An Adams/Garvin would undoubtedly have been better but the women added some heat to the contest. A perfectly good opener, even if it was the show closer for fans in the arena.
MATCH RATING: **
Butch Reed vs. Chick Donovan
A clear squash match about to take place as former topflight wrestler Butch Reed takes on journeyman and most 80s looking man ever Chick Donovan.
Commentator Mark Lowrance notes that the 50,000-strong crowd is the largest attendance in wrestling history. The claim is not quite true but it might be the most attended event in America up to that point.
Donovan gets a flurry of offence but is soon overpowered by the savvier Reed. Just as Donovan seems to get a second wind, he is lifted into a military press drop. A slightly miscue on a running shoulder block but nonetheless, that does it for Donovan as Reed picks up the win.
A nothing match really, it’s merely a somewhat competitive squash that gets Reed over.
MATCH RATING: *
The Great Kabuki (w/ Gary Hart) vs. Kamala (w/ Skandar Akbar)
There is a lot to note before we begin here. Kabuki is from the “melting pots of sin” aka Singapore, according to commentator Lowrance. The announcer calls him “the greatest martial arts expert in the world”, demonstrated by some sick nunchuck skills. Interestingly Kimala, as it is spelt here, is managed not just by Akbar but also handler Friday, better known as Kim Chi.
The announcer also notes this has a thirty minute time limit. Fuck. Off. Let us pray to the gods of mercy that these two do not get carried away thinking they are Okada and Omega.
“I am reluctant to say two men in this bout, because they are really beasts, animals” Lowrance says. Kabuki spits the green mist, bit of a waste to do it before the match I would say but hey, I’m not the one wrestling a Ugandan headhunter.
This match largely contains submission holds, including bear hugs, chokes, and the lesser-seen armpit claw. After about eight minutes of this non-starter of a match, Gary Hart decides to finally make it interesting and attacks Kimala’s managers, with the referee calling for the bell. Hart does some truly incredible kicks which look absolutely devastating. Yes, the most exciting bit was where the two middle-aged non-wrestlers grappled like two dads over a parking space outside of the Co-Op.
Utterly terrible. Now, I do really enjoy the concept of a bout like this: two heavily-gimmicked characters wrestling as it opens the door to a world full of possibilities. Instead, these two just did less than nothing. Kabuki was a unique performer and Kamala could draw good money against the right opponent but against each other they were absolutely dire.
MATCH RATING: DUD.
Junkyard Dog vs. The Missing Link (w/ Skandar Akbar)
JYD avoids an attempted sneak attack by Link, hitting him with a steel chair to a huge pop and, for some reason, not the bell ringing again to signal a disqualification.
The two engage in dogbutts, which Dog comes out on top of, before Robertson tries a diving headbutt but misses. Dog attacks Akbar who is on the apron. The Link capitalises and hits the heatbutt as Akbar holds onto the legs. Link wins.
However, another referee comes out to correct the decision, giving JYD the win by disqualification. Akbar jumps with frustration while Link repeatedly bashes his face off the steps.
It was quick and JYD was certainly over. Like with many JYD matches, fans were elated to see him but beyond that, his performance was extremely limited. The Link did the majority of the work as Dog kept the crowd interested. That said, it was an unremarkable use of four and a half minutes.
MATCH RATING: DUD.
NWA American Tag Team Championship: Rock & Soul (Buck Zumhofe & Iceman King Parsons) vs. The Super Destroyers (#1 and #2) (c)
First things first, we have to acknowledge Zumhofe today. In 2013, he was arrested on 12 felony counts of sexual misconduct, including the sexual abuse of his teenage daughter. In 2014, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison on four accounts of sexual assault, which the judge decided would run concurrently. He still remains in prison today. So that said, fuck the guy.
In this match, he is only 33 but looks at least double that and has the appearance of a German football manager. He too has incredibly spindly looking legs, just proportionately, he looks all wrong. Zumhofe really poisons this bout as even when he’s not in the ring, you can constantly hear his deep, gruff voice shouting from the sidelines.
Anyway, at this event, he teams with Iceman Parsons, the duo strolling out to the sounds of Sister Sledge’s We Are Family. They take on the tag champions and members of Devastation Inc. The Super Destroyers (played by Scott and Bill Irwin). The Destroyers look very much like the Bill Eadie gimmick of the same name and play the mysterious mask heel role done previously by The Executioners or The Assassins. They are unrelated to the later ECW team.
Scott Irwin was former WWWF tag champion Yukon Eric while Bill Irwin would later compete at Wrestlemania…under the Goon gimmick.
The good guys take the early advantage and WCCW use a rare mid-match replay to show a dropkick (truly revolutionary stuff here) and a botched headbutt spot.
Five minutes in and if you like headlocks, you would love this match thus far.
The heels wear down Zumhofe for a while until Iceman gets the tag. The crowd cheer for a double sunset flip spot though both Destroyers kick out. Zumhofe grabs the leg of one as Parsons delivers a running hip attack on the other and gets the win. I can see how it might win you but as a man finish? Either way, we have new champions as Zumhofe and Parsons celebrate with the belts.
This was perfectly fine. Forgettable, though perfectly well-worked. It was there, it happened, but I won’t necessary rush to see it again anytime soon.
MATCH RATING: **
“Badstreet USA”: The World Premiere
Bizarrely, up to this point, David Von Erich has barely – if at all – been mentioned as they have instead hyped “Badstreet USA”.
Michael P.S. Hayes’s singing is quite distinctive, but not in a good way. He is however very good at convulsing around onstage. The session musicians do look quite professional, like they could be members of REO Speedwagon or Toto, even if one does look like if someone took a bicycle pump to 1990s darts champion Dennis “The Menace” Priestley.
The video shows a young kid pulling a knife on another, an old woman ringing the police, and the US military. It is quite heavy stuff for what is supposed to be a silly wrestling song.
The best bits are the wrestling, including a clip of Terry Gordy pushing a fan so hard he catapults backwards.
You have got to credit Hayes for giving it his all but it is a bit like finding out your uncle and his friends from the pub recorded a music video after a night’s heavy session at The Swan and Crown.
Six Man Tag Team Championship: The Von Erichs (Fritz, Kevin, & Mike) vs. The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, and Buddy Roberts) (c)
After the Freebirds enter to their own track, its heavy, country-tinged Ted Nugent for the Von Erichs as Fritz returns in the arena in which he had retired.
All men get into a melee, with the heels ejected, though a Gordy chair does somehow split open Kevin’s fingers.
David Manning gets on the mic and tries to maintain order, declaring that there will only be two men in the ring at once.
Roberts and Kevin start but almost immediately, the Freebirds try to outnumber Kevin. Mike comes in and he really is the spitting image of David.
As soon as Fritz is tagged in, the ring explodes again with bodies. Like the dad he is, he starts whipping Hayes with his belt.
Things settle down, but only slightly as Kevin and Gordy are legal. The iron claw is attempted but blocked and the Freebirds neutralise Kevin with a mighty clothesline. He starts whomping Kevin with his boot. Roberts slams Kevin’s face into his belt buckle but it looks more like he’s giving him a swift knob in the face.
He gains reprieve from the attacks and Fritz is legal, assaulting Roberts. He locks in the iron claw on Michael Hayes then gets one on Roberts too before Gordy knocks him with a boot.
As the rest brawl, Kevin wins hitting an amazing diving cross body press onto Roberts. The Von Erichs always had a reputation as being energic and quite rough around the egdes and this crossbody really exemplified that but Jesus Christ, it looked pristine. The Von Erichs win as the crowd erupts and new champions are crowned.
Yet it is not over as the Freebirds and a “strange and deadly Oriental” attack the Von Erichs. The unnamed Asian attacks Kevin with an Oriental spike. Though not referenced by the name, the attacker was Killer Khan.
A rugged, ugly brawl, this match was what it needed to be to get the crowd inflamed. It was a cathartic victory for the Von Erich family, one that would leave fans not just happy but with hope. The only question now was, could Kerry possibly pull off the upset?…
MATCH RATING: **½
Jill Floyd sings “Heaven Needed A Champion”
Out comes Jill Floyd to sing the tribute song “Heaven Needed A Champion”, written by Glen Goza, which featured prominantly on local Texas radio at the time.
She is introduced as being 12 years old. Absolutely incomprehensible because she looks about 57. She could easily play someone’s mother in a throwback sitcom, maybe she would play a friend of Betty Goldberg called Karen, talking about this newfangled microwave that has just hit the market.
Anyway, besides my perhaps sexist remarks about a genuinely very talented child, the song itself is genuinely very moving. Though the mention of wrestling in music could easily be seen as shoehorned or a bit heavy-handed, it feels quite sincere.
Amazing emotional delivery for someone so young.
For me, it is probably the highlight of the show and the most emotional moment on the card. It really is an injustice that it has been cut from most versions because there is not a dry eye either in that crowd or behind the laptop of the person writing this.
NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Kerry Von Erich vs. Ric Flair (c)
Now is “the bout the world has been waiting for” according to Mark Lowrance, as Flair enters to light jeering. It is clear that there is just one man in this match who wants Ric Flair to walk out of the area as world champion, and his name is Ric Flair.
While the champion plays down, though still in a bedazzled blue robe, Kerry comes out to both “Modern Day Warrior” then “Texas (When I Die)”, dressed in his David memorial jacket and flower as the young girls kiss him on his way to the ring.
Flair struggles to get the better of Kerry as “go Kerry, go” chants break out among the young girls in the audience.
Lowrance notes that anybody who buys a copy of “Heaven Needed A Champion” will be helping to fund the David Von Erich Memorial Gymnasium.
Kerry outwrestles Flair until Flair resorts to echoing chops, responded too with a huge fist and press slam. As he retreats to recuperate, Flair is chastised by a little old man in the front row, showing the unity behind Kerry, fans of all ages willing him on. There are then audible screams and yells when Kerry is dumped out.
A knee drop and a suplex could not keep a defiant Kerry down.
Out of nowhere, Kerry locks in the iron claw, though Flair grabs the tight and performs a dirty knee to break out of the hold. “The Nature Boy” goes up to the top rope but, classic Flair, is thrown off before being flipped in the corner after an Irish whip.
Flair tries a figure-four leglock but this is thwarted. Kerry tries a hip toss but Flair blocks it, tries his own, but Kerry escapes through and into a backslide. 1…2…3! In a sudden roll-up, Kerry wins the match and the NWA belt. The arena goes absolutely bananas.
The Von Erichs and all the babyface roster come out to celebrate the historic title win. He hugs his parents on the ramp. The rose, the flag, and now the belt, Von Erich leaves his home the champion of the world.
The dream of Fritz Von Erich to win a world title became the dream one of his sons would win a world title. It is thought David was first in line but such could never come to pass. Now, his son was a world champion but at a tragic cost. It is no make-up prize but it is a fitting gesture for a family that has gone through so much, and – though they could not know it yet – would only go through darker and darker days.
The match itself has to be viewed in context.
As an NWA title bout, it is incredibly short. Flair was known for hour-long matches so to see a title change in such a brief manner was quite surprising. It was basic but it only needed to be. Pro Wrestling Illustrated agreed, rating it their match of the year.
There is little here that nobody could do but it was right for the right crowd and the right moment.
MATCH RATING: ***
Aftermath
The joy was short-lived. Indeed, just 18 days after winning the NWA title belt, Von Erich dropped it back to Flair in Yokosuka, Japan – away from the eyes of Texan wrestling fans. The victory at Parade of Champions was always a short-term plan for a feel good moment. After all, Flair was an internationally renowned worker and high-drawing world champion while Von Erich had far more limited influence beyond the Texas plain. Those critical – but probably correct – of Von Erich might note Kerry was luck to be in the right place, right time, to win the NWA belt which he otherwise would never win.
No Von Erich would ever get a sniff of world title success ever again.
In 1987, Mike Von Erich became the next Von Erich to pass. Two years previously, he suffered a bout of toxic shock syndrome, a life-changing incident which caused brain damage. The effects were only compounded by a car accident the next year. A few days after being arrested and having felt a failure in not living up to the family name, he committed suicide, overdosing on Placidyl.
In 1991, youngest Von Erich Chris chose to end his life at just 21, shooting himself on the grounds of the family’s farm estate. Chris had sunk into a depression due to his struggles to become a wrestler. At only 5’5, his build worked against him while he also had asthma and consumption of prednisone meant that his body was weakened so that even basic wrestling moves would break bones.
Finally, in 1993, Kerry would also take his own life, also on the family farm. In 1986, he was involved in a serious motorcycle accident, one that would lead to the amputation of his right foot, though he continued to wrestle through the pain and keeping the injury a secret. By 1993, the drug addiction issues from the pain led to criminal indictments for drug crimes. Coupled with this, Kerry had also gone through a divorce less than a year beforehand. The 33-year-old shot himself with a .44 caliber pistol, much like brother Chris had.
As Fritz once wallowed: “What can you do about the things life deals you, except hang on?”
As Kevin once remarked, and later quoted in The Iron Claw, “I used to be a brother, and now I’m not a brother anymore.”
Greater and more complete information on the Von Erichs can be seen in the dedicated Dark Side of the Ring episode.
Conclusion
Most of the Parade of Champions undercard was inconsequential. From the Reed/Donovan squash to the Kabuki/Kamala gimmick bout to Dog/Link’s disqualification result.
It was clear these nothing matches were an afterthought and the main attraction was the Von Erichs. Both Von Erich bouts saw the boys win title belts, which – along with the tag belts match – means all defended titles changed hands.
Their victory over rivals The Freebirds was a tremendous moment, with the cherry on the top being the NWA title triumph of Kerry. That final half an hour was what the show was about, not the hour of still-existing footage that prefaced it.
All in all, this show was a fun watch, especially in the 21st century. Today, every match goes over 15 minutes and supercards last upwards of three hours. As such, a card of several different briefer matches on an half and a hour show was a truly joy.
Ironically, what was the lowest point of the Von Erich family was also their highlight, with both major World Class Championship Wrestling documentaries – The Triumph and Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling and Heroes of World Class – call David’s death the beginning of the end of the promotion. As such this show becomes an amazing, disturbing, fascinating viewing experience.
Was it a great show? No. Was it entering to go back and watch? Yes.
SHOW GRADE: C-
Thank you for reading and all the best, ‘til next time.
GRIFFIN KAYE.
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