History Film / TheIronClaw

** Fritz's fatal flaw is his [[AmbitionIsEvil ambition and resentment]]. Having failed to become [=NWA=] World's Heavyweight Champion in his own time, he is [[VicariouslyAmbitious absolutely determined that one of his sons will carry that honor in his place, and become the most dominant wrestling dynasty in the world]]. He has many other flaws as both a father and as a man, but his ambition lies at the roots of most of them, and it's his ambitions that ultimately destroy his family and his promotion.

*** Fritz chides Kevin for staying down "too long" after a suplex on the concrete from Wrestling/Harley Race hurts Kevin enough that he barely manages to enter the ring before a ten-count completes. The last second return to the ring at count 9 not only was (and is) a standard bit of wrestling drama, but staying down and "selling" for such a time period was the encouraged, even expected, way to "sell" to the crowd how devastating such a move would be, ''especially'' when your opponent is the Worlds Heavyweight Champion; while part of his job was to make the local competitor look good returning the favor was considered good etiquette, ''especially'' if you were trying for the belt yourself someday as Kevin is.

** Save for Kevin's, the brothers' families are likewise omitted, most notably Kerry's -- while Kevin's sons Ross and Marshall (who are depicted in the film) grew up to become wrestlers, so did Kerry's younger daughter [[Wrestling/TheBeautifulPeople Lacey]], who briefly competed in [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]] in the late 2000s.

** While still looing in poor health in the film, Mike looked far worse in his disastrous press conference in real life, with one eye pointing in a distressingly incorrect direction and his speech practically incoherent.

** The real Kevin and Pam got married in 1980; in the film, it appears that they tie the knot in early 1984, very shortly [[spoiler:before David's death.]]

** Kerry's [[spoiler: suicide is implied to be the result of his career in the WWF winding down, with the promotion only using him on house shows. It's never stated that he left the WWF six months before he killed himself]] In real life, Kerry continued wrestling for months after leaving the WWF, and two of the reasons for [[spoiler: his eventual suicide]] were his failed marriage and a pending drug charge, both of which are omitted from the film entirely.

*** Fritz chides Kevin for staying down "too long" after a suplex on the concrete from Harley Race hurts Kevin enough that he barely manages to enter the ring before a ten-count completes. The last second return to the ring at count 9 not only was (and is) a standard bit of wrestling drama, but staying down and "selling" for such a time period was the encouraged, even expected, way to "sell" to the crowd how devastating such a move would be, ''especially'' when your opponent is the Worlds Heavyweight Champion; while part of his job was to make the local competitor look good returning the favor was considered good etiquette, ''especially'' if you were trying for the belt yourself someday as Kevin is.

* BookEnds: The film begins and ends with a man, his two sons, and his pregnant wife. In the film's beginning, it's Fritz firmly laying out his wrestling ambitions to his wife Doris, who is stressed about their finances and the future, as Kevin and David look on silently. In the end, it's [[spoiler:Kevin -- who has decided to take a step back from wrestling and become a better father and husband -- happily playing with his sons and wife Pam.]]

** Kevin is given a non-title match with Harley Race that he wins via DQ, seemingly setting him up for a title run until it's given to Ric Flair instead. Kevin does have a match with Flair later, which he loses by DQ.
** Kerry is a more traditional sports example, as he's all set to go to the Olympic Games in the discus event until President Carter announces a US boycott of the 1980 games in Moscow over the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. His own wrestling career, while netting him the NWA World Title and the WWF Intercontinental Title (both of which were short reigns in real life), comes to an abrupt end due to his personal issues, [[spoiler: resulting in his suicide.]]