History Wrestling / VonErichFamily

* AnythingThatMoves: Lacey, including referees and crazy midgets!

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Kevin and Lance usually wrestled barefoot. Same for Lacey, outside of TNA. In Kevin's case, this was due to him wrestling his first match barefoot due to some fellow wrestlers hiding his boots prior to the match as a prank, and him sticking with it as a way to stand out from his brothers. Ironically, [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness there is some footage of him wrestling wearing boots]].

* HundredPercentAdorationRating: The Von Erichs in WCCW very much. To the point where the Freebirds went from being the 2nd most popular group to the most hated just by costing Kerry the NWA Championship. The only one to avert this is Lance, and that's only because he wasn't a real Von Erich to begin with.

* DownerEnding: The deaths of David, Mike, Chris, and Kerry.
* DrivenToSuicide: Mike, Chris and Kerry all took their own lives due to various accumulated tragedies and struggles with mental illness.

* DrivenToSuicide: Mike, Chris and Kerry all took their own lives due to various accumulated tragedies.

* ActionMom: Lacey already had a child when she made her in-ring debut.

* TheBigGuy: The 6'7 David was this to the rest of the family.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Kevin and Lance usually wrestled barefoot. Same for Lacey, outside of TNA. In Kevin's case, this was due to him wrestling his first match barefoot due to some fellow wrestlers hiding his boots prior to the match as a prank, and him sticking with it as a way to stand out from his brothers.

* OutlivingOnesOffspring: Fritz with all of his sons except Kevin.

* NormalFishInATinyPond: This is why the Von Erich boys were being pushed to wrestle in territories outside of Texas. This would best be shown with Kerry: In World Class, he was a Main Event star, but in WWF he was at best a Midcarder with a brief reign as Intercontinental Champion.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Kevin usually wrestled barefoot. Same for Lacey, outside of TNA. In Kevin's case, this was due to him wrestling his first match barefoot due to some fellow wrestlers hiding his boots prior to the match as a prank, and him sticking with it as a way to stand out from his brothers.

* NormalFishInTinyAPond: This is why the Von Erich boys were being pushed to wrestle in territories outside of Texas. This would best be shown with Kerry: In World Class, he was a Main Event star, but in WWF he was at best a Midcarder with a brief reign as Intercontinental Champion.

* ManipulativeBastard: Fritz is generally believed to be one of these. There are accounts of him telling Kevin that he didn't have the guts to kill himself; this, mind you, is ''after'' four of his brothers had died, two by their own hand.

** Also applies to Kerry, whose drug abuse and tendency to no-show shows made him unreliable. This was the reason why [[CutShort his NWA Championship reign only lasted 18 days]] and why he lost the title unification match to Jerry Lawler at ''SuperClash III''. Also made rash choices, which would ultimately result in [[AnArmAndALeg losing his foot]].

* DeathSeeker: After Jack's death, Fritz developed a more aggressive wrestling style in the hopes of provoking someone to lash out and kill him.

* HisOwnWorstEnemy: Fritz's FatalFlaw in regards to running WCCW. While there were things that were beyond his control such as David's death and Kerry's accident, but decisions such as Lance Von Erich, exploiting Mike's recovery from toxic shock syndrome, and rehashing the Von Erich/Freebirds feud without Michael Hayes contributed to the eventual downfall of the organization.

* HeelFaceTurn: Fritz was turned face in December 1966. Recently arrived heel manager Gary Hart had proclaimed that Fritz and Waldo were neither real brothers nor even real Germans, even going so far as to mention Fritz's real name on the air. Although the in-story explanation involved Fritz and Waldo's feud with Hart's team the Internationals (Skandor Akbar and Karl Von Brauner), it was more a case of necessity due to RealLifeWritesThePlot. Fritz's wife was concerned about crazed fans, and the sons were having trouble in school because of having to defend their father. (Remember, this was during the time when {{Kayfabe}} was absolutely enforced.)

* TheAce: While Kevin was considered to be the best pure athelete and Kerry had the looks of a star, David was considered to be the best overall wrestler of the brothers. It helps that he has worked in territories outside of Texas which helped him gain experience and become more seasoned.

The Von Erich Family was a legitimate {{Professional|Wrestling}} WrestlingFamily, led by the patriarch Fritz Von Erich (Jack Adkisson, 1929-1997) and consisting of sons Kevin (1957-), David (1958-1984), Kerry (1960-1993), Mike (1964-1987) and Chris (1969-1991). Jack Adkisson debuted as Fritz in 1953 doing a Nazi gimmick. The name stuck even well after the gimmick faded away. Kerry, David, and Kevin debuted in the 1970s, with Mike following in 1983. Fritz set up World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) in Dallas and he and his sons were huge box office draws as {{Face}}s. Unfortunately, things started falling apart following the death of David in 1984 at the age of 25 under unclear circumstances.[[note]]Anything from a drug overdose to acute enteritis to a heart attack has been rumored, though acute enteritis is the official cause.[[/note]] Mike, Chris, and Kerry all ended up commiting suicide; Mike in 1987 at the age of 23 by drug overdose, Chris, who debuted in 1990, in 1991 at the age of 21 by gunshot, and Kerry, who had temporarily broken out and had a run in Wrestling/{{WWE}} in 1990-1992, in 1993 also by gunshot. Kevin retired in 1995, and his sons Ross and Marshall signed with Wrestling/{{MLW}} in 2019, with their contract allowing them to continue to make appearances in their former home of Wrestling/ProWrestlingNOAH. Kerry's daughter Lacey had a run in Wrestling/{{TNA}} as a member of Wrestling/TheBeautifulPeople and also worked for Wrestling/{{Wrestlicious}}. Combined, the different blood relatives have held 144 titles. Among the more significant in-ring achievements, Fritz was a 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/awa/awa-h.html AWA World Heavyweight Champion]]; Kerry was a 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/nwa/world/nwa-h.html NWA World Heavyweight Champion]] and a 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/ic.html WWE Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion]]; Kevin and David were 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/alljapan/asia-t.html All Japan Pro Wrestling All Asia Tag Team Champions]]; Marshall and Ross are the current [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/mlw/mlw-t.html MLW Tag Team Champions]]; and Fritz, Kevin, Kerry, and Mike combined held the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tx/wccw/am-h.html NWA American (World Class) Heavyweight Title]] '''24''' times. The family (i.e., Fritz and his sons) was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009.

** Marshall and Ross were Imperial Wrestling Revolution Tag Team Champions, and have been the MLW Tag Team Champions since November 2019.

** Marshall and Ross were Imperial Wrestling Revolution Tag Team Champions.

The Von Erich Family was a legitimate {{Professional|Wrestling}} WrestlingFamily, led by the patriarch Fritz Von Erich (Jack Adkisson, 1929-1997) and consisting of sons Kevin (1957-), David (1958-1984), Kerry (1960-1993), Mike (1964-1987) and Chris (1969-1991). Jack Adkisson debuted as Fritz in 1953 doing a Nazi gimmick. The name stuck even well after the gimmick faded away. Kerry, David, and Kevin debuted in the 1970s, with Mike following in 1983. Fritz set up World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) in Dallas and he and his sons were huge box office draws as {{Face}}s. Unfortunately, things started falling apart following the death of David in 1984 at the age of 25 under unclear circumstances.[[note]]Anything from a drug overdose to acute enteritis to a heart attack has been rumored, though acute enteritis is the official cause.[[/note]] Mike, Chris, and Kerry all ended up commiting suicide; Mike in 1987 at the age of 23 by drug overdose, Chris, who debuted in 1990, in 1991 at the age of 21 by gunshot, and Kerry, who had temporarily broken out and had a run in Wrestling/{{WWE}} in 1990-1992, in 1993 also by gunshot. Kevin retired in 1995, and his sons Ross and Marshall signed with Wrestling/{{MLW}} in 2019, with their contract allowing them to continue to make appearances in their former home of Wrestling/ProWrestlingNOAH. Kerry's daughter Lacey had a run in Wrestling/{{TNA}} as a member of Wrestling/TheBeautifulPeople and also worked for Wrestling/{{Wrestlicious}}. Combined, the different blood relatives have held 144 titles. Among the more significant in-ring achievements, Fritz was a 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/awa/awa-h.html AWA World Heavyweight Champion]]; Kerry was a 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/nwa/world/nwa-h.html NWA World Heavyweight Champion]] and a 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/ic.html WWE Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion]]; Kevin and David were 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/alljapan/asia-t.html All Japan Pro Wrestling All Asia Tag Team Champions]]; Marshall and Ross are the current [https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/mlw/mlw-t.html MLW Tag Team Champions]; and Fritz, Kevin, Kerry, and Mike combined held the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tx/wccw/am-h.html NWA American (World Class) Heavyweight Title]] '''24''' times. The family (i.e., Fritz and his sons) was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009.

The Von Erich Family was a legitimate {{Professional|Wrestling}} WrestlingFamily, led by the patriarch Fritz Von Erich (Jack Adkisson, 1929-1997) and consisting of sons Kevin (1957-), David (1958-1984), Kerry (1960-1993), Mike (1964-1987) and Chris (1969-1991). Jack Adkisson debuted as Fritz in 1953 doing a Nazi gimmick. The name stuck even well after the gimmick faded away. Kerry, David, and Kevin debuted in the 1970s, with Mike following in 1983. Fritz set up World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) in Dallas and he and his sons were huge box office draws as {{Face}}s. Unfortunately, things started falling apart following the death of David in 1984 at the age of 25 under unclear circumstances.[[note]]Anything from a drug overdose to acute enteritis to a heart attack has been rumored, though acute enteritis is the official cause.[[/note]] Mike, Chris, and Kerry all ended up commiting suicide; Mike in 1987 at the age of 23 by drug overdose, Chris, who debuted in 1990, in 1991 at the age of 21 by gunshot, and Kerry, who had temporarily broken out and had a run in Wrestling/{{WWE}} in 1990-1992, in 1993 also by gunshot. Kevin retired in 1995, and his sons Ross and Marshall signed with Wrestling/{{MLW}} in 2019, with their contract allowing them to continue to make appearances in their former home of Wrestling/ProWrestlingNOAH. Kerry's daughter Lacey had a run in Wrestling/{{TNA}} as a member of Wrestling/TheBeautifulPeople and also worked for Wrestling/{{Wrestlicious}}. Combined, the different blood relatives have held 144 titles. Among the more significant in-ring achievements, Fritz was a 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/awa/awa-h.html AWA World Heavyweight Champion]], Kerry was a 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/nwa/world/nwa-h.html NWA World Heavyweight Champion]] and a 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/ic.html WWE Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion]], Kevin and David were 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/alljapan/asia-t.html All Japan Pro Wrestling All Asia Tag Team Champions]], and Fritz, Kevin, Kerry, and Mike combined held the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tx/wccw/am-h.html NWA American (World Class) Heavyweight Title]] '''24''' times. The family was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009.

* [[StageMom Stage Dad]]: Fritz to his sons

The Von Erich Family was a legitimate {{Professional|Wrestling}} WrestlingFamily, led by the patriarch Fritz Von Erich (Jack Adkisson, 1929-1997) and consisting of sons Kevin (1957-), David (1958-1984), Kerry (1960-1993), Mike (1964-1987) and Chris (1969-1991). Jack Adkisson debuted as Fritz in 1953 doing a Nazi gimmick. The name stuck even well after the gimmick faded away. Kerry, David, and Kevin debuted in the 1970s, with Mike following in 1983. Fritz set up World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) in Dallas and he and his sons were huge box office draws as {{Face}}s. Unfortunately, things started falling apart following the death of David in 1984 at the age of 25 under unclear circumstances[[note]]Anything from a drug overdose to acute enteritis to a heart attack has been rumored, though acute enteritis is the official cause.[[/note]]. Mike, Chris, and Kerry all ended up commiting suicide; Mike in 1987 at the age of 23 by drug overdose, Chris, who debuted in 1990, in 1991 at the age of 21 by gunshot, and Kerry, who had temporarily broken out and had a run in Wrestling/{{WWE}} in 1990-1992, in 1993 also by gunshot. Kevin retired in 1995, and his sons Ross and Marshall signed with Wrestling/{{MLW}} in 2019, with their contract allowing them to continue to make appearances in their former home of Wrestling/ProWrestlingNOAH. Kerry's daughter Lacey had a run in Wrestling/{{TNA}} as a member of Wrestling/TheBeautifulPeople and also worked for Wrestling/{{Wrestlicious}}. Combined, the different blood relatives have held 144 titles. Among the more significant in-ring achievements, Fritz was a 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/awa/awa-h.html AWA World Heavyweight Champion]], Kerry was a 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/nwa/world/nwa-h.html NWA World Heavyweight Champion]] and a 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/ic.html WWE Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion]], Kevin and David were 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/alljapan/asia-t.html All Japan Pro Wrestling All Asia Tag Team Champions]], and Fritz, Kevin, Kerry, and Mike combined held the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tx/wccw/am-h.html NWA American (World Class) Heavyweight Title]] '''24''' times. The family was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009.

Besides the actually blood-related Adkisson family, the Von Erichs had fictional relatives. Waldo Von Erich (real name Walter Sieber) was billed as the brother of Fritz Von Erich and they teamed up, and Lance Von Erich (real name William Kevin Vaughan) was billed for a brief period of time in the 1980s as the son of Waldo, but there was no biological relation neither between the two nor the Adkisson family. The stunt mostly failed due to audiences recognizing him from his previous run as Ricky Vaughn and, after leaving WCCW following a pay dispute with Fritz, his non-relationship to the family was exposed by Fritz on television in retaliation.