The Von Erich family is an American professional wrestling family based primarily from Texas with the actual surname Adkisson and pro wrestling surname "Von Erich". This legendary wrestling family consists of three generational professional wrestlers of the Adkisson family.
Family Members
Fritz Von Erich (1929 - 1992)
Fritz Von Erich (Jack Barton Adkisson) is the first professional wrestler of the family, who is basically the patriarch of the Von Erich family. He is a top wrestler of National World Alliance (NWA) especially in the World Class Championship wrestling territory. He started his professional wrestling training in 1952 and made his debut the next year and wrestled for almost 30 years and started wrestling promotion. He also served as NWA President in 1970's and WCCW in Dallas, Texas. He has six childrens, where five of them were professional wrestlers.
Second Generation
Jack Adkisson Jr. (1952 - 1959)
Jack Adkisson Jr. is the first son of Jack Adkisson Sr. (Fritz Von Erich) was born on September 21, 1952 and died at the age of six by accidentally stepping on a trailer tongue which was electrically shocked and was thrown into the snow puddle of Niagara river and drowned.
Kevin Von Erich (1957 - present)
Kevin Ross Adkisson is the second oldest son of Fritz Von Erich who is professionally known as Kevin Von Erich or "The Golden Warrior" Kevin Von Erich. He is known for his time in 1980's and 1990's where he primarily wrestled for NWA-WCW/WCCWA. He is a six time NWA North American Heavyweight Champion and one time WCWA World Heavyweight Champion. He is famous for his wrestling moves which still exist such as Body Scissors and Iron Claw and is also known for wrestling barefoot. He sold the WCCW's taped footage to WWE in 2006 and was inducted into WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2009 representing Von Erich's family.
David Von Erich (1958 - 1984)
David Alan Adkisson, professionally known as "The Yellow Rose of Texas" David Von Erich is the third son of Fritz Von Erich. He is known for his time during the late 1970s and early 1980s where he primarily wrestled in WCCW. He had a great rivalry with Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship but never won that. He had a very short reign and died in 1984 while touring Japan's All Japan Pro Wrestling as a result of drug overdose.
Kerry Von Erich (1960 - 1993)
Kerry Von Erich was the fourth son of Fritz Von Erich and is the most popular Von Erichs. He is also called "The Modern Day Warrior" and "The Texas Tornado". Kerry wrestled most of his days in WCCW. He also wrestled for WWF and GWF. Kerry gained his popularity when he defeated Ric Flair to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Kerry died at the age of 44 after shooting a 44" caliber through his chest on his father's ranch.
Mike Von Erich (1964 - 1987)
Mike Von Erich is the fifth son of Fritz Von Erich and is best known as "Inspirational Warrior". Mike Von Erich replaced his brother David Von Erich in his feud with The Fabulous Freebirds. He wrestled during the mid 80's for just four years at WCCW and NJPW and died by killing himself drinking alcohol and drowning in Lewisville Lake.
Chris Von Erich (1969 - 1999)
Barton Adkisson was the youngest son of Fritz Von Erich, professionally known as Chris Von Erich. He is one of the shortest wrestlers, who suffered medical illness and numerous injuries, which hindered his desire to be one of the successful wrestlers. After having a long pursuit of becoming a successful wrestler and constant failure, Chris got depressed a frustrated, following his brother Mike's passing, he shot himself and dead at the age of 21
Third Generation
Ross Von Erich (1988 - Present)
David Michael Ross Adkisson, better known as Ross Von Erich is the son of Kevin Von Erich. Ross made his professional wrestling debut with his brother Marshall in 2012 at Pro Wrestling Noah and made his first television appearance in 2014 at Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He and Marshall got signed to a multi-year contract with MLW and were the former MLW World Tag Team Championship. They were also a part of Ric Flair's last match PPV.
Marshall Von Erich (1992 - Present)
Kevin Marshall Adkisson better known as Marshall Von Erich. He is the second son of Kevin Von Erich. He made his professional wrestling debut with his brother Ross Von Erich in 2012 at Pro Wrestling Noah. He follows his father's footpath of wrestling barefoot. He and his brother have currently been working as a tag team in Major League Wrestling since 2019.
Lacey Von Erich (1992 - Present)
Lacey Dawn Adkisson is the daughter of Kerry Von Erich, better known as Lacey Von Erich. She previously worked for WWE and TNA, till 2010 and retired from pro-wrestling. She was also the former TNA Knockouts Champion.
Fictional relatives
Waldo Von Erich
Walter Seiber is the Canadian Professional Wrestler who wrestled under the name Waldo Von Erich, who billed himself as the brother of Fritz Von Erich although he is not related to the Adkisson Family.
Lance Von Erich
William Kevin "Ricky" Vaugh is a Dallas born pro-wrestler who wrestled under the ring name Lance Von Erich for a brief period of time, claiming himself as the son of Waldo Von Erich, but was not related in any way to the Adkisson Family.
Rip Von Erich
At MLW Fusion, Tom Lawler, who had a feud with the Von Erichs, turned his back on them and named himself Rip Von Erich.
Mark Von Erich
Rick LeRibeus, a Texas Born Wrestler at Global Wrestling Federation claimed himself as the illegitimate son of Fritz Von Erich and named himself Mark Von Erich. Which became a part of the storyline in 1990's.
FAQs
A. Fritz Von Erich died on September 10, 1997 at the age of 68 from Brain and Lung Cancer.
A. Kerry Von Erich is the first NWA World Heavyweight Champion of the Von Erich family.
A. Yes, Kerry Von Erich was a former Intercontinental Champion in WWE.
A. Marshall and Ross Von Erich are currently signed with Major League Wrestling since 2019.
A. Von Erich's owned the WCCW from 1966 and the promotion was closed in 1990.