The Inspiring Life of Kevin Von Erich: A Story of Triumph and Legacy

The Wrestling Career of Kevin Von Erich

A24's latest movie The Iron Claw tells the tragic story of the famous Von Erich wrestling family, and stars Zac Efron as real-life wrestler Kevin Von Erich. The gut-wrenching misfortunes of the Von Erich family are chronicled in detail in The Iron Claw, which received a crucial endorsement from Kevin Von Erich himself, but audiences are left with a glimmer of hope in the ongoing life story of Kevin Von Erich that appears on the screen before the credits roll. Despite the tragedy that surrounded him for most of his younger life, the now-retired wrestler eventually found peace and comfort in his own growing family. Kevin Von Erich had a long and successful wrestling career, much of which is covered in The Iron Claw. His most noteworthy feud was against the legendary WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair when Flair was the NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) World Champ in the late 1980s. As The Iron Claw's ending explained, Kevin's story continued down a far less tragic path outside the wrestling ring. Beginning in 1976, most of Kevin's career took place within his father's promotion, World Class Championship Wrestling. However, his wrestling career didn't end when the promotion folded in 1989. Around that time, Kevin worked with the legendary 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin to improve his wrestling skills. Kevin went on to wrestle a single match in the WWF in 1991, and competed in Mexico and in a number of other American promotions between 1991 and 1995. He formally retired from in-ring competition in 1995. Kevin Von Erich did make other appearances in the wrestling world in the subsequent years, including an appearance on WWE Raw in 2005 alongside a number of WWE Hall of Famers. Kevin represented the entire Von Erich wrestling family when they were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009. He actually made an in-ring comeback in 2017 at the age of 60, wrestling alongside his sons at a special event in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Zac Efron as Kevin Von Erich in The Iron Claw

Kevin Von Erich's family continued to grow. As is outlined at the end of The Iron Claw, Kevin is still married to his wife Pam, who was portrayed by Lily James in the movie. The couple has been married for 43 years, and they lived in Hawaii for many years, running a family investment company together. Kevin and Pam have four children together, and eleven grandchildren. While The Iron Claw showed Kevin and Pam with two sons, that was mostly due to story-telling reasons; in reality, their first two children were their daughters, Kristen and Jillian. Per the Dallas Morning News, Kevin and Pam purchased a ranch back in Kevin's beloved Texas, just outside of San Antonio. As the ending of The Iron Claw noted, all of Kevin Von Erich's extended family lived with him on his ranch in Hawaii, and the entire family apparently followed him and Pam onto the Texas ranch. Despite the deep heartache that the Von Erich family experienced in Texas, Kevin was ready to move back to the area that he loved.

Kevin Von Erich with his sons Marshall and Ross

Kevin Von Erich's sons Marshall and Ross followed in their father's footsteps. The two sons that were shown in The Iron Claw were Marshall and Ross Adkisson, better known by their wrestling names, Marshall and Ross Von Erich. Both wrestlers have been vocal about not believing in the supposed Von Erich curse, and proudly use the Von Erich name. The two brothers have wrestled across the globe since 2012, and have made noteworthy stops at the famous wrestling promotions Total Nonstop Action and Major League Wrestling. In 2019 the two brothers won the MLW World Tag Team Champions, following in their family's footsteps as titleholders. The two are currently signed to the massively popular promotion All Elite Wrestling and its sister promotion, Ring of Honor, and recently made their in-ring debut in December 2023. The two brothers fittingly wrestled in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, which was one of the venues frequented by their legendary father, grandfather and uncles. While the tragedy shown in The Iron Claw that Kevin Von Erich faced during his life is hard to fathom, his life after wrestling has been far happier.

The real Kevin Von Erich