0:00

Do you watch wrestling? Some of you

0:02

might. Today, the WWE World Wrestling

0:04

Entertainment, formerly the WWF World Wrestling

0:06

Federation, broadcast to more than 180

0:09

countries and has approximately

0:11

11 million fans in just the United

0:13

States. They employ around 800 people,

0:15

took 1.3 billion in revenue in 2022. And

0:20

while more financially successful now, they

0:22

were even more popular three or four decades ago.

0:25

In a day of the 1980s and

0:27

early 90s, the golden era of wrestling Wrestling

0:30

wasn't only something to watch. It was a

0:32

way of life for tens of millions of

0:34

die-hard fans. In 1988, Andre

0:37

the Giant versus Hulk Hogan drew 33

0:39

million viewers. Still

0:42

the most watched wrestling match in history, at least

0:45

when you're talking about viewers watching it live. Hogan's

0:48

popularity cannot be understated.

0:50

Hulkamania was very, very

0:53

real. I was a member. Hulkamania is coming

0:55

for you, brother. You'll be trying

0:57

to drink your own sweat to survive, brother. No

1:00

one has ever had more brothers than Hulk Hogan.

1:03

The Hulkster was six, seven, 300 pounds

1:06

of pure muscle-bound brother-spouting

1:08

entertainment. I loved it.

1:11

His popularity was in large part due to

1:13

a perfect lightning in a bottle situation with

1:15

World Wrestling Federation CEO Vince McMahon Jr.

1:18

Catching the cable TV wrestling wave just

1:20

in time and having the capital and

1:22

confidence to invest in the company's future.

1:25

The modern-day interpretation is that Vince McMahon

1:27

took pro-wrestling from a series of small

1:29

regional promotions spread out across the United

1:32

States to a unified national promotion

1:34

featuring modern production and some rock and

1:36

roll energy. But in reality,

1:38

many of the innovations credited to the

1:41

WWF had already happened in Dallas, Texas

1:44

in world-class Championship Wrestling, WCCW,

1:48

years before the first WrestleMania. And

1:50

the man in charge of that promotion was one of

1:52

the most famous names in wrestling at that time, Fritz

1:55

Von Eric. Born Jack

1:57

Adkisson, he played football at Southern Methodist University

1:59

as a young man, but when he was

2:02

kicked off his football team for having the

2:04

audacity to marry a sweetheart Doris, after

2:07

some soul searching, he decided to

2:09

pivot to a different sport, professional wrestling.

2:12

He'd christened himself Fritz von

2:14

Erich, a Nazi heel, an

2:17

over-the-top wrestling villain caricature. The

2:19

baddest of the bad, he was often

2:21

billed in newspapers as a stormtrooper from

2:24

Stuttgart who subdued his terrified

2:26

rivals with his trademark finishing move, the

2:29

iron claw. Spreading and

2:31

clenching his fingers over his opponent's face,

2:33

von Erich would apply pressure until the

2:35

blood flowed. He was smashing

2:38

their faces, brother, with the demonic unnatural

2:40

power of Hitler's evil, flowing through his

2:43

cold, anti-American veins, brother. Or

2:46

maybe those guys might have cut their own

2:48

faces with a little wrestling trick. Or

2:50

Fritz nicked their faces with

2:53

some other kind of entertainment trickery, whatever the case,

2:55

it looked like he was squeezing blood out

2:57

of his opponent's faces with impossible strength.

3:00

Pretty bad ass decision to move. Fritz

3:03

would soon not only wrestle, but get

3:05

into where the real money in pro

3:07

wrestling was, promotion. He learned how

3:09

to book wrestlers and market matches in the Dallas-Fort

3:11

Worth area starting in 1966.

3:14

In 1982 his promotion, then known as big

3:17

time wrestling, changed his name

3:19

to world class championship wrestling in

3:21

concert with the beginning of a new television

3:23

show on channel 39 in Dallas. Long

3:26

before Vince McMahon, Fritz was drawing

3:28

thousands and thousands of viewers, making

3:30

national TV syndication deals, packing stadiums,

3:32

and making millions. But

3:35

his pursuit of making more and more body

3:37

slam shekels came at a price, a terrible

3:39

price. No other family

3:41

in professional wrestling has ever endured more

3:43

tragedy than von Erich's. Even

3:46

with the death of Fritz's 6 year

3:48

old son Jack Jr., the von Erich

3:50

legacy would become one painted by blood,

3:52

drugs, medical complications, and a hefty dose

3:54

of familial pressure that would lead to

3:56

the premature deaths of 5 of Fritz's

3:59

6 years old. sons, many

4:01

of them by their own hand. By

4:03

the end of the 1990s, the Von Erich

4:05

legacy was one of death and illness, isolation

4:07

and injury. And now the

4:09

pro-resting world started referring to the curse

4:11

of the Von Erichs. Were

4:13

the Von Erichs truly cursed? Is

4:16

that the only thing that explains the bizarre magnitude

4:18

of their tragedies? Let's find

4:20

out on this week's Sunday,

4:22

Sunday, Sunday, the Von Erichs

4:24

take on the world! Superstars

4:27

of Wrestling Edition of

4:29

TimeSuck. This is Michael McDonald and you're

4:31

listening to TimeSuck. Happy

4:45

Monday meat sacks. Welcome to another installment of

4:48

the Cult of the Curious. I'm

4:50

Dan Cummins, suck master general, man

4:52

who wants to pour ants into baby killer's eye sockets.

4:55

Dude who wishes he was half as tough as

4:57

the KFC's Colonel Sanders. And you

5:00

are listening to TimeSuck. Hail Nimrod, hail Lucifina, praise

5:02

be to good boy Bojangles and glory be to

5:04

triple M. Excuse my voice if

5:06

he gets a little scratchy today. Apparently, Coeur

5:09

d'Alene is just ground zero right now for

5:11

just every virus that's going around on the

5:13

planet. Everybody I know is

5:16

sick. Had one thing

5:18

a couple weeks ago and then got better for

5:20

one day and then immediately got another thing. I've

5:23

been sleeping. I've been sleeping more than I've probably slept in

5:25

years. But still got a little scratchy voice.

5:28

One of the last reminders that I'll be

5:30

at the Blue Note in Honolulu Saturday, January

5:32

27th. That'll be my last stand up show for

5:34

quite a while I think. Probably the only date

5:36

for 2024. Stick around for today's updates

5:39

at the end of this show for some incel

5:41

related hilarity coming from a post in the Cult

5:44

of the Curious. Three out of five stars private

5:46

Facebook group. A lot of clever

5:48

meat sacks over there. And now

5:50

let's get started. When I saw the

5:52

poster for the new movie about the Von

5:54

Erich family, The Iron Claw, I grabbed my phone, started

5:57

Googling in the theater. Right

5:59

away knew I wanted to research this. Still

6:01

haven't seen the movie. We're waiting to watch it.

6:03

My son Kyler, who wants to see it in the theater

6:05

over Christmas break. That's what I'm

6:07

recording this. Based on how much real drama it

6:10

is based on, I'm gonna guess it's a

6:12

fucking awesome film. So

6:18

what do you know about curses? This might seem

6:20

like a topic more suited for scared to death. Bear

6:23

with me. It's relevant. Are

6:25

they even real? For about

6:27

the entirety of recorded human civilization, and I imagine

6:30

for centuries previous to the written word, many

6:32

many of us meat sacks have believed in

6:34

the magical power of curses. Spells

6:37

placed on an object, person, place, family,

6:39

etc. that lead to inevitable tragedy

6:41

and misfortune often including death. According

6:44

to supernatural legend, many famous objects are claimed

6:46

to be cursed. Things like King

6:48

Tut's tomb and the Hope Diamond. Even

6:50

pieces of writing like the Shakespeare play

6:53

Macbeth have been considered cursed.

6:56

In American popular culture, most curses and efforts

6:58

to try and break them seem to reside

7:00

in one very specific arena, no

7:03

pun intended, the world of sports. Throughout

7:06

American sports history, fans, players, owners alike

7:08

have indulged in very odd rituals intended

7:10

to bring about victory. From playoff

7:12

beards to wilder trends,

7:15

professional baseball manager George Stalling

7:17

was famous for freezing in place whenever

7:20

his team started a rally. He remained frozen

7:22

until the rally was over, no matter how long

7:24

that took, which would be

7:26

pre-entertaining to watch. I would be extra motivated as a

7:28

player to try and keep the rally going just to

7:30

see how long he could stay frozen. Ideally,

7:34

until he pissed herself. How committed

7:36

are you, George? Michael

7:39

Jordan always wore his North Carolina shorts under

7:41

his Bulls trunks. Wade Boggs would eat chicken

7:43

on game days. Can

7:45

any of that actually affect the game? Sure.

7:49

Believing in a placebo, you know, kind of way. I mean

7:52

sometimes really believing or placebo effect,

7:54

placebo effect rather, sometimes really believing

7:56

that something works actually does make

7:58

it work. could argue

8:00

that it's this belief, not the

8:02

ritual, or the object, or whatever, that

8:04

helps create the desired outcome. If

8:06

it's all psychological, maybe the act of

8:08

doing something specific, a ritual, just gives

8:11

superstitious people comfort, helps them believe that

8:13

victory is assured, which then boosts their

8:15

confidence, which then does actually help pave

8:17

the way to success. Maybe

8:19

it's that easily explainable. But

8:21

some epic runs of bad luck in sports seem

8:24

to be less explainable. They feel

8:26

almost supernatural, like strange and dark forces

8:29

are at work. There's

8:31

always the argument, of course, for coincidence, but

8:33

sometimes even the most skeptical person is given pause

8:36

over how certain curses defy the

8:38

odds. One of the most

8:41

famous sports curses is the supposed Billy Goat

8:43

curse placed on the Chicago Cubs.

8:46

In 1945, a tavern owner known

8:48

as William Billy Goat Sianis was

8:51

reportedly prevented from bringing his pet

8:53

goat Murphy into Chicago's Wrigley

8:55

Field to see the Cubs play the Detroit Tigers

8:57

in the World Series. And

8:59

supposedly Sianis put a curse on the Cubs,

9:01

saying that they would not win that or

9:03

any other World Series ever again. Before

9:06

this, the Cubs had only won the World Series twice before, in

9:08

1907 and 1908. When

9:10

they lost the World Series in 1945, the

9:13

curse gained credence. And

9:15

then in 2016, when the Cubs finally won the World

9:17

Series for the first time in over a century, the

9:20

media promoted the idea that the curse had

9:23

finally been broken. So the Cubs

9:25

did win another World Series again after Sianis's

9:27

curse, but it took them over seven decades

9:29

to do so. The

9:31

Billy Goat curse, similar to the curse of the Bambino, which

9:34

supposedly began when the Boston Red Sox traded Babe Ruth

9:36

in 1919, and then

9:38

ended 85 years later when the

9:40

team won the World Series in 2004. There's

9:43

also a rapper Lil B's curse on Kevin

9:45

Durant, which Lil B issued in a 2011 tweet

9:49

and then lifted in 2017 in another tweet when

9:52

the Golden State Warriors won the NBA finals that

9:54

year with Durant earning

9:56

MVP, many sports media members jokingly, or maybe

9:59

not entirely jokingly, jokingly, proclaimed

10:01

that Lil B had helped by

10:03

lifting his curse. And there

10:05

are even weirder curses, like the Madden curse. The

10:08

running joke is that every year NFL stars send

10:10

letters to EA games begging them not

10:12

to have their likeness used on the cover

10:14

of the annual Madden football video game. The

10:17

very first cover guy in 1999 was running

10:19

back Garrison Hearst. He broke his leg,

10:21

following being placed on the cover, then went

10:23

on to miss two full seasons, and

10:26

missed out on a decent chance at making the Hall of Fame when

10:28

he was never the same when he came back. Following

10:31

running back Barry Sanders on the cover in 2000,

10:34

best pure running back ever to play the game in my opinion.

10:36

My God, that guy was a

10:38

fucking beast. He retired during training

10:40

camp despite still being at the peak of his

10:42

athletic powers. Following

10:45

his cover feature in 2002, quarterback Dante

10:47

Culpepper threw a career-high 23 interceptions and

10:50

also fumbled an additional 23 times,

10:52

which was an NFL record as well. He

10:55

had played in the Pro Bowl two years prior. Now

10:58

he was turning the ball over like no one had ever

11:00

done in pro football before. Running

11:02

back Marshall Fock, that guy was also incredible,

11:05

saw his career start to decline right after being the 2004 cover.

11:09

After making the 2006 cover, quarterback Donovan

11:11

McNabb tore his ACL. 2007

11:14

cover running back, Shawn Alexander injured his foot, would

11:16

never be the same, be out of the league

11:18

two seasons later, and on and on and on.

11:21

And then there are these sports curses that involve

11:23

not just losing or injuries, but

11:26

death. A lot of race car drivers,

11:29

for instance, believe there might be

11:31

something cursed about Talladega. Legend

11:33

says that Talladega Super Speedway was built atop sacred

11:36

land taken from the Creek Nation in the 1830s

11:38

and that a medicine man looked back and cursed the

11:41

land for all time. That's his

11:43

people were being forced marched from Alabama to Oklahoma. Bobby

11:46

Isaac would leave his car on the track

11:48

in 1973 because he claimed he started hearing

11:50

some spooky-ass voices shortly after

11:52

a young driver had died several laps

11:54

earlier. In 1974, multiple

11:57

cars were found with slashed tires and sand in

11:59

their gas tanks. and a crewman lost his leg in

12:01

a freak crash. Bobby Allison

12:03

badly wrecked in 1987, and

12:05

then his son died in a helicopter crash on

12:07

the racetracks field years later. Obviously,

12:11

all of that can be chalked up to coincidence. Also,

12:13

these little bits of trivia ignore the overwhelming

12:16

number of other people, people who raced at

12:18

Talladega, for example, who didn't have shit happen

12:20

to them. When you look at

12:22

how infrequent bad things actually do happen there,

12:24

the curse gets harder to believe in. But

12:28

maybe harder to write off the curse of the von Earecks. Perhaps

12:31

the most tragic sports curse of them all. I

12:33

certainly don't know of a worse one. According

12:36

to some, it started when Jack Addison, a

12:38

young man from the zero-stoplight town

12:40

of Jewett, Texas, adopted a

12:42

new name for his wrestling identity, Fritz

12:45

von Eareck. He did it so

12:47

that he could wrestle as a heel, or a bad guy. In

12:50

this case, a Nazi, who were especially

12:52

hated by audiences in 1950s America, as

12:55

one would hope. Pretty fucking weird

12:57

and sad if Nazis were fan favorites. That'd be a

12:59

little bit of a slap in the face to the

13:01

soldiers who had just died the decade previous, fighting them.

13:04

Also pretty insulting to the millions of people who

13:07

had just lost family members to Nazi aggression. But

13:10

Fritz was not glorifying the Nazis, wrestling

13:12

more theater than sports, and it was

13:14

basically like he was an actor playing

13:16

a Nazi in a theatrical presentation. While

13:19

Fritz would lie about where he was from, saying

13:21

he was born in Berlin, his new name didn't

13:24

actually fall too far from home. Von

13:26

Eareck was his grandma's maiden name. Some

13:29

say the tragedy had previously followed that side of his

13:31

family, and now when Fritz took on the name, it

13:34

started to follow his family. Or

13:36

perhaps the curse had nothing to do with Fritz's grandma. A

13:39

story retold in sports journalist David

13:41

Shoemaker's book, The Squared Circle,

13:44

Life, Death, and Professional Wrestling, claims

13:47

that a man appeared at Von Eareck's dressing room after

13:49

a match of his in Chicago. Going

13:51

off on him for wearing Nazi symbols and

13:54

using Nazi gestures, he found that all extremely

13:56

offensive for good reason, the

13:58

man rolled up his sleeve to reveal a tattoo

14:00

inked by actual Nazis during

14:03

World War II at a concentration camp where he'd

14:07

been held, and he said he'd lost

14:09

all seven of his sons in Nazi

14:11

death camps. When Fritz

14:13

didn't agree to leave his Nazi act behind, the man

14:16

said ominously that he sincerely hoped

14:19

that nothing like that would ever happen to

14:21

Fritz, Shoemaker wrote. And

14:24

then of course, Fritz would lose almost all

14:26

of his sons. Not quite

14:28

all of them, but real fucking close. Whatever

14:31

the true origin of the curse, it certainly looks

14:33

like the von Eriks were cursed. The

14:35

poor family have suffered an almost unimaginable amount of

14:38

tragedy for one group of parents and their kids.

14:41

The first incident occurred when the couple's first child,

14:43

Jack Jr., died in a very freak accident when

14:45

he was just six, but

14:47

the legend wouldn't really start to take off until Fritz's

14:49

other sons, all of them wrestlers, like their dad, began

14:51

to die one after another after another, most by the

14:53

age of 25. Did

14:56

a true curse take them down an incredible

14:58

run of bad luck? What? I'm

15:00

gonna lay it all out, and you can

15:02

come to your own conclusions as I come to mind.

15:05

Before we get into all of that in the timeline,

15:07

I'd like to first walk you through a brief overview

15:09

of the history of professional wrestling so we

15:11

know what we're talking about, and because it's fun to

15:13

learn some shit. I'll walk

15:15

you through the history of wrestling, starting with

15:18

the sports origins as a bunch of sweaty,

15:20

greased up, naked pairs of man-meat, pushing

15:23

and shoving and slamming and thrusting.

15:26

To a more refined sport that was practiced in

15:28

medieval courts and taught by wrestling masters of their

15:30

day, to a sort of sideshow act that

15:32

ended up looking a lot more like an elaborate play than

15:35

an actual sport. Compete with

15:37

characters with origin stories, motivations and

15:39

feuds. A big soap opera

15:41

on steroids. Quite literally,

15:43

on steroids. Then

15:45

in today's timeline, we'll see how Fritz Von

15:47

Erich rose from a young football player named

15:49

Jack Atkinson to a famous wrestler and an

15:51

important wrestling promoter, a very wealthy one in

15:53

Dallas, Texas, where he eventually would

15:56

establish the powerful Von Erich wrestling dynasty

15:59

and then see it take a fast and

16:01

tragic fall. Let's begin. It should

16:04

come as no surprise that wrestling is a very old

16:06

sport, almost as old as human

16:09

civilization itself, in some form

16:11

it's probably older. After all, in

16:13

the days before modern technology and outfits, it is

16:15

a sport along with racing on

16:17

foot that has basically no

16:19

overhead. All you need are at

16:21

least two people willing to struggle around in the dirt

16:24

and you got yourself a wrestling match. My

16:27

buddies and I got into wrestling each other when I was in college and

16:29

we would body slam the shit out of each other. One

16:31

minute you might be at a party, everyone's standing

16:33

around, chatting around the keg and

16:36

the next you might be getting knocked into by two

16:38

idiots thrashing around on the ground in some primitive show

16:40

of strength. I loved it. We

16:43

only actually retired after I DDT'd a buddy and we all

16:45

thought for a second that he broke his neck. Since

16:48

we were friends with a grad student who became

16:50

a quadriplegic when he got body slammed at a

16:52

party as an undergrad and did break

16:55

his neck, we felt like

16:57

we should probably leave the body slamming and

16:59

fucking pile drivers and DDTs to the pros.

17:02

I think it was the right call.

17:04

Wrestling most likely originated out of true

17:06

hand-to-hand combat, substituting the submission of a

17:09

contestant for his death. It's

17:11

harder to convince somebody to participate in a fun

17:13

sport if the loser dies. Real

17:16

death matches, gladiatorial battles where people were forced

17:18

to fight to the death and sometimes did

17:21

wrestle also occurred. Works

17:23

of art from as far back as around 3000 BCE

17:25

depict ancient wrestling matches in

17:27

Babylonia and Egypt. The

17:30

Sumerian Gilgamesh epic has a description of

17:32

some wrestling. Organized wrestling

17:34

as a sport in India dates back

17:36

to before 1500 BCE. Chinese

17:38

documents from 700 BCE describe wrestling

17:42

and do Japanese records from the first

17:44

century BCE. And there are all

17:46

kinds of records of wrestling coming in from the ancient Greeks.

17:49

The Greeks were big, big

17:51

on wrestling. Those hot, hard

17:53

Greek father daddies loved to

17:55

slather themselves in some olive oil, rather

17:58

naked bodies against one another. They

18:00

really did. Young men belonged

18:02

to plastras, or excuse me, plastras.

18:05

Plastras. Formal wrestling schools

18:07

that were the focal point of their social lives. Illustrations

18:10

of wrestling on Greek vases

18:12

and coins, vases, are

18:15

common throughout all periods of ancient Greece. And

18:17

those guys interestingly did

18:19

wrestle buck naked. And they would

18:21

rub olive oil on their muscles. I

18:24

feel like all of that could have been a bit problematic.

18:28

I don't mind some wrestling, but I would

18:30

rather not. I would prefer not to

18:32

have someone's ball sack swing around in front of

18:34

my face during the match. I don't want to get

18:36

teabagged as they're wrestling. And wrestling

18:38

a guy with a boner, a boner lubed up with some

18:40

oil perhaps. That would

18:42

certainly change the tone of the match. It

18:45

could open the door to quite

18:47

the intrusive finishing move.

18:49

Wrestling nude wrestling was a spectator sport for the

18:51

Greeks and part of their Olympic games going back to at

18:53

least 776 BCE. There

18:56

were two wrestling championships in these games. A

18:59

toppling event for the best two or three of three

19:01

falls. And

19:06

the Pang Cratian, which combined wrestling and

19:08

boxing and ended in the total submission

19:10

of one contestant when they were

19:12

just too exhausted to continue to fight. Early

19:15

origins of modern MMA. Upright

19:18

wrestling was also part of the Pentathlon event in

19:20

the Olympic games about being fought until the clear

19:22

cut fall of one of the wrestlers. The

19:25

most famous ancient Greek wrestler

19:27

was Milan of Croton, who

19:30

won the wrestling championships of the Olympic games six

19:32

times. Right,

19:34

legend. OG Hulk Hogan. Milanomania.

19:37

No one escapes the clutches of

19:39

the Greek freak. Brother, there's

19:42

not enough olive oil in all of

19:44

Greece to lube your way out of

19:46

getting pinned this Friday night in Athens.

19:48

The power of Milanomania will not be

19:50

denied, brother. Wrestling

19:52

would be far less popular among the Romans than

19:54

it had been with the Greeks. And with

19:56

the fall of the Roman Empire, references to wrestling disappeared in

19:58

Europe until about eight years ago. Meanwhile,

20:01

in the Middle East, when the

20:03

Islamic rulers of Persia began hiring

20:06

Turkic mercenaries around 800 CE, the

20:08

soldiers brought with them a style of wrestling

20:11

called karesh, in which grips may be taken

20:13

on their long, tight leather pants worn

20:15

by the wrestlers, and the bout would end when the loser is thrown

20:18

down on his back. A variation on

20:20

this style continues today. For many years, wrestlers

20:22

would use towels to wrap up

20:24

opponents and manhandle them. Pants and

20:26

legs would not be able to be grabbed. Gradually,

20:29

the Turks wrestling ways took over the

20:31

entire Muslim dominion, and their

20:33

wrestling style spread. Later, Mongolian

20:36

invaders in the 13th century

20:38

introduced Mongolian wrestling, which

20:40

received royal patronage, and wrestling became the national

20:42

sport of modern Iran. And

20:44

we can't forget about a former wrestling that most of us are

20:47

familiar with, at least by name, Sumo

20:49

Wrestling. Sumo, a

20:51

Japanese belt wrestling style, was a

20:53

popular spectator sport under imperial patronage,

20:56

starting in about 710 CE, lasting

20:58

until 1185 CE. Originally

21:01

a submission spectacle, Sumo became highly

21:03

ritualized as a toppling

21:06

match, with victory coming from

21:08

forcing an opponent outside of this 12-foot

21:10

circle. Kept

21:12

going after the 12th century, by the 17th

21:14

century, Sumo Wrestling had become a professional sport

21:16

in Japan. Meanwhile, back in

21:19

Europe, wrestling occurred in several

21:21

styles, throughout the continent and the Middle

21:23

Ages. The first recorded English match was

21:25

held in London early in the 13th century.

21:28

In England and Brittany, a form of jacket

21:30

wrestling, commonly called Cornwall and Devon, survived

21:33

from at least the 4th or 5th century. Wrestling

21:36

as a martial skill was taught to the Knights

21:38

of the Holy Roman Empire, and wrestling instruction books

21:40

appeared in manuscripts back before the introduction of printing,

21:44

and thereafter in print. They knew the sport

21:46

at that time as grappling. One

21:48

writer of such books was a man named Ott Yud,

21:51

a Jewish-German 15th century wrestling master,

21:54

and he is credited in multiple

21:56

medieval combat treatises, With

21:58

a series of wrestling techniques including the

22:00

joint breaks, arm, lox, and throws. Bad.

22:03

Ass. As. A modern era

22:05

began. the English kings Henry the eighth and Charles

22:07

a second and the French king Francis the first.

22:10

Were. Some notable patrons of wrestling. Wrestling.

22:13

The popular didn't fail for a few centuries. But.

22:16

From the eighteenth century on a procession of

22:18

wrestlers or strong men would appear before crowd

22:20

of spectators. Affairs in theaters and and circuses.

22:23

Typically. Challenging all commerce does he

22:25

get his join the show? You. Get

22:28

they are rather yourself or notable figures

22:30

In this era began with Englishman Thomas

22:32

Problem of London in the Eighteenth century.

22:35

And culminate with Eugene send out. A

22:38

German born international figure whose popularity continued into

22:40

the beginning of the twentieth century. And.

22:43

The Us. during the nineteenth century, rusty became

22:45

popular as a frontier sport. Abraham.

22:48

Lincoln. Was. A noted local wrestlers.

22:51

Who. Sets his grace who reportedly a

22:53

mass three hundred victories. Bouts.

22:55

Would usually last and to one contestant

22:57

would verbally submit. According.

22:59

To legend Honest Abe only lost one

23:01

match. In dozen years. Hank

23:04

Thompson during the Blackout War between Thirty

23:06

Two, where Lincoln was serving with the

23:08

Illinois Volunteers, bested him. And.

23:10

Linking the said to be gracious and that defeat. Is.

23:13

The first time you heard about Abraham Lincoln.

23:16

Bad. Ass wrestler. If

23:18

if I knew what I forgot, I don't feel

23:20

like I knew that he for this week. That

23:23

is absurd to me. Sunday.

23:25

Sunday Sunday or sad or was to

23:28

me see we have a mess up

23:30

a sensory of less and so honest

23:32

Abe disenchanted several cases often a steel

23:35

cage match against John Wilkes Assassin both

23:37

to manage are only one leaves. The

23:39

Kentucky Get has a manageable height and

23:42

weight what boost or the play by

23:44

the rules and you'll have a loaded

23:46

gun second are selling passed away out

23:49

and miss out on as once in

23:51

a lifetime of ants. Bar

23:54

Nineteen Eighty Two. Lincoln was officially

23:57

recognized by the National Resin Hall of Fame. Outstanding

24:00

American sport. Or the

24:02

rest of says city of Lincoln, Nebraska, University.

24:05

Of Nebraska Cornhuskers, Corn Huskers have produced over

24:07

a hundred and thirty one are All American

24:09

writers or at least on Buddy One As

24:11

as last tell on the site, Over.

24:14

The last one hundred years. In

24:16

a second album nineteenth century to resting

24:18

styles develop that ultimately would come to

24:21

dominate international recent. Greco. Roman.

24:24

And catch as ten or

24:26

freestyle wrestling. A

24:28

Greco Roman wrestling popularize first in France.his name

24:30

for been based on the resin ways of

24:32

the ancient Greeks. And lead of the

24:34

Romans. But. Does it

24:36

have now? those those hot hard

24:39

father daddy's kids dealings wrapped up.

24:42

Greco. Roman wrestling for forbids holds made

24:44

below the waist. Which. Results in

24:47

an emphasis on throats. says. Less as

24:49

can't use trips to bring about us to

24:51

the ground or or hook and or grab

24:53

upon legs to avoid being thrown. I'll

24:56

recommend our watches Greco Roman highlight videos

24:58

on youtube. It. Appears you

25:00

have to possess or a real bendy. next.

25:03

To survive these matches. And.

25:05

Is fucking Crazy! I can't believe how somebody says

25:07

pop right back up after being slammed. So.

25:10

Hard. Down. On their heads,

25:12

And. Is their next bend to Crazy

25:15

Angle to be. Once you do

25:17

with some legendary strength look up

25:19

highlights of Russian Greco Roman Wrestling

25:21

champion Alexander To for melon. Alexander

25:24

Corella. Holy Shit. This

25:26

guy my behalf bear. This. it's

25:28

fucking crazy I was. I got sucked in watch

25:30

these like videos. The main widely considered to be

25:33

the greatest, most dominant. it is flat out scariest.

25:35

Greco. Roman roster of all time. He

25:37

won the gold medal at Nine, Thirty

25:40

Eight, Ninety And Two, and Nineteen Ninety

25:42

Six Olympic Games before finishing his with

25:44

a silver medal of To Rule On

25:46

garnered a best of him as a

25:48

two thousand Games Six Foot Three, Two

25:50

Hundred Eighty six pounds of freaky strength.

25:53

Who. Just picked up other three hundred pound

25:55

his dues and just toss him over his

25:57

head. on a regular basis like it was nothing

26:00

He's now a Russian Federation Senator and I

26:02

imagine he intimidates the fuck out of some

26:04

of his fellow politicians. He

26:07

still looks like he could throw down. He

26:11

just looks like he's a giga-chat, okay? He's

26:13

a fucking giga-chat. He's got thick wrists, he's

26:16

got big skull, great jawline,

26:19

deep set eyes, like a predator. We'd

26:22

love to see him

26:24

come out of retirement for one more match

26:26

and wrestle strong ponyboy Putin and

26:28

just not hold back. That would be

26:30

so entertaining. That would probably be the

26:32

most watched video of all time by millions

26:34

and millions, by hundreds of millions of views

26:37

on YouTube. Anyway, originally

26:39

Greco-Roman wrestling matches were popularized at international

26:42

expositions held in Paris. Then

26:44

after its inclusion in the revived Olympic

26:46

Games in 1896, Greco-Roman wrestling events were

26:48

held at subsequent Olympic Games except in

26:50

1900 to 1904. In

26:54

the more popular freestyle wrestling, closer

26:56

to today's WWE style wrestling, any

26:59

fair hold, trip or throw is permitted outside

27:01

of holds that endanger life or limb. Strangle

27:03

holds, for example, are forbidden as

27:06

well as kicking, punching, butting with the head and

27:08

holding your opponent's clothing. Both

27:11

styles became immensely popular and were soon regulated

27:13

in formal competitions. On continental

27:15

Europe, prize money was offered in

27:17

large sums to the winners of Greco-Roman tournaments

27:19

and freestyle wrestling spread rapidly in the UK,

27:22

the United States, and a few

27:24

other Western nations like Canada and Mexico. An

27:27

early golden age for the sport followed, cut short with

27:29

the breakout of World War I in 1914. In

27:32

1898, the Frenchman Paul Pons,

27:35

the Colossus, became the

27:37

first professional world champion. In

27:39

the US, early professional wrestling was dominated

27:41

by Martin Farmer Burns and

27:43

his pupil, Frank Gotch. Burns

27:46

was renowned as a competitive wrestler who, despite

27:48

never weighing more than about 175

27:51

pounds during his wrestler career, is

27:53

said to have fought over 6,000 matches at matches

28:00

were competitive contests and

28:02

there were no weight classes and he

28:04

lost fewer than ten of those matches. So

28:07

he won at least 5,990 matches. That guy had some moves. While

28:09

he was

28:13

never a big dude, the 5'11

28:15

guy, you know, pretty slender

28:17

build, had a huge neck,

28:20

like preposterously big neck. Burns

28:23

rigorous program of neck development, built

28:26

him an immense 20 inch,

28:28

yeah 20 inch neck that possessed

28:30

enough strength he could be dropped six feet on

28:32

a hangman's noose and not be hurt. And

28:35

that wasn't just him talking shit. That was a stunt. He

28:37

would often perform at carnivals and fairs. That's

28:40

absurd. The average neck circumference size today for

28:42

a grown man, a grown man of any

28:44

size, 15.2 inches. So it seems

28:48

like Farmer Burns was mostly neck. He

28:50

weighed 175 pounds and about 165 of those pounds

28:53

were neck. His

28:56

pupil Frank Gotts, regarded as peerless during

28:58

his peak, was the first

29:00

to actually claim the world's undisputed heavyweight championship

29:02

by beating all contenders he faced in both

29:04

North America and then Europe. He

29:06

was a bigger guy, 5'11, weighed about 210.

29:09

He became the world champion by beating

29:12

European wrestling champion George Hackenschmidt,

29:15

both in 1908 and 1911, seen

29:17

by modern wrestling historians as two of the

29:19

most significant matches in modern professional wrestling history.

29:23

By the end of the 19th century in the US, UK

29:25

and a few other places, there were now two main strains

29:27

of wrestling. One that was primarily

29:29

an athletic competition and another that was

29:31

based more on entertainment, aimed to spice up

29:33

carnivals and variety shows. And it

29:35

was that kind that would lead to today's WWE.

29:38

Now there was a division formed between,

29:40

quote, professional wrestling based in

29:43

non-competitive acrobatics and showmanship and,

29:45

quote, amateur wrestling, which was

29:47

actually the more competitive athletic version that

29:50

was truly treated as a real sport. I think

29:52

it's interesting that the better wrestling tacticians

29:55

were the amateur ones now and not the professionals. Despite

29:58

ironically not being as good as wrestling

30:00

as amateur wrestlers, professional wrestlers became far

30:02

more popular and got paid a lot

30:04

more. Excuse

30:07

me. Like many others, George Hackenschmidt, that

30:10

guy who was beat by American Frank Gotch, started

30:13

as an amateur wrestler but then quickly

30:15

signed to promoter Charles B Cochran, who

30:17

realized that Hackenschmidt's superiority in the ring

30:19

was boring. It wasn't making

30:21

for super interesting matches. It was slow,

30:24

plodding, technical. The style was

30:26

very tactical and not very

30:28

theatrical. Cochran persuaded

30:30

Hackenschmidt to learn some showmanship and

30:33

wrestle many of his matches for entertainment rather than for

30:35

sports, and it worked. Suddenly, Hackenschmidt

30:37

was doing a lot more theater work than actual

30:39

fighting, and he was making a lot more

30:42

money than he ever did when he truly dominated the ring. It

30:44

was clear that by this point, the future of wrestling was tied

30:49

to entertainment. These new entertainment

30:51

matches would be called worked matches. That

30:54

is, purely performative matches with everything being

30:57

choreographed ahead of time. Winners,

30:59

losers, are predetermined.

31:01

Storylines are introduced.

31:04

This all enabled promoters to introduce things

31:06

like seemingly more violent styles with weapons

31:08

and chair shots becoming popular. And

31:10

since people weren't directly in danger, weak

31:13

little crybaby women were even given

31:15

permission by their patriarchal

31:17

righteous masters to compete. Lucifina,

31:20

although she's aware I'm being sarcastic, still looks like

31:22

she's about to kick me into nuts and pile

31:24

drive me. After Gottsch's

31:26

retirement in 1913, amateur actual

31:28

wrestling, which was already fighting a losing battle

31:31

and popularity with boxing, came to

31:33

an end as a serious professional sport in

31:35

both the US and the UK. Thereafter,

31:37

especially the US, through radio

31:39

broadcasts and later through telecasts, professional wrestling

31:42

became more and more based and spectacle.

31:45

The winners, divided deliberately into

31:47

heroes and villains, were determined

31:50

by promoters' financial desires, with

31:53

the paying audience wanting to watch rather than by athletic

31:55

skill. Wrestling maneuvers became increasingly

31:57

extravagant and artificial and lost most of their

31:59

authentic experience. Bouncing off

32:01

the ropes to close line somebody, you know, or drop

32:03

kick them. Actually not a great fighting

32:05

move. Good luck pulling

32:07

that shit off in the streets, but it's fun to watch in the ring.

32:11

In the early 1900s, regional professional wrestling

32:13

promotions became popular in Mexico, turning

32:15

into a version of the Lucha Libra we recognize

32:17

today. Colorful mass performers

32:20

with high flying aerial moves. Some

32:23

of the first American counterparts to Mexico's Lucha

32:25

Libra wrestlers were Ed Lewis, Billy Sandow, and

32:27

Toots Montt. Yes, Toots. Like

32:30

our buddy Toots Martinez. And these

32:32

three guys joined together to form their own wrestling promotion

32:34

company in the 1920s. The

32:36

three would be referred to as the Gold Dust Trio

32:39

due to their financial success. While

32:41

he's not a household name now, in the 1920s,

32:43

Ed Lewis rivaled the baseball player Babe Ruth and

32:45

boxer Jack Dempsey in popularity. Big

32:48

time, you know, wildly popular.

32:51

Promotions became very lucrative and

32:53

were kind of ran like the mafia. Promoters,

32:56

by having a stranglehold on regional matches, had

32:58

a lot of power when it came to controlling and

33:00

reducing the wages of wrestlers in their territories. As

33:03

the promotion system grew, there were fewer

33:05

independent promoters where independent wrestlers could find

33:07

work. And wrestlers, if they

33:09

wanted to make money, had to sign contracts with

33:11

big low paying cartels. Their contracts

33:14

would legally forbid them from wrestling in

33:16

independent venues. Wrestlers who refused

33:18

to play by the cartels rules… Excuse

33:22

me. My God, it won't leave me alone. It would be

33:24

barred from performing at its venues. It

33:27

reminds me of the stranglehold that the improv and

33:29

funny bone comedy club changed. For

33:31

a while, both owned and booked by

33:33

the same people you used to have on the standup world.

33:36

Before it was common to build up your own fanbase

33:38

through, you know, social media, specials,

33:40

podcasts, whatever, most comics

33:42

focused very little on marketing and a lot on the

33:44

craft of standup. But since most working comics, no matter

33:47

how funny they were, were now totally

33:49

dependent on having clubs to give them work, right? And

33:51

the clubs could really get away with paying them almost

33:53

nothing. And the improv and funny bones,

33:55

because they offered you the most work, they could pay the least.

33:58

You might only get $1500 bucks a week. The headline

34:00

four to seven shows that week, but

34:02

they can give you 35 plus weeks of work a year.

34:05

And for years, they were the only chain in the country that could give

34:07

you that much work. So they were able to do that. If

34:10

you took a $2,000 weekend to work for one of

34:12

their competitors, well, they might take all

34:14

your other weeks of work off of your calendar.

34:17

So glad those days are over. And

34:19

glad, you know, it sounds like a lot of these, a lot

34:21

of this regional stuff with wrestling is now over. A

34:24

good thing the wrestling cartels did was to begin

34:27

to nationalize professional wrestling and help establish an authority

34:29

to decide who was the one true world champion.

34:32

Before a national promotion system, there

34:35

were a ton of wrestlers across America simultaneously

34:37

calling themselves world champions. Which would

34:39

sap public enthusiasm for professional wrestling

34:41

in general. I mean, who cares if you're

34:43

the world champion, if, you know, two

34:46

dozen other American wrestlers, also the world champion. And

34:48

there's more world champions in Europe, you know, and more

34:50

world champions all over the place. Really devalues the whole

34:52

sport. Also a smaller group of regional

34:55

wrestling barons were able to work together and agree

34:57

on a common set of match rules that fans

34:59

can now easily keep track of, have some consistency.

35:01

The issue over who got to be the champion

35:04

and which promoter controlled said champion, still a

35:06

major point of contention among the early members

35:08

of regional wrestling promotion zone. Owning

35:10

the champion would draw the biggest crowds wherever, you

35:12

know, he performed and make the best money. And

35:15

that would occasionally discisms. By

35:17

1925, the promotion system had divided

35:19

the country up into territories, which were

35:21

the exclusive domains of specific promoters. And

35:24

that system of territories would endure right up

35:26

until Vince McMahon, co-founder of the

35:28

WWE, drove those fragmented cartels out

35:31

of their markets in the 1980s. While

35:33

that small cartel of promoters hurt the income of

35:35

a lot of wrestlers, also made

35:38

others famous. And

35:40

to truly get famous in wrestling, historically,

35:42

in the words of the 1959 musical

35:44

Gypsy, you got to get a gimmick.

35:47

By the early 1930s, most wrestlers had

35:50

adopted larger than life personas to generate

35:52

more public interest. These personas

35:54

could be broadly characterized as

35:56

either faces, good guys,

35:58

audience generally cheered for. or

36:00

heels, villains the crowd loved to

36:02

boo and root against. Native

36:05

Americans, cowboys, and snobbish

36:07

English aristocrats randomly were

36:09

the most common wrestling personas in the 1930s

36:11

and 1940s. In addition to

36:14

creating a memorable wrestling persona, the most popular wrestlers

36:16

also had some kind of gimmick in the form

36:18

of a finishing move. Right?

36:20

Russian wrestler Andre Chikatilo had

36:22

a very memorable finishing move. He

36:25

would stab the shit out of you as he tried

36:27

to sexually assault you and then spontaneously ejaculate.

36:29

What is the deal? So that's how

36:31

I wrestle. Everyone have a signature move.

36:34

Some maybe have special slam, eye-jurking corner,

36:36

soft shame cock, and bother no one.

36:39

Or maybe bother someone very much when you know stab

36:41

and come. The butcher Rastaf, making

36:45

cameos for five years now. Suck

36:47

first, brother. Fritz

36:49

von Eric would develop a super entertaining and

36:51

popular trademark finishing move. The Iron

36:53

Claw, the most successful and enduring

36:55

gimmick to emerge from the 1930s, previous

36:59

to that, were tag team matches. Promoters

37:02

noticed prior to their introduction that matches would slow

37:04

down, get boring as wrestlers in the ring got

37:06

tired. But with a partner they

37:08

could tag in and out with, you know, that gave them

37:10

a chance to recharge their batteries, keep things fresh and exciting.

37:13

Also gave heels, another way to misbehave by double

37:15

teaming one of the other team's members to the

37:17

delight of the crowd. Towards

37:19

the end of the 1930s, faced with declining revenue,

37:21

thanks largely to the Great Depression,

37:23

promoters chose to focus on grooming

37:26

charismatic wrestlers with little regard for

37:28

their actual skill because it was charisma

37:30

that drew the crowds and wrestlers who were both skilled,

37:33

grappling, and charismatic were hard to come

37:35

by. Since most of the public

37:37

by that time knew and accepted that professional wrestling was

37:39

fake to a degree, realism was

37:42

no longer paramount and a background in

37:44

authentic wrestling no longer mattered. The

37:46

40s introduced another important aspect of

37:48

modern professional wrestling patriotism.

37:51

UFA UFA,

37:54

stand in suits of scars and strife, brother, or

37:57

the collective strength of the US of fucking able

37:59

body slam you do oblivion.

38:02

During World War II, wrestlers in the US

38:04

toured, starred in large war bond rallies, others

38:06

hired by the armed forces to provide instruction

38:09

in hand-to-hand combat, other future

38:11

Matt legends serving on the front lines around

38:13

the world and will return to use their

38:15

wartime contributions to boost their fame. Perhaps

38:18

the most decorated American wrestler of

38:20

this era was Brooklyn native Paul Bosch, who

38:23

left wrestling to enlist in the army, where

38:25

he earned a Purple Heart, Silver Star and

38:27

cluster, Bronze Star and cluster and French Croix

38:29

de Guerre for actions in the Battle of

38:31

the Hurstken Forest while serving with the 121st

38:34

Infantry Regiment. Bosch authored a memoir

38:37

about his experiences, rode to Hurstin

38:40

Forest in Hell and also

38:42

would lead the Houston wrestling

38:45

promotion until 1987. Another

38:48

wrestler of the World War II era worried about

38:50

his family's German heritage and that he might be

38:52

thought of as being unpatriotic, Frederick

38:54

Kenneth Blasi, later

38:56

to become known as the outrageous heel

38:58

competitor and manager, Classy Freddy Blasi, excuse

39:02

me, enlisted in the Navy, where

39:04

he served for 42 months in the Pacific to prove

39:06

his loyalty to America. Blasi's

39:08

famous over-the-top interviews would go on to

39:10

inspire a fellow Kentucky resident who

39:12

grew up watching him. Colonel motherfucking

39:14

Sanders, Harlan the gas station assassin

39:17

Sanders, the Kentucky Fried Brawler, the

39:19

Henryville Hammer and the only attorney

39:21

in America not afraid to beat

39:24

his own clients assets. No,

39:27

no blasters over the top interviews would

39:29

inspire fellow Kentucky resident Cassius

39:31

Clay, the man who

39:33

later became the heavyweight boxing champion of the

39:35

world, Muhammad Ali, the greatest. The

39:38

patriarch of the wrestling family we're focusing on today

39:40

initially made his name in right after all this

39:42

history I just laid out in the late 50s,

39:45

when he saw a market oversaturated with

39:47

heroes aka baby faces from

39:49

the post-war era and decided the best

39:52

thing he could do was to give the crowds

39:54

a really really good villain, someone

39:56

who they would want to get beat again and again

39:58

but also somebody terrifying enough. to sometimes

40:00

triumph even against the greatest heroes.

40:03

He wanted to ratchet up the drama, increase the stakes,

40:07

and he would settle on the persona of Fritz von Erich, America-Hating

40:10

Nazi Stormtrooper. Let's

40:12

now learn about his evolution into this persona. Rise

40:15

to wrestling fame is raising

40:17

up his badass wrestling sons who would help him

40:19

create a real royal family of wrestling, the most

40:21

famous wrestlers in the world for a few years,

40:24

followed by the incredible amount of tragedy he

40:26

and his wife would endure. In

40:29

today's Let's Get Ready to

40:31

Rumble! Time

40:34

Suck Timeline, right after a word

40:36

from today's sponsors. Thanks

40:39

for sticking around, and now it's

40:41

truly time for a big high-flying,

40:43

body-slamming, iron-claw-filled von Erich timeline.

40:48

Shrap on those boots, soldier. We're

40:50

marching down a Time Suck

40:53

timeline. Jack

40:59

Bernard Atkinson, born August 16, 1929,

41:01

in Jewett, Texas. Jewell

41:04

located in Leon County was founded in 1871 by

41:07

the International Railroad Company, tiny, just

41:10

2.1 square miles, and pretty

41:12

small population-wise, too. In the

41:14

1930 census, it registered just 516 people. Still

41:18

pretty small, with about 1,200 people there

41:20

today. Little Town has

41:22

had three notable inhabitants, Alger,

41:24

Texas Alexander, early 20th

41:27

century American blues singer, who died a

41:29

syphilis at the age of 53. So,

41:31

seems like he might have had a real good time touring before

41:34

he left us. Romus Bergen,

41:36

U.S. Marine, author of the memoir, Islands of the

41:39

Damned, a Marine at War in the Pacific. He

41:41

would be portrayed in the HBO miniseries The

41:44

Pacific by Irish actor Martin McCann, and

41:46

he died just a few years ago at the

41:48

age of 96, also

41:51

a syphilis. Had a great time

41:53

the last few years of his life after his wife passed. I

41:56

actually don't know what he died of. And of course,

41:58

by far the most famous, Prince... And it was Jack

42:00

Atkinson. I don't know why I call him Fritz there. Soon

42:06

to become known as Fritz von Erich, he'll leave

42:08

us at the age of 68 when he

42:11

passes away from Syphilis. It's

42:14

rumored he contracted it from roman's bursian, rumored

42:17

by me and only me. Everyone else says

42:19

he passed away from brain and lung cancer. And

42:21

probably some fucking heartache. According to

42:23

The Secret of the Iron Claw by Ron Mullenax, a

42:26

close friend of the von Erich's, who would write

42:28

about Fritz during his final years in wrestling, Fritz

42:30

would describe himself this way. I

42:33

was born Jack Bernard Atkinson, August 16,

42:36

1929, in Leon County, Texas, during the Great Depression.

42:39

My father, Benjamin Rush Atkinson, was

42:41

a sheriff, and my mother, Corin

42:44

Bessie Newberry Atkinson, a homemaker, and

42:46

I, the only child. As

42:49

a young boy, Jack's grandfather Ross took him hunting, especially

42:51

duck hunting, fishing, walking in the woods.

42:54

Jack would later give his grandpa credit for his

42:56

lifelong love of the outdoors and outdoor sports, a

42:59

love he would pass on to his children. Excuse

43:01

me. Quick

43:03

note, can scientists get to work and just eliminate viruses?

43:06

Because they're pretty fucking annoying. Jack's

43:09

family was poor, but he didn't seem to know it.

43:12

I was referring to my head cold there, or whatever this is. You're

43:15

like, what are you talking about?

43:18

Jack's family was poor, but he didn't seem to know it. Though

43:20

the stock market crash, it occurred just two months after he

43:22

was born, sending millions of Americans out of work and foreclosing

43:24

on their homes. Since basically

43:26

everyone in Jewett was poor and had been

43:28

since before the Depression, life seemed

43:30

there pretty much the same as ever. Jack's

43:33

family got creative when it came to making sure everyone had what

43:35

they needed, or at least sort of had what they needed.

43:39

We couldn't even afford a football or a

43:41

baseball to throw around, and there were very few

43:43

kids around who owned one. So what did

43:45

we do, Fritz would say? Granddaddy

43:47

Ross and I made a football out of a bunch of

43:50

rags that we tied together with a ring, and we played

43:52

baseball with an old broomstick and rocks. A

43:55

lot of his neighbors made a little extra cash making

43:57

moonshine and whiskey. Jack's

44:00

dad was a local sheriff. One of Jack's

44:02

earliest memories was being a seven-year-old riding around with his dad

44:04

in the sheriff's car while he hunted down

44:06

those moonshiners. Being a

44:08

sheriff and Jew, it was a pretty dangerous job at the time. Benjamin

44:11

would have moonshiners, you know, fire at him

44:13

numerous times, but he never let

44:15

that make him quit. Maybe he just

44:18

really loved being a sheriff or maybe knew that if he lost

44:20

that job, it might not ever be another one.

44:22

It was good waiting for him. Most

44:24

of the country was out of work, after all. Jack

44:27

was with his dad a few times when people,

44:29

he was looking to arrest, would fire on the

44:31

squad car, and Benjamin didn't seem overly concerned with

44:34

putting his son in danger. Maybe he

44:36

wanted to toughen Jack up. Even

44:38

for an employed man, times were rough, and Jack and

44:40

his family lived in the county or

44:43

out in the country, excuse me, in a small frame house

44:45

without running water. To find the outhouse

44:47

at night, Jack would follow a string that was tied from

44:49

the corner of the house to the outhouse, which

44:51

I guess was about 200 feet away. Sometime

44:54

Jack moved the string to send his dad out

44:56

into the woods as a prank. And then

44:58

later that night, he said he got the worst spank he'd ever had in my life. Sounds

45:01

like it might have been worth it though. Pretty

45:04

funny. According to a much later account

45:06

by Fritz's son, Kevin, Benjamin was a

45:09

pretty questionable dad in some

45:11

ways. He would allegedly

45:13

take little Jack into town and

45:15

then arrange fights between him and other

45:17

little boys. It's

45:20

like, what? No other details about

45:22

this are given. It sounds insane. Who

45:24

are these other kids? Are their dads bringing them to

45:26

the fights? Did you have

45:29

some kind of weird fucked up fight club where

45:31

you didn't fight other dudes, you just brought your son

45:34

to fight other sons? Should

45:36

I have been doing this with my son, Kyler? Did

45:38

I miss out on an incredible opportunity to toughen

45:40

him up and have a lot of laughs?

45:43

You know? Enjoy watching him, I don't

45:45

know, brawl with other little kids. Sunday,

45:48

Sunday, Sunday. After

45:51

McEwen Park, basketball court in Coeur d'Alene,

45:53

Idaho, we have a bare knuckle underage

45:55

brawl for the agents. Defending

45:57

champs Sammy Wilson and Bobby McAllister.

46:00

will be representing the best of the local school

46:02

system third grade has to offer. While

46:04

neither man is over the age of nine, or

46:06

weighs more than 80 pounds, they have dozens of

46:08

fights beneath their belts and more scars on their

46:10

knuckles than the average full grown adult. They'll

46:13

be facing any and all challenges under the age of

46:15

ten. Fathers, bring your sons and have them ready to

46:17

knock out what few baby teeth Sammy and Bubba have

46:20

left. I

46:22

didn't time that right, but I didn't want to cut any of that. Jack

46:26

was apparently often beaten badly these fights. He'd

46:28

come up with bloody noses, bloody

46:30

mouth, black eyes, got

46:33

knocked down by bigger fighters all the time, but I guess he never

46:35

got knocked out. And with his dad

46:37

cheering him on, why the fuck is his dad cheering him on?

46:39

These little weird fights. He

46:42

always got back up. He learned to fight, learned

46:44

to be fearless. For his dad, being a badass brawler

46:46

was what you needed to be. If you wanted to be a

46:48

real man, a man's man. Jack

46:50

would adopt his mindset. Being a man's man would

46:53

be important to Jack both in his early life,

46:55

and when he became Fritz von Erich, wrestler and

46:57

father, as soon as he may

46:59

have passed this don't show weakness mentality down to his

47:02

sons, the Exocents moved

47:04

from Jewett to Dallas when Jack was nine. When

47:06

he was 12, granddaddy Ross died. And

47:08

Dallas Jack attended Crozier Tech High School,

47:11

where he trained in discus throwing and shot

47:13

putting under a coach affectionately known as

47:16

Uncle Rosie. That's

47:19

a creepy name for a coach. I'm

47:21

not sure I want my kids getting one-on-one private

47:23

practices, you know, with Uncle Rosie.

47:26

When he was starting to throw these shot put, World War II was in full swing.

47:29

When he graduated high school, the war had just come

47:31

to an end. A new era of prosperity and optimism

47:34

was beginning in America. Jack

47:36

had several scholarship offers come his way. I

47:39

think he was destined for a career in professional sports, just

47:41

not knowing that it was not going to be football. Jack

47:44

accepted an athletic scholarship to play football

47:47

at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. And

47:49

in doing so interestingly, he turned down a music

47:51

scholarship to the University of Texas at

47:53

Austin. Would you believe it if

47:56

I told you he was an accomplished clarinet player? Photos

47:58

in his yearbook would show him as a coach. just

48:01

that, Jack Beaming proudly with his clarinet. As

48:03

an older man he would never miss a Dallas classical music

48:05

concert when he was home. I

48:07

found that pretty funny. I just uh I love the big

48:10

tough brawler who also likes the

48:12

sweet sweet sounds of the clarinet. I've

48:15

never been real big on clarinets but

48:17

honestly trying to find a video showing how bad

48:19

clarinet sounded uh I

48:21

came across a lot of videos of people fucking

48:23

killing it on a clarinet. Especially with jazz. Check

48:26

out this Boston area high schooler Emma

48:29

Lacy murdering some Duke

48:31

Ellington just this last year. Missed

48:36

me! She's

48:52

into it too. Fucking dancing around

48:55

all the crazy facial expressions. Get

49:01

on you! Emma Lacy uh

49:04

also kills it with a saxophone. I got lost

49:06

in a fucking wormhole watching Emma Lacy classical

49:08

music videos or not whatever jazz videos you

49:10

know I'm talking about. Pretty awesome.

49:13

1947 the six foot

49:15

four inch clarinet loving athletes who already

49:17

weighed over 200 pounds became a starter on the

49:20

freshman football team at SMU playing on

49:22

the offensive line. You'd also compete

49:24

for the track and field team and actually set

49:26

the national freshman discus record. 1949 Jack

49:29

played in a game in which SMU beat Notre

49:31

Dame 27 to 20 in the closing minutes

49:35

of the SMU program's biggest win and

49:37

Fritz would later say it was the greatest game I ever played

49:40

in or saw. Later that

49:42

year the college kid developed another extracurricular

49:44

interest. Girls. Well one girl.

49:47

Her name was Doris Juanita Smith a

49:50

17 year old Woodrow Wilson high school student

49:52

who planned to attend SMU after graduation. Shortly

49:55

after they met they decided to get married. Clearly they had

49:57

some chemistry. Just one problem. SMU

50:00

coach, Mattie Bell had a rule strictly

50:02

forbidding married football players from being able

50:04

to play on his team. So

50:07

what would they do? Well no one was risking his

50:09

football career, which was at this point, you

50:11

know, his life's focus, Jack

50:13

tied the knot with Doris in secret on June 23,

50:15

1950. He

50:17

wanted to get fucked if they weren't already fucking. No

50:20

time to waste and they wanted to risk the

50:22

scandal of Doris, you know, being an unwed mother I'm guessing.

50:25

They helped keep the marriage a secret so they

50:27

went to Denton, Texas with Doris' mother, sister, the

50:30

only witnesses. Then they rented

50:32

a small cabin on the Texas side of

50:34

Lake Texoma for a

50:36

brief honeymoon. As they

50:38

returned to Dallas, they stopped at a gas station where

50:40

Doris bought a newspaper and the headline read, Atkinson

50:43

loses scholarship at SMU.

50:46

Slow news day, I guess. And

50:49

the headline was true. Jack figured somebody recognized

50:51

his name on the marriage certificate called Coach

50:53

Bell who maintained that rules were

50:55

rules and whoever called

50:58

him, what an asshole. Bell

51:00

did however arrange for Jack to try out for a

51:03

spot on Coach Bear Bryant's University of Kentucky football team,

51:05

which did allow married players. What

51:08

a stupid rule. Bell obviously

51:11

thought you could be married and play football, just

51:13

not for him. What was

51:15

he worried about? Too much fucking and sucking, takes your mind off

51:17

football? Did he have a no

51:19

jerk off rule too? Right? You get

51:21

caught whacking, you get sent packing. What would

51:23

that dipshit think of all the married NFL players

51:25

who fucking kill it decade after

51:27

decade? Man, people in

51:29

their dumb needless rules. Off

51:31

to Kentucky, Jack and Doris went to check out the

51:34

university. Jack tried out, was accepted, but

51:36

he said that his and Doris' family were all in Texas

51:38

and they'd have to talk it over. They

51:40

returned to Texas, Jack visited Corpus Christi to check

51:42

out the university there too. What

51:45

impressed him most about the area was the wildlife, a lot

51:47

of ducks, geese and fish. And

51:49

he loved Texas, didn't really want to leave his home state. So

51:52

Jack now decides that he will attend the University

51:54

of Corpus Christi. In

51:56

early 1952, the couple loads up their belongings

51:58

into their decrepit. nineteen forty one mercury

52:01

and head to corpus christie to live on the gulf

52:03

coast about a three and a half hour drive from

52:05

houston. There they both enroll

52:07

students university live in an old army barracks

52:09

on campus where they slept on a mattress

52:11

on the floor. And first letter

52:13

explain we were so much in love that we didn't

52:15

care as long as we were together. But

52:19

there was a no kissing or dancing

52:21

on campus rule. It

52:23

began to annoy jack so jack eventually said fuck

52:25

it and dropped out no kissing or

52:27

dancing on campus for

52:30

anyone. Not even married couples.

52:33

Why have there always been so many fun

52:35

hating cunts in the world. Right

52:37

at the sight of two people kissing or

52:40

one or more people dancing upsets

52:42

you so much that

52:44

you want to ban it from where

52:46

you work or study. Please do the rest of

52:48

the world a favor and just walk your joy

52:50

hating ass out in front of a bus or something.

52:53

So stupid. I will have

52:56

a no smiling. I can't

52:58

no fun do not appear to

53:00

be joyful for any fucking second. We're

53:02

here to suffer. He

53:04

and Doris were already working two jobs. Doris

53:07

now wanted a place of their own when they leave school. Jack

53:10

is one of the friends to take a loan

53:12

available to veterans to build him a house which

53:14

he did and that is quite the friend. I

53:17

have some good friends but I'm not going to sign off on a home

53:19

loan my name for any of them. When

53:22

the sawdust cleared Jack and Doris owned

53:24

a cute little two bedroom one bathroom

53:26

home. They had a little retriever

53:28

named Rebel a mutt named Punkin.

53:31

The door is found by the side of the road and

53:34

that's adorable. Bojangles very pleased. Jack

53:36

found work as a debt collector making a deal with

53:38

the old man who owned the business that he would

53:40

collect from the most difficult cases if

53:42

he could have half the payout. Jack

53:45

knew he was imposing right he was

53:47

six foot four now for you know still

53:49

six foot four now former football player who

53:52

is getting closer to two hundred twenty pounds of muscle and

53:54

even fighting ever since he was a little kid dad

53:57

would fucking take into fights. No

53:59

few would. turn him down when he asked for money. To

54:02

get his money, a simple threat of an ass whooping would usually

54:04

work. If it didn't work, he would

54:06

tell the person that he was the last chance they were

54:08

gonna have to make things right before the boys from New

54:10

York came to pay them a visit. And

54:13

the threat of a mafia execution would usually

54:15

do the trick of an ass whooping wouldn't. Jack's

54:18

new business, as you can imagine, didn't make him a lot of new

54:20

friends. And a couple times he and Doris

54:22

would return home from a night out in the town, excuse

54:25

me, to find their windows broken out, and

54:28

their house graffitied, hazard of the trade.

54:31

Frightened, Doris convinced Jack to quit, which he did,

54:33

now becoming a fireman with a 24 hour on,

54:35

24 hour off schedule, which

54:38

he, you know, both of them liked a lot

54:40

more. His new job also gave

54:42

him more time to hunt and fish, which he also loves.

54:45

Two made a combined annual salary of about six grand,

54:48

good money in those days, equivalent to

54:50

about $80,000 a year now, but I

54:52

think went probably quite a bit farther than 80,000 wouldn't I?

54:54

Now, sources don't mention what job Doris actually

54:57

had at that time. But shortly

54:59

after becoming a freshman, Jack heard rumors that

55:01

a professional football franchise was coming

55:03

to Texas. Once again, Jack decides to

55:05

switch careers, convincing Doris to quit

55:07

her job, load the old mercury up, move to

55:09

Dallas, where Doris would stay with her mom while

55:12

Jack would chase his dreams. Doris

55:14

was also pregnant now with her first child. Jack

55:17

took off to Kerrville, Texas, where tryouts were being

55:19

held, a town about an hour from both San

55:21

Antonio and Austin. About 25,000 people lived

55:23

there, about 8,000 lived there at the time,

55:27

eager to provide for Doris and future baby. Jack

55:29

did all he could to make the team, and he did. But

55:32

then a knee injury sidelined him after he appeared

55:34

in just a few exhibition games. And

55:37

then the team, the Dallas Texans, went broke. They'd

55:40

play only one full season NFL before folding,

55:42

no relation to the Houston Texans franchise, by

55:44

the way. Jack now headed

55:46

to Dallas, looked for yet another job, and he would find

55:48

it, the job that would change his life. Carl

55:51

Doc Seropoulos and veteran

55:53

wrestler, Ed Strangler-Lewis, AKA

55:56

Robert H. Friedrich, were

55:58

scouting for professional wrestling. out. Seropoulos

56:01

held the Southwestern Championship in Texas during the

56:03

1930s, was now a leading promoter

56:05

in Amarillo, as well as

56:07

the former president of the National Wrestling Alliance. Lewis

56:10

was a four-time and that National Wrestling Alliance was

56:13

around for a long time and, you know, like

56:15

a kind of with these regional promotions, it

56:17

would try to get them to play along with one another

56:19

and, you know, decide on, you know,

56:21

who gets to be the champion, what are the rules, you

56:24

know, have one belt as opposed to a whole bunch of

56:26

belts and stuff. Lewis was a

56:28

four-time World Wrestling Champion and both knew that Jack, who

56:30

was about 230 pounds, and

56:33

again, 6'4", very athletic, would make a great

56:35

wrestler. He was also known in parts

56:37

of Texas for being a football player, which meant he might be

56:39

able to help sell some tickets and promoter

56:41

Ed McLemore agreed to give him a shot. While

56:44

Jack is just barely beginning his career in wrestling, September 21,

56:46

1952, Doris gives birth

56:49

to their first child, a son

56:51

they named Jack Barton Atkinson Jr. They

56:54

had hoped to have two children, a little boy named

56:56

Jack and a little girl named Jill. Obviously,

56:59

that would not happen, also pretty adorable.

57:02

Now with a wife and a baby, Jack gets more serious

57:04

about wrestling, taking some training lessons in Dallas, but

57:06

then during the workout, he gets thrown from the ring

57:09

at the Dallas Sportatorium, a venue

57:11

that will later become legendary for hosting wrestling

57:13

matches and he'll break his shoulder. He'll

57:15

recover from the injury, proceed to run up a string of 13 straight

57:18

losses in Texas, got to pay your

57:20

dues, you're starting off in these

57:23

fixed matches, and then he'll beat

57:25

George Penship for his first victory. While

57:27

driving across Texas to one of his matches, Jack decides to

57:29

adopt a ring name. He was

57:31

inspired by wrestlers of the day like hard-boiled

57:34

Haggerty, Strangler Lewis,

57:36

Haystacks Calhoun, Crusher,

57:38

Lasowski, and more. It

57:40

looks like Haystacks could have spent a bit more time on his

57:42

nickname. It's not quite as

57:44

intimidating, you know, as Strangler or Crusher. I

57:47

don't think he got too much shit for it, though. At

57:49

least not to his face. He was 6'4", he's

57:52

like Jack, but he weighed a tick over

57:54

600 pounds and

57:56

strong as a fucking bull. He got

57:58

his nickname during a televised promotion. for a

58:00

match he was in where he tossed full

58:03

bales of hay way up into a barn's

58:05

hayloft. A typical rectangular hay bale

58:07

weighs anywhere from 100 to 140 pounds and Homeboy was just launching

58:11

these about 20 feet up in the air. I

58:14

worked for a neighbor stacking bales of hay for one day

58:17

when I was either junior or senior in high school. It

58:19

turned out that's not a great job for somebody

58:22

who's not huge and also has a healthy

58:24

case of hay fever. My

58:26

eyes almost swole shut from

58:28

an allergic reaction and my arms covered in itchy welts.

58:31

And those things were fucking way heavier than they look.

58:34

I was not going to be throwing even one of them around

58:36

like Haystacks Calhoun. I'm into his

58:38

nickname now. Apologies, Haystacks. Jack

58:41

would eventually choose the name of Fritz von Erich, but

58:43

not for a few more years. Fritz was

58:46

the name of a close family friend. Von Erich was

58:48

Jack's grandmother's maiden name. Fit the bill. German

58:50

last name for a big blonde haired blue eyed guy.

58:53

Since his main job as a newbie was

58:55

to make more established wrestlers look good by

58:58

convincing losing, the name would also provide promoters

59:00

with the patriotic narrative of defeating the Nazis.

59:03

Because he wasn't getting paid much initially and he wasn't

59:05

getting paid at all whenever he was injured, he

59:07

also became a bookkeeper for a promoter and

59:10

learned the business of wrestling as a

59:12

way to make some extra cash. That new side job would

59:14

pay off big time down the road. 1953,

59:18

Doris and Jack Jr. moved to nearby Fort Worth.

59:21

Fritz still wrestling, but he keeps getting injured, and

59:24

Doris has to take occasional jobs to supplement their income.

59:26

Fritz meanwhile decides he needs more training and

59:29

he moves to Boston for three months by

59:31

himself to attend the Santos Professional Wrestling School.

59:34

We were as poor as church mice, Fritz

59:36

would later recall. I was eating Boston beans for

59:38

breakfast, lunch, and dinner because I could buy them for 29

59:41

cents a plate. I tried to send

59:43

Doris all the money I could, but there wasn't much. So

59:46

tough times for the young couple. Kudos

59:48

to Doris for being so supportive. And

59:50

it had to have seemed at times like

59:53

this was all for nothing. We

59:55

started wrestling again, Fritz, let's just call him Fritz now, only

59:58

getting paid $3 a match. You'd

1:00:00

often spend more on gas getting to the

1:00:02

match than he'd be paid for the match

1:00:04

itself And that reminds me of

1:00:06

paying dues in the early years of stand-up still to this

1:00:08

day When you go to a comedy

1:00:10

club if the feature or the the middle act is

1:00:13

not a local comic There's a good chance they

1:00:15

have spent more money traveling to get to the

1:00:17

gig then they'll actually make for doing

1:00:19

the gig When he was

1:00:22

in Boston Doris moved into a small duplex on a Hall

1:00:24

Street next to her mother She

1:00:26

would eat peanut butter every day and sometimes go without

1:00:28

when there wasn't enough for her and little Jack to

1:00:30

eat I mean things are fucking

1:00:32

times are tough. These are tight making

1:00:35

things worse Doris also suffered a miscarriage around this

1:00:37

time After months in

1:00:39

Boston Fritz finally saves enough money to move to Des

1:00:41

Moines, Iowa Where promoters are waiting to

1:00:43

put him on a better paying circuit? His

1:00:46

family will join him there and the first night they

1:00:48

get there Fritz makes enough money to take the whole

1:00:50

family out To town for a nice

1:00:52

dinner But

1:01:03

It wasn't all glamour the apartment they rented

1:01:05

was pretty shitty and a prostitute

1:01:08

She lived next door when it entertained men by

1:01:10

the hour, but you know long into the evenings

1:01:13

Another neighbor was a peep and Tom guy

1:01:15

who I imagine Had to hide from

1:01:17

Fritz rather than be caught and beat half to death by him Fritz

1:01:20

was home From his home base

1:01:22

Fritz would wrestle in Iowa, Minnesota in Michigan logging

1:01:24

all the miles by car Currently resting

1:01:27

as a hero or a babyface still the good guy It

1:01:29

was what his new promoter wanted out of him and

1:01:31

he was building himself at this time as a guy

1:01:33

coming from Hollywood, California Plus he'd never even

1:01:36

been to In one match he

1:01:38

would lose to Hans Schmidt real named

1:01:40

guy la Rose who portrayed a villainous German

1:01:42

Nazi Fritz would be inspired by

1:01:44

this later. They would even join up and form

1:01:46

a successful villain tag team But

1:01:49

the time Fritz still fighting diamond doesn't match his

1:01:51

suffering injuries trying to provide for the family Then

1:01:53

a back injury leads him to miss eight weeks of

1:01:55

action and just as many paychecks When

1:01:58

he recovered he was asked to wrestle in Canada. Doris

1:02:01

and Jack come with him. She finds

1:02:03

she likes it better up there. The motels are cleaner, snow

1:02:05

bright and pure. And Calgary

1:02:08

for its work with Stu Hart, president

1:02:10

of Stampede Wrestling. He will

1:02:12

work out in Hart's basement known as the

1:02:14

dungeon because it was there that

1:02:16

Hart would train would be wrestled with methods that would

1:02:18

be considered sadistic by other industry

1:02:20

standards. Hart had acquired

1:02:22

the former Army Hospital mansion in 1951, transferred

1:02:26

his basement into his personal, or transformed its

1:02:28

basement into his personal training center. Shortly

1:02:30

thereafter, they would train everybody from strongmen

1:02:32

to football players. Stu

1:02:34

would train major wrestling names like Superstar

1:02:36

Billy Graham, the Iron Sheik, other

1:02:39

wrestlers of note who would train there in

1:02:41

later years. Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Mark

1:02:43

Henry, Abdul of the Butcher,

1:02:46

Rowdy Roddy Piper, Junkyard

1:02:48

Dog, Jim, the Anvil Night

1:02:50

Heart. Chris Benoit once said

1:02:52

going to the Hart family for training was kind of like

1:02:56

if you're a very religious person going

1:02:58

to the Vatican. Following the

1:03:00

train with Stu, Fritz would go

1:03:02

on to wrestle in Manitoba, Winnipeg, other Canadian

1:03:04

cities, and somewhere along the way, transformed into

1:03:07

the villain Fritz von Erich, Nazi war criminal.

1:03:10

Fritz would wear a pair of marching boots. He

1:03:12

began practicing the Nazi goose step, scoured World

1:03:14

War II movies and archive footage for Nazi

1:03:16

behaviors he could imitate. Took

1:03:19

that shit seriously. June 1, 1954,

1:03:21

Fritz was elevated to semi-final event

1:03:23

status against Iron Mike Dibiase, adoptive

1:03:26

father of future pro wrestling star

1:03:28

Ted Dibiase, aka the Million Dollar

1:03:30

Man. I fucking love to watch the

1:03:33

Million Dollar Man wrestling as a kid. Not

1:03:35

clear who won the match, but Fritz would return

1:03:37

to the Minneapolis auditorium for the semi-final event to

1:03:39

beat Tom Bradley. Here, Fritz would be,

1:03:41

uh, Fritz used what was becoming

1:03:44

his key move at the time, an atomic drop or a

1:03:46

rope drop, crashing down with his knee from the

1:03:48

top rope to pin his opponent. Fritz

1:03:50

would keep wrestling throughout the summer of 1954, find a lot of

1:03:53

success as the Nazi heel among American audiences,

1:03:56

many of whom had lost, you know, members of their

1:03:58

families fighting the Nazis. In late

1:04:00

1954, his hotel rates rose. Fritz

1:04:02

now arranged to have a mobile home delivered to

1:04:04

his family in Canada, and they parked

1:04:07

on the Rocky Mountain foothills of some land owned by

1:04:09

a promoter. So the family clearly

1:04:11

just scraped him by. Fritz

1:04:13

is resting in Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon,

1:04:15

Regina, elsewhere up north, sometimes

1:04:18

resting by himself, sometimes as part of a tag

1:04:20

team. His earliest nemesis would

1:04:23

be Elio Di Paolo, who

1:04:25

immigrated from Italy to South America in

1:04:27

1949 before moving to North America

1:04:29

and becoming a popular wrestler based in Buffalo, New York.

1:04:32

There's actually a steakhouse just outside

1:04:34

of Buffalo today called Elio Di

1:04:36

Paolo, supposed to be one of

1:04:38

the best restaurants in the country and

1:04:41

still ran by his family. Fritz's

1:04:43

touring schedule this time was brutal. Matches all over

1:04:45

Canada in the northern U.S. Sometimes

1:04:47

a match is just a day apart. His

1:04:50

first championship match would come May 6,

1:04:52

1955 in Calgary. He and

1:04:54

Lou Sowberg would beat

1:04:56

Sky High Lee and Earl

1:04:59

McCready to win the Alberta Tag Team Championship. And

1:05:02

his relentless touring continued. The more he toured, the better

1:05:04

he got. He's making a name for himself.

1:05:06

He's a big guy who could successfully perform

1:05:08

acrobatic maneuvers, usually reserved for smaller men. He

1:05:11

was said to have some of the strongest legs in wrestling propelling him

1:05:13

through the air. He

1:05:15

still needed a better signature move, something better

1:05:17

than the atomic rope drop, something

1:05:19

that could be only performed by him. And

1:05:22

that's when he thought of the iron claw. It came

1:05:24

to him when he found himself in a match in

1:05:26

Edmonton with his opponent on top of him, Fritz on

1:05:29

his back, the opponent's legs wrapped around Fritz with his

1:05:31

head tucked under Fritz's chin. Fritz then

1:05:33

placed his right hand around the opponent's head,

1:05:35

dug in with his fingernails, applying pressure to

1:05:37

the temples. The

1:05:39

other man screamed his pain as a bit of

1:05:41

blood started to flow from the temples and falling

1:05:43

to the ground. The crowd goes fucking crazy. And

1:05:46

since Fritz knew about the Nazis' iron cross,

1:05:48

he decided to call that move the iron

1:05:50

claw. At least that's how he said he came up with it.

1:05:54

Other accounts would say that the bleeding was planned long before

1:05:56

the match, and that his new move was not spontaneous,

1:05:58

but rather… You know, they've been working

1:06:00

it out in practice. I'm gonna believe that

1:06:02

account. No fucking way. Then

1:06:05

this kind of wrestling, you just go off script

1:06:07

and dig your fingernails into another dude's face so

1:06:09

hard, they start to genuinely scream in

1:06:11

pain and bleed from their temples onto

1:06:13

the mat. Most of

1:06:16

the bleeding you see in pro wrestling, by the way, comes

1:06:18

from something called bleeding. I think it used to

1:06:20

happen a lot more than it does now. Based on what

1:06:22

I've remembered as a kid and what I've seen in videos.

1:06:25

It's when you, they would take these razor blades or like

1:06:27

a little part of a razor blade and

1:06:29

they used to cut into the skin during a match and

1:06:32

that blade would be hidden before the match within some

1:06:34

strapping. Some of the fabric used to hold the mat in

1:06:36

place. And then

1:06:38

that blade would be secretly taken out after

1:06:40

the match has been going on for some time with a

1:06:42

little cut to the head concealed by hair and

1:06:45

the blood coming out of there would mix with all the

1:06:47

sweat. The guys are

1:06:49

fucking sweating like crazy at that point in the match

1:06:52

and it would look like a copious amount of just

1:06:54

bleeding. You can find

1:06:56

videos online with wrestlers like that, especially

1:06:58

like the nature boy Ric Flair. Like,

1:07:00

whoo, just fucking so much bleeding. And

1:07:03

talking about how he did it, talking about how they would blade each other.

1:07:06

It's fucking crazy how these guys would bleed so much.

1:07:08

So much sometimes they would need to

1:07:10

get stitches or staples in their head after matches to

1:07:12

stop the bleeding. And at least Ric

1:07:14

Flair didn't seem to think anything of it. I

1:07:17

mean, there's pictures of him where it looks like he's dying. Whatever

1:07:20

his true origin, the iron claw made Fritz

1:07:22

a superstar. Fritz would go on to use

1:07:24

two kinds of the hold, sometimes applying it to his

1:07:26

opponent's heads, other times he'd grab

1:07:28

their bellies. And it was the head hold

1:07:30

that really took off, which makes sense. The

1:07:32

belly grab probably just looked like an

1:07:35

aggressive form of tickling. A

1:07:37

tickling finishing move though. That

1:07:39

would be very entertaining if done

1:07:41

right. Ladies and gentlemen,

1:07:43

now for the main event. Hulk

1:07:46

Hogan faces off against

1:07:49

Michael the Tickler Myers.

1:07:53

Is that like a dude just like Michael Myers

1:07:55

from Halloween movies? Come in and just tickle

1:07:57

the shit out of him until he can't breathe. Passes

1:08:00

out, I'm not gonna lie brother. The

1:08:02

Hulkster was scared in that ring tonight. I

1:08:04

couldn't breathe. It was fun at first,

1:08:07

but I just wouldn't quit. Right?

1:08:09

To the power of Hulkamania, I will avenge his

1:08:11

defeat, brother. But first, I'm gonna have to get

1:08:13

some therapy, brother. I think I

1:08:15

surely fucked my head up, brother. Might have some kind

1:08:17

of tickled PTSD. Feeling real

1:08:20

twitchy, brother. Afraid to be touched. The Hulkster,

1:08:22

might need to sleep alone for a while.

1:08:24

You feel me, brother? Uh,

1:08:27

interestingly, this finishing move would be incredibly easy to

1:08:29

counter in real life. Right? Like

1:08:31

when the iron claw was applied to, you know, in real life,

1:08:33

you could have just like, just pushed his arm away. No

1:08:36

one's grip is so strong that another man, strong

1:08:38

enough to be a professional wrestler, couldn't

1:08:40

overpower, you know, somebody trying to squeeze your head

1:08:42

with the full strength of your arm. But

1:08:45

this is not about reality. This is about show beats. That's

1:08:48

how they do it in Calgary. Iron

1:08:50

claw made for some amazing optics. Now for it to

1:08:52

be introduced as a wrestler from Berlin, Germany. He

1:08:54

then did the ring, goose steps, several feet,

1:08:56

grab his right wrist, twist it with his

1:08:59

left hand and display the iron claw to

1:09:01

the audience. He reportedly even had

1:09:03

the, uh, iron claw move and

1:09:05

name patented with his

1:09:08

new move and increased showmanship. He gets invited to

1:09:10

Toronto, the Mecca of Canadian wrestling. There

1:09:12

he needed to play the part of a wrestling superstar. He

1:09:15

needed a Cadillac, new suits, even

1:09:17

though he wasn't making superstar money. It was

1:09:19

time for some fake it till you make it. Now

1:09:22

the Von Erics pack up, head to Niagara falls

1:09:24

for some matches before Toronto Fritz drops a or

1:09:26

pops some, uh, Dexedron prescription

1:09:28

stimulate stimulant. My God stay

1:09:31

awake on the long drive to Toronto's maple leaf gardens where

1:09:33

he'll be wrestling. They'll first

1:09:35

wrestle there December 1st, but December 29th will

1:09:38

bring him the most success when

1:09:40

Fritz and Carl von Schober beat

1:09:42

national wrestling association champion, whipper,

1:09:44

Billy Watson and Yukon Eric.

1:09:47

Love these names for the Canadian open

1:09:49

tag team championship. Following the

1:09:51

victory, Fritz and Doris loaded up the Cadillac headed

1:09:54

to Texas. He's from family returning

1:09:56

to Niagara falls for January 6th,

1:09:58

wrestling match. He'll keep performing

1:10:00

in Canada until the summer after

1:10:03

that when he meets Walter Sieber in Minneapolis

1:10:05

who's impressed with the young man's look. Sieber

1:10:09

wrestled as Waldo von Sieber or

1:10:12

Baron von Sieber, an evil German. Fritz

1:10:15

suggests that Waldo become Fritz's younger

1:10:17

brother from Berlin, Waldo von Erich.

1:10:21

And they'll become a successful duo before Fritz gets another

1:10:23

offer from a promoter in the

1:10:25

US, which sets him up to work in the

1:10:27

St. Louis territory, owned by promoter Sam Mucknick, one

1:10:30

of the most lucrative popular wrestling territories in the country at

1:10:32

that time. Once again, the family

1:10:34

packs up and moves, just fucking bouncing around like they're in

1:10:36

the circus. February 1,

1:10:39

1957, Fritz makes his St. Louis debut,

1:10:41

defeating Bill Melby. Melby was

1:10:43

the NWA Texas champion and

1:10:46

coholder of the NWA Tag Team

1:10:48

Championship belt. Fritz will

1:10:50

continue his St. Louis campaign throughout the spring. On

1:10:53

May 15, 1957, Doris would give birth

1:10:56

to the family's second son, Kevin Ross

1:10:58

Atkinson in Belleville, Illinois. Family

1:11:00

now moves back to Niagara Falls, someone's

1:11:03

bouncing around, not real glamorous right now. Their

1:11:06

Fritz will mostly defeat opponent after

1:11:08

opponent, sometimes drawing, sometimes lose by

1:11:10

disqualification, but always winning the crowd's

1:11:12

attention. Then they return to St. Louis again.

1:11:15

By August, Fritz is ready for a vacation, so

1:11:17

after losing a decision in St. Louis to Edward

1:11:20

Carpentier, he takes his family once again

1:11:22

to Niagara Falls. But it's time for

1:11:24

a vacation, a five-day fishing trip, at

1:11:26

least Fritz's idea of a vacation. Then

1:11:29

they return to Toronto in September to fight

1:11:31

future NWA World Champion Pat O'Connor. Following

1:11:34

that win, Fritz thought he'd struck gold. We

1:11:37

get an offer from Morris Sigel to wrestle down

1:11:39

in Texas. Immediately hires a truck to

1:11:41

pull this mobile home to Houston for $1,000, but then Sigel was

1:11:44

hospitalized for a heart attack two

1:11:46

days after making the offer. With no

1:11:49

contacts, bills in the line, the Von Eriks now

1:11:51

move their mobile home to a trailer park in

1:11:53

Minneapolis. He'll

1:11:56

continue wrestling up north, mostly in Toronto and Buffalo,

1:11:58

beating Pat O'Connor and Whipper Bill. Billy Watson

1:12:00

with Gene Kniskey, Halloween

1:12:03

1957, Dallas April 4th 1958 Fritz

1:12:05

wins the Texas

1:12:07

Brass Nux Championship from Billy Curry, a rough

1:12:09

man who played football for the Chicago Bears.

1:12:12

He'll then fight again in Dallas April 18th against

1:12:14

Pepper Gomez and then back to Winnipeg in

1:12:16

the snowy north. Before

1:12:19

he makes it to Canada the last sudden and unexpected death

1:12:21

hits the family or the first excuse me not last first.

1:12:24

Spring of 1958 while Fritz was out wrestling

1:12:26

Doris' 14 year old younger brother David reported

1:12:28

to his mom that he'd been experiencing bad

1:12:30

headaches. There was now a tingling

1:12:32

sensation on one side of his face and he couldn't talk

1:12:35

very well all of a sudden. This is all looking real

1:12:37

bad. He goes to the doctor,

1:12:39

undergoes a battery test. They diagnose him with a

1:12:41

tumor that has covered the entire base of his

1:12:43

brain and then he passes away

1:12:45

during surgery. I literally adored

1:12:47

him Doris will say. He was just

1:12:49

perfect. Doris of course has

1:12:51

no idea this is the very beginning of

1:12:54

the terrible family tragedy she'll have to endure. Meanwhile

1:12:57

Fritz is still out wrestling. Gotta pay the

1:12:59

bills. Over the summer of 1958

1:13:01

he'll team up with Hans Herman to win the

1:13:03

NWA World Tag Team Championship. Also

1:13:06

that summer July 22nd 1958 Doris gives birth to another baby

1:13:08

boy. They

1:13:11

name their third son David after

1:13:13

Doris' brother. After

1:13:15

the birth Fritz will then head to North

1:13:17

Carolina and

1:13:19

yeah Fritz will then head to

1:13:21

North Carolina. I think I don't know why I

1:13:23

just said third it's second well I guess there

1:13:25

was the miscarriage but yeah it's Jack and then

1:13:28

David so second son. After

1:13:30

the birth Fritz will then head to North Carolina

1:13:32

for a four month wrestling stint there on September

1:13:34

8th he'll beat Gory Guerrero real name

1:13:37

Salvador one of Mexico's greatest wrestlers

1:13:39

at that time. His son Chavo,

1:13:41

Eddie, Hector and Mondo will also go on to

1:13:43

become wrestlers just like the Von Eric boys. Actually

1:13:46

Eddie Guerrero Latino Heat will

1:13:49

become one of the most famous wrestlers in

1:13:51

the world in the early 2000s wrestling for

1:13:53

WWE Smackdown. The Latino Heat will

1:13:56

beat Brock Lesnar to take the championship. Back

1:13:58

to 1958 October. 13th in Charlotte

1:14:01

Fritz and Waldo von Eric will beat George

1:14:03

Becker and Mike Clancy to win the NWA

1:14:06

Southern States Tag Team Championship. So many fucking

1:14:08

championships. Feels like everybody had a belt. When

1:14:11

Fritz returns to Dallas in November of 1958 he

1:14:14

and Doris now use their income tax return

1:14:16

just over a thousand dollars to

1:14:18

return to Niagara Falls and

1:14:21

now they live in Sunny Acres trailer park there. Crazy

1:14:24

he's doing really well now right compared

1:14:26

to other restaurants of the day. He's fighting in

1:14:28

arena matches sometimes he's winning multiple championships

1:14:31

and they still need money for an income tax

1:14:33

return to move a trailer into another trailer park.

1:14:36

Fritz was now wondering if all this was too much right

1:14:39

he thought about buying a bait and tackle shop down in

1:14:41

Texas just go back home spend

1:14:43

more time with the family really making

1:14:45

him rethink everything his wife Doris also undergoing

1:14:48

a serious health scare when she has an

1:14:50

operation to remove it possibly cancerous tumor from

1:14:52

her from her neck. Might make

1:14:54

him think of her brother David. Seems

1:14:57

like her time on earth might not be

1:14:59

long now every moment moment feels precious fortunately

1:15:02

the tumor is benign and for the time being

1:15:04

Fritz keeps wrestling but with the idea that he

1:15:06

should be looking for a way out. Then

1:15:09

tragedy strikes again. Before

1:15:12

we go over the first tragedy that will be associated with

1:15:14

the curse of the von eric's time

1:15:16

for our second of two mid show sponsor breaks. If

1:15:18

you'd like to avoid these interruptions you can sign up

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on patreon to get the entire time so catalog ad

1:15:23

free. Thanks to those

1:15:25

of you who listen to those sponsors I hope if you heard

1:15:27

a deal you like to use our codes and landing pages now

1:15:30

for the first curse associated

1:15:32

tragedy. On March 7th

1:15:35

1959 little six-year-old Jack jr. the

1:15:38

oldest von eric boy returning

1:15:40

home from a plane at a friend's house. A

1:15:43

man who had been working out on the parks electrical system

1:15:46

had left his skin hot wire leaning

1:15:48

up against the von Eric's mobile home like

1:15:50

a fucking idiot and when

1:15:52

little Jack brushed up against his wire he is

1:15:54

knocked unconscious you know from

1:15:57

the shock falls down ends up face first

1:15:59

in a puddle of of melting snow and drowns.

1:16:02

Truly a freak accident. And

1:16:04

now Doris has lost your baby brother to

1:16:06

a brain tumor and her firstborn has drowned

1:16:08

right outside her trailer. While I'm

1:16:11

guessing, sources don't say, but I'm guessing she was probably

1:16:13

inside when it happened. Even though

1:16:15

she couldn't have known what had happened, like, you know, what

1:16:17

had happened or what was going to happen. I mean, the

1:16:19

guilt of the what ifs, I

1:16:21

would think would just eat you alive in moments. When

1:16:24

Fritz gets back home, he's traveling from Cleveland.

1:16:26

It's not like anyone could call him, right after it happened,

1:16:29

the days before cell phones, he sees flashing lights in the

1:16:31

crowd before he even gets out of the car. His

1:16:33

friend, tag team partner, Gene Knessky, jumps

1:16:36

into the passenger side and gently breaks

1:16:38

the terrible news. Fritz

1:16:41

was, as you can imagine, fucking devastated.

1:16:44

His firstborn son is dead. He was

1:16:46

so overcome with emotion, he punched out his

1:16:48

driver's side window. I wanted

1:16:50

to die, Fritz would later say. I literally wanted to

1:16:52

die. I felt that way for weeks. And

1:16:55

this sadly would be just the very beginning of

1:16:57

him grieving the loss of a child. Within

1:17:00

days, he'd be back at it, out wrestling. They needed

1:17:02

the money, still had contracted fights on the books. A

1:17:05

couple weeks later, as he's driving back from near Buffalo,

1:17:07

Fritz would claim to have a religious experience. As

1:17:10

he crossed the peace bridge between Canada and

1:17:12

the US at Niagara Falls, he started

1:17:14

to pray. His remaining children would get

1:17:16

back to Texas and get to have a

1:17:18

normal home life. His heart was

1:17:20

no longer in wrestling. He was sick of being on the

1:17:22

road, away from his family. But first, until

1:17:24

he could figure out another way to pay the bills, there

1:17:27

was more wrestling to be done. Fritz

1:17:29

now became more vicious than ever against opponents. Using

1:17:31

the atomic drop, the iron claw at any point.

1:17:34

Sometimes he maybe did go off script a bit,

1:17:36

but the promoters didn't punish him because the fans

1:17:38

loved it. Or maybe he

1:17:40

didn't really go off script. I mean, so hard to

1:17:42

differentiate fact from dramatic storyline with wrestling. He'll

1:17:45

be chosen villain of the year in Ring Magazine's

1:17:47

poll for 1959. The

1:17:50

report noted, the designation of on Eric was made

1:17:52

because of his record against the biggest and the

1:17:54

greatest in the business. His

1:17:56

victories over Yukon Eric, Roy McCarty,

1:17:58

Mighty Atlas, and Ryan bounce with

1:18:00

world champion Pat O'Connor and Ed Miller have

1:18:02

stamped him as one of the frontline contenders

1:18:04

for the World Heavyweight Championship. The

1:18:07

writer claimed that Fritz was the toughest wrestler in

1:18:09

the East adding when Fritz is in action there

1:18:11

is never a dull moment and he doesn't rest

1:18:13

until victory is within reach. But

1:18:16

he was also pegged by some as being potentially too

1:18:18

violent. A Buffalo publication featured

1:18:20

the following as a master

1:18:22

of every dangerous wrestling hold as well as

1:18:24

the fastest and definitely the most fissions superweight

1:18:26

heavyweight or super heavyweight in wrestling. I don't

1:18:29

know why they're, I don't understand their use of the word

1:18:31

fissions there but what it says. Fritz

1:18:34

is responsible for more

1:18:36

serious ring injuries to his opponents and any

1:18:38

other grappler in modern wrestling history. That

1:18:41

article would also quote one of Fritz's

1:18:43

opponents Lord Athol Leighton saying, Von

1:18:46

Erich is a cripler should be barred from the ring

1:18:48

for life he will gladly go so

1:18:50

far as to cause serious injury to his opponent just

1:18:52

to be declared the winner. Now was

1:18:54

that true or just more

1:18:56

wrestling showbiz? Probably some showbiz.

1:18:59

In the early 60s Fritz will keep wrestling he

1:19:02

must have loved still loved it you know at least a little.

1:19:05

Also the money is getting better good enough to

1:19:07

make him reconsider plans of raising the family more

1:19:09

traditionally in Texas. In the early

1:19:11

60s he'll join up with other professional wrestlers Billy

1:19:13

Red Lions, Elio DiPaolo and

1:19:15

Dick Beyer aka the Destroyer

1:19:18

aka Dr. X. Finally

1:19:20

a dick shows up again. Feels like we've had

1:19:22

a bit of a dick drought here. Anyway the

1:19:24

three of these guys joined forces to buy ownership

1:19:26

of a Rochester New York wrestling promotion from Pedro

1:19:28

Martinez and this will give Fritz his

1:19:30

first taste of running a promotion what was to become his

1:19:32

main focus for the rest of his professional life soon. February

1:19:36

3rd, 1960. Doris gives birth

1:19:38

to another boy this

1:19:40

the fourth Von Erich son whom they

1:19:42

named Carrie. So sorry when

1:19:44

I said a second earlier there's other has

1:19:47

already been four. There's Jack, Kevin,

1:19:49

David and Carrie. Carrie

1:19:52

born premature almost died Fritz returned from

1:19:54

the first support but quickly

1:19:56

had to leave again couldn't afford to

1:19:58

miss matches. For the

1:20:00

sorry little positive here this cold also

1:20:02

also find a side effect of this

1:20:04

virus crazy brain fog which

1:20:06

is great for doing this. I

1:20:09

work away from home most the rest of your

1:20:12

returning to st louis to be on the televised

1:20:14

wrestling at the chase on december twenty fourth nineteen

1:20:16

sixty. Will defeat frank Townsend

1:20:18

who was on february third to

1:20:20

do kimaka in a judo jacket

1:20:22

match. Duke is one

1:20:24

of fritz's regular nemesis nemesis he

1:20:27

was advertised as a world war two villain in

1:20:29

this case a japanese soldier judo

1:20:32

jacket match to gimmick where both men

1:20:34

wear martial arts gi and wrestle like

1:20:36

normal. December first

1:20:38

nineteen sixty one for its defeats the so-called

1:20:40

missing link to get wrestling

1:20:42

name to become detroit's us champion. Now

1:20:45

this time is that me those expand and his

1:20:47

personal history is rewritten to fit his character. Now

1:20:50

says in nineteen forty five germany promotional

1:20:53

materials as they said fourteen

1:20:55

year old fritz was lifted weights with friends

1:20:57

on an otherwise deserted playgrounds on a fucking

1:21:00

playground yeah that's in wait as kids do.

1:21:04

What a battalion of nazi troops walked by

1:21:07

fritz he catches the attention of the commander the commander

1:21:09

waves him over the commander seen

1:21:11

for its size. I

1:21:13

think he's a deserter but then for it says no

1:21:15

he tried to join the army but he was too

1:21:17

young they turn away because of the days age.

1:21:21

Now the commander says you know your liar

1:21:23

you basically there's no fucking way that you

1:21:25

somebody is strong as big as you could

1:21:27

be so young and just swings a

1:21:29

bat at the boy's face as one does. But

1:21:32

then fritz grabs the bat right

1:21:35

and fucking rips out of hand toss aside

1:21:37

and then body slams and pins is not

1:21:39

the commander to the ground. The

1:21:42

commander that orders his troops to arrest for it

1:21:44

but nobody moves or scared the

1:21:46

14 year old kid has him shaking in their

1:21:48

fucking nazi boots. Even

1:21:50

though you know they would have all had guns but doesn't

1:21:52

matter after a few tense moments in

1:21:54

the standoff a sergeant moves to arrest the boy

1:21:57

and then fritz yeah yeah yeah fucking body slams

1:21:59

that motherfucker. And then Fritz

1:22:01

just runs off with blazing speed. Nobody shoots at

1:22:03

him. He runs into a nearby building Whereas

1:22:06

luck would have it. You know who's inside a

1:22:08

wrestling promoter? Hello

1:22:11

how far-fetched these stories are and

1:22:14

that guy tells him he's like, you know what you're so strong and

1:22:16

good at taking out yet You should be a wrestler and

1:22:18

then young Fritz tells that dude already

1:22:21

was planning on it, dude When

1:22:23

the war is over, I'm gonna head to

1:22:25

America and kick the toughest Yankee ass I can find Actually

1:22:29

the promotional materials would quote him the same. I'm

1:22:31

going to do my best to wreck America One

1:22:34

man at a time. I'm

1:22:36

coming for you brother. I'm coming for all of

1:22:39

America You'll be red white and

1:22:41

blue from all the blood loss and bruises.

1:22:43

The Fritzinator will be putting on your ass

1:22:45

brother this

1:22:47

article reported that Fritz now flew his own

1:22:49

Cessna 170 airplane around the country from match

1:22:51

to match and And

1:22:54

that he'd never ever been

1:22:56

nice to a single girl Of

1:22:59

course is all nonsense except for the part about

1:23:01

the plane I had his pilot's license and

1:23:03

he actually was flying himself to matches, which is pretty badass

1:23:06

I love that they added the girl stuff and

1:23:09

another thing this Nazi

1:23:11

America-hating piece of shit is

1:23:15

consistently rude to girls

1:23:18

boo boo

1:23:26

Yeah I

1:23:29

love the silly small crowd booing

1:23:31

but Little

1:23:34

hiss in there April 14th 1962 Fritz

1:23:36

now beats George Gorgeous George aka

1:23:38

George Wagner Gorgeous George

1:23:41

created the greatest heel attraction of the 1940s and

1:23:43

50s one that continues to be copied in some

1:23:45

form to this day He was

1:23:47

the first wrestler to grow out his hair long

1:23:49

and diet blonde a Visual that

1:23:51

implied the time he was either gay or a

1:23:54

sissy Right according to the conventions

1:23:56

of the day and to be

1:23:58

either gay or a sissy unacceptable to wrestling

1:24:00

crowds of that time. He

1:24:02

would strut around with pride, had a valet

1:24:04

spray the ring with perfume before he entered,

1:24:07

and would hand out Georgie pins to angry

1:24:09

fans. I love it. Poor

1:24:12

George was actually legitimately ill when he wrestled Fritz in 1962.

1:24:16

Sadly, he died about 18 months later. For

1:24:19

the next several months, Fritz will play in

1:24:21

San Francisco, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Fort Wayne, Denver,

1:24:23

Amarillo, and more. In Amarillo,

1:24:25

he'll win the North American Heavyweight Championship

1:24:27

belt. He'll go on to win

1:24:29

the Southwest Tag Team Championship with Gene Koninski,

1:24:32

Konitsky, as well as the Omaha World

1:24:34

Championship. In August of 1962,

1:24:37

Boxing Illustrated Wrestling News ran

1:24:39

an article entitled, The Violent World of

1:24:42

Fritz von Erich. And Fritz

1:24:44

will be quoted, "'I am the only man in

1:24:46

the world "'who can execute the iron claw properly.' "'Sure, a

1:24:48

lot of other guys try it, "'but they

1:24:50

soon give it up as a bad

1:24:52

job "'because they just haven't got enough strength

1:24:54

"'in their fingers. "'Me? "'I can

1:24:56

crush a baseball on my bare hand. "'He

1:24:59

could definitely not do that. "'That's a lie.'" But

1:25:01

that's some badass shit to say. By

1:25:04

the summer of 1962, Fritz was back in

1:25:06

Texas, hopefully to stay. He was still

1:25:08

considering buying a bait in tackle shops, supposedly. But

1:25:11

when promoters learned that he was in town, invitations

1:25:13

would roll in for him to wrestle. In

1:25:16

September in Lubbock, he won the North

1:25:18

American Heavyweight Championship for the second time.

1:25:20

A few weeks later, Texas State Athletic

1:25:22

Commissioner vacated it, though, because

1:25:24

Fritz and his opponent, Dory Funk, had

1:25:27

an impromptu rematch in the parking lot that led to

1:25:29

a car window being broken. Right?

1:25:32

Drama, drama that sells tickets. October

1:25:34

4th, 1962, Fritz will beat Mr. Clean. Seriously,

1:25:38

the character was a ripoff of the TV commercial

1:25:40

character, Mr. Clean, who wore white

1:25:42

clothing, sported a bald head, and hawked

1:25:44

a Mr. Clean laundry detergent. The Mr.

1:25:46

Clean of wrestling wanted

1:25:48

to eliminate dirty wrestlers and clean up

1:25:50

the sport. Nice. November,

1:25:54

Fritz would lose to cowboy Bob Ellis when Fritz

1:25:56

refused to break the iron claw after

1:25:58

cowboy Bob already submitted. Endings

1:26:01

like that would give the hero the win but allow

1:26:03

the villain to claim he'd actually won good for future

1:26:05

bookings. April 5th 1963

1:26:07

Fritz repeats that move when he returns to

1:26:09

St. Louis to force a concession from Johnny

1:26:12

Valentine and then is disqualified

1:26:14

for refusing to break the hold after the

1:26:16

bell. June of 1963

1:26:18

he beats Lord Atholatyn to win

1:26:20

the NWA Detroit and Chicago version of the US

1:26:22

Championship for another second time. Then

1:26:25

he'll repeat that in October of 1963. He'll

1:26:28

be placed at number 12 in the World Wrestling Ratings in

1:26:30

July of 1963 in the issue of

1:26:32

ring wrestling. He is rated number

1:26:34

7 in the world by Boxing Illustrated Wrestling News

1:26:36

that same month. He'll

1:26:38

give quotes to magazines, debate his

1:26:40

opponents, make rivalries, sometimes with men he

1:26:43

worked with on a tag team, make

1:26:45

it seem more intense you know these rivalries than they actually

1:26:47

were. Say stuff like, let those bums

1:26:49

come to me if they want to crack at my

1:26:51

title. I like this kind of carrying on.

1:26:54

They take the lumps and I take the

1:26:56

money. Will said brother. They

1:26:59

take the lumps and I take the dumps. Wait nah that's

1:27:01

not how I wanted it to come out. It's

1:27:03

better the way you said it brother. Fritz

1:27:06

pulling off other gimmicks as well. According

1:27:08

to the December 1963 issue of

1:27:11

Wrestling Review Fritz had insured his right

1:27:13

hand for more than one million dollars with

1:27:15

Lloyd's of London. His right

1:27:17

hand of course being the iron claw. He'll

1:27:20

claim to have studied judo in Tokyo now. Said

1:27:23

he hadn't been pinned in two years both of those

1:27:25

bald-faced lies. After

1:27:27

one of his promotional ploys occurs during St.

1:27:29

Louis interviews in which he pokes

1:27:31

his finger at the cameraman who is essentially telling him to

1:27:33

wrap up and growl. You don't tell me when it's time

1:27:35

to wrap up. I'll tell you when it's time to wrap

1:27:37

up. I'll pay the extra time out of my own pocket.

1:27:40

You tell him brother. Something

1:27:42

true is that Fritz was expanding his business. He

1:27:45

bought a 22 unit apartment building, two

1:27:47

laundromats and one of the largest

1:27:49

service stations in Dallas around this time. Things

1:27:51

are going pretty damn well. About

1:27:57

to leave the world arrested behind her. Gone. The

1:28:02

on with a pandemic. Know that

1:28:04

mice? You're nineteen sixties Bumi would buy

1:28:06

up a great deal. A land he adores would make

1:28:08

a whole bunch of investments that would make them rich.

1:28:11

March. Second eighteen, Sixty Four Doors gives birth to

1:28:13

the Monarchs This and much. Soda.

1:28:16

For my survival for it's part of the scenic

1:28:18

your home, your courts Texas. Then. Purchase

1:28:20

more land around it eventually turn into

1:28:22

a hundred and fifty acre carrots. I.

1:28:25

Got ah this is where the Von Erich

1:28:27

son's would grow up. They become the same

1:28:29

time outdoors use the fritz was a kid.

1:28:32

We. Grew up alone seven Mana regulators

1:28:34

I just ourselves. Or just one

1:28:36

of the first lessons we learned was at the only people you

1:28:38

had to count on was your family. Growing.

1:28:41

Up That's extra sad about this build a tragedy.

1:28:43

it's coming for them. They were very tight family.

1:28:46

Growing up, the Von Erich boys love the kind

1:28:49

of charm country existence. That. People are

1:28:51

often have in mind when the talk about the way life used

1:28:53

to be. Kids would rob

1:28:55

rounds of the words. Had eight Labrador retrievers?

1:28:57

Yes, eight dogs. He. Drank apparently

1:29:00

thirty two gallons of milk a week.

1:29:02

Since. One. Set fire to

1:29:04

feel trying to kill one mouse. The

1:29:07

covered local speed limit signs with mud see

1:29:09

to read i'm just highjinks. I

1:29:11

love I loved him to be so it as a kid. We.

1:29:14

Have the boys got to our hand for it's

1:29:16

would be the disciplinary him he would you like

1:29:18

quick painful justice with level leather strap. Aggressive,

1:29:21

I know, but also pretty common with upon us

1:29:23

kids back then. Brits. Love the

1:29:25

hell out of his sons! He taught him how to hunt, how

1:29:27

to ride dirt bikes, and course how to wrestle. Source:

1:29:29

Wrestling. The Time: Seven Six,

1:29:32

Nineteen Sixty three that a wrestling ring said a

1:29:34

behind the house. For. It's also told

1:29:36

his sons fight back of a bully was picking on. To.

1:29:39

Tell him little harder to get your nose bloodied

1:29:41

but your self respect will never go with. Can.

1:29:44

Would later say that the fight he became a a

1:29:46

natural thing to do. Such a natural thing to do

1:29:48

for him his brothers that they would go to other

1:29:50

boys their own age and politely ask them if they

1:29:52

would like to fight. He

1:29:55

said now because or pick on them, but because we thought it was

1:29:57

a natural thing to do. a

1:29:59

so funny Asking other kids if

1:30:01

they would like to throw hands like just like the same way

1:30:03

you would approach a kid and ask him if He wanted to

1:30:05

play, you know basketball Excuse me

1:30:08

I was wondering if you would like to fight And

1:30:10

if your friend would also like to fight my brother can

1:30:12

join in and we can all brawl two on two I

1:30:14

think we'd have a delightful time We

1:30:16

can even agree to stop when someone yells mercy if that's what

1:30:18

you'd prefer The Von

1:30:21

Erich boys would take turns walking around the house and their

1:30:23

dad's huge size 14 size 14 wrestling shoes They'd

1:30:26

watch his matches if they were close to home

1:30:28

You'd go to their Pee-wee football games as often

1:30:30

as touring allowed. They're all big football players, too

1:30:33

Fritz work out with his sons lifting weights in the gym He

1:30:36

had set up around the house told him that

1:30:38

they should be in sports because sports was a good test

1:30:40

for life When Carrie became

1:30:42

interested in the discus Fritz, you know former

1:30:44

discus star built a ring in the pasture

1:30:46

be ring in a pasture behind the house

1:30:49

He collected films of famous discus throwers and coach Carrie for

1:30:51

up to two hours a day And

1:30:54

now around the time Fritz starts to play down his nazi story

1:30:57

He's thinking about becoming a good guy babyface though.

1:30:59

He can't abandon his popular villain persona quite yet

1:31:02

He does change the story about him slamming that Nazi commander

1:31:04

at age 14 though says that uh

1:31:07

while he was born in Berlin He actually was taken very

1:31:09

quickly to the US where he was raised He

1:31:12

also kind of walked back some of the viciousness saying

1:31:14

that he never tried to seriously injure opponents with the

1:31:16

iron claw April

1:31:18

1964 issue of resting world rates Fritz amongst

1:31:20

the best in the world ranks

1:31:22

him as number one contender the number

1:31:24

one contender for Vern Ganye's AWA championship

1:31:26

belt and What happens

1:31:28

next? Well again told the line between facts

1:31:31

and fiction allegedly while Fritz was doing

1:31:33

very well for himself and his family's a pro wrestler He

1:31:36

was also still considering buying that bait and tackle shop

1:31:39

He claimed that he'd all but bought the property and loaded

1:31:41

his family into a car to go start a new life

1:31:44

When he got a call from Ed McLemore owner

1:31:46

of a failing wrestling promotion that ran shows in Dallas

1:31:48

Fort Worth in Houston He reminded

1:31:50

Fritz did a good deal with Channel 4 to use

1:31:52

airtime for promotion if Fritz would sign a contract Crowds

1:31:55

would increase money would come rolling in best talent would

1:31:57

join him and then Fritz could not only be star

1:32:00

he could run the promotion. And Fritz

1:32:02

decided, well I guess the bait and tackle shot

1:32:04

could wait. And he signed the contract

1:32:06

and became a big time promoter. That's a

1:32:08

cool story, but probably not how it went down. Fritz

1:32:11

was already familiar with Max Lemore. He'd wrestled in

1:32:13

his territory for years. He probably knew the tides

1:32:15

of wrestling were shifting. Financial

1:32:18

success depended more on whether one could do a

1:32:20

good interview to entice a crowd to come out

1:32:22

rather than wrestle good enough for the few who might happen

1:32:24

to show up. Fritz

1:32:27

now continues to wrestle and also to work more

1:32:29

and more on being a promoter. January 5,

1:32:32

1965, Fritz defeats Pepper Gomez, becomes

1:32:34

the first NWA Texas champion. Then

1:32:37

in March, he beats NWA world champion

1:32:40

Lou Sess

1:32:42

in a so-called Texas deathmatch, setting

1:32:45

up a potential rematch in the future. In

1:32:47

June, Fritz and killer Karl Cox

1:32:49

beat Eddie Graham and Sam Steamboat

1:32:52

to claim the NWA Texas tag team title.

1:32:55

Fritz is suddenly at the height of his popularity,

1:32:57

especially in Texas. He's making about 75

1:32:59

grand a year from one estimate. Great

1:33:01

money in those days, equivalent to about 700 grand

1:33:03

a year today. Fritz poised

1:33:05

to strike while the island is hot. You

1:33:08

know, keep it going. He will name his

1:33:10

promotion world class championship wrestling. It'll

1:33:12

eventually put Ed Macklemore out of business, though

1:33:14

Macklemore was still in charge nominally. The world

1:33:16

couldn't think that Fritz arranged his own matches.

1:33:19

He'll win the Texas championship for the third time January

1:33:21

11, 1966. And

1:33:24

at that point, Texas now definitively Fritz

1:33:26

von Eric territory. He's the top dog

1:33:28

in Texas. Now

1:33:30

they start to draw major wrestlers to

1:33:32

the Dallas Sportatorium, new

1:33:34

headquarters of world class championship wrestling. Channel

1:33:37

11 starts televising Fritz's weekly matches in Fort

1:33:39

Worth, channel 39 showing the matches in Dallas.

1:33:43

They became the highest rated shows for each station. Bad

1:33:45

guys always seem to win in Fort Worth. Then the good

1:33:47

guys get the revenge in Dallas. Initially,

1:33:50

like most wrestling shows at the time, it was a

1:33:52

two camera shoot with one camera on a stationary wide

1:33:54

shot. Second camera on a Dolly. But

1:33:57

now Mickey Grant, one of the

1:33:59

station's producers, switches to a multi-camera

1:34:01

shoot featuring six camera operators, some

1:34:04

using shoulder mounted cams, which

1:34:06

were great to get close-ups of the in-ring

1:34:08

action. Inspired by how promoter Don

1:34:10

King was producing boxing events, Grant also starts

1:34:12

putting microphones in the ring to pick up

1:34:14

the sounds of the wrestler, striking one another,

1:34:16

the reverberations from the ring. WCCW

1:34:19

also begins incorporating the relatively new

1:34:21

feature of instant replay and

1:34:23

that of slow motion technology. Their

1:34:26

ability to replay portions of the match would

1:34:28

especially highlight the brutality of Texas

1:34:31

wrestling, particularly Fritz and later his

1:34:33

sons as well, notorious for

1:34:35

not caring how hard they were hitting their opponents. Slow

1:34:38

motion replays will show every bit of that impact.

1:34:41

The star of these new shows is always Fritz,

1:34:43

still a great villain. On the

1:34:45

TV show he'll grab the microphone from the

1:34:47

announcer, turn to the camera, threaten his opponents

1:34:49

venomously, with hypnotic to watch. His

1:34:52

villainous ways so believable sometimes some of the

1:34:54

fans of his wrestling promotion company would attack

1:34:56

him. On one occasion a

1:34:58

fan started climbing over the top rope with a

1:35:00

knife in hand as Fritz the hated villain wrestled.

1:35:03

Fritz had to knock him down and then uh fucking

1:35:05

kick him out. On another occasion

1:35:07

a fan stabbed him in a leg with a three

1:35:10

inch hat pin as he walked back to his

1:35:12

dressing room. On another occasion an old

1:35:14

woman tried to beat him with her crutch. Fritz

1:35:17

broke the woman's crutch and then she picked up the

1:35:19

pieces and fucking threw those at him. I love it.

1:35:22

I wish I knew how old she was when she did that.

1:35:24

I hope she was over 70, just full of piss and vinegar.

1:35:27

Too bad they couldn't sign her to Fritz's promotion. Maybe she could

1:35:29

have been the tickler. Granny grab

1:35:31

hands or something. Fritz has the iron

1:35:33

claw. Granny grab hands has

1:35:35

fingers of steel. November

1:35:38

28th 1966. Fritz

1:35:40

seeks to expand his business again by signing

1:35:43

with Nippon promotion, a wrestling promotion in Japan

1:35:45

and makes his first appearance across the Pacific.

1:35:48

Japan a country where fans just as fanatical

1:35:50

about pro wrestling as Americans, Canadians and Mexicans

1:35:52

worth of time. Thanks mostly

1:35:55

to the late great Ricky Dozen, a

1:35:57

Korean-born Japanese wrestling superstar. He

1:36:00

came from Korea to Japan to become a

1:36:02

sumo wrestler, but quickly found success as an

1:36:04

American-style professional wrestler instead. After

1:36:07

his retirement from sumo wrestling in 1950, Ricky

1:36:09

Dozen became a black marketer, worked

1:36:12

with Americans to purchase belongings from U.S. soldiers

1:36:14

departing Korea, and then would sell those to

1:36:16

the Japanese. But then in

1:36:18

1951, sites to pivot to professional wrestling

1:36:20

for a new promotion sponsored by a

1:36:22

Honolulu businessman named Mo Lipton. After

1:36:25

one month of training, Ricky Dozen made his professional

1:36:27

wrestling debut at the Yogoku Memorial

1:36:30

Hall in Tokyo, October 28, 1951, wrestling his opponent

1:36:32

to a 10-minute time limit

1:36:36

draw. But as an international breakout

1:36:38

would be in matches against the Canadian Sharp

1:36:40

Brothers in 1954, with his

1:36:42

Western opponents portraying themselves as villains to

1:36:44

cheering Japanese crowds. Then, in

1:36:46

an interesting twist, Ricky Dozen, one

1:36:48

of the first Japanese wrestlers to be cheered

1:36:51

as a babyface, a good guy in post-World

1:36:53

War II America, was popular in

1:36:55

the States, but more popular in

1:36:57

Japan. Acquiring nightclubs

1:36:59

there, hotels, condos, one

1:37:01

building of condominiums, he painted a distinctive R on

1:37:04

the side of the building to represent his name.

1:37:07

After his wrestling matches, he would often immediately

1:37:09

go to Ricky's sports palace and

1:37:11

start drinking without cleaning up any wounds. He

1:37:13

was known to joke with the bar staff at the

1:37:15

place he owned, say stuff like work was awful today

1:37:18

while being covered in blood maybe from a large cut

1:37:20

in his face from the match. Then

1:37:23

December 8, 1963, Ricky Dozen

1:37:25

is stabbed once by Katsuishi

1:37:27

Murata, member of an important

1:37:29

Yakuza organization. The Yakuza, like

1:37:31

the Japanese Mafia, think very

1:37:34

similar to the Mafia in America, after

1:37:36

an altercation in a nightclub. We

1:37:39

should suck the Yakuza one of these days. Anyway,

1:37:41

Ricky Dozen alleged that this gangster Murata

1:37:43

stepped on his shoe, he demands an

1:37:46

apology. Murata refuses, the two begin

1:37:49

to argue, which eventually leads to Ricky Dozen punching

1:37:51

Murata in the face, knocks him against the wall.

1:37:54

Then Ricky Dozen mounts Murata, continues to punch him down on

1:37:56

the ground until Murata pulls out a knife, stab Ricky Dozen

1:37:58

once in the face, and then he is shot. stomach with

1:38:00

it. Both now immediately flee the

1:38:02

scene Ricky Dozen is taken to Sano Hospital where

1:38:04

a doctor decrees the wound not to be too

1:38:06

serious but advises that Ricky Dozen

1:38:09

should have surgery and not eat and drink for

1:38:11

a little while. Surgery is

1:38:13

successful, returns home but goes against the doctor's

1:38:15

orders, starts eating and drinking that very same

1:38:18

day, he's supposed to wait, I

1:38:20

don't know, 24, 48 hours or something, sends his assistant

1:38:22

to the store for sushi and sake. Due

1:38:25

to drinking and eating way too much,

1:38:27

he bursts his internal stitches, then

1:38:29

has to have a second surgery, then develops

1:38:33

peritonitis and dies at approximately 9.50 pm

1:38:35

December 15th 1963 at the age of

1:38:37

39. One of

1:38:40

so many young strong dudes to

1:38:42

needlessly die in this episode. Tatsuushi

1:38:44

Murata later found guilty manslaughter in October of

1:38:47

64, serves 8 years

1:38:49

in prison, gets released in 1972. Once

1:38:52

back out Murata will visit the grave of

1:38:54

Ricky Dozen every year on December 15th for

1:38:56

the rest of his life to

1:38:58

pay respects to the man he stabbed, the man who beat the

1:39:00

shit out of him and a man

1:39:02

he greatly admired. He even called the

1:39:04

sons of Ricky Dozen annually to apologize.

1:39:07

In the years following his release Murata will eventually

1:39:09

become a very high ranking Yakuza member before he

1:39:11

dies April 9th 2013 of

1:39:14

natural causes. Just an interesting

1:39:16

little side story there. Back to

1:39:18

1966, three years after Ricky Dozen's

1:39:20

death, was Japan ready for a

1:39:22

new wrestling superstar? Fritz Von Erich

1:39:24

thought so. He performed his first

1:39:27

match December 1st 1966 going to a 60 minute draw,

1:39:31

60 minutes against

1:39:33

the Nippon International Tag Team Champions

1:39:36

Shohei Giant Baba and

1:39:38

Michiyaki Toshimura. He

1:39:41

was going to wrestle a giant for the World International

1:39:43

Championship but lose later on however

1:39:45

Fritz will claim that he won. According

1:39:48

to Fritz, I became an overnight success in Japan. A

1:39:50

song was written about my iron claw in me and

1:39:53

the Japanese people even gave me a nickname Tetsu

1:39:56

no sumi which means nails of

1:39:58

iron. None of that was true. But

1:40:00

Wrestling fans of America didn't know that. This

1:40:03

story helped establish the narrative that Fritz was an international

1:40:05

superstar, which will help him

1:40:08

sell more tickets back in Texas and

1:40:10

also help establish Texas as the center

1:40:12

of international wrestling. He'll return to Texas

1:40:14

later that December, bolstering his villainous image further

1:40:16

by attacking opponents before the bell. They are

1:40:18

bloody as soon as the cameras start rolling.

1:40:21

He'll regain the Texas Heavyweight Championship in January of

1:40:23

1967, and with that decide to

1:40:25

pivot his image further away from Nazi, his Nazi

1:40:27

origins. As

1:40:29

in, he'll decide to disavow it completely. The February

1:40:32

1967 issue of Wrestling Review

1:40:34

stated that Fritz's real name was Jack Atkinson,

1:40:36

and he was born in Jewett, Texas, not

1:40:38

Berlin. Nazi image is

1:40:40

now done with, but fans don't care for the

1:40:43

name Jake Atkinson. So he quickly returns to

1:40:45

Fritz von Erich. He also tells

1:40:47

a new story about how he developed the iron claw. He

1:40:50