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KEVIN VON ERICH ON 'THE IRON CLAW', THE SPORTATORIUM, THE FREEBIRDS, LIFE ADVICE FOR EVERYONE, HIS REACTION TO THOSE WHO FEEL HE WAS A STRONG PERSON, SEEING ZAC EFRON AS HIMSELF FOR THE FIRST TIME AND MORE

By Mike Johnson on 2023-12-22 11:00:00

Kevin's Favorite Part of Performing as a Professional Wrestler:

"Mike, you'd have to be me to think this way, but I had so many injuries, I had so many knee surgeries and football before I even got into wrestling and then, shoulder and back and neck and all the 24 years of wrestling, and it's one thing I look back to and I really like that.  It was being in great shape. I wanted to always be in top shape, so I was as strong as I could be, and I was, I could never get tired. I never got tired in the ring, and it was just from staying in shape, and I missed that.   I'm just being in top shape.  Now, when I go to bench, or do curls, or my elbow goes out, or, it's just all these old things.  I want to be able to go to as many spots as you want ...I love being in top shape, Mike. I loved I was always in shape where I never got tired in the ring and I was always, as strong as I could get myself and,  I took care of my, I still, take.  Care [about] what I eat and all that, but I loved to get in that ring and kick hard and fight out hard.  It was just a good stress relief, too. But, it was a rough business, and we're, but we're rough guys and we can take it and  and I hear on YouTube sometimes people talk about how stiff I was and the, I know the word for that is snug.  My dad was that way and my sons are that way. It's the only way to wrestle. We're paid well, you're supposed to be in shape, so get in shape if you're not. And that's the way to...you get out of something only what you put into it and when you pour your guts into wrestling, then you get a great TV rating, you get a great crowd, you just do your best, and I think that's what we did at World Class.  I think it showed."

International Memories:

"The people, in Israel, the people are just phenomenal. As you travel, you see all the people live in the country and in the cities and all, and you see the way the children smile in Africa. They just beam. The children, they're so joyful and they can first out sing at any time.  They're like that in Israel too. The children, their faces just beam when they smile and they can break into songs just like  Africhere.a and Israel are like that. I thought it was just beautiful.  Always enjoyed going back there."

Whether WWF was ever a consideration for Kevin during his in-ring career:

"I worked for all of them, but I didn't have a contract with them or anything. No. In my day, Mike, we were independent contractors.  I worked for each company and this kind, this, we didn't have contracts back then. We were just...I would go to Detroit to work a show, I'd go to Mexico City to work a show, or Tokyo, or Honolulu, and it was like...I was able to do that, it was, to me, I wanted to be able to spend as much time with my children and my family as I could, and I didn't want to be on the road constantly, I wanted to make enough money where I could keep our heads above water, but I didn't want to  spend all my time on the road.  I just wanted to spend time with my family and so I didn't want to get into any of that contract stuff."

Sportatorium Memories:

"It was so old and something about the place, the people right on top of you. And it was just a great place for wrestling and it was also a great place for music because I know Willie Nelson wanted to only play the sports when he came to Dallas and I know Elvis Presley worked in that building a lot when he did the Biggie Jamboree, I guess it was.  They had a show there every week, and so it was a country show.  They.put the ring up for wrestling, it was I think they had boxing there too, in the early days. Oh man, in Japan the rings are perfect, all the buildings are air conditioned, I'd have to say Japan, if it came to where I like to work, because it just they put so much money into it over there,  but and something about the  sport of touring with the people  if you notice a wrestling match, sometimes the people cheer, 'Go, Go' and chart and then, they'll stop when the match really gets going.  This only happens maybe once every few months, they'll stomp their feet, that the building, the whole building will rumble because the crowd  stomps their feet. Mike, we had that every single week in Dallas. We have...you don't hear that in any other place, but you did hear it in that Sportatorium.  The people would stomp their feet and it was a wooden building and it would just hum.  The whole building would hum. It was like it was electrified. It was all that emotion, packed into those 5,500 seats."

Who Kevin Loved Being in the ring with beyond his brothers:

"There was a European wrestler, really good, an expert, a guy named Billy Robinson..  I only wrestled him one time and what a match it was.  I saw it on YouTube and I thought, that there was about it.  I did love that match.  In Japan, when you when you're a main eventer and you go to a place like Japan or something.  The guys you wrestled, they've got the, that date on their calendar circled, they've got pictures of you in their dressing room, in their gym, and they're getting ready for you, and so it's, you got to step it up. That's how I was when I wrestled Billy Robinson.  I was, I knew all about him and I was looking forward to the match and I think I overwhelmed him. I think he underestimated me and maybe that's the match that I had."

Kevin's Response to those who tell him how strong of a person he is:

"Yeah. I've had people tell me that I'm so tough, that how did I do it and all that. And I'll tell you, Mike I'm not so tough there.   This, I had no choice. There was no,  I, if I could've fallen him to the ground and just sunk into it, I probably would have, but I couldn't. I'm a family man. Children and a wife, and I just had to get tough, Mike and that's what, that's a strength we have. If you have to do it, you make yourself do it.   For me, I had to just make myself get busy, do something with my hands, get something where I wasn't thinking about it so much.  But as far as being tough, Mike, it was just, we all get hit with stuff like this.  When we get hit with it, we just have to tough up and fight through it. It's just how the world is.  Complaining about it doesn't make it any better. It's all between you and God anyway, so just Bite. Do your best. Do your best and just say, God be with you. And do your best. You can make it. I guarantee you."

More from Kevin Von Erich on Page 3!

For more on the Iron Claw, click here.

Kevin Von Erich can be found on Instagram at this link.


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