My wife: That was so sad. Was all that true? Me: Mostly, the true story is much sadder.

I couldn't imagine losing 5 kids. Kevin said when Kerry died, it broke his father. Fritz and his wife got divorced, and he ended up dying alone. It's tragic.

Yes, if you walk up to a stranger and tell them, I had four brothers. One died suddenly from an unexpected medical ailment, and the other three all killed themselves in a span of six years. That person would probably find it hard to believe. An overwhelming amount of tragedy.

They lied to me making me think a 5'7 145lbs guy was Kerry Von Erich

You want a movie that shows an exact story exactly how it took place, watch documentaries. This film did an excellent job telling their story while making it entertaining as well

Am I the only one who thinks Zac Efron should have played Kerry Von Erich?

That final scene with Ross and Marshall telling their Dad they'll be his brothers now made me cry.

I feel so bad for Kerry to hide something like that and go through all that pain just to make your dad proud 😢

I don’t care what they got wrong. I know the story. I adore the Von Erich’s. Kevin is a hero to me. We don’t watch movies to get the actual facts. We watch movies for the emotions they conjure up, the adventure they include, and the human element.

Oh my gosh, Kerry's toes already look like they are dying and he's just smiling away. I'm glad the movie mentioned this because I saw an interview with Fritz and said the doctors only took half of Kerry's foot. Much respect for Kerry to continue to wrestle after the amputation of his foot.

Mike did not die "just outside the family home," he died at Lewisville Lake. And Kerry became NWA World Heavyweight Champion on *May* 6, 1984, not March 6. And for any young people who are new to the Von Erich story, Kevin also has two daughters, Kristen & Jillian, who were born before the boys, Ross & Marshall, even though the girls aren't mentioned in the movie.

Crazy they didn’t even involve Chris Von Erich..

I throughly enjoyed The Iron Claw. I think the essence of the Von Erichs’ story was captured in the film. One of the most difficult aspects of the film was watching Mike Von Erich struggle with the brain damage that followed his in-ring injury.

It’s a movie. Not a Documentary. “Lied” is a strong word.

If you understand it's a movie depicting the tragedy, then you're good with the movie. To really go into detail, you would need a miniseries. Very good movie. The scene towards the end where Kerry meets his brothers on the dock got to me.

The guy who played Kerry was way too small, he is only 5ft7, Kerry was 6ft2 250 pounds, he would have been more suited to play Chris if they had Chris in the movie.

To fit everything in a 2 hr film wouldn't be a great idea. For what it was, it was a fantastic movie.

The movie is good. I say 8 out of 10. I thought it could’ve been longer and added more detail in certain areas. I thought it could’ve shown Kerry’s struggle with drugs a lil more and added Lance. It’s crazy how so many movies now are 230 - 3hrs long and don’t need to be yet this movie is barely 2hrs when there’s so much story to tell. But oh well, I enjoyed it overall

Even 30 years later I cried like a baby when they covered Kerry's death in the movie.

Kevin said he stopped believing in the curse when he tried to get arrested and kill himself. He robbed what I believe was a gun store if I’m remembering what he said correctly. The guy he was robbing told him he loved him. He said that he broke down in tears and they all prayed together after that. He said,” it was a good day for Texas.” He decided that day to get on with his life. He was a great wrestler, but more so, he’s a great man.

Kevin - now a senior citizen Jesus, good reporting

despite some flaws, this was a great film! Efron could very well receive an Oscar nomination after his performance

Appreciate the PA for the suicide prevention hotline at the end of this vid!! You rock!!

if Kerry only knew how much the fans truly loved him ,

Efron shoulda played Kerry & the guy who played Kerry shoulda played Kevin

Great movie I enjoyed it, but it really brothers me that they left out chris, as if his life wasn't important enough to add to the movie. This movie is a celebration of ALL THE VON ERICK S. To not mention Chris is a tragedy within it self. RIP to every last member of that family, they're definitely a important chapter in the history of professional wrestling that can't be overlooked.

Just some of the most devastating strings of misfortune and tragedy in pro Wrestling history they were through reason I started watching Wrestling Undertaker's resemblance to David and Mike and the fact that it was the reason fritz gave him his first gig shows the influence they had on the business during their short careers .

As a person who grew up in the late 70’s and 80’s in Dallas, TX and going to the Sportatorium to watch WCCW on numerous occasions, in addition to my family being in the wrestling business and knowing the Von Erich’s personally , I can say that I was very disappointed in this movie. While the movie slightly touched on the kind of asshole Fritz was as a person, it never showed the monster he truly was. Fritz was the curse of that family! My uncle wrestled under the name of Killer Karl Kox and was once tag champions with Fritz, and he told us the truth about how abusive to his family Fritz was. None of the boys wanted to wrestle or follow in his footsteps, but Fritz forced them to. He is the reason all of them but Kevin killed themselves, and yes David’s death was a suicide via overdose that was covered up because he died overseas. When WCCW finally went under, mostly due to the poor management of Fritz, he is the one who basically forced Kerry to go to the WWF, because Kerry did not want to continue wrestling after losing his foot in the motorcycle accident. I can remember when Kevin sold WCCW to Jarrett to get out of all the debt Fritz passed onto him, and in a local interview he stated he would do whatever it took to prevent his kids and kids of his siblings from ever entering a wrestling ring. To be fair, no one knows how Kevin pulled through everything he did and didn’t follow his brother’s footsteps of taking himself to the grave, but a lot of drugs and alcohol were definitely involved. Then you add the fact that so much was left out of the movie, and as a true fan I would’ve been fine with it being a 3-hour movie to include the other family members and actually get the timeline of events correct. And the casting for some of the people was absolutely horrible. Kerry, for example, was not short and stubby looking. All I can say is I’m glad I pirated the movie vs paying money to see it.

MJF’s contribution wasn’t a cameo, it was a flat-out background extra! 😂

2:42 That movie could have been over 3 hours, and it still couldn't have told the whole story. Awesome from the opening bell!!

Would make a great mini series or a several season series based on the characters of the 1980s wrestling and trying to capture the magic of the time which was special. Also over 20 wrestlers from the dallas texas wrestling died of tragic deaths that would make for an interesting story indeed.

Having Kerry played by a small manlet is seriously weird.

I was stunned that they did not even acknowledge Chris Adams. He was a very instrumental wrestler in the territory during its hayday.

Would’ve liked to seen more on Fritz and the way he controlled the boys. Like with holding money so they couldn’t go out n their own, how he cheated other wrestlers out of money, how he unloaded wrestler’s when they wouldn’t allow his kids all the glory. And yes I do know

Kiel got a shout out. All the wars happened at Kiel. St. Louis got WCCW on top of WWF and “Wrestling At the Chase” on television. I saw Kerry vs Flair sold out at Kiel.

The Iron Claw sacrificed legitimacy in favor of a movie story with creative license. Like a lot of so-called "True Stories" it comes down to "It's all about the money." It was "BASED" on a True story. It is still all Hollywood

Back in early 1983, we received WCCW here in Massachusetts. On the 4th of July I went to a cookout at my aunt and uncle's place. I snuck into my cousin's room to watch WCCW. The main event was Harley Race defending his NWA title against Kevin. David came out to aid an injured Kevin. Race kicked David, who ran into the ring to retaliate. I was almost 17 at the time and it was then that I decided that I wanted to be a professional wrestler. When David died, so did my dreams of being a wrestler. I cried for weeks because I felt that I had failed. Soon after David died, our local territory, the WWF poached the best wrestlers from all the territories and turned them into cartoon characters so I stopped going to the old Boston Garden every month.

The movie would have been horrible if they tried to give it some supernatural voodoo curse backstory based on Fritz. There's enough crappy ghost/horror movies out there. That's practically all they make these days. Much more impactful to base it on real human tragedy and the complications of family and dealing with loss. Really, they could have easily turned this into an entire streaming series around the entire WCCW 80s craziness. The stories of Gino Hernandez and Chris Adams could have taken an entire season.

...kept Lance in the movie but removed an entire brother...the brother who in life couldn't be a part of the business as much as he wanted. Kinda sidelined Chris again. Question to those who have seen the movie (I just haven't yet) Is it worth the watch?

It says, "BASED" on a true story dammit. Why does everything have to perfectly accurate in a narrative artwork on film. Geez Louise. The film is GOLD.

I can’t wait to see it. But I really don’t think I’ll be able to get over the casting. Kerry was like a Hercules action figure come to life. He was gorgeous. I mean seriously?

I just couldn’t get over Kerry being 5’9 in this movie.

Took my 10 year old nephew to watch it and he was devastated. I’m a 38 year old wrestling fan who considers himself a historian/fan/mark whatever you want it call it and knowing the story and the fantastic dvd wwe released and it still made me teary eyed! And I consider myself jaded when it comes to sappy stuff. I get they had to fit in 40 years of family history for 2 hours and I don’t hate them for it. It’s an enjoyable heart breaking watch.

They should have made it a 4 part mini series on Hulu or Netflix and told the truth

Just broke my heart like crazy that they didn't add Chris in the movie. It went so far as to act like dude didn't even exist which, as a brother, just hit me in my emotions so badly...they even added the first born Jack.. so there was no good reason for them to not add Chris. That made it just an.. Alright movie to me

The stuff left out was for time constraints mostly. And they DO talk about why they think they were cursed. And in reality, neither Kevin,Kerry,David OR Fritz believed in the cursed. And it is/was believed by his remaining family that the reason took his own life was his fear of going to prison.

I knew pretty much everything about The Von Erich's and yet after I left the movie theater yesterday, I was legit depressed for about 2 hours.

0:50 the iron cross is a German symbol but it does not symbolize nazism, it goes all the way back to the Napoleonic wars and is essentially a Medal of Honor I think

Kevin Von Erich gave it the thumbs up..thats enough for me. I loved it

I am a 47 year old tuff guy that cried at the movie theater watching this movie release day lol

What's really messed up is Chris wanted to be in the ring with his brothers, and it couldn't work out for him. And now he's cut from the movie!!! What a slap in the face of that young man's legacy!!! Not only did he get over looked in the ring but he was totally cut out of the movie!!!!!!

😢 cool can't wait to see the movie Man

In the scene with Lance Von Erich, he hits a bodybuilding pose and a few people in my audience thought that was Lex Luger being portrayed.

I knew some of this already, they didn't want the movie to be a depressing film. Because of all the tragic things that happen. Charvo admitted things didn't make it to the film. Kevin Von Erich saw it with the remaining family and agreed with the directors idea of just telling a story not doing a documentary.

The narratir voice for this channel sounds like it fits more with a buzzfeed video.

Lacey Von Erich did get train in WWE Development Territory. The thing is that it was before FCW. She trained in Deep South Wrestling in Georgia

I’m glad you made this video. I have zero plans to watch this movie. The director decides to leave Chris out of the film… a guy who committed suicide due to failure/rejection. Classless move, dude. “This film just couldn’t withstand another brothers death”… it’s what happened!! Fuck that guy, and his bogus, cherry picked wrestling movie.

Most of the actors were WAY too short to be believable.

The movie and vice documentary are amazing

It was a great movie, but the casting was really questionable. Zac Effron and the guy that played Kerry are almost a foot shorter then the actual Von Enrich brothers

2 inaccuracies that I noticed was The movie has David making the comment of it's not between Texas and Georgia it's between decency and filth. That was actually said by Kevin in a promo. The other inaccuracy I noticed was that they had Kerry's motorcycle accident during his title reign when that was much later down the road

I saw the real story unfold over the years. No interest in seeing a movie with actors who look nothing like the family.

Kevin never believed in the curse. There are videos of him saying it is ridiculous while Kerry was still alive. I can accept some things not being 100% accurate. I understand some movies aren't meant to be biopics. I understand that. But this movie was ridiculous. Geno Hernadez and Bruiser Brody tagging? Fritz being the one against selling WCCW. That whole ridiculous scene after Kerry killed himself.

Kevin actually had 4 children and his sons were too young when Kerry died, his youngest would have been a year old. He has 2 daughters that were never mentioned. Kerry's children were never mentioned and the movie ignored the addiction that plaqued the brothers except Kevin. And also glossed over how beloved the whole family was in Texas until the truth came out about their drugs and suicides, then the fans turned on them The movie told half the family's story

Yes, that is a young Steve Austin throwing little Chris into the turnbuckle.

Regardless if the movie wasn't quit accurate. I love it! It brought memories as a kid watching with my grandpa. My kids grew up watching old school wrestling. This movie is a must see!!!

I get that it's normal for biopics to take liberties with the accuracy of historical facts, but the omission of Chris Von Erich is a bridge too far for me.

What an unnecessarily brutal title to this video! 🤯 you could probably find eight things in every single bio pic that was changed either for brevity or to simply make for a better, more enjoyable movie ☹️

Kerry was never on track to be in the Olympics. His best throw was not even close.

Freebird fueds was awesome

I saw a documentary where it mentioned the family curse coming from the grandmother but who knows if thats even true or not. RIP to them all.

Most true story movies aren't always 100 percent accurate

Met Kerry before he lost his leg. He looked tired. Very sad.

The von Ericks is the worlds greatest family dynasty sadly only one brother still lives

Another lie: the film depicts Doris staying home during Kerry's title win against Ric Flair. Doris was at Texas Stadium that day. She even joined the family in the ring following Kerry's victory.

I get why they took one brother out it was such a sad movie I couldn’t take another death 😢 not sure how Kevin dealt and still deals with this 🥺☹️

Very sad what happened to these guys

They did showed Kerry's run in wwe after losing his foot u got it wrong here

I'd like to see a directors cut

Compared to a lot of movies based on real events it stays pretty true to what actually happened. It obviously played with the timeline a little and left some things out for dramatic purposes but it didn't flat out invent things that didn't actually happen.

They need to do a WCCW movie. The Iron Claw could have been much better than that. Personally Zach Efron look more like Kerry Von Erich and the guy that played Kerry should’ve played Chris Von Erich because I don’t understand why he wasn’t apart of the movie.

They got the casting backwards too. Zac and Jeremy should have switched roles.

I completely get it, this movie was tearing my heart out. It was a nice touch 2 have the oldest brother show up as a child n the afterlife

Having finally found the time and place to watch Iron Claw, I have a lot of thoughts. I do think that some of the cut details were important in the end, especially because of the pacing involving how it starts. I get it - time crunch. But this movie, man oh man, it really hit my feelings hard. I didn't think I'd cry, you know? I knew the story going in but then seeing a couple 'controversial' scenes I was crying alongside my boyfriend. All the people complaining about the scenes that were about faith are nitpicking - faith seemed very important and given it was Texas I see the value of that hug/reunion scene. So yes, Iron Claw the movie did tell lies - they were white lies and blatant omissions and that has problems in itself. But the movie is good for the sake of trying to also speak to a bigger audience. I hope people who aren't wrestling fans give Iron Claw a chance. Then they give wrestling as a whole a chance.

The Iron Claw movie was for entertainment only and even Kevin Von Erich was okay with it. In fact,Kevin Von Erich teared up after watching it and he's not even someone who easily cries.

When I found out they completely deleted one of the brothers, I lost interest. I can't stand when biopics do that kind of thing. It's like the writer is saying, "I'll decide what reality is"

To be fair, Vince McMahan didn’t want Kerry to use the Von Erich name when Kerry went to the WWF. Cause Vince didn’t create the Von Erich name. Heard that many times from other personalities in the business. But none the less, I loved the movie. 100% true or not, the movie was good. I lived the Von Erich era, I watched WCCW on ESPN after school every day growing up. The movie may not 100% true to the story, but I’m glad this movie was done.

Movie was absolutely amazing...just my opinion RIP CHRIS DAVID KERRY MIKE VON ERIC

And Lance Von Erich was cut also from the movie for a small scene him teaming up with are you seeing teaming up with Kevin Von Erich AKA Zac Efron Lance is portrayed by current all Elite world champion and Jewish Hall of Famer Maxwell Jacob Friedman

They could’ve absolutely still included Chris, it just needed better writing and a choice to stick more to the truth, which, by far was absolutely enough to write a fantastic story, without any embellishment or omission and still fit the runtime. It’s frustrating when they make excuses like this, so that non-writers and non-filmmakers think oh yeah, that makes sense. when no, it doesn’t. Just do better. And then, spreading out Chris’s attributes amongst the other brothers, because clearly they were worthy enough to put in the film just not to give to one character, is insulting to his existence and legacy.

We need a directors cut with Chris in it.

Hope kevin dose a book

what happened to flairs woos they seem idk fd up

It never claimed to be a documentary. It is a dramatic film based on a real story.

Pretty strong youtube video title

The movie was outstanding and your video pointing out some disparities between the movie and real life as “lies” is a great dishonor to the producers,director and writers as well as the stars of the movie themselves. It was never meant as a true to life documentary, but rather a movie designed to be an entertaining presentation of the Von Erich Family story with its ties in helping to form the foundation of what the wrestling scene is today.

they missed some stuff or had some inaccuracies but i still thought it was a fantastic movie. Very sad too.

Look at Buddy Roberts , Chris couldve been a lightheavy or cruiserweight have him battle asian wrestlers , mexican style but they thought all brothers must be heavyweights they couldve held all the belts

They have no problem killing for action movies or horror movies but a real life story? The audience can’t handle it? Shut up

I don't need to watch some BS hollywood movie, I lived the real story in my youth while watching World Class Championship Wrestling every week. I know what happened in real life and still have a lot of it I recorded off of television.