Falls Count Anywhere

01-24-08

I tied two cups to a string, though...

It’s true, for the foreseeable future, I won’t have cable. Or internet at home, for that matter. This will be a slight downer as those of you who count on Falls Count Anywhere won’t be getting as much of the recaps of current shows as you used to, but I’ll be doing an article, mostly on history or what I can dig up on tape from friends, every week.

This week, it’s about the hottest WWE DVD: The Triumph and Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling.

When I was growing up, World Class was wrestling. You could see it on ESPN, you could see the syndicated show and the one that was on the Christian Broadcasting Network. Without World Class providing me so much in the way of wrestling, I probably wouldn’t have become so interested in it during the 1980s. True, I’d already loved wrestling, but I made it a point to watch World Class every day I could because the Von Erichs were wrestling. There were no better wrestlers, no cooler guys, no better nothin’ than the Von Erichs. They were gods.

And Texas backed me up on that one.

Every week, they sold out the Sportatorium, a tiny tin shack in Dallas that had the best wrestling in the world. It looked great on TV, but you knew that it was a hell hole. It was a lot like the ECW Arena in that respect. The place was electric and the television production that Fritz Von Erich, aka Jack Adkisson, thought up made the entire promotion seem like the next big thing. And for five or so years it was the hottest thing in wrestling.

The WWE’s DVD of those days was following on another DVD which was more heartfelt while the WWE’s version was more commercial (and the classic Von Erichs: Front-Row Ringside, is a far better look at the entire era in kayfabe only terms). Both had faults, but the WWE’s entry had a few things going for it.

You have to understand the Von Erichs. First, there was Fritz. He came up in wrestling through Calgary while he was playing Canadian Football. He was trained by Stu Hart and became a huge star, a massive heel with the German gimmick and he would headline all over the place before he settled into Texas and became a very big deal there. He had several sons, five in all. The oldest was Jack Jr., who died at the age of 6 after touching a live wire and drowning in a puddle. Then there was Kevin, followed by David, Kerry, Mike and Chris. Kevin was a good football player, as was David. Kerry played ball, but was much better at discus and held some state records.

Kevin and David were the first two to start wrestling and they became stars right quick. Kerry came in 1980 and was a big star too, especially with the ladies who screamed for him in tone high enough to kill bats living in neighboring states. He was the one with the most It, while David was the best worker and easily the best talker of the bunch. Mike never caught on, though he was over because they booked him to be over. Chris got to play in wrestling, but he was small and had asthma that kept him from participating.

David died of either a drug overdose or some sort of intestinal problem; both theories have strong proponents. Mike nearly died of Toxic Shock syndrome, but survived and a couple of years later, he killed himself because he never thought he lived up to the family name. Chris Von Erich, who couldn’t get involved in wrestling ended up killing himself, too. Kerry got injured in a motorcycle crash and lost a foot, got in trouble for having drugs and killed himself with a shot through the heart.

Kevin, who had some near-miss calls with death, made it out alive and owned the World Class video library, which is why it’s taken this long to get this view of what happened.

The documentary about the Von Erich stories rolls a lot into a little space and leaves a lot out. That’s to be expected. There’s almost no mention of names like Brian Adias (who was a big deal though never a legend), or Al Madril or The Grappler or the Spoiler. There was a little talk about Skandar Akbar’s Devastation Inc. which was a really big deal as the guys who were fed to the Von Erichs. There wasn’t much mention of Bruiser Brody, though he got a little time. The explanation that the Six-Man Tag Team belts meant a lot wasn’t there.

There was no mention that I remember of the guys like Tony Altas and the Dingo Warrior (who would become The Ultimate Warrior) or Crusher Yurgoff. Who became Bam Bam Bigelowe. These were big omissions of glossing-overs.

The doc focuses on the Von Erichs and makes them bigger than life. They were bigger than life. The first time I flew into Dallas, I bought a Von Erichs T-Shirt in the airport. They were so well-known that they could get a hold of anything and party harder than anyone. The drugs were pretty much flowing the whole time. Kevin always denies it, but there were enough witnesses to say that it happened.

The Documentary doesn’t shy away from talking about it, including HHH saying that the Von Erich story teaches an important message: Don’t Do Drugs. Bill Irwin, a great wrestler in his day and you might remember him as The Goon in the WWE about a decade ago, did some very good stuff in his interviews, and his account of David Von Erich’s last night was interesting and coherent and believable to a degree. The only other wrestlers they talked to were Kevin Von Erich, who really rarely talked about the wrestling, Ric Flair, who just had a couple of short quotes, Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin, one of my all-time faves, Michael PS Hayes and Buddy Jack Roberts of the Fabulous Freebirds.

Consider the guys they could have gotten -- Rock ‘n Roll Buck Zumhoff, Abdullah the Butcher (though he might not have wanted to give away his gimmick), Mick Foley (who they showed a brief clip from, but nothing more), Killer Tim Brooks, Percy Pringle (better known as Paul Bearer), Iceman King Parsons, Al Perez or even Terry or Dory Funk because those two wrestled there as the NWA Champs and drew houses.

The DVD didn’t make it clear that today’s wrestling concept for TV came from World Class. The matches were short; 8 minute main events weren’t unheard of. The guys worked a style that was faster, better suited for young folks who weren’t regularly watching wrestling on TV. There were out-of-ring vignettes, there were promos and angles shot, and they often pushed the envelope. There were angles that certainly made people question why they were fans of this stuff (like Fritz Von Erich’s heart attack angle) but there were also young guys trying to make names for themselves when no one could get wins over the Boss’ sons. World Class was the start of RAW.

There was a great section about one of the greatest near-hits of all-time: Gino Hernandez. The guy was a legend, good looking and a heel that everyone wanted to hate. His team with Chris Adams was legendary and right after their split, Gino died of an overdose or was murdered in a drug related killing. There’s never been a solid decision on which is true. He was so good at getting people to hate him and making things believable that viewers called in to the police saying that Chris Adams was the main suspect in his death.

Gary Hart, one of the all-time great managers, was the star here. He talked honestly and openly about the business, about his role in the building of the biggest one-night wrestling bonanza with the Reunion Arena show in 1982, and about the guys he managed. His section about Gino was heartbreaking. He is a guy who never made it to the big time, but probably should have.

The DVD has some great matches (Fritz’s retirement, The Reunion Arena Flair vs. Kerry Cage match that set up the Freebirds feud) and some weaker ones, but overall, it’s well worth the time and money. If you grew up watching World Class, you might find some trouble with the way things are presented, but you’ll ultimately come away with the feeling that the books on that era have now officially been closed.

A Few Notes
The Kennedy vs. Shawn Michaels match from this week’s RAW was up on YouTube briefly and I managed to catch a peek. A really fun TV match and Kennedy just booted Michaels right in the melon with an Ole Kick. That was boss.

With the switch to HD that the WWE just went through, they’re stiffening up the work. That’ll mean a more realistic product. They’ve also banned verbal spot-calling, which will either mean they’re going to set-up physical cues or pre-planning matches. The prior is a much better option. The World Class model of cameras up close and great audio sounds very much like what we’ll be getting soon.

The Rumble is this Sunday and I think the WWE has done everything they can to get us interested. I’ve been watching old Rumbles on VHS and it’s still one of the best PPV traditions they’ve got going. This article details my thoughts on the early rumbles and you might wanna get a look at it. My guess this year is that we’ll see either HHH win it (and that’ll be strange) and taking on Jeff Hardy at Mania after he beats Randy Orton. Should be a good Rumble with all the folks they’ve got.

That’s all for this week. Next week: It’s time to pay the Piper!

Chris Garcia