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Kevin Von Erich reveals why he never followed his brother Kerry to WWE

Originally posted on ClutchPoints | By Matty Breisch | Last updated 3/13/24

Upon leaving the 2023 A24 movie The Iron Claw, one of the biggest questions fans had coming out of the film – other than what happened to Chris Von Erich and why the film wasn’t harsher on Fritz Von Erich – was why Kevin Von Erich, portrayed by Zach Efron, never joined his brother the “Texas Tornado” Kerry Von Erich in WWE.

Did Kevin never get the call from Vince McMahon and company? Or did he not want to go on the road full-time, especially as started to lose brothers along the way?

Well, fans no longer have to wonder, as Kevin made an appearance on The A2theK Wrestling Show and broke down his career aspirations versus his brother Kerry.

“Actually, I can go ahead and tell the truth about this now. I kind of have different values. Kerry and I were different in that way. He would work out in the gym for four hours a day, every day. I would work out an hour and a half tops. Then I did a lot of track work and swimming stuff,” Kevin Von Erich explained via Fightful. “I just never understood… for me, I lifted weights, but it was because I wanted to be a better wrestler so I could do what I wanted to do. That’s why I lifted weights. Kerry wanted the bodybuilding thing. He wanted to look great. It’s the kind of mindset that I don’t have. Take that, and think, when he had that wreck and cut his foot off, he still had his heel, but not the end of his foot. To Kerry, he was a cripple and a freak. He was completely crushed inside about what he had done. The drugs that he had done. Kerry was like a wide-open Harley Davidson flying down the highway. He loved to have fun. He didn’t hurt anybody else, but he did hurt himself. He felt so bad and so down, the reason Kerry killed himself is because of that. He felt hopeless and he felt like he let us all down, all of his brothers.”

Heartbreaking stuff, right? Well Kevin wasn’t finished, as he had more to say on the nuts and bolts of the industry, including his own offer from Mr. McMahon to leave World Class Championship Wrestling for the big show.

Kevin Von Erich chose family over the fame of WWE.

Continuing his conversation on the The A2theK Wrestling Show, Kevin Von Erich explained why Kerry Von Erich left for New York, whereas he opted to stay in Texas in order to focus on his family and real estate career.

“We decided to come up with a wrestling show that was like pro football. Slow motion, collisions, and rock concerts with lasers and sound effects. We wanted to make a beautiful wrestling show like that, that had all of our stuff,” Kevin Von Erich explained. “We were boys when our dad did it, and it’s all we know. We wanted to improve it. We thought we won’t have 30-minute to one-hour matches, we would have 15 to 20-minute matches filled with action. Kerry was thinking he would take that formula, go to New York, and take New York over, and ‘I’ll call you.’ ‘Kerry, I don’t want to go to New York. I’m a father, and I have children, and I want to be home as much as I can. If I can make the same money as New York in Texas, where I can do my real estate too, then I’m a happy man.’ I really never wanted to go to New York. It wasn’t Vince’s fault, it wasn’t anyone’s fault. They did ask me, I just didn’t want to. I wrestled all those guys anyway, and by that time, I was at the end of my career. I didn’t plan on getting old in the ring. When men get old in the ring, it’s a sad thing, I didn’t want to be like that.”

Would it have been cool to see a pair of Von Erichs in WWE instead of just the Texas Tornado? Sure, that might have provided Kerry with some much-needed stability on the road and could have added even more gold to his resume. Still, at the end of the day, Kevin’s main goal in life was to be a family man, not the biggest star in the professional wrestling business, and if the money was close, why uproot his entire life in the pursuit of greatness when such an outcome was anything but guaranteed?