Why Fritz Von Erich's Controversial Rise To Fame Sparked Fierce Backlash

One doesn't have to watch Sean Durkin's "The Iron Claw" to know that wrestling legend and World Class Championship Wrestling promoter Fritz Von Erich was, to put it kindly, a complicated individual, even if his son Kevin disagrees. For all the highs Von Erich achieved, especially promoting WCCW in the 1980s when the promotion became a powerhouse territory, he is seen by many these days as an individual that cast a large shadow over his sons, Kevin, David, Kerry, Mike, and Chris, and some even consider him the catalyst behind the premature deaths of David, Kerry, Mike, and Chris. But long before those tragedies, Von Erich drew controversy for something far different; his heel wrestling persona in the 1950s and 60s.

Given how prominent the Von Erich name has been in wrestling thanks to the generations of wrestlers the family produced, it can be easy to assume that is actually the family's last name and not Adkisson, the actual last name. As it turns out, Fritz began his career working under his real name, Jack Adkisson, and only adopted the Von Erich name in 1953, when he began working in a New England wrestling territory. But the problem wasn't Jack Adkisson becoming Fritz Von Erich, it was that the character of Fritz Von Erich was billed as a man from Germany (sometimes Munich, sometimes Berlin), and displayed Nazi characteristics at a time when the world was only a few years removed from World War II and the rise and fall of Adolf Hitler's Nazi party.

In fairness to Fritz, it is said the Von Erich gimmick was developed by promoters Tony Santos and Jack Pfefer, and it came in a time where wrestling was crawling with stereotypical heels playing off current geopolitical events. Still, the elder Von Erich kept the name for the rest of his career and spent many years portraying the character as an evil German, even getting a kayfabe brother, Waldo Von Erich, as a tag team partner, who also displayed Nazi overtones.

The gimmick was so controversial that some have attributed the tragedies the Von Erich family faced later to a "Nazi curse," which legend has it was handed down to Fritz by the ghost Holocaust survivor for making light of Nazism. That fable is surely just that, but doesn't change the fact that Fritz eagerly embraced, and used, the controversial gimmick to achieve fame for the first half of his career. As such, it can be seen as another black mark on an already checkered wrestling legacy.