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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Dec 25, 2007 16:07:51 GMT -5
Just watched a couple interviews from David Von Erich's heel run in Florida during the early-1980s. I think he would've made a terrific heel NWA World Champ in the territories outside of WCCW during the mid-1980s. He's still only 22 or 23 at the time of these clips, so he was only gonna get better and better. Here's an interview after squashing a jobber.www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG_yJ1EocLkHere's a better interview after turning on his mentor Dory Funk, Jr. (starts about one minute into the clip....) www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDC1OoAP0zUDude made a much better heel than his brothers, and the fact that he looked and sounded the most like Fritz (who was a pretty good heel himself) helped. His career was a little before my time, but checking out his matches and interviews, he was so far ahead of his brothers as a worker and a talker it's ridiculous. |
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NOwave
Don Corleone
Posts: 1,735
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Post by NOwave on Dec 25, 2007 18:50:47 GMT -5
No question. Most of his contemporaries have acknowledged that he was the best of his brothers by far. Kerry had a better physique, but David had much more charisma and was a far better worker than any of the rest.
Also, several authors have stated that he was in line for an NWA champoinship run at the time he died. Probably the only reason that Kerry got a title run was as a consolation to Fritz.
The whole Von Erich story is one of biggest tragedies in wrestling. Not only would David have been a strong, probably long-running NWA champion, but he also could have gone on to championships with the WWF or WCW. Kerry and Kevin likely would also have been very successful with one of the big 2.
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Post by Baixo Astral on Dec 25, 2007 20:03:07 GMT -5
That FL run was, I believe, a tryout for David as a heel to see if he could run with the NWA title as a heel, as they liked heel champs on top.
Wonder how this would've affected Flair?
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Post by Chuckie Finster on Dec 25, 2007 20:49:00 GMT -5
That FL run was, I believe, a tryout for David as a heel to see if he could run with the NWA title as a heel, as they liked heel champs on top. Wonder how this would've affected Flair? True about being a great heel NWA Champion. At the time going from territory to territory and defending the belt against the top babyface from each region was something I loved about the NWA. Plus, once Kerry came of age in the late 80's, David vs Kerry matches would have been awesome with David as the older heel and Kerry as the young good looking babyface. Too see how much the Von Erich deaths changed wrestling in the Southwest is amazing. And eventually Flair's impact probably would have been lessened as David would have some of the spotlight that the 80's NWA Champs had. |
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Dec 26, 2007 0:01:32 GMT -5
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lovingway
El Dandy
Crimson and Clover
Posts: 8,135 
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Post by lovingway on Dec 26, 2007 7:02:45 GMT -5
Dude made a much better heel than his brothers, and the fact that he looked and sounded the most like Fritz (who was a pretty good heel himself) helped. I remember on the Heroes of World Class DVD, Kevin talking about how bad Fritz treated David and he believes it was because David was the most like Fritz |
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Dec 26, 2007 7:37:48 GMT -5
Dude made a much better heel than his brothers, and the fact that he looked and sounded the most like Fritz (who was a pretty good heel himself) helped. I remember on the Heroes of World Class DVD, Kevin talking about how bad Fritz treated David and he believes it was because David was the most like Fritz I haven't seen that DVD yet, but even to the most outside of obsverver (me), there's no doubt David most resembled Fritz (from facial look and speech), but that sucks if he treated him that way. That whole WCCW scene is sad. David Von Erich was super talented, no matter if his father pushed him too hard or not. He was definitely very good at what he did, while he did it. |
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Post by stevierichardsfan on Dec 26, 2007 12:14:11 GMT -5
i belive he was su pposed to ge t the title at that show he died to young but out of all the brothers he was probally the most talneted
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2007 12:46:25 GMT -5
Based on the National Wrestling Alliance book, David impressed the people in St Louis in the very early-80s and was expected to have some sort of run with the NWA title in due time, even if it was just a "flip".
(Flip...like Dusty and Race had, where a title changes hands just for a few days.)
(St. Louis was the "center of the wrestling universe" according to the NWA, as everyone associated with them met there. That's why the Missouri title was such a big deal.)
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Dec 26, 2007 13:44:39 GMT -5
Based on the National Wrestling Alliance book, David impressed the people in St Louis in the very early-80s and was expected to have some sort of run with the NWA title in due time, even if it was just a "flip". (Flip...like Dusty and Race had, where a title changes hands just for a few days.) (St. Louis was the "center of the wrestling universe" according to the NWA, as everyone associated with them met there. That's why the Missouri title was such a big deal.) Absolutely. The only Missouri champions after 1973 to never win a world title were... Johnny Valentine (whose career was ended in the plane crash shortly after) Dick Slater (who claimed he was in line for the NWA strap) Ted DiBiase (same, but more probable) Dick Murdoch (great worker) Dick The Bruiser (big draw) Ken Patera (Olympian, Flair mentor, and very good/different with the suplexes in the 1970s) Crusher Blackwell (the best huge fat guy worker EVER, imo) Kevin & David Von Erich The only other Missouri champs during that same time period were past or future world champs...Gene Kiniski Terry Funk Dory Funk, Jr. Harley Race Jack Brisco Bob Backlund Ric Flair Kerry Von Erich Quite a title lineage. They didn't fool around in St. Louis. |
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