What if Kerry Von Erich hadn't killed himself

[Kerry Von Erich is my hero]

This is just a thread for hypothetical purposes, but my question is. What would have happened if Kerry never got into that accident, never lost his foot and never killed himself? Would he have been made the WWF champ considering how over he was in World Class? Would he still be wrestling in either the WWE or TNA today? would he be able to get over with todays fans?

thoughts?

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

It's really tough to say, I'm a bit foggy on when exactly he lost his foot (or part of his foot), but from what I have at least heard much like Brian Pillman he was a lot better before the tragic injury (although Pillman didn't actually lose his foot). I think it's a possiblity he could have been a WWF champ. Even with his injury after all he got to IC level and was still better than a lot of guys both then and now in the ring.

[kswolf]

I seriously doubt he would've ever gotten a run with the WWE title. The guy was generally considered to be too unreliable, and too unstable to ever be given a long run with the main belt.

Kerry had some serious drug problems, and with the exception of his own father, most promoters were afraid to take a real chance on him. The NWA gave him a brief run with their world title because they thought they could get a couple of huge gates from it, but they wanted to get the belt off of him as quickly as possible, before he had a chance to do any real damage to it. There's an infamous match where he challenged Flair for the belt, and was hallucinating throughout the entire bout - he even performs some moves against one of his hallucinations, while Flair is all the way over on the other side of the ring.

There's no doubt he had the talent and charisma to be a major player in the business, but much like Scott Hall and Jake Roberts, I think his demons would have killed his career even without the accident.

[Kerry Von Erich is my hero]

kswolf said:

I seriously doubt he would've ever gotten a run with the WWE title. The guy was generally considered to be too unreliable, and too unstable to ever be given a long run with the main belt.

Kerry had some serious drug problems, and with the exception of his own father, most promoters were afraid to take a real chance on him. The NWA gave him a brief run with their world title because they thought they could get a couple of huge gates from it, but they wanted to get the belt off of him as quickly as possible, before he had a chance to do any real damage to it. There's an infamous match where he challenged Flair for the belt, and was hallucinating throughout the entire bout - he even performs some moves against one of his hallucinations, while Flair is all the way over on the other side of the ring.

There's no doubt he had the talent and charisma to be a major player in the business, but much like Scott Hall and Jake Roberts, I think his demons would have killed his career even without the accident.

good answer, but what I'm asking is, and i probably should have made this more clear, is that would have have recieved the WWF belt, be still wrestling today, and be over with the 2007 crowd if none of that bad stuff ever happened to him, ie the drugs, the accident, the deaths of his brothers, etc.. Just Kerry Von Erich by himself without all the baggage

[Garee]

I don't think he would have gotten the world title, he may have been on of those eternal Intercontinental champs

[Kerry Von Erich is my hero]

as far as my personal opinion goes. He definately had the talent, popularity, and charisma to be world champ, but also given Vince's track record of pushing guys that he didnt create, its hard to say

[Milkman Norm]

Well he lost his foot prior to entering WWF (I'm 92% sure) So that had no impact on his career there. I don't think that he would have had a far greater push than he had in reality. His NWA title tenure was done to milk the death of David Von Erich and the mathc itself was done in such a manner to transfer 0 heat to Kerry. It also didn't help that the politics of the NWA meant that a champ from Texas would get a short run. Kerry could have had a longer tenure with the IC belt, but that's it imo.

[Kerry Von Erich is my hero]

what about getting over though? Does anyone think that a clean cut babyface like him who had never even teased a heel turn throughout his entire career, get over with todays WWE or TNA fans who are more used to babyfaces who act like heels like Austin, DX, and the Rock rather ones like him?

[MoleMan]

His man downfall was his horrible finishing moves, they're even worse than Hogan's leg drop. 'Course a Von Erich dying from anything other than suicide just doesn't seem right.

[whothoughtofthis]

i think the whole reason why vince made ultimate warrior champ is because he knew that von erich was a complete nutcase. i am sure if von erich wasn't screwing his mind up, and had started in a different promotion, with a promoter who wouldn't put with that amount of crap, cause his dad let those boys get away with murder, he would ahve made it to champ, and we would have never heard of ultimate whatshisface

[nisi]

Actually Kerry was pretty much headed to a fairly lengthy prison term before he committed suicide, so the question really is would he have been able to resume a wrestling career when he got out. I tend to doubt it.

[willywonka666]

I believe Kerry had the accident in 1986 or so,he certainly did allright afterwards and I was surprised at how successful he was in the WWF considering he had been in texas pretty much the whole time before that-Kerry would have been long retired I think by now

[joeman]

suicidemachine said:

His man downfall was his horrible finishing moves, they're even worse than Hogan's leg drop. 'Course a Von Erich dying from anything other than suicide just doesn't seem right.

The Claw can be a legitiment finishing move as he is putting fingers on pressure points. You really can't compare his finisher with Hogan's LDOD.

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

Ok if Kerry Von Erich was around and didn't have the drug problem. Were would he be. I think if he didn't have the drug problems he would been reliable. Would he been World champion? Hard to say because he was around the Hogan era. Maybe in 93 he could been once Hogan left or he went to WCW in like 92.

The clean cut baby face, hard to say if he still be over today. By now I think he would been long retired. Maybe over as a legend figure. But he be done as a main star in a company.

[nisi]

joeman said:

The Claw can be a legitiment finishing move as he is putting fingers on pressure points.

Agreed, the claw is one of the best old school finishers, and Colt "Matt Classic" Cabana is supposed to be bringing it to WSX.

[Kerry Von Erich is my hero]

The claw was an awesome finisher. It reminded me of Giant Panther from the NES game 'Pro Wrestling'

The reason why I always bring up Kerry Von Erich in these threads is because he is my all time favorite wrestler. He was my hero as a young kid, and I used to tell my parents that when i grew up, I wanted to be just like him. I was in 5th grade when he died, and didnt find out until a few years later because there was no internet in those days. It kind of symbolized the end of my childhood in a way, and i remember being pretty bummed out when i had found out what happened. I've always considered myself more of an old school wrestling fan and I detested the attitude era because there was that gray area between heels and faces, and I never liked anti-authority faces like Austin. I preferred the white picket-fence babyfaces like Von Erich and Sting. As much as people probably don't want him to, I hope Ross Von Erich does decide to enter the business. I would hate to see it all die with Kerry

[Deleted]

edgeruleshardysux said:

kswolf said:

I seriously doubt he would've ever gotten a run with the WWE title. The guy was generally considered to be too unreliable, and too unstable to ever be given a long run with the main belt.

Kerry had some serious drug problems, and with the exception of his own father, most promoters were afraid to take a real chance on him. The NWA gave him a brief run with their world title because they thought they could get a couple of huge gates from it, but they wanted to get the belt off of him as quickly as possible, before he had a chance to do any real damage to it. There's an infamous match where he challenged Flair for the belt, and was hallucinating throughout the entire bout - he even performs some moves against one of his hallucinations, while Flair is all the way over on the other side of the ring.

There's no doubt he had the talent and charisma to be a major player in the business, but much like Scott Hall and Jake Roberts, I think his demons would have killed his career even without the accident.

good answer, but what I'm asking is, and i probably should have made this more clear, is that would have have recieved the WWF belt, be still wrestling today, and be over with the 2007 crowd if none of that bad stuff ever happened to him, ie the drugs, the accident, the deaths of his brothers, etc.. Just Kerry Von Erich by himself without all the baggage

See but all of the stuff you are eliminating is what made Kerry who he is...For all we know if none of this stuff hadn't have happened he would have abandoned wrestling years ago...I never understand human related hypotheticals because I believe our past is what shapes our future.

[Kerry Von Erich is my hero]

whothoughtofthis said:

i think the whole reason why vince made ultimate warrior champ is because he knew that von erich was a complete nutcase. i am sure if von erich wasn't screwing his mind up, and had started in a different promotion, with a promoter who wouldn't put with that amount of crap, cause his dad let those boys get away with murder, he would ahve made it to champ, and we would have never heard of ultimate whatshisface

Even though I agree with most of what you wrote, Warrior won the belt about 3 or 4 months before Von Erich even entered the WWF

[The Ultimate Finnisher]

This is what I know:

1. Kerry Von Erich was Vince McMahon's back-up plan behind Hulk Hogan. If Vince couldn't
get Hogan, he was going to run with Kerry.
2. Kerry lost his foot during his WCCW days during a motor-cycle accident. He then wore
boots with frilly stuff on them to hide the injury. He might have lost part of the leg as
well, but I'm not 100% certain of it.
3. In the days when the WWF didn't acknowledge other organizations existed, Kerry & his
brothers showed up on Vince's original All-Star wrestling program on USA.
4. Also, Kerry's win over Flair was given an article in the WWF magazine with a picture from
the match on the cover - an unheard event.

I was a huge fan of WCCW. They showed it in Boston at the same time as WWF SUPERSTARS. I always chose WCCW. Vince had a working relationship with them & IMO stole many ideas from them. I think that's why Michael Hayes is allowed to book Smackdown!

If Kerry didn't have his demons, he would have been huge in wrestling. He had the physique, the moves, and the charisma. He would have been a great face. And, the claw was an aewsome finisher & still could be. I just couldn't tell you how people would start bleeding after he applied the claw. But, Kerry had the potential to be one of the biggest stars ever. It's a shame he let his demons get to him.