May 7 in the Tunnel:
Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
Hercules Hernandez 1956
Owen Hart 1965
George Gordienko 1928
Happy Birthday:
Bobby Simmons (70)
Kevin Steen\Owens (41)
Adam Bridle\Angelico (38)
AJ Francis\Top Dolla (35)
Will Ospreay (32)
RIP Memorial: We stop & remember those who have passed on this day and gave themselves to the business for us, the fans. We salute you and thank you.
Jack O'Brien 5-7-1985 at the age of 76
Sonny Myers 5-7-2007 at the age of 83
Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel Debut Flashback:
Special 47-Year Flashback:
5-7-1978 Kerry Von Erich, who made his Pro Wrestling Debut in a match against Paul Perschmann (later Buddy Rose) at the Sportatorium in Dallas, Texas.
Pictured: Three of Fritz Von Erich’s sons, Kevin, David and Kerry
*Tony Note: It's probably one of the biggest understatements of all time. Kerry Von Erich (Adkisson) was loaded with charisma. When guys in the business talk about wrestlers who look good or don't look good, have wrestling ability or don't have wrestling ability, usually a wrestler's success boils down to whether or not they have "it" or don't have "it", and Kerry had "it" He had “it” in spades. In the mid-1970s Kerry was a phenomenal high school football star. He also followed in his father's footsteps by participating in track and field events, especially the discus. He was both state and junior national champion as a senior in High School. He also set a high school state record in Texas that would stand until the mid-1980s. He was recruited in both sports by the University of Houston. He took a red-shirt designation in football, sitting out his freshman year, but became an early star in tack which included winning the discus in the Texas Relays. Like many people who loved the wrestling business, he only lasted for his initial year at Houston, before he decided to turn pro for the wrestling business.
Kerry's father, Jack (Fritz Von Erich) had been bringing his boys to NWA Conventions and on Japanese road trips for years, but as they became high school sports heroes in High School at Lake Dallas High School, but as each boy left High School and entered the business, Fritz stepped up the visits, networking and exposure. At the 1975 NWA Convention, August first through the third held in New Orleans, Louisiana, Jack Adkisson, owner of the Dallas Texas Booking Office was elected as President of the National Wrestling Alliance. It's important to note that he was elected unanimously by the membership with indicated one of two things or perhaps both, Fritz was enormously popular with the other office owners, bookers and promoters or no one else wanted the job because of the rapid, ever-changing challenges and opportunities in the wrestling business. Jim Barnett, majority owner of the Atlanta Office was elected 1st Vice President and Secretary. The Secretary position had changed in the last two years. Muchnick, as President had the role of booking the World Champion and handling the schedule and any conflicts that popped up. The leadership shifted that accountability to the Secretary, which was Barnett. The 2nd Vice President was Mike LeBell, owner of the Los Angeles Booking Office.
Pictured: Kerry Von Erich backstage with Fritz Von Erich in Japan
During that Presidential term, the boys began graduating and entering the business, but during this time, they got huge exposure to all the offices worldwide. Kevin, debuted in 1976 followed by David in 1977 and now, Kerry in 1978. While I want to explore this in a much deeper fashion with you in another issue, let's set the stage this way. It had been ten years since Fritz had pulled the power play coup to get control of the Dallas Booking Office from Ed McLemore, and nine years since doing the same in Houston when Morris Siegal passed away. Von Eric seized the control before Siegal's right-hand man, Paul Boesch had a chance at it. While Boesch would remain as the local promoter for Houston Wrestling, most of the creative control would be centered in Dallas with Fritz and his designated booker. Fritz had kept Ed McLemore's name for promotional purposes, Big Time Wrestling. In this general time frame, Fritz had more growth on his mind. He was President of the worldwide governing body for professional wrestling, the NWA and he controlled 3/4 of the state of Texas, with only the Amarillo office geography outside his grasp. He had three superstar high school athletes graduating into the wrestling business in successive years, guaranteeing him the top three babyface spots in his company for the next 20 years. Although we know, with the benefit of hindsight, it didn't exactly play out that way, this was his thinking in 1975-1977. He had one of the most brilliant bookers in Red Bastien, followed by another one in Leo Garabaldi. What could possibly go wrong?
At any rate, the Presidential term and having the worldwide connections were more than likely the soil for the seeds of World Class Championship Wrestling. By this time, Perschmann had been in the business for close to five years, so his chops were starting to develop. Many fathers would have put their sons with a veteran, like Dory Funk Sr put Terry with Sputnik Monroe, but Fritz put his boy with a young, rising star. Just an interesting choice to me. Perschmann had worked himself up from opening card matches in '74 and '75 to being a very capable mid-card performer here in 1978, before breaking into upper card level and changing his name to Buddy Rose. Kerry showed some proficiency in his work right away and it wouldn't be too long before the powers that be would work him with his older brother David in tag matches, add in Kevin for some six-man tags in an early stage program with evil manager Gary Hart and his stable of "killer wrestlers" like Killer Karl Krupp and killer Tim Brooks. Not many could have predicted that the nice reception from the fans to these first handful of matches in 1978 would turn into the Von Erich mania that would be to come.
Pictured: Kerry and David Von Erich
*For new readers of the Time Tunnel newsletter, we are traveling through time backwards forwards. What does that mean? I'm writing and documenting the history of pro wrestling from specific periods of time traveling forward, so this piece mentions nothing about Kerry's career that happened later, we are only focusing on the elements of the Dallas office at the time and the environment of wrestling at the time. We will pick up milestones of Kerry's career as we travel forward in the tunnel. This keeps me disciplined and regimented in my writing, which keeps me from squishing a lot of things together or skipping around, it's a very different style and I hope you dig the differentiation.
One Thing I Learned Today About Pro Wrestling History:
Big John Studd (John William Minton) started wrestling in early 1972 in Los Angeles after being trained by Charlie Moto. He debuted with the name, “The Mighty Minton”.
Thank You for Reading
I'm Tony Richards, Pro Wrestling Historian, Author and Storyteller. I share pro wrestling historical items in each issue of the Time Tunnel Pro Wrestling History Newsletter. Thanks for reading! If you enjoy my information on select events, matches and insights, please share it with folks you think might like to be a subscriber!
Remember, paid subscribers get access to exclusive and special content such as to commemorate his induction to the WWE Hall of Fame, I'll be publishing some special issues including a multi-part flashback on the Georgia Championship Wrestling Territory in May 1975 including all the recorded cards for the month, some special audio and video interviews on territory pro wrestling and more.