As fun as wrestling can be when it’s at its best, it is also an industry littered with heartbreak, a lot of it beyond compare. However, you’d be hard-pushed to find a true story more upsetting than that of the Von Erich family. One of the most famous wrestling families in a business filled with them, their story of massive success and unimaginable heartbreak has been turned into a blockbuster biopic, The Iron Claw, and that movie now has its first trailer.
The Von Erichs’ Story
If you don’t know much about the Von Erich family and you want to keep it that way until the movie hits theaters on December 22, you might want to skip ahead to the trailer below as a lot of this article will discuss what happened to various Von Erichs throughout wrestling history. Fritz Von Erich, the patriarch of the family and a famous wrestling promoter, had six sons, five of whom followed in his footsteps and became pro wrestlers. Fritz’s youngest son Jack tragically died at the age of just six.
Jack dying so young was just the beginning of the awful tragedies that would strike the Von Erich family in the years to come. Of the six sons Fritz had, only one of them is alive today, Kevin. Kevin will be played by Zac Efron in The Iron Claw and is naturally featured prominently in its first trailer below. Kerry was arguably the most famous of the Von Erich boys and will be played by Jeremy Allen White, best known for his work as the lead in the hugely popular The Bear.
What To Expect
Although the tragedies that befell the Von Erichs over such a relatively short space of time will naturally be covered in the movie, the trailer largely seems to focus on the success they enjoyed while at the height of their wrestling fame. Doing most of their work in World Class Championship Wrestling, the trailer showed the likes of Ric Flair, Harley Race, and Michael Hayes, among other famous wrestlers from that era, all being played by actors.
The Iron Claw will release in cinemas on December 22, 2023, so we’ll likely get a couple more trailers between now and then as well as some additional info on what to expect from the movie. Like I said, despite its release window, this isn’t the sort of movie I’d take the kids to go and see over the holidays. As much wrestling as there’ll be on screen, the true story it tells is a heartbreaking one. I’ll be checking it out, and I think it has the potential to be something really special.
This content was originally published here.
