Eddie Gilbert and Kerry Von Erich

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

It's been 10 years to the day since Eddie Gilbert died, and 12 years to the day since Kerry Von Erich died. They were both 33 at the time, and each man had their own impact on wrestling. If you've got any thoughts on what you saw of their work, share them here.

[LessonInMachismo 0]

I first saw Kerry on ESPN back in the "Wrestling On Every Channel" days. I vaguely remember the other Von Erichs, but Kerry stood out. When he jumped to WWF, I thought it was cool, because back then me and my friends thought of NWA and others as "minor leagues." As recently as 2001, I saw him in more matches on ESPN Classic.

 

I thought he was cool, a fun guy to watch in the ring...but he never did anything to stand out. Probably not his fault. I definitely wish he had been around longer. After I learned about his leg years later, my respect for him shot up.

 

Now I will listen to his WWF entrance theme in honor of him.

[razazteca 0]

Any reason why Kerry could not use the Claw in WWF?

[LessonInMachismo 0]

Any reason why Kerry could not use the Claw in WWF?

Didn't he tease it at a Mania?

 

Speaking of which, I hated that Tornado Punch finisher. It might have worked better as a pre-finisher move, just to get the crowd riled up, but it was pretty much on the level of the FU in terms of being a good finisher.

[Precious Roy 0]

they died on the same day? creepy.....

 

I prefered Gilbert to Von Erich, but neither really impressed me to a great degree. I've heard that Gilbert was a rasslin' genius in the broad sense, but my exposure to him is limited to midcard NWA and early ECW stuff, so I probably don't have the greatest sample of his work to judge from

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Any reason why Kerry could not use the Claw in WWF?

I have no idea why . . . but he did use it early in his run. I know he clawed Mr. Perfect at SummerSlam 1990 and I want to say he did the same to Playboy Buddy Rose on SNME in July of 1990.

[Slayer 0]

Damn, I didn't realize that Gilbert died exactly two years after Kerry

 

Also, Kerry didn't just start using the Tornado Punch in the WWE. He'd used it before, except he called it the "Discus Punch"

[Dobbs 3K 0]

True on both counts...I have the match where Von Erich wins the IC title from Mr. Perfect, and he uses the claw as a setup for the Tornado Punch. It was actually kind of a decent combo.

 

And yes, he did use the discus punch in WCCW.

 

Personally I liked Kerry, though I never saw him until he came to WWF as Texas Tornado. I thought he was kind of cool though, and didn't understand why WWF didn't do more with him after he lost the IC belt. Of course, years later I figured out what happened.

 

I _never_ saw Eddie Gilbert wrestle when he was alive. In fact, when I first got on the 'net back in early '96 I remember reading about him and having no clue who he was. I've seen him on a few tapes of old NWA stuff, but that's about it.

[Guest Loss]

Eddie Gilbert was great! Very good in the ring, great mind for wrestling and terrific on the mic. I have SO many fond memories of him -- the '91 series with Cactus Jack, which was a total precursor to the hardcore style getting over big in the US; Ric Flair and Barry Windham attacking him at ringside and "breaking" his nose; running over Jerry Lawler with a car in Memphis; the love triangle with John Tatum and Missy Hyatt, which was almost exactly like HHH/Steph/Angle 14 years later; the Tupelo concession stand brawls in the early 80s; brawling up and down the entire arena against Koko Ware and Norvell Austin in '84; the match with Tiger Mask in the Spectrum in 1982; doing some awesome booking in Continental in 1987-1988 ... God, that's just a few things I remember.

 

Pro wrestling suffered a huge loss when he died, because he probably would have been a hell of a booker for one of the Big Two by the end of the 90s, considering that the ability he had to get smaller guys over and push the envelope would have fit in well to the new wrestling climate. He had a lot of friends, but also had a lot of enemies, because he talked to the sheets about almost everything and booked ECW entirely around himself in the very early days. He and Flair, for whatever reason, had major problems during the whole UWF/NWA changeover and Jim Ross couldn't stand him either, which most attribute to Ross really wanting to be the head booker for the company in 88-89 and him thinking Eddie Gilbert stood in his way. Those who don't know a lot about him would probably be fascinated by the life he led, the angles he participated in and the impact he had at the time. He was a true rock and roll story.

 

Kerry Von Erich was a tragic case, because when he wanted to be, he was an incredibly talented wrestler that spent so much of his time cracked out and injured that he never met his full potential. He had a match with Jumbo Tsuruta in May of '84 that is probably one of the top handful of matches of the decade and was probably the only babyface in wrestling that could come close to competing with Hogan. In fact, in '84, WCCW outdrew the WWF, but most of that can most likely be attributed to the WWF entering many new markets and not always succeeding at first. Terry Gordy slamming the cage door on his head in his match with Flair on Christmas night in 1982 made World Class a hotbed for wrestling, and they rode that wave of momentum for the next 2-3 years. He wasn't at his best by the time he got into the WWF, and it's sad that he's probably going to be remembered more for that run than he is the angles and matches he was part of in the 1980s.

[nl5xsk1 0]

As someone that became a wrestling mark in the mid-80's but hated the cartoon/Hulk Hogan bullshit the WWF was spewing out, I watched a ton of Gilbert & Von Erich's matches. (I do have to admit that I rooted for the heels, though, so normally rooted against Kerry ... but I digress)

 

Like Loss said, I think that wrestling as a whole lost out on Eddie dying so young. He definitely would have been behind the scenes SOMEWHERE, and would have either improved the product of one of the big 2 or would have worked with a smaller fed to get them more national attention. He was good in the ring, good on the mic, could be both face or heel (although was much better as a heel) and could wrestle a variety of styles. Even against guys much bigger and more built than him, he seemed believable in the ring.

 

Kerry, I thought, looked better than he wrestled. He definitely could have wrestled for the WWF much earlier than he did, and fit in well. Hogan probably would have kept him down at the Steamboat level, though, out of fear of being outshined.

[Guest Trivia247]

in the final years for Gilbert he was actually one of the writers and bookers for ECW in the early 90's During the Eastern Championship Wrestling days... he had his Hot Stuff international stable there, of course with new members like Don Muroco and Jimmy Snuka. His brother, playing the Dark Patriot at the time also was on the roster then.

 

I would love to find any of his matches espically during his Feud with Cactus Jack. that feud brought the attention of WCW to Cacti.