David Von Erich

David Alan Adkisson (July 22, 1958 – February 10, 1984) was an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name David Von Erich.

A member of the Von Erich Family, Von Erich is best known for his appearances with World Class Championship Wrestling, the Dallas, Texas-based professional wrestling promotion owned by his father, Fritz Von Erich.

David was named after his mother Doris' brother David (real name Eugene David Smith), who at 14 had died of a brain tumor only months before David Von Erich was born in 1958.

David, along with brothers Kevin and Kerry, loved to hunt and fish with their father; Fritz.

Hunting on the Von Erich ranch was quite an event.

Many of their relatives and friends would join in and sometimes the hunting group would be 20 or more.

WCCW Referee David Manning and WCCW Announcer Bill Mercer were quite often among the group.

David's first love in life was raising horses, which turned out to be very profitable for him.

He raised and sold quarter horses and horses for show and made his own fortune that way, apart from the family business of wrestling.

Adkisson was a high school basketball star and a football player at Lake Dallas High School.

He won a scholarship to North Texas State University to play basketball and football.

David dropped out to pursue a wrestling career.

Adkisson made his professional wrestling debut in June 1977, adopting the name "David Von Erich".

He was considered a breakout star of his family, as his fiery temper produced memorable interviews.

His first major match came just a few weeks later on August 15, 1977, when he wrestled NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race to a 30-minute draw in a two out of three falls match.

Von Erich made his first appearance with the St. Louis Wrestling Club in Missouri in early-1979 and was an instant hit with the fans and the promoters.

Due to his popularity at the time, on May 27, 1979, David again wrestled NWA World Heavyweight Champion Race in Missouri in a non-title match and defeated him with the Iron Claw.

In November 1979, Von Erich made his first and only appearance in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), competing on a card against Davey O'Hannon at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

In the early years of his career, Von Erich had several resigns as NWA Texas Heavyweight Champion and NWA Texas Tag Team Champion, as well as holding the All Asia Tag Team Championship, NWA American Tag Team Championship, and Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship.

In late-1981, David left Texas and struck out on his own, heading to Florida and competing as a heel for Championship Wrestling from Florida.

In Florida, David was managed by J. J. Dillon and was in the same stable as Kendo Nagasaki and Jimmy Garvin.

David's mentor in Florida was Dory Funk Jr. and during that time David teamed with Dory or his brother Terry Funk in addition to singles competition.

Memorable opponents included Barry Windham, Mr. Wrestling II, Eric Embry, Sweet Brown Sugar, and Butch Reed.

Kerry Von Erich later joined his brother on the heel side in Florida, playing a vain self-absorbed muscleman alongside David's loudmouthed "spoiled brat" persona.

By July 1982, David was back in Texas.

In the fall of 1982, David was also working behind the scenes in WCCW and helped create several angles.

He invited the Fabulous Freebirds to come to WCCW.

Michael Hayes made his debut at the Sportatorium on Saturday, October 16, 1982, and Terry Gordy made his debut at the Sportatorium two weeks later, on October 30, 1982.

Buddy Roberts did not show up.

The Freebirds were initially booked as faces in the run-up to the Christmas spectacular "Wrestling Star Wars" card at Reunion Arena on December 25, 1982.

In the final match to crown the first-ever Six-Man Champions, David took Buddy Roberts' place in the Freebirds against Tom Sharpe, Mike Sharpe & Ben Steel.

It was David who won that match and the title, but in a ringside interview right after the bout, David gave his third of the title to Buddy Roberts.

Later that evening, David's brother Kerry battled NWA World Champion Ric Flair in a Steel Cage with Michael Hayes and David Manning as the referees.

During the match, Hayes knocked out Flair and attempted to hand the pin (and World Title) to Von Erich, but turned on Kerry when he refused the tainted victory and as Kerry tried to leave the cage, Gordy slammed the cage door on Kerry's head.

Thus the Von Erich/Freebird feud was born.

During his stay in Florida, David met and became great friends with Jimmy Garvin, convincing Garvin to come to World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) in Texas in early 1983 and they created an angle for a feud between them, which culminated with David Winning the held-up NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship at The Tarrant County Convention Center on July 4, 1983.

As a result of David's victory, Garvin and his valet Sunshine were forced to serve as David's valets for a day, with the results of the day being broadcast on the WCCW weekly show.

The whole angle was conceived by David and Jimmy.

They traded the Texas title back and forth several times, then that belt was held up several times and when the feud reached its climax on July 4, 1983; it was time for both men to move on to the next part in their career (David continuing the Von Erich feud with The Freebirds and Garvin starting a feud with Chris Adams).

David took part in many matches against the Freebirds in 1983 and early 1984.