Who and what is The Iron Claw based on? Origins and history behind the film explored

The Iron Claw, starring Zac Efron and breakout The Bear star Jeremy Allen White, has created a ripple around the globe with its latest trailer, which debuted earlier today. The upcoming biographical sports film is written and directed by Sean Durkin and produced and distributed by A24, drawing immediate interest from film enthusiasts around the world.

The Iron Claw, which refers to a certain set of moves in professional wrestling, focuses on a very historic wrestling family, the Von Erich dynasty, which is also linked to a series of tragic events that occurred in the family. The film is based on Kevin Von Erich and Kerry Von Erich, portrayed by Efron and White, respectively, who are the second-generation Von Erichs to get in the ring after Fritz Von Erich started the tradition.

The synopsis for the film reads:

"The film is centered around the Von Erich family, a dynasty of wrestlers from the 1960s onwards that had enormous success, and popularized the iron claw professional wrestling hold. However, they not only had to battle inside the ring, but fight the "Von Erich curse" outside of it."

This Von Erich curse is almost as famous as the wrestling career of the Von Erichs, who invented the Iron Claw technique, which included Fritz spreading his hand over an opponent’s face and then squeezing. This gave rise to a series of moves that were crucial in the history of professional wrestling.

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The Iron Claw: What is the Von Erich curse?

As indicated in the synopsis, the film will share its focus on both the wrestling careers of the Von Erichs as well as the infamous fabled curse, which took the lives of many of the family members.

Despite their early success, Jack Adkisson, better known by his stage name Fritz Von Erich, struggled financially and lived in a trailer park. His first son, Jackie, died at age 7 when he touched a live wire while playing in the trailer park and fell face-first into a puddle of melting snow, drowning to death. This marked the beginning of the curse that would go on to plague the family for years.

The other five children all went into wrestling and enjoyed various amounts of fame. David Von Erich, one of the more popular wrestlers in the family, suddenly died from enteritis, an intestinal infection, in a Tokyo hotel in 1984. Before that, Mike Von Erich died of a drug overdose at age 23, Chris Von Erich committed suicide via gunshot to the head, and Kerry Von Erich shot himself in the chest in the family yard in 1993 at the age of 33. Fritz also succumbed to lung cancer at age 68 in 1997.

Kevin Von Erich remained the only surviving child of the legendary wrestling family that once took the world by storm. Speaking about the family and the supposed family curse, Kevin said:

"After all of this I went a little crazy...I wanted to die, but I wasn’t going to kill myself. I wanted to go to prison and get in fights, and I wanted to be punished like I had done something. It was stupid."

Ross and Marshall Von Erich, the two sons of Kevin, continue to be a part of the wrestling world.

The Iron Claw will premiere in theatres on December 22, 2023.