Lance Von Erich On His Past Heat With Kevin Von Erich, Being Recruited Into WCCW

Lance Von Erich is one of the only Von Erichs who were not actually part of the family in real life, and he recalled his brief time with the family in a new interview. Lance and Vincent Berry spoke with Wrestling Inc to promote their new book about Lance, Lance by Chance: Wrestling As A Von Erich. During the interview, Lance talked about how he was brought into WCCW to compete as a Von Erich after Mike Von Erich was diagnosed with toxic shock syndrome and unable to wrestle. He was only there for a couple years before leaving over money issues in 1987, and Fritz Von Erich actually broke kayfabe to reveal that Lance was not a real family member on TV in retaliation.

You can check out highlights from the interview below:

Lance on his short time with the Von Erichs: “It was a short career in the states. Most people don’t know I went on to do some great things that I would have never done if I hadn’t been introduced to the Von Erichs. I think that Kevin was — if you’ve seen any of the things he’s ever said about me, it’s not very nice, and I think the reason that is is because he was upset — they thought they gave me a great break, and it didn’t turn out to be such a great break after all. It was very very difficult, and it’s funny because a couple months ago, Kevin had written Vinny. Vinny said, ‘Kevin sent an email to me. You should read it.’ I’m like, ‘I don’t want to.’ He says, ‘No, I think you should read it.’”

Berry on what Kevin emailed Lance: “Basically he came out and said, ‘Hey, I never really understood your side of things. I never put myself in your shoes, and I really appreciate everything that you did for our family and the company. Nobody could have done what you did under the pressure that you were. Hopefully, someday, we can talk to each other, and I wish you all the best.’ That’s paraphrasing it, but that’s basically what the letter said.”

Lance on his reaction to Kevin reaching out: “I actually didn’t really care that much in reality,” Lance admitted. “The thing is that for me, I’ve lived out of the states since I actually left World Class in ‘87. I live between Mexico where I am now and South Africa. So for me, I didn’t even look at any of the websites until just recently. Many many years ago I did a couple of times, and I just wasn’t interested. It was kind of neat in a way I guess, but it wasn’t something that I was expecting or wanting. I just didn’t want to hear anything bad. I thought he might have written something else that was bad. It was nice that he had said that, but it didn’t change my life any.”

Lance on being recruited into WCCW and the Von Erichs: “It was David Manning, and he actually found me on a golf course and was following me around. And I actually thought he might have been gay. When he came up to me, he didn’t even look at my face so much. He was looking at my legs. I had just won a bodybuilding contest, and so he was looking at my legs saying, ‘Hey, did you ever think about wrestling?’ And I’m like, ‘No, not really.’ He says, ‘Well, come out to the Sportatorium. We can make you a lot of money. You should come and see what it’s all about,’ and that’s what I did. They hired me to do a job. They didn’t know if I was going to be ‘Lance Von Erich’, or if I was just going to come to the territory and wrestle, and then eventually I would probably be a Von Erich. So they actually sent me to Portland to learn, and I spent a few months out there and then came back. I wasn’t really ready, obviously, for that spot, but they needed the help. They were short four Von Erichs.”

Lance on if he felt any pressure to live up to the Von Erich name: “Not really but I thought it was going to be a lot of money. I was making a lot of money before I actually got into the business, and it wasn’t what I thought it was going to be or what I was told. The reason I left was because I wasn’t making money. I was working twice for two people actually. Many many times I was wrestling twice a day and I just got worn out, and I went from having a great body to having a horrible body because I couldn’t train and I was hurt all the time.”