#576 - Kevin Von Erich

28:43And he was good on the microphone too. Oh, yeah. It's important. You got to be good on the mic. Was there a time where all of you guys were wrestling at the same time? Yeah, just briefly, it was. Man, that was so much fun, too, because we never got to go to Japan together. Dave and I went to Japan together. Carrie and I went to Japan. Never together, though. But when we could all three to be together, just for the— when we first started out, you know, for that first year, all three of us could go to towns. We had so much fun, man. We always would stop. We'd scuba dive all the way there. You know, if there's clear water, if it's just a river or something, then we'd dive in and swim.

29:21And it was just... Oh, along the way? Yeah. We had fun all day. And we wouldn't even go to the dressing room. We'd get dressed out in the woods where the swimming hole was. And we'd get our rest and stuff on, go right to the show, get in the rain, come back out and do our stuff. We had it down. We had fun. And you got a leech in your tights, brother. Hey, don't call it that. Did you all train together at home at a certain place? What was that kind of... Yeah, we had a gym outside the house on an adjacent property. And I'm probably the cause of all the pressure because I would put up Vince Lombardi posters all the time for myself.

30:05I wanted to be the best I could be, and that was what it was like to live in my home. Back then it was like we lifted weights three times a week, but we ran, we swam. Everything was about getting better because I wanted to play in the NFL. and uh carrie uh well carrie just wanted to wrestle but uh and dave wanted to wrestle but i was i was a football player and uh and so that's what it was all about it's just do your best to quitters never quit winners never quit quitters never win you know that kind of stuff on i had posters everywhere on the gym and we'd spot each other and push each other and call each other We were sissies if we couldn't do it, you know.

30:47And, I mean, we would spit on each other. You know, we were savages, and we wanted to get as good as we could be. And when we wrestled, it was hard. You know, we were rough because anything worth doing is worth doing right. You know, we wanted to be, like, successful moms, my dad was, but it meant just go all out, you know, completely commit. And that means every day. On Wednesdays, we'd run 500, 400 meter, one lap around the tracks, 400 meter. We'd run five 400s on Wednesdays. We'd time them. And Kerry and I were both high jumpers. Kerry high jump too. And we could bench. Kerry and I figured as long as we could bench twice our weight and high jump over our heads, then we would always be in shape.

31:36And, well, yeah, knee surgeries, and I can't do that again. But that was the theory we wanted to go with. And Dave was the same. Dave didn't work out in the gym as hard as we did, you know, but Kerry and I did. Everything we did was too exhaustion. And we were kind of nauseated. When you think you're about to throw up, now you've done enough. Dang. We really did, man. It was all the way. I quit way before that, I realized. Yeah. Well, everybody does, man. If you want to look different, you have to do what everybody else doesn't do, you know. And I mean, fight through that. and did were all your brothers kind of subscribed to that same mentality or did some of them come along just because that with that mentality just because they were your brothers no does that make any sense yeah yeah i guess yeah nobody was just along for the ride yeah i think they were all pretty much just wanted to be like me dave and carrie wanted to be like dad but you know things got kind of different when we were in when we were kids uh when i was in uh junior in high school sophomore in high school, my mom and dad were going to get a divorce.

32:40And my dad was going to move out. That was my freshman year is what it was. And I came into the kitchen one day. My mom and dad were talking. And dad said, Kev, I'm going to move to Dallas and just get an apartment. And y 'all are going to stay here, and it's going to be just great. Y 'all go to school and come see me on the weekends. I said, are y 'all talking about a divorce? And he said, hey, yeah, son, we are. He's trying to describe it to you without saying we're getting divorced. I said, well, I want to go with you, Dad. And Dave heard me, and Kerry came in and said, we do too, Dad. We want to go with you.

33:16And so my mom's going to be there alone, it looks like, you know. But I was the mediator with that, you know, and they kind of worked it out. But with the deaths, you know, my mother was kind of damaged inside. It made her like, she was suffering so much. You know, with Dave, she was tough. I mean, her own little brother and Jackie, but then with Dave, she toughed it out, you know. But then baby Mike, he was the baby of our family, you know. Chris was even younger, but Mike was the, we'd been traveling around and we weren't home that much. So when Mike was the baby, you know. Traveling with wrestling?

33:54You guys had been traveling with wrestling? Wrestling, yeah. See, Dave and, the movie doesn't have the suit, but Dave and Carrie were both married, you know. And Dave had a daughter, died a crib death, but Carrie had two daughters, and Holly and Lacey, beautiful, sweet daughters. They spend every Christmas with us. And we told you I got the big house for all to have our Christmases. Because family is just like we were saying, there's nothing more important than family to me after any thinking man. And then, again, there's the being wrestlers and our brothers. I mean, my dad's a bad guy, you know, and they're booing him.

34:35It kind of makes you feel like it's us against the world, you know. These people are booing my dad. If they hate him, then we hate them too, you know. What was that about? So they, because at what point did they, did the, what, the audience turned on your father? Or just part of the. No, he was like the perfect bad guy. Yeah. He was a Nazi. And after my brother Jackie died, and they're up in New York, he was like, his wrestling changed. He was different. He was wild inside. And I think it was like he wanted to just take it out on people. And it showed in the ring. Theo, when the wrestlers would come out of the dressing room, get in their cars, the fans would stand around and boo, you know, from a distance.

35:20But when my dad came out to get in his car, silence. They were like, fear. It was like fear. He might run over here. Oh, it was such an exciting time back then when wrestlers would come into the ring. I mean, there was just, God, I remember being a kid and we would lose our fucking minds and just beat the shit out of our sister. The second the fucking wrestling program came on, we would beat the shit out of our sister. Oh, man. For no fucking reason. I guess she just couldn't get used to the schedule and no promise stay away at that time of day or something. Oh, if it was more than an hour broadcast, she knew she was in for it.

36:02I'll tell you that. You hear a lot of stories about how wrestling was like, you know, we had to wrestle one night and then the next night you had to wrestle again. And did you go on road trips like that where it was like a few days at a time? Was it weeks and months? I mean, what was it really like back then? In 1984, I wrestled 386 times. A lot of those were triple shots, double shots on Sundays. We'd wrestle TV shows or we'd do two or three times. But after it started to be the deaths, then I would have to—my dad had it work. Dave could sell out a building. Carrie could sell out a building. I could sell out.

36:43But Mike was not quite there. You know, and so when Dave died, either Kerry or me had to fill his slot, you know, work another town. And that was hard. But then Kerry with the foot, now I've got two slots to fill, you know. And so I was wrestling three times a day almost a couple times a week, but I was wrestling every day. Was it an option to take some of the slots off the schedule? Or did you guys feel like as a family we have to fill this? did you feel like your dad was like we have to fill this or it was just that's what you did well I gotta tell you we you know after the deaths we were uh we were down you know and we sure didn't feel like getting back in that ring but you know you have to because after death there's all the publicity and dad's saying you know it's been a week it's been two weeks or whatever but I mean there were times when we said dad I can't do it yet can't do it you know but he did want us to get in that ring.

37:43But it was a family business. I don't hold it against them. I understand. But it was brutal to make yourself do that. I mean, what's on your mind is love and brotherhood and seeing them again in heaven. But you want to project, I'm going to kick that guy's ass. You know, it's kind of your torn, you know. A lot of life's like that, huh? Yeah, yeah. It's like having two feelings at the same time. it's like especially with death because it's like somebody's gone but they're the one that's gone but you're the one that hurts and and you don't even know what they're feeling like and you almost don't want to like mourn too much because then it's like are you just using the morning for yourself just like all that kind of stuff has always hit me i know you wake up in the morning and there's nothing you can't think about anything else man i'm old enough i can tell you a little something now i never wanted to endorse marijuana or put it over because you know i had a position you know what when i would wake up in the morning i could not think of anything else that's all i thought about and if i smoked a joint i could daydream i could think of something else you know and i i had to i was grateful for that stuff i mean it helped me Well, I'm sure, especially out in Kauai, it was probably.

39:07Oh, shoot, yeah. I was helping everybody. Well, so I had my knee replaced, you know, and it didn't go very well. It's kind of, I rehabbed it too quick. See, in college, when you have a knee surgery, you fight like hell to get it back, you know. And, well, I got out there and I got a knee replacement, but I'm a senior citizen. So instead, I shouldn't have rehabbed it like that, you know. I was doing flips off the cliff with the boys, and it knocked something. I smelled glue on my breath. I thought, oh, that can't be good because they use glue in there. Really? Yeah. And you think some of it came up your bloodstream, you could taste it a little bit?

39:43I tasted it. Yeah, I tasted it. That's bad. Anyway, so. Damn, they're using damn glue? Well, yeah, they do. They use glue. Well, shit, we could use glue. I mean, they have power tools. Really, I mean, working on you. They got to drill the whole deal. You know, they hide it from you. Yeah. With that anesthesia, dude. They just bring in a couple of Cub Scouts in there and they're doing damn woodwork on you in there. Playing?

40:15With wrestling, did you have to be as tough at the wrestling part as you did at the partying part? Like there seemed to be this thing when I, when I look back on like wrestling and a lot of the stories, especially coming up out of like the seventies, eighties, nineties, where not only did you have to prove yourself in the ring, that you were the toughest guy, that you were able to do the matches, but then you had to prove yourself again, like at the drinking table. Was that part of the culture as much as. Oh, man, that was the easy part for us because none of us really liked to taste the booze.

40:48I mean, I'll have a drink or even two, but I'm done. I can't drink six of anything, you know. I mean, a lot of people can, but I think that was a big thing for us. We never did get that big stomach, I guess. A lot of my friends, you know, love that beer. All my teammates, you know, my wrestling colleagues love beer, but I never did get into it, and I'm glad I didn't. because it's taken its toll on a lot of good men. Yeah. But I'll tell you this. After those knee surgeries, I had to take three OxyContin a day. Yeah. Shoot. One in the morning, one at noon, or one at 1 o 'clock, and then one at sundown.

41:28Because they had time release in them, you know, and it worked great. It didn't make you goofy or anything, but I could ride a bike, you know, and stuff. And it kind of hurt worse later, but with the pain pills, Take another dang pill. Oh, yeah. I feel like a damn care bear if I take one of them. Shit. Well, then COVID came, and I went to get my medicine because we never left our ranch except for go to the doctor, you know. I mean, we had everything there. In Kauai? Yeah, in Kauai. I grow four different types of avocado, and we trade them with our neighbors. We have turkey. We raise sheep. We have tilapia, a fish full, a thousand of fish, and every kind of fruit you could think of, you know.

42:10We had a reason to go. The boys are spearing fish and throwing the net and catching crabs. And so it was a great way to live. We just didn't really leave. But COVID came. And so I go to get my medicine. And it's like twice as much. I was already paying$900 a month for it. It's$1 ,800. And I said, well, I'm quitting this stuff. And so I quit. But, man, I got these flu symptoms. like you know i felt like i was weird and uh but i fought through it you know but uh ross got me the stuff called kratom it's a leaf on my tree and we could grow we grow the tree out there you can crumble it up or it comes at you put it in a powder put it in a pill and i was able to kick that uh oxycontin at 10 days i wouldn't even want another one by using kratom you were able to kratom did that yeah and then were you able to get off the kratom that was easy to quit kratom I never liked that stuff.

43:08It smells like hay anyway, you know, but it was easy to get off of it. But so, you know, I decided, I told you when it came on, I wanted my life to kind of be, help someone. All that suffering, you want to look at something good, you know. And if anyone is suffering from any kind of addiction, like opioids and all, bear that in mind. They're creating places all around. I'm not saying I'm not getting any money for it. I'm just saying it sure helped me. And if you're an addict and it was bothering you, I mean, I couldn't believe I was addicted to this stuff. I mean, I wanted to quit and I got sick.

43:45I thought, shit, never going to let something happen like this to me again. How bad did the Oxy, like feeling like you had to take OxyCons get? Well, I never kind of let it get to that point. You're supposed to take it at one o 'clock. You're supposed to take it in the morning, 10 night before you go to bed. And so that's what I always did. Yeah. And you don't walk around high. you just don't hurt you know because it's got the pain relief the time release in it you know but but that kratom was helpful huh oh yeah wow yeah i have a friend who got addicted to kratom um so i think there's probably there can be a slope there but i certainly could see how it could be used to help people get off of oxycontin yeah it's illegal in some countries kratom is kratom is it must be addictive yeah was was addiction um ever part of the any of your brother's issues or no?

44:33Did addiction run in you guys' family? It runs in my family. Well, you know, I don't think it does. My brother, Kerry, you know, was, he went to the Betty Ford Clinic and all these places, but he was never addicted to anything. He just liked all of it. I mean, he'd do cocaine one day, he'd do pain pills the next day, he'd do acids, I mean, mushrooms. It was something different all the time. I'm like, Jerry, what are, you know, and I'm not saying I'm so good. No, but it sounds like it was, it sounds like he was addicted. He was addicted to the feeling. Ah, to the feeling. Mm-hmm. I see what you're saying.

45:09Just getting out of his skin, you know? Oh, yeah. God, that's a steel cage match. I don't want to be in my own skin. Yeah, I know, man. But, you know, that's life. You got to fight through that crap, man. Yeah. You got to just fight through it. Well, yeah, because to me, it sounds like he might have had, he could have had addiction problems. Like if they had looked at it by today's standards, you know, I think things were definitely looked at differently then. Yeah. Might as well. Cause if you can't stop, then what do you call it? You know? Yeah. Cause he, I know he wanted to stop cause it was, cause he had those beautiful daughters.

45:41He loved them so much, you know, Holly and what was the other one? Holly and Lacey. Lacey. Lacey lives out in LA and Holly is out there in East Texas now. And hopefully they'll be with me soon because, you know, I've been going back to Hawaii every few months, every month, you know, But I haven't been back in a couple of months now. And, man, it is hurting me because Benji, my little treasure, is out there. Jill has four. She has a boy and three daughters. And who's Benji? Benji is the six-year-old. And we're like this. We grow everything together. Oh, that's a grandchild? Yeah, yeah. Oh, got it.

46:15I've got a lot of grandchildren. Oh, he does? My son, Marshall, has given me two. Okay. Well, he can get more out of them. Yeah, yeah. I sure can. Fire him up. Huh? And then Kristen has given me plenty. But that boy and I, being five, four, three that age, he was just with me all the time. Oh, it's fun. And now Marshall has given me a grandson, and he's just about to turn five. And we're like that. I mean, it's either monster trucks or we're turning over rocks. We're just throwing rocks and catching snakes and bugs and lizards and all. And it's just fun all the time, you know. but it's like yeah i could see that for sure you remind me also uh i mean if you were my grandfather or something i would that would be awesome and you remind me of tommy lee actually about probably like does anybody ever tell you that who's tommy lee tommy lee from um motley crew oh that band came to sportatorium a bunch of nice guys i know those guys of course you do dude that's you dude that's why you know him but uh tommy's a great guy tommy's great you guys just remind the way you guys talk and stuff does that make any sense to you nick tommy's the greatest dude man he's nice just the way you guys sound and stuff like that he's a super guy yeah they're good man um did you ever fight somebody high could people fight high in the ring did people ever fight high in the ring?

47:41I don't think so. I mean, not on purpose. Right. You know, but I can remember though. Oh, golly. Yeah. Oh, we did before. There was this stuff called GHB and it's this super drug, but they sold it in like athletic stores, you know, and sporting goods source because it was like a fat burner. And so we're going to this town, and Kerry's going there. He told us not to take too much of it, but by the time we get there, you know, your body's going to be burning your fat off, you know. So we took that car out, and golly, shoot. I don't know how we got through that night. It was terrible. You heard of zombies?

48:29Yeah, we were. We were just sitting there dozing off. It's right in match time and it'd be just one of the brothers trying to wake you up, you know, shut up, you know, and it was terrible, terrible. That stuff was something. Yeah, I could just imagine what that's like at that time. You're almost like anything to kind of get an edge. Everybody's testing out the cool stuff. I know where the new thing is. I guess that's always been a part of that bodybuilding world, too, I think, you know. When you're big into bodybuilding, a lot of those things kind of come along. Like, you know, there's different creatines, there's different uppers, there's like these testosterone revigorators or whatever.

49:08And it's just a picture of like, sometimes it comes in like a huge set of balls, the powder or whatever. Like, what the hell is this? But yeah, there's all types of, that bodybuilding's always been on the edge of like using. So competitive, yeah. Using and finding an advantage. Yeah, you know, when two guys are looking at the mirror with each other, I got better things to do. At a certain point, I think so. It's interesting that you refer to other wrestlers as like a team or you refer to it as your team or something. Is that how you guys thought of y 'all's wrestling organization as a team? Yeah, it was a family business and it was like a team.

49:52It was like, you know, we never were jealous of each other, you know, as to the real truth to it is, you know, when my dad and I flipped, when Kerry and me flipped the coin for the world title, well, the truth to it was that I said I had a family and I'm married and I have children, you know, and Kerry wanted to be the world champion. But to be the world champion is a special kind of wrestler to do that and not a carry. You need somebody that makes the other guy look good. That's really what it's all about, you know. And Dave could have done that. And I think carry me. I couldn't have done it, though.

50:33I've been a babyface my whole life, you know. I kiss the babies and I do all that stuff. But the real difficult work in wrestling, the hard stuff, is to be a heel. That's the creative stuff, you know. And for our listeners that don't know what a heel is. Well, a heel's the heavy, the bad guy, you know. The Bruiser Brodies and the Kamalas and the King Kong Bundys, you know. Why is that the tougher spot to be?

51:01Well, because you're limited. For a good guy, what you can do, you know. But a bad guy, he can do anything. and he better do it too because it's all about, you know, it's like you're slaying a dragon, you know. There's the knight in shining armor and there's the big ugly dragon. You know, when I first went out to Atlanta on WTBS out there, I was 19 years old and, you know, handsome kid, you know, and the hero. And here comes the big monster to wrestle me. It's just Terry Gordy. Yeah. Big monster. Bam was his name? No. Yeah. And I found out, talking to him, he was 16. Oh, my God. He was a teenager all that time.

51:45What the hell? He is. Y 'all are being damn sex trafficked, you know? That's crazy, dude. Yeah. That's hilarious. You're both scared of each other. You're both having to finish schoolwork. Well, that's it. You know, you want each. Bring that picture of him up. I'm sorry to interrupt you, Kevin. Bring that picture of him up. Look at that fella, dude. Yeah. That's wild, huh? Yeah, he was something else. You would have loved him. Yeah. I'm telling you, Michael Hayes, he's a character, Buddy Calvert, but that guy was 100 % gold inside. He would fight to the death, but he had a heart for little kids and for girls, and he was just nice.

52:26He was such a good guy, man, but he was a battleship, too. Did he pass away? Yeah, yeah. What happened to him? And, oh, shoot, he was, he overdid it on the plane. He OD'd on a plane, and they had to restart him. Shoot. And then something, I believe that his blood was stayed away from his brain too long, and it starved his brain. I mean, he had some damage. When he came out of that, then I talked to him, and he just, I hurt myself, brother. I said, no, Terry, you're fine. And he goes, no, I'm not fine, kid. So he could talk to me, but he was real slow. He didn't have any of this hand-to-eye kind of coordination.

53:16So it cost him something, huh? Dang. But then I'd always heard that he fell off the jetway getting on a plane one time, too. I think he did. He fell off the jetway drunk, landed on his head, and got back up and got on the plane and made the show. Yeah. So I thought that was why he was like that. But he said, no, something else. You know, yeah. So many guys went through so much, man. Terry Funk, he's still alive, I believe, isn't he? Man, I hope so. But I hadn't heard the bad news if he had. Oh, no, he says he passed away in August. I love that guy. And Dory, too. So I hope that I. Terry Funk was, man, he was incredible to watch, wasn't he?

54:01He sure was. He taught me so much, too. Me, my brother Dave, and I, we're 19, 18 years old, and we're the bad guys. And Amarillo wrestling Dory and Terry, who are the great good guys. You know, they loved them. And Dory Funk as well? And Dory, they're brothers. And their dad was Dory Funk Sr. Okay. Super badass. Well, these two were in the ring, and Dave and I, we're just learning. You know, we're just learning about this. Dave, pretty good. But I didn't know what to do, really. And so we're in the ring, and Dory's telling us everything. He goes, spit on me, kid. I said, sir? He said, spit on me.

54:43So I spit on him. So Dave unloads on Terry, too. And the crowd went wild. They hated our guts. So they beat us, you know. And I get on the mic, and I say, you're in trouble now. I'm going to get my daddy. And so then they booed me good, you know. So I love being a heel, but I just wasn't good at it like Dave was. Irvin Curry. So that was something that was tough to be a heel. Yeah, it's a lot harder. You have to have some creativity about it. Yeah. And then you've got to have a personality that you're projecting. It's got to come from in here. Right, and you can't get upset if people don't like you because you're almost the guy that people don't like.

55:28Well, Dave and I come back from the ring in Florida one time. And Dave's a bad guy, and so I'm a heel, too. And so this guy steps up. You remember people would dip skull, and they'd spit in those cups. So we sloshed that stuff on us. And I thought, well, we've been begging them to hate our guts. Finally, we're there. And I look, and Dave's running up in the bleachers after the guy. Kicked his ass up in his stands and all. but uh so i said dave we worked our butts off to make him hate us he goes dave was just you know you couldn't talk to him he was so mad here's a dirty little secret the insurance company would rather keep under wraps insurance companies profit by holding on to money for as long as possible so after the accident they'll do whatever they can to delay or deny your claim this way they can keep those profits growing.

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58:55Play football? It looked like Terry Gordy playing against so much of Peewee guys. You know, he was that big. And I sound like I'm exaggerating, but he carried the ball five times and he scored five touchdowns. And the coach took him off offense, just said he wanted to save him for defense, but he was great on offense. He was a good linebacker too, but he was really a good running back. I've never seen anybody just run through people like that. Dang. But he didn't like football. Texas, University of Texas offered him a scholarship. He didn't want to go. He didn't want to play football. He wanted to do track.

59:28No, he wanted to do track. He wanted to do track. And Dave, the same way basketball. Dave loved basketball. I love football, you know. But we go to North Texas, and Dave has his scholarship. We're both there, you know. And so I look up on that hill one day, and it's a real hot day, and I hear a pop, and so he hits the ground. So I look up there, and I can see through the dust, Dave's big old frame getting up off of that ground. He was playing wide receiver, and we had some defensive backs that were killers, you know. And so Dave gets up, and I see the coach is parked over there watching practice, and he walks out to Dave, and he tells Dave, we're practicing in that air-conditioned gym out there, and when we get thirsty, we get a drink of water.

1:00:16It's not like this out here. So Dave quit and went to play basketball at North Texas, and I played football. But we all each are sports. Dave was a basketball player. I ran, I played football, and Kerry was discus, you know. And your other brothers, Mike and Chris, were you guys a little bit disconnected from them because of age? Yeah, that was it. Because by then, we were wrestling, and we weren't home very much. And Mike was the big brother to Chris. Got it. So that was almost like a second, it was almost like a second installment. Yeah. Of children, in a way. Yeah, it was. Yeah, I saw that match with Kerry and Ric Flair.

1:00:51There's one match I remember, it was during the daytime, right? And I think it was in 84, maybe? Yeah. Is this it? Daytime, it was 84. This was after David had passed away. Right. Were you at this match? Oh, yeah. I wrestled on this card, too. Because he looks so much more athletic, and no judgment to Ric Flair. I mean, their age difference may be huge here. But did he ever have to slow down with other wrestlers to make it look more real? Does that make any sense? Well, I suppose. But, yeah, you know, it's all about it's he had such charisma, you know, that his charisma was really his thing. I mean, he had a great body and a beautiful build.

1:01:36And I'm going to tell you, Tony Atlas and I were bench pressing and I had a good bench press. I could bench 445 pounds. But my brother and Tony were benching 520, both of them. And I mean, repping it, you know, and I've never seen anybody as strong as Kerry was. I mean, Kerry, for his size, had the most power I've ever seen anybody be able to bring up. and he was agile too I mean, I told you he was a high jumper, a really good high jumper. What was it like when Flair came to town? That must have been a ride, huh? He's quite a character. Yeah, he was. He's something else. He's something else, man.

1:02:14You had a show with him, right? And the best time. Because he's just, he's got stories and he likes to, you know, it's fun. He's all fun all the time. And there's no other side to it, really. No. There kind of isn't. He is a real gentleman. He's got a great voice. You know, when you hear his voice, you think, that should be a radio man. Yeah. You know, he really does sound good. But when he comes to your town, he's going to give an interview that's going to rile. I don't care who you are. He's going to make you furious, and you're going to come down the scene and get his butt kicked. And so you've got to have that.

1:02:51That's Rick. Now, Harley Race and the other champions, the Briscoes, and they were great. But these had something else they brought to the table. Harley was, you know, he had his rep at all of his different holds and moves. But Rick, what an interview he gives. And he's got the experience, too. You know, he's something else. And he's got a good head for when to do what he does. But you see what I mean? A guy like me really wouldn't fit the bill like Rick would. And he's going to bump all night. He doesn't ever get tired. He's going to be dragging out to an hour. He's going to try to. Yeah, just magnetic, man.

1:03:35That was a magnetic time. He is. What was one of the most traumatic things that happened to one of your brothers in their life while they were alive? Was there anything that kind of changed their life a little bit that we didn't really see as much? Well, probably so, yeah. My little brother Mike, you know, with the toxic shock syndrome, we were wrestling in Tel Aviv, and we were going to do some shows in Lebanon too. And so Mike's wrestling the guy, but his shoulder had been dislocated, and he popped it back in the dressing room, got back out there in the ring, and it popped out again. And it had really popped out bad this time.

1:04:19So we flew him back to Texas to get surgery. And with the incision, it got toxic shock syndrome. It's a tampon thing ladies get, but they had such a huge incision where the arm was, where the shoulder was, that they had shaved gauze in there. Oh, and some of it got left in. I think that might. It didn't get left in, but it got septic or something maybe. but whatever it was, his fever went up to so high, 106, I even heard 107, but it didn't kill him, though. In fact, the doctor came down. I say, Tim, you wouldn't believe it. The hospital was filled with fans. They wanted to offer their kidneys or their liver to Mike.

1:05:10Such love. you know but um the docs told us that he's just his fever is too high he's not he's not gonna come back and he's he's not gonna make it through the night and so rather than go up there and say good night like he told him to like he told us to then we had uh my parents were down in this waiting room at the hospital up here at baylor and we had uh gary holder was that we had a chaplain that would go with our, to shows, you know, big shows. And he gave a prayer where he talked about, he said, God, you say anything we ask in Jesus' name, then you will do it. So we're asking you to stand on your word.

1:05:51And he slammed that Bible down on the desk. Man, I wanted to hide my head. I thought he went too far, you know. But it was just a few seconds later, the door opened up and he said, The fever's broken. There's hope. And we ran up to see Mike. Just like that. It was, and David Manning was right there. My dad was there. My mom, Carrie, saw it. It was a miracle, man. It was really a miracle and beautiful. But I don't want to get in an argument with people in it, but I would love, like I told you, I'd like my life to have an experience that people could benefit from, you know. if you're somebody that's like maybe I was at a time, like life is overwhelming.

1:06:38And you know what? It's like when you overcome something, you're so much a better man than you were before. It's like when you're pushed to your limit and you have to adjust or die, you get stronger. You get stronger. And I would just say to anybody that's out there lost, if you want to feel like you'll never be afraid of man or beast again, you will not be afraid of dying if you know where you're going to go when you die and i mean i know where i'm going to go and i i have no fear i mean it's a it's a great life did you uh what did you have religion instilled in you when you were growing up did you have like um no that's the thing we went to church on easter you know i remember but uh this is pretty odd story but um And I spent the night with my dad's real estate partner as a doctor, and I spent the night with him one night, and the next day was Sunday, and they took me to church with them.

1:07:33And so I went to church, and so the only reason I went is because if you spend the night, you're going to sleep with the dog, and I love their dog. Oh, yeah, dude, I've stayed over places just to be by the animals. Well, we go to church, and these men surround me and ask me if I want to accept Jesus. And so I knew that song, Jesus Loves Me, you know. And I'd been to wrestling before, and I'd seen people poke the finger and stuff, and I knew that was bad, you know, and I thought, I don't want to be bad. I want to be good, you know. So I want to be on that side, you know, because I've kind of seen a little of those words, you know.

1:08:11Yeah, you weren't a good heel. Yeah. No. This was choosing not to be a heel for eternity, I mean. Well, you know, now that I understand what was going on, because I was just a little boy, you know. So I said the prayer, you know, and they asked me if I could believe Jesus died. You know, I did. And I felt something move in my, something weird in my chest. And I thought somebody, there were men standing behind me. I thought they did something to me like, but I actually felt something move inside me. And I think it was that little bit of evidence gave me a lot of courage. And I knew God was with me.

1:08:48I know he was. And that night, I got out of my bed, and I looked on my porch. I was just looking at the outside, the stars. And I'm a little boy. I could have imagined it, but I could have sworn I saw an angel fly across the field with a horn in his mouth, like he was blowing a horn. I didn't hear any sound. It looked just like a Christmas ornament, a Christmas tree. But in my mind, this was the best day of my life, and I belong to God now. I've never been afraid of anything since then. Amen. Yeah, it's interesting. I think sometimes people get scared to share their testimonies or moments that they've had where they've just felt like something stronger than them took care of them.

1:09:30Yeah. Yeah, I remember a feeling one time where I was just broken down, man. I was really banged up about a relationship and just not sure what I wanted to do with my life. I'd moved back in with my step-parents. And, man, I remember one time I was just on my knees bawling. And I felt something come around my heart, man. I can't even explain it. Just like this warm thing. I mean, I'd never felt where my heart was. I mean, I'd put my hand on it hoping for the best when I was pledging allegiance. Oh, Theo, he's knocking on the door. But I mean, shh. You're a little boy. You're beautiful. And you're all alone suffering like that.

1:10:09God, that was God, Theo. Yeah. He came to you. And, you know, we got one lifetime to learn it, you know, that there is such a thing. I mean, let me tell you, there is a double. And people want to say there's no such thing, but there is, boy. I could tell you a really weird story, but it's 100 % true. Yeah. I mean, your life's full of craziest stories ever. Listen to this one. Okay, so I'm going to wrestle Big Daddy, King Kong Bundy, and the Will Rogers Coliseum in Fort Worth. So on the way to the ring, Kerry said, Kev, come here. I said, what, Kerry? He said, I was dad on the phone. Mike's just been in a terrible car wreck.

1:10:48He's dying now. Dad said, don't try to get there fast because he'll be dead before we get there anyway. And I said, what? He sort of ran to the ring. I said, ring the bell. I rang the bell. I grabbed Bundy's leg, schoolboyed him, one, two, three, ran to the back, carrying a hauled ass to the hospital, stealing my wrestling stuff. And so we get there, and there's cops everywhere, and they're standing by the doors, and I run right into them. I bust open, and there's this black lady out there, and she said, my baby, my baby. And when I crash those doors open, there's a little black kid laying there dead, blood and stuff.

1:11:28So I go out the other door, open the door, and there's Mike. Hey, Kev, he was fine, just fine. and so I'm like I'm numb you know and so I knew my parents were on their way down here and so I go outside and I see them walking down the ramp and I said he's okay and my dad just about fell down my mom fell down well so I'm gonna get my car to come home and Abilene is west but Denton is north well for some reason I went west and I'm almost to Abilene Eastland just I was so out of it just driving. By the time I got home, I was so sleepy. His son had already come up. He hadn't been waiting for me. And so I was going to take my bulldog down to the lake and wash him.

1:12:12I had to cast your soap. You know, it's okay for the environment. No, I'm still washing my dog. And oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Maybe it's concussions. But before that, I said, God, thank you for giving me my brother back. Let me fight the devil. I said, Satan, I'll fight you. I'll fight you. And I said, let me fight him, God. It was stupid, a stupid boy. And so I go to the lake. I'm washing my dog. And Theo, I swear this happened. So my dog, everything's real still. And I'm feeling weird a little bit. And I look and I see there's a bush here and some more bushes here and a hill here. and I see these little black things taking position against me and advancing on me.

1:13:02I felt like I could smell blood. I could smell death. And I said, get in the car, Pam. And I put my back to the car and I was like this and I would see them going from trees. They're getting these positions and I was ready. And next thing I know, I'm out. I'm having a seizure in my car. And so Pam's screaming and crying and these fishermen have run up to help and I must have hit one or kicked one or something. But a girl ran up and said, I know his parents. I'll get them. And an ambulance came and all that. But I know it's because I'm a man and I challenge the devil. And we have Jesus in us that fights the devil.

1:13:44We don't have anything to do with the devil. And so that was my lesson that I learned. But I know that happened. And it's just in me like written on my heart. and with a nail. Look, it's a testimony, man. Yeah. I thank you for sharing that. Yeah, I think sometimes we don't think that the devil is real and that is the devil's way to trick us. I believe that. Yeah. You know, if you don't think that evil's real, then it's how quick, you don't know how close it is to you either. You know, you don't know how intertwined it could be in your own veins. If you don't even believe it's real, that's a pretty masterful trick.

1:14:16Yeah, and we think with a man's mind and the devil is an angel's mind. You know, I mean, he's way smarter than we are. Devil's a hug. Look, the devil is a thug, you know? That is the truth, man. Thank you for sharing that. I've had friends share some really, some strong testimonials, some moments where they just felt that, you know? I mean, there has been moments in my life where, yeah, I just felt, you just get that feeling so nauseous. You ever get overcome with that feeling? You're just so thankful that God has been with you. Yeah. Man, because you thought you did it yourself and you realized you didn't, that God was there with you.

1:14:49Man, when I've had that feeling come over me, God, I mean, it just, you almost feel like you thaw out some, you know, like you thaw out. And then we get to a position where something bad comes along. We're like, oh, God, don't let this happen. And he saves us again. I'm like, oh, I forgot the other times too, you know. No, I forget. I'll forget pretty quick. You're a little southern boy. I know what kind of – you caught copperheads and water moxins and stuff like that, I'm sure. Oh, I definitely – I got electrocuted a bunch. I was definitely beaten a lot. Yeah, we got bit by things, attacked. I got attacked by a bunch of stray animals.

1:15:26I grew up in the stray animal belt. Really? So they had just - What kind of stray animals? Oh, anything, brother. Snakes, raccoons, birds, dogs. Man. I don't even know. They had dogs wearing jewelry. All kind of shit was out there looking for us. Man, you got a good memory. It was dangerous out there. Well, you know, I got chased by a goose. when I was a little kid. By a ghost? A goose. Oh, a goose. Yeah. I'd rather a damn ghost. Gooses are dangerous, dude. Well, they can bite, you know, but for little kids, scary. They don't care and they're violent. And dude, a goose will come at you to just be one of them.

1:16:08Some animals will have four, five or six of them. Raccoons are like that, you know, ants are like that. You know, they won't come at you just one, but a goose, that thing will roll up on you solo. That's pretty savage when you think of it. Yeah. Is that you? That's a ghost is thinking Rambo. That's crazy. Oh, what were your parents' lives like? What was like, are your parents, either of your parents still alive? No. Okay. Are they buried in the same place? Yeah, they are. Yeah, we had my mother, you know, when we moved out, I couldn't move to Kauai without taking my mom with me. Oh, so you took your mom with you?

1:16:46Yeah. Oh, dude. And she lived in the house with us, too. Did she love it there? You know, my dad used to wrestle in Japan a lot, and so we would meet him in Hawaii. And I didn't realize it, but Hawaii reminded her of her sons. And she didn't want to go anywhere. She wanted to stay in her room, and she wanted to grow her flowers. And that was it. She just, she did love it. She loves her flowers, you know, but it was like, it reminded her too much of that. but she and she passed away up in our our guest room upstairs and uh but all my granddaughters and my my son's wives were standing around her singing hymns while she passed away and feel before she died she was a super good woman she was so sweet and thoughtful to everyone when she'd come to school i'll be so proud of her you know because all the kids will like her but But when she was laying in that bed and she breathed her last breath, even as she, like that, her hand went up like that.

1:17:49And I could just picture touching Jesus' hands and going to heaven. She was probably ready to go see her sons, huh? Oh, I know she was. You know, my dad. I need to tell you all this personal stuff, buddy. Well, I could match you if you need, but we've heard my stories a lot. No, I just can't imagine. and I bet she was ready to go see her sons. He was. I bet she'd been gone away from them long enough. And you know my dad too. Because really when you think about it, my dad lost more than my mom. My dad lost his sons, but he didn't ever show it. I mean, but he hurt. He was hurting, but he was like.

1:18:27It was just that he, at his latter, in the final days, he was so torn up inside. I think when he saw me, it would remind him of all the sons he'd lost. And he pulled that.44 out one day. And he pointed his head like, I'm just going to shoot myself. No, don't do it, Dad. And he pointed the gun at me. And I said, he said, you're afraid to die, aren't you? He said, you'd have the guts. You'd do it too if you had the guts. And I said, Dad, it doesn't take guts to live. I mean, it'd take guts to kill yourself, Dad. It'd take guts to stay alive on this earth. And he was hurting so much. He would just go, oh, God.

1:19:13He'd rub his face and go, oh, God. And when I'd hear that, I actually wanted him to die. I wanted him to pass away. He was just miserable. And I know that when he died, he was right there with Dave Carey. It was beautiful. But my dad had gotten away. He said, look, son, if you kick an old dog enough times, he's going to bite you. And that's how I am with God right now. He's kicked me too many times. And so I said, Dad, it's going to be, you're going to be so surprised, but I couldn't convince him of it. Yeah, I can't imagine what it's like to be kind of the surviving son. Did you feel chosen or did you feel deserted?

1:20:04Does that question make any sense to you? Sure. It's funny you say that. Yeah, because I felt chosen in the way that my dad gave me a tape recorder back when I was in fifth grade. It was a bell and howl, you know, and you could talk into it. I couldn't believe I could hear my voice. Yeah. You know, and so I thought I love my dad so much. I filled the tape. It was, okay, one day dad's going to die, and I'm going to talk. And here I am alive while he's still alive. And so I'm going to say something to make me feel better. Man, I'm sorry, Kev. Sorry, buddy. I just filled the tape up with that. Oh, as if you were impersonating your dad?

1:20:42Yeah, yeah. Like I can comfort myself later when I don't work. No, dude, that's really interesting, though. That's so interesting. But I remember saying, Dave and Carrie, we loved each other so much. I thought, I can't bear to lose them. I could not bear it. And I thought, but they loved me that way. And so I said this, even in a prayer, I said, God, if one of us has to stand back, if one of us has to be the only one, let it be me. Wow. Because I'm hard and I'm strong inside. Lord God made me that way. But I didn't know it would ever happen, but I did say it, you know. You know, I used to have, I mean, this is like silly, but like, so when I was growing up, I didn't have any, like whenever my dad died, I didn't have anything of his, right?

1:21:28I didn't have like a shirt or like a button or just anything to remember him by, you know? and so i used to write postcards to my kids right whenever i was on the road just traveling over the years doing comedy i would write postcards to my kids i don't have any kids yet but i would send them postcards just so in the future they would be able to see that i was thinking of them right yeah like i just wanted i wanted to prove i was like so smart bro but right but i just think it's the same type of thing it's like you're just trying to like i don't know you're always thinking of how do I make sure that somebody knew I cared or that somebody knew somebody else cared.

1:22:06I'm going to die someday. I'm going to die someday. Stuff like that is interesting. I think a lot of people do little things like that. But that's interesting because you could have felt like you were deserted. But to end up feeling that you were chosen, that's pretty powerful. Well, I don't think I'd say that we're chosen more like I'd say that I would not want to put them through that. Ah. Yeah. Like you were the one that could handle it. Then I think I would not want them to go through it. Yeah. I would rather me go through it than they did. And I think... That's sweet of you. God might have gave me some credit for that, you know, because it's all about...

1:22:43We're in a struggle, you know? It's like we're not on this earth to laugh it up and have fun. We have tests, real tests, and life is hard. And that kind of stuff that kicks you in the nuts is what makes you stronger. yeah makes you more strong and without that you can't give advice to people about things you haven't been around you know but once you've had it and been and suffered yourself now you can say listen up with that said like um and i agree you know i'm just thinking about that the other day it's like i've always had this outlook and they kind of don't teach you that when you're a kid as much that and they really shouldn't when you're a young child but i think they should teach you at some point that life is a test that it is full of a lot of tests and it's not all just going to be like this perfect thing or everything might not work out the way you think it, you know, you never really kind of get that education maybe, or maybe some parents do give it to their kids.

1:23:35But with what you said a second ago, if you had to share something with somebody who had lost a sibling or who had dealt with, you know, some grief from loss, something that you've learned because, I mean, you're like almost the, the Neil Armstrong of loss. I mean, you've, you've had, you've endured a lot in your life, you know, and watched other loved ones endure a lot, you know. What have you kind of learned that you feel like you could share, if anything? Well, thank you for giving that opportunity because that's what I want to do is to try to make it positive for somebody, buddy. But, you know, it's tough because I want to tell people, like, when somebody dies, it's going to get better, but it doesn't get better, man.

1:24:21You don't even get used to it it just keep tolerating it and you just somehow it gets a little better someday but there's no good word to say to them but when somebody's really busted up you know and it when you overcome that and are able to um maintain through that well then it's it's now you've achieved through a struggle. You've achieved over an obstruction. You've gone over a hurdle. And it's like now you can say you won. Now you can say you won something because without a fight there can't be a winner. There can't be a champion. There can't be a success unless there's that adversity. And so God wouldn't put you through that unless you're going to benefit.

1:25:16that you got a great mind you're intelligent guy because oh thanks man life is he's knocking on your door too my friend you two i feel like you and me are probably pretty similar in some ways you feel that sure do i do too um do you uh was how how how therapeutic was having your own family for you? Everything, man. That was what did it is what saved me because, uh, man, when you can have anything you want, you know, when your brother's going to have anything they want and, and they come over and let's go do this. Let's go. It's like, what a life. I mean, it's, uh, it's a whole lot, but I don't mean to bum me out now.

1:26:05I don't want to start. I don't feel like bumming me out at all really no i was just thinking like well i was gonna ask you what's something that you admire about each one of your children and then i was gonna ask you what's something that you um maybe like something funny or something silly that you kind of admire or maybe miss something goofy or something about each one of your brothers maybe just like a nice like a like a band they like to listen to just something like that oh yeah well we love good music i can tell you i've never told anybody this story but uh we had our we had a like a tree house but it was built on stilts a little room on stilts my dad brought us and so uh we had a cut my mother was a third oldest but there were she had an older sister and so her older sister came over and she had two sons and they were they could pick on us you know and so we're hiding up there and they were trying to get it we'd pull the rope up wouldn't let them go and we had rocks we're throwing rocks at them and so there it got really bloody you know we're chunking rocks and hitting each other and and you know and and so uh uh i think i'll let one go and hit one of the guys right in the head you know and uh my cousin it would have kicked my ass if he could have caught me you know but but so he runs in the house to tell on me so we'll get in trouble you know and so uh me and dave and carrie are come down from the tree house you know we're watching out they're We're not going to ambush us and beat us up over the house, you know.

1:27:33But they run to the house to tell on us, you know, so we run up there. And so the guy's bleeding. My cousin's bleeding. My cousin Steve bleeding all over the police. And Dad said, what the hell happened? And I was about to feel something. And Kerry said, Dad, he got a little razor blade, cut his head. And my dad started cracking up laughing, you know. And so Dave and I kind of go with the story, you know, and I think he started laughing and just let it go. But I think back on that, Kerry was such a cute little kid, you know. He was lying about it, huh? He did. He was that way. He was quick, huh?

1:28:13Another time we were riding in the car and my friend had a BB gun. So we were riding with a BB gun and shooting signs and warning lights and stuff, you know. so we drive by pickup and he shoots the windshield and of your own vehicle no no it was a friend of ours a friend of ours an old man that had a ranch just south of us and so shot blew it out yeah i shot the window out and uh the cops were gonna get us you know and we're running from them and all and uh got in such trouble and so we're answering for it all we got away and so they weren't sure that we were the ones you know and so the cops were all talking to us and my dad was there and I hear my dad say, my sons won't lie to me.

1:28:57So I'll ask them, my sons will not lie to me. And so he calls Kerry over there. And Kerry had already lied to him, you know. And so I heard dad say that. He said, come here, Kev. And Kerry's over there. We're going with the lie, you know, but I'm busted. And so I'm going to say, I can't get the word to Kerry. I get it to Dave. Dave can't get it to Kerry. and I said yes sir dad we did it we all did it and I said Kerry come here son Kerry look me in the eye I want you to tell me the truth did you do it he said no sir dad I swear oh man so Kerry could lie Kerry could lie somebody's got to lie man And what about Chris?

1:29:49What was something that was fun or just neat about him? What was something he liked to do? Well, he loved Indian stuff, you know, and he had a, so he had, he stacked the rocks and all the Indian stuff. He knew all about Chief Bowles and the Wonka Tonka, I don't know, I can't remember. Wampum, something like that. He knew a lot of Native American lore. Yeah, he loved all that stuff. And so where they lived, they had all arrowheads and spearheads. He found that stuff all the time. So that's what he was really doing. But he was a great artist. He could draw anything, you know. So I thought that, but he was, he had asthma.

1:30:27And so because he had to take medicine, it made his bones brittle. And he just wasn't going to get big and strong, you know. It just didn't, when he worked out, it didn't really do anything. Well, y 'all took all the bigness, too. If he was the last one, y 'all didn't leave any bigness for him. That's what I've thought. I thought maybe we took all the big because, man, he wanted to be, I could have cared less, but he wanted to be big so bad. And what about Mike? What was something that Mike liked to do? What kind of music did he listen to? Oh, he liked Metallica and ACDC. Did y 'all ever go to any concerts together?

1:31:06Always. A lot of concerts together, yeah. What was one y 'all went to? ZZ Top. I loved them. But those are about to rock. Isn't that ACDC? We went to a Fogcat concert, and I think the band that warmed up for them was I Am Just a Cowboy, right around the trail, with Starry Nights, Campfire Lights. What was that song? The Cowboy song. Thin Lizzy? Thin Lizzy. What is it? Thin Lizzy. Thin Lizzy? Yeah, that was a great concert. Cowboy song about Thin Lizzy. I haven't heard that. I've got to listen to that one. Oh, that's a great song. and that was going to be Dave's song. See, I picked the music, but with Kerry picked his song.

1:31:47Brother Walkout music? I always did the music, and I picked that song for Dave, but he said, no, Kev, I'm a cowboy, and he picked, when I die, I may not go to Texas. It was nothing. You want music. A Tanya Tucker? Yeah, but I mean. Good God. But it was terrible for Go to the Ring, too. I'm sure it was, dude. You want to sound like an interesting sound I'm in a crescendo, and you'll kick the door off and the lights and all, so you don't want something like that. And he's blasting some damn Shania Twain or whatever. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's a different level, man. Okay, and so, and Jack had passed away before you.

1:32:26What about Kerry? What's something you remember about him that you like? Shoot, Kerry was just... Were you all the closest, probably? Well, me, Dave, and Kerry were real close. And then Mike was our baby, you know, So we were really close. But, you know, Chris was a little bit, I told you about the divorce thing when I was a kid. One thing my mother insisted on my dad was that my dad not discipline Mike and Chris like he did me, Dave, and Kerry. Because he used a leather strap on us, you know. But, I mean, we're boys, you know. It was kind of common back then. It was, yeah. My principal beat me in the office one time, a couple times, I think.

1:33:05It was back when your principal could spank you, you know. Yeah, I've been beating there, too. I mean, you know, we had it coming. Hey, that's all my brother. Yeah, we had it coming. Did we? I don't know. Well, you know, if we got away with it and we just done it again, you know. Look, he got me. I got over on him more times than he got over on me. I'll tell you that, Mr. Brady. Yeah, I think same with mine. I had a principal like that. He'd come down in the office and he'd open your classroom door and say, Who parked on my grass? You know, if any car was touching grass, it was his grass, and you had to move it.

1:33:41You know, he was a really obnoxious guy. Did you guys finish high school, you and your brothers? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we did. Of course, I hated school, and I hated it. I don't know if you did or not. Oh, if I could wrestle good, I wouldn't like damn spelling. Well, I wasn't wrestling then, you know. I was a little kid. I had to do my homework and all that stuff, but I had to listen to all that junk in class and about Susie has two dresses and all that crap. I couldn't stand it. I was bored to death. And I'm not a very good parent. I told you. When I see little boys, I say, I hated school. I don't blame you for not wanting to go.

1:34:20There's a lot better stuff to do. You've got a dog. You've got a BB gun. And that's all you need. When you think back, what about your own parenting? So you have four children? Yeah. Okay. And what are they like? You have two boys and two girls? Yeah, two boys and two girls. But my oldest two are daughters, Kristen and Jill. And Kristen has always been my soft spot. I love her so much, and she's brilliant. She does everything for us. You know, she's such a good foster mom. In Hawaii, she'd take the kids for the police, what do you call the ID, the parent. Oh, CPS? CPS. She would get those kids.

1:35:12And then for foster parents, they loved her there. And so many people that loved her in Hawaii, so many kids. And then there's my daughter, Jill. She was way more like me. she's like she can swim endlessly i've swam out to reefs before that were way too far for anybody without a boat she'll swim out there without flippers and go down and dive with lobsters with me and grab them with their hands too i mean i'm using gloves but she's her she's something else she could she can run like a deer she um and she loves her and her sons are all athletic I could go overboard talking about her. She's such an athlete.

1:35:55And then there's Ross and Marshall. And Ross and Marshall got into wrestling. Yeah. Were you scared when they got into wrestling, or did you have any thoughts about it, or that's just what they wanted to do? Well, not with Ross. I knew Ross has been an ass kicker his whole life, and he fights easily. There's not much for a man like that to do in today's world except wrestling, and so where else is going to be good. But Marshall, I did worry about him because Marshall was a super athlete. He went out to Hawaii and he was the quarterback and he was throwing the bombs. The newspapers were just, people would just want a picture of how far he could throw the football.

1:36:36He was just a great athlete, but I worried about him getting that heat stroke out there because he had a heat issue one time. So that's the only time I've ever been worried of him because they're both like bulls. You know, they're strong and healthy. And I wouldn't worry about it either way. With their wrestling now too, they know what they need to know. I believe that the wrestling business is about to really explode because it was just like this when my brothers and I got started. And when this COVID got in, they had to wrestle in empty buildings. I don't think I could have ever done that. But it made it where the people really have not seen them explode yet.

1:37:19They've worked for a little they went to Japan and wrestled and they worked for a little operation at MLW and now they're with AEW. Oh really? AEW's been popping off. I keep hearing about it all the time now. Yeah, they're really going to be special I believe. And will they tag team? They've done both. They work tag teams right now though. It's a lot of And, you know, tag teams are such an interesting, exciting match, you know, because the guys don't have time to get a hold. But they can do either one. They can wrestle single. They can work a tag. But probably they'll work a tag team. As a matter of fact, I don't want to talk out of school, but we have a neighbor in Bernie, and it's Bill Goldberg, the guy that wrestled at WWE.

1:38:09Oh, yeah. Yeah, he's a Texas boy, I think. isn't he or Oklahoma Bill Goldberg yeah I think Shemoka where is he from Norman no um did you ever fight Rocky Johnson uh he I was too young but my first black and white pictures uh that was trying to flex you know and I've never I didn't know you know I didn't expect to have muscles but that's Rocky and so Rocky's was really good at flexing and so Rocky taught me everything about flexing you know he was standing right behind the car room and doing this and doing all these things you know whatever rocky did i did for the picture you know so you learned a little from him then rocky's son is the rock you know oh yeah dwayne johnson and so we would like that's actually the picture that's hilarious dude but little rock was there oh was he yeah yeah he's he's a little boy i mean he was the cutest little kid people say that Rocky is a very nice guy?

1:39:13He's still alive? I don't know about that, but Rock was a great guy, too. I mean, he was a little younger than us, so we'd wrestle him, and we'd frustrate him to see if he'd have the courage to pep up with it, and he would, too. Dwayne John, the Rock? He would fight. He would win a fight. That pup will bite you. he was a beautiful little kid oh y 'all might have put the y 'all might have excite y 'all might have put that fire in a man um what about bruiser brody remember him yeah he was something else smart guy uh on his wake up workout routine he would just put on leather gloves and lay into that heavy bag and it thickened his chest and i mean he did bench presses too but he had an awesome bench press but also his body was built so powerfully because he had it i think he worked out different he did a lot of strikes you know and that thickens joints and all made him make you have kind of that raw strength you know and he'd have that but if you want to talk about puerto rico well i could tell you too that what happened well he was killed in puerto rico you know oh he was killed in puerto rico yeah i didn't know that well gosh i never told this story but i I could tell you this one too.

1:40:35Brody was real temperamental, and he would get pissed off real easy. Well, the Puerto Rico wrestling office owed him about 80 grand. And so my dad was president of the Alliance back then. And so we worked out a payout schedule where they'd pay him a little each show. But Brody got to that show, and he wouldn't work for them because they owed him that money. And so dad worked it out where he would come back. And boy, when they came back, they sold out San Juan. And it was a great crowd. Brody wanted his money that night because he saw that they had it. But, you know, there are other things that they've, you know, and that's all that started.

1:41:17That's all that started. So he wanted his money and wanted to be, and so he kicked the guy's ass, you know, and the guy's a little invader, you know, forgot his name. But, man, this is an ugly story too, but the guy who, and so they got in a fight and the guy, Brody beat him up and he knifed Brody in the shower. But this is the kind of guy, I mean, the guy that did it, just about a week before that, his little daughter drowned in his swimming pool. Oh. So he's on edge, you know, and so I can't really, I know them both, you know, and they're both men that want to earn a living, you know, and it's sad.

1:42:09Oh, that's him, Jose Gonzalez? Yeah. Hmm. Yeah, life is, you know, like I say, we suffer. We find the beautiful moments in between those ugly ones, you know, and it's got good and bad. Yeah, I'm trying to think if there's something else. You talked about using medicinal marijuana. How did you get into that, and then how did it help you, do you feel like? Well. If you want to talk about it, if you don't want to, that's fine. Yeah, I did. Well, I had a lot of knee surgeries too. And you can take a pain pill, but if you do, then it's going to take an edge off of it. And so you'll want to take more.

1:42:53And if you do, you're going to get in a problem. And so I didn't want pain pills. So I wanted a natural pain relief, and so I tried cannabis, and I liked it. And it was just good all around for me. It was good. And so I actually grow it out in Kauai. And so that's how I have habit. I'm so grateful for it, too. I mean, I hope they don't make it illegal again because it was, it's like a wonder drug to me. It really was. Did you ever get involved in any other type of plant medicine or anything like that out there? I know there's like ayahuasca ceremonies and stuff like that. We've done, I've done that before.

1:43:36And a lot of our listeners have, I think have considered it or tried it. Yeah, there's stuff called, oh, it's a, what's the name of that? Kif. No. Kif. What? Kava. Kava. Yeah, kava root's good for you. I say good for you. I read about the contraindications on that, and it's kind of, it can make your skin like,

1:44:05have, what do you call those things? Shingles? Scales or whatever? Scales like, yeah. Damn, make a damn dragon out of you, dude. I guess that's if you do too much of it or something. I tried it. It's not bad for you. But have you ever done like ayahuasca or like a plant medicine ceremony? where they put you under yeah ayahuasca ayahuasca oh it's like a um medicine that you take and you kind of sit in a group of the shaman and it's usually it's like a two-day ceremony and um you kind of go through these bouts of like um it's kind of like an emotional journey that you go on it's really fascinating like a sweat lodge kind of thing maybe wow really really fascinating if you ever get curious about it i got a friend in israel that writes comedy shows that writes soap operas.

1:44:50And he does that. He goes to Africa and South America and finds indigenous people and does stuff like that with them. And he does, I mean, he's a wealthy guy. So he does Aaron Rogers. We know who it is. What's your physical routine like today for yourself, Kevin? Physical routine. Yeah. Do you have like a daily routine or? Yeah. Well, Solomon comes in my bedroom about 845 or nine o 'clock. That's your grandson? Uh-huh. And we go either catch lizards or snakes or frogs. We've caught four rattlesnakes on our ranch last year. And we caught king snakes and turtles, sea turtles, soft-shelled turtles, you name it.

1:45:37That little boy and I have so much fun together. And I love him to death. and does he remind you any one of your brothers in particular at all or no yeah he reminds me of Marshall and Ross it's like I'm able to be dad again you know it's like well I enjoyed being their father so much I really love my sons and my daughters but having Solomon again is just like having Marshall again you know and he's got Ross in him too though you know it's beautiful for anybody that's wondering I Like Kevin Von Erick, I consider myself the luckiest guy in the world. I mean, I know for that movie coming out, you may not believe it, but I am happy all day, every day.

1:46:22And, I mean, I look forward to tomorrow. And I couldn't ask for a better way things turned out. And to bitch about my brothers dying too young, the truth is we had a great time. We had a great time a long time. Hell, yeah, we're still talking about how good the time was. Yeah, yeah. You know what I'm saying, dude? So I can't call it a bad day. Is there any message you think that your father or brothers felt like you think that they would want to have given, but they didn't get a chance to? Is there ever anything like that? Yeah. I want to tell you something. Now, we watched my dad wrestle when we were little boys.

1:46:57And we had an idea to make a wrestling show that would be different. It would be two hot cameras the whole time, so nothing's going to look bad on television. It was just the best camera shot. but it would have done some extra time editing. But, you know, we wanted wrestling to be, instead of the 20 and 30-minute matches, one-hour time limits, we thought 20 minutes was plenty of time for a match to just pick up the pace, you know, and just make it more intense. And I think our shows were like that. I'm proud of them. I'm proud of all of our shows. And my brothers, and especially Dave and I, and dad had a great idea one time and it was going to be to put our new style of wrestling on the show and it was great.

1:47:49We had a great TV rating and Vince offered us a big part of his, half of his company up there to come in with him and I sat there with my dad and I said, nope, what's in it for us? And you never disagree with family in a business meeting, but I was thinking he's got everything we need everything we need but dad wouldn't go wouldn't go with him to partner with WWE you mean? yeah and they're going to let dad keep San Antonio and Dallas too but who knows huh? yeah who knows what would have happened yeah because there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip you know but I mean we would have been ready we would have jumped all over that because we're little boys that had seen it for a whole life and we just knew how to make it better.

1:48:41We'd watch the NFL, you know, and the slow motion, the collisions and all, and concerts with the lasers and all, the music, the way it fills you out of your chair, you know. We had it. We had how we wanted to do it. So, you know, that didn't come about, but we had a great time aiming at it. yeah and who knows maybe things would have been different you know yeah i mean you guys yeah i mean i just yeah i mean on behalf of like yeah any kid that was like me i mean the second you guys they put the name on the screen or it's just man it was awesome dude you felt like everything was possible you could fucking rip the drywall to the living room you could fucking do whatever you want to do you knew mom was coming home in an hour and a half but you had a 90 minutes till she got there where you were free as a bird boy i'd break every damn chair we had and then spend the next two hours gluing them bitches back together for dinner dude you would have loved to step in the business i know you liked it you would have loved it um well kevin man thanks so much dude a show tonight yeah we got a show tonight i'd love to take you to dinner but you're busy yeah tonight i'll be busy but you know what i think i'm gonna be down to um austin in uh in september oh you are Shoot, call me up, man.

1:50:02I'll show you Texas. When I am, I'll come out and see the ranch, man. Do it. That would be cool. That would be, man. What plants do you guys have out there? What plants? Yeah, do you plant any avocados or anything like that here in Texas or no? Oh, no, no. It won't grow in the subtropics. But I say that. I went to Israel. It's on the 33rd degree ladder from the equator. I mean, that's way far north. they have mangoes there papayas i couldn't believe it yeah they can't grow that in texas yeah you can't grow that in texas huh um but you can grow you can grow a batch of von eric's dude that are pretty damn impressive i'll say that sure can um kevin thanks so much for your time man just thanks for you and your family just uh just all the enjoyment and excitement and invigoration and possibility over the years is i think it's inspired a lot of people and was so much fun as a kid just fucking when that when you guys came on the screen just getting to be yvonne eric for a few minutes it was fun man it was a lot of fun i'll think about it and you know when we get some stress built up you know you can just get in the ring and kick ass that's a motto for life those days are gone but they're pretty close in our minds you know yeah right there you can still feel them right on the edge of your skin sometimes dang right dude i'll fuck i'll beat the shit out of somebody in the lobby here if we need to.

1:51:24Well, let's find a quiet spot and I'll take you down somewhere and we can make a little news. Kevin, my Derek, thanks so much, man. My pleasure, buddy. Now I'm just floating on the breeze and I feel I'm falling like these leaves. I must be cornerstone. Oh, but when I reach that ground, I'll share this peace of mind. I found I can feel it. In my bones But it's gonna take