Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions event that  attracted over 32,000 wrestling fans to the old  

Texas Stadium, a seriously impressive number long  before the days of WrestleMania. The fans in Texas  

came to pay tribute to David Von Erich, a man who  had passed away mere months before the show. They  

came to see the in-ring return of David’s father  Fritz Von Erich, and they came to see an NWA  

world heavyweight title match pitting challenger  Kerry Von Erich against Nature Boy Ric Flair. This  

main event match provided fans with a feel-good  moment that isn't talked about all that often,  

and today I want to take a look at the match along  with everything that led up to the famous bout in  

Texas Stadium along with the disappointing fallout  of the match. So let's get stuck in, this is the  

modern-day warrior Kerry Von Erich vs. Nature  Boy Ric Flair at the 1984 Parade of Champions.  

I've mentioned this before, but out of all the  territories that existed before the WWF machine  

came along, World Class Championship Wrestling is  probably my favorite. Owned by Fritz Von Erich,  

World Class had an excellent balance of  in-ring action, storylines, good promos,  

and good wrestlers. I sometimes find that some old  territories could excel in one trait but seriously  

struggle in another, and some territories can  contain nothing but match after match, which,  

in turn, doesn’t make for a great viewing  experience, especially today when fans are  

conditioned to expect more interaction through  interviews, promos, and storylines. Fans who  

filled the Dallas Sportatorium were loyal  and very lively. Male, female, the young,  

and old; you'd see all sorts of fans in that old  historic building having the time of their lives  

watching their favorite superstars, and  it makes for a much more pleasant viewing  

experience - the crowd reactions are infectious. The company also benefited from a more modern and  

up-to-date take on the presentation of wrestling  shows - long before Vince McMahon became the  

leader in show production, World Class invested  in modern TV production with music videos being  

displayed during shows, cleaner on-screen graphics  in comparison to other shows on TV and the time,  

and well-produced vignettes to further storylines  and introduce new characters. In a way,  

World Class provided a blueprint that  other companies would greatly expand upon,  

but a fan of today’s wrestling can go back  and watch World Class shows quite comfortably  

because they've got a good pace and enough content  away from the ring to keep things interesting.  

You can't mention World Class and Texas wrestling  during this era without mentioning the Von Erich  

boys, the sons of Fritz Von Erich, who were  easily the most popular attractions of the  

whole territory. Again, the age of the fans in the  Sportatorium didn't matter, male or female - it  

didn’t matter, EVERYONE loved the Von Erichs,  and I promise you, you will too if you go back  

and watch some World Class shows. The brothers  were featured in some of the biggest storylines  

the company ever produced, their battles with  the fabulous freebirds being the most well-known  

and critically acclaimed rivalry in the whole  promotion. The Freebirds had that thing going  

on too where even though they were heels, they  were still pretty damn entertaining to watch,  

and sometimes you might find yourself rooting for  Michael Hayes and his band of merry men even when  

they went up against the Von Erichs, but it all  makes for a brilliant and highly entertaining feud  

that also gained World Class a lot of traction.  WCCW was one of the most successful territories in  

the whole United States for a few years, but real  repetitive tragedies along with, let's be honest,  

awful booking decisions would eventually  put a halt to the groundbreaking company.  

David Von Erich was seen as the big breakout  star out of the whole Von Erich family. Not  

only was he good in the ring and an excellent  promo, but it's been said that he had a deep  

understanding of pro wrestling along  with a lot of respect for the National  

Wrestling Alliance and the world title. In  the WWE-produced World Class documentary,  

a few guys interviewed said that David could  have run the territory himself if anything were  

to ever happen to Fritz. It has also been widely  reported and more or less confirmed that David  

was going to win the NWA World Heavyweight  Championship from Ric Flair in early 1984.  

Fritz Von Erich, the family patriarch, looked at  the championship as a holy grail despite never  

winning the championship himself. In Fritz's  eyes, the title proves that you're the absolute  

best in the world, and Fritz wanted not only  one of his sons to win the championship, but  

he also wanted a champion that hailed from World  Class. Reportedly, having the NWA championship in  

the Dallas territory meant a lot to Fritz, so  you can imagine how big of a deal it was when  

the championship committee reportedly voted  for David Von Erich to win the belt in 1984.  

To build up for the match, Ric Flair made  disparaging comments about Mike Von Erich,  

saying that Mike wasn't good in the ring and not  worthy of stepping up to the Nature Boy. So David  

made a challenge to Ric, a 10-minute challenge  match. If Flair could beat Mike within 10 minutes,  

then David would back off and never ask for  another shot at the NWA championship. But if  

Flair was unable to beat Mike in those 10 minutes,  then David would be able to name the time, place,  

and stipulations for a Ric Flair vs  David Von Erich NWA title match.  

On January 30th, 1984, at WCCW Wrestling Star  Wars, Flair had the match with Mike, and the  

Nature Boy couldn't get the job done, so David was  in line for a title shot. Before the match could  

take place though, David took himself off to Japan  for a tour with All Japan Pro Wrestling where he  

tragically passed away. The Von Erichs claimed  it was caused by ruptured intestines or a stomach  

rupture that made him regurgitate and choke. The  cause of death was officially recorded as ruptured  

intestines. Ric Flair and others alluded to a  painkiller overdose, with the Von Erichs possibly  

covering up the real cause due to Fritz wanting  to maintain a squeaky clean image for his boys.  

But whatever the case, the Yellow Rose of Texas  had passed away, leaving fans of World Class in a  

state of disbelief and creating one of the  biggest "what-ifs?" in pro wrestling history.  

To celebrate the life of David Von  Erich and pay tribute to his memory,  

Fritz booked Texas Stadium for a special memorial  show. The name "Parade of Champions" wasn't new;  

events with that name had been held as far back as  the early 1960s, with Southwest Sports promoting  

such events. Even in 1972, Fritz challenged  Dory Funk Jr. for the NWA title in what turned  

out to be a 60-minute Broadway. However, in  1984, the Parade of Champions came back as  

the 1st Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions. It was a bold move to book Texas Stadium, the home  

of the Dallas Cowboys at the time. World Class  was white-hot, but a stadium show at this size  

raised a lot of eyebrows. Fritz was banking on  fans filling up the arena due to their desire to  

mourn and celebrate David. Michael Hayes even  said that a lot of the boys didn't care about  

the success of this show or what happened in  the main event; they just missed David and were  

still trying to come to terms with his passing. Fritz went ahead and booked the venue while also  

having a discussion with the NWA Championship  Committee because he felt that a surviving  

brother should still win the NWA championship  from Ric Flair. Details are sketchy here,  

but some reports state that Fritz didn't ask the  committee; he pleaded with them to allow another  

Von Erich to win the championship. Seeing as the  NWA had a good relationship with World Class,  

they decided to give it the green light,  and Flair would indeed drop the belt to a  

Von Erich at David's memorial show. Kerry Von Erich was selected as the  

new champion. Many would say that Kevin was  the better, more polished in-ring wrestler,  

but Kerry had a better look, a better body, was  very popular with female fans of World Class,  

and would look more challenging to beat when he  traveled around the other territories to defend  

the belt. Ticket sales went up when the main event  was announced. Again, according to Michael Hayes,  

when Fritz announced he was coming out of  retirement for the event, ticket sales had  

another significant boost. Fritz was going to team  up with Mike and Kevin to take on the Freebirds,  

while the Modern Day Warrior was booked to defeat  Ric Flair in a monumental match-up and probably  

the most important in World Class history. 32,000 fans bought tickets for the  

show, making it an incredible success  before the first matches even took place.  

The matches from the David Von Erich memorial  show were shown on ESPN and replayed again during  

weekly World Class shows on the same channel.  While the full event is not available on the WWE  

Network, the broken-up shows from World Class  weekly are available. So these are matches you  

can check out for yourself. As of the time of  making this video, the event is also on YouTube.  

The Von Erichs defeated the Fabulous Freebirds  before the NWA title match took place. Flair comes  

out first, looking quite stern and serious, and  Kerry comes out wearing a robe that pays tribute  

to David. Kerry is clearly and obviously the  fan favorite, but that doesn't mean he's going  

to win this match. David, Kerry, and Kevin all  had chances at the NWA championship in the past,  

and they all failed to capture the gold. But  admittedly, you can sense just watching this  

one that something big was going to go down. Remember how I said Kerry was popular with  

female fans? If you watch this show with a  decent amount of volume, your ears are going  

to get destroyed when the Modern Day Warrior  removes his robe. The women squeal when Kerry  

gets ready for the match. The champ takes his  time at the opening bell, strutting around the  

ring and building a little anticipation. Kerry  overpowers the Nature Boy, and the referee  

orders a break at the ropes. Flair then takes  Kerry down, but Von Erich gets to his feet in  

good time. And then Kerry takes a little time to  pose as the audience chants for the challenger.  

It can't be overstated how much this crowd was  behind Kerry Von Erich during this memorial show.  

Ric again takes Kerry down, and he tries to lock  in some sort of hold to keep the challenger on  

the mat, but Kerry wrestles his way out of it.  And Ric realizes this isn't going to be easy.  

The fans at ringside are beginning to get  under Ric's skin, and this just makes Kerry  

more confident. The two lock up again. Kerry gets  thrown into the ropes, but he drops Flair with a  

shoulder block followed by two dropkicks.  The Nature Boy backs up into the corner,  

and now Von Erich knows he's in with a chance. Kerry applies a side headlock and Slick Rick  

tries to counter with a top wrist lock. Have you  ever seen a crowd pop for a top wristlock? Well,  

you’ll see it here. Kerry puts up a fight  to ensure Ric doesn’t bring him down to the  

mat. The crowd roars when the challenger puts the  champ down. Kerry maintains wrist and arm control,  

but he's forced to release the hold when Flair  brings him to the corner. Ric isn't interested  

in a clean break. He instead rams his shoulder  into Von Erich’s midsection before delivering  

a few of those signature hard chops. Just  when you think Kerry’s gonna go on defense,  

he fights his way out of the corner and he fires  up on Ric with a big right hand. He follows this  

up with a military press slam, and once again, Ric  Flair is forced into the corner where he begs his  

opponent for mercy. Flair ends up going to the  outside to get a breather while Kerry plays up  

to the audience. The two remain cautious  as they circle the ring again. It goes to  

the corner, and this time it's Ric fighting out  with a few chops, and Ric punishes Kerry before  

throwing him out of the ring. Von Erich rushes  back to the apron. He performs a sunset flip,  

but he only gets a 2, and Ric then makes Kerry  pay with another hard chop to the chest.  

The crowd goes nuts again when Von Erich applies  a sleeper hold. Ric gets out by performing a back  

suplex, and the crowd begins to get restless  as Flair performs a snap mare followed by the  

Nature Boy knee drop. Flair tries to put Kerry  away with a suplex. Kerry kicks out at 2. Out of  

desperation, Kerry performs a dropkick, but  it only knocks the champ back to the ropes,  

and Ric's able to reply right away with an elbow  to the head. Kerry isn't out yet, though. He locks  

in an abdominal stretch that again makes the  crowd go crazy. Flair complains about Kerry  

pulling his tights, and Ric forces a break after a  hip toss. But Von Erich gets right back up, and he  

drops a few knees of his own. Even though Flair  just complained about Kerry pulling his tights,  

Slick Ric does the exact same thing. And as he  lays a knee into Kerry’s midsection, Flair then  

puts Kerry down with a shoulder block, and Ric  then runs straight into the claw. This should be  

the match all over. This is the famous Von Erich  finishing hold. But Ric again pulls Kerry’s tights  

to deliver another knee to the midsection, and the  Nature Boy gets warned this time by the referee.  

Ric goes to the top rope. You know what happens  next. He crashes to the mat hard, and now Kerry’s  

gonna make Ric pay for fighting dirty. Ric gets  punished in the corner before getting sent to the  

opposite turnbuckles for the upside-down bump. He  begs Kerry for a little compassion, but he gets  

another break when, for the third time, he grabs  Kerry’s tights for a knee strike. Kerry goes down,  

Flair tries to lock in the figure 4 twice, and  twice Von Erich is able to kick the Nature Boy  

away. The match then comes to an end when Kerry  goes down after a shoulder block. He gets up,  

blocks a hip toss, and it’s a mere  backslide that puts Ric's shoulders  

to the mat for the 1-2-3. A Von Erich just  won the NWA Heavyweight Championship.  

The fans in Texas attended the Parade of Champions  to mourn and celebrate David Von Erich. They ended  

up getting one of the biggest moments in the whole  state's professional wrestling history. There's a  

real joyous atmosphere when Kerry wins the NWA  title, and it's made even more special when his  

brothers rush into the ring to celebrate alongside  the new champion. For that moment, for that night,  

Kerry Von Erich winning the NWA World Heavyweight  Championship was right. No doubt the majority of  

you may have felt this was only given to Kerry due  to David's passing. Many of you may have also felt  

that Fritz asking the NWA championship committee  for a title reign under one of the surviving