Why is the upcoming Zac Efron film based on the Von Erichs — one of the most famous wrestling entertainment families — named The Iron Claw? Here’s a quick breakdown of why the movie sounds like an alcoholic soft drink.
The Von Erichs hit their peak of popularity in the early to mid 1980’s, wrestling in the family-run World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW). Every week, WCCW would air a one-hour show on television seen throughout most of the United States, which not only featured the Von Erichs but also big names such as Ric Flair, who sometimes would appear to defend his world title against one of them.
It also featured future stars King Kong Bundy and Kamala and perhaps stars in their prime in the WCCW such as the Great Kabuki. Most famously, it featured the Fabulous Freebirds who became the arch rivals of the Von Erichs.
The WCCW was run by Jack Adkisson, more famously known by his wrestling name.
In the early 1950’s, Adkisson became a wrestling villain under Stu Hart – father of Bret Hart. Taking advantage of post-WWII sentiment, Stu Hart decided to make Adkisson a hated German villain and thus gave him the name Fritz Von Erich. Ultimately, the name stuck, even when Fritz Von Erich later changed to become a good guy.
Von Erich’s popularity lasted decades and included winning a version of the world title three times. His sons followed in his wrestling footsteps, and also adopted the Von Erich name. They became extremely popular nationwide — especially Kerry, David, and Kevin, whom Zac Efron portrays in the film. The Von Erichs also wrestled around the world, which included frequent visits to Japan.
Fritz Von Erich’s most famous wrestling move was called the Iron Claw, which his sons also utilized. In Japan, Fritz was actually called “Tetsu no Tsume,” which means “Iron Claw.” The move, which in wrestling circles is more commonly referred to simply as the Claw, was once hugely popular in the wrestling business but has since become a rarity.
So what is the Iron Claw?
It’s a submission move in which the wrestler places his hand on the forehead of his opponent and proceeds to squeeze as if palming his opponent’s forehead like a basketball. The pressure placed on the opponent’s temples can be quite disorienting. Of course, the move only really works if the wrestler doing the move has large hands and has his opponent already in a precarious position on the ground. Otherwise, it’s easy to get out of. Nonetheless, the move only needs to look menacing to the audience and that’s exactly why it’s popular.
The wrestler doing the move will usually first show his open hand just before applying the move as a way to dramatically introduce it to the audience. If applied, the move would rarely result in its recipient getting out of it.
When Fritz Von Erich used the move it was a villain’s dream, always getting a fearful reaction from the crowd. Once he became a celebrated wrestler then the crowd would cheer when the move was applied, sometimes even cheering for it during the match. When his sons became popular and began using the move then the anticipation for the Claw reached new heights, as the audience wanted nothing more than to see the most hated wrestling villains be victimized by it courtesy of one of the Von Erichs.
When it was applied, the crowd would react and the following several seconds of anticipating the victim submitting, and thus losing the match, would often be the highlight of the night. On the rare occasions that the recipient would get out of it — which would happen more often in bigger matches — it only helped to increase the drama, though it’s one of the few submission moves in wrestling which didn’t ultimately become an ineffective move.
The Claw is rarely used in today’s wrestling but it hasn’t been entirely abandoned and with the upcoming movie likely to boost the Claw’s popularity, it’s one of those wrestling moves that could make a comeback and become feared once again. With fewer submission moves in today’s wrestling, then having such a feared move like the Claw being reintroduced would only be a benefit to the modern wrestling entertainment business.