There has been lots of talk about great matches and Kerry was absolutely a big match worker. He had the benefit of working with greats like Flair, Jumbo and Lawler but he also worked with guys like Hayes, OMG, Kamala, Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez to positive results. His WWF run absolutely hurts him but he had an amazing run of big matches. This is a list of singles matches that made (not nominated but made) the DVDVR lists so far. I didn't include any tag matches including the amazing run of matches with the Freebirds or the Dynamic Duo. Add in the pride he had in introducing Gorky park and Kerry will be on my list again.

 

 

Michael Hayes vs. Kerry Von Erich (2/7/83)

Genichiro Tenryu vs. Kerry Von Erich (4/7/83)

Terry Gordy vs. Kerry Von Erich (No DQ) (6/10/83)

Michael Hayes vs. Kerry Von Erich (Country Whipping Match) (9/5/83)

Kerry Von Erich vs. Michael Hayes (Loser Leaves Town Cage Match) (11/24/83)

 

Ric Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich (5/6/84)

Terry Gordy vs. Kerry Von Erich (World Title Match) (5/7/84)

Ric Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich (5/11/84)

Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Kerry Von Erich (2/3 Falls) (5/22/84)

Kerry Von Erich vs. Ric Flair (5/24/84)

Gino Hernandez vs. Kerry Von Erich (7/20/84)

Kerry Von Erich vs. Terry Gordy (Lumberjack Match) (8/17/84)

Chris Adams vs. Kerry Von Erich (1/11/85)

Chris Adams vs. Kerry Von Erich (2/8/85)

Kerry Von Erich vs. Ric Flair (4/28/85)

Kerry Von Erich vs. Ric Flair (5/4/85)

Kerry Von Erich vs. One Man Gang (11/15/85)

Rick Rude vs. Kerry Von Erich (12/13/85)

Rick Rude vs. Kerry Von Erich (3/7/86)

Al Perez vs. Kerry Von Erich (3/6/88)

Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich (6/27/88)

Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich (9/17/88)

Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich (9/23/88)

Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich (Cage Match) (11/25/88)

Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich (12/13/88)

Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich (Title vs. Title) (12/15/89)

I think he'll make my list. I liked what he brought to the table in the big matches. I'm leaning a lot on performing well in big matches for this list and Kerry in the 80's definitely did that.

It isn't just that he could be carried like a guy like Bulldog. he kept having great matches over and over. It wasn't like Lawler carried Kerry to one great match and they had a bunch of duds because he was doped up. They kept having great matches. Same with Flair and Gino and Adams and the Freebirds,

Kerry was a perfect vessel for carrying, but at some point, he deserves credit for that. You don't have to lead a great match to be essential to it. I'll have to give his case more thought.

What hurts Kerry more than anything to me is the footage explosion. I tend to think he's underrated as a worker in many ways, but then I think about the metric shit ton of guys we can now watch career highs and lows from relative to where we were ten years ago, and I just don't see how Kerry gets over the hump.

What hurts Kerry more than anything to me is the footage explosion. I tend to think he's underrated as a worker in many ways, but then I think about the metric shit ton of guys we can now watch career highs and lows from relative to where we were ten years ago, and I just don't see how Kerry gets over the hump.

That - the metric shit ton of fresh footage since 2006 - sounds like a lovely podcast idea for you Dylan.

Too many classic matches to ignore. Ten years ago, for Smarkschoice I thought he was worthy. After the DVDVR sets, he is even stronger. I don't know what footage explosion you are talking about that damages Kerry as a worker.

In what fantasy world did I say that Kerry was damaged as a worker by the footage explosion? In fact I said the exact opposite - Kerry's status as a worker is underrated, but we have so much more footage, showcasing so many other guys, that it is really hard for me to see Kerry as a top hundred guy because the pool is deeper. It's not that Kerry has been hurt because the performances we now have of him show him to be less than we thought, it's that we now have easy access to footage from guys that were barely even on the radar then.

Kerry is a lot like John Cena to me in that when it counted and the match was big then he could go with anyone in the business.

 

It's a shame that he had the wreck and the drug issues because man he could've been even better as he got older although you gotta give him a shit ton of credit for still being pretty damn good with a prosthesis.

In what fantasy world did I say that Kerry was damaged as a worker by the footage explosion? In fact I said the exact opposite - Kerry's status as a worker is underrated, but we have so much more footage, showcasing so many other guys, that it is really hard for me to see Kerry as a top hundred guy because the pool is deeper. It's not that Kerry has been hurt because the performances we now have of him show him to be less than we thought, it's that we now have easy access to footage from guys that were barely even on the radar then.

 

Makes sense. I thought you were saying that the more footage of Kerry as we discovered more Texas footage lowered his status... as if we uncovered a bunch of horrible Kerry.

Reading the WON 12/19/88 recap and it's the first I've heard of Vince trying to sabotage SuperClash III by leaking news of Kerry's amputated foot. IIRC, the foot was amputated in late '86. So, did he have any great matches afterwards? If so, should he get any extra "credit" for working on one foot?

he will make my top 100 for sure, how many guys could carry a major championship in the wwf with one foot?!

Das Klaw. I went back and forth with Kerry. He did bring some good shit to his biggest matches and was game. That being said, he had the awkward Von Erich body movement and wasn't as good as David. The Flair series goes from very good to excellent (even great maybe), the Jumbo match is awesome. The Lawler feud, meh… If you love play-hide-and-seek-the-chain, I guess it's a "fun" feud, but Kerry really wasn't the same after the accident, although working on one feet and still having good matches should get some credit. I just don't see the supposed amount of "great match" on Kerry's resume, and since he's definitely a "great match candidate", Kerry won't make it. And really, it took Jumbo to make a really compelling way to work around that stupid claw. Rush's Tom Sawyer is one the greatest pro-wrestling theme you can get for an 80's babyface though, and Kerry was indeed a terrific babyface.

In what way was David better than Kerry? I can't imagine anyone citing the awkwardness of Von Erich movements, and dinging Hayes for execution, and being high on David. I actually think David is the most awkward full time wrestler I've ever seen.

Kevin was the most awkward of them all to me, not to mention really looking like "some dude in his underwear rolling around, with dirty feet to boot". Kinda creepy actually. But all of them were awkward in the same way, so I guess it's either a family thing or just the way they were trained (by their father, so yeah, family). The Von Erich's inherent awkwardness is something you either accept, or you just throw them all to the woodpile. In that respect, I can totally see the John Cena comparison for Kerry, that and the fact he brought stuff to the table in big matches.

 

It's not that I'm high on David. I'm not high on any Von Erich. But David struck me as the guy who had the most potential of the three, he had the strongest personnailty and charisma, I really am curious of what kind of worker he would have become. That's more in a "potential" way that I meant Kerry wasn't as good as David, of course his output ended up much better because he had to fill for David in all those big matches against Flair and such. All in all, Kerry pretty much overachieved, especially after the accident.

None of the Von Erichs make my list, but this thread does have me fascinated by the Elseworlds two-footed version of Kerry who as a veteran babyface had fun runs in WCW, USWA, SMW, etc. Drugs would have caught up with him in the end, but the idea of him working against Vader, Arn, Luger, latter-day Flair, Rude, Windham, the MVCs, Tony Anthony, heel Lawler, etc. is interesting.

Even more fascinating to me is the thought of Kerry Von Erich, IC champion, showing to the world that you can lose a foot yet still be a champion and go on with your life and achieve great things. With Kerry's babyface charisma and terrific body, the WWF could have had something really big and positive on their hands. Of course, drug use and depression would have caught on indeed, but still...

I have thought about Kerry as an inspirational IC champ. It probably would have never happened with Fritz alive and the WWF wasn't ready at the time for that either.

I ranked Kerry Von Erich 87th in 2016 and I feel good about that. I think Kerry was supremely underrated for a variety of reasons, but looking at the footage I see an awesome wrestler at his peak. . I view Flair vs Kerry as the defining NWA Champ vs Local Hero series that we have on tape and it was so good they took it on the road. The Freebirds feud lived up to the hype and then some. The Dynamic Duo feud is a great 3rd best rivalry. The Jumbo match is an all timer and it ain't a carry job. Kerry is one of the 80s territory guys I voted for in 2016 that I expect to survive the cut. Even if I have to put him at 100.  

How does Kerry compare to Magnum TA on an all time list.

I'd rank Kerry significantly better than Magnum, I can see the similarities in their cases though obvvously. Neither of them are exactly the kind of wrestler I'd be voting for, but I think Kerry has a lot more meat on the bone than Magnum not just in terms of volume of good matches but also in doing things that feel more varied to me, every good Magnum match feels like he's doing pretty similar stuff in them.