Kevin Von Erich Weighs In On Viceland Episodes On Fabulous Moolah, Bruiser Brody And Gino Hernandez

Over the last few months Viceland had aired a series called Dark Side of the Ring which explores several of the controversial moments or people in wrestling. The Von Erich Family was featured in an episode as were the Fabulous Moolah and the death of Gino Hernandez.

Advertisement

Hernandez was one of the top stars in WCCW at the time of his death and Von Erich talked about the episode chronicling his still-suspicious death in 1986.

"It was such a strange thing and I was in Japan when that happened. They say 'Telephone, Telegraph, Tell-a-wrestler.' I was coming out of my hotel just hours after it happened and they told me about it and it just hit me like a ton of bricks," Von Erich said of Hernandez who many said often hung out with the wrong crowd. "All of that other stuff about that mafia, I didn't know about that. I knew he was betting on football games and those were kind of mafia guys who did all that?

"It was just terrible and I didn't really gain anything from Vice. That was all new to me and I can't really say on that. I don't know what all they did and I can't really comment. I think those Dark Side of the Ring things are some of the most enlightening pieces I've ever seen done."

Advertisement

The death of Bruiser Brody was also featured and it talked about Brody getting stabbed to death in a locker room while in Puerto Rico. That episode had first-hand interviews with Tony Atlas and Abdullah the Butcher which Von Erich responded to.

"I've talked to Tony Atlas and he told me what went on down there. I didn't know [Brody] was working with Abdullah and to hear Abdullah talking about it, I didn't like that," admitted Von Erich. "I don't have anything bad to say about Abdullah but Brody was a good man."

Von Erich said that in the ring Brody was a bigger guy that would lay into smaller guys which is something they didn't do often back then. But that shouldn't take away from the type of person he was and he again called Bruiser Brody a good man.

Another episode detailed the accusations that the Fabulous Moolah was essentially pimping out many female wrestlers in addition to stealing money from them. Von Erich said what he knew of Moolah was far different from what was depicted in the episode.

"I don't know about a lot of that, it was kind of in my dad's day. But from my dad being president of the NWA and me seeing the girl wrestlers, yes, Moolah gave so much to the business. She took care of those girls and they lived in her house. I wouldn't say anything bad about Moolah because she did a whole lot of this business," said Von Erich.

Advertisement

"As far as the behind the scenes stuff, I don't know a lot about gossip except it's hardly ever any good. I don't know anything bad about Moolah. All I can say is I have a lot of respect for her, from what I know about her."

Von Erich's full interview with Wrestling Inc was included as part of a recent episode of our WINCLY podcast. The full audio can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post. In the full interview Von Erich discusses his sons Ross and Marshall signing with MLW, Ross and Marshall's upcoming Dallas debut for MLW, pro Wrestlers deserving insurance and retirement plans, his thoughts on Cody Rhodes, Gino Hernandez, "The Last Of The Von Erichs" episode of Dark Side of The Ring, the legacy of The Fabulous Moolah, Bruser Brody's murder and more.

You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.

Comments

Recommended