Ross and Marshall Von Erich are the current MLW tag team champions. They will both compete in single’s matches on January 11th, 2020 when MLW presents Zero Hour from Dallas, Texas. The Von Erichs competed in the War Chamber match for MLW in North Richland Hills, Texas back in September.
Ahead of the brothers’ return to Texas, they spoke to Dallas Morning News about continuing the family legacy.
Kevin Von Erich moved with his boys to Hawaii from Texas. Ross and Marshall discussed the move during the interview.
“My dad saw a lot of tragedy in Texas,” Marshall said. “Everything there was reminding him of his brothers.”
“We’re country boys from Texas,” Ross said of living in Hawaii. “Fishing, hunting, surfing — that’s what country boys do here. It’s the same lifestyle for us, just a different environment.”
In terms of getting into wrestling, the Von Erichs have had offers from WWE but their current deal with MLW allows them the freedom to also help their Dad out on the ranch in Kauai.
“I kind of knew subconsciously that this wrestling thing would be there one day,” Ross said.
The Von Erichs In MLW
Court Bauer has emphasized that MLW wants Ross and Marshall to be their own people, not replicas of their father and uncles.
“Ross and Marshall must have their own identities,” Bauer explained. “They must be their own men. If they become replicas … we’ll just be doing a karaoke version of the Von Erichs.”
Both wrestlers utilize the Iron Claw, however, and walk to the ring to the familiar sounds of “Stranglehold.” Other nods to the past with a more negative connotation will not be done, however, Bauer stressed.
“I can’t tell you how many times [a wrestler would] bring up the drug past, dead uncles, and all this stuff we really can’t do anything about,” Marshall said.
“Our dad would call that cheap heat,” Ross added.
“We will never exploit or try to get heat with the family’s past,” Bauer said. “I would never do that. That’s lowbrow stuff.”
The piece by the Dallas Morning News goes into great detail regarding the Von Erich family history in wrestling and the new ground Ross and Marshall are breaking in MLW. The article can be read in its entirety here.
