Former TNA star Lacey Von Erich and her mother Cathie were on Blue Steel Cage Radio with Carmine Sabia to talk about her legendary father Kerry Von Erich and her earliest memories of Warrior, one of Kerry’s best friends. Lacey also talks the pressures of being in a wrestling locker room, being a third-generation star, and trying to balance acting and other endeavors.
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Becoming a Wrestler: “If you never want to have a family or a wife or time to yourself, and you like being verbally and mentally abused, then you should [get into wrestling]. I say go for it. [That abuse comes more from] the locker room. Definitely the locker room. TNA is very different than WWE. WWE was very political. I wasn’t in there yet. They were like, “You’re a Von Erich. You better be amazing at wrestling,” and things like that. And I wasn’t. I’m more of an actress than I am a wrestler. I’d rather play a character than get hurt on the mat. That’s what I’m better at. I’m better at acting. That’s what I wanted to do. Vince called me. He’s the one that got me into this. He’s the one asked me, “Do you want to be a wrestler? Try to be a diva?” He brought me out and and I signed the contract that night and went into training. I wasn’t expecting it to come as much. It really blew up and they expected so much of me. But then TNA called and they really embraced me as like a family member.”
Wrestlers Battling Demons: “It’s so hard to leave [wrestling]. It’s really hard, once you leave, because no one ever understands what you went through ever. No one will know … People screaming your name or having fans and having those experiences together. Going from hotel to hotel, being on the road together. No one knows those experiences but [other wrestlers]. It really shapes the kind of person you can be. As you can see, in the past, [with] wrestlers, it can either shape you to be a great person and you can learn from it and become a great wife and mother, which I hope I have. Or you can end up self-medicating because of all that. You either get stronger or you get weaker. And luckily I came out of it, unlike the rest of my family, a stronger, better person.”
Her Earliest Memories of The Warrior: “My mom was just telling me that my dad actually trained [Warrior] … I was really young when my dad passed away. I was only 6 years old, but a lot of those memories have been grained in my mind because of the traumatic experience I went through. A lot of things when it comes to wrestling I don’t remember, because when we went to wrestling matches it would be 10, 11 o’clock at night and we would just be asleep in the stands … I remember more of Uncle Jimbo [Warrior] off of wrestling, not actually on the mat with everyone. I remember him at his house, and babysitting us, and things like that. It was like being babysat by my dad. Basically the same. A lot of roughhousing. A lot of fun.”
