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T*r »st summer I did a piece on the new■ promoter in town, Ken Mantell. He was3 . with World Class Wrestling back in itszenith when the Von Erich’s wore international kings of wrestling, then Ken was given one of those super offers to manage the UWF and finally, after Crockett bought UWF, Ken was 'he entrepeneur who put together the new Wild West Wrestling promotionMantell owes his professional wrestling life to i' ritz Von Erich, who gave him a chance in the nng on no one else would Now Ken has repaid that smdness by purchasing a piece of World Class Vi estling owned by Fritz. Time, the later in-life aches from thirty years in wrestling, thembelievable tragedies in the Von Erich family and he almost overnight demise of in-house fan support , contributed to Fritz’ decision to retire.totally.Actually, Fritz expected one of his wrestling sons to carry on the tradition of promoter, and David vas the most logical heir apparent I remember shortly after David died talking to our television producer Keith Mitchell of Channel :59 about the realization that David was the ingredient that perfected the new Von Erich elixir, a dynasty had been the predictionBut a dynasty takes generations to legitimize When young Mike Von Erich came on the scene after graduating from high school there was hope in the promotion that he could replace his brother But the charisma wasn't ijuite there Then he vas felled by the near fatal infection, Kerry crashed his motorcycle, Gino Hernandez died rather mysteriously, Chris Adams went to prison for slugging an airline pilot on plane and all of the outstanding talent of World ('lass boltod toother promotions By the time Mike sadly decided to take Ins own life, the promotion was in shambles If all that wasn't tragic enough, suddenly it seemed the wrestling fans discovered more than 20 hours of FREE wrestling on every television channel and cable in the world and atttendance atlocal live events vanished The Texas economy probably contributed to the demise too World ( lass Wrestling tried to revive the deflated promotion with other investors, changedthe televison production company, devised a tourto major cities called “Von Erichs Over America, and of which failed.Fritz, or Jack Adkission and his remarkably strong wife, Doris, have built a gorgeous retireBILLment Home in East Texas Ke\ in and Ken \ will continue their careers through the new promotion The youngest son Chris is finishing high school After all the tragedy, hopeful)\ the Von Erichfamily that brought a lightning holt of excitement into the wrestling business can find some comfortin thesi* parsKen Mantell sold his interest in Wild We t Wrestling and will devote his time to manage thlt; World Class operation as he did in its hr\ la\ \ group com posed of David Caswell Roger p. ?Lin wood Arthur and David Fandelawn will cad thlt; still new Wild West Wrestling group The first major event coming under the newpromotion group occurs Christmas night atReunion Arena Kevin decided to iorrgo bi on portunity to challenge for the World lt;i ^ Vor! I Heavyweight Championship, owned b\ \l Vr»*/that his brother Kerr could go loi a K«-« » »♦returning to the ring after a year and a halt absence because of the ankle injury uffen dint.hrmotorcycle accident The match will tie held in a strrl cage * ith • h *t may lie the highlight of the event (Ian lart handcuffed to Fritz inside the cage Tim lt;r ' r has not lieen awav he's Perezs managerwAnother blockbuster match ieaturr Irvn lt;j sAdams (back mgood graelt;*s n I Str\♦* Simplon battling Ten lord) BudFrt*cbird tame) and Icrman King P irsom loi hr Six Man World Championship in hr im rageI remember when Fritz came to I). 111 is to par ihis wrestling career back in the 1960's.
Newspaper Details
Grapevine Sun
Grapevine, Texas, US
Thu, Dec 24, 1987
Page 13
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Anonymous
TN, USA 19 Jun 2019
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