What is ‘The Iron Claw’ and who is the Von Erich Family?

(WTAJ) — The Iron Claw is a movie that was released in theaters Christmas weekend about an iconic wrestling family, The Von Erichs, who popularized the wrestling hold known as “the iron claw.”

The Iron Claw, starring Zac Efron (Neighbors, Baywatch) and Jeremy Allen White (The Bear, Shameless), is about the rise and tragic fall of one of wrestling’s most famous families, the Von Erichs. It’s the latest from production company A24.

The Von Erich family hailed from Texas. Their real name was Adkisson. Every member that stepped into the ring dawned the “Von Erich” ring name following the family patriarch, Fritz Von Erich. Fritz is also noted by wrestling historians to be the first wrestler to use and popularize “The Iron Claw.”

The iron claw is a simple but effective move to defeat your opponent. A wrestler will put their palm on their opponent’s forehead and squeeze. With a bigger hand, you were able to cause pressure on both of your opponent’s temples. The illusion is that they begin to “fade” and pass out, allowing you to pin them, if they didn’t tap out and quit first.

The Von Erichs rose to fame in the territory days before there was a national wrestling company like the WWE. Focused mostly on the Texas territory, the family was beloved by most. As the younger boys of Fritz followed in his footsteps, the pressure to be the best followed them through life.

Kerry Von Erich might be the most well-known of the family as he did a stint with the WWE, then WWF, from 1990-1002 as “The Texas Tornado” and had a solid following of fans and also held the WWE Intercontinental Championship.

If you don’t know the story, Fritz died in 1998 from cancer, but, sadly, five of his six sons predeceased him. Three of them died by suicide, including Kerry in 1993 at the age of 33.

As for the movie itself, it currently holds an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and a 95% from the audience.

In an interview with Seth Myers, White explained he and Efron had about two months to transform their bodies and bulk up to look like the Von Erichs. They then spent three weeks doing what it takes many people six months or more to do — learn to wrestle. The duo was trained by Chavo Guerrero, the nephew of the late great Eddie Guerrero, and it was off to the races.

While professional wrestling is choreographed, the impact on the mat is very real for your body. Efron and White have both stated they had numerous actual wrestlers helping, including AEW World Champion MJF (Maxwell Jacob Freeman), making sure they knew enough of the basics to not hurt themselves, or worse, hurt someone else.

Fun Fact: MJF is also in the film as one of the brothers and got an executive producer credit for his efforts.