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Kevin Von Erich talks about ?Wrestling the Curse,? which finally airs Friday on ESPN

Posted: Feb 25th 2015 By: Robert Wilonsky - TheScoopBlog.DallasNews.com

Until this morning, the man best known as Kevin Von Erich did not know the name of director Amanda Spain?s documentary about him and his family, which even now remains the most beloved in the history of professional wrestling.

Wrestling the Curse.

?Wow,? Kevin says from his home in Kauai, where he lives on 27 idyllic acres surrounded by his family. ?That?s heavy. I guess she?s decided there was a curse.?

Of course, the gentle giant born Kevin Ross Adkisson on May 15, 1957, has heard that before ? countless times. Kevin, after all, is Jack and Doris Adkisson?s only surviving son out of six. First-born Jackie died in 1959 at the age of 6; electrocution and drowning were the official causes of death. The deaths of his other brothers were headlines because they were famous and adored, real-world heroes in a sport dominated by cartoon-character villains. David died of an intestinal infection in Japan. Mike overdosed on painkillers. Chris and Kerry shot themselves ? Kerry, through the heart.

?But it?s not a curse,? he says now. ?To tell the truth, I may have believed it was when it was going on, but I never said it out loud.?

That was a long time ago. It?s a story all native sons and daughters know by broken heart.

And it will be retold Friday at 5 p.m. on ESPN during Sportscenter, where earlier this month the network debuted a ?Friday Night Movie Night? segment showcasing new short films. If you miss the 16-minute film, which fans of the sport and the family have been anxiously awaiting for months, do not panic: ESPN?s Jennifer Cingari says it will be available Friday night exclusively on iTunes for less than $1. Kevin says that?s how he?ll probably end up watching it for the first time.

This is how ESPN describes Wrestling The Curse:

The Adkissons had a successful family business in Texas. But it wasn?t a typical enterprise passed on from father Jack to his five sons. It was professional wrestling, and they were the Von Erichs, bringing entertainment to towns all across the Lone Star State in the 1980s ? and heartbreak to themselves. Director Amanda Spain tells their story with the help of Kevin, ?The Barefoot Wonder? and last surviving brother. Now at peace and living in Hawaii, Kevin bears witness to the perilous hold that wrestling still has on his family.

Spain spent four days with Kevin in Hawaii 13 months ago, interviewing the big brother about his younger siblings and their famous father ? Fritz Von Erich, master of The Iron Claw. He also showed her how he goes spearfishing, swimming from one oxygen tank to another ? ?revolutionary,? he says now, and efficient. The film is divided into two halves: the past and the present. Kevin is the link.

?Now that I look back on it, it was a beautiful blessing,? he says. He says he was never raised to be a religious man. Still, he speaks of miracles, blessings, experiencing ?the impossible becoming possible.? Says Kevin, way back when ?I never realized the gravity of all of it.? Today, in paradise surrounded by family, he is reminded never to take it for granted, which might be why he never tires of telling his story and that of his family.

?I?ve answered so many questions so many times I just don?t want to give stock answers and sound like I?ve not given any thought to it,? he says, laughing. ?It doesn?t bother me. It?s what happened. It?s my life. I look at it all together as a triumphant picture, a success story. I am so glad to be in this position now, to have my kids all around me, laughing all the time. This is what it must have been like here thousands of years ago. The best thing to have is a good story. And I?ve got a good story.?

Below, a longer telling of that story from 1987, when The Von Erichs: Front Row Ringside was sold via mail order.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzIYfb3QVSQ