It was in the 1950's that Fritz Von Erich started to wrestle for the NWA and quickly made his name known.  His first son to wrestle for the NWA was Kevin Von Erich, followed by David.   Kerry was next and soon came Mike.  Chris, the youngest, also followed in his family’s footsteps. World Class became well known for their exciting weekly cards at the Sportatorium in Dallas, Texas. I was able to attend one of the matches there when my mother took me and my younger sister. Here we were eleven and twelve years old sitting in the front row while our mom was up in the nose bleed section. The house was packed. The fans were stomping their feet to the popular Queen song, "We Will Rock You."   Kerry ran to the ring and the fans were standing on their chairs just for a chance to see him. He walked by me and I was able to touch him. There are no words to explain what that did to a young girl who thought he walked on water.  World Class would also hold a card once month at the neighboring Reunion Arena. 

You could see these matches all over Texas in small and large towns. They had a nationally syndicated TV show found five days a week on ESPN, which helped to broaden their audience. 

The World Class Wrestling Association had the help of many promoters. Fritz Von Erich was the promoter from 1986-1987. Ken Lusk, Kevin and Kerry Von Erich did it from 1987 to 1988 and then the promotion was bought by Jerry Jarrett who ran it from  1988 to 1990 when again Kevin Von Erich took it over again and ran it from 1990 to 1991.

Although it was based in Dallas, Texas, World Class soon became popular around the world. Fans from Japan to Israel would pack the arenas to see World Class Wrestling. It was known for its gutsy and unusual matches such as strap matches, six man tag matches, hair matches, barbwire matches, cage matches, lumberjack matches, and yes even a mud match.

Stay tuned to learn more about the different matches, wrestlers, and angles coming in future articles. Can you remember the feud with Missy and Sunshine? How about the Von Erich's and the Freebirds? Keep coming back as there are so many other matches to discuss.

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