Wrestling Family In Movie ‘The Iron Claw’ Had Roots In New York

The trailer for a new movie, "The Iron Claw," which is set to be released in December, starring Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White, came out on Wednesday and the captivating story includes some tragic New York ties.

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The film written and directed by Sean Durkin and is based on the true story of the Von Erich family, a famous professional wrestling family of the 1970's and '80's.

As reviewed by Geoff Herbert of syracuse.com, the “The Iron Claw” trailer reveals Zac Efron as wrestler, Kevin Von Erich and Jeremy Allen White as his wrestling brother, Kerry Von Erich. Holt McCallany plays the famous father Fritz Von Erich (real name Jack Adkisson). Fritz was a 23-time world champion. He popularized the “Iron Claw” wrestling move, where the wrestler brings their opponent down by palming their face, as seen above.

The movie follows the true and tragic story of the Von Erich's (or Adkisson's), which included living in a trailer park near Niagara Falls during the early stages of Fritz Von Erich's career. Fritz had six sons. Five of them died tragically, including one by electrocution at the age of 7, while living in New York. The only surviving Von Erich or Adkisson, is son Kevin. Two of Kevin's son's now wrestle in Major League Wrestling and have adopted the Von Erich name. They are the current reigning tag-team champions in the MLW. It certainly looks like it will be an interesting movie and definitely one worth checking out.