We’re a little less than a month away from the deadline for submitting ballots for the 2025 class of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame. I was in the mood to do some research, and then I realized that for one act on the ballot, I had pretty much all of their drawing record for their time together, so I felt like I had a duty to dive into it. That would be the trio of Kerry, Kevin, and David Von Erich being on the historical ballot while I have access to all of the gates for World Class Championship Wrestling/Southwest Sports from 1982 and 1983.

Though the brothers had, naturally, teamed before, 1983 is the only year where there’s a concerted effort to push the three of them as a singular act. They weren’t necessarily a consistent team pre-1983, and David died in February 1984, so 1983 is pretty much their entire case as a group. And I could try to document it! As legend has it, business turns around on Christmas Night 1982, and then the territory was immediately on fire. Trying to pin down how true that is felt like a worthwhile task. Then came the question: How the hell do I best accomplish this, especially in a timely fashion without turning my brain into mush?

To try to keep myself sane, since this is very tedious to go through and there’s a lot there, I’m going to focus on Von Erichs tag team and trios matches from 1983. Then I’ll compare it to, depending on the town, whatever past data points are most relevant. As we get further and become more familiar with the level of business the key towns were doing, there’s going to be less of a need for that, though. Also, to avoid extreme outliers, I’m going to skip shows with Ric Flair or Andre the Giant headlining, at least early on while establishing a baseline.

As I’ll get into more as I go on: This is far from perfect, but with the candidacy being for Kerry, Kevin, and David Von Erich as an act, I can’t think of a better way to try to cut through the data without spending way too much time to get it all into a spreadsheet and asking someone like Brandon Thurston to work his magic.

January 1983

1/19/1983 @ Del Rio, Texas ($5,196 gate)

The first Von Erichs tag of the month, as Kevin and Kerry headlined this spot show against Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy. There was no Del Rio show in January 192 to make a year over year comparison to, but there was a show the month before, in December 1982, which drew a $4,130 gate. That show was headlined by Kerry vs. The Great Kabuki with David vs. Magic Dragon as the co-feature. That’s a 25.8% increase month over month with the addition of a Von Erichs-Freebirds main event.

1/20/1983 @ Gilmer, Texas ($6,183 gate)

Split crews on this day, with the other crew in Austin. In Gilmer, Kevin and Kerry headlined against Hayes and Gordy. No good comparison point I could find for this one, but it’s a very strong small town spot show house.

1/22/1983 @ Temple, Texas ($3,190 gate)

Kevin and David headline against Hayes and Gordy again. A month earlier, on December 30, 1982, they drew $4,900 for Kerry-Kabuki and Kevin/David-Checkmate/Dragon, so this show was down a shocking 34.9% month over month despite the hot new feud headlining and the December show having pretty cold matches on top. Chalk that one up to the post-Christmas boom with tickets for Christmas-week shows as presents, I guess? There were no Q1 1982 shows in Temple, so no year over year comparison.

1/28/1983 @ Dallas, Texas ($8,437 gate)

House show at the Sportatorium as part of the alternating schedule they ran, with two TV episodes taped every other Friday and house shows on the off weeks. Kevin and Kerry headlined against Bundy and Kabuki in a tornado match. The previous Dallas house show two weeks earlier drew $9,886 for Gordy-Bundy, so this was down 17.2% show to show. In December 1982, they’d drawn $8,069 for Kerry-Kabuki in a cage match on 12/10, while there was no Dallas house show on 12/24 thanks to Wrestling Star Wars happening the next night at Reunion Arena, which drew a $103,320 house.

Year over year is a little tricky because the Sportatorium shows were usually still on Sunday nights in January 1982, and all of the Sunday shows they ran that month were TV tapings, not house shows. They did run a house show on 1/25/1982 (a Monday), though, with Flair vs. Kerry headlining and the gate coming in at $9,389. So we’ve got some mixed signals here, but the fact that regular rank and file shows are drawing in the range of where Flair-Kerry drew a year earlier seems like a strong point for the overall increase in business.

1/30/1983 @ San Antonio ($35,486 gate)

Ric Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich 2/3 falls as main event with Kevin and David Von Erich vs. Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts as the co-feature. Two weeks earlier, they drew $16,391 for Kevin-Gordy and Kerry-Roberts singles matches, and four weeks earlier, they drew $25,700 for a King Kong Bundy vs. Andre the Giant $1,000 body slam match with the Von Erichs all working mid-card heels underneath. Given the inclusion of outside names, this is a tricky one, although it feels notable that the show that drew best of the three San Antonio cards that month was the one with the ongoing Kerry-Flair issue on top and Von Erichs-Freebirds supporting it.

Closest year over year comparison would be the 2/5/1982 show, which drew $19,435 for Kevin/David-Irwin/Hussain with Rene Guajardo-El Solitario and Kerry-Kabuki as support. But…they’re two very different types of shows.

It’s early, but if nothing else, the legend of business immediately blowing up across the board after Christmas Night 1982 is clearly not the case.

February 1983

2/2/1983 @ Lubbock, Texas ($6,734 gate)

Split crew with Kevin/Kerry-Gordy/Hayes here and Flair-David in Lawton, Oklahoma for a $10,048 gate. Nothing in Q1 1982 for a year-over-year comparison, but the January Lubbock show, on 1/5, was headlined by Andre-Bundy to the tune of a $9,602 gate. That’s not much of a comparison point since it’s not a rank and file show, and neither is the December 1982 Lubbock show, which drew $8,261 for Flair-Kerry on 12/1. That was a quick turnaround from the last rank and file Lubbock show, on 11/24, which drew $7,560 for Kerry-Kabuki with Gordy/Hayes-Bundy/Irwin as support. So at least in this monthly (sort of) town, the first Von Erichs-Freebirds match was down 10.9% from the last show to not have a special attraction headliner.

2/13/1982 @ San Antonio, Texas ($27,590 gate)

The first Freebirds-Von Erichs trios match listed on the booking calendar. For year over year comparisons, we’ve got the aforementioned the 2/5/1982 show drawing $19,435 for Kevin/David-Irwin/Hussain, as the most direct comparison as well as 3/5/1982, which drew $25,130 for Kerry-Kabuki. So for the closest thing to a direct YoY comparison they’re up a whopping 42%, but the 3/5/1982 show indicates that there was definitely not a $20,000 ceiling for Q1 1982 shows in San Antonio.

The most-recent San Antonio show without special attraction wrestlers was 12/26/1982 for a trios tournament drawing $28,108, probably lifted by the Christmas week bump. 12/11/1982 in San Antonio did quite a bit less, $7,148 for Kabuki-Bundy supported by Hayes/Gordy-Checkmate/Dragon. In November, they’d done $21,468 for Kabuki-David in a Texas Death Match on 11/14/1982 and $15,287 for Kabuki-Kerry with Gary Hart in a penalty box on 12/28/1982.

Overall? This reads as a very strong number for a show without outside support in one of their best towns, albeit nothing unprecedented.

2/11/1983 @ Dallas, Texas ($8,502 gate)

Gordy/Hayes-Kevin/David headlines this Friday night house show. Gate is nearly identical to Kevin/Kerry-Bundy/Kabuki two weeks earlier, and up 12.1% from the 2/14/1982 show headlined by Kerry-Kabuki with Fritz in Kerry’s corner. (The other February 1982 shows were in the $6,000 to $7,000 range without Fritz.) Positive momentum, but nothing overwhelming or particularly singling out the Freebirds feud.

2/14/1983 @ Fort Worth, Texas ($14,625 gate)

Finally, something with easy comparison points, as we get the first Kerry/Kevin-Hayes/Gordy match to hit Fort Worth. The week before, with a Kerry-Hayes singles match, drew $7,901, so here’s our first sign of the tag team and trios matches being the big draws in the Von Erichs-Freebirds feud. Throughout January, every show drew in the the $5,000 to $8,000 range, which December started a little bit lower and peaked a little bit higher, while a year earlier in February 1982 varied from roughly $3,000 to just under $10,000. There’s not debating it here: This first Fort Worth tag was a big draw.

2/16/1983 @ Lawton, Oklahoma ($8,215.50 gate)

Kevin/Kerry-Gordy/Hayes headlines here, and it’s not too far off gate wise from the 2/2 show, which drew $10,048 for Flair-David while the Kevin/Kerry-Hayes/Gordy match headlined Lubbock the same day. There were no Lawton shows in January, but the last one, on 12/29/1982, drew $7,074 for Hayes/Gordy-Bundy/Irwin in a cage match and David-Kabuki. Outdrawing a Christmas week show with a cage match by 16.1% while draw 18.2% less than a Flair show feels like a pretty strong house. For a year over year comparison, Lawton drew $5,014 on 2/10/1982 for Kevin/Kerry-Kabuki/Hussain, showing a 63.9% increase and a very healthy overall business trend.

2/18/1983 @ Dallas, Texas ($15,771 gate)

Very strong house for this TV taping headlined by a Freebirds-Von Erichs trios lumberjack match. Particularly noteworthy is that the previous taping two weeks earlier drew $9,871 for Flair-Gordy, so they were up a whopping 59.8% over a Flair show for the trios program.

2/24/1983 @ Austin, Texas ($2,593 gate)

Not a particularly good house for Kevin/David-Gordy Hayes. Up just slightly from two weeks earlier, where they drew $2,319 for Kevin-Roberts. 2/3 drew much better with Flair-David on top, a $6,058 house. However, these numbers are up significantly from a year earlier in February 1982, when they often had difficulty getting close to even the $2,000 mark.

2/27/1983 @ San Antonio, Texas ($20,883 gate)

Freebirds-Von Erichs trios title lumberjack match headlines a healthy house, albeit one down quite a bit from two weeks earlier.

2/28/1983 @ Fort Worth, Texas ($15,347 gate)

Freebirds-Von Erichs elimination trios match headlines, increasing the gate over the two-on-two tag from two weeks earlier. The Fort Worth show in the interim, on 2/21, headlined by a David-Hayes singles match to the tune of a $10,095 gate, seemingly indicates that fans are a lot more interested in the tag team feud than one-on-one matches.

March 1983

3/1/1983 @ Abilene, Texas ($8,982 gate)

Kevin/Kerry-Hayes/Roberts headlined on a split crew night, with a show headlined by David-Gordy in Brownsville selling an anemic $1,595 worth of tickets that same Tuesday. This was the first Abilene show of 1983, and the closest thing I can find to a year over year comparison is January 12, 1982, when a show-headlined by Andre-Kabuki scored a $2,172 gate, though that show had free admission for all children present. That’s one comparison where you can read pretty much whatever you want into it.

3/2/1983 @ Lubbock, Texas ($6,624 gate)

Freebirds-Von Erichs for the trios titles headlined, while a show the same night in Kingsville headlined by Jose Lothario vs. Gran Markus Sr. has a partially illegible gate figure between $2,200 and $2,300. The gate here is functionally identical to the $6,734 they drew for Kevin/Kerry-Gordy/Hayes exactly four weeks earlier, which was nothing special as far as recent Lubbock gates went.

3/9/1983 @ Lawton, Oklahoma ($8,008 gate)

Hayes/Roberts-Kevin/David headlines while Laredo on the same Wednesday night drew $1,979 for Lothario-Markus. Down slightly from February, but still continuing an overall strong but not spectacular trend.

3/14/1983 @ Fort Worth, Texas ($47,394 gate)

Big gate here for what was billed as a Wrestling Star Wars show, with the special occasion being that school was out locally for the rest of the week, and those kids carried this to a gate that destroyed the other Fort Worth shows so far. Freebirds-Von Erichs for the trios titles headlined, and the biggest takeaway here is seemingly how much more they were capable of drawing on a Monday night just because school was out.

3/15/1983 @ Muskogee, Oklahoma ($5,140 gate)

Gordy/Roberts-Kerry/David headlined and I could not find a good comparison point for this one at all.

3/18/1983 @ Dallas, Texas ($13,121 gate)

A TV taping headlined by Gordy/Hayes-Kevin/Kerry, this continues a strong run of Sportatorium gates.

3/23/1983 @ Corpus Christi, Texas ($13,416 gate)

No good comparison point here, either, to this show headlined by Gordy/Hayes-Kevin/Kerry.

3/27/1983 @ San Antonio, Texas ($18,275 gate)

Von Erichs-Freebirds trios rematch from the month before…and the gate is down by 33.8%.

April 1983

4/6/1983 @ Hot Springs, Texas ($6,033 gate)

Gordy/Roberts-Kevin/David headlined here, and it was down 16.5% from a few weeks earlier on 3/16. That show drew $7,228 for a show headlined by Gordy-Kerry with a co-headliner of Roberts-David.

4/8/1983 @ Dallas, Texas ($13,657 gate)

Kevin/David/Iceman-Freebirds headlines this house show, continuing the strong business run in Dallas and Fort Worth, but not with anything earth-shattering. A week earlier, the TV taping in the same building on Good Friday drew $30,254 for a Flair-Kevin main event, so these $12,000-$16,000 houses, while strong, are far from the ceiling for a Sportatorium gate at the time.

4/11/1983 @ Fort Worth, Texas ($12,557 gate)

Gordy/Hayes-Kevin/David in a penalty box match headlined, bringing the crowd up 14% from a week prior, which drew $11,043 for David-Jimmy Garvin for the Texas Title with Kevin/“Iceman” King Parsons-Hayes/Gordy as support. A year prior, on 4/12/1982, they drew $5,129 for Bugsy McGraw/Bundy/Hussain-Kevin/Kerry/The Spoiler with Irwin-Al Madril for an NWA World Title shot as support. That’s an increase of 145% year over year, so the Freebirds-Von Erichs feud continues to drive major business growth in the weekly shows in Dallas and Forth Worth. The week before and the week after with singles matches drew comparable gates, though, so it’s not necessarily the tag matches themselves stimulating gates.

4/22/1983 @ Dallas, Texas ($20,785 gate)

Biggest non-Flair, non-holiday gate so far, for this house show headlined by an eight-man tag team elimination main event of the Von Erichs/Iceman-Hayes/Roberts/Garvin//The Mongol plus “captain’s matches” of Kerry-Hayes and Roberts-David. Exactly how much things were popping off isn’t clear, though, because there’s a note that says “Price increased $5-6-7.” I’m not sure what the old ticket prices were, but at least part of this gate being up is treating it as a somewhat special card with increased ticket prices.

4/24/1983 @ San Antonio, Texas ($21,338 gate)

Freebirds-Von Erichs trios match headlines with Garvin-Lothario as strong support on paper since the stipulation was that Lothario would retire if he lost. Still, this did pretty rank and file San Antonio business relative to what we’ve been seeing since WCCW started running the market.

May 1983

5/1/1983 @ San Antonio, Texas ($20,400)

Freebirds-Von Erichs for the trios titles headlines with everyone doing double duty on the undercard, as the show also includes Gordy-Kerry, Garvin-Kevin, Hayes-David, and Roberts-Chavo Guerrero. And despite this, business is down from what they’d been doing in San Antonio.

5/2/1983 @ Fort Worth, Texas ($12,296 gate)

Freebirds-Kevin/Kerry/??? (someone else wrote in this date and I can’t make out their handwriting) headlines in an elimination match with Kerry-Gordy as support…and the gate is at the low end of the new normal.

5/13/1983 @ Dallas, Texas ($13,876 gate)

Freebirds-Kevin/David/Iceman headlines with support from a “People’s Choice Captains Match” and Gordy-Kevin for the American Title. Dallas and Fort Worth continue to do very consistent, strong business that’s destroying the numbers from a year prior, although the move from Sunday nights to Friday nights for Dallas could also be helping with those shows.

5/23/1983 @ Fort Worth, Texas ($15,279 gate)

Freebirds-Von Erichs for the trios titles headlines…and they continue to do good, stable business, but it’s not like the Freebirds-Von Erichs tags are spiking the gates in any tangible way over the singles main events. The following week, Hayes-Kerry in an “I quit” match popped the gate up to $18,675, but that was also Memorial Day and the start of Summer vacation for Dallas and Fort Worth schools.

5/27/1983 @ Dallas, Texas ($18,275 gate)

Von Erichs/Iceman-Freebirds/Garvin headlines this TV taping, which also includes two captain’s matches. Dallas business looks like it may be ticking up even before the end of the school year, as the week before drew $17,819 Kerry-Gordy and Roberts/Garvin-Iceman/Chris Adams.

June 1983

6/28/1983 @ Amarillo, Texas ($14,358)

Solid house for Freebirds-Von Erichs and Gordy-Kerry in an “I quit” match. And yes, this is literally the only Von Erichs tag team match of the month. I don’t think I’ve seen another Amarillo show listed through the first half of 1983, so…?

July 1983

7/4/1983 @ Fort Worth, Texas ($83,324 gate)

Independence Day Wrestling Star Wars at the Tarrany County Convention Center, headlined by Freebirds-Von Erichs in a trios title match, but the real main event here is probably the co-feature. There, David did double duty to beat Garvin for the Texas Title in a match where, per the stipulations, Garvin and his valet, Sunshine, also needed to work as David’s “valet for a day.” That’s the match with the big acute storyline hook, so…does that get the credit? Does the holiday Wrestling Star Wars billing? Does the trios main event? There are probably a few different arguments that could be made, but, regardless, this show is a massive success.

7/29/1983 @ Dallas, Texas ($17,300 gate)

Hayes/Roberts/Garvin-Von Erichs headlines this TV taping in a trios titles match, drawing a gate that’s about average for summer at the Sportatorium. And yes, there are literally just two Von Erichs tags all months.

OK, about that…

It seems like the massive drop-off from the already surprisingly limited number of Von Erichs tag team matches is because school is out, they’re running more spot shows as a result, and they want at least one Von Erich on as many shows as possible at a time when these shows would be expected to draw better. There are still some ridiculously low spot show gates (6/18/1983 in Hugo, Oklahoma, for example, drew $1,978 for Hayes-Iceman, Lola Gonzales-Vickie Carranza, and Garvin-Adams), but you can see the spot show business picking up overall. Plenty of spot shows are drawing $5,000+ gates with small cards, and with split crews, they’re adding up.

The momentum, maybe thanks to the Independence Day show, really picks up in mid-July:

• 7/14/1983 @ Mount Pleasant Texas drew $14,934 for Gordy-Kevin, Hayes-Iceman, and Garvin-Adams.

• 7/16/1983 @ McKinney, Texas drew $8,017 for Garvin-David and Hayes-Adams.

• 7/21/1983 @ Cuero, Texas drew $7,822 for Gordy-Kerry and Kimala-Lothario, while a show the same day @ Whitesboro, Texas drew $9,583 for Garvin-David and Hayes-Iceman.

• 7/30/1983 @ Granbury Texas drew a $10,607 gate, bringing the spot shows into five figure territory, for Garvin-David, Hayes-Kevin, and Roberts-Iceman.

On one hand, we’re seeing day to day business pick up more, especially compared to a year prior, when July spot shows topped out around $6,000. On the other hand, at least for the purposes of this research, it’s not usually for the Von Erichs as a team per se.

August 1983

8/7/1983 @ San Antonio, Texas ($15131 gate)

Freebirds-Von Erichs in a trios title match continues to headline consistently in San Antonio…and the gates keep going down. So in the one major city where they’re actually running Freebirds-Von Erichs regularly, it certainly feels like they were burning it out.

8/14/1983 @ El Paso, Texas ($25,942 gate)

Freebirds-Von Erichs headlines on a show that also features Kimala-Bruiser Brody, Garvin-Chavo, and Hayes-Iceman in an alleged hair match. Unambiguously a strong house, but it’s a town they haven’t been running much and the support was unusually strong.

8/15/1983 @ Fort Worth, Texas ($27,955 gate)

This included Kevin/David-Gordy/Garvin…as the co-main, with Kimala-Brody in a “must be a winner” match with two referees as the main event. And, well, I wouldn’t exactly expect a relatively rank and file match to spike the gate 82.5% over the week before (Kevin-Garvin, Kerry-Hayes, and Roberts-Iceman), so the credit for this one probably goes to Brody-Kimala.

8/22/1983 @ Fort Worth Texas ($14,536 gate)

We’re back to normal for Hayes/Garvin-Kevin/Kerry in a tornado match on the day where the Dallas and Fort Worth school year started.

8/31/1983 @ Lawton, Oklahome ($17,864 gate)

Hayes/Roberts/Garvin-Von Erichs co-headlined…underneath Andre-Kimala. Three weeks earlier on 8/10, they drew $7,427 for Hayes-Kerry and a battle royal, so Andre-Kimala probably deserves the credit for the gate being up 140.5% show to show. Also noteworthy: Exactly one year earlier, at a Dallas TV taping, they drew just $1,472 for Kabuki-Madril, Bundy-David, and Lothario-Masked Superfly (Ray Candy), so the territory is undisputedly much healthier than it was in 1982.

September 1983

9/16/1983 @ Dallas, Texas ($14,339 gate)

Garvin/Hayes-Kevin/Kerry in a first blood match headlines this house show, which was up 21.5% from the $11,804 gate for Gordy-Brody the week prior.

9/30/1983 @ Dallas, Texas ($13,485 gate)

Gordy/Garvin-Kerry/Kevin in a tornado match headlines, but the gate is down 6.3% from the prior week’s TV taping, which was headlined by Hayes-Brody and Gordy-Kerry.

Meanwhile, at the spot shows…

They’re not running split crews or Von Erichs tag team matches, but those numbers continue to surge:

• 9/3/1983 @ Corsicana, Texas drew $14,480 to see Hayes-David for the Texas Title, Garvin-Kevin, Kimala-Adams, and Roberts-Iceman in in the most ridiculously stacked four match spot show lineup possible.

• 9/6/1983 @ Laredo, Texas drew $6,841 with Garvin-Kerry for the American Title and Roberts-Iceman.

• 9/17/1983 @ Garland, Texas drew $33,466(!) for Hayes-Kerry, Garvin-Kevin, Kimala-Adams, and Roberts-Iceman in another stacked four match lineup.

• 9/27/1983 @ Kilgore, Texas drew $12,623 with Garvin-David, Gordy-Kerry, Kimala-Adams, and Roberts-Iceman in another example of the most ridiculously stacked four match spot show lineup possible.

• 9/28/1983 at the Altus, Oklahoma air base drew $12,631 with Garvin-Kevin, Roberts-Iceman, and Gordy-Adams.

And that’s leaving out several $5,000-$7,000 spot show gates, to boot. Despite school being back in session, the spot towns are still going up, especially in the Metroplex suburbs like Garland. It seems like having multiple hot programs at once permeating the deepest-possible four-match lineups was a major factor there.

October 1983

10/10/1983 @ Fort Worth, Texas ($14,061 gate)

Freebirds-Von Erichs in a trios title match headlines for a typical good gate and that’s the only Von Erichs tag all month.

Meanwhile, the spot shows are still making bank…

Get a load of some of these spot show gates:

• 10/1/1983 in Bonham, Texas drew $8,017 for Garvin-Kevin and Roberts-Iceman. (Kerrville, Texas the same day wasn’t so hot, drawing $3,155 for Gordy-David, Kerry-Boris Zurkhov, and Kimala-Lothario.)

• 10/4/1983 @ Mount Pleasant, Texas drew $13,108 for Garvin-Kevin, Hayes-Kerry, and Roberts-Iceman.

• 10/8/1983 @ Cleborne, Texas drew $10,521 for Garvin-Kerry and Roberts-Adams.

• 10/11/1983 @ Mineral Wells, Texas drew $10,518 for Gordy-Kevin and Roberts-Iceman. On the same day, they also ran Laredo, Texas to the tune of a $5,447 gate for Garvin-David.

• 10/15/1983 @ Plano, Texas drew $11,481 for Gordy-Kerry, Garvin-Adams, and Roberts-Iceman.

• 10/22/1983 @ Frisco, Texas drew $7,130 for Hayes-Kevin and Gordy-David.

• 10/29/1983 W Gonzales, Texas drew $7,175 for Kimala-Kerry and Roberts-Adams. Frankston, Texas the same day faired solidly but not quite as well with a $5,260 gate for Hayes-Kevin, Garvin-Iceman, and Princess Victoria-Judy Martin.

The spot show lineups aren’t quite as deep as they were for parts of September, but they’re still making bank.

November 1983

11/4/1983 @ Dallas, Texas ($17,352 gate)

Gordy/Hayes-Kevin/Kerry in the first-ever Country Whipping Match headlines this house show to the tune of a mild bump at the gate, even beating out October’s best showings like the 10/7 TV taping (Harley Race-Iceman for the NWA Title with David in Iceman’s corner and Garvin-David), which drew $17,034, and the 10/21 TV taping (Gordy-Kevin and Kimala-Junkyard Dog), which drew $17,007. The floor in October had been $10,824 on 11/14 for a house show with Gordy-Kerry and Garvin-Adams.

11/11/1983 @ Dallas, Texas ($16,824 gate)

On Veterans Day, they drew a somewhat above-average gate for this house show with Von Erichs against a non-Freebirds team, Kimala, Zurkhov, and Super Destroyer #1.

11/13/1983 @ San Antonio, Texas ($13,394 gate)

Freebirds-Von Erichs in a tornado match headlines and the gates with that match on top keep going down. Whatever you want to say about the feud as a whole, it certainly seems like they overexposed the Freebirds-Von Erichs trios matches in San Antonio.

11/14/1983 @ Fort Worth, Texas ($14,602)

Freebirds-Von Erichs in an elimination match headlines with the usual solid house, but it’s not like the Freebirds-Von Erichs trios or tag match weeks are drawing significantly more than the other weeks.

11/16/1983 @ Lawton, Oklahoma ($8,111 gate)

Freebirds-Von Erichs elimination match headlines with Garvin-Adams as support, doing very good but not spectacular business.

And now, this gets really complicated…

As noted earlier, to preserve my sanity and make sure I can actually get this done, I’m focusing on Von Erichs tag team matches. It’s not the whole picture because this is a team vs. team feud that encompassed a lot of singles matches, but the perception of the Von Erichs’ Hall of Fame case is based in large part on the Freebirds feud being a tag team/trios feud. But it’s not like there was a massive gulf between how the tag main events and the singles main events drew.

And then we get to Thanksgiving and the surrounding days:

• 11/20/1983 in El Paso drew $14,800 for Hayes-Kerry loser leaves Texas for a year.

• 11/23/1983 in Lubbock drew $10,559 for the same match and stips.

• 11/24/1983 in Dallas at Reunion Arena saw the same match and stips — plus it being a cage match this time with Fritz as keeper of the key — drew $169,204 as the main event of the Thanksgiving Wrestling Star Wars supercard. (Adjusted for inflation, that’s a $541,680.19 gate as of this writing.)

• 11/25/1983 in Austin drew $22,585 for Kerry-Hayes in a cage without the stips from the other towns.

• 11/27/1983 in San Antonio drew $53,800 for Hayes-Kerry with the same stips as Dallas minus Fritz at ringside, plus brand-new NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair defending against Kevin.

• 11/30/1983 in Corpus Christi drew $30,202 for Hayes-Kerry (just loser leaves Texas this time) and Flair-Kevin.

If you were going to do a singles match with big stakes as part of the Freebirds-Von Erichs feud, Kerry-Hayes makes the most sense since the feud started with Hayes screwing Kerry out of the world title 11 months earlier. However, it’s not like it was kept hot as an issue in a way that was separate from the rest of the Freebirds-Von Erichs feud. Still, it’s the match that drew $301,150 ($964,084.71 adjusted for inflation as of this writing) across six shows in 10 days at the end of November 1983. So…how do we factor this in? Well, we’re almost at the end of the year, so let’s hold off on that for a minute.

Those spot shows were still cleaning up…

Spot towns continue to be the most interesting story as the second half of 1983 plays out:

• 11/5/1983 @ Sulphur Springs, Texas drew $16,705(!) for Hayes-Kerry, Garvin-David, and Roberts-Iceman.

• 11/8/1983 @ Waxahachie, Texas drew $9,253 for Kimala-David, Zurkhov-Kerry, and Garvin-Adams. Victoria, Texas the same day didn’t fare nearly as well, drawing $4,026 for Gordy-Kevin, Roberts-Iceman, and Lothario-Black Gordman.

• 11/12/1983 @ Midlothian, Texas drew $11,585 for Garvin-Kevin, Roberts-Iceman, and Kimala-Adams. The other crew that day, in Seguin, didn’t fare nearly as well, drawing $3,410 for Gordy-Kerry, Zurkhov-David, and Gordman-Lothario.

• 11/15/1983 @ Tyler, Texas drew $20,475(!) for the kind of deep lineup we saw when spot show business really started popping off in the summer: Kimala-David, Hayes-Kerry, Garvin-Adams, and Gordy-Iceman.

• 11/17/1983 @ Granbury, Texas drew $6,056 for Gordy-Kerry, Hayes-Iceman, and Garvin-Adams.

• 11/19/1983 @ Elkhart, Texas drew $6,880 for Hayes-Kevin, Garvin-Adams, and Roberts-Iceman.

Though the lineups aren’t quite what they were when spot show business exploded, it still seems like the lineups deepening may have been the biggest factor in the spot town business surge.

December 1983

12/2/1983 @ Dallas, Texas ($16,666 gate)

A solid house for a house show headlined by a unique twist on the usual trios matches: Gordy/Roberts/Flair-Von Erichs. But the gate wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, even with the unique match.

12/4/1983 @ San Antonio, Texas ($11,804 gate)

…was local promoter Fred Behrend demanding they send trios match main events as much as possible? With Hayes gone, the headliner here is Gordy/Roberts/Garvin-Von Erichs for the trios titles, and the gates continue to go down as these matches are beyond overexposed in San Antonio.

12/12/1983 @ Fort Worth, Texas ($11,042 gate)

Gordy/Roberts/Garvin-David/Kerry/Iceman headlines as gates start going down, although this show did better than the ones on the surrounding weeks, with 12/19 doing a very disappointing $8,809 for Kimala-Gordy, Garvin/Missing Link-Kerry/Adams, and Roberts-Iceman despite local schools being out for Christmas vacation.

12/26/1983 @ Fort Worth, Texas ($18,041 gate)

The night before, Christmas Wrestling Star Wars at Reunion Arena drew $170,092 for Flair-David, Kimala-Kerry, Garvin-Adams, and Gordy/Roberts-Kevin/Mike Von Erich, with the tag match being the one where Hayes returned as Santa Claus to attack the babyfaces. Here, on Boxing Day, the gate was up a good bit from where it had fallen to, thanks to a main event of Gordy/Roberts-Kevin/Kerry with Hayes and David in their respective corners. But it’s also the day after Christmas, so even with the big Christmas Night spectacular the night before, you’d expect the gate to be up regardless.

12/30/1983 @ Dallas, Texas ($16,731 gate)

We close the year with a Sportatorium house show headlined by Von Erichs-Kimala/Super Destroyers in a trios title match, drawing at the upper end of 1983’s normal.

And don’t write off those spot shows!

Spot show business continues to be up as we close 1983:

• 12/1/1983 @ Fort Hood, Texas drew $8,580 with Gordy-Kevin and Kimala-David were the key matches there, while Austin, Texas the same day drew less than half the gate, $4,079 for Flair-Kerry, Garvin Adams, and Gordman-Lothario. Yes, the spot town more than doubled the regular stop despite said regular stop featuring Flair-Kerry and their hottest mid-card storyline.

• 12/3/1983 @ Fort Sill, Oklahoma drew $7,398 with Gordy-Kevin and Garvin-Adams atop a more mundane spot show lineup that nonetheless dida not so mundane gate by spot show standards.

• 12/10/1983 @ Gainesville, Texas drew $7,525 with Kimala-David and Roberts-Kevin topping off the card, while Yoakum, Texas the same day drew just $2,336 the same day despite a pretty strong lineup with Gordy-Kerry, Garvin-Adams, and Gordman-Lothario.

• 12/13/1983 @ Laredo, Texas drew $7,334 for Gordy/Garvin-Kevin/Adams and Roberts-Mike.

• 12/27/1983 @ Victoria, Texas drew $8,168 for Kimala-Junkyard Dog, Gordy-Kevin in some kind of loser leaves town match that presumably didn’t go anywhere, Super Destroyer #1-Kerry, and Super Destroyer #2-Lothario.

Keep in mind that a lot of these spot towns — maybe even all of them — were revenue splits with local schools, Boys and Girls Clubs, etc. where there was no venue rental or much in the way of fixed costs. When they were popping, they were super profitable.

So…what the hell do we learn from all of this?

It’s hard to say.

Like I alluded to when covering the end of November, the case for the Von Erichs as a group is rooted almost entirely in their feud with the Fabulous Freebirds, but they worked a lot less tag team matches — whether two-on-two or trios — than you’d think they did. The singles matches are absolutely part of the overarching trio vs. trio feud, but how much do you count them? Historically, we don’t look at Observer Hall of Fame candidates this way. Especially since Kerry had been on the ballot on his own — where he probably has a stronger case, if we’re being realistic — and that was ended in exchange for the Kerry/Kevin/David trios getting his spot on the ballot. The Freebirds feud is certainly the brothers operating as a collective, but day to day, they weren’t teaming that match or even making a huge impact on gates compared to their singles main events.

How do you quantify that within the Observer criteria, especially on a ballot where Dave Meltzer is clearly hesitant to put any combination of the Four Horsemen up to a vote? On the ballot right now is the act that was Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard with manager J.J. Dillon…who were only a proper act for the year that Arn and Tully were a regular team in Jim Crockett promotions circa 1987-1988. (From listening to the latest HOF audio on the Observer site, I’m not sure Dave realizes they were not a regular team for the entirety of the Horsemen’s ‘80s run, but that’s a separate conversation.) The Von Erichs certainly feel like hall of famers, but doing so would require giving each brother credit for singles match main events that they weren’t in, and that’s never been how this worked.

To make their case as a group worse, we have San Antonio. The city where they kept going back to the Freebirds-Von Erichs well far too often to diminishing returns. It was not booked nearly as carefully as the weekly towns were, and the sameness clearly burnt out the feud there. Throw in that the brothers didn’t team close to as much as they’re remembered as teaming together and a lot of the most impressive business was done with singles matches (especially the Hayes-Kerry loser leaves Texas run and the massive surge in spot show business), and I’m not really sure how to weigh this data against a Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame case for them.

This is screaming out for a expansion or clarification of the rules. The multi-man acts put up to votes so far have all been viewed as tag teams where we focus on their records as teams, not “stables” where the accomplishments of the individual while members of the stable count towards the case of the stable as a whole. The official change to allowing hall of famers to return to the ballot in tag teams implies as much. They’re separate cases. The Freebirds are already in, but this isn’t their only major promotional run. They had already established themselves as a tag team with their big runs in Mid-South and Georgia, plus the split and reunion in Alabama. Kerry, Kevin, and David as a group, though? They pretty much just have 1983.

I didn’t come into this with any real expectations or preconceived notions, and a big part of me wants to vote for the Von Erichs. But for now, at least until we get a clarification on teams vs. stables and how to factor in singles drawing records as part of team vs. team/stable vs. stable feuds, I don’t think I can justify casting a vote for them myself. Your mileage may vary, and hey, if Dave clarifies the criteria in a way that helps their case, that could change. (I emailed him to try to see if he can help use decode this, but he’s iffy about responding to emails even under the best of circumstances, so…fingers crossed.) After all, though it took the right feud/opponents that helped them find themselves and their personalities, the Von Erichs were absolutely key to the big money run that World Class went on for a few years. But based on how teams have normally been advocated for and voted for in this hall of fame, their case is murky at best.