‘The Iron Claw’ Explores Mental Health Burden of Parental Expectations

Sitting down to watch “The Iron Claw” (2023, directed by Sean Durkin), based on the Von Erich wrestling family, I fully expected to leave the theater in tears; what I did not expect was to have viscerally experienced such a damning indictment of toxic masculinity and the fatal impacts of parental expectations hitting me like a chop to my chest from Ric Flair.

Growing up a professional wrestling fan in the late 1980s and 1990s, the so-called “Golden Era” of Hulk Hogan and Macho Man Randy Savage, and being a member of the high school class of 2000 during the immensely popular “Attitude Era” of Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, with my fanhood persisting today and hoping to pass it down to my children, I was already familiar with the tragic story of the Von Erich family. Fritz von Erich, the patriarch of the family, was a professional wrestler based out of Texas in the 1950s and ’60s and was the father of six sons, five of whom followed their father’s footsteps into the squared circle. Unfortunately, he ended up burying five of them due to unnatural causes—the first son from electrocution and drowning in a trailer-park puddle, three deaths by suicide, and one via a suspected drug overdose while overseas in Japan.

In a career-best performance by an unrecognizable Zac Efron as Kevin Von Erich, the son who survived, we witness the manufactured competition between the brothers for their father’s love, which is explicitly conditional. We hear Fritz say over breakfast: “We know Kerry is my favorite, Kevin is second, and the rest of you are fighting for third.” Despite the very strong love that the brothers had for each other, how much they supported one another, especially when brother Michael is very clearly meant for a life outside of the family trade, the ever-present shadow of dad and the “family name” looms over all (ironically, their actual family name is Adkisson, which is all but forgotten).

The 1970s and ’80s did not include Men’s Mental Health Month, No Shave November, or other initiatives to encourage men to express their feelings or focus on their health; instead, men had access to substances and aggression to cope. Combined with the world of professional wrestling pre-steroid scandals and exposes, the Von Erich brothers were caught in a perfect storm, along with many of their colleagues who met an early demise.

Part of the reason I was drawn to work in sports psychiatry and addiction medicine was seeing so many of my childhood heroes dying decades before they should have, seemingly getting an alert monthly of another passing. There is irony in the fact that the environment where these wrestlers during this era had the most control over their lives was in the scripted contests under the lights in front of thousands of cheering fans, broadcast around the nation.

“The Iron Claw” is a brutal watch, one that Hollywood had to tone down from the real-life story of the Von Erich Curse because the sheer number of tragedies would have been unbelievable for audiences unaware of the true story. However, it is absolutely necessary to witness what happens when we push our children, especially our sons, too far; when we do not allow them to process their losses; when the show must go on. It also demonstrates the power that comes from a hug between brothers, and the power that could have and does come from a hug between a father and his sons. ■