This left brothers Kevin, Chris and Kerry. Chris was the youngest of the Von Erich boys, but unfortunately the next to be struck by tragedy, at the tender age of 21. Of all the boys, he wanted desperately to be a wrestler. However, health issues such as asthma and brittle bones, as well as the expected battles with substance abuse as he followed in his brothers' footsteps, held him back. Depressed about the deaths of David and Mike, and frustrated with his lack of success in the wrestling business, Chris shot himself on September 12, 1991.[1]

This left Kevin and Kerry still wrestling. And while Kevin would go on to retire in 1995, and lives to this day in Texas, dabbling in real estate[2], Kerry would not be so lucky. He was ultimately the one who, had he successfully fought his demons, would have best followed in David Von Erich's footsteps, and he was ultimately the most successful of the Von Erich boys from a professional wrestling standpoint, defeating Ric Flair for the NWA World Title on May 6, 1984, at an event memorializing his brother David. Flair recounts, however, that the intention was never to keep the belt very long on Kerry, given his (surprise) drug problems. Flair recounts, in fact, a match he had with Kerry in 1985, where Kerry showed up 10 minutes late for the match, and ended up spending most of the match trying to find and flirt with a girl he'd invited to the show. Von Erich was so out of it, Flair said, "It all became so pathetic I actually put myself into holds. I placed Kerry in a figure-four, then turned over like he reversed it. I fastened on a headlock, then took his hand and clamped it on my arm while I ducked around, making it look like he was powering out of the maneuver."[3]