Lance Von Erich

William Kevin Vaughan (born April 24, 1960) is a retired American professional wrestler, best known under the ring name Lance Von Erich.[1]

Lance Von Erich
Birth nameWilliam Kevin Vaughan
Born (1960-04-24) April 24, 1960
ResidenceArlington, Texas
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Ricky Vaughan
Lance Von Erich
The Fabulous Lance
Billed height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Billed weight265 lb (120 kg; 18.9 st)
Trained byDennis Sheldon M.D.
Debut1984
Retired1996

Professional wrestling career

Early career

Vaughan started wrestling in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s Pacific Northwest territory as Ricky Vaughan in 1984. He feuded with Bobby Jaggers.

World Class Championship Wrestling

In October 1985, when Mike Von Erich was unable to wrestle due to toxic shock syndrome, Vaughan went to World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) to take his place in the feud against the Fabulous Freebirds.[2] He adopted the name Lance Von Erich and was billed as the son of Fritz Von Erich's "brother" Waldo.[2][3] In reality, neither Vaughan nor Waldo were related to the Adkisson family.

Kevin Von Erich, as well as most of the family, was adamantly against bringing Vaughan in as another Von Erich, but Fritz was adamant, especially as Kevin and Kerry were wrestling two or three times a day in various places throughout the Texas territory.[4] The deception made the von Erichs look like liars to their fans, who normally saw them as good guys who could do no wrong.[2][4]

On October 28, 1985, Vaughan wrestled Ric Flair in Fort Worth, Texas, in the last NWA World title match in the World Class territory.[5] The match ended in a no contest; World Class withdrew from the NWA in February 1986. On May 4, 1986 at The 3rd Annual Von Erich Parade of Champions he teamed with Kerry Von Erich and Steve Simpson to defeat The Fabulous Freebirds for the WCWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship. On September 1, 1986, he entered in a tournament for the vacant WCWA World Tag Team Championship with Chris Adams. The team made it to the finals where they were defeated by Matt Borne and Buzz Sawyer. Lance got his revenge on November 17, 1986, when he teamed with The Dingo Warrior to capture the titles back from Borne and Sawyer. In October 1986, he wrestled a tour for New Japan Pro Wrestling, most notably his disqualification victory against Kengo Kimura on October 9.

When demands for more money in 1987 were not met by Fritz, Vaughan jumped to a rival territory, Wild West Wrestling.[2] In a rare breach of kayfabe, Vaughan's non-relationship to the family was exposed by Fritz on television in retaliation.

Final years

Because the Von Erich surname was a registered trademark, Vaughan wrestled under the ring name Fabulous Lance after leaving World Class.[1] He subsequently wrestled in Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council after Wild West Wrestling folded.

In May 1993, after a hiatus, Vaughan returned and was back wrestling as Lance Von Erich for promotions such as International Wrestling Federation in Florida and International World Class Championship Wrestling in New York. In December 1993, he wrestled a tour of India. In 1994, he wrestled a tour of South Africa for England's All-Star Wrestling. In 1996, he wrestled a tour of Malaysia for the National Wrestling Alliance, before retiring.

Personal life

Prior to becoming a wrestler, Vaughan was a real estate agent and he competed in weight-lifiting competitions.[6] After wrestling, he owned health clubs in South Africa.[6]

Championships and accomplishments
gollark: I mean, it makes sens from an internal consistency perspective, but no.
gollark: "If you want to murder people, do; if you don't, don't" doesn't make sense.
gollark: Well, we disallow murder and stuff because of consensuses that they're bad.
gollark: Ah, but the person doesn't exist at the time. They do exist if you create them, and thus have rights and access to time machines.
gollark: A good fraction of them were part of HeavOS initially.

See also
  • Von Erich Family

References
  1. Reynolds, R. D.; Braxton, Blade (2007). The Wrestlecrap Book of Lists!. ECW Press. pp. 111–112. ISBN 978-1-55022-762-8.
  2. Hollandsworth, Skip. "The Fall of the House of Von Erich". D Magazine. Retrieved November 13, 2017.
  3. Oliver, Greg (January 2, 2009). "Waldo von Erich Q&A: Part 1". SLAM Wrestling. Retrieved November 13, 2017.
  4. Triumphs and Tragedies of World Class Championship Wrestling (documentary). WarnerBrothers. March 10, 2014.
  5. "Ric Flair's last NWA world title match in WCCW - Pro Wrestling - Sports And Wrestling - WowBB Forums". mywowbb.com. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  6. Berry, Vinny (August 5, 2017). "Lance Von Erich speaks out". Oklafan.com. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  7. Hoops, Brian (May 11, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history (May 11): Von Erichs vs. Verne & Don Leo Jonathan, Shane Douglas vs 2 Cold Scorpio". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
  8. "PWI 500 1991". The Turnbuckle Post. Archived from the original on 2012-07-25. Retrieved 2012-08-28.
  9. "PWI 500 of the PWI Years". Willy Wrestlefest. Retrieved 2012-08-28.
  10. Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "Texas: WCWA Television Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 396. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  11. "World Class Television Title". Wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved November 19, 2016.
  12. Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "(Dallas) Texas: NWA American Tag Team Title [Fritz Von Erich]". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. ISBN 978-0-9698161-5-7.
  13. "World Class Wrestling Association Tag Team Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
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