Exclusive: Lance Von Erich Reveals Recent Correspondence With Kevin Von Erich

On today's episode of The Wrestling Inc. Daily, Lance Von Erich and author of Lance by Chance: Wrestling As A Von Erich, Vincent Berry, were on the podcast to discuss Lance's time with the Von Erichs and in World Class Championship Wrestling.

"It was a short career in the states. Most people don't know I went on to do some great things that I would have never done if I hadn't been introduced to the Von Erichs," Lance admitted. "I think that Kevin was — if you've seen any of the things he's ever said about me, it's not very nice, and I think the reason that is is because he was upset — they thought they gave me a great break, and it didn't turn out to be such a great break after all.

"It was very very difficult, and it's funny because a couple months ago, Kevin had written Vinny. Vinny said, 'Kevin sent an email to me. You should read it.' I'm like, 'I don't want to.' He says, 'No, I think you should read it.'"

Lance asked Vinny to reveal what the contents of the email from Kevin were.

"Basically he came out and said, 'Hey, I never really understood your side of things. I never put myself in your shoes, and I really appreciate everything that you did for our family and the company. Nobody could have done what you did under the pressure that you were. Hopefully, someday, we can talk to each other, and I wish you all the best,'" Vinny revealed from the email. "That's paraphrasing it, but that's basically what the letter said."

Hausman then asked Lance what his reaction was to getting that message from Kevin. Lance was very blunt about his time in WCCW before expressing appreciation over Kevin's kind words.

"I actually didn't really care that much in reality," Lance admitted. "The thing is that for me, I've lived out of the states since I actually left World Class in '87. I live between Mexico where I am now and South Africa. So for me, I didn't even look at any of the websites until just recently. Many many years ago I did a couple of times, and I just wasn't interested.

"It was kind of neat in a way I guess, but it wasn't something that I was expecting or wanting. I just didn't want to hear anything bad. I thought he might have written something else that was bad. It was nice that he had said that, but it didn't change my life any."

Lance then revealed it was former WCCW referee and booker David Manning that recruited him to be part of the Von Erichs. He also revealed the pitch that Manning gave to him and discussed the process of him getting into WCCW.

"It was David Manning, and he actually found me on a golf course and was following me around. And I actually thought he might have been gay," Lance recalled. "When he came up to me, he didn't even look at my face so much. He was looking at my legs.

"I had just won a bodybuilding contest, and so he was looking at my legs saying, 'Hey, did you ever think about wrestling?' And I'm like, 'No, not really.' He says, 'Well, come out to the Sportatorium. We can make you a lot of money. You should come and see what it's all about,' and that's what I did. They hired me to do a job. They didn't know if I was going to be 'Lance Von Erich', or if I was just going to come to the territory and wrestle, and then eventually I would probably be a Von Erich.

"So they actually sent me to Portland to learn, and I spent a few months out there and then came back. I wasn't really ready, obviously, for that spot, but they needed the help. They were short four Von Erichs."

Hausman asked Lance if he ever felt any pressure carrying the legendary Von Erich name.

"Not really but I thought it was going to be a lot of money. I was making a lot of money before I actually got into the business, and it wasn't what I thought it was going to be or what I was told," Lance said. "The reason I left was because I wasn't making money.

"I was working twice for two people actually. Many many times I was wrestling twice a day and I just got worn out, and I went from having a great body to having a horrible body because I couldn't train and I was hurt all the time."

Lance By Chance: Wrestling As A Von Erich is now available for purchase at LanceByChance.com. You can find the full audio and video from Lance and Vinny's interview via the embedded players below: