Waldo Von Erich

Walter Paul Sieber (October 2, 1933 – July 5, 2009) was a Canadian professional wrestler under the ring name Waldo Von Erich. He was billed as the brother of Fritz Von Erich, but was not actually related to Fritz or the rest of the Von Erich family.

Career

Walter Paul Sieber was born in Toronto on October 2, 1933, where he trained as a professional wrestler with Red Garner at a local YMCA. He also was into bodybuilding, swimming, and weight training. Sieber became a professional wrestler at the age of 17.

He began his career in Calgary, wrestling for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling. He later met Jack Adkisson (known as Fritz Von Erich, his kayfabe brother), and they held the NWA American Tag Team Championship in 1967. As a von Erich, Sieber's gimmick was that of a German heel. The height of his success was in the 1960s and 1970s.

Sieber, now using the ringname Waldo Von Erich, also had success as a singles wrestler. He worked in singles matches for the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). As a part of the WWWF, he wrestled Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF Championship in both the 1960s and the 1970s. He was also co-holder of the U.S. Tag Team Championship with Gene Kiniski. After his WWWF run, he continued to have success as a singles and tag team wrestler, holding championships in various promotions. He also had a memorable feud with Tony Atlas in Georgia in the late 1970s.

Von Erich family

The Von Erich family is a professional wrestling family. Their actual birth names are "Adkisson", but every member of the family who goes into the wrestling business uses the ring name "Von Erich", after the family patriarch, Jack (Fritz Von Erich) Adkisson.

Although the family patriarch Fritz lived to the age of 68, five of his six sons preceded him in death (three by suicide). The firstborn son, Jack Jr., died at the age of six in 1959 from being electrocuted in a household accident. In 1984, David Von Erich died in Japan from acute enteritis of the upper intestine, although it is also speculated he died from a drug overdose. Michael, Chris, and Kerry all committed suicide in 1987, 1991, and 1993 respectively. Mike died after taking an overdose of Placidyl and alcoholic beverages. Chris shot himself in the head with a 9mm handgun at his parents' home in East Texas. Kerry shot himself in the chest behind his father's house on Shady Shores Road. Kevin is the last surviving son of Fritz Von Erich. The family matriarch Doris passed away October 23, 2015 in Hawaii.