I was considering the following scenario:
We'll assume Jack Jr. dies as OTL, as sparing him would create butterflies whose courses would be too hard to predict.
Otherwise:
David does not go to Japan, but instead stays home, where he has a non-fatal health scare that shocks him into taking better care of himself, and into seeing to it that his brothers take better care of themselves, as well.
So, Mike Von Erich, not feeling the pressure to take David's place, instead becomes a cameraman, working WCCW's shows.
Kerry Von Erich heeds David's advice to avoid reckless behavior, and so avoids motorcycling, thus avoiding the accident, which IOTL led to his foot being amputated and his being addicted to painkillers.
Chris Von Erich is persuaded by his brothers that he's just not cut out to be a wrestler. They emphasize that, like Mike, he can be just as important to the business working behind the scenes.
So, what does this lead to? Everything I've heard is that David was in line to win the NWA World Championship from Ric Flair. IOTL, this was given to Kerry as a sort of consolation prize, but Kerry had only a short reign. (JR and Lawler have said that Kerry was unreliable, and that was why his reign was so short.)
Presumably, ITTL, David would have a longer reign, but I couldn't guess how long. Everyone seems to agree that David was the most talented of the brothers, but I don't have a sense of how popular he was outside of Dallas.
Skandor Akbar has also said that David understood the business side of things better than any of the brothers. It's possible that he, either on his own, or alongside a non-grief-stricken Fritz, might have made smarter business decisions than Fritz did IOTL. Would this have been enough to "save" WCCW? I dunno. I know that at least some of the boys wanted to try going national. I suspect they would not have been able to compete with Vince and Crockett (or whoever ends up owning JCP ITTL). It's possible that "better business decisions" might simply have meant that WCCW might have eked out another ten years of life compared to what it had IOTL.
Of course, who could say what David, Kevin and Kerry might have done for other organizations if they had outlived WCCW?
We'll assume Jack Jr. dies as OTL, as sparing him would create butterflies whose courses would be too hard to predict.
Otherwise:
David does not go to Japan, but instead stays home, where he has a non-fatal health scare that shocks him into taking better care of himself, and into seeing to it that his brothers take better care of themselves, as well.
So, Mike Von Erich, not feeling the pressure to take David's place, instead becomes a cameraman, working WCCW's shows.
Kerry Von Erich heeds David's advice to avoid reckless behavior, and so avoids motorcycling, thus avoiding the accident, which IOTL led to his foot being amputated and his being addicted to painkillers.
Chris Von Erich is persuaded by his brothers that he's just not cut out to be a wrestler. They emphasize that, like Mike, he can be just as important to the business working behind the scenes.
So, what does this lead to? Everything I've heard is that David was in line to win the NWA World Championship from Ric Flair. IOTL, this was given to Kerry as a sort of consolation prize, but Kerry had only a short reign. (JR and Lawler have said that Kerry was unreliable, and that was why his reign was so short.)
Presumably, ITTL, David would have a longer reign, but I couldn't guess how long. Everyone seems to agree that David was the most talented of the brothers, but I don't have a sense of how popular he was outside of Dallas.
Skandor Akbar has also said that David understood the business side of things better than any of the brothers. It's possible that he, either on his own, or alongside a non-grief-stricken Fritz, might have made smarter business decisions than Fritz did IOTL. Would this have been enough to "save" WCCW? I dunno. I know that at least some of the boys wanted to try going national. I suspect they would not have been able to compete with Vince and Crockett (or whoever ends up owning JCP ITTL). It's possible that "better business decisions" might simply have meant that WCCW might have eked out another ten years of life compared to what it had IOTL.
Of course, who could say what David, Kevin and Kerry might have done for other organizations if they had outlived WCCW?