The movie “The Iron Claw” depicts the professional wrestling world before it went mainstream. The film tells the tragic story of the Von Erich wrestling family in the early 1980s, a time when a match between Kerry Von Erich and “Nature Boy” Ric Flair could earn a $170,000 gate — more than a half a million dollars today — when they faced off in New Orleans' Superdome in 1985.
Director Sean Durkin filmed "The Iron Claw" in Baton Rouge. He hired Luke Hawx, who owns the New Orleans pro wrestling promotion company WildKat Sports & Entertainment, as assistant wrestling trainer. For Hawx, it's the latest chapter in a story of the unexpected places wrestling can take you.
Hawx has worked for more than 15 years as a stunt man and a wrestling coordinator. He's also an actor, having played The Hole on Starz’ “Heels” and Stone Cold Steve Austin on NBC’s “Young Rock.”
When Hawx started wrestling 25 years ago, he found his role models in Extreme Championship Wrestling, which captured his imagination with the independent promotion’s emphasis on brawling, weapons and stunts.
Wildkat Sports & Entertainment founder Luke Hawx poses in front of an enlarged still from 'Iron Claw.'
“I grew up in a boys' home, so I had a really rough life,” he said. “ECW wasn’t all glitz and glamor. It was rough, so I could relate to that.”
Legendary moves
That style prioritized violence and aggression, and as Altar Boy Luke, he executed moves that became legendary among people who traded videotapes of matches in the pre-YouTube era.
He’s particularly proud of adding acrobatics to that style, once doing a somersault and a half off an arena balcony before landing on his opponent, who was laid out on a table. “I became the king of death match wrestling,” Hawx said. Death matches tossed in tacks, barbed wire or glass to produce bloody, if not life-threatening, visual effects.
It’s not a role he wanted, but “I ran with it because I knew I could do it and do it well.”
When he realized that nobody featured death match stars prominently on their posters, “I had to figure out how to reinvent myself to fit that poster boy image,” he said.
First he got into fitness, paying attention to nutrition and spending more time in the gym. When Hawx finally got an offer from the WWE, he had launched WildKat as a school and proving ground for wrestlers. He knew that if he left, it would be done.
Sticking to business
A younger Hawx might have gambled on the WWE, but in his early 30s, he’d had time to think about what really mattered to him. He also knew that while the professional wrestling world is big, the film world is bigger — and his growing reputation there wasn’t something to fritter away.
“I’m thankful that I chose to stick out my business and stay here with WildKat, because that led to more opportunities for me and (for) 20 to 30 guys from this area,” Hawx said.
He included “and Entertainment” in the Wildkat Wrestling promotion’s full name when he opened it 2011 because he already had a career in film, and he wanted to help prepare young performers for wrestling-adjacent futures.
From left, actor Trey Tucker with Wildkat Sports & Entertainment founder Luke Hawx and Danny Flamingo.
One WildKat wrestler, Danny Flamingo, plays professional wrestler Buddy Roberts in “The Iron Claw,” a role that wasn’t a stretch.
“Buddy talked a lot of trash,” Flamingo said. “That’s something I’m very good at. I have a very similar skill set to Buddy Roberts, so as far as the in-ring stuff, I didn’t have to do very much.”
An unlikely route
Flamingo chose an unlikely route to wrestling, starting at 29, an age when many experienced wrestlers enter their prime. He saw Hulk Hogan on World Championship Wrestling as a young teen in 1996 and thought, “Wow, I really want to do that.” He didn’t pull the trigger and go to WildKat until he was about to turn 30.
“People don’t understand that the 30-year mark, when it comes to pro wrestling training, is substantial,” Flamingo said. “Learning to bump” — take falls in the ring — ”is way different for someone that’s in their 20s as opposed to in their 30s. Over the last 11 years, I’ve certainly seen that.”
He believes it has been worth it though, because regardless of the size of the crowd, “the high when you step through those curtains is unmatched.”
From left, Harris Dickinson, Zac Efron, Stanley Simmons and Jeremy Allen White as pro wrestling siblings David, Kevin, Mike and Kerry Von Erich, respectively, in writer-director Sean Durkin’s drama ‘The Iron Claw.’
Macho movie stars
While working on “The Iron Claw,” Hawx prepared actors to execute wrestling maneuvers convincingly, which meant giving them a crash course in not just delivering punishment but taking it. The performers have stunt doubles, but since directors want reaction shots, the actors have to fit training time into their busy schedules.
The macho, familial nature of the Von Erichs’ story in “The Iron Claw” carried over to the shooting, and for Hawx that meant actors Zac Ephron, Jeremy Allen White and Harris Dickinson weren’t going to let the others show them up or prove they were tougher.
“These dudes want to be hands-on,” Hawx said. “They want to say, ‘I did that.’”
“I have plans for where I’m going in 2024, where I’m going with WildKat, where I’m going with films,” Hawx said. “But I don’t just think about it. I start putting the action forward to do the necessary work.”
WildKat’s next show in New Orleans will take place March 23.
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