Hometown: Arlington, Texas
Height/Weight: 6'2, 245
Signature Moves: Leg scissors, dropkick, flying bodypress
WCCW Titles Held: WCCW Six-Man Tag Team titles (with Kevin and Kerry Von Erich), WCWA World Tag Team titles (with Dingo Warrior) and WCCW TV Title.
Notable WCCW Feuds: Rick Rude, Buzz Sawyer, Matt Borne
Need to Know Facts: "Lance Von Erich" was an entity created by Von Erich wrestling patriarch Jack Adkisson (Fritz Von Erich) out of necessity...or so Fritz thought.
In late 1984, after the death of his son David, who was arguably the most popular wrestler in the World Class promotion, Jack reportedly pondered the idea of having an additional "Von Erich" in the area. His sons Kevin and Kerry were already being over-extended and were still devastated by the sudden loss of their brother David (youngest wrestling son Mike was still a rookie at the time), while the Von Erich name was still one of wrestling's most popular commodities. The family was being requested to wrestle at every venue World Class performed at, regardless of the size of the venue, or the potential gate. Also, owing to their status as sports icons, personal appearances in the Dallas/Fort Worth area were becoming almost mandatory.
In the fall of 1985, Jack Adkisson found someone he thought would fit the bill of "Lance Von Erich", son of Fritz Von Erich's fictitious brother Waldo: William ("Ricky") Vaughn, an up-and-coming wrestler based out of Don Owen's Northwest wrestling promotion.Vaughn was originally billed as hailing from Florida while wrestling for Owen, often being paired up with Portland wrestling star Billy Jack Haynes, with the story that Haynes discovered Vaughn in Florida in early 1985. The popular duo quickly gained tag team gold in the Northwest.
When Vaughn became Lance Von Erich, it was explained that he had indeed previously wrestled as Ricky Vaughn in the Northwest region (and throughout Europe), but did so in order to establish success on his own merits, without having to rely on the famed Von Erich surname.
As Lance, Vaughn made his first appearance in World Class at the October 1985 Cotton Bowl show, in which Kevin and Kerry Von Erich took on the Dynamic Duo (Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez) in a hair vs. hair main event.
Lance was immediately a hit with the fans, who embraced him as...a Von Erich. However, Fritz's sons did not take kindly to having a non-relative adopt the faux last name that they had established. (Kevin has since gone on record stating that he thought it was a mistake all along to incorporate the "Lance Von Erich" character.)
Lance would go on to capture the WCCW Six-Man Tag Team titles along with "cousins" Kevin and Kerry, and would hold his lone singles title in the promotion as TV champion.
Angered by what he saw as a massive betrayal after allowing Vaughn to use the Von Erich name, Fritz -- in what was then a startling breach of kayfabe -- denounced Vaughn on television, stating that he was not actually a member of the Von Erich family. Fritz went on to reveal that in reality, Lance was indeed William Vaughn from Portland, and that Vaughn would never again be allowed to call himself a Von Erich, essentially blackballing him from numerous North American wrestling promotions.
Following his abrupt departure from WCCW, Vaughn wrestled briefly as The Fabulous Lance for former WCCW and UWF booker Ken Mantell's Wild West Wrestling promotion. Vaughn would also appear in Eddie Mansfield's short-lived IWF promotion and in Puerto Rico before retiring and marrying a woman he met while on a wrestling tour of South Africa.
