Many people, including Rowdy Roddy Piper, have said that the Von Erich family is
an example of how wrestling promoters treat wrestlers like a disposable resource. Ric Flair disagrees and says that it was not wrestling that killed the Von Erichs but drugs. Flair partially blames Fritz, because if Fritz had not lived in denial, and made his sons accountable for their behavior, they might well be alive today.