Most of Kerry's fame was made in Texas' World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), where he was nicknamed "The Modern Day Warrior." On December 28, 1980, he defeated Gino Hernandez. On October 25, 1981, he teamed with Terry Orndorff and they defeated The Great Kabuki and Chan Chung. After having short angles as a singles wrestler, he began teaming with his brother Kevin. On March 15, 1982, the two brothers wrestled Gary Hart and King Kong Bundy to a double disqualification. On June 4, Von Erich defeated former WCW World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race, elevating him to main event status.
Kerry soon started feuding with the WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair. On August 15, he got his very first shot at the title against Flair at WCCW Christmas Star Wars 1982 in a two out of three falls match, which Flair won to retain the title. On December 25, Kerry got his next title shot against Flair in a no disqualification steel cage match, with Michael "P.S." Hayes, as the special guest referee. The Fabulous Freebirds helped Kerry to win the match, but he refused to take their help and said that he didn't want to win by cheating. Terry Gordy slammed the cage door on Kerry's head, which led to Flair winning the match and retaining the title. This culminated in a historic feud between the Von Erichs and the Freebirds that lasted for over five years.
On June 17, 1983, he teamed with Bruiser Brody to defeat the Fabulous Freebirds. On July 4, Kerry and his elder brothers Kevin and David defeated the Fabulous Freebirds in a two out of three falls match. On September 5, the brothers took on the Fabulous Freebirds in a rematch; the Freebirds won by pinning Kerry. On November 24, Kerry defeated Michael Hayes in a loser leaves Texas steel cage match.
On December 2, the Von Erichs defeated the Freebirds. On December 25, Kerry defeated Kamala by disqualification. On January 30, 1984, he teamed up with his brothers Mike and David against the Fabulous Freebirds in a six-man tag team match, which the Von Erichs lost by disqualification.
Kerry's biggest career highlight was on May 6, 1984, when he beat "Nature Boy" Ric Flair in a historic match, in front of over 45,000 fans at Texas Stadium to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Kerry's victory was a tribute to his brother David, who had died three months earlier and for whom the event, the David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions, was named. He lost the belt 18 days later in Yokosuka, Japan, back to Flair in a bout that was marred by controversy: Von Erich's feet were on the bottom rope following a reversed rollup, but the referee ignored this and made the count.
After ending their rivalry with the Fabulous Freebirds, the Von Erich brothers next feuded with Gino Hernandez, Chris Adams, and Jake Roberts. Kerry's angle with Adams was born out of Adams' angle with his brother Kevin, which began on September 28, 1984 (when Adams turned heel against Kevin following a tag team loss). In order to remain on kayfabe terms, Adams and Kerry wrestled as a tag team two days later in San Antonio, since the heel turn had not aired on television yet. On October 27, 1984, Hernandez, Adams, and Roberts defeated the Von Erichs in a match that saw Bobby Fulton substitute for an injured Kevin. On October 29, he defeated Gino Hernandez. On November 22, he teamed with Iceman Parsons to defeat Jake Roberts and Kelly Kiniski. He later refereed a Texas Deathmatch between longtime rival Terry Gordy and Killer Khan, which Gordy won, via Kerry's decision. On December 25, Kerry again got a shot at the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, a title he had lost many months ago. The champion Ric Flair intentionally got disqualified to retain the title. On December 31, the Von Erichs defeated Hernandez, Roberts, and Adams.
During his last days in WCCW, Kerry Von Erich would be embroiled in a feud with AWA World Heavyweight Champion Jerry "The King" Lawler. They would meet at an interpromotional event called SuperClash III to settle the dispute. Prior to this match, Kerry accidentally cut his arm causing it to bleed. During the match, he also received a cut to the head. When he later had Lawler in a clawhold on the mat with Lawler's shoulders down, the referee saw the blood on Kerry's head, thought it was excessive, and stopped the match. The crowd thought Kerry won by submission but instead "due to excessive bleeding" the referee stopped the match and awarded the decision to Jerry Lawler. This would mark the end of Kerry's WCCW run.
In June 1990, Von Erich signed a contract with Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF). He debuted on Saturday Night's Main Event XXVII as a fan favorite under the ring name Texas Tornado (while being openly acknowledged as Kerry Von Erich by announcers), defeating Buddy Rose. At SummerSlam, Tornado substituted for the injured Brutus Beefcake and defeated Mr. Perfect to win the Intercontinental Championship. After he became champion, Tornado defended the title for three months including a match against Haku on the October 13 Saturday Night's Main Event XXVIII before losing the title back to former champion Mr. Perfect in a rematch on the December 15 (taped November 19) edition of Superstars. Von Erich lost this match, and the title to Perfect due to interference from Ted DiBiase.
At Survivor Series in 1990, while still Intercontinental Champion, he wrestled in a Survivor Series match where he teamed with the WWF Champion The Ultimate Warrior and the Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal). He was eliminated by long-time rival Mr. Perfect, but his team won the match.
At the Royal Rumble in 1991, he participated in the Royal Rumble match where he entered fifth and was eliminated by The Undertaker after lasting nearly half an hour. He made his only WrestleMania appearance at WrestleMania VII, defeating Dino Bravo following a Tornado Punch. Von Erich continued to be heavily pushed for the first half of 1991 and did not suffer another pinfall defeat until August 17, 1991 when he was defeated by The Warlord in Landover, Maryland. At SummerSlam, he teamed with the British Bulldog and Ricky Steamboat in a six-man tag team match to defeat the team of The Warlord and Power and Glory (Paul Roma and Hercules).
In October 1991, Von Erich renewed his old rivalry with Ric Flair, being among the first names to face him in the ring after the WCW World Champion joined the WWF that August. Flair defeated Von Erich multiple times during the WWF's October tour of the UK. The following month, "The Texas Tornado" suffered his first lopsided loss when he was squashed by The Undertaker in less than four minutes on the November 10, 1991 episode of Wrestling Challenge. At Survivor Series, he teamed with Sgt. Slaughter, Jim Duggan, and Tito Santana against Colonel Mustafa, The Berzerker, Skinner, and Hercules. He did not eliminate anyone, but his entire team survived. He made his last pay-per-view appearance at the Royal Rumble in 1992; he participated in the Royal Rumble match for the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Championship. He was eliminated by the eventual winner Ric Flair. Kerry's push continued to subside in early 1992. He was relegated to a house show feud with Skinner in which he came out victorious; in February he began a house show series with Rick Martel and was winless.
After an absence of two months, Von Erich returned to action following WrestleMania VIII and defeated Marc Roberts on the April 18, 1992 episode of Superstars. However he now found himself as an opening card act programmed against low level competition like Barry Horowitz, Kato, and Skinner. While undefeated against them in multiple matches, Von Erich was unable to move back up into contention as he suffered several losses against Rick Martel, Nailz, and Kamala. Von Erich left the WWF in August 1992 after being left off the SummerSlam card in London, UK.
On February 18, 1993, Von Erich passed away.
In 2009, Kerry, along with his father Fritz and the rest of his brothers, was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, with the only surviving brother Kevin accepting the honor.