Wrestling Books

[HWM]

Hardback version of Rey Mysterio's book is

[Magnum Milano]

Ah cool stuff! It's Jonathan Snowden isn't it? Have u read his book?

I haven't, but Jonathan posts on another board that I visit. Here are a few brief write ups from people who have read it:

 

I'm too lazy to do a huge write up of this now and may never get around to it, but this was a really good book. There were things I didn't necessarily agree with and certain verbiage that I thought was slightly misleading despite being basically accurate. But over all this is probably one of my favorite wrestling books ever just for the first third alone which focuses on the origins and early history of the wrestling business. Really enjoyed a lot of the stuff on Japan as well.

 

then the same guy posted the following later in the thread

 

I don't want to nitpick the book, because overall I think it was excellent and includes the most readable account of the early history of wrestling that I've seen so far.

 

Some of it is just stuff I disagreed with. For example I don't agree with your take that PWFG didn't take off because Fujiwara wasn't charismatic enough..or rather I don't think Fujiwara lacks charisma. Others were minor things where I thought the language could have been slightly different. For example when discussing Dr. Death and Gordy there was a reference to AJPW being an ultra violent, stunt heavy promotion or something very close to that. I get that the head dropping was going on then, but when people see something talking about super violent wrestling from Japan involving stunts they are thinking of guys rolling in barbed wire, not guys taking a bunch of backdrop suplexes.

 

But overall this is a great book. Again the early history was incredibly well put together and I think did a good job balancing accounts. It's actually currently one of my staff recommendations at work.

 

A couple of other posters thoughts:

 

Just started this today, fantastic stuff. It was actually a gift from my student the day she finished her placement, this is what stood out to her when she went to look for a recent wrestling book.

 

This was a page turner, which isn't a phrase I would use for any pro wrestling book. Very solid, Jon.

[Sphinx]

I finished reading Heenan's book a couple of days ago. I could have finished it in a day. It was compelling but short. Some very funny and interesting stories in there.

 

I'm now a third of the way through Piper's book. I seem to recall reviews for it not being too great, but I'm enjoying it so far. Again, some decent stories. I found it funny that through reading Heenan's book, I knew what the wrestler had done when he slapped Piper on the arse to say good luck before his match with the bear.

 

I'm also reading Gary Hart's book. The word count is massive. I'm finding it a little tough to read as the tone is much more serious than the other two books (and Piper takes things quite seriously it seems). There are some interesting stories, but there are also references to wrestlers and TV stations I know nothing about. The book is big though, so I imagine it'll pick up more in the middle.

[The Reverend]

Picked up Turning the Tables and The Death of WCW for

[Stunner]

I've only really read the "obvious" books, but I enjoyed pretty much all of them. Bret Hart's was fantastic although he certainly made it hard for you to sympathise with him in places, Mick Foley's first two are both enjoyable and he has a great way with words but I don't think he was ever as over as he thinks he is. Nice guy, though.

 

William Regal's is a great read, especially for the way it merges the big stars in the States with some of the stars of British wrestling in it's heyday (a fair few of which pop up in Hart's book too, although of course much less so), not to mention that his battle with his demons is a gripping read in itself. The main issue I find is that he does seem to be desperately seeking Vince McMahon's respect and adulation, although maybe that's more to do with it being a WWE book than anything. Which is what I found the most disappointing with the book actually, as great as it is, and although his time on the British circuit does get a few chapters, it does seem to treat his time in the UK as just nothing more than the first course. I suppose it is, especially to it's main American audience, but I can't help but think that if Regal's book was independent we'd see a lot more depth and a lot more interesting stories about British wrestling at a time when it was really at a crossroads.

 

I enjoyed Chris Jericho's book but also found he was a bit too proud of himself and too quick to compliment himself in places (not that there's really a problem with that at all, nobody can deny his talent, but it did seem to happen a lot), he has good comic timing and really makes his life story exciting, though, and I came out liking him a lot more for the most part. The Death Of WCW was a great read, especially when you remember it's mostly intended to be humorous rather than 100% fair and accurate towards its subject. My main issue with it was it's obsession with ratings and figures and buyrates, at times it was just an overload of numbers.

 

I also recently skimmed through Brock Lesnar's book, particularly his WWE career, and I found him to be a total crybaby. He doesn't have an issue being sent straight into the promotion to steamroll his way through the entire roster, he didn't see any problems with the fact Hulk Hogan allowed Lesnar to completely destroy him on TV (and even gets a dig in at Hogan whilst mentioning it), and also was perfectly happy for The Rock to lose clean to him at Summerslam, but as soon as The Rock was booked to get a win back he rants about how everybody had "betrayed" him, how he was being sold down the river, and how from that point he wanted to leave. He then accuses Kurt Angle, "the only person he thought he could trust" of stabbing him in the back because he had confided to Angle that he wanted to leave, and then soon afterwards was told he was dropping the title to Eddie Guerrero, and also saw that Angle's most recent phonecall on his mobile had been to Vince, thus proving Angle had grassed on him and he was being "punished", even though earlier in the same paragraph he mentioned how The Rock was "wise" for constantly calling Vince nearly every day to keep abreast of character development.

 

He also gives no information on how matches went but instead tells us whether the money was good or not, and seems to make a habit of bragging about how he was the toughest guy backstage. Ugh.

 

EDIT: Forgot to add, does anyone know where I can get Dynamite Kid's book for a reasonable price? Less than a tenner, really. The only place I can find a copy that isn't really expensive is Highspots who are only charging $4.99, fantastic deal but not any cheaper when you factor in shipping.

Edited August 4, 2012 by Stunner

[Sphinx]

I got Pure Dynamite for

[Richie Freebird]

Having an embarrassingly shit memory does have some advantages. I

[rubbafish]

Is there a general consesus on 'All Or Nothing' i.e. is it honest or a PR job/another way to make money?

[300]

What happened to Paul Heyman's book?

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Same thing what happened to his agency, production company, his proposal to TNA and business ventures in MMA.

[300]

The guy loves chatting shit.

[KingOfMetal]

Is there a general consesus on 'All Or Nothing' i.e. is it honest or a PR job/another way to make money?

 

I downloaded the sample for the kindle, and actually quite enjoyed what I read (haven't got round to the rest of it yet though). The sample covers the coming together and the first 3 events

[fraserbee]

Has anyone got any opinion on Dr Death Steve William's book? It sounds like it's got a bit of his God stuff in it, which I'm not that interested in, but does it cover his career with any insight at the same time? I am a big fan of late 80s early 90s Crockett/WCW and 90s AJPW too, so could be worth a read.

[dopper]

I just read 'The Death of WCW' for the second time, and I enjoyed it very much - just as much as I did the first time.

 

It's the world's best parody of how moronic wrestling fans can be. Full of hilarious double standards and blatant leaving out of facts when it doesn't suit their agenda.

 

It's a must buy.

 

I don't understand this assessment of it at all. What are the double standards you talk about? And which facts were left out due to not suiting the authors' agendas?

 

I was a WCW fan but only noticed literally 2 or 3 small parts where I think they took a cheap shot or were unfair. Generalisations like "by this point all of the wrestlers had given up" were silly, when there were still loads of young wrestlers trying to make names for themselves right up to the end.

 

I recommend it.

[The Invisible Boy]

Anyone had a look at or read A Battle Royal In The Sky by Jon Chattman and Rich Tarantino with a foreword by Al Snow? I picked it up today and it seems like it'll be a pretty good read, the layout of it reminds me a little of Wrestling's 101 Strangest Matches by Oliver Hurley which I loved so yeah, looking forward to having a read of it.