While this has some interest, the length and style mean it’s really for collectors only. Ironside was a Scottish wrestler, so this has some good insight into some of the names and characters who didn’t get the TV exposure. It’s more of a collection of stories and reminiscences than a chronological career history. Unfortunately it’s only 88 pages so is likely a single-sitting read. It’s also written with kayfabe in full effect, which won’t be to everyone’s taste. Buy on Amazon
While widely viewed and remembered, Bill Goldberg’s wrestling career was extremely brief-lived. It might seem as if there’s not much to say and that certainly seems to be the case with this book. Released in 2000, when his WCW stint had barely finished, this doesn’t have a great deal of wrestling content. It’s written in a somewhat haphazard order and only around 90 pages (of large type) deal directly with the chonology of his in-ring career. The rest is a hodge-podge of his experiences as a celebrity and his time in college and NFL football. A lot of the wrestling content is a recap of on-screen events, though there are some surprisingly frank revelations such as Goldberg admitting he frequently gets lost in matches and has little ability at putting a match together. There’s also a wonderful anecdote about a match where he wrestled Ric Flair. These are limited though as a lot of the content includes transcripts of promos plus original quotes from other wrestlers that don’t add much insight. It would be unfair to call the book a waste of your time as a reader, and with second-hand copies easy and cheap to acquire, it’s certainly recommended for…
Who’s The Daddy is as much a story of Shirley Crabtree the man as it is Big Daddy the wrestler. Much like its subject, the book has clear strengths and weaknesses and its reception will depend largely on what the audience is looking for. It’s the fresh content that is the main advantage of the book. Author Ryan Danes has spoken extensively to Crabtree’s daughter Jane and uncovered some genuinely informative insights into his personal life. These build up a picture of a man with simple tastes who was never overly worried about money. We also learn a lot about some of Crabtree’s unusual quirks, his relationship struggles (including a shocking revelation involving the breakdown of one of his marriages) and the stresses of stardom and life on the road. It combines to give a balanced look at the man behind the character and serves to remind readers that simply labelling somebody as a good or bad person is overly simplistic. Unfortunately, like Daddy’s own in-ring performances, this isn’t enough to carry the show. The most striking negative is the book’s use of references to historical and world events with nothing to do with either Crabtree or wrestling. While this…
This is a cash-in booklet from the 1940s-50s era when Lane was the announcer on the televised Olympic Auditorium shows during the initial “golden age” when many homes could get wrestling in prime time almost every night of the week. It’s a mere 32 pages, most of which is made up of capsule profiles and pictures of wrestlers of the day. There’s also a short section covering seven of the most popular moves of the day and relatively credible explanations of how they work. It finishes off with a Q&A section with highlights including the revelation that a wrestler can ordinarily hold a tight lock with his fingers at full grip for four to five minutes and that it’s not as important to be as finely conditioned in wrestling as in boxing because “a little girth is necessary to help cushion against the shock of falls and pressure.” The booklet has a surprising number of typos, including references to Jim London and Vern Gagne. It’s a fun little booklet but there’s not a great deal to read, so it’s only worth tracking down as a collector’s piece.
This is another on my list of undersung wrestling books. It’s big strength is the sheer diversity of Dillon’s career and thus the wide range of topics for which he offers an insider perspective. Though best known as the manager of the Four Horsemen, that only covered a couple of years of his career. He also worked as a WWWF referee; spent more than a decade on the territory circuit including Mid Atlantic, Florida and Amarillo; toured Japan; spent time as a booker; was one of Vince McMahon’s right-hand men for several years; and worked in WCW during the Monday Night Wars era. All of this is well covered in the 350 page book which, as is typical with those ghost-written by Scott Teal through his Crowbar Press publishing, manages to tell a coherent, flowing story while still staying true to the voice of the subject. Whatever your particular interest in wrestling, you’ll find something of interest here, whether it’s the process of breaking in and being gradually smartened up, or the lavish lifestyle that came from the Horsemen living their gimmick. For me, who became a fan through late 80s and early 90s WWF, the section on the creative process during this…
This is definitely one to collect rather than read, but given its age it’s surprisingly attainable (in the US at least.) Showing the prestige and perception of pro wrestling at the time of its 1913 publication, this is part of a series of sports and fitness books published by Richard K Fox of the National Police Gazette which, despite its title, was the original boxing and sports magazine of its day. The book starts with a brief bio of Gotch, though oddly it only covers the first Hackenschmidt bout and not the 1911 rematch. There’s then a look at wrestling, bemoaning the fact that some matches appear to be little more than exhibitions, and some training tips. The rest of the book is made up of 29 photographs showing different holds, posed by Gotch himself and Oscar Samuelson, a name I couldn’t trace other than in references to this book. The selected holds certainly give the impression Gotch’s bouts would have more closely resembled an amateur contest than the slam-bang style of even the 1930s.
Some exciting releases here and on the way from Crowbar Press. The highlight is a new reprint of Fall Guys by Marcus Griffin, a 1930s expose behind the scenes of the pre-war machinations and doublecrosses. While the book is excellent, some of its claims are questionable or exaggerated, with a strong theory that Toots Mondt was a key, but unreliable, source. That’s addressed in this new edition which includes detailed annotations from publisher Scott Teal and historian Steve Yohe, correcting and challenging the content. It’s an approach that worked well with a previous reprint of Lou Thesz’s autobiography Hooker. Meanwhile Pro Wrestling Books reader Jason Presley kindly passed on the “coming attractions” schedule for Crowbar Press. Highlights for 2019 include a series of books on “The Great Wrestling Venues” in both Japan and the US territories. There’s also “Bowdren The Booker”, which was the title of a popular series in the Wrestling Observer newsletter where Bowdren produced an alternative timeline for WCW.
Some valid and important points in this book are let down by some fundamental limitations. Muchnick is a professional news writer who has made his name over the years by writing mainstream outlet articles on the darker side of the wrestling business, covering topics often ignored by “real” media on the irrelevant grounds of wrestling being “fake.” There’s absolutely no debating that Muchnick — the nephew of legendary St Louis president and NWA chief Sam Muchnick — has put in the hours to research both documentation and first-hand accounts of matters those in wrestling management and even law enforcement and government would prefer to be kept quiet. Unfortunately that work is not shown to its best in this format, a collection of his articles published between 1988 and 2004. One problem is the length. It’s only 152 pages and once you take out the introductions and an appendix listing premature wrestling deaths, it’s closer to 120. No subject is addressed in real depth and it often feels like there wasn’t quite enough here for a full book. Another limitation is that the nature of Muchnick’s writing doesn’t necessarily lend itself to an anthology. Virtually every piece he writes is in…
Every wrestling fan should read at least one of Larry Matysik’s books about St Louis wrestling. If you’re only going to read one, this is probably the best bet. As well as books on the 50 greatest wrestlers of all time (with a definite St Louis flavour) and Bruiser Brody, Matysik has written three books specifically on St Louis. At one extreme is From the Golden Era: The St Louis Wrestling Record Book, an e-book which is no longer available to buy but occasionally shows up through less official distribution channels. It’s literally a list of full show reports and crowd figures, with a running commentary by Matysik on what did and didn’t work at the box office. At the other extreme is Drawing Heat the Hardway: How Wrestling Really Works, which is much more of a general look at the distinct St Louis booking philosophy and how it contrasted with the WWF approach. Wrestling at the Chase falls between the two. It’s a historical account of St Louis during the Sam Muchnick era, but jumps about thematically rather than being a strict chronology. Rather than try to document every event, Matysik uses them as examples to illustrate wider points…
Published at the tail of the first national TV wrestling boom, this is an excellent memento of the period and is a genuinely informative read rather than just a collectible historical item. The heart of the book is a series of profiles of around 250 wrestlers, ranging from full-page pieces on the top stars to capsule bios. Naturally it’s entirely in kayfabe, but there’s a fair bit of detail on backgrounds and career histories, most of which appears historically accurate. Other sections of the book include pieces on women and midget wrestlers, promoter profiles, details of overseas grapplers, and a piece on boxer vs wrestler matches in history. It also has a piece on wrestling rules and how to apply holds. Perhaps the most striking note is an estimate that 24 million tickets were sold for wrestling shows in the US over the course of the year. To put that into perspective, the respective figure for dominant powerhouse WWE in 2013 was just under two million. It’s a book worth tracking down if you have cash to spare and fortunately it is relatively readily available on auction sites and through used book sellers. It’s available in both the original 1952…