Pro Wrestling Books

John Ellul has a biography of Adrian Adonis to be published on 23 March in paperback and ebook. Pre-orders of the Kindle version are available from Amazon now. Flowers for Adrian: The Life and Death of Adrian Adonis is a detailed and engaging look at the life, death, and legacy of professional wrestler Keith Franke, who competed as “Gorgeous” Keith Franks and “Adorable” Adrian Adonis during the 1970s and 1980s before his untimely death in 1988. This biography, the first of its kind, takes readers from Franke’s start in life as an orphan, to achieving his childhood dream of becoming a pro wrestler. The tale plays out across the vibrant background of wrestling’s territories, where Franke learned his trade the ‘old-fashioned’ way in California, Amarillo, Portland, and elsewhere. One-half of the pioneering East West Connection with future Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura, Adonis headlined Madison Square Garden before being front and centre during the WWF’s international expansion. What could possibly go wrong?  Through meticulous research and interviews with a range of sources, readers will learn the story of Adonis’ life and career, and much more, including: The tale of the original Adrian Adonis, dating back over 100 years. The true story of his infamous…

Depending on your viewpoint and what you know about Gewirtz, he represents everything that’s right or everything that’s wrong with WWE’s modern TV product. This book does a good job of proving the truth is somewhere in between, but will entertain you even if it doesn’t change your mind. For those who don’t know, Gewirtz was a WWE writer throughout the 2000s, including a lengthy run as the head writer. His account addresses that era, including both the development of full-blown Hollywood style writer rooms and the switch to more heavily-scripted promos. Above all else, the book conveys the sheer insanity of applying this process to a TV production like no other (live broadcasts with scripts completed or even written on the day, then handed to athletes without formal acting training) and a boss like no other in Vince McMahon. Many of the best-remembered (for good or worse) storylines are detailed, giving a unique insight into everything from guest hosts on Monday Night War to Katie Vick to the anonymous Raw GM to Goldberg in a wig. To Gewirtz’s credit, he explains the rationale and development process behind each moment, but never tries to pretend something was well-received or effective…

While it tells the story of the ultimate in for-the-moment entertainment, this is a memoir that reveals its depths when taken as a whole. For those who don’t remember it’s notoriety from the tape-trading scene of the mid-to-late 90s, Incredibly Strange Wrestling was an unusual San Francisco based promotion where people who didn’t really know how to (professionally) wrestle performed for people who weren’t really fans of pro wrestling. The group performed in bars and music venues in San Francisco and as part of music tours, gaining a cult following as it evolved from a lucha-style promotion to a cast of outlandish, often tasteless gimmicks from Harley Racist and the Abortionist to El Homo Loco and NAMBLA. Calhoun performed under a host of gimmicks as well as working in publicity and booking for the group. This isn’t a definitive history of the promotion (which would be a particularly weird exercise to embark on) but rather his memories of his time in and around ISW and the punk rock scene. It’s extremely detailed, to the point that it often left me wondering who is meant to care about the minutiae of petty squabbles at the lower levels of independent wrestling (albeit…