If you saw a WWF commercial in the 90s or 2000s, or a TNA/IMPACT video package in the past 20 years, it was probably produced by David Sahadi, who is good at his job and well regarded by his peers.

Now you’ve read that, you don’t really need to read this book.

It’s somewhat baffling who this is really aimed at. The first two-thirds covers his WWF run and it feels like 90% of it is simply a complete word-by-word, shot-by-shot breakdown of every commercial or spot Sahadi made, followed by a comment on how good it was and how people praised it. It would make a great YouTube playlist or the basis of a resume, but it doesn’t really work as a book. Beyond this we learn that most guys are great to work with, celebs are sometimes tricky, and the Rock was a bit of a dick once. And that’s about it.

The remainder of the book is the TNA period and, save for a few stories that don’t bring much new information (there was a fire once; Jeff Hardy was in no state to perform), it’s mainly made up of score settling and the machinations of various executives and production managers that few readers will know or care about.

The book has a running theme recalled conversations (some of which Sahadi was not present for but is sharing second-hand), all of which have people speaking in the same somewhat unnatural voice. There’s also no lack of self-confidence, to say the very least: we’re barely into the introduction before we discover “I was a rare babyface in a world of heels”, while he clearly believes he was among the very most important people in creating the Attitude Era.

The problem is that while Sahadi may indeed deserve to be acknowledged for his professional achievements, it doesn’t necessarily make for a compelling story: in this case, the product is certainly more interesting than the process behind it.

(Disclaimer: The publishers provided a review copy.)

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