Pro Wrestling Books

British writer Rob Cope will soon be releasing Giant Haystacks: My Heavyweight hero. It’s adapted from interviews Cope originally conducted in 1998 for what would have been a ghostwritten autobiography, with Cope describing the revised book as a: personal memoir of how a young fan was invited to the home of his wrestling hero, and the story Martin Ruane told me of his life… Its not a book about wrestling (although wrestling does feature) but is of how a unique figure battled through against the odds to become a British icon. The book will be sold online only with all proceeds going to Manchester’s Christie’s Cancer Hospital.

Matt Stroud has just gone live with a database aiming to list every professional wrestling book. The Wrestling Book Inventory is available as both a sortable list web page and a full-blown database. It currently has 492 titles, with plans for frequent updates. While it’s already sortable through details such as publisher and publication date, the next planned step is further tagging by subject to allow, for example, filtering to show biographies about British wrestlers.

Truth Bee Told, the autobiography of Brian Blair, has reached its target on crowdfunding site Indiegogo and is scheduled for publication and delivery next month. It’s still available to order through the site with a range of bonus options including autographed copies and a Killer Bees mask. Blurb as follows: After reading an early draft of Truth Bee Told, Oliver Bateman of The Ringer declared “… in many ways, it’s the best wrestling book I’ve ever read.” Esteemed wrestling journalist and book reviewer Jamie Hemmings identified Truth Bee Told as a clear candidate for the title of professional wrestling book of the year, and Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter proclaimed Truth Bee Told to be “awesome” when asked about it on his show. Featuring forewords by Bret “The Hitman” Hart and Steve “Gator” Keirn, an afterword from Hulk Hogan,  and dozens of personal behind-the-scenes photos from Brian Blair’s life and wrestling career, Truth Bee Told has been praised by reviewers as an instant classic professional wrestling autobiography. Despite growing up amidst the challenges caused by poverty, disfiguring injuries and familial strife, Brian Blair’s determination to better himself and his life circumstances took him to worldwide wrestling fame, and also to major successes in the realms of business and politics. Truth…

The producers of the Invasion From Planet Wrestletopia graphic novel series are seeking Kickstarter backing to bring the completed series together as a single volume book: Backers can get PDF or print copies, or pay a higher amount to get bonus items such as mock pay-per-view promotional posters and trading cards based on the series. When disgruntled professional wrestler “Rock ‘n’ Roll” Rory Landell declares himself “galactic champion of the universe,” little does he know that he’s sparked an intergalactic war with a planet of aliens for whom wrestling isn’t just real, it’s their way of life! Now Earth is paying the price—but can Rory get his act together in time to save us all? I previously reviewed the first volume of the series: https://prowrestlingbooks.com/invasion-from-planet-wrestletopia-1-a-date-with-destiny/  

Cafe Royal Books in the UK has released a 36 page photo book, “Wrestling in the North 1980s” by Peter Byrne. It’s a limited edition print run available from some independent stockists or direct from the publisher, with options for international shipping.

Ehren Schaffter has recently published Independent Road, A Wrestler’s Journey, available from Barnes & Noble in paperback and NOOK (e-reader) formats: When you turn on your television weekly, you’d find it very hard not to find a representation of the wrestling industry at some point. Multimillion-dollar companies continue to push out stars through their programming. What about the men and women who have yet to make it to those promotions? Independent Road, A Wrestler’s Journey introduces you to those talents who not only have traveled down that road for decades but are still trying to carve their paths. Author Ehren Schaffter takes you on a journey to learn of the talents, upbringing, struggles, fears, and dreams.

I’ve just transferred the blog and domain to a new host. As far as I can tell, everything should now be working as normal with the exception of most older images currently being missing.  (This includes those for reviews before around June 2020 and for other posts that are more than a month old). This will be fixed but will take a little while. Please do let me know if anything looks wrong or appears to be missing.

1930s British wrestler Chick ‘Cocky’ Knight is the subject of a new biography, London’s Loveable Villain, by Andy Scott published this month: Born in Hammersmith, West London in 1903 (Chick later lived in Castelnau, Barnes SW London where he passed away at home in 1967) Chick was a champion Wrestler, Boxer and Fencer in the Army (1st Suffolk Battalion Regiment), and then both an amateur and pro-Boxer, and a professional Wrestler from 1932-58 fighting all the great heavyweights including many battles with Bert Assirati. He fought as a professional Boxer from 1935-36, which included a contest with former British Champion, Reggie Meen. Chick was one of the first British Wrestlers on TV in 1938 (he fought Canadian champion Earl McCready at Earls Court in London) as well as being a professional Wrestler he was also a professional Boxer, a Soldier, a Doorman at several London nightclubs, including The Lyceum, a Film Stuntman and Extra, security to Royalty (Princess Margaret at Kensington Palace) and a Triple Lifesaver, with 2 rescues, one in Gibraltar in 1924 when he saved a fellow solider from drowning at Catalan Bay, and a second in the Thames at Hammersmith in June 1930, when he saved 2…

Crowbar Press is soon to publish Master Of The Ring, a biography of Buddy Rogers by Tim Hornbaker. (We’ve previously reviewed his books National Wrestling Alliance, Capitol Revolution and Death of the Territories.) It will initially be available in print direct from Crowbar Press with a Kindle version scheduled for December.

James Romero, whose book on Owen Hart I previously reviewed, will soon be publishing Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson: The People’s Champion – From WWE to Hollywood c. Here’s the blurb: FINALLY… from the author of the highly regarded Owen Hart: King of Pranks comes the wrestling biography every WWE fan and the millions… and millions of Rock fanatics around the world have been waiting for! Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson: The People’s Champion – From WWE to Hollywood charts the personal life and wrestling career of ten-time WWF/WWE/WCW Champion and movie megastar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in-depth for the very first time. Along with Stone Cold Steve Austin, Vince McMahon and the concept of “Attitude”, the emergence of The Rock was instrumental in turning the languishing World Wrestling Federation, on the brink of downsizing, into a billion dollar entity within two years. With The Rock at the forefront, the WWF routinely broke viewership, box office and ticket sales records. In 2000, The Rock became the most well-known mainstream professional wrestler in the world and in 2001 Dwayne entered the Guinness Book of Records as the highest paid debuting lead actor for his star-making turn in The Scorpion King. After several years…