If you’ve read my review of Championship Wrestling by Napolitano, you know what to expect here. Sadly this book fails to meet even those limited expectations. It’s the same basic concept — a collection of Napolitano photographs in a coffee-table format book — but looks remarkably like the publishers saw Championship Wrestling and decided to see if they could capitalise with a version that was quicker and cheaper to produce. This runs only 60 pages with just three sections (an intro, the main body and a brief ‘outside the ring’ section). The photos are much blander from an artistic perspective than in Championship Wrestling and several are even somewhat out of focus. The closest thing to an unusual picture is one of Ron Simmons with his wife, while the main attraction for the type of teenage boy who’d buy this (in other words, me) is a shot of Madusa Miceli in a leather dress. That’s not exactly enough to carry a book in the Internet age. Buy on Amazon
This is a hugely entertaining story of a British wrestler’s career and life, but it’s most definitely not for the easily offended. Cornelius was a successful heavyweight in the 1950s and 60s, working across the UK as well as touring continental Europe and Japan. He went on to act in films and on stage, including being a regular entertainer at the London Palladium. The book doesn’t explicitly break kayfabe, but it’s easy enough to read between the lines when he’s explaining how he would liven up a bout for the benefit of the crowd. It’s the tales outside the ring that really stand out however. His activities in the world of not-entirely-legitimate goods trading are lively and entertaining, while his recollections of sexual antics are eye-raisingly explicit at times. There’s not really enough here for anyone but an enthusiast for the period to go out of their way to read, but if you spot a second-hand copy at at a bargain price, it’s worth a buy. Buy on Amazon
1996 was a curious year for the World Wrestling Federation: while house show attendance began to rebound and the company returned to profitability, it’s seen as a year of failure thanks to WCW beginning its two-year dominance of Monday night TV ratings. Creatively it was a confusing period, with a move to a more adult, realistic product undermined by cartoonish gimmicks such as TL Hopper and the Goon. These contradictions are covered in depth in Dixon’s sequel to Titan Sinking, his book on the WWF’s 1995. As with that volume, he combines a chronological and thematic approach to explore individual incidents in detail without losing sight of the big picture. Several stylistic shortfalls from the first book have been addressed here. While Dixon has included material from original interviews with the likes of Jim Cornette, JJ Dillon and Tracey Smothers, these are used to illustrate relevant points rather than included solely because they were available. The Dillon comments are particularly interesting as they go further in addressing the steroid testing policy that bore his name than he was able to do in his own excellent autobiography. Dixon also pulls off a better balance of concentrating on the WWF while adding…
If you’ve read any of the similar WWF titles, most notably WWE RAW: The First 25 Years, you can probably imagine exactly how this book goes. It’s the same format with around eight pages for each year, made up of a couple of dozen one-paragraph entries about matches and angles on the show. You also get the occasional boxout for when a character debuted on the show and a few snippets about happenings on pay-per-views that affected ongoing Smackdown events. As you might expect from a WWE-authorized title, it’s all completely written in storyline mode. With roughly one thing mentioned for every two episodes, the selection does occasionally feel a bit random, though it’s certainly a reminder of just how much content there’s been on the show. The main criticism would be an occasional lack of context where events are taken out of isolation and follow-ups not mentioned. For example, there’s an entry of Chris Jericho announcing he’ll pick a new partner to replace Edge as his tag team championship partner, but readers never find out who this would be. There’s also plenty of photos, though they aren’t always the quality you’d expect from WWE, with a surprising number either…
Of the 25 years I’ve been following WWE, 1995 was undoubtedly the in-ring lowpoint, when I’d have tapes posted to me from home while away at university only to find myself struggling to make time to see the likes of Sid, Mabel and Tatanka in lead villain roles. It was a period of depression in the company’s product, and one that is detailed in-depth in Titan Sinking. As previously noted here, it’s a major change of pace from Dixon’s previous work on review-based books where snarkiness, humour and opinion where the order of the day. This is a more mature, focused piece of historical writing that not only covers 1995’s tumultuous scenes inside and outside the ring, but brings up details that have previously been little addressed. The research and resulting writing are both excellent, based on a wide range of sources such as “shoot” interviews along with some original research ranging from lengthy conversations with Jim Cornette, Tom Prichard and even the lawyer for Douglas Griffith, the solider who got into an infamous brawl with Shawn Michaels outside of a nightclub, which is explained at length here with information that both boosts and weakens Michaels’ side of the story….
You know when you’re at a wrestling show and you’re having fun but the experience is spoiled by that one guy OF DOOM behind you who won’t shut up with the smarky insider talk where he keeps going on about people being held down or getting a push or being good workers? And it’s really annoying because he proves that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and it feels like half of what he says is not just factually wrong but reveals his lack of wider understanding, like, ooh, I don’t know, saying Buddy Rogers won the NWA title from Lou Thesz. And half of what he says seems to contradict itself. And the worst part about it is that a bunch of people seem to be hanging on his every word because the fact that he is shouting so loudly FOOLS them into THINKING he must be authoritative. Now imagine that guy was a book. Buy on Amazon
While this lacks the charm of A Lion’s Tale, it’s entertaining enough and in some ways more insightful. The second volume from Jericho deals with his initial WWE run from 1999 to 2005 and his subsequent break from wrestling before returning in late 2007. That means it doesn’t have the sheer breadth of settings of its predecessor, but it does give it a very focused look at the reality of life behind the scenes in WWE. The big strength is the book’s honesty. It’s not a WWE publication and it feels as if Jericho is giving his genuine recollections and opinions without fear of breaching protocol. It doesn’t descend into bitterness and thus makes for a well-rounded and balanced look at the unconventional workings of the company. For example, there’s plenty of the criticism that you might expect of issues such as the booking of Jericho during his Undisputed title run into WrestleMania (along with a genuinely shocking story about his payoff for the show), but also plenty of self-awareness about his struggles to adjust to the “WWE style.” The book is also particularly strong on giving an insight into Vince McMahon’s strengths, weaknesses and unique character, as well as addressing…
One of those few titles that would reliably show up in book catalogue searches for “wrestling” a couple of decades ago, this holds little interest for pro wrestling fans today. The book splits roughly in two into boxing and wrestling. Much of the latter half is taken up by the legitimate combat styles of places such as Japan, India and Turkey. Despite being written in 1986, the US and UK history is almost entirely about pre-war wrestling. There are brief mentions of familiar names from the pro scene, but these are limited. For example, Bert Assirati is the only British wrestler of any kind mentioned after 1906 and it’s as good as implied that he was the only pro who ever wrestled for real, something that would no doubt be a surprise to the Wigan set among many others. The US section is also far from comprehensive, with some detail on Gotch, Hackenschmidt and Stanislaus Zbyszko. It’s also of dubious accuracy, repeating a supposed claim by Zbyszko that the first ever worked bout was Ed Lewis dropping the world title to Gus Sonnenberg in 1928, a timeline that’s likely several decades out. About the only section of interest even to keen historians…
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…