Any serious wrestling fan would likely love a chance to spend a few hours to Terry Funk telling stories. This is the closest thing to doing so.

Ghost writer Scott Williams does a great job of capturing Funk’s distinctive tone of voice while still making for a clear flow of sentences. It comes across very much as a collection of anecdotes that have been shaped into a relatively logical order.

It most definitely is not a comprehensive chronological account of Funk’s entire career. It’s not quite as brief as the 242-page count might seem — the text is relatively small with no visual padding — but it could never begin to come close to a complete history. If you’re hoping to dip into it to find Funk’s recollections of a specific incident, you may be out of luck, but he covers most of the key moments.

Instead the real treats come when the story goes off track and Funk shares his insight into a particular wrestler, booking style or tricks of the trade. That gives it a very personable feel, helped by the fact that Funk is almost relentlessly positive and doesn’t give the impression of wanting to settle scores.

While this isn’t quite in the tier of must-have books, it’s a pleasurable read and the somewhat rambling style arguably makes it better than a more traditional, firmly focused chronology might have been.

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