Wrestling Books Discussion Zone

[snuffbox]

Looking forward to the Mad Dog Vachon book!

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Picked up AJ Lee's book for $17.50 and Justin Robert's book for $17.46. Curious how both turn out.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Only 10 pages in and AJ's book is amazing. Snarking almost every other line, love it.

Justin's book was pretty solid throughout. It kind of yo-yo'd at times although it really painted a crazy picture of WWE backstage/corporate wise that generally doesn't get much focus. Worth noting is that his book had a lot of little editing errors throughout including an instance where a paragraph was repeated twice in a row. Just weird.

 

[KingPK]

I read Titan Sinking a few months ago and just bought Titan Shattered last night. I also started Lion's Pride: The Turbulent History of New Japan Pro Wrestling and it's pretty good so far, though it's weird that the author just drops a chapter about the psychology of Japanese wrestling in with no context.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Ric Flair & Charlotte Flair co-wrote a book, "Second Nature: The Legacy of Ric Flair and the Rise of Charlotte," which I picked up at work. Looks like a great read just for Ric alone but it clearly delves into Charlotte's growing up & their family as a whole too, which could prove fascinating.

Looks to be about 360+ pages.

 

[Sabre]

I got jerichos 4th book today and look forward to reading. But I feel he is mick foleying it now.

 

[Gert]

Isn't the new Jericho book more self-help than biographical or is a mix? I only heard him talk about it on the Dan show.

 

[Sabre]

I read a few chapters. It's a mix. He really wasn't a fan of the fandango match and how it was put to him.

 

[Super Leather]

I found Bob Backlund's book used yesterday. I'm not too far into it - he's discussing his high school wrestling days - but I can already tell this is going to be good.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

I finished the Flairs book. Solid stuff although Ric mostly covers the HOF stuff and more modern day era but glosses over stuff like his TNA run and such. Charlotte's a far more interesting read but it doesn't delve into too much detail with the very notable exception of her relationship with Riki which is harrowing stuff to read.

 

[Super Leather]

Finished Bob Backlund's book the other week. Backlund sticks to his life in wrestling with a little bit about his family, but doesn't get too personal. His years away from wrestling aren't discussed in any real detail. He makes the observation that he was the first babyface world champion under the McMahons who worked the more NWA-friendly beatable champ style. Most interesting are the details on Vince Senior orchestrating Backlund's main event push and issues with Superstar Billy Graham's reluctance to drop the WWWF title. Superstar actually discovered Backlund in the first place and suggested that he give the business a try, so he really felt bad for him when Graham went down to depression and drugs. I also liked reading about the differences in Backlund working champion vs. champion matches against Harley Race and Ric Flair. He talks about refusing to turn heel in the Hogan era, but really enjoyed the thought he put into his WWF heel run in the early '90s. Other stories include the Funks, Eddie Graham, Ken Patera, and Antonio Inoki's futile efforts to get over with the WWWF audience. He comes off as a genuinely humble, nice guy who feels lucky to have gone as far as he did in wrestling and really appreciates the opportunities he was given. Enjoyable read, give it a look.

 

[Epic Springs]

In news that will no doubt make Brody happy, Dr. D David Schultz is releasing his autobiography:

http://www.eatsleepwrestle.com/?page_id=1883

 

[Epic Springs]

http://www.adventuresinpoortaste.com/2018/02/08/shinsuke-nakamuras-autobiography-will-be-released-in-the-us-this-summer/

Nakamura's book, which was originally released in 2015 in Japan, is coming out this summer in the states. I'd love to read it but I haven't had good luck with english-translated literature. A lot of the language gets diced up and makes it hard to read. I'll see what the reviews are first.

 

[Valeyard]

Shinsuke Nakamura: Macho Business Donkey Wrestler is the first wrestling book I'll buy as a legal adult.

 

[Super Leather]

Okay, who else besides me and Brody is salivating at the idea of a "Dr. D" David Schultz autobiography?

 

[Super Leather]

Found Bob Holly and William Regal's autobiographies the other day. I was never a big Bob Holly fan, but it was nice to get an unfiltered take on WWE backstage politics. He sure hates him some Triple H, heh. Starting Regal's book and I'm already stoked at the mention of being a big Slade fan just a couple pages in.

 

[Baby Shoes]

I bought Regal's book cheap on Kindle when I got one a few months back but haven't started it. Every time I think to get Holly's book, I never find a good price.

I still have my pile sitting on my nightstand unread with Jericho's latest, Pete Gas, AJ and I think someone else, on top of several other books of other interests, so unless I found something too cheap too pass, I probably should wait.

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

Regal's book is fantastic. He goes into EVERYTHING. The good and the bad, including his drug addiction.

 

[Super Leather]

Hardcore Truth was $10 and Walking a Golden Mile was about $14. I almost skipped on Walking a Golden Mile until I remembered that it's apparently hard to find and that William Regal rules. Really enjoying it so far, especially since I know basically nothing about British wrestling.

 

[alkeiper]

Regal's book is fantastic. He goes into EVERYTHING. The good and the bad, including his drug addiction.

The only negative on it is that it's well over a decade old so it feels like a piece is missing. But it's really a great read.

 

[Super Leather]

Walking a Golden Mile was fantastic. I love that Regal was the typical British working-class kid who was into badass rock 'n' roll and northern soul before wrestling. Great reading about the British and German wrestling scenes too. I agree that reading it in 2017 leaves me feeling like a lot is missing, but that is the only complaint I could have about what is one of the better WWE-released autobiographies.

 

[KingPK]

I started JR's book. Pretty good so far, though he hasn't gone too in-depth about much so far (I'm only at his refereeing days though).

 

[KingPK]

I'm really disappointed in JR's book. It's about as surface level as it gets and there is just no depth to anything he talks about. There's some funny stories, but I'd only recommend it if you get it for $5 or less.

 

[Baby Shoes]

Thanks for the review on the JR book because I kinda figured it would be like that. Based on that assumption and all the other wrasslin books that came out at the same time, I passed so may see when it hits bargain bins if I need something to check out.

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

I just read JR's book and yeah it was really not very good. Not just because he skips over a ton of stuff and only lightly touches on things but also jr's shit where he made bill watts a saint was awful and the way he shat all over grizz smith and bob sweetan for being pedos and thena few pages later talked abut loving jerry lawler was hilarious

 

[Baby Shoes]

Isn't the new Jericho book more self-help than biographical or is a mix? I only heard him talk about it on the Dan show.

Just started reading that this week and it is. He does pick up basically where he left off but it is more anecdotal stories about how he lives his life off of quotes he got from This is Spinal Tap and Fast Times as Ridgemont High. You should still like it enough if you liked his prior stuff and it moves fast. Not quite what I expected but he's already talking about his next book in this book with certain stories he wants to share more detail in a normal book than this one.

 

[Epic Springs]

I'm almost done with JR's book and it's...ok. On the lower end of enjoyable wrestler autobiographies. He doesn't go into much detail about anything and most of what he talks about is well known. It was interesting how he got his start in WWE and how he came back after he was fired twice but yeah, I'd pass. I got it for Kindle for $2. I'd say that was a fair price.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

For CWM, August 8th is seeing King of Strong Style 1980-2014 from Shinsuke Nakamura getting released.

 

[Baby Shoes]

Finally read the Pete Gas book and it was pretty underwhelming. Not that I had high expectations but his whole book was “Shane was so cool, I let guys abuse me to show I belonged and earn respect”. Nothing really juicy or interesting. He called Test a dick but Test came around after the Summerslam 99 match. Other than that the only guy he seemed to not be too high on was a timid comment about Headbanger Thrasher.

He talked about getting sent to Puerto Rico but not really in detail. His final chapter was about Shane’s 2016 comeback and wishing he’d get a chance.

The only interesting story really was Jarrett wanted him to come to TNA when it started but only on the grounds he trashed the McMahons, which he refused to do. Guess Rodney fell out with Shane after the releases but Gas doesn’t go too much into it.

Guy seems positive and appreciative and it was a quick read but really nothing interesting or gripping, which could be expected given the scope of his career, was just hoping there would possibly be some more interesting stories given the time period he spent in the company and personalities that surrounded him.

 

[Baby Shoes]

Has anyone here read the Brutus Beefcake book? Not guessing I will find a wide net as I think it is only available through his site directly. I was thinking about ordering a copy because some of the stuff Conrad touched on during the Prichard podcast made it seem like a read I would enjoy. But of course if I am going to spend that money on ordering the book from his site, I'm gonna pay for Brother Bruti to do the signed copy.