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I read the Making of Bloodstained Memoirs book, which is a Kindle one. It's not very long, but pretty sweet for what it is and how little is costs. It looks at the making of Bloodstained Memoirs the wrestling docco / interview comp which featured names like Jericho, Snuka, Christian and Muta and the book looks into how it all came together, the wrestlers that were filmed but not featured in the DVD, as well as the dealings with them all. There are interview excerpts from the lads themselves which is cool. 

 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Making-Bloodstained-Memoirs-ebook/dp/B007ZQMHRG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1380112912&sr=8-3&keywords=bloodstained+memoirs

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  • 3 weeks later...

I recently re-read Gary Hart's autobiography. I've only read four wrestling books (also Lou Thesz's, J.J. Dillon's and The Assassin's), but Gary Hart's book blew them all out of the water, as much as I liked them. Hart's book is just... a very good book and a very entertaining read an sich, without needing the addendum 'for a wrestling book'. He's very candid about everything, including Gino Fernandez and the Von Erichs, and he talks a lot about what spawned certain gimmicks and angles and what goes on in the booking office and how shows and companies are run. Anyone else here as big a fan of the book as I am?

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Roman - yes, I am a big fan as well.

Didn't it seem like there was a glut of rassling books coming out  a couple years ago, and now it has dried up? I reiterate the brilliance of the multi-volume Exotic Adrian Street auto-bio, and warn people away from any books by indie guys you have never heard of and any born-again workers.

- RAF

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Anyone know off-hand if Ted Dibiase talks about his early WWF career at all in his book?

 

Yes he does, in quite a fair bi of detail. I read the WWE release though, I believe there are two versions of the book. The other being one he released a couple of years prior to that. 

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Ric Flair on The Renegade and his thoughts on the Ultimate Warrior gimmick thievery, taken from his 2004 book To Be The Man:

 

"Rick Wilson was a male stripper with a good body who Hogan brought in as ‘The Renegade’. Wilson painted his face and dressed up like the Ultimate Warrior. A lot of fans believed that he was the Warrior, but using a different name.

 

Not long after entering WCW, the Renegade wrestled Arn for his TV title. Hogan and Bischoff wanted the Renegade to win in thirty seconds, just like Warrior did against many of his opponents, almost reducing Arn to enhancement status. The match took about fifteen minutes, and sucked; the Renegade didn’t know how to wrestle. Afterward Bischoff complained, ‘We should have done it in fifteen seconds.’

 

'No,' I said, 'we shouldn't have done it at all. If the guy can’t work longer than fifteen seconds, he doesn’t belong in a position where he’s defending a championship.’

 

Around that time, Kevin Sullivan and I were eating lunch with Hogan, and I asked him about it. ‘What do you see in this guy?’ I asked.

'I see a guy who wrestles like the Ultimate Warrior.'

 

I thought he was kidding me at first, but he wasn’t. Hogan was still mad about having to lose the World Wrestling Federation Championship to the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VI in 1990.  He was actually grooming the Renegade as an Ultimate Warrior clone that Hogan could beat, somehow getting back the win. How many WCW fans do you think cared about a match that had taken place in another promotion five years earlier? But it sure seemed like Hogan was still losing sleep over that loss.

 

In 1999, four months after being released from WCW, the Renegade shot himself to death in his kitchen in Marietta, Georgia. The guy obviously had other problems, so I’d never blame Hogan for the suicide. But I do blame both Hogan and Bischoff for inflating the kid’s ego and giving him the impression that he was capable of being a star.”

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I got the Orig Williams autobiography for kindle for nothing a few days ago. I think it was written in Welsh a while ago and just recently translated or rereleased so its' got that mix of kayfabe and real; also, a lot about Welsh soccer in the 50s/60s, but it's kind of fun in its own way.

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Working on the intro to Steve Yohe's book on Strangler Lewis... Believe me when I say that this sets the bar for what a wrestling history book ought to be.

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I reiterate the brilliance of the multi-volume Exotic Adrian Street auto-bio, and warn people away from any books by indie guys you have never heard of and any born-again workers.

HONEST QUESTION: I have had quite a few friends/coworkers/fans/DVDVRs tell me that I should write a book about my experiences. Although I think it might be interesting, I think the audience would be very limited. You don't really hear anyone ever say it, but typically no one gives a shit about guys that never "made it"... and thus I haven't written anything. I think I could put a different spin on things... maybe something similar to Mark Titus' book about his college hoops experience... But even then, he has some name value. Just curious what would make you avoid a book by an indy guy, or what might make you overlook that stance? Or, is it simply not caring about someone with no name value?
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I reiterate the brilliance of the multi-volume Exotic Adrian Street auto-bio, and warn people away from any books by indie guys you have never heard of and any born-again workers.

HONEST QUESTION: I have had quite a few friends/coworkers/fans/DVDVRs tell me that I should write a book about my experiences. Although I think it might be interesting, I think the audience would be very limited. You don't really hear anyone ever say it, but typically no one gives a shit about guys that never "made it"... and thus I haven't written anything.

I think I could put a different spin on things... maybe something similar to Mark Titus' book about his college hoops experience... But even then, he has some name value. Just curious what would make you avoid a book by an indy guy, or what might make you overlook that stance? Or, is it simply not caring about someone with no name value?

 

I think the deck will be stacked against you. The only sports book I ever read by someone I didn't know of from their playing days was Jim Bouton's Ball Four, and he was hardly a no-name player, but that turned out to be a revolutionary work that changed sports books forever. Anyone who's never heard of you is almost certainly not going to be interested, and of those that have heard of you, you'll have to take an honest assessment of what percentage are going to say "A book by that guy? Really?"

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I reiterate the brilliance of the multi-volume Exotic Adrian Street auto-bio, and warn people away from any books by indie guys you have never heard of and any born-again workers.

HONEST QUESTION: I have had quite a few friends/coworkers/fans/DVDVRs tell me that I should write a book about my experiences. Although I think it might be interesting, I think the audience would be very limited. You don't really hear anyone ever say it, but typically no one gives a shit about guys that never "made it"... and thus I haven't written anything.I think I could put a different spin on things... maybe something similar to Mark Titus' book about his college hoops experience... But even then, he has some name value. Just curious what would make you avoid a book by an indy guy, or what might make you overlook that stance? Or, is it simply not caring about someone with no name value?

 

My pal (an indy darling himself) and I swap rassling books frequently. We both remember the days when it was hard to get any book on the subject, and we also have itchy Amazon trigger fingers, so I have read a bunch. Quite honestly most pro wrestling bios and autobios are terribly written and/or edited, and that includes stuff from ECWPress  and Crowbar Press, let alone the vanity stuff. Now, most indy guys have had unremarkable careers in my opinion and no sense of their place in the business. Coupled with execrable writing and usually lots of filler (fantasy booking, blow-by-blow match descriptions, paeans to Jeebus) it can be painful to read. Wrestling for me is about being bigger than life - I don't want to hear about the banality. I had a very minor career, and a lot of these authors did less, and they cannot even put the business, let alone their experiences, into a perspective that makes reading about it significant let alone entertaining. Most "veteran" worker's books don't really meet my standards (I just slogged thru Disk Slater's book).

Now, not to blow smoke up your ass, I would be all over a SSNA book. Based on your posts, I think you are a good writer, you have well thought out opinions and you have good grasp of the business in the big picture as well as from the trenches (and it's place in Amerikan culture). I honestly have no idea about your career but that is not as important as intelligent writing and a contemplated viewpoint. Look at all the indy wrestling autobios on Amazon and see how they have sold. Contact ECW and Crowbar or look into self-publishing: see if you think it's worth your time. It ain't gonna be for the money - just like rassling!

write on bruddah,

RAF

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I was looking into self publishing, because as you guys stated, I don't have enough name value where a publisher would bother. I am interested in the catharsis that would come with doing it, as well as having something tangible about what I did and why. Essentially, I want to talk about what I did, why I did it, how it affects civilian life, and thoughts on the business in general. I think/know the audience would probably never be more than a few hundred people... But just like in the ring, I want to aspire to more than working for a few hundred folks even if that is the end result.

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