The Wrestling Book Thread

[Charro!]

Haven't read it myself but there's a bit more about it here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/lion-s-pride-the-turbulent-history-of-njpw#/& sample of the book here

[Jingus]

Any of y'all reading Bob Holly's book? I'm going through this now, and this shit is great. Highly opinionated, but in a way where you can tell he's just relating what he honestly thinks. The ghostwriter either barely touched Bob's words or is just the best ghostwriter ever, because the prose reads exactly like how the man talks.

Also, it contains gems like this, regarding the one-and-only time Holly ever wrestled a bear:

That fucking bear bit me on top of my fucking head and that was it- the beginning of me going bald. I had a full head of hair until that point! The bear got me down and ended up on top of me, putting me in an extremely compromised position. Basically, it looked like the bear was sexually assaulting me. That pretty much ended my bear-wrestling career.

[EricG]

Regarding Holly, I read it a few months back and loved it. Essentially reads like a direct shoot interview in novel form (makes for an easy read), and he definitely doesn't tip-toe around any of the conflicts of his career. If for some reason you don't want to read the book (I highly recommend it), here's a lot of the information in a summary I did for another website:

 

-Holly watched Big Time Wrestling and Portland Wrestling growing up with his stepfather (who would usually order him around, doing chores, etc.). Watching wrestling with his stepfather was the only time his stepfather wouldn’t have him doing chores. He thinks Buddy Rose is a great worker. He thinks Vince told him to get fat for a gimmick then fired him for being too fat. He and one of his friends would wrestle around the yard, but would legitimately be beating each other up, all the way through middle and high school. One match included a coal minor’s glove match (they found a piece of metal bar and duct taped it to a glove). They were never able to go to a live wrestling show growing up.

-He started riding bikes during high school and had a decent job, bought a nice dirt bike and rode all the time. Many, many injuries, but he caught the ‘racing’ bug. He started hill climbing on the bike as well.

-In 2009, someone stole an expensive bike and ATV from his property, pushing them 300 yards down a hill to a waiting truck. The next night, he saw the trucks line up again, he grabbed a gun and hid. They eventually drove away, he gave chase with the gun in his truck, but never found them.

-Holly dated a beautiful girl in high school, Linda. They spent all their time together until she went to the Air Force when he was a senior. After getting divorced, and after his WWE career was over, he found her on Facebook and married her (her husband died a few years earlier).

-He eventually got a girl pregnant, and worked endlessly to put food on the table for her and his daughter. The girl was young and not ready to be a mother. Holly tells stories like the his girlfriend not being able to pick him up from work because she would be ‘making dinner,’ except, after he walked home, there would be no sign of dinner. Her mother eventually gave up custody to her years later with no resistance, and eventually would apologize for the way she acted while they were together.

-He started bar fighting in toughman contests for money at night to bring money home for this girl and his daughter. The girlfriend would be pissed he’d be hanging out in a bar, even though he would never drink much (he never really drank on the road with WWE, either). He would fight in one night tournaments and win, even fighting a bear for money. One time, he was getting ready for a scheduled fight, the regular guy (who he had beat before) left the ring, and someone else stepped in. The ‘someone’ was a semi-pro boxer, who was a ringer from the bar owner. He got beat.

-He was working as a mechanic for the next few years, wanted to get into wrestling, but didn’t know how. He eventually met Marcel Pringle through a friend and begged to be trained, because he didn’t know anyone in the business. Pringle eventually caved and started training in Pensacola with Rip Tyler and Bob Sweetan. He paid $3,000 and they stretched him to get him to quit, which he didn’t. They eventually dropped the class down to three people and trained them. He’d drive almost 90 minutes to train each weekday, train, then go back to his normal job during the day. He started working with Pringle at a larger company as a pipe cutter, than moved up to a welder. He would work his normal job, train, work shows, etc.

-He started out as Hollywood Bob Holly, a plain babyface. No other reasoning other than the heels would control the match, so you’d start out as a babyface. He admits he had zero charisma, zero personality. He started working WOW, taping TV until the middle of the night, and driving back to work. He also did house shows and would still make it work, making it back to work after driving for hours and working the house show. Pat Rose bladed him the first time, and the cut went too deep, he needed to go the ER for two dozen stitches.

-He moved on to Tennessee and worked as a team with Rotten Ron Starr for the Jarretts, who he is not fond of (to put it lightly). He says the Jarretts made a ton of money on the promotion while they starved. The most he made was $189 for two weeks, 12 shows, and they would still have to pay travel expenses. The Jarretts would continually lie about money, so he left, moved home to Mobile, and went back to his old job.

-He started going up to Atlanta for jobs for NWA/WCW, getting $250 for 60 seconds worth of work. He liked it. He worked with Flair who actually have him a lot of offense, and thanked Flair afterward, but Flair brushed him off, and he looks down on Flair for continuing to wrestle after his WWE retirement. He worked Jackie Fulton, and essentially ‘outworked’ him, and Ron Simmons suggested he get a push. He eventually had a falling out with his connection and went back to his old job again.

-He eventually moved again for Cornette and SMW, working as Hollywood Bob Holly again, with a robe, etc, showing more charisma and a push. He would be on the road three days a week and working at another job four days a week. He eventually left SMW and went back to his job full-time and started racing at the local track during his down time, essentially quitting wrestling at this point.

-Percy Pringle was given his tape and he eventually was flown up to see Vince and Dillon after being off for a year or two. No one negotiated a contract back then – he was offered $50 a match, plus airfare, bonuses for PPV matches, merchandise, etc. His first match was against Horowitz, but the first time he was onscreen was the 1994 Royal Rumble, he was surprised they have him so much time in the ring. He drove/hung around with Martel and Savage. He notes that he can’t verify the Savage/Stephanie McMahon rumor, but they were ‘very friendly’ when together.

-His five-on-five match was take off of Wrestlemania X because Michaels and Hall decided to ignore everyone on purpose and go extremely long. When they go to the back, he didn’t say anything, but Savage did, and Holly notes that management always preached to hit your TV time exactly. He notes at this time, Michaels was the biggest asshole in the business, after being nice to him in the past. The clique wasn’t far behind.

-In Europe, the group would fill out order cards every day for meals. For a few days, Bob’s card turned up missing. He didn’t say anything, but eventually told Martel and Savage. Savage told Holly that Shawn had be ripping up his card every day. He went into the clique’s locker room and confronted Shawn, and threatened to cut his fingers off with bolt cutters, Hall started coming toward him and he threatened to “drop him” if Hall came any closer. Hall stopped in his tracks. Savage and Martel stood outside the door, laughing. When he left the room Savage said “That’s the way you fucking handle things, right there.” The next day, Hall and Nash were sitting around, making fun of everyone who walked by. When Bob walked buy, they said something, he turned around, drew an x on Nash’s chin, and said “You say one more word and I’m going to knock your ass out.” Supposedly, Nash and Hall didn’t know what to say.

-His first few months, he made almost nothing in the company. The guys on the bottom would get $50-$100 after expenses and pay was weeks behind, but he kept working hard and gained respect for working hard while being on the bottom. Eventually, Michaels and Nash vacated the tag titles, and he won the tournament with Kid, beating Bigelow and Tatanka. He made $2,500 for the match at the 1995 Royal Rumble.

-The next night, the Gunns dropped him on his head and he was concussed, but they had two more episodes of Raw to tape, so he went back out.

-Bigelow eventually threw him under the bus, saying Holly didn’t want to lose anymore on their house show matches, which, according to Bob, wasn’t true. He confronted Bigelow in front of the locker room. Bigelow backed down, and he noted Bigelow wasn’t too happy, as he didn’t like doing the job to LT, and was eventually run out by the clique. They promised Bigelow a substantial push after losing to LT, but the clique stopped it.

-He went to Vince to drop the “Thurman” name, which Vince agreed to.

-He calls Luger a traitor for leaving for WCW, and Jarrett, too. Holly says Jarrett didn’t like where the program was going with Road Dogg, so he left. Dogg was planning to go with him, but WCW didn’t want him. Jarrett took the offer from WCW and left Dogg without a job. Holly says Jarrett is good in the ring, but an absolutely terrible person in real life.

-He was hoping to do a rematch for the IC title with Jarrett at a PPV, but the clique was moved to face Jarrett and Dogg. He mentions many instances in which the clique took over spots he could have easily filled, and spots taken over by guys he road with, Sid being one. He put over Hunter instead, who he praises as a great worker. He got about $1,000 for the rest of the year for each PPV match, not much else.

-He wasn’t doing much, and was angry about how they were using him, so he went to Vince and pitched the racing idea. Vince got Frito Lay to sponsor him and Holly purchased $300,000 worth of equipment and cars. However, he could never gain steam in the races because he had no time to work in the car each week. When he would get to the track, he only had a few hours to work on the car before qualifying. Eventually, Vince stopped the program, but let Holly keep all of the equipment and cars.

-Sid eventually was forced out by the clique, he couldn’t take it anymore. He was working Holly, and Sid put over Holly, then faked an injury. Hart also took time off. The only one left was ‘Taker. He says the clique pushed everyone out so they could only work themselves at the top, and Hunter eventually joined (he was essentially a bag boy for a year).

-He tells a few story about how cowardly the clique were. He talked about Don Harris going in to their locker room, choking out Shawn, with Kid just standing there. Nash would CONSTANTLY talk about taking out Bret Hart, but never did anything.

-He thinks most of the people who went to WCW in 1996 essentially stabbed Vince in the back (Hall, Nash, Medusa, Dibiase, etc.)

-He thinks his talent held him back. He was so good and reliable, he would work the new guys coming in and that was it. Sid went to bat for him in 1997 and threatened to quit if they didn’t push Bob and put him back on the road. In reality, Sid liked traveling with Holly, so he wanted him back on the road. Sid eventually left, and he left, and took a decent job as a TIG welder.

-Eventually, Pritchard called and wanted him back full-time. They promised to pay him at least as much as he was making as a welder, they signed him but took awhile to call him back up for training, and he didn’t do a thing from August 1997 to March 1998, except for travel to TV a few times and not working.

-He doesn’t think Montreal was a work. He said if it was, it was the greatest work in wrestling history.

-He came back as a babyface, which didn’t take, so they started the New Midnight Express, which obviously didn’t work.

-Holly talks about Brawl for All, and says it was a tool to get Steve Williams over, nothing more. Each guy would get $5,000 per match, win or lose, with the winner getting $100,000. Tiger Ali Singh dropped out, so Bradshaw suggested to management that Holly take his place. Blackman was entered, and started training. Holly labels Blackman as one of the most dangerous men he’s ever met. Once they found out Blackman was going to basically start ripping apart people with kicks, they changed the rules of the competition. Blackman blew out his own knee in training, otherwise, Holly says he still would have one. Holly lost to Gunn in the first round. He said the judges fixed the first Williams’ fight, as this was nothing more than a competition to put him over. The next match, the entire locker room exploded in the back when Gunn knocked out Williams, because they know management wanted Williams to win. Holly says he was next to Williams, who was getting looked over by the training staff, as he had a dislocated jaw and torn hamstring, and Williams said “I don’t know what they’re going to do now … they already paid me the prize money.” He thinks Gunn won the following bouts against Godfather and Bradshaw fair and square. He says the Butterbean match was revenge from management for Gunn knocking out Williams.

-He mentions a few road stories, including Bradshaw ramming Holly through an intersection in their rental cars. Eventually, Bradshaw pissed off Blackman with some juvenile stuff in an airport. Blackman told him to stop, threatened to take him out, and Bradshaw kept up. Blackman punched him a few times before he knew what hit him. Blackman backed up for a massive kick, but got caught for a second by a luggage strap, and Snow, Holly and Simmons stepped in to stop it. Bradshaw stood up and apologized the next day, in front of everyone, at catering when Blackman confronted him again.

-He eventually moved into the JOB Squad and into the hardcore stuff, he was paid $20,000 for his match with Snow and Billy Gunn at Wrestlemania XV.

-He mentions Bradshaw as the stiffest guy he’s worked.

-He talked about the story he held Snow up for a suplex at a house show and moved away his singlet to expose Snow’s dick.

-He talked about Over the Edge 1999. He says Owen flipped his cape back and unhooked the cable by doing so, at least that’s what they were told. Owen jumped off the catwalk without being attached. He thinks they should have cancelled the show. Emotionally, he basically shut himself down in order to continue working and being on the road. He’s says it’s sort of inhumane to do that, but you have to in order to keep working.

-Holly loved the ‘Big Shot’ gimmick and working against Kane and Big Show, and was surprised when that ended and Mike Lockwood came in to work as Crash. He says when they won the tag titles in 1999, there was absolutely no financial benefit, and there isn’t really any benefit to be tag team champions.

-Holly notes that Jarrett did get Vince to pay him $300,000 to appear at No Mercy against Chyna. Jim Ross, who was in charge of contracts, failed to sign Jarrett to an extension (he nearly lost his job because of it). Jarrett walked in without his gear and the belt, and told Vince he wanted all of his past PPV money right now or he wouldn’t appear. Vince wired the money to his account and Jarrett then went to grab his gear. Shane McMahon wanted to beat the crap out of Jarrett.

-He thinks Sable brought the Divas into the mainstream, not Sunny. He thinks Trish Stratus is highly overrated. Chyna would forget stuff all the time when they worked, but tried hard at first, then got a massive ego. He says Gail Kim and Beth Phoenix are great. He says Lawler told Kat to flash her tits on PPV and management didn’t know anything about it. He noted everyone hated Melina, who thought she was the best wrestler in the locker room. Holly understood why John Morrison didn’t stand up for himself when Melina was getting it on with Big Dave while dating John.

-Chyna would offer to be on the ring crew to get a job in 1996, but in 1998, she wouldn’t lift a finger to help anyone or bother to talk to anyone she had been friendly with a year before.

-In the early part of 2000, his contract was expiring. Bischoff called and offered him double whatever Vince would offer him to jump, but he declined. He wanted to be loyal to Vince. He ended up signing a new contract for 40 percent more than he made the previous year. He later mentions part of the reason was he didn’t want to through the process of meeting new staff, trying to prove himself again, etc., and he thought of WWE as his family at the time. They knew his strengths, weaknesses, etc., and could use him appropriately.

-Paul Bearer was going to transition to timekeeper when he was being phased out as a manager, but he made fun of Kevin Dunn at one point. Holly notes that since Kevin Dunn was essentially the #2 before HHH continued kissing Vince’s ass, Bearer was fired.

-He liked Earl Hebner, Korderas, and Chioda was referees. He says Teddy Long was terrible.

-He says Konnan and Douglas weren’t offered jobs when Saturn, Benoit, Malenko, and Guerrero jumped. He thinks Hunter didn’t want Shane because of the heat with the clique back in the day and Konnan wasn’t well-liked by a lot of people in the business. He hates how Benoit was pinned clean by HHH in his first match, Holly says it may have been done to see if Benoit and the group would understand their place when they came in. He was pretty close to Benoit after he came in.

-He mentions Mae Young asked Holly specifically to nail her with a clothesline and mentioned how great she and Moolah were. He said “No, Mae, when I hit a clothesline, I try to rip their head off. It’s TV”. She replied with “Bring it on, motherfucker!” while standing in gorilla. When he asked again, she said “If you don’t, when we get back. I’m going to kick your ass!” He laid her out during the segment. When they go to the back, he asked if she was okay, she patted him on the chest, and said “That’s how you lay a clothesline in, right there!”

-At one point, he was pretty sure Snow and Foley ribbed him, leaving him at an airport with no car, and, backstage at the next show, Hawk ‘blew a gasket’ and want to crush the two. This led to Wrestler’s Court, which they can’t do anymore because of the corporate nature of the WWE. Undertaker would preside. Foley eventually paid Holly $500 to not end up in Wrestler’s Court.

-Edge and Christian were in Wrestler’s Court at one point, as they had been giving/buying gifts for Brian Gerwitz, who wrote for them. At that time, each guy had one writer who would write for the same person each week (Holly’s was Ed Koskey for awhile). The gift giving was a big rule at that point. Simmons would represent the defendants (usually just shrugging his shoulders) and Bradshaw was represent the prosecution. This specific case was settled by having Edge and Christian buy ‘Taker a fifth of JD, the APA some beer, and Holly some protein powder.

-The APA stiffed Public Enemy. Apparently, Holly says Public Enemy still expected the APA to go through tables, even though the APA said they weren’t.

-The 13-man Hardcore Title finished was production’s fault, even though Tim White got chewed out and almost lost his job. Production was counting down White in his earpiece, and White counted the pinfall according to that countdown. However, the countdown on the screen was off from what White was being told through his earpiece. Crash was going to go over and retain, but they switched the title to Holly at that moment and fixed in the next night on Raw.

-Holly notes how the rock was horrible his first few years, and says the Rock agrees. They were almost finished with the Rock when he eventually caught on. He says Rock is still very gracious, humble, and genuine for everything.

-Kurt Angle felt terrible about breaking his forearm with his shin with the moonsault. Until that point, Angle always missed the moonsault, but Holly said to land it this time. Kurt Angle says in his book that right after it happened, he took over and became the ‘ring general’ for the match. Holly disputes this and kept calling everything because Kurt freaked out. Angle felt terrible. He went to the hospital to see Holly, brought him to the hotel, checked him in, brought him breakfast the next morning and helped him to the airport. Angle called him every week to check up on him and sent him care packages during his recovery.

-When he returned, he hoped he would have a program with Angle, but he made his returned and saved Crash from Angle, and that was it. He kept putting people over for the rest of the year, and this was the only year he made more than he downside guarantee.

-Crash began to struggle with how he was being used and constantly complained, while Bob kept his mouth shut and kept working. Crash began to drink heavily but wasn’t a drug guy. After he was released in 2003, Crash was living with Stevie Richards when his drinking problem worsened. Crash eventually found out his girlfriend was screwing one of the guys and died in Stevie’s house.

-Holly, and the rest of the crew, didn’t know anything about the buyout in 2001 until it happened. They were all scared of losing their jobs when they found out. Holly thinks they entire angle was doomed because they didn’t bring over guys like Goldberg and Sting.

-There’s a funny bit about DDP’s last match in WWE, which was against Holly. Benoit warned Holly that DDP scripted every single moment in his matches, literally writing down every facial expression, punch, tie-up, etc. Holly kept putting DDP off during the night of his last match, and DDP was freaking out because they didn’t go over any part of the match before they went out.

-The agents suggested to the guys that they rough up O’Haire and Palumbo at MSG, to put the incoming WCW guys in their place.

-He (and apparently, everyone else) hated Buff Bagwell because he wouldn’t show up on time and acted like a superstar, wouldn’t shake anyone’s hand, wouldn’t dress with anyone, etc. The staff eventually sat Bagwell down and told him the proper protocol and how to act, but he still acted the same way. Holly, Simmons and Bradshaw roughed him up in the ring pretty bad at the direction of Jim Ross.

-He was upset when Hall and Nash came in because it took a spot way from him, and hated they were given spots after being disloyal to Vince. He said alcohol use by Hall at this point ended his career. He thinks the only reason they were given the spot was because of their relationship with HHH.

-During Tough Enough, MTV would push to keep certain contestants because they were good for the show. He said Linda Miles got a massive ego and would complain about the travel, the bumps, the work, constantly and ordered one of the veterans to grab her bag at baggage claim. The word got back to the office and she was fired.

-Holly worked with Randy Orton at the request of management when Orton started out, and Jim Ross asked him to push Orton to see if Orton could handle it. Holly said Orton would listen and took advice, but had a terrible temper. He mentioned Orton should have been suspended more than he was, and told the story of Orton destroying a hotel room when he was the champion in Spain. When the group flight was delayed, Orton did $15,000 worth of damage to a hotel room, which HHH paid for on the spot. Holly thinks Orton grew up once he became a father.

-Holly goes through the Lesnar powerbomb he took, in which he landed on his neck. Holly says he didn’t rotate correctly to get up on Lesnar’s shoulders, and it caused him to be dropped on his neck and his body going numb. They got up and eventually re-did the spot as they were taping TV. He hates that people think he intentionally sandbagged Lesnar, because that wasn’t the case. He went home and during the week, he wasn’t able to carry heavy dishes, etc. When he worked a match that weekend, every bump and punch caused shooting pains in his back and neck. His MRI showed a ruptured disc, cracked vertebrae, and pinched nerves. Lesnar and Vince both called after his surgery to check up on him. He was paid his normal pay while he was out and thought he’d have a feud with Lesnar when he returned.

-Before undergoing neck surgery, the office called about doing an appearance on the third season of Tough Enough. When he was there, the group was going a bunch of chain spots in the ring, smiling, laughing, etc, and he didn’t appreciate them not selling or not being serious. When he went it, he was in with Matt Cappotelli, and went in to rough him up in the corner. When he was putting the boots to Cappotelli, Cappotelli would try to move, get up, and not say still, so Holly kept kicking him and busted him open. He thought it was a disgrace when he saw Cappotelli crying on TV over the incident.

-Mentions Blackman, again, as being the toughest guy in wrestling. Shamrock, the APA, Angle, Shelton Benjamin, Regal, too. He specifically mentions Kendrick and London as legit tough guys, while Cena, HHH, and Batista are not. He mentions Booker T knocked Batista out cold at one point.

-When he returned, he thought there would be more buildup and a long feud with Lesnar, and didn’t think the things they did on TV to build up the match on TV made sense. Lesnar didn’t want to work with him, though, because he wasn’t a top guy. While they had been given 15 minutes for their match at Royal Rumble, Michaels and HHH wanted to go longer in their main event, so it was cut to 8 minutes with entrances. Holly was pissed, especially seeing how HHH and Shawn worked each other every other PPV, and he rarely got a chance to have a spot that high on the card. The HHH-Michaels main event with 29 minutes.

-He didn’t like Lesnar deciding to leave without bothering to put anyone over.

-He didn’t appear at Wrestlemania that year, and feels he was overlooked, again.

-He mentions Eddie Guerrero wanting to drop the title because the schedule and pressure was getting to him.

-Holly went back to working with the newer talent, and mentioned Kevin Fertig/Thorne/Mordecai as being really respectful, and great in the ring. He liked Haas and Benjamin. He hated Robbie of the Highlanders after Robbie disrespected him in the ring. Rory was nice, but Robbie ruined it for both of them with his attitude and showing up in the TNA crowd. Heidenreich was a legit maniac who couldn’t be bothered to show up on time, and also doesn’t understand why the pushed Carlito, and says Simon Dean was a major stooge for the office. He goes on to list a few people who got pushes when they shouldn’t have: Luther Reigns (no knowledge of the business or how to perform), Nunzio (too small), Mark Jindrak (too worried about his looks), Kenzo Suzuki (couldn’t speak English), and the Bashams (didn’t have the ‘it’ factor). He didn’t like all of these guys getting pushes when he wasn’t.

-Sylvain Grenier was pushed because he was in a relationship with Pat Patterson. Holly mentions an inappropriate comment Patterson made toward him backstage.

-Everyone hated Rene Dupree, including Bob, for how he acted backstage. He was with Dupree in Spokane and had to get home because their was hurricane coming through, he asked Dupree to keep his rental car and drop it off the next day. Eventually, his driver’s license was suspended, a warrant was put out for his arrest from the state of Washington. Dupree denied getting a ticket and wouldn’t apologize for the incident or admit anything. When they worked a tag match, Holly stiffed Dupree, Dupree immediately ran to the back, and Holly chased him, tackled him, and started to beat the crap out of him until Finlay and Show pulled him off. Vince chewed him out, but he stood up for himself and Vince understood, but he thinks the situation put him in bad standing with HHH. Dupree eventually admitted to the ticket and apologized.

-He learned from Jjimmy Yang that Daniel Puder kept calling his buddies after Holly put Puder over and Puder would brag that he was beating Holly every night, so he stiffed Puder in the ring. Benoit, Guerrero, and Holly all stiffed Puder when the four of them were the first four in the Royal Rumble.

-He notes Guerrero worked with a ruptured disc in his back when he had the belt and was getting stressed, and his health suffered more because of it. Guerrero had asked for time off and they said no. Guerrero would lay on the trainer’s table backstage at every house show, drink an energy drink before he would get up for his match, work, then come back and lay on the table until everyone left. Holly says Guerrero was finding it hard to cope with everything and Guerrero went off on Holly because of stress at one point. Holly understands that it was because of stress, but that was the last time they spoke, as Guerrero died shortly after that. He thinks the organization, management, and Vince had a part in Guerrero’s death by not giving him time off, and keeping Vicki around may be because Vince feels he’s partly at fault. Again, Holly didn’t really grieve and shut down emotionally to the situation.

-He went to Europe, even though he was having massive problems with his elbow after John Laurinaitis told him they needed him on the tour (Holly ended up only being needed for battle royals). His arm started going numb and he felt like he was sick with the flu. It ended up being a staph infection and they had to schedule surgery, but had to wait for the infection to lessen. He had to have his arm drained during the tour. When he went to his doctor, he went immediately to the hospital on orders from his doctor. He was in the hospital for four weeks and, at first, nothing would lessen the infection. The last-ditch antibiotic worked – if it hadn’t, they would have amputated his arm.

-Before the ordeal, he felt like a locker room leader. He made Kennedy change outside the hallway for a few months for not thanking people who were putting him over when asked to. Holly later found out Kennedy had just lost his father and was distraught about it.

-He confirms the story of Miz eating chicken over Benoit’s bag, and Benoit making the Miz dress in the hallway for six months after that.

-He would do cycles of Deca and testosterone, and doesn’t think the Wellness Program testing was random at all. Vince decided to suspend him once for a violation, even though he claims he had a valid subscription.

-He needed 25 stitches for the 2006 match against Rob Van Dam. They wanted to stop the match, but he wouldn’t let them. He mentions Rob Van Dam was a rare character in the business, always being grateful and appreciative to everyone. He wasn’t happy when they decided to use Test as the top heel rather than himself. He was also pissed because they pushed Lashley, Umaga, and Test ahead of him and Lashley quit and the other two were died two years later.

-Holly was supposed to be in Umaga’s spot for the Trump vs. McMahon angle, but they gave Umaga the spot without telling him. He was also upset he wasn’t involved in the eight-man ECW match at Wrestlemania.

-When he traveled with Big Show, Big Show always paid. He says Show always smoked and rarely worked out, and was never in decent ring shape.

-Chris Benoit was one of the nicest people he knew and was honest about a lot of stuff, unlike the other guys. When they rode together, Benoit would have two or three beers after the match in the car and they would sit in silence. He said it was nice to not have any pressure and to just unwind in silence at times. Benoit would be very nice to everyone, even when dealing with traveling issues. He thinks his intensity in the ring was Benoit relieving stress. Benoit did say that when he wasn’t off the road, he and Nancy drank a lot and argued a lot. Nancy wanted him off the road, but Benoit felt he owed it to the company because they invested so much in him. Chris’ daughter from a previous marriage didn’t accept Nancy as her stepmother, and would literally not speak to her, even though she would spend every summer there. Benoit kept an action figure of Guerrero in the passenger seat of his Humvee after Guerrero passed – the two of them were extremely religious.

-Holly was supposed to stop by Benoit’s house on Wednesday/Thursday, as he was in Atlanta to see a physician. He decided against it, as he figured Benoit just got off the road and wanted to spend time with his kids and Nancy. On Friday, Benoit called and was angry that he never stopped over. This was the Friday that Benoit killed Nancy, killed Daniel on Saturday, and himself on Sunday. He thinks Benoit suffered mental trauma. He thinks Benoit killed Nancy in one of their arguments, and killed Daniel knowing Daniel would grow up without a mother and with a father in prison. Holly says the rumor of Benoit having a relationship with someone on the locker room wasn’t true. Holly wonders if Benoit getting angry at him earlier in the week was Benoit reaching out to him, because Benoit never acted that way.

-He looked down on Matt Hardy when he returned to work with Edge and Lita. Hardy would constantly talk about stiffing Edge in the ring but never did anything about it.

-He started working with Cody Rhodes in a rookie vs. veteran storyline. At first, Cody was great and would listen to anything he said. Eventually, Dusty Rhodes told Cody to outshine Holly and that was the end of the program.

-He was addicted to pain medication in 2003 but scaled back. In 2008, he grabbed a few pills from Kennedy’s bag (with his permission), but it started a rumor because Umaga saw him grab the pills from the bag. When John Laurinaitis asked Kennedy to explain, he said Holly stole the pills. He was upset because Kennedy threw him under the bus at a time when he knew Holly was struggling with a divorce and being written off of TV.

-Eventually, he wanted to bring back Billy Gunn to start a program against Rhodes and Dibiase, but creative didn’t go for it. He was released in January 2009, and lasted 15 years. He says he really only complained to management once, in 2005, and Vince and Stephanie didn’t have an answer for him. He didn’t get any thank you from Vince after he was released.

-He thinks he was released because of politics and slams HHH some more, noting how they didn’t bother bringing back the New Age Outlaws for the reformation of DX, so HHH and Michaels could keep all the money. He hates that HHH comes back for Wrestlemania paydays when he could be giving that spot (and pay) to a younger worker.

-He was never married to BB. He implies they did have a relationship.

-He had a few good years with a downside guarantee of $275,000 and one year in which he made $400,000, and he was smart with his money. He did a few indy shots and enjoyed not having to worry about travel, hotels, etc, while doing some of the shows.

[Technico Support]

Wow, thanks a lot for the recap.  It's good to see someone with firsthand knowledge mention Ross encouraging guys to rough up other workers.  Good Ol' JR, everybody.

[Jingus]

Yeah, Bob seems like he wasn't too fond of JR, he tells several negative stories about him.

One of the least expected moments for me was when he mentioned Kendrick as one of the toughest guys in wrestling. "If you try to kick his ass, you're gonna be there for a while."

[Matt D]

I'm reading Capitol Revolution. I was having some trouble with it until we got to Jess McMahon but the current chapter introducing him has been great. 

[Michael Sweetser]

I actually really enjoyed Holly's book - he seems pretty honest with how his career went and is pretty happy overall.  He recognizes he could've been a bit more political and probably done better, but it wasn't his game, and I can respect that.

[MADCAP]

Yeah, Bob seems like he wasn't too fond of JR, he tells several negative stories about him.

One of the least expected moments for me was when he mentioned Kendrick as one of the toughest guys in wrestling. "If you try to kick his ass, you're gonna be there for a while."

 

They're okay with each other from what I heard, when Holly did his podcast.

[DreamBroken]

Regarding Holly, I read it a few months back and loved it. Essentially reads like a direct shoot interview in novel form (makes for an easy read), and he definitely doesn't tip-toe around any of the conflicts of his career. If for some reason you don't want to read the book (I highly recommend it), here's a lot of the information in a summary I did for another website:

 

-Holly watched Big Time Wrestling and Portland Wrestling growing up with his stepfather (who would usually order him around, doing chores, etc.). Watching wrestling with his stepfather was the only time his stepfather wouldn’t have him doing chores. He thinks Buddy Rose is a great worker. He thinks Vince told him to get fat for a gimmick then fired him for being too fat. He and one of his friends would wrestle around the yard, but would legitimately be beating each other up, all the way through middle and high school. One match included a coal minor’s glove match (they found a piece of metal bar and duct taped it to a glove). They were never able to go to a live wrestling show growing up.

-He started riding bikes during high school and had a decent job, bought a nice dirt bike and rode all the time. Many, many injuries, but he caught the ‘racing’ bug. He started hill climbing on the bike as well.

-In 2009, someone stole an expensive bike and ATV from his property, pushing them 300 yards down a hill to a waiting truck. The next night, he saw the trucks line up again, he grabbed a gun and hid. They eventually drove away, he gave chase with the gun in his truck, but never found them.

-Holly dated a beautiful girl in high school, Linda. They spent all their time together until she went to the Air Force when he was a senior. After getting divorced, and after his WWE career was over, he found her on Facebook and married her (her husband died a few years earlier).

-He eventually got a girl pregnant, and worked endlessly to put food on the table for her and his daughter. The girl was young and not ready to be a mother. Holly tells stories like the his girlfriend not being able to pick him up from work because she would be ‘making dinner,’ except, after he walked home, there would be no sign of dinner. Her mother eventually gave up custody to her years later with no resistance, and eventually would apologize for the way she acted while they were together.

-He started bar fighting in toughman contests for money at night to bring money home for this girl and his daughter. The girlfriend would be pissed he’d be hanging out in a bar, even though he would never drink much (he never really drank on the road with WWE, either). He would fight in one night tournaments and win, even fighting a bear for money. One time, he was getting ready for a scheduled fight, the regular guy (who he had beat before) left the ring, and someone else stepped in. The ‘someone’ was a semi-pro boxer, who was a ringer from the bar owner. He got beat.

-He was working as a mechanic for the next few years, wanted to get into wrestling, but didn’t know how. He eventually met Marcel Pringle through a friend and begged to be trained, because he didn’t know anyone in the business. Pringle eventually caved and started training in Pensacola with Rip Tyler and Bob Sweetan. He paid $3,000 and they stretched him to get him to quit, which he didn’t. They eventually dropped the class down to three people and trained them. He’d drive almost 90 minutes to train each weekday, train, then go back to his normal job during the day. He started working with Pringle at a larger company as a pipe cutter, than moved up to a welder. He would work his normal job, train, work shows, etc.

-He started out as Hollywood Bob Holly, a plain babyface. No other reasoning other than the heels would control the match, so you’d start out as a babyface. He admits he had zero charisma, zero personality. He started working WOW, taping TV until the middle of the night, and driving back to work. He also did house shows and would still make it work, making it back to work after driving for hours and working the house show. Pat Rose bladed him the first time, and the cut went too deep, he needed to go the ER for two dozen stitches.

-He moved on to Tennessee and worked as a team with Rotten Ron Starr for the Jarretts, who he is not fond of (to put it lightly). He says the Jarretts made a ton of money on the promotion while they starved. The most he made was $189 for two weeks, 12 shows, and they would still have to pay travel expenses. The Jarretts would continually lie about money, so he left, moved home to Mobile, and went back to his old job.

-He started going up to Atlanta for jobs for NWA/WCW, getting $250 for 60 seconds worth of work. He liked it. He worked with Flair who actually have him a lot of offense, and thanked Flair afterward, but Flair brushed him off, and he looks down on Flair for continuing to wrestle after his WWE retirement. He worked Jackie Fulton, and essentially ‘outworked’ him, and Ron Simmons suggested he get a push. He eventually had a falling out with his connection and went back to his old job again.

-He eventually moved again for Cornette and SMW, working as Hollywood Bob Holly again, with a robe, etc, showing more charisma and a push. He would be on the road three days a week and working at another job four days a week. He eventually left SMW and went back to his job full-time and started racing at the local track during his down time, essentially quitting wrestling at this point.

-Percy Pringle was given his tape and he eventually was flown up to see Vince and Dillon after being off for a year or two. No one negotiated a contract back then – he was offered $50 a match, plus airfare, bonuses for PPV matches, merchandise, etc. His first match was against Horowitz, but the first time he was onscreen was the 1994 Royal Rumble, he was surprised they have him so much time in the ring. He drove/hung around with Martel and Savage. He notes that he can’t verify the Savage/Stephanie McMahon rumor, but they were ‘very friendly’ when together.

-His five-on-five match was take off of Wrestlemania X because Michaels and Hall decided to ignore everyone on purpose and go extremely long. When they go to the back, he didn’t say anything, but Savage did, and Holly notes that management always preached to hit your TV time exactly. He notes at this time, Michaels was the biggest asshole in the business, after being nice to him in the past. The clique wasn’t far behind.

-In Europe, the group would fill out order cards every day for meals. For a few days, Bob’s card turned up missing. He didn’t say anything, but eventually told Martel and Savage. Savage told Holly that Shawn had be ripping up his card every day. He went into the clique’s locker room and confronted Shawn, and threatened to cut his fingers off with bolt cutters, Hall started coming toward him and he threatened to “drop him” if Hall came any closer. Hall stopped in his tracks. Savage and Martel stood outside the door, laughing. When he left the room Savage said “That’s the way you fucking handle things, right there.” The next day, Hall and Nash were sitting around, making fun of everyone who walked by. When Bob walked buy, they said something, he turned around, drew an x on Nash’s chin, and said “You say one more word and I’m going to knock your ass out.” Supposedly, Nash and Hall didn’t know what to say.

-His first few months, he made almost nothing in the company. The guys on the bottom would get $50-$100 after expenses and pay was weeks behind, but he kept working hard and gained respect for working hard while being on the bottom. Eventually, Michaels and Nash vacated the tag titles, and he won the tournament with Kid, beating Bigelow and Tatanka. He made $2,500 for the match at the 1995 Royal Rumble.

-The next night, the Gunns dropped him on his head and he was concussed, but they had two more episodes of Raw to tape, so he went back out.

-Bigelow eventually threw him under the bus, saying Holly didn’t want to lose anymore on their house show matches, which, according to Bob, wasn’t true. He confronted Bigelow in front of the locker room. Bigelow backed down, and he noted Bigelow wasn’t too happy, as he didn’t like doing the job to LT, and was eventually run out by the clique. They promised Bigelow a substantial push after losing to LT, but the clique stopped it.

-He went to Vince to drop the “Thurman” name, which Vince agreed to.

-He calls Luger a traitor for leaving for WCW, and Jarrett, too. Holly says Jarrett didn’t like where the program was going with Road Dogg, so he left. Dogg was planning to go with him, but WCW didn’t want him. Jarrett took the offer from WCW and left Dogg without a job. Holly says Jarrett is good in the ring, but an absolutely terrible person in real life.

-He was hoping to do a rematch for the IC title with Jarrett at a PPV, but the clique was moved to face Jarrett and Dogg. He mentions many instances in which the clique took over spots he could have easily filled, and spots taken over by guys he road with, Sid being one. He put over Hunter instead, who he praises as a great worker. He got about $1,000 for the rest of the year for each PPV match, not much else.

-He wasn’t doing much, and was angry about how they were using him, so he went to Vince and pitched the racing idea. Vince got Frito Lay to sponsor him and Holly purchased $300,000 worth of equipment and cars. However, he could never gain steam in the races because he had no time to work in the car each week. When he would get to the track, he only had a few hours to work on the car before qualifying. Eventually, Vince stopped the program, but let Holly keep all of the equipment and cars.

-Sid eventually was forced out by the clique, he couldn’t take it anymore. He was working Holly, and Sid put over Holly, then faked an injury. Hart also took time off. The only one left was ‘Taker. He says the clique pushed everyone out so they could only work themselves at the top, and Hunter eventually joined (he was essentially a bag boy for a year).

-He tells a few story about how cowardly the clique were. He talked about Don Harris going in to their locker room, choking out Shawn, with Kid just standing there. Nash would CONSTANTLY talk about taking out Bret Hart, but never did anything.

-He thinks most of the people who went to WCW in 1996 essentially stabbed Vince in the back (Hall, Nash, Medusa, Dibiase, etc.)

-He thinks his talent held him back. He was so good and reliable, he would work the new guys coming in and that was it. Sid went to bat for him in 1997 and threatened to quit if they didn’t push Bob and put him back on the road. In reality, Sid liked traveling with Holly, so he wanted him back on the road. Sid eventually left, and he left, and took a decent job as a TIG welder.

-Eventually, Pritchard called and wanted him back full-time. They promised to pay him at least as much as he was making as a welder, they signed him but took awhile to call him back up for training, and he didn’t do a thing from August 1997 to March 1998, except for travel to TV a few times and not working.

-He doesn’t think Montreal was a work. He said if it was, it was the greatest work in wrestling history.

-He came back as a babyface, which didn’t take, so they started the New Midnight Express, which obviously didn’t work.

-Holly talks about Brawl for All, and says it was a tool to get Steve Williams over, nothing more. Each guy would get $5,000 per match, win or lose, with the winner getting $100,000. Tiger Ali Singh dropped out, so Bradshaw suggested to management that Holly take his place. Blackman was entered, and started training. Holly labels Blackman as one of the most dangerous men he’s ever met. Once they found out Blackman was going to basically start ripping apart people with kicks, they changed the rules of the competition. Blackman blew out his own knee in training, otherwise, Holly says he still would have one. Holly lost to Gunn in the first round. He said the judges fixed the first Williams’ fight, as this was nothing more than a competition to put him over. The next match, the entire locker room exploded in the back when Gunn knocked out Williams, because they know management wanted Williams to win. Holly says he was next to Williams, who was getting looked over by the training staff, as he had a dislocated jaw and torn hamstring, and Williams said “I don’t know what they’re going to do now … they already paid me the prize money.” He thinks Gunn won the following bouts against Godfather and Bradshaw fair and square. He says the Butterbean match was revenge from management for Gunn knocking out Williams.

-He mentions a few road stories, including Bradshaw ramming Holly through an intersection in their rental cars. Eventually, Bradshaw pissed off Blackman with some juvenile stuff in an airport. Blackman told him to stop, threatened to take him out, and Bradshaw kept up. Blackman punched him a few times before he knew what hit him. Blackman backed up for a massive kick, but got caught for a second by a luggage strap, and Snow, Holly and Simmons stepped in to stop it. Bradshaw stood up and apologized the next day, in front of everyone, at catering when Blackman confronted him again.

-He eventually moved into the JOB Squad and into the hardcore stuff, he was paid $20,000 for his match with Snow and Billy Gunn at Wrestlemania XV.

-He mentions Bradshaw as the stiffest guy he’s worked.

-He talked about the story he held Snow up for a suplex at a house show and moved away his singlet to expose Snow’s dick.

-He talked about Over the Edge 1999. He says Owen flipped his cape back and unhooked the cable by doing so, at least that’s what they were told. Owen jumped off the catwalk without being attached. He thinks they should have cancelled the show. Emotionally, he basically shut himself down in order to continue working and being on the road. He’s says it’s sort of inhumane to do that, but you have to in order to keep working.

-Holly loved the ‘Big Shot’ gimmick and working against Kane and Big Show, and was surprised when that ended and Mike Lockwood came in to work as Crash. He says when they won the tag titles in 1999, there was absolutely no financial benefit, and there isn’t really any benefit to be tag team champions.

-Holly notes that Jarrett did get Vince to pay him $300,000 to appear at No Mercy against Chyna. Jim Ross, who was in charge of contracts, failed to sign Jarrett to an extension (he nearly lost his job because of it). Jarrett walked in without his gear and the belt, and told Vince he wanted all of his past PPV money right now or he wouldn’t appear. Vince wired the money to his account and Jarrett then went to grab his gear. Shane McMahon wanted to beat the crap out of Jarrett.

-He thinks Sable brought the Divas into the mainstream, not Sunny. He thinks Trish Stratus is highly overrated. Chyna would forget stuff all the time when they worked, but tried hard at first, then got a massive ego. He says Gail Kim and Beth Phoenix are great. He says Lawler told Kat to flash her tits on PPV and management didn’t know anything about it. He noted everyone hated Melina, who thought she was the best wrestler in the locker room. Holly understood why John Morrison didn’t stand up for himself when Melina was getting it on with Big Dave while dating John.

-Chyna would offer to be on the ring crew to get a job in 1996, but in 1998, she wouldn’t lift a finger to help anyone or bother to talk to anyone she had been friendly with a year before.

-In the early part of 2000, his contract was expiring. Bischoff called and offered him double whatever Vince would offer him to jump, but he declined. He wanted to be loyal to Vince. He ended up signing a new contract for 40 percent more than he made the previous year. He later mentions part of the reason was he didn’t want to through the process of meeting new staff, trying to prove himself again, etc., and he thought of WWE as his family at the time. They knew his strengths, weaknesses, etc., and could use him appropriately.

-Paul Bearer was going to transition to timekeeper when he was being phased out as a manager, but he made fun of Kevin Dunn at one point. Holly notes that since Kevin Dunn was essentially the #2 before HHH continued kissing Vince’s ass, Bearer was fired.

-He liked Earl Hebner, Korderas, and Chioda was referees. He says Teddy Long was terrible.

-He says Konnan and Douglas weren’t offered jobs when Saturn, Benoit, Malenko, and Guerrero jumped. He thinks Hunter didn’t want Shane because of the heat with the clique back in the day and Konnan wasn’t well-liked by a lot of people in the business. He hates how Benoit was pinned clean by HHH in his first match, Holly says it may have been done to see if Benoit and the group would understand their place when they came in. He was pretty close to Benoit after he came in.

-He mentions Mae Young asked Holly specifically to nail her with a clothesline and mentioned how great she and Moolah were. He said “No, Mae, when I hit a clothesline, I try to rip their head off. It’s TV”. She replied with “Bring it on, motherfucker!” while standing in gorilla. When he asked again, she said “If you don’t, when we get back. I’m going to kick your ass!” He laid her out during the segment. When they go to the back, he asked if she was okay, she patted him on the chest, and said “That’s how you lay a clothesline in, right there!”

-At one point, he was pretty sure Snow and Foley ribbed him, leaving him at an airport with no car, and, backstage at the next show, Hawk ‘blew a gasket’ and want to crush the two. This led to Wrestler’s Court, which they can’t do anymore because of the corporate nature of the WWE. Undertaker would preside. Foley eventually paid Holly $500 to not end up in Wrestler’s Court.

-Edge and Christian were in Wrestler’s Court at one point, as they had been giving/buying gifts for Brian Gerwitz, who wrote for them. At that time, each guy had one writer who would write for the same person each week (Holly’s was Ed Koskey for awhile). The gift giving was a big rule at that point. Simmons would represent the defendants (usually just shrugging his shoulders) and Bradshaw was represent the prosecution. This specific case was settled by having Edge and Christian buy ‘Taker a fifth of JD, the APA some beer, and Holly some protein powder.

-The APA stiffed Public Enemy. Apparently, Holly says Public Enemy still expected the APA to go through tables, even though the APA said they weren’t.

-The 13-man Hardcore Title finished was production’s fault, even though Tim White got chewed out and almost lost his job. Production was counting down White in his earpiece, and White counted the pinfall according to that countdown. However, the countdown on the screen was off from what White was being told through his earpiece. Crash was going to go over and retain, but they switched the title to Holly at that moment and fixed in the next night on Raw.

-Holly notes how the rock was horrible his first few years, and says the Rock agrees. They were almost finished with the Rock when he eventually caught on. He says Rock is still very gracious, humble, and genuine for everything.

-Kurt Angle felt terrible about breaking his forearm with his shin with the moonsault. Until that point, Angle always missed the moonsault, but Holly said to land it this time. Kurt Angle says in his book that right after it happened, he took over and became the ‘ring general’ for the match. Holly disputes this and kept calling everything because Kurt freaked out. Angle felt terrible. He went to the hospital to see Holly, brought him to the hotel, checked him in, brought him breakfast the next morning and helped him to the airport. Angle called him every week to check up on him and sent him care packages during his recovery.

-When he returned, he hoped he would have a program with Angle, but he made his returned and saved Crash from Angle, and that was it. He kept putting people over for the rest of the year, and this was the only year he made more than he downside guarantee.

-Crash began to struggle with how he was being used and constantly complained, while Bob kept his mouth shut and kept working. Crash began to drink heavily but wasn’t a drug guy. After he was released in 2003, Crash was living with Stevie Richards when his drinking problem worsened. Crash eventually found out his girlfriend was screwing one of the guys and died in Stevie’s house.

-Holly, and the rest of the crew, didn’t know anything about the buyout in 2001 until it happened. They were all scared of losing their jobs when they found out. Holly thinks they entire angle was doomed because they didn’t bring over guys like Goldberg and Sting.

-There’s a funny bit about DDP’s last match in WWE, which was against Holly. Benoit warned Holly that DDP scripted every single moment in his matches, literally writing down every facial expression, punch, tie-up, etc. Holly kept putting DDP off during the night of his last match, and DDP was freaking out because they didn’t go over any part of the match before they went out.

-The agents suggested to the guys that they rough up O’Haire and Palumbo at MSG, to put the incoming WCW guys in their place.

-He (and apparently, everyone else) hated Buff Bagwell because he wouldn’t show up on time and acted like a superstar, wouldn’t shake anyone’s hand, wouldn’t dress with anyone, etc. The staff eventually sat Bagwell down and told him the proper protocol and how to act, but he still acted the same way. Holly, Simmons and Bradshaw roughed him up in the ring pretty bad at the direction of Jim Ross.

-He was upset when Hall and Nash came in because it took a spot way from him, and hated they were given spots after being disloyal to Vince. He said alcohol use by Hall at this point ended his career. He thinks the only reason they were given the spot was because of their relationship with HHH.

-During Tough Enough, MTV would push to keep certain contestants because they were good for the show. He said Linda Miles got a massive ego and would complain about the travel, the bumps, the work, constantly and ordered one of the veterans to grab her bag at baggage claim. The word got back to the office and she was fired.

-Holly worked with Randy Orton at the request of management when Orton started out, and Jim Ross asked him to push Orton to see if Orton could handle it. Holly said Orton would listen and took advice, but had a terrible temper. He mentioned Orton should have been suspended more than he was, and told the story of Orton destroying a hotel room when he was the champion in Spain. When the group flight was delayed, Orton did $15,000 worth of damage to a hotel room, which HHH paid for on the spot. Holly thinks Orton grew up once he became a father.

-Holly goes through the Lesnar powerbomb he took, in which he landed on his neck. Holly says he didn’t rotate correctly to get up on Lesnar’s shoulders, and it caused him to be dropped on his neck and his body going numb. They got up and eventually re-did the spot as they were taping TV. He hates that people think he intentionally sandbagged Lesnar, because that wasn’t the case. He went home and during the week, he wasn’t able to carry heavy dishes, etc. When he worked a match that weekend, every bump and punch caused shooting pains in his back and neck. His MRI showed a ruptured disc, cracked vertebrae, and pinched nerves. Lesnar and Vince both called after his surgery to check up on him. He was paid his normal pay while he was out and thought he’d have a feud with Lesnar when he returned.

-Before undergoing neck surgery, the office called about doing an appearance on the third season of Tough Enough. When he was there, the group was going a bunch of chain spots in the ring, smiling, laughing, etc, and he didn’t appreciate them not selling or not being serious. When he went it, he was in with Matt Cappotelli, and went in to rough him up in the corner. When he was putting the boots to Cappotelli, Cappotelli would try to move, get up, and not say still, so Holly kept kicking him and busted him open. He thought it was a disgrace when he saw Cappotelli crying on TV over the incident.

-Mentions Blackman, again, as being the toughest guy in wrestling. Shamrock, the APA, Angle, Shelton Benjamin, Regal, too. He specifically mentions Kendrick and London as legit tough guys, while Cena, HHH, and Batista are not. He mentions Booker T knocked Batista out cold at one point.

-When he returned, he thought there would be more buildup and a long feud with Lesnar, and didn’t think the things they did on TV to build up the match on TV made sense. Lesnar didn’t want to work with him, though, because he wasn’t a top guy. While they had been given 15 minutes for their match at Royal Rumble, Michaels and HHH wanted to go longer in their main event, so it was cut to 8 minutes with entrances. Holly was pissed, especially seeing how HHH and Shawn worked each other every other PPV, and he rarely got a chance to have a spot that high on the card. The HHH-Michaels main event with 29 minutes.

-He didn’t like Lesnar deciding to leave without bothering to put anyone over.

-He didn’t appear at Wrestlemania that year, and feels he was overlooked, again.

-He mentions Eddie Guerrero wanting to drop the title because the schedule and pressure was getting to him.

-Holly went back to working with the newer talent, and mentioned Kevin Fertig/Thorne/Mordecai as being really respectful, and great in the ring. He liked Haas and Benjamin. He hated Robbie of the Highlanders after Robbie disrespected him in the ring. Rory was nice, but Robbie ruined it for both of them with his attitude and showing up in the TNA crowd. Heidenreich was a legit maniac who couldn’t be bothered to show up on time, and also doesn’t understand why the pushed Carlito, and says Simon Dean was a major stooge for the office. He goes on to list a few people who got pushes when they shouldn’t have: Luther Reigns (no knowledge of the business or how to perform), Nunzio (too small), Mark Jindrak (too worried about his looks), Kenzo Suzuki (couldn’t speak English), and the Bashams (didn’t have the ‘it’ factor). He didn’t like all of these guys getting pushes when he wasn’t.

-Sylvain Grenier was pushed because he was in a relationship with Pat Patterson. Holly mentions an inappropriate comment Patterson made toward him backstage.

-Everyone hated Rene Dupree, including Bob, for how he acted backstage. He was with Dupree in Spokane and had to get home because their was hurricane coming through, he asked Dupree to keep his rental car and drop it off the next day. Eventually, his driver’s license was suspended, a warrant was put out for his arrest from the state of Washington. Dupree denied getting a ticket and wouldn’t apologize for the incident or admit anything. When they worked a tag match, Holly stiffed Dupree, Dupree immediately ran to the back, and Holly chased him, tackled him, and started to beat the crap out of him until Finlay and Show pulled him off. Vince chewed him out, but he stood up for himself and Vince understood, but he thinks the situation put him in bad standing with HHH. Dupree eventually admitted to the ticket and apologized.

-He learned from Jjimmy Yang that Daniel Puder kept calling his buddies after Holly put Puder over and Puder would brag that he was beating Holly every night, so he stiffed Puder in the ring. Benoit, Guerrero, and Holly all stiffed Puder when the four of them were the first four in the Royal Rumble.

-He notes Guerrero worked with a ruptured disc in his back when he had the belt and was getting stressed, and his health suffered more because of it. Guerrero had asked for time off and they said no. Guerrero would lay on the trainer’s table backstage at every house show, drink an energy drink before he would get up for his match, work, then come back and lay on the table until everyone left. Holly says Guerrero was finding it hard to cope with everything and Guerrero went off on Holly because of stress at one point. Holly understands that it was because of stress, but that was the last time they spoke, as Guerrero died shortly after that. He thinks the organization, management, and Vince had a part in Guerrero’s death by not giving him time off, and keeping Vicki around may be because Vince feels he’s partly at fault. Again, Holly didn’t really grieve and shut down emotionally to the situation.

-He went to Europe, even though he was having massive problems with his elbow after John Laurinaitis told him they needed him on the tour (Holly ended up only being needed for battle royals). His arm started going numb and he felt like he was sick with the flu. It ended up being a staph infection and they had to schedule surgery, but had to wait for the infection to lessen. He had to have his arm drained during the tour. When he went to his doctor, he went immediately to the hospital on orders from his doctor. He was in the hospital for four weeks and, at first, nothing would lessen the infection. The last-ditch antibiotic worked – if it hadn’t, they would have amputated his arm.

-Before the ordeal, he felt like a locker room leader. He made Kennedy change outside the hallway for a few months for not thanking people who were putting him over when asked to. Holly later found out Kennedy had just lost his father and was distraught about it.

-He confirms the story of Miz eating chicken over Benoit’s bag, and Benoit making the Miz dress in the hallway for six months after that.

-He would do cycles of Deca and testosterone, and doesn’t think the Wellness Program testing was random at all. Vince decided to suspend him once for a violation, even though he claims he had a valid subscription.

-He needed 25 stitches for the 2006 match against Rob Van Dam. They wanted to stop the match, but he wouldn’t let them. He mentions Rob Van Dam was a rare character in the business, always being grateful and appreciative to everyone. He wasn’t happy when they decided to use Test as the top heel rather than himself. He was also pissed because they pushed Lashley, Umaga, and Test ahead of him and Lashley quit and the other two were died two years later.

-Holly was supposed to be in Umaga’s spot for the Trump vs. McMahon angle, but they gave Umaga the spot without telling him. He was also upset he wasn’t involved in the eight-man ECW match at Wrestlemania.

-When he traveled with Big Show, Big Show always paid. He says Show always smoked and rarely worked out, and was never in decent ring shape.

-Chris Benoit was one of the nicest people he knew and was honest about a lot of stuff, unlike the other guys. When they rode together, Benoit would have two or three beers after the match in the car and they would sit in silence. He said it was nice to not have any pressure and to just unwind in silence at times. Benoit would be very nice to everyone, even when dealing with traveling issues. He thinks his intensity in the ring was Benoit relieving stress. Benoit did say that when he wasn’t off the road, he and Nancy drank a lot and argued a lot. Nancy wanted him off the road, but Benoit felt he owed it to the company because they invested so much in him. Chris’ daughter from a previous marriage didn’t accept Nancy as her stepmother, and would literally not speak to her, even though she would spend every summer there. Benoit kept an action figure of Guerrero in the passenger seat of his Humvee after Guerrero passed – the two of them were extremely religious.

-Holly was supposed to stop by Benoit’s house on Wednesday/Thursday, as he was in Atlanta to see a physician. He decided against it, as he figured Benoit just got off the road and wanted to spend time with his kids and Nancy. On Friday, Benoit called and was angry that he never stopped over. This was the Friday that Benoit killed Nancy, killed Daniel on Saturday, and himself on Sunday. He thinks Benoit suffered mental trauma. He thinks Benoit killed Nancy in one of their arguments, and killed Daniel knowing Daniel would grow up without a mother and with a father in prison. Holly says the rumor of Benoit having a relationship with someone on the locker room wasn’t true. Holly wonders if Benoit getting angry at him earlier in the week was Benoit reaching out to him, because Benoit never acted that way.

-He looked down on Matt Hardy when he returned to work with Edge and Lita. Hardy would constantly talk about stiffing Edge in the ring but never did anything about it.

-He started working with Cody Rhodes in a rookie vs. veteran storyline. At first, Cody was great and would listen to anything he said. Eventually, Dusty Rhodes told Cody to outshine Holly and that was the end of the program.

-He was addicted to pain medication in 2003 but scaled back. In 2008, he grabbed a few pills from Kennedy’s bag (with his permission), but it started a rumor because Umaga saw him grab the pills from the bag. When John Laurinaitis asked Kennedy to explain, he said Holly stole the pills. He was upset because Kennedy threw him under the bus at a time when he knew Holly was struggling with a divorce and being written off of TV.

-Eventually, he wanted to bring back Billy Gunn to start a program against Rhodes and Dibiase, but creative didn’t go for it. He was released in January 2009, and lasted 15 years. He says he really only complained to management once, in 2005, and Vince and Stephanie didn’t have an answer for him. He didn’t get any thank you from Vince after he was released.

-He thinks he was released because of politics and slams HHH some more, noting how they didn’t bother bringing back the New Age Outlaws for the reformation of DX, so HHH and Michaels could keep all the money. He hates that HHH comes back for Wrestlemania paydays when he could be giving that spot (and pay) to a younger worker.

-He was never married to BB. He implies they did have a relationship.

-He had a few good years with a downside guarantee of $275,000 and one year in which he made $400,000, and he was smart with his money. He did a few indy shots and enjoyed not having to worry about travel, hotels, etc, while doing some of the shows.

 

Great stuff! Read some of it before, never heard about wanting to bring back Billy Gunn vs Cody & Ted.. would've loved that. Always hated that Holly never came back for revenge after Cody turned on him

[bobholly138]

Any of y'all reading Bob Holly's book? I'm going through this now, and this shit is great. Highly opinionated, but in a way where you can tell he's just relating what he honestly thinks. The ghostwriter either barely touched Bob's words or is just the best ghostwriter ever, because the prose reads exactly like how the man talks.

Also, it contains gems like this, regarding the one-and-only time Holly ever wrestled a bear:

That fucking bear bit me on top of my fucking head and that was it- the beginning of me going bald. I had a full head of hair until that point! The bear got me down and ended up on top of me, putting me in an extremely compromised position. Basically, it looked like the bear was sexually assaulting me. That pretty much ended my bear-wrestling career.

 

I am a bit biased,with Bob being my favorite current wrestler,but his book is the second best wrestling bio I have read. With only Gary Hart's being better. But after getting to meet him last year and chat with him I realized Bob doesn;t bite his tongue. 

[Liam]

There are a series of Dragon Gate books on the UK Amazon site. Anyone checked them out before?

[Curt McGirt]

Got Danielson's book for Xmas and just finished it. I get the feeling that he's a lot more vulgar in person than through a ghostwriter, and that there's a lot of better stories he could have told if they weren't through said WWE-paid ghostwriter as well. The denouement at the end is so fucking sad. 

 

Also if you like to bitch about WWE on here don't read that book because you will have more fuel for your bitching than ever before

[Kuetsar]

I'm about 2/3 of the way through Tim Hornbaker's NWA book, and its kinda weird. Not bad per say, but not good either. Lots of interesting stuff, but its not well written. Poorly organized, and repeats the same stories two or three times from the point of view of different guys.  Its almost as if its a compilation of different pieces about the NWA, because there is little to narrative structure binding each chapter together. I've read more than enough good history books to know what one looks like and this isn't it.  . . .  

[Captain Kronos]

Only tangentially wrestling related, but Cary Elwes's book AS YOU WISH about the making of Princess Bride is terrific. 

 

The whole book is a great read, but the Andre anecdotes are worth the price of admission alone. You'll laugh, and you might cry a little. 

[mattdangerously]

I'm about 2/3 of the way through Tim Hornbaker's NWA book, and its kinda weird. Not bad per say, but not good either. Lots of interesting stuff, but its not well written. Poorly organized, and repeats the same stories two or three times from the point of view of different guys. Its almost as if its a compilation of different pieces about the NWA, because there is little to narrative structure binding each chapter together. I've read more than enough good history books to know what one looks like and this isn't it. . . .

I had the same issues with it. Lots of interesting info, but it's drier than a nun's va-jay-jay.

[The Green Meanie]

 

I'm about 2/3 of the way through Tim Hornbaker's NWA book, and its kinda weird. Not bad per say, but not good either. Lots of interesting stuff, but its not well written. Poorly organized, and repeats the same stories two or three times from the point of view of different guys. Its almost as if its a compilation of different pieces about the NWA, because there is little to narrative structure binding each chapter together. I've read more than enough good history books to know what one looks like and this isn't it. . . .

I had the same issues with it. Lots of interesting info, but it's drier than a nun's va-jay-jay.

 

 

As is the same when I reviewed it a bit earlier in the thread. If you can make it past the bad spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure, you're okay.

[Tromatagon]

Please leave an amazon review with that nun's vajajay comment

[Liam]

I liked Capitol Revolution, but it seems like that has had more positive reviews all round.

[Tabe]

I'm about 2/3 of the way through Tim Hornbaker's NWA book, and its kinda weird. Not bad per say, but not good either. Lots of interesting stuff, but its not well written. Poorly organized, and repeats the same stories two or three times from the point of view of different guys. Its almost as if its a compilation of different pieces about the NWA, because there is little to narrative structure binding each chapter together. I've read more than enough good history books to know what one looks like and this isn't it. . . .

I had much the same criticisms. I also hated that Tim insisted on using real names instead of performer names - but not all the time. I ripped on the book on Wrestling Classics - a site that Tim frequents. And that, believe it or not, led to us becoming friends.

But...yeah. There's a great book in there. It just got lost. Too bad - he can be a great writer (his Ty Cobb bio is awesome).

[cwoy2j]

Yeah, Bob seems like he wasn't too fond of JR, he tells several negative stories about him.

One of the least expected moments for me was when he mentioned Kendrick as one of the toughest guys in wrestling. "If you try to kick his ass, you're gonna be there for a while."

 

I was surprised by that too. He said the same thing about Paul London. They do look like two squirrely looking dudes who probably would make you wish you'd picked on somebody else though. Like they'd be fast enough to avoid getting hit by you while being able to hit you a bunch.

[cwoy2j]

One of my favorite stories in Holly's book was Vince telling people not named Ric Flair to not chop people (HBK kept on doing it anyway). Holly asked him about it b/c he said his chops always got pops from the crowd and Vince said, "it's just cheap heat." Holly retorted that it didn't matter, it still got a pop and Vince goes, "well, it's bullshit anyway, you wouldn't chop someone in a real fight". Holly goes, "I wouldn't jump off the top rope in a real fight either." Vince has no answer for that so he just goes, "NO CHOPS!"

[The Green Meanie]

Didn't Flair chop that guy he got into a fight with on the freeway though?

[thee Reverend Axl Future]

The age old story: boy buys book, boy loves book, boy lends book to someone, boy never sees book again.

I bought a great tome at the bookseller in Mitsuwa (IL) aprox. 10 years ago. It was a softcover photo collection of the gaijin who did early Japanese wrestling tours, featuring a promo photograph on one page and action shots on the facing page. I believe it featured several promotions and not just one. The Sharpe Brothers, Blassie, Bull Ramos, Dick The Bruiser, Brody, et al, were all in it. I have tried to track it down, but with no title, publisher, ISDN or other info I have been disappointed. Can any of you scholars help me out?

thanks,

RAF

[Tromatagon]

Was it in English or Japanese?

[thee Reverend Axl Future]

All in Japanese, but very very little text. Trade paperback size, not one of those dinky little superthick books. It may have been from one of the puro magazines.

- RAF