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YOUR ALL-NEW WRESTLING BOOK THREAD


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  • 2 weeks later...

I got the Guy Evans Nitro Book and Death of the Territories recently.

The Nitro book has some real astounding elements to it (involving a Bischoff idea that he pitched multiple times that kept getting nixed because it would involve having to work the FAA). It's obviously self-published (both because of the length and how many 7 page chapters were included) but it really could have had a little bit more detail on some parts of the story. The first half, through 98 seemed stronger with some stuff I didn't know (but I didn't read Bill Goldberg's book, so I didn't know about how much work they did with him before he debuted). It seemed like the book kinda became more of a Time Warner merger book than a Nitro book once it hit 1999. But how much quality content can a book get out of Vince Russo Nitro anyways? The last year of Bischoff in 98/99 probably dooms them as much as anything WCW was doing.

So far (through 5 chapters) the Hornbaker book is doing a pretty patient job of lining up all of the people in the story for the big parts of cable expansion. Always an interesting reminder that the business in a good chunk of the country went belly-up in 79/80/81 before Vince got Hogan in 1984 (and that GCW was expanding into other areas before Vince went to LA). Considering how many other industries had "consolidations" in recent decades, if Vince didn't make the move, either somebody else does (on TBS or another Superstation?), or the entire thing starts going sinking once the business hits the mid-90s.

It's also possible that not reading the NWA book by Hornbaker means that the first few chapters of this book weren't known to be parts of one of his other books.

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Despite Eric's constant bashing of Death of WCW, it really is the perfect companion to the Evans book. 

It's hilarious when Eric goes off on how Bryan and RD didn't do research, Evans did, then you look at the sources in Nitro and both editions of The Death of WCW are listed.

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Also forgot to mention that it kinda felt like Bischoff's role in the Guy Evans book is sorta like the Ma Anand Sheela's soundbites in the Rajneeshi documentary (Wild Wild Country). It's near impossible to tell either story without talking to them, but there's also a bit where they're not gonna be entirely reliable.

Also if his podcast interviews are any indicator, Bobby Blaze probably filibustered Guy Evans pretty good, getting him a few more quotes in the book than you would expect because you likely didn't remember that Bobby Blaze was around WCW in 1998. There were some quotes/stories in the book which were pretty familiar if you had heard various shoot interview/podcast interviews of guys like Nash or Sullivan.

One more thing from the Evans book: Tank Sinatra is a phenomenal awful gimmick idea.

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How is the David Shoemaker book The Squared Circle: Life, Death, and Professional Wrestling?

It's currently on sale for $4.99 on Kindle, which is its lowest price to date, according to ereaderiq.com.

I really liked the author's articles on Deadspin, but is this more of an overview of wrestling history? I'm kind of burned out on those (and I still have The Comic Book History of Professional Wrestling to read anyway).

https://smile.amazon.com/Squared-Circle-Death-Professional-Wrestling-ebook/dp/B008BM4MN0/

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  • 2 weeks later...

Chiming in for the first time in a few years to also praise The Comic Book History of Pro Wrestling. Fantastic artwork, totally accurate, easy to read.

Someone please let me know if they have located a high res electronic version of the territory map from this book. Else I will contact the artist. That needs to be on my wall ASAP.

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I have finally finished the whole project!

41JNCgf5RxL._AA218_.jpg

Number four is finally out for £2.99 (or whatever your chosen nation charges you) as well as Kindle Unlimited.

Here's the blurb:

Three months to go in 1984 and the wild world of Wrestling continues to deliver. In this volume, Liam Byrne covers October, November and December of one of the most important years in wrestling history. Whilst action from CWA, CWF, MACW, Mid-South, WCCW and WWF gets in-depth reviews, there is also coverage for a resurrected Georgia, Pro Wrestling USA, and Starrcade '84.

With around 180,000 words of wrestling content, Tracking the Territories is the definitive guide to what a wrestling fan was seeing on his television screen in one of the biggest transitional years in wrestling history.

UK Amazon

US Amazon

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Anyone read or have general thoughts on the Kenny Casanova-written books for WOHW publishing? Kamala, Beefcake, and Danny Davis have all been published so far—I was tempted to preorder an autographed Sabu book but haven't heard a lot about the writing quality, detail, or format of any of his work. 

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On 1/13/2019 at 4:36 PM, C.S. said:

How is the David Shoemaker book The Squared Circle: Life, Death, and Professional Wrestling?

It's currently on sale for $4.99 on Kindle, which is its lowest price to date, according to ereaderiq.com.

I really liked the author's articles on Deadspin, but is this more of an overview of wrestling history? I'm kind of burned out on those (and I still have The Comic Book History of Professional Wrestling to read anyway).

https://smile.amazon.com/Squared-Circle-Death-Professional-Wrestling-ebook/dp/B008BM4MN0/

I never read his articles on Deadspin but I think, from what I heard, the book is expanded versions of some of those. I got it from HamiltonBooks for less than $5 and felt that was a fair price. 

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It's a fine read but rehashes mostly new stuff and is probably written for lapsed fans. I am unaware why some around these parts dislike Shoemaker so much but it's definitely not anything you'll remember after you put it down.

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On 2/3/2019 at 12:50 AM, EricG said:

Anyone read or have general thoughts on the Kenny Casanova-written books for WOHW publishing? Kamala, Beefcake, and Danny Davis have all been published so far—I was tempted to preorder an autographed Sabu book but haven't heard a lot about the writing quality, detail, or format of any of his work. 

I enjoyed Kamala's book, but I've always quite liked him and thought he had an interesting overall story. It wasn't amazing, but worth a read.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I was going through my basement and I discovered a bunch of books that are just collecting dust. Many of them I’m willing to give away if the buyer is willing to cover shipping costs. There are a few I would like to barter a trade for some books I haven’t read yet. The ones I will give away:

Gordon Solie:  Something Left Behind,  Roddy Piper: in the Pit with Piper, Drawing Heat the Hard Way by Larry Matysik, Missy Hyatt The First Lady of Wrestling, Mick Foley - Have a Nice Day, Foley is Good (paperback), Mick Foley: Countdown to Lockdown, Superstar Billy Graham Tangled Ropes, Hulk Hogan My life outside the ring, Brock Lesnar the making of a hardcore legend, The Rock Says, Chyna if they only knew, Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair: To Be the Man,  Dusty: Reflections of an American dream, and Jerry Lawler: It’s good to be the king sometimes. 

I’m willing to trade the following books for books I haven’t read yet. I’m most interested in books about territories/historical pieces. (The Nitro book, Mad Dogs, Midgets, and Screwjobs, Wrestling at the Chase, any of Cornette’s books, Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Heroes, etc)  

Steve Williams: How Dr. Death Became Dr. Life

Pure Dynamite

Bob Holly: The Hardcore Truth

Pain and Passion: The History of Stampede Wrestling

Wrestlemania: The Official Insider’s Story (with DVD.) 

To keep costs down, the offer is open to US and Canadians. Let’s keep this to private message as to not clog up the board. Thanks. 

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On 2/2/2019 at 4:50 PM, EricG said:

Anyone read or have general thoughts on the Kenny Casanova-written books for WOHW publishing? Kamala, Beefcake, and Danny Davis have all been published so far—I was tempted to preorder an autographed Sabu book but haven't heard a lot about the writing quality, detail, or format of any of his work. 

Kamala and Beefcake are both good one-time reads. Neither is a 10/10 but both are pretty solid recaps of their respective careers. Kamala's gets a little sad towards the end considering what he's been going through. Haven't read Davis' yet. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...
2 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

Got the Bowdren the Booker & Annotated Fall Guys this week from Crowbar. 

Was a big fan of the former when it was the observer in the 8 pt type days.

Wow! Bowdren the Booker in book form??? I am so buying that right after I finish this post! Hell, Annotated Fall Guys seems like a must-have too. Well, other than buying a Victor Lavalle novel that I needed for $25 on Monday, I've been behaving myself when it comes to book-buying this week, so I can get away with this purchase easily... It's next week when I pre-order Silvia Moreno-Garcia's new book for forty pounds sterling (whatever that turns out to be in US dollars) that I'll get the stinkeye from the Mrs.

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I also treated myself to some Crowbar Press books recently, and could not be happier:

- The Wrestling Archive Project, Vol. 1 & 2 - mostly reprinted interviews from editor Scott Teal's mighty Whatever Happened To...?, but in a nice book form. I could read interviews with old-timers all day, and hear the same ol' tales over and over, and be quite pleased. Highly recommended.

- The Annotated Fall Guys - very eye-opening, basically refuting much of what has been the bible of wrestling's history by default, since no one else bothered to write one at the time. Spoiler: everything in the whole wide world is a work, so get used to it, pally. Great but really could have used some layout editing.

- "I Ain't No Pig Farmer!" - Dean Silverstone's autobiography of his interesting life, specifically his entrepreneurial rise from wide-eyed mark to (outlaw?) promoter in the PNW. Full of amazing details and stories, this was such a good read. 

You could do no wrong picking any of these up and CP is an easy company to do business with.

- RAF

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On 1/26/2019 at 12:34 PM, For Great Justice said:

Chiming in for the first time in a few years to also praise The Comic Book History of Pro Wrestling. Fantastic artwork, totally accurate, easy to read.

Someone please let me know if they have located a high res electronic version of the territory map from this book. Else I will contact the artist. That needs to be on my wall ASAP.

This should be what you are looking for.

https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/aubrey/nwa-territories-their-stars/

Spoilerized for those who haven't seen it.

Spoiler

53d7746c926f7c5fb7562c2ff62d7e3b.jpg?res

 

Edited by Justin877
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On 6/27/2019 at 8:16 PM, odessasteps said:

Got the Bowdren the Booker & Annotated Fall Guys this week from Crowbar. 

Was a big fan of the former when it was the observer in the 8 pt type days.

If Scott Teal is at CWF Legends Fan Fest in November I have a feeling I'm going to be buying these books and a couple of others most likely.

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Don't know if it has been mentioned yet but Greg Oliver and Steve Johnson are about to drop another.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1770415025/ref=x_gr_w_bb_sout?ie=UTF8&tag=x_gr_w_bb_sout-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1770415025&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2

Edited by Execproducer
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