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YOUR ALL-NEW WRESTLING BOOK THREAD


OSJ

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23 minutes ago, OSJ said:

You sick little monkey! I'm fighting the urge to do that very thing. (1.) I know that I will only read about twenty pages and give up because I only speak English, and I'm not quite sure what it is that Jimmy Valiant speaks, but I haven't understood a word the man has said since about 1982.  (2.) There is no such thing as a wrestling book that doesn't hit the remainder table sooner rather than later.

I was given the task of trying to read Absalom Absalom in college so I can relate.

Also it was noted that while it's a coffee table book using a glass one is optimal.

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Of course I have to chime in that I ordered the BWMJV autotbio when it came out (direct from the goat farm, scribbled and dedicated). I really liked it (duh). He keeps kay fabe to a certain extent but assumes that the reader is smartened up to a degree. He talks about his hep outbreak and the reasons why he (and others) switched feds and gimmicks. He sometimes refers to certain events and things but doesn't give the details which irks me. He talks about his personal yoga techniques that keep him supple but won't give the secrets - I like to think that is because a Shaolin shaman who guards the hidden wisdoms. Anyway, if you are a fan of Mr. V and that era (which is a pretty long era) you will dig this. It is written in a conversational style and has lots of good pics. Thee Rev likes big books and lots of details and funky dancing, so a big thumbs up.

MERCY BABY DADDY,

RAF

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Per Meltzer

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I've been reading the new book "Shamrock:  The World's Most Dangerous Man" by Jonathan Snowden. I'm up to 1994 but this is a hell of a read. Shamrock's early life was a nightmare and the book does uncover a lot of secrets of that period, plus the origination of MMA with both the early days of Pancrase and UFC, as well as the second UWF promotion. I can only say thus far it's at the level of the Brian Pillman book by Liam O'Rourke and the Laprade/Hebert book on Andre the Giant which are the gold standard for wrestling biographies.

 

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More from Meltzer on the Shamrock book (spoilers since it is a little long)

Spoiler

I’ve been reading Jonathan Snowden’s book “Shamrock: The World’s Most Dangerous Man,” which just came out. I would rank this book along with the Patric Laprade/Bertrant Hebert book on Andre the Giant which also just came out and the Liam O’Rourke book on Brian Pillman as the best wrestling bios out there. I know a lot of the Ken Shamrock story just from knowing people around him, from himself, his adopted father, his first wife, Frank Shamrock, Kim Wood, several of the original Lion’s Den guys and many others within wrestling. Bob passed away years ago and I’m right now up to his WWF run. The detail of everything is very strong. If you are a fan of how MMA got started, both with Pancrase in Japan and UFC in the U.S., and his viewpoint, this book really explains it. Snowden is controversial, and for good reasons, but he delivers on his books as his book on the history of MMA is the best on the subject and he also wrote an interesting book on the early shooters in pro wrestling. Plus, there is a lot of benefit of hindsight. The Lion’s Den in the 90s, before the Miletich camp that came years later, was the first MMA camp in the U.S. But they were learning as they went. This was a new sport and there were no manuals. Ken taught and trained in a completely brutal way, with a mindset of a 70s pro wrestling camp where the idea is you beat people up badly on day one trying to run them off, but if they come back after that, then maybe you have someone with the guts to be in the business. Snowden interviewed more than 100 people, including drug dealers and strippers. It talked about Shamrock’s horrible childhood of being sexually and physically abused, and once when he was nearly stabbed to death. It went through a life in Foster care where he had a horrible attitude and was probably headed for a early death until literally Bob Shamrock saved his life. But the relationship with Bob & Ken was very unique and complicated. Bob grew up a big pro wrestling fan and he paid for Ken to be trained by Buzz Sawyer, which as you can imagine was a work in and of itself, but because Ken was so tough, Buzz didn’t run him off. Ken started working in the Carolinas. The first time I heard about Ken Shamrock as a pro wrestler came when he started when a pro wrestler who was a noted shooter, Bob Orton Jr., worked with him. The story from other wrestlers is that Orton tested him out and Shamrock outwrestled him which stunned people in wrestling at the time. Shamrock was a rising star for an independent group in the Carolinas run by George Scott, and met Dean Malenko, who was working there. Malenko introduced him to actual submission fighting from Masami Soranaka, the son-in-law of Karl Gotch, largely to give him a little background to be able to handle the UWF, which was looking for foreign athletes who the Japanese could beat. But Shamrock learned and got over with the UWF fans. The book goes through the death of the second UWF, the starting of RINGS, UWFI and PWFG, and the frustration that led to Pancrase, which was meant to be pro wrestling, but real. Based on what I had heard about Pancrase, and written, from those in it, regarding its formation, what was and wasn’t real, this book is unbelievably accurate at a level that I really think very very few people could have written or understood about that unique period. But it has all the stories including Shamrock nearly killing a college football player in a bar fight and being charged and appearing before of all people, Judge Mills Lane, who let him off. Shamrock in the book talks about what was and wasn’t real about Pancrase. While he understood putting Masakatsu Funaki over, he was mad about losing to Minoru Suzuki, who he personally didn’t like, and refused to put over Bas Rotten or any foreigner. It also notes that Rotten kept waiting to be asked to lose only for Funaki to tell him that they would never ask him to lose a fight. Shamrock talks in detail about his first match with Rotten and its unique circumstances. It talks in detail about his chasing women, drug use and steroid use throughout his pro wrestling and MMA career at a level that I don’t think any other book has gone, including dealing ecstasy at the same time he was on top in WWE. “This book is not just from my point of view but also from the viewpoints of those who were with me back I the day,” Shamrock said. “They had the freedom to tell all

I open up about my whole life–both highs and lows. And some of the lows will cause your jaw to hit the ground.

Yes Dave writing Bas Rotten is going to make me giggle all day

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The JR book was every bit as amazing as people said it was, and I am telling everyone that the end with him telling of how Jan died is one of the most powerful and emotional things you will ever read and you will be fighting back tears while doing so.

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So I'm reading Orange Crush (the Journal of Art and Wrestling) and there's this lengthy essay about going to watch Joey Janela's Spring Break on Ecstasy. And not only does the guy name drop this board, he even says that in his life as a Wrestling fans, he never liked deathmatches until he read a review of Necro vs Toby Klein (2003 IWA-MS) on Segunda Caida which totally opened his eyes to why they were good.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just as a heads up, there are a number of wrestling books on Hoopla.

The new Andre, the Mad Dog book, Backlund, Bob Holly, Korderas, Slobberknocker, Duggan, The Dr. Death autobiography, The King of New Orleans about JYD/Mid South, Luger's book. Funk, Dusty, Snow, Pete Gas, George Steele, plus at least two or three Hornbaker books and Hardcore History

I'm reading the Mad Dog book now and will probably try the Backlund one next.

EDIT: Also Billy Robinson's book, and Bill Apter's. Plus a few more I missed.

Edited by Matt D
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To add to Matt's list:

-Cornette's graphic novel
-A few of Greg Oliver's books (Storytellers; Heroes & Icons)
-Kanyon's book
-Colt Cabana/Cody Rhodes/Young Bucks picture books
-Death of WCW
-Creating the Mania (Jon Robinson)
-Pat Patterson's book
-Sisterhood of the Squared Circle (Pat Laprade)
-The NXT book
-A Bryan Alvarez book about the "101 Things WWE Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die"
-Shooters by Jon Snowden
-The Benoit book Scott Keith put out
-The Matysik book on the 50 Greatest Wrestlers of all time
-Jim Ross' first book
-Bruce Hart's book
-A lot of issues of the WWE comic

Also the GLOW documentary and No Holds Barred in their streaming video collection.

And this is still missing stuff. I've been a librarian for 20+ years, so I'm both very familiar with Hoopla and can also say that their search can be obtuse at times.

Edited by Shane
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So I asked RIPPA and he kindly said I could post this here...

After years of threatening to do it, WRESTLING CAN BE ANYTHING is a new 'zine by Alan of the Love The Graps podcast, trying to prove that wrestling can be anything and anything can be wrestling.

3 issues have been published so far:

Issue 1 has the first parts of a history of Fighting Opera HUSTLE and the Insane Clown Posse's wrestling careers, as well as pieces on the 1970s World of Sport wrestler Catweazle, The Mountain Goats' album "Beat The Champ", the real-life superhero Superbarrio, and that time The Thing from the Fantastic Four became a pro-wrestler.

In issue 2, as well as continuing the stories of Fighting Opera HUSTLE and Juggalo Championshit Wrestling, we kick off a three-part look at the weird career of Charles Wright, and take a look at the 70s wrestling sitcom The Losers and shine a light on Danhausen.

Issue 3 continues well the stories of Fighting Opera HUSTLE, Juggalo Championshit Wrestling, and the weird career of Charles Wright, and also features an introduction to CHIKARA's Nouveau Aesthetic, BLANK & Still Life With Apricots And Pears. Rounding out the issue is the deepest dive EVER into Grunt! The Wrestling Movie.

Each issue is at least 40 pages long, A5 in size, and uses the font Trebuchet.

You can get a copy posted to your house by sending £3.50 (£4.50 for US orders) through PayPal to [email protected]. Please tick the "sending to a friend or family" box and put your address in the notes so I know where to send it to! Alternatively, you can use the webstore at wrestlingcanbeanything.bigcartel.com, but it costs an extra 50p!

WCBA1-3.png

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  • 2 weeks later...

Lourdes Grobet's Lucha Libre:  Masked Superstars of Mexican Wrestling is the best one.  A bit rare and expensive and more of a photobook but all of the text is bilingual, and there's some good history stuff in there.

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Issue four of the funky wikipedia of wrestling 'zines is out now, and features part four of our five-part look at Fighting Opera HUSTLE, the final chapters of both the Charles Wright & Insane Clown Posse stories, that time the WWWF booked Battman, the story of Steven Universe's Tiger Millionaire, and we finally get to the best pure babyface in modern wrestling, Nick Gage!

40 pages, black & white, 10pt Trebuchet MS

You can get a copy posted to your house by sending £3.50 (£4.50 for anywhere outside the UK) through PayPal to [email protected]. Please tick the "sending to a friend or family" box and put your address in the notes so I know where to send it to! Alternatively, you can the webstore at wrestlingcanbeanything.bigcartel.com, but it costs an extra 50p! I also do PDF copies for £1 each!

wcba4a.png

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On 6/9/2020 at 4:23 PM, Tromatagon said:

Lourdes Grobet's Lucha Libre:  Masked Superstars of Mexican Wrestling is the best one.  A bit rare and expensive and more of a photobook but all of the text is bilingual, and there's some good history stuff in there.

Thanks for the recommendation, I managed to pick a used copy up (for under £5!) and it came today, in good condition and looks awesome from what I've looked so far. Text in both Spanish and English. 

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On 6/11/2020 at 1:58 PM, Curt McGirt said:

IIRC, my friend's copy had some loose/falling out pages from frequent reading/being flipped through so you might keep an eye on the binding. 

 

On 6/11/2020 at 2:24 PM, Tromatagon said:

Yeah mine has the same problem.

I thought I was the only one!

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  • 2 weeks later...

And he also really hates Koji Kanemoto.

In fact, Jericho hates Kanemoto as well. Possibly Koji is just a bad person.

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