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Under-the-radar wrestling book recommendations


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Legends of Pro Wrestling: 150 Years of Headlocks, Body Slams, and Piledrivers by Tim Hornbaker just dropped to $1.99 on Kindle.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01HDVCNHQ

The Snuka foreword was dropped from the 2017 version of the book. 

If you want that, the older 2012 version is still on sale for the same price.

https://smile.amazon.com/Legends-Pro-Wrestling-Headlocks-Piledrivers-ebook/dp/B008JF1QIS/

I got the more recent edition without the Snuka foreword.

Seems like a basic list of wrestling bios, but it could be a fun read.

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6 hours ago, khawk20 said:

I don’t have that app but I’d be interested to see that at some point, mostly to see if there’s any real insight.

It's on Kindle for $6.55, or free with an unlimited subscription. Took a quick peek, looks like card by card reviews/impressions from 1987 until the end. I think the author is just a superfan and not a polished writer or historian, to give you an idea of the content. Might be worth it considering the low price

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  • 4 weeks later...

Has anyone read any of the "History of the WWF" books by Jonathan Johnson? 

Well-researched, almost overly-detailed 300+ page books about wrestling minutiae is definitely my bag (I loved Nitro and the Pillman books, for example) so these books seem like things I would enjoy and I was given a Barnes and Noble gift card for the holidays and would prefer to spend it on a book that I know my local libraries will probably never get/have.

 

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I took a chance on the Justin Credible book by Kenny Casanova. I'll let everyone know how it is. 

On 1/2/2023 at 8:32 AM, BigBadMick said:

Wondering if anyone has read Bischoff's new book 'Grateful' yet? And if so, is it any good?

I just finished it. It's not nearly as good as Guy Evans' Nitro book - of course not - but it's decent.

Bischoff opens up about TNA, AEW, his loyalty to Hulk Hogan and Ted Turner, and his recent aborted WWE run as the "Executive Director" of Smackdown.

Like Controversy Creates Cash, it's never the most exciting, dynamic read, but Bischoff is honest and pulls no punches. 

On 1/2/2023 at 9:01 AM, DMJ said:

Has anyone read any of the "History of the WWF" books by Jonathan Johnson? 

Well-researched, almost overly-detailed 300+ page books about wrestling minutiae is definitely my bag (I loved Nitro and the Pillman books, for example) so these books seem like things I would enjoy and I was given a Barnes and Noble gift card for the holidays and would prefer to spend it on a book that I know my local libraries will probably never get/have.

I haven't, but if you have a Kindle Unlimited membership, most of them are free to read that way.

They seem like self-published books, with that entails. That doesn't necessarily make them bad, but based on the sample I read of one of them, it's basically just straight recaps. If that's your bag, go for it, but you can honestly find more in-depth show/match reviews and analysis here on PWO. 

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So I read that "We Promised You a Great Main Event" book I asked about earlier. It's basically a history of the WWE from VKM's takeover up to WM36. It's nothing really new, and has a weird snarky tone to it as well. The only new things I learned were that the shots of kids wearing WWE merchandise in the crowd were set up, they'd give the kids merch and show them playing with it, then take it away (they were likely allowed to keep the ice cream bars) and give them to another kid. The other, more interesting thing, was the origin of Repo Man. Barry Darsow came across a tape of some indy guy doing a repo man gimmick (a more realistic take on the character), and showed it to Vince (likely suggesting he hire said indy wrestler), but Vince was more in love with the gimmick and gave it to Darsow, who took a more comedic approach to it.

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I think it has a pretty good chance of being a very interesting read. It's completely free of any Vince involvement afaik, so it should be a no holds barred look. The excerpt from the publishers site suggests it will be thorough if nothing else 

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Ringmaster/Abraham-Riesman/9781982169442

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8 hours ago, flyonthewall2983 said:

I just noticed that Simon and Schuster are putting out RingMaster. Weren’t they WWE’s publisher when Foley’s books came out and after?

My copy of Foley's first book says that the hardcover was published by HarperCollins. The Rock's book (which came out in 2000) and Angle's book are also HarperCollins. So I guess no.

EDIT: it seems Simon & Schuster were the WWE publisher in the mid to late 00s. On their page, they list for example Eddie's autobiography:

https://www.simonandschuster.com/search/books/Imprint-World-Wrestling-Entertainment/Series-WWE/_/N-1z13mruZ1z13ivn/Ne-ph4

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Simon & Schuster distributed a New Day graphic novel just last year.

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/WWE-The-New-Day-Power-of-Positivity/Evan-Narcisse/WWE/9781684156368

They also published the most important literary work of this century.

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Journey-Into-Darkness/Michael-Chiappetta/WWE/9781476738895

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Two versions of the Vince/WWE book TrumpMania are free on Kindle.

Not sure what the differences are, except cover art and page count.

Since both are free, I'll grab both.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08JL64PDQ (2020 Election Edition)

https://www.amazon.com/TrumpMania-McMahon-making-Americas-President-ebook/dp/B077NK5ZPR (original edition)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Meant to ask this months ago and totally forgot: was there a consensus take on Matysik's Bruiser Brody book? Really enjoy Matysik on old mid-2000s WOR and am always a little surprised by how close he apparently was to Brody. Normally I wouldn't be interested in a hagiography but coming from a polar opposite who was nonetheless one of the guy's best friends maybe I'd find the time.

Looking forward to reading that Abe Riesman book. Some of the screenshots I've seen have me worried but excited either way.

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