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Under-the-radar wrestling book recommendations


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Hope nobody minds a cheeky plug for my new book Purodyssey: A Tokyo Wrestling Diary. Blurb's below and you can get it in print and Kindle at Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C8L3DFG or on your local Amazon).

 

Thanks. I see it's available through Kindle Unlimited, so I've borrowed it. Sounds like a lot of fun.

 

BTW, speaking of KU, I just finished Jeanie Clarke's book. It's mostly about her massive drug problem, so it's quite depressing. The only difference between Jeanie Clarke and Melanie Pillman as parents is that Jeanie's kids still like her.

 

The book's page count is padded with a lot of by-the-numbers recaps of Austin's career.

 

Austin never physically abused Jeanie - or at least there's no mention of it in the book - but there are a lot of other tidbits about Austin and others.

 

I'll spoiler tag them, in case people are interested in reading this.

 

  • Jeanie's mother was an alcoholic and they grew up poor and constantly on the move.
  • Chris Adams slept around and did drugs, which led to the end of their marriage - but they remained great friends, which is how they were able to work together in wrestling later on.
  • Jeanie was great friends with Gino Hernandez, did drugs with him, and found him "asleep" in the apartment but did nothing more than knock on the door. She didn't want to call the police ahead of time because they'd find his drugs. He was dead.
  • Adams forced Austin to cancel another booking, only to stiff Austin on a payoff - promising $100 but delivering only $40. Austin never trusted Adam again and cost Adams a spot in WCW. (The WWF wasn't mentioned, but I'll assume the same pattern was repeated there.)
  • Dusty named her Lady Blossom because her breasts were blossoming out of her blouse.
  • The Iceman and "Don't let your tea get stone cold" stories are repeated here.
  • Austin 3:16 was an angry response to Jeanie Clarke's newfound religious beliefs, or at the very least, he got the idea from a religious shirt Clarke made.
  • Austin was a huge mama's boy and didn't tell his mother he split from his previous wife, was with Jeanie, and Jeanie was about to have a baby until the day before the baby was born.
  • Austin's mother was a controlling bitch who never fully liked or trusted Jeanie. Austin was too timid to stand up to her.
  • With that said, he agreed against his mother's wishes to a church wedding and to be baptized. During the Baptism, he slipped and fell, and the entire church laughed at him.
  • Jeanie spiraled into drugs after they moved to a secluded Texas house and she felt trapped, caged, and had no friends or family to turn to.
  • Jim Ross once remarked that Austin should "keep that young woman in the kitchen."
  • Austin neglected Jeanie to hang out with his neighbors - two massive racists who used the n-word, hated Mexicans, etc.
  • Those same neighbors tried to kidnap the kids from Jeanie and bring them back to Austin.
  • Eventually, Jeanie moved them away to England. Austin barely made an effort to call on birthdays, holidays, etc. Basically, he became a deadbeat dad.
  • Debra was a controlling bitch, and Austin seemed afraid to trigger her temper.
  • Adams died. Toni died. Everyone was dead.
  • Jeanie had a major drug problem. Her kids finally got her help.
  • The book has lots of quotes from WCCW and WCW personalities - Terri Runnels, Terry Garvin Simms, but not Terry Bollea.

     

 

All in all, despite the depressing subject matter, there are some good tidbits.

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I'm over halfway through in 36 hours, so I'll say yes. Easy read, might not go as in depth as I would have liked but it's difficult to sum up a forty year career in a book.

This is about how I feel.

 

Easily worth $1.99 though.

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How's the Pillman book? I've been eyeing that that one now for a few months.

 

The Pillman book was fantastic and probably in the top 5 of all the wrestling books I've read which is a ton of them. Easily well worth picking up.

 

What he said. It's absolutely fantastic. I don't know where it would rank in my all-time list, but it's easily one of the best wrestling books I've read in years.

 

BTW, it's free with Kindle Unlimited if you subscribe to that. Otherwise, you can buy the paper book on Amazon and get the Kindle version for $1.99 afterward (through Kindle Matchbook - I suggested it on another board and was happy to see the author take me up on it).

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How's the Pillman book? I've been eyeing that that one now for a few months.

The Pillman book was fantastic and probably in the top 5 of all the wrestling books I've read which is a ton of them. Easily well worth picking up.

What he said. It's absolutely fantastic. I don't know where it would rank in my all-time list, but it's easily one of the best wrestling books I've read in years.

 

BTW, it's free with Kindle Unlimited if you subscribe to that. Otherwise, you can buy the paper book on Amazon and get the Kindle version for $1.99 afterward (through Kindle Matchbook - I suggested it on another board and was happy to see the author take me up on it).

Thanks guys. I'm definitely going to pick it up now.

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  • 2 months later...

Jimmy Korderas's book is now $5 on Kindle. Likely a temporary sale price, but it's been that price a few times before according to ereaderiq.com. That site's price-tracker alerted me, so I bought it this time.

The Wrestling Journeyman: Life and Times of an Indy Wrestler: From History MAKER to History Teacher by Dusty Wolfe is currently FREE on Kindle. This is a full-length book, not one of the weird 10-page articles he sells a bunch of on the Kindle store.

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Hopefully not under the radar for too long, but...

twitter1.jpg

For six years, the stars of Britain’s ITV wrestling told their stories to Fighting Spirit Magazine’s John Lister. Now these in-depth biographies of more than 60 grapplers come together in the ultimate history of the ‘World of Sport’ era. From Adrian Street to William Regal, from Tiny Tom Thumb to Giant Haystacks, these are the true stories of amazing lives in and out of the ring.


400 pages, available worldwide on Kindle (free on Kindle Unlimited) and in print at Amazon with free postage.

https://www.amazon.com/Have-Good-Wee.../dp/1983116246
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Have-Good-W.../dp/B07DSCLGTZ



Full list of contents:



Adrian Street

Albert Wall & Gwyn Davies

Big Daddy

Billy Robinson

Blackjack Mulligan

Blondie Barratt

Brian Dixon

Brian Maxine

British Bulldogs

Catweazle

Chic Cullen

Chris Adams

Colin Joynson

Danny Collins

Dave Taylor

Doc Dean

Drew McDonald

George Kidd

Giant Haystacks

Jackie Pallo

Jackie Turpin

Jim Breaks

John Cox

John Freemantle

John Kenny

John Naylor

Johnny Kidd

Johnny Kincaid

Johnny Saint

Kendo Nagasaki

Kid Chocolate

Klondyke Kate

Kung Fu

Len Ironside

Les Kellett

Mal Kirk

Mal Sanders

Mark Rocco

Marty Jones

Mel Stuart

Mick McManus

Mike Marino

Mitzi Mueller

Orig Williams

Pete Roberts

Ray Robinson

Ricky Knight

Robbie Brookside

Scrubber Daly

Sheamus Dunleavy

Steve Grey

Tom Thumb

Tony St Clair

Tony Walsh

William Regal

Cup Final Day

Holiday Camps

Pre-TV Era

Royal Albert Hall

Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland

The Calgary Connection

Wembley Arena

Joint Promotions

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  • 3 weeks later...
7 hours ago, Al said:

Blassie's book is tremendous, a great look eras and territories in wrestling that aren't often covered in other biographies.

That's the one I bought in a heartbeat.  I have a physical copy but having a version on my Kindle for just a dollar was too good not to pass up.  Definitely grab this book!!

Also, how is Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s?  I know not to expect any real insider stuff in there, but if it's an entertaining thing to read at night before bed I'll definitely give it a look.

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9 hours ago, Al said:

Blassie's book is tremendous, a great look eras and territories in wrestling that aren't often covered in other biographies.

Absolutely. Blassie was an instant purchase for me.

2 hours ago, CarpetCrawler said:

That's the one I bought in a heartbeat.  I have a physical copy but having a version on my Kindle for just a dollar was too good not to pass up.  Definitely grab this book!!

Also, how is Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s?  I know not to expect any real insider stuff in there, but if it's an entertaining thing to read at night before bed I'll definitely give it a look.

I too have the hardcover, but 99 cents to get it on Kindle too for the convenience is a no-brainer.

As for the Main Event book, take a look inside the book if you can - it's literally just dates and match results. An easy pass for me.

The three I bought were:

- Blassie
- Tales on Wrescal Lane (only recommended if you have a tablet - iPad, etc.)
- WWE Legends

I rolled the dice on WWE Legends, but for 99 cents, why the heck not.

I also recommend (and have):

- Are We There Yet?
- Rumble Road

BTW, the Big Apple Takedown book is good, cheesy fun - imagine WWE wrestlers working undercover for the FBI or CIA or whatever it is. :D
 

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1 hour ago, flyonthewall2983 said:

Brutus Beefcake's book got a lot of plugs on the latest Something To Wrestle With. Conrad Thompson said something along the lines of it being one of the best wrestling books he's read in awhile.

I'd like to read it eventually, but the anti-Hogan stuff turned me off. It's either a cheap work to sell books, or it shows what an ungrateful coked-up loser Brutus "the fucking Barber" Beefcake really is.

I'm hardly a huge Hogan apologist (especially after his many questionable actions), but Hulk did a lot for Beefcake after the parasailing accident. I believe the podcast even covers that in detail (I read a recap).

It sucks when the people in your life are leeches and hanger-ons instead of showing any semblance of genuine friendship and loyalty. This is the one area where Hogan gets my sympathy, because he's been screwed over multiple times by his so-called "best friends" (and I don't mean just in wrestling angles, lol).

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4 hours ago, flyonthewall2983 said:

I suspect if the book is any good it'll speak truth to power as to what happened between them. Or at least as much as a pro wrestler can, even today. 

Is it only sold on his website?

Amazon has one copy of the paperback from third-party seller "wowh" (is that the publisher?) for $23.95.

https://smile.amazon.com/Brutus-Beefcake-Struttin-Official-Autobiography/dp/1941356036/

There's also a Kindle version for $9.99.

https://smile.amazon.com/Brutus-Beefcake-Struttin-Official-Autobiography-ebook/dp/B07B116QYY/

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