Under-the-radar wrestling book recommendations

[victory]

The Kindle version of Patterson's book is on sale for $4.99.

Thanks for the heads up on this. That's a great price. I'll look for it later today on there.

[khawk20]

 

The Kindle version of Patterson's book is on sale for $4.99.

Thanks for the heads up on this. That's a great price. I'll look for it later today on there.

 

 

Kobo store has it for $3.89 For those that use Kobo e-readers. Not sure how the compatibility of e-books is between the two readers is but I think they don't cross-match well.

[C.S.]

Kobo store has it for $3.89 For those that use Kobo e-readers. Not sure how the compatibility of e-books is between the two readers is but I think they don't cross-match well.

Where are you seeing that?

 

Says $4.99 for me.

 

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/accepted-2

[khawk20]

I was at work when I checked, punched the site into Google, and found it for &3.89.

 

Are you in Canada? I am and maybe I called up the us price. I dunno.

[C.S.]

I read the sample for this last night and really enjoyed it...

 

The Power Slam Interviews Volume 1

by Findlay Martin

 

It's a collection of interviews previously published in Power Slam Magazine. The sample contains three full interviews - Stunning Steve Austin (somewhat kayfabe but still highly entertaining), Mick Foley (after his ear was ripped off), and Shane Douglas (after the Dean Douglas run). The sample cuts off at the beginning of a Bam Bam Bigelow interview.

 

The list of interviewees (year in which the interview took place in parentheses):

From the 1990s: Steve Austin (1994), Cactus Jack (1995), Shane Douglas (1996), Bam Bam Bigelow (1996), Taz (1997), The Dynamite Kid (1998) and Chris Jericho (1999).

The 2000s: Eddie Guerrero (2001), C.M. Punk (2004), Sean ‘X-Pac’ Waltman (2007), Paul Heyman (2008) and Dylan ‘Necro Butcher’ Summers (2008).

The 2010s: Tyler Black (2010), Paul London (2010), Kevin Steen (2011), Jeff Hardy (2012), Ricochet (2013), George ‘The Animal’ Steele (2013), A.J. Styles (2014), Fergal Devitt (2014) and Adam Cole (2014).

Steve Austin voices his frustration at WCW, while still under contract to WCW. Shane Douglas fires a broadside at The Clique and Vince McMahon, following his disastrous tenure as Dean Douglas in the WWF. Chris Jericho lashes out at WCW for refusing to maximise his talents.

Eddie Guerrero comments on his exit from the WWF in November 2001 and his commitment to sobriety. ROH star C.M. Punk weighs up his chances of making it to WWE. Sean Waltman recalls his adventures in WCW, TNA and XPW and the sheer lunacy of the Plane Ride From Hell. Paul Heyman explains what it is really like to work on the WWE writing team.

Dylan ‘Necro Butcher’ Summers reflects on his appearance in The Wrestler and the dangers of death matches. Paul London offers a startling account of life inside the WWE system. Kevin Steen wonders what’s next after his banishment from ROH at Final Battle 2010. Jeff Hardy talks prison and redemption. Fergal Devitt mulls over his long tenure with New Japan and ponders his future in wrestling. And that’s just for starters.

Each interview comes with a new introduction, which whisks the reader back to the time when the interview took place.

What’s more, The Power Slam Interviews Volume 1 contains previously unpublished interviews, recorded in 2016, with Jerry Lynn, Jayson ‘JTG’ Paul, Drew Galloway, Tommy Dreamer and Mark Dallas. Each new interview is in-depth and insightful.

 

I've never read Power Slam Magazine, so all of this is new to me. But if you have, I imagine it might be fun re-reading some of these.

 

My only nitpick is that he begins every single interview (so far) with the same disclaimer that it was originally published as an article and the tense has been changed from past to present for easier reading. Okay, we got it the first time!!!

 

Still, I really liked all of the interviews in the sample.

 

$6.99 for 410 pages seems very fair to me.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Power-Slam-Interviews-1-ebook/dp/B01ILZX304/

 

The same author previously published this (but I haven't read it):

 

Pro Wrestling Through The Power Slam Years: 1994-2014
by Findlay Martin

 

https://www.amazon.com/Wrestling-Through-Power-Slam-Years-ebook/dp/B014X2W6QG/

 

It's a buck more, at $7.99, which also seems like a good price. I hate the recent-ish trend of every new release starting off at $12.99, so prices like these are welcome.

[Tabe]

I recently finished Mark Fleming's book "It's Wrestling, Not Rasslin'". Very good book. Nice picture of early 80s JCP through the eyes of a job guy. He also talks about his career in South Atlantic and gives us the most-complete look inside UWFI yet seen. And, of course, lots of stuff on his friend and mentor, Lou Thesz. It's not the best book you'll ever read but it's good and I enjoyed every page.

[Lust Hogan]

I picked up Chris Jericho's "The Best in the World: At What I Have No Idea" (3rd book) last night at Books A Million for $5.97. If there's a BAM near you and you haven't gotten to this yet it's at a great price!

[TonyPulis'Cap]

Have just finished up former Power Slam writer Greg Lambert's book 'Holy Grail' which covers British wrestling from around 2000 to 2007. It's a really interesting insight to what you would call the initial upturn in British wrestling popularity following the end of the World of Sport era but then goes into detail about some of the reasons behind it falling away again between 2006 and 2010/11. It's a good read when looked at it in the current light of the UK scene thriving, and I think a lot of the things that went on at the beginning of the 21st century have helped set the table for where we are now - not least some of the mistakes to learn from.

 

You really do see what a state British wrestling was in at times and the rank amateurism of some of the projects, but despite all that and with no budgets at all to play with really, there were companies and shows which really got me into the domestic scene here in the UK in the early 2000s.

 

I quite like Lambert's chatty and informal style and he comes across well. He also brings excellent insight from being both an 'on air/in ring' talent (he was a heel manager) and later a key decision maker in the FWA. Because of that the book has a heavy focus on the ups and downs of the FWA and it's fascinating to look at how they really were an ECW style promotion for the UK in the sense that they did things that nobody had really done in British wrestling but then the same tactics eventually led to them crashing and burning.

 

The book also operates a bit like a biography of Alex Shane. He's very much a marmite figure, but you cant help but come away with some admiration for him at the things he was able to achieve mainly through the force of his personality.

 

Overall I'd really recommend it as an excellent companion piece for looking at how the UK scene has grown so amazingly over the past few years.

[Hoya Saxa]

Has anyone read "When it was Big Time" by Rock Rims"? It's a history of wrestling in California and looks very interesting.

[SPS]

Does anyone know where I can get a copy of Mike Quakenbush's book Headquarters? It doesn't seem to be available anymore and from the description, it seems like a fun read.

[SirEdger]

 

I'm not quite sure how under the radar this is, but Shooters by Jonathan Snowden is probably the best wrestling book that I have ever read -- if not the best certainly top 5. He gives some fairly in-depth biographies of top legitimate tough guys throughout the history of the business, but the book is laid out in such a way that it also serves as a decent introduction to the general history of pro-wrestling in North America and Japan. I can't recommend it highly enough.

 

Read a sample of this on my Kindle last night. Really well-written and compelling stuff. I remember it being posted here at the time, so I'm not sure why I never bought it.

 

Any reason to get the Kindle edition over the physical book? (Glossy photographs, etc.?)

 

Some others I've read recently:

 

- I really doubt this is under-the-radar, but the new Pat Patterson book - Accepted: How the First Gay Superstar Changed WWE - is excellent. It covers everything, from his childhood to Legends House. There are a couple of instances of homophobia or discrimination where he doesn't name the perpetrator because he doesn't want to give them the satisfaction of seeing their name in print, and you kinda wish he'd go into even more detail at times (especially about the Alley Fight with Sgt. Slaughter), but those are nitpicks. One person he does go into detail about is Ray Stevens, who gets an entire chapter dedicated to him. It's a fantastic book overall, and it will probably end up being the best wrestling book of the year. I highly recommend it.

 

- I also finished Ali vs. Inoki, and it's a bit dry but quite good. Goes into wrestling a lot more than I expected - including quite a bit of detail about side characters in the story, like Freddie Blassie. The Kindle version has formatting issues though - missing dashes and words clumped together likethis - so the physical version might be the way to go, assuming that doesn't also have the same problems. I've made the author aware, but a fix has not been issued yet. I hope they just don't ignore it.

 

Really drives me crazy when this happens on Kindle books. Ring of Hell was a catastrophe in this regard, and the butthead author and publishers of that completely ignored me. Looks like it's not even on the Kindle store anymore. That's one way to solve the problem, I guess. Still wish I had gotten a refund at the time.

 

Thankfully, the Ali vs. Inoki author acknowledged me and said he was unaware of the problem but would be looking into it, so I really hope a fix is forthcoming.

 

 

In this case, if you loved the Pat Patterson autobiography, I highly recommend from the same author "Mad Dogs, Midgets & Screwjobs" about the history of pro wrestling in the Montreal territory. Extremely complete, starting all the way back to the late 19th century until the recent days (I think Kevin Owens was about to make his main roster debut when it was published) so you shall find it very interesting. Dave Meltzer & Greg Oliver also collaborated on the book.

 

Also, the Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon biography is being released on March 28 if this interests you as well - also from the same author.

[Al]

The authors of Mad Dogs... are releasing a book on women's wrestling next month. I'm looking forward to that one.

[Ricky Jackson]

Has anyone read the Piper bio done by his kids and have any thoughts? Just got that one yesterday

[anarchistxx]

Is the Tammy Sytch autobiography worth reading? Can pick it up for about £8.

 

I like scurrilous gossip and sleaze, so aren't necessarily looking for something with literary merit or insight into the business, just something sordid and interesting.

[BrianB]

Is the Tammy Sytch autobiography worth reading? Can pick it up for about £8.

 

I like scurrilous gossip and sleaze, so aren't necessarily looking for something with literary merit or insight into the business, just something sordid and interesting.

 

Judging by the quotes Conrad read on STWWBP, her book has got plenty of that, so you may like it.

[C.S.]

Not a recommendation (I haven't read it yet), just a heads-up that this is free on Kindle today:

 

Wrestling With Girls
by Alan Lewis

 

Wrestling with Girls is the unlikely, outrageous, and at least partly true story of a major cultural icon of 20th Century America -- the man who brought professional wrestling to television.

Hack Hallestrom is a lifelong loser on the verge of cashing in his one good idea. Unfortunately, he's about to die.

Part P.T. Barnum, part Homer Simpson, Hallestrom is a forward-looking entrepreneur trapped in wrestler’s trunks, just smart enough to get into serious trouble. When an opponent died in the ring seven years ago, he was forced to flee Minnesota rather than tell what he knew about a mobster's involvement. If he ever returns, there's a D.A. waiting to grill him, and a hitman who'll kill him first.

But in wrestling's scripted morality plays, our future is written by our past, and Hallestrom's beginnings are about to write his end. Forced at last to take arms against his sea of troubles, the reluctant Dane returns home to confront his responsibility. With the help of the woman he’s married to, the woman he thinks he’s married to, and the woman he wants to marry, he just might get through.

Wrestling with Girls is a comic noir fable about ambition and moral myopia in the go-go prosperity of 1950s America. It’s also a loving look at the early days of modern professional wrestling, when the new medium of television transformed a carny grotesquerie into a living-room favorite.

 

That makes it sound partially like a non-fiction book or memoir, but I'm pretty sure it's fiction.

 

Whether it's any good, who knows, but free is free. Worth a shot.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Wrestling-Girls-Alan-Lewis-ebook/dp/B00IACTE9I/

[Al]

The kindle version of William Regal's book is $3.99 on Amazon.

[C.S.]

The kindle version of William Regal's book is $3.99 on Amazon.

 

Now $2.99.

 

If you bought it within the last seven days, go to http://www.amazon.com/myk, push the refund button, and then re-buy it at the lower price.

 

One review, though, warns that the Kindle edition is formatted abysmally.

 

"Tremendously great book for anyone and everyone. The only down side is the Kindle publication is awful. Typos and repeat paragraphs galore."

 

I'll avoid it for that reason. So tired of ebooks with lazy and inexcusable formatting issues. Ali vs. Inoki is particularly bad for this, and nothing has been fixed despite the author being made aware of it.

[C.S.]

Former WWE ring announcer Justin Roberts' book, Best Seat in the House, is 99 cents - today only.

 

It goes into the toxic WWE bullying culture.

 

https://smile.amazon.com/Best-Seat-House-Justin-Roberts-ebook/dp/B06XBHBZ88/

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/best-seat-in-the-house-justin-roberts/1125259823?ean=9781782554516#/

[jameshold]

If you'd like to sample some fictional stories with a pro wrestling background try these freebies: https://www.smashwords.com/books/byseries/14006.

 

[kaufman316]

Has anyone read the Piper bio done by his kids and have any thoughts? Just got that one yesterday

As a fan of Piper I thought the book was informative and insightful. A good amount of it does cover his pre-graps life and unveils some of the kayfabe around his commonly-accepted bio e.g. whence his ring name derives.

[Ricky Jackson]

 

Has anyone read the Piper bio done by his kids and have any thoughts? Just got that one yesterday

As a fan of Piper I thought the book was informative and insightful. A good amount of it does cover his pre-graps life and unveils some of the kayfabe around his commonly-accepted bio e.g. whence his ring name derives.

I thought the story of his childhood and youth growing up in Canada was great. The story of his wrestling career, unfortunately, felt rushed at times and was far from the definitive account imo (understandable considering Roddy died in the early stages of the book coming together)

[C.S.]

Shooters: The Toughest Men in Professional Wrestling is now $6.99 on Kindle - the lowest price it's ever been, according to ereaderiq.com.

[WingedEagle]

Shooters: The Toughest Men in Professional Wrestling is now $6.99 on Kindle - the lowest price it's ever been, according to ereaderiq.com.

 

You're better off with back issues of the WON covering the figures featured in here.

[SPS]

 

Shooters: The Toughest Men in Professional Wrestling is now $6.99 on Kindle - the lowest price it's ever been, according to ereaderiq.com.

 

You're better off with back issues of the WON covering the figures featured in here.

 

What about it makes you prefer the Observer? I bought this book when it first came out and really enjoyed it myself.