Crazy Like A Fox - The Definitive Chronicle of Brian Pillman 20 Years Later

[JaymeFuture]

Thank you both for the comments, glad to read that you enjoyed it.

 

Dawho - believe me, following the few chapters previous I was dying for a semblence of positivity to reveal itself.

 

SPS - please do post that! That's really massively appreciated, almost overwhelming. I know what you mean about looking at the literature Brian poured through to prep for the Loose Cannon, I did the exact same to try and grasp Pillman's outlook from that point and it really is something else.

[DMJ]

Haven't finished it yet, but am nearing the end. I went ahead and left a 5-star review on Amazon.

 

Thank you for writing a wrestling book that is intelligent and well-researched. I posted my review under my wife's name (it was her Amazon account I ordered it on) and I'm hoping it helps spread the word on how good this book is.

[JaymeFuture]

Wow - thank you so much for leaving the Amazon review, I greatly appreciate that. Funnily enough heard from a couple of people this weekend saying they bought it based on those reviews, so I am extremely grateful.

[BigBadMick]

My wife bought me the book as a Christmas present. I'm up to the start of 1993 now. As everyone else has said, really good, detailed work on the early part of his life and career.

 

I hadn't really thought about how much he disappeared in the latter part of 1990, that was interesting. And I didn't know the first idea was a tag team with Benoit in late 1992.

[JaymeFuture]

Thank you very much - let me know what you think as you progress. In my opinion the book picks up as it goes along, though others seem to love the WCW section mid-90s the best, interestingly enough.

 

As a quick heads up, I was interviewed by Meltzer and Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Radio on Friday to talk about the book, which you can find at the following link: https://www.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-radio/wor-liam-orourke-talks-his-book-life-brian-pillman-249756

[dawho5]

You're not wrong. The WCW section was very good and I liked a lot of the info in there. But the book itself really gets rolling at the end and gets hard to put down. Well, up until that last little bit where you're wondering if there's even the faintest hope of a happy ending for somebody.

[JaymeFuture]

Just for an update to those who were waiting for this to be released on Kindle - the day has finally arrived, and you can now procure 'Crazy Like A Fox - The Definitive Chronicle of Brian Pillman 20 Years Later' as an e-book.

[BrianB]

On my first pass through I enjoyed the 1st section the most, but found the final 3rd or so from the loose cannon gimmick creation to the ending the most informing and harrowing. But as I've re-visited and read sections, those wcw sections steadily gain in my opinion. I think Meltzer was 100% right to credit your insight on reading between the lines about booking in WCW during that time. In particular, I think reading between the lines on Dustin Rhodes coming in and his eventual impact was spot on. And I'm not sure that really comes through clearly in the newsletters of the period.

 

Just for an update to those who were waiting for this to be released on Kindle - the day has finally arrived, and you can now procure 'Crazy Like A Fox - The Definitive Chronicle of Brian Pillman 20 Years Later' as an e-book.

 

Great I'll be picking this up too, since the search function will be really useful because there's so much great stuff within this book and highlighters and page marking started to get unwieldly when I thought about it.

 

Liam, if you don't mind commenting. Where do you come down on the Meltzer and Wood divide on where Brian Pillman ultimately hoped to go? I'm sure someone as thoughtful as Brian would've waffled, but he must've come in with a clear target and probably by the time he actually got to playing one against the other in negotiations fairly openly, he'd have re-assessed and decided what was the best situation. What's your take?

 

Related sidebar: I know you've mentioned how you wonder how Pillman's never realized plan to crash a WWF MSG houseshow would've gone over with Vince, if Brian had pulled it off. (I suspect it would've soured Vince myself.) But if Brian had gone to the WWF, without the car wreck, how do you think he would've thrived over a the long run? To what degree would he have to adapt and reign he's playing the gimmick to hilt in? Obviously, Vince in the professional sense didn't heavily promote or continually push guys like Brody, the Road Warriors, or Terry Funk, which were the main wrestler inspirations to the Loose Cannon gimmick, and Vince, by most accounts, had a strained relationship with Piper as well, who was the other major influence. On the other hand, Vince was behind in the wrestling war. Do you think he'd have made a hit and then needed to switch sides like Brody, Road Warriors, and eventually Piper, did? Or could he have lasted it out with Vince, and potentially as Kim Wood provocatively put out there....made the Stephanie move without it blowing up in his face?

[JaymeFuture]

Well, firstly, thanks for the comment on the WCW section - it's interesting to hear that, a few people have echoed it and it's very appreciated.

 

To answer your question, I believe that when it all started, he was thinking WCW. No doubt. Con the conman. Bischoff is a bullshit artist. We can't get a big contract by just being very good. The entire thing was that the weakness of the boss was his ego. There's a story that Eric made a bet with Harry Anderson, who worked high up on the financial side at Turner, that if he could turn a profit with WCW in 1995, Harry would have to get on his hands and knees at the Turner Christmas party and hand Eric a dollar. And he did - by offloading certain contracts and expenses on other books. But that sums it up - Bischoff was desperate to create the perception that he had come in and was on Vince's level. You talk to, or just listen to, some wrestlers talk about Vince at that time, and they think that he's this genius beyond reproach with a Machiavellian ability to know everything and see everything coming. It's absurd. But Bischoff wanted to be Vince, and he bullshitted his way into the position and he wasn't the most respected guy by the wrestlers before he got the job, and their respect was everything. Brian, with the scam, had currency for Bischoff - the ability to make Eric look like a master manipulator. But as the book mentions, by doing so, it gives Brian the massive platform of doing what he wants.

 

As time goes by, Brian absolutely was less certain. He didn't really want to leave WCW, but it crossed his mind that the WWF was becoming a more and more viable option than he first anticipated. If he's healthy, he takes the offer he managed to push Bischoff up to after the wreck, no doubt in my mind.

 

If he'd gone to Vince healthy and with enough of his bearings in tact, he would have done well with him. Because as much as the character and the contract manipulation was inspired by those guys, if he was more level headed when he worked with McMahon, I think he would have ended up as a very close confidant, because Vince would have adored the alpha male he was in real life. That just gels - Vince was a wannabe jock himself, and he'd had loved prime Brian as the smartest guy, toughest guy, womanizer type. Maybe as he progresses they fall out as most people tended to at the time with Vince, but I don't think they fall apart until Brian is in a position where it doesn't matter to him any more. Either way, his future was huge.

[SPS]

Liam, with the positive feedback from this book are you planning on writing any other wrestling books in the future?

[BrianB]

Thanks for responding. That all sounds right on to me, especially when I tried to think about everything.

 

What do you think his WCW future would've been projecting a year or so out, assuming he re-signed and dodged the car wreck? I started thinking about it, and there just seem tons of routes. Some great for Brian, and some fairly awful. I started typing some of that up, but realized there was even more than I'd thought of at first. I'll post up my full thoughts tomorrow. Just briefly, some of the main stuff that occured to me would be how he'd navigate those shark waters with Hall and Nash coming in, along with Hogan's return (and probable hard on for Pillman to do a job to him). Best case scenario seems like he gets a DDP type slot (outside shot for undercutting Luger). He's then in a great position to re-negotiate his contract and get a raise, which is in the interest of his old comedy buddy Kevin Nash, and in the interest of Scott Hall. And worst case is he's either stuck in the horsemen and ends up shoved into the midcard or upper-tier midcard but nwo job duty, OR Bischoff is talked into putting him into the revitalized, but work-rate heavy cruiserweight mix and Pillman isn't positioned above somebody like Syxx.

[JaymeFuture]

Just a heads up on anybody that doesn't have this that's interested - I am running a sale on my limited stock of the book and undercutting Amazon - if anybody would like a signed copy of the book, I'm selling them for £12 or $15, depending on your location of course. Drop me a response on here or email [email protected] if you'd like to know more.