2011 Pro Wrestling Thread

They had a match at Wrestlemania X-Seven. Looking back at the cards of previous WMs, it blows my mind that 'Taker faced Mark Henry at Wrestlemania as recently as WM 22. 'Taker has had some pretty shit opponents at quite a few Wrestlemanias. Snuka, Big Boss Man, Mark Henry, Giant Gonzales, King Kong Bundy, and Diesel (when it was pretty widely known that it was his last match before heading to WCW).

 

Harley's list of books is pretty good. Mine is pretty similar:

THE GOOD
- Both of Jericho's
- All of Mick Foley's, although The Hardcore Diaries is his weakest effort
- The Death of WCW by Figure Four Weekly; I think this came out in early 2000s, so some new information and shoots have contradicted it, but it's still a good overview of some things that went right and wrong with the product.
- Controversy Creates Cash by Bischoff; kind of the corporate counterpart to the previous title. I'm sure plenty of it is shilling, but it's still an interesting read.

THE MEH
- HBK and Ric Flair's books. Both feel a bit shorter than they should be, and don't get as much into backstage politics and booking stuff as you'd like. If you can find them cheap though, they're decent reads.
- Wrestling's Bad Boy by Bobby Heenan. Interesting book, but I think it's semi-rare; I had to buy it new for like $20, since I couldn't get it at the library. For that price, you're better off just buying his shoot, which is more focused on his WWE and WCW time. His book is more of an overview of his career.
- The Wrestlecrap books. If you can get them used, for under $10, they're interesting. But they're more along the lines of light bathroom reading (no pun intended).

THE HORRIBLE
- Hulk Hogan's books. I've read two, didn't like either.
- World Wrestling Insanity. Imagine about 300 pages of Bleacher Report-like speculation about the WWE. Very little in the way of sourcing, outside of people already pissed at the WWE and out-of-context remarks. (IIRC They use something by Jericho in an interview to portray him as anti-WWE.)
- Ring of Insanity. Hack job on Benoit by a writer looking to make a quick book. Benoit would make for a great book if done properly, but like the Insanity book, this is essentially 300 pages of other people's reporting laced with anger. The first 30 pages or so, which detail his obsessive training and steroid usage in his teens, is interesting. The rest of the book sucks.

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Is anyone into shoots besides me? I like to leave them on in the background while I'm playing video games or doing something else low-stress. Heenan's is good, but the best two I've seen were surprising - Lanny "The Genius" "Macho Man's brother" Poffo and Ivory doing a 2001 timeline for WWE. (In timeline movies, they basically interview the subject about that year in the company.)

 

Re: Books

The Jericho ones I consider the gold standards, with Foley's first close behind.

The HBK and Bret Hart are recommended mainly because you get each side of the Montreal Screwjob, but there's a lot of other good stuff in both.

Ric Flair's book is a definite keeper because of the all the insight to the booking of the '70s and '80s NWA.

I second the criticism of "World Wrestling Insanity." I downloaded that one because (a) most of the reviews on Amazon were raving about it and (b) I had read an earlier book of Guttman's on his experiences hosting a radio wrestling show and it wasn't too bad. However, WWI just read as a long diatribe against Triple H and the McMahon family. He may have had a point with some of it but after awhile it's "Alright already. We get it! You don't like Triple H!"

One I haven't heard mentioned that I liked was "Sex, Lies and Headlocks" by Shaun Assael and Mike Mooneyham. It's mainly about McMahon's rise and the evolution of pro wrestling from the '80s into now. It's wades through a lot of familiar territory, but it is an interesting recap of how "sports entertainment" has grown and changed.

 

My take on books:

The Best:

Foley's first (The standard)

Jericho's first (Just started reading the second. Liking what I'm reading, and any book that has a chapter titled "Prematurely Ejaculating Nightsticks" is a winner in my book. Come to think of it, Prematurely Ejaculating Nightsticks would make a good name for a fantasy team)

The very good:

Flair's (Excellent behind scenes stuff, doesn't devote too much time to childhood, even though, arguably, he had the most interesting one, and some very intense stuff about his depression. I can imagine how hard it was for him to disclose in a book about the scene where he couldn't leave his hotel room, and that the only people that knew about it until the book was Arn, Sullivan, and the McMahons)

Bret Hart's (A virtual encyclopedia)

Freddie Blassie's (Some good stories, and good background on the Ali/Inoki fiasco)

Superstar Graham's (The beginning with his childhood, religion stuff is boring, but the wrestling stuff is very good, he's honest about his post-wrestling screwups, and his chapter on the deceased woman who donated the liver that saved his life is really nice to read)

The History of ECW (or I think that's the title). Very good look at all of ECW history. Lots of wrestlers quoted in it.

The Good:

A Mildred Burke book (not an autobiography). Gives good insight on women's wrestling in the 1930s-50s, especially with the behind-scenes issues with Burke and Billy Wolfe.

HBK's (Yeah, you wish there'd be more behind scenes stuff, but all in all, I liked it)

Foley's third (He does become pretty whiny, but I still found the behind-scenes stuff interesting. I guess it's just me)

The Hardyz (Different take, with both of them alternating in story-telling. And it came out about 10 years too early)

Heenan's first (A little short, would have liked to see more WWF stories, but the pre-WWF stuff was good)

The Fair:

Lawler's (Very good wrestling stories, boring childhood stuff, and the chapter on Sam Bass's death was very moving. But the end of the book with his issues with The Kat, and his general sex life frankly gave me the creeps)

Hogan's first (have glanced at his second, don't know enough about it) Yeah, you can question a lot of the stories. They were told pretty well though, so I'll place it here.

Golddust's (OK stories, but very short)

Heenan's second (Not much there, although I would think a cancer patient might find it semi-inspiring)

Batista's (Seemed good, but also seemed like it was missing something)

Foley's second (Good wrestling stories, but I got tired of reading about Disney trips, and the end of the book with the political stuff frankly sucked)

The Crap:

The Rock's (Came out way too early, and it's disconcerting to alternate between having the story told by Dwyane, and then the Rock)

Chyna's (Found it very boring and dry)

 

Sean Waltman had the same critique about her cooch.

 

I know you're joking, but I've seen a shoot where he says it was the best sex of his life. He also said Lillian Garcia had an insanely huge bush.

 

"The Death of WCW" book was good, but felt like it needed some more comments from wrestlers. I think there were a few quotes from Bobby Heenan sprinkled here and there, but that was it. Maybe they didn't have the access or people weren't willing to talk at that point in time. Who knows?
Now, I have found that if you read that book, plus Jericho's first and Flair's -- might be a few others, too -- you do get a pretty interesting mosaic of what was going on in that company. If you could add the chapters from those two books to the "Death of WCW" book, you'd have an awesome piece.

 

Couldn't let a good set-up line like that slip past.
I don't doubt Waltman's assessment, though. Chyna probably works a daily 45-minute kegel set into her training regimen just because she can.

 

Plucking it off my bookshelf right now, it came out in 2004, which is a bit before Jericho and Heenan, and when you still had a good portion of those WCW and ECW guys in the WWE. I'm guessing that's why it's lacking a bit when it comes to the wrestler interviews.

 

A book I liked: Sex Lies and Headlocks, by Shaun Assael and Mike Mooneyham. It's more of an outside perspective from critical reporters.

I also have—i got it for free—a compilation of academic essays sussing out the meaning of wrestling, titled Chair Shot to the Head. Most of it is a bit much, but some have interesting points.

 

So, is ADR vs. Kofi at Elimination Chamber for the IC title?

 

I don't think so. I think it's non-title.