Wrestlecrap: The Very Worst of Professional Wrestling (Large Print 16pt)

Wrestlecrap: The Very Worst of Professional Wrestling (Large Print 16pt)
Author: Randy Baer
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2012-12-27
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 9781459654266

"WrestleCrap: The Very Worst of Professional Wrestling" examines some of the ridiculously horrible characters and storylines that pro wrestling promoters have subjected their fans to over the past twenty years. Why would any sane person think that having two grown men fight over a turkey was actually a reasonable idea? Was George Ringo, the Wrestling Beatle, really the best gimmick that a major promotional organization could come up with? And who would charge fans to watch a wrestler named the Gobbeldy Gooker emerge from an egg? In an attempt to answer such questions and figure out just what the promoters were thinking, authors Randy Baer and R.D. Reynolds go beyond what wrestling fans saw on the screen and delve into the mindset of those in the production booth. In some instances, the motivations driving the spectacle prove even more laughable than what was actually seen in the ring. Covering such entertainment catastrophes as an evil one - eyed midget and a wrestler from the mystical land of Oz, not to mention the utterly comprehensible Turkey - on - a - Pole match (a gimmick which AWA fans might recall), "WrestleCrap" is hysterically merciless in its evaluation of such organizations as the WCW and the WWF. This retrospective look at the wrestling world's misguided attempts to attract viewers will leave wrestling fans and critics alike in stitches.

Wrestlecrap

Wrestlecrap
Author: Randy Baer
Publisher: ECW Press
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2010-12-16
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 1554905443

WrestleCrap: The Very Worst of Professional Wrestling examines some of the ridiculously horrible characters and storylines that pro wrestling promoters have subjected their fans to over the past twenty years. Why would any sane person think that having two grown men fight over a turkey was actually a reasonable idea' Was George Ringo, the Wrestling Beatle, really the best gimmick that a major promotional organization could come up with' And who would charge fans to watch a wrestler named the Gobbeldy Gooker emerge from an egg' In an attempt to answer such questions and figure out just what the promoters were thinking, authors Randy Baer and R.D. Reynolds go beyond what wrestling fans saw on the screen and delve into the mindset of those in the production booth. In some instances, the motivations driving the spectacle prove even more laughable than what was actually seen in the ring. Covering such entertainment catastrophes as an evil one-eyed midget and a wrestler from the mystical land of Oz, not to mention the utterly comprehensible Turkey-on-a-Pole match (a gimmick which AWA fans might recall), WrestleCrap is hysterically merciless in its evaluation of such organizations as the WCW and the WWF. This retrospective look at the wrestling world's misguided attempts to attract viewers will leave wrestling fans and critics alike in stitches.

The Wrestlecrap Book of Lists!

The Wrestlecrap Book of Lists!
Author: R. D. Reynolds
Publisher: ECW Press
Total Pages: 377
Release: 2010-11-16
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1554902878

WrestlingÓł biggest mistakes, most comical mishaps, and most egotistical performers are all featured in this cornucopia of nonsense presented in top-10 list format.Lists include The Greatest Mullets in the History of the Game, Wrestlers Who Moonlighted in Porn, The Wrestling Divas Who Suffered the Greatest Falls from Grace, and The 25 Worst Gimmicks of All Time. Irreverent, off-kilter, and certain to be offensive to all, this compendium is a hilarious look at the lunacy of professional wrestling.

The Death of WCW

The Death of WCW
Author: R. D. Reynolds
Publisher: ECW Press
Total Pages: 355
Release: 2004-12
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 155490255X

What went wrong with WCW? In 1997, World Championship Wrestling was on top. It was the number-one pro wrestling company in the world, and the highest-rated show on cable television. Each week, fans tuned in to Monday Nitro, flocked to sold-out arenas, and carried home truckloads of WCW merchandise. Sting, Bill Goldberg, and the New World Order were household names. Superstars like Dennis Rodman and KISS jumped on the WCW bandwagon. It seemed the company could do no wrong. But by 2001, however, everything had bottomed out. The company -- having lost a whopping 95% of its audience -- was sold for next to nothing to Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment. WCW was laid to rest. How could the company lose its audience so quickly? Who was responsible for shows so horrible that fans fled in horror? What the hell happened to cause the death of one of the largest wrestling companies in the world? The Death of World Championship Wrestling is the first book to take readers through a detailed dissection of WCW's downfall.

Drawing Heat the Hard Way

Drawing Heat the Hard Way
Author: Larry Matysik
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant
Total Pages: 476
Release: 2012-11
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781459652354

Thrilling but flawed, entertaining despite the swerves and double - crosses, captivating even when repugnant... professional wrestling has enjoyed the attention and loyalty of untold millions for nearly a century. How and why is precisely what Larry Matysik examines in his third book, Drawing Heat the Hard Way: How Wrestling Really Works. Wrestlers have their own private language, and in the unique world of wrestling "drawing heat" is a very good thing: the successful generation of crowd reaction and fan excitement. The Hard Way? That's both exactly what it sounds like and something no one in the industry plans for: a legitimate and unintentional wound suffered because something's gone awry. In Drawing Heat the Hard Way, Matysik explains what it takes to win the hearts and minds of wrestling fans, and how, at times, mistakes, controversy and unexpected turns of events have damaged the reputation or forever changed the business he loves. If anyone understands wrestling, the problem - child offspring of whatever "real" sport is, it's Matysik. Drawing Heat the Hard Way takes on the way wrestling is booked or planned; analyzes the roles of wrestlers and announcers, and explores steroids as an industry and fan issue. It also considers wrestling's power - brokers, from those who influence the business by reporting on it, like Dave Meltzer, to those who make the final decisions on what gets broadcast every week, like the omnipresent Vince McMahon, and even to those who influence the sport with their pocketbooks - the fans themselves. At times humorous, occasionally heartbreaking, always insightful, Drawing Heat the Hard Way is ultimately an objective take on what it means to be a wrestling fan, from someone who knows the business inside and out.

World Wrestling Insanity

World Wrestling Insanity
Author: James Guttman
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant
Total Pages: 414
Release: 2012-12
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 9781459653252

In an industry where nothing is real and no one actually wins or loses, the possibilities for manipulation are endless. World Wrestling Insanity sets out to expose the nepotism, backwards logic, and power plays that have made World Wrestling Entertainment go round. Alongside many well known names in wrestling, author James Guttman uses sarcasm, humour, and facts to break down the secrets of Vince McMahon's company and analyze the reasoning behind many of the decisions made. Never before has WWE, the McMahon Family, Triple H, and others been held up to the light and examined so closely. Why are some of the shows written as they are? Who has the company's best interests at heart? Who has their own best interests at heart? Could the WWE's errors be nothing more than accidents or are they the product of cold and calculated manipulation? In his trademark style, James Guttman analyzes the insanity and breaks down the McMahonifaction of pro wrestling. You better get your copy soon. Something tells us that there's a family in Connecticut who would like to make sure that James's first book is his last...

Shooters

Shooters
Author: Jonathan Snowden
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant
Total Pages: 688
Release: 2012-11
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 9781459650596

The secret history of the real fighters in pro - wrestling Shooters recounts the stories of athletes like Brock Lesnar and Gene LeBell, men who have lived their lives on the border between "works" and "shoots," between the routines of the professional wrestling circuit and the legitimate confrontations that made their reputations. From catch wrestling masters Strangler Lewis and Billy Robinson to pro - wrestling icons like Frank Gotch and Lou Thesz, from Olympic heroes Danny Hodge and Kurt Angle to the Japanese wrestler who trained the famous Gracie family and gave birth to the global phenomenon of MMA, Shooters takes you from the shadowy carnival tent and the dingy training hall to the bright lights of the squared circle and the Las Vegas glitz of the Octagon. This volume takes fans of pro wrestling and MMA from Billy Riley's legendary Wigan Snake Pit to the rigorous UWF Dojo in Tokyo, and draws on meticulous research and original interviews with today's tough guys.

Chris and Nancy

Chris and Nancy
Author: Irvin Muchnick
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2012-11
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 9781459652446

The Benoit murder - suicide in 2007 was one of the most shocking stories of the year, and a seminal event in the history of wrestling. It laid bare the devastating prevalence of steroids and its effects on users. In order to tackle the whole story, dig up the facts, and connect the dots, Irvin Muchnick gives the most sensational scandal in pro wrestling history the full true - crime treatment in Chris & Nancy. Muchnick - the author of Wrestling Babylon and a co - author of Benoit: Wrestling with the Horror That Destroyed a Family and Crippled a Sport - has parsed public records and interviewed dozens of witnesses, inside and outside wrestling, to put together the first thorough and authoritative events of the gruesome June 2007 weekend in Fayette County, Georgia, during which World Wrestling Entertainment superstar Chris Benoit murdered his wife Nancy and their seven - year - old son Daniel, before proceeding to kill himself. But this book goes beyond the crime itself to answer some of the most important questions behind it. The biography of Benoit, a wrestler's wrestler, makes it clear that his tragedy was a microcosm of the culture of drugs and death behind the scenes of one of North America's most popular brand of sports entertainment. The author probes the story of the massive supplies of steroids and human growth hormone found in his home - all prescribed by a "doctor to the stars" who got indicted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and all dismissed by a WWE "wellness policy" that promoted everything except its talent's wellness. The Benoit case led to unprecedented scrutiny of wrestling's overall health and safety standards, by Congressional investigators and others, and this book is the primary source of what they found and what they should continue to look for.

Wrestling at the Chase

Wrestling at the Chase
Author: Larry Matysik
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant
Total Pages: 440
Release: 2012-12
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781459654549

"Wrestling at the Chase" is a fond, informative, amusing, and even poignant look at the who's who of professional wrestling and legendary St. Louis promoter Sam Muchnick. St. Louis was the capital, and Muchnick the ruler of professional wrestling, before Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Entertainment took over. What happened in St. Louis paved the way for today's multi - billion - dollar sports entertainment industry. The centrepiece of this magical operation was ''Wrestling at the Chase, '' a television program which broadcast from 1959 to 1983 from the majestic Chase Hotel. Larry Matysik was Muchnick's prot g and longtime announcer for the television show. With an insider's eye for detail and accuracy, he recalls funny and amazingly touching tales about the characters who created professional wrestling as we know it. Ric Flair, ''King Kong'' Brody, Dick ''the Bruiser, '' the Von Erichs, Lou Thesz, Gene Kiniski, Pat O'Connor, Johnny Valentine, Dick Murdoch, Harley Race, Buddy Rogers, Jack Brisco, and Andre the Giant are all prominently featured. So is Muchnick himself, the Damon Runyan of wrestling, a man who helped mould the bizarre business of circus and sport. The savage twists of the politics of wrestling are on display as well, particularly the changes that rocked the mat world during the early '80s.

Wrestling Babylon: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandal (Large Print 16pt)

Wrestling Babylon: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandal (Large Print 16pt)
Author: Irvin Muchnick
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2012-12-13
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 9781459653382

Irvin Muchnick - a widely published writer and nephew of the late, legendary St. Louis wrestling promoter Sam Muchnick - has produced a book unlike any other on the astonishing growth of professional wrestling and its profound impact on mainstream sports and society. In "Wrestling Babylon," he traces the demise of wrestling's old Mafia - like territories and the rise of a national marketing base thanks to cable television, deregulation and a culture - wide nervous breakdown. Naturally, the figure of WWE's Vince McMahon lurks throughout, but equally evident is the public's late - empire lust for bread, circuses, and blood. As this book demonstrates, the more cartoonishly unreal wrestling got, the more chillingly real it became. What truly distinguishes "Wrestling Babylon," however, is Muchnick's ability to show how professional wrestling has become the ur - carnival for a culture that feeds on escapist displays of humiliation, revenge, fantasy characters, and sex. His "People" magazine article on Hulk Hogan blew the lid off the drug abuse of the sport's signature superstar. His award - winning "Penthouse" profile of the ill - starred Von Erich clan was the first to connect the dots between wrestling, televangelism, and MTV - style production values. His never - before - published investigation of the death of Jimmy ''Superfly'' Snuka's girlfriend suggests the cover - up of a murder. The book's appendix - a comprehensive listing of the dozens of wrestlers who died prematurely over the last generation, with little or no attention - is both a valuable resource for wrestling historians and a shocking document of the ruthless way sports entertainment eats its own.