Too Sweet

Too Sweet
Author: Keith Elliot Greenberg
Publisher: ECW Press
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2020-09-01
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1773055763

Keith Elliot Greenberg chronicles the growth of indie wrestling from bingo halls to a viable alternative to the WWE and speaks to those involved in the Alternative Wrestling League with remarkable candor, gaining behind-the-scenes knowledge of this growing enterprise. As COVID-19 utterly changed the world as we know it, only one sport was able to pivot and offer consistent, new, live programming on a weekly basis: professional wrestling. In 2017, after being told that no independent wrestling group could draw a crowd of more than 10,000, a group of wrestlers took up the challenge. For several years, these gladiators had been performing in front of rabid crowds and understood the hunger for wrestling that was different from the TV-slick product. In September 2018, they had the numbers to prove it: 11,263 fans filled the Sears Center Arena for the All In pay-per-view event, ushering in a new era. A year later, WWE had its first major head-to-head competitor in nearly two decades when All Elite Wrestling debuted on TNT. Acclaimed wrestling historian Keith Elliot Greenberg’s Too Sweet takes readers back to the beginning, when a half century ago outlaw promotions challenged the established leagues, and guides us into the current era. He paints a vivid picture of promotions as diverse as New Japan, Ring of Honor, Revolution Pro, Progress, and Chikara, and the colorful figures who starred in each. This is both a dynamic snapshot and the ultimate history of a transformational time in professional wrestling.

Wrestling with My Mind

Wrestling with My Mind
Author: Neil Cameron
Publisher:
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2019-12-03
Genre:
ISBN: 9781671180512

This hard hitting book is a true rags to riches story. Going from a rundown council estate in Norwich to the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. Roy Bevis' life is a definitive underdog story about how never giving up and fighting through can allow dreams to become reality. In a three decade long career he has fought in wrestling rings across the world and also battled through the UK prison system, but his biggest fight was to overcome depression and his mental health that was the result from suffering horrific abuse as a child. Over the years his history has been re-written so many times by others and so now it's time to set the record straight. This is the real story of his life, of who he is and how he came to be. How he overcame by fighting against the system, fighting against himself and his past, and ultimately came through the other side. This is a story of hope and inspiration for anyone battling with their mental health. This is a book that will explain why depression is not a weakness.

Bump

Bump
Author: Matt Wallace
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2021-01-26
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0063008009

A moving and triumphant middle grade contemporary debut from award-winning author Matt Wallace about a heroic young girl—who dreams of becoming a pro wrestler—learning to find courage and fight for what she loves. Perfect for fans of Kelly Yang, Meg Medina, and Jason Reynolds' Track series! MJ knows what it means to hurt. Bruises from gymnastics heal, but big hurts—like her dad not being around anymore—don’t go away. Now her mom needs to work two jobs, and MJ doesn’t have friends at school to lean on. There is only one thing MJ loves: the world of professional wrestling. She especially idolizes the luchadores and the stories they tell in the ring. When MJ learns that her neighbor, Mr. Arellano, runs a wrestling school, she has a new mission in life: join the school, train hard, and become a wrestler. But trouble lies ahead. After wrestling in a showcase event, MJ attracts the attention of Mr. Arellano’s enemy at the State Athletic Commission. There are threats to shut the school down, putting MJ’s new home—and the community that welcomed her—at risk. What can MJ do to save her new family? * A Junior Library Guild Selection * Banks Street Best Children's Books of the Year *

Slobberknocker

Slobberknocker
Author: Jim Ross
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 424
Release: 2017-10-03
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1683581148

The Wrestling Biography You’ve Been Waiting For! There are few people who have been in the wrestling business longer than Jim Ross. And those who have made it as long as he has (half a century to be exact) probably made enemies or burned bridges. But that’s just not JR. Slobberknocker is the story of how an Oklahoman farm kid, with a vivid imagination and seemingly unattainable dreams, became “The Voice of Wrestling” to record TV audiences and millions of fans around the world. Jim opens up about his life as an only child on a working farm, who became obsessed with professional wrestling having first saw it on his grandparent’s TV. Even though the wrestling business was notoriously secretive and wary of “outsiders,” he somehow got a foot in the door to start a historic career, one where he held almost every job in the business?from putting up the ring to calling matches, from driving his blind, drunk boss towards revenge, to consoling two naked 600 pound brothers in the shower room after a rough match. With all those adventures and responsibilities, he’s also recognized as the man who built and nurtured a once-in-a-generation talent roster that took the WWE to new heights, including “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar, and The Rock to name a few. Readers will finally get the opportunity to hear never-before-told stories about the politics, wackiness, and personalities of all the biggest stars. But this isn’t just a wrestling story. It’s a story about overcoming adversity and achieving your dreams, as success did not come without significant costs and unforeseen challenges to JR, including multiple bouts of severe facial paralysis called Bell’s Palsy. Currently the host of the podcast The Ross Report, any fan of wrestling?from the territory days to today?will be enthralled with stories from the road and behind the scenes. Slobberknocker is the first time Ross tells his story?and you don’t want to miss it!

Memory Mambo

Memory Mambo
Author: Achy Obejas
Publisher: Cleis Press
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2016-10-18
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1573447005

Memory Mambo describes the life of Juani Casas, a 25-year-old Cuban-born American lesbian who manages her family's laundromat in Chicago while trying to cope with family, work, love, sex, and the weirdness of North American culture. Achy Obejas's writing is sharp and mordantly funny. She understands perfectly how the romance of exile—from a homeland as well as from heterosexuality—and the mundane reality of everyday life balance one another. Memory Mambo is ultimately very moving in its depiction of what it means to find a new and finally safe sense of home.

No Is a Four-Letter Word

No Is a Four-Letter Word
Author: Chris Jericho
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2017-08-29
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 0306825066

New York Times bestselling author and six-time WWE champion Chris Jericho shares 20 of his most valuable lessons for achieving your goals and living the life you want. Chris Jericho has known what he wanted out of life since he was a teenager: to be a pro wrestler and to be in a rock 'n' roll band. Most of his high school friends felt that he lacked the tools necessary to get into either, but Chris believed in himself. With the wise words of Master Yoda echoing through his head ("Do or do not. There is no try."), he made it happen. As a result, Chris has spent a lifetime doing instead of merely trying, managing to achieve his dreams while learning dozens of invaluable lessons along the way. No Is a Four-Letter Word distills more than two decades of showbiz wisdom and advice into twenty easy-to-carry chapters, including: Developing a strong work ethic thanks to WWE chairman Vince McMahon, Remembering to always look like a star from Gene Simmons of KISS, Learning to let it go when the America's Funniest Home Videos hosting gig goes to his rival, Adopting a sense of perpetual reinvention from the late David Bowie, Making sure to sell himself like his NHL-legend father Ted Irvine taught him, and Going the extra mile to meet Keith Richards (with an assist from Jimmy Fallon). Now, in the hopes that those same principles might help and inspire his legions of fans, Chris has decided to share them while recounting the fantastic and hilarious stories that led to the birth of these rules. The result is a fun, entertaining, practical, and inspiring book from the man with many scarves but only one drive: to be the best. After reading No Is a Four-Letter Word, you'll discover that you might have what it takes to succeed as well...you just need to get out there and do it. That's what Jericho would do.

S Is for Suplex

S Is for Suplex
Author: Ryan L. Schrodt
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020-09-15
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 9780999388648

Explore the world of wrestling through the alphabet. Wrestle your way through letters A-Z, where you will meet Announcers, Babyfaces, Champions, Jump to high heights and root for the Underdogs.

More Like Wrestling

More Like Wrestling
Author: Danyel Smith
Publisher: Crown
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2007-12-18
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0307421295

The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing . . . More Like Wrestling is the magnificent debut novel by one of the most acclaimed music journalists of her generation. It tells the story of Pinch and Paige, two sisters coming of age in Oakland, California, in the 1980s, a time when that beautiful, crumbling city is being transformed by tectonic shifts, both literal and figurative. The novel unfolds through the alternating narration of the two sisters: Pinch, quiet and observant, and Paige, louder and wilder but faltering under her facade. The sisters are teenage refugees from a violent home, living alone in a faded Victorian mansion where they survive by creating a closed world centered around each other and their new friends—a rowdy makeshift family of castoffs, dealers, and drama queens on the periphery of the burgeoning drug game, some looking for a way out, some looking for a way deeper in. As the sisters grow from girls into women, they are confronted with a series of surprising reversals—death, imprisonment, and, just maybe, love—that force them to come to grips with the truth about their choices, their friends, and their tangled roots. More Like Wrestling takes readers into fresh and surprising terrain, bringing a complex set of characters to vivid life with bracing honesty and sophistication. With a journalist’s eye for detail and a poet’s ear for language, Danyel Smith has written an unforgettable tale about memory, forgiveness, and love in a world built on fault lines.