The Professional Wrestling Literacy Federation

[clayholio]

Hopefully this idea flies - I can't be the only person reading wrestling books!

I just finished reading Rey Mysterio's "Behind the Mask." It was a lot better than I figured it would be (by virtue of Rey's international experience), but it still wasn't a great book. I'm not complaining, he comes off like a pretty easy-going guy, and doesn't really have any serious axes to grind (other than Eric Bischoff's handling of him losing his mask in WCW). The "chapters" are super-short, so while Rey doesn't get in-depth about much, it reads like a series of impressions of whatever he's talking about.

Downside: there are things I wish that he'd have addressed over the course of the book (it came out in '09, so hearing about his take on the Benoit situation or the Mexicools would have been interesting).

Thumbs in the middle - it's a quick, easy read, but probably not going to give you a ton of information that you might not have already known.

[supermatt]

I highly recommend to any wrestling fan the book Pain and Passion: The History of Stampede Wrestling. It's a super in depth look at the history of Canadian Wrestling, in particular the Hart Family. It also gives a lot of background on the early days of other wrestlers like Dynamite Kid, British Bulldog, and Abdullah the Butcher. While it does go really in depth into stuff, it never gets boring, and you don't need to be fan of this particular period of wrestling to enjoy it.

It's really a great read, especially in conjunction with Bret Hart's autobiography.

[Pól Rua]

One book I'd recommend heartily is 'Alex Shane's Guide to Pro Wrestling'. Shane has a long career in the UK where he's been incredibly outspoken, very forthright, sometimes incredibly divisive, but never boring.
His 'Guide to Pro Wrestling' was originally serialized in British Wrestling Magazine FSM (Fighting Spirit Monthly) and it's a nuts-and-bolts series of articles giving advice to the would-be professional.
His grasp of in-ring psychology is amazing as he looks at things like pacing and structuring matches, choosing a move-set and finisher that works to showcase your own style and attributes to their best advantage and gives the benefits of his long years of experience.
Sometimes, he embarks on odd conspiracy theories which he admits you can take or leave, but for the most part, his work is an extremely enlightening piece of writing that I'd recommend without hesitation.
The closest analogy is Scott McCloud's 'Understanding Comics'. It's really that enlightening.

[Alex]

I finished Ric Flairs book last week, and it was kind of terrible.
Flair apprently did not have help writing this book, because it reads like a really long Flair promo, where the book is organized vaguely chronologicaly but he will go off on this random, multipage tangents, and they don't work half as well in a book as they do on tv.
And now i am reading Jericho's second book, Undisputed, and his description of his WWE run has been very entertaining. Knowing how he ended up makes it less painful to read, but he had a really shit time early on.

[lboinyamouf4sho]

The WWE Championship: A Look Back at the Rich History of the WWE Championship

i bought it at borders for 2 bucks, it's a nice read while on the shitter. gives a brief summary of each title reign in order. on average i read about 2 title reigns each time i take a dump. can't wait to get to Mr Backlunds 2nd reign.

[Aubergine~!]

The three best wrestling books I've read are (in no particular order):

• Have a Nice Day by Mick Foley
• Hitman by Bret Hart
• A Lion's Tale by Chris Jericho

I just bought Hogan's latest book on sale and it's not very good.

[Alex]

The three best wrestling books I've read are (in no particular order):

• Have a Nice Day by Mick Foley
• Hitman by Bret Hart
• A Lion's Tale by Chris Jericho

I just bought Hogan's latest book on sale and it's not very good.

Maybe all the older guys write bad books.
I think Terry Funk wrote a book, but i would probably just be sad reading it because i can't hear him.

[Aubergine~!]

Maybe all the older guys write bad books.

I dunno, I'd rather read a book from an older guy than a newer wrestler. Many of the newer wrestlers will tend to have little experience on the indie circuit, and have spent more of their careers in the WWE. The current WWE's generally stricter and more professional, so you don't get all the messed up stories you would with the old timers.

The three guys I mentioned, for example, had extensive experience in the indies before moving to the WWE. You don't get that with most of the newer guys.

[Aubergine~!]

Incidentally, I would kill for tell-all books from either Vince or Taker.

[MagSeven]

I'd love books from Russo, Any of the McMahon's but Linda, Bischoff and Heyman, just to see where stories corroborate or contradict each other. I'd also read a book by New Jack, because true or not, the man tells an entertaining story.
Have read both of Jericho's, which are highly entertaining and was starting on Foley's Have a Nice Day, but got sidetracked.

[Alex]

I dunno, I'd rather read a book from an older guy than a newer wrestler. Many of the newer wrestlers will tend to have little experience on the indie circuit, and have spent more of their careers in the WWE. The current WWE's generally stricter and more professional, so you don't get all the messed up stories you would with the old timers.

The three guys I mentioned, for example, had extensive experience in the indies before moving to the WWE. You don't get that with most of the newer guys.

I mean old old, like you said the hogan book wasn't very good, and i thought Flair's book was pretty bad.

[clayholio]

Has anyone read William Regal's book? Or Dutch Mantell's, for that matter?

I do generally like the books more when the wrestler has been around the world - that sort of thing is really interesting. But when it comes time to talk about WWE, it's all just match recaps and stuff. Jericho and Foley certainly didn't do that, but that's what a lot of Rey's book was.

[supermatt]

I'd love books from Russo, Any of the McMahon's but Linda, Bischoff and Heyman, just to see where stories corroborate or contradict each other. I'd also read a book by New Jack, because true or not, the man tells an entertaining story.
Have read both of Jericho's, which are highly entertaining and was starting on Foley's Have a Nice Day, but got sidetracked.

Russo has something like 3 autobiographies.

[Aubergine~!]

I mean old old, like you said the hogan book wasn't very good, and i thought Flair's book was pretty bad.

Ah, yeah, but I figure a lot of that is down to their not remembering what the hell they were up to on account of all the drugs.

[lboinyamouf4sho]

I'd love books from Russo, Any of the McMahon's but Linda, Bischoff and Heyman, just to see where stories corroborate or contradict each other. I'd also read a book by New Jack, because true or not, the man tells an entertaining story.
Have read both of Jericho's, which are highly entertaining and was starting on Foley's Have a Nice Day, but got sidetracked.

i think a shoot interview would be better for new jack, i don't think a book would be readable.