Good Wrestling Books/Autobiographies

[billyboutsis]

Death of wcw is great. Controversy creates cash was good too but to me shows how out of touch bischoff was with reality.

 

[NitroFan]

Book Depository is always a good back up. Free delivery.

Back up? I don't even bother looknig anywhere else, wrestling book or not, I just go straight there and buy it. Back when I did bother doing research I found that sometimes Amazon would have it cheaper, but the postage price would make up the difference and then some.

Highspots? Last time I went there (which, admittedly, was about half a decade ago) their postage prices were outrageous and made any purchase a complete rip off (especially their DVD compilations which have been known to be copies of custom compilations various people on the internet have made and sell for a fraction of the price).

 

[DarkPhoenix]

highspots good if you want an almost guarantee of finding something but as said postage is pretty high.

 

[cfc4life]

Jericho's first book is awesome. read it 4 times since i bought it a couple of years ago

Edge's autobiography is really good, he tells some great stories about travelling to indy shows in Canada with Christian, Rhyno and Val Venis back in the mid 90's

 

[Ry009]

Just finished 'Undisputed' - highly recommend it. Surprised how hard Jericho had it. Comes off a lot more humble than Foley.

 

[Damon_3388]

Online is about thhe only place you can get them if your in Australia

They all seem to be available on the shelf at bookstores here in Adelaide - Border's (before it shut down) and Dymocks (best prices, and their loyalty rewards system is handy too) seem to have the best range.

Read it all over a couple of visits to Borders, lol.

I think I've read half these books over the years during breaks in uni at Border's in the city here People doing that combined with their prices is probably half the reason they've gone under.

Death to WCW (I remember watching the 1999-2001 era as it happened, but never quite realised as a 11-12 year old just how stupid and nonsensical the booking was) and Bret Hart's book are both great reads. William Regal's book is an interesting read too, as is the first book Hogan wrote (he's surprisingly humble and doesn't always paint himself like the hero or the greatest guy around).

Hopefully Edge writes another book now that he's retired. A lot has happened to him both personally and professionally since his last one was published around 2002/2003 (I think?).

Wouldn't mind reading the Dustin Rhodes book. I've always enjoyed his work (more talented than his father IMO), and he seems like an interesting and complex character away from the ring.

 

[eddiesmith]

I dont think I have ever bought a book online yet, always find them in stores if willing to pay the prices they want

 

[Tzatziki_Man]

Love both of Jericho's books

Jericho has a talent, unlike anyone else in the wrestling industry. He manages to call his life decisions down the middle. He isn't biased towards himself, one of the only wrestlers who isn't full of himself.

He is able to compliment the good things about his career, but also criticise the bad things in his career.

Haven't come across any wrestler thats been able to do this. All other biographies, regardless of how good they are, serve one purpose...inflate the ego of the author. Jericho's is different.

 

[DarkPhoenix]

Love both of Jericho's books

Jericho has a talent, unlike anyone else in the wrestling industry. He manages to call his life decisions down the middle. He isn't biased towards himself, one of the only wrestlers who isn't full of himself.

He is able to compliment the good things about his career, but also criticise the bad things in his career.

Haven't come across any wrestler thats been able to do this. All other biographies, regardless of how good they are, serve one purpose...inflate the ego of the author. Jericho's is different.

Read Rhodes, it sounds similar, he knows that the bad things in his life were mainly his fault, doesnt skirt the issue, is quite refreshing.

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

Has anyone read Rumble Road? Would you recommend it?

 

[Ry009]

Reading Death of WCW, which from a writing standpoint is average, but is a very entertaining book to read.

Could not believe that somebody actually thought this minimovie/promo would be worth producing.

Epically s**t. Almost so bad its good.

[YOUTUBE]z8qhJwIHZu8[/YOUTUBE]

 

[DarkPhoenix]

Mate thats not the worst of it, they did a whole heap of those type of promos! Theyre all in the wrestlecrap series of books.

 

[Cleavy]

Has anyone read Rumble Road? Would you recommend it?

you can sample a few pages on amazon.com

 

[DarkPhoenix]

Just bought:

"Adam Copeland: On Edge" read a chapter or two, pretty good so far. His writing style is very reminiscent to his character when he and Christian were throwing kazoo parties and dressing up as conquistadors, is good.

Its from 2004, anyone know if he has a newer book?

 

[Donners]

I'm belately reading Bret Hart's book. A bit of an eye-opener about life on the road, even if he does seem to want to portray himself with a halo when it comes to his dealings with wrestlers.


Incidentally, whatever happened to Paul Heyman's book? I thought that would be pretty big news, but I've barely heard anything about it and most online stores don't even seem to stock it.

 

[Cleavy]

Just bought:

"Adam Copeland: On Edge" read a chapter or two, pretty good so far. His writing style is very reminiscent to his character when he and Christian were throwing kazoo parties and dressing up as conquistadors, is good.

Its from 2004, anyone know if he has a newer book?

apparently there's one in the works.

 

[Partridge]

I'm belately reading Bret Hart's book. A bit of an eye-opener about life on the road, even if he does seem to want to portray himself with a halo when it comes to his dealings with wrestlers.

Not the worst observation.

I read it recently too, and if you're a fan of 80s/90s wrestling, it's a must read. But, as you say, Hart takes himself WAY too seriously. He was clearly a model employee for Vince, very reliable, and didn't cause any trouble (until Montreal obviously). But, he's just as big a hypocrite as every other wrestler. Pretending to be the moral beacon of the company (and the free world it seems) while freely admitting to serial cheating on his wife, plus drug excesses, kind of lessens the halo. You can't have it both ways, I would never expect anyone in that business to be a saint, just don't pretend to be one.

It's still a good read though. Others I'd get (in order are):

1. Chris Jericho's first book - absolutely brilliant and just as good as the Foley books or any others.
2. Have a Nice Day - still Foley's best book. Much less ego than what was to come.
3. Death of WCW - great read, and sadly predictable.
4. Dynamite! - Dynamite Kid's autobiography. Apparently Bret Hart's is great because it's so honest, but this isn't because it's so honest. I enjoyed it.
5. It's True! (Kurt Angle) - Only for the first half, when it focuses on his amateur career, which is fascinating.

Otherwise, if you can get hold of either of Dave Meltzer's "Tributes" books, they are ESSENTIAL. Better than anything listed above and much more varied due to the characters involved.

 

[Hate]

I haven't read many. I've been trying to get through a few other books before I did start reading some. I'm currently reading Eric Bischoff's book. Only around 1/4 of the way through it, but it seems alright so far. I did download this e-book pack a while ago.

Here is what it contains:

Bobby Heenan - Wrestlings Bad Boy Tells All
Bret Hart - Hitman My Real Life in the Cartoon World
Brian Fritz - Between the Ropes
Bruce Hart - Straight from the Hart
Chris Jericho - A Lion's Tale - Around the World in Spand
Chris Jericho - Undisputed - How to Become World Champion
David Caron - Wrestling Babylon
Eddie Guerrero - Cheating Death Stealing Life
Eric Bischoff - Controversy Creates Cash
Joe Laurinaitis - The Road Warrior - Danger, Death and th
Kurt Angle - It's True! It's True!
Mick Foley - Foley is Good - and the Real World Is
Mick Foley - Have a Nice Day
Mick Foley - The Hardcore Diaries
Missy Hyatt - First Lady of Wrestling
R.D. Reynolds - The Death of WCW
Rey Mysterio Jr - Behind The Mask
Rowdy Roddy Piper - In the Put with Piper
Shaun Assael - Sex, Lies, and Headlocks
Steve Johnson - Benoit
Terry Funk - More Than Just Hardcore
Thom Loverro, Paul Heyman, Tazz - The Rise & Fall of ECW
Vince Russp - Foriven_One Man's Journey from Self-GI
William Regal - Walking A Golden Mile

All books come in .pdf, .epub, .mob or containing all three files. These can be read on Kindle, iPad, iPhones etc. If you want the pack, I'll put it in a .zip and send the link to you - just contact me. All credits go to original pack creator.

 

[Rusty Brookes]

Not the worst observation.

I read it recently too, and if you're a fan of 80s/90s wrestling, it's a must read. But, as you say, Hart takes himself WAY too seriously. He was clearly a model employee for Vince, very reliable, and didn't cause any trouble (until Montreal obviously). But, he's just as big a hypocrite as every other wrestler. Pretending to be the moral beacon of the company (and the free world it seems) while freely admitting to serial cheating on his wife, plus drug excesses, kind of lessens the halo. You can't have it both ways, I would never expect anyone in that business to be a saint, just don't pretend to be one.

It's still a good read though. Others I'd get (in order are):

1. Chris Jericho's first book - absolutely brilliant and just as good as the Foley books or any others.
2. Have a Nice Day - still Foley's best book. Much less ego than what was to come.
3. Death of WCW - great read, and sadly predictable.
4. Dynamite! - Dynamite Kid's autobiography. Apparently Bret Hart's is great because it's so honest, but this isn't because it's so honest. I enjoyed it.
5. It's True! (Kurt Angle) - Only for the first half, when it focuses on his amateur career, which is fascinating.

Otherwise, if you can get hold of either of Dave Meltzer's "Tributes" books, they are ESSENTIAL. Better than anything listed above and much more varied due to the characters involved.

Yes. All of those books are great (The Dynamite Kid's book is very funny and mean at the same time). A couple of others I liked:

1. William Regal's Book - a great worker, great story and references to Benny Hill, Motorhead and Northern Soul clubs.

2. Jerry Lawler's Book - particularly the stuff about his Memphis days (he was huge in his heyday, perhaps the biggest regional star outside of the Von Erich's going)

3. Sputnik, Masked Men and short people - A history early Memphis wrestling. Fascinating look at one of the biggest regional promotions, Mainly photos but some great anecdotes.

4. 100 Years of Australian Professional Wrestling - again more photos than story but it's an incredible collection of photos compiled by the nephew of 60s/70s star Sheik Wadi Ayoub. I didn't realise how many promotions were actually around at the time - there were others outside of World Championship Wrestling drawing big crowds. Might be hard to track this one down now but it was widely available about 10 years ago.

And for one of the best ever reads. Jim Cornette's Midnight Express Scrapbook. Basically a listing of every match the Midnight Express ever did with notes which give detailed and insightful commentary on what was going on in the business. Cornette also includes the gate for nearly every match so you can track the good years of Crockett promotions (1985 and 1986 they were easily outdrawing the WWF in the southern states and pulling comparable crowds for their big shows eg 30,000 + for the Flair-Koloff match in Charlotte). Cornette also prints the hate mail he received (hilarious reading), a great history on all of the guys that wrestled as the Midnight Express (Condrey, Eaton and Lane), explanations of the comedy spots the Express would do on the small shows they wrestled on, pranks they used to play on each on the road. Amazing selection of photos as well of the wrestlers backstage and hanging out with all sorts of people (ZZ Top, the funk group Earth, Wind & Fire, the Vivid pr0n starletts). If you have any interest in wrestling outside of the WWF in the 80s, then this is as good a read as you will find. I got my copy from Cornette's website and he autographed it to boot.

 

[NitroFan]

And for one of the best ever reads. Jim Cornette's Midnight Express Scrapbook.

this times forever. incredible book.

someone mentioned meltzer's tributes before which are both excelent as well. a subscription to the observer is worth it just to read all the obituary/histories back issues.

i havent read it yet but the memphiswrestlinghistory.com book about 1982 is meant to be brilliant.

 

[nobbyiscool]

Good thread - took me a while to get to the 2nd page of the wrestling forum to find it

I've read heaps of wrestling books. Back during my uni days, they were the only books I read. As discussed earlier in the thread, it's crazy how many are now available as e-books at great prices - it's almost enough to make me get a kindle. (although I know less than nothing about e-book readers...)

Mick Foley's first book remains the benchmark I think. Awesome book. Great stories. Funny. Insanely readable. His second book was ok - but I was completely turned off by the self indulgent ranting essay at the end. Ruined the book for me. His third book was a complete departure from his first. The first was self-depricating and humble. The third book bordered on narcissistic trash.

Jerichos first book was also fantastic. I really, really enjoyed reading about Mexico and Japan. I didn't like his second book as much - I don't care about Fozzy. I care about Chris Jericho, the wrestler.

Death of WCW was a very entertaining read - but it's best to read it with a grain of salt. A lot of what they discuss in that book was embellished, which was unnecessary. The death of WCW was comical enough without them having to embellish things.

Other books that I like are Regals, Guerreros (this is a really great read actually) and Roddy Pipers.


There are some awful wrestling books as well. I put Bischoff's on this list - I remember there being a typo on the very first page which was pretty indicative of the quality of the editing, but also of the book itself. Hogans is one of the worst books I've ever read. And the bits and pieces I read of books about the aftermath of Benoit... given what we know about post concussion syndrome now, and it's like affect on Benoit, those books now read like the cash grabs that they were.

 

[Wizard]

The first two books from Mick Foley were really good. I bought the Hardcore Diaries but I didn't enjoy it as much as his first two and I won't bother with Countdown to Lockdown.

Jericho's first autobiography A Lion's Tale was fantastic. It is right up there with Foley's Have a Nice Day. I haven't bought Undisputed but I will eventually get it.

I really need to get Cross Rhodes because I have only heard great things about it.

Bret Hart's is another that I need to read since again I haven't heard any negatives about it.

I normally buy wrestling books at Borders, but that is closing down in Adelaide, so I will probably get them from www.wrestlingbooks.com.au or thebookdepository.

Worth purchasing mate, its sensational. Just as good as the first, i cant wait for the third installment.
They are probably two of the best books i have read, sports books at least. So entertaining to read, very enlightening and easy reading.

 

[nobbyiscool]

Worth purchasing mate, its sensational. Just as good as the first, i cant wait for the third installment.
They are probably two of the best books i have read, sports books at least. So entertaining to read, very enlightening and easy reading.

I couldn't disagree with this more vehemently to be honest.

I thought the second book was nowhere near as good as the first. It's not to say it's bad - but A Lion's Tale is the best wrestling bio I've read, Undisputed would barely be in my top half.

Frankly, as big a fan as I am as Jericho (until his most recent babyface s**t on tv), I don't care about his music - that was my problem with the second book, there was far too much about his music career.

 

[PoppedCorn]

angles book its true its true
heaps on his olympic stuff
great read
have flairs and foleys too
had hogans and also had a signed copy of HHHs book with photo proof etc but sold it years ago on the bay
ive also got heaps in pdf format somewhere
last one i read i think was bishoffs book (pdf)

 

[Cleavy]

Booker T's book is free on kindle on Amazon right now
http://www.amazon.com/Booker-Prison-Promise-Squared-ebook/dp/B008T8ETH0