I am an avid reader of a lot of things such as comic books, World War II history but Professional Wrestling & Mixed Martial Arts history/biographies are my favorite stuff to delve myself into. I would like to create a thread here on what are some of everybody’s favorite books and some more recommendations for me.
My favorites:
“The Death of WCW” by R.D. Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez
“Total MMA” by Jonathan Snowden
“The Top 100 Pro Wrestlers of All-Time” by John Molinaro, Jeff Marek & Dave Meltzer
“NITRO: The Incredible Rise and Inevitable Collapse of Ted Turner’s WCW” by Guy Evans
“Controversy Creates Cash” by Eric Bischoff
“Slobberknocker” by Jim Ross
“Yes!: My Improbable Journey to the Main Event of WrestleMania” by Bryan Danielson
I’ve listened to the death of WCW and really enjoyed it. I’m not the biggest reader but Crazy like a Fox by Liam O’Rourke was a book that completely sucked me in, but I’m also the biggest Brian Pillman fan. Another great read is the Midnight Express 25th anniversary book by Jim Cornette, the guy always took detailed notes and has a great memory for details.
Since you’ve read the three main books about WCW’s demise, which would you recommend the most for someone that hasn’t ready any of them? Which did you find to be the most accurate?
I have read “The Squared Circle: Life, Death and Professional Wrestling” by David Shoemaker which I really enjoyed. He very neatly covers the different eras of pro wrestling, the great wrestlers that have passed away with lots of good stories. I devoured it in a couple of days.
I was also wondering if anyone else has read the fictional series “Blood Red Turns Dollars Green” by Paul O’Brien about a fictional wrestling group in the 70’s and the drama and mafia-esque tactics used in the era. It was a quick read and a lot of fun with obvious allegories to the McMahon’s, NWA, etc.
Me personally, the newly released “Nitro” would be the most comprehensive and most thoroughly researched book out of all of them. The Death of WCW also a great read explores the creative aspects of what lead to WCW’s collapse, Nitro looks at it from a different angle. The book is equally about the fall of Turner Broadcasting as much as it is about the fall of WCW. The business aspect is explained more in this as it involves interviews from some of the top business & marketing executives of Turner/Time Warner during the time of WCW. It is a perfect companion book to “Death of WCW”, however. “Controversy Creates Cash” is a POV of Eric Bischoff which is some good and some BS.
My fave is the Bret Hart bio. Mick foley Have a Nice Day broke me in to these types of books. I like all of Jericho’s books but his first was my favorite in the series.
Hardcore Hollys is underrated and I’m currently reading the Brian Pillman book and it’s Great!
In terms of research, “Nitro” by Guy Evans blows “Death of WCW” out of the water.
Don’t sleep on Brutus Beefcake or Pete Gas’ book. Both were pretty good reads. I also thoroughly enjoyed Regal’s autobiography, Mick Foley’s “Have a Nice Day”, and Piper’s autobiography when it came out.