National Wrestling Alliance: The Book

[Deleted]

With an infected tooth and medication in tow, I had nothing to do on a Tuesday afternoon, so I roamed to the bookstore to find a good read; namely something new. (True, I could roam one of the many book featured websites, but there's nothing like going to the actual book store to peruse all the interesting things they have.)

The wife pointed out the WrestleCrap book, which any good Crapper would have in his collection as soon as it was published. After pausing at the World Class and Terry Funk books, I saw about 5 new copies of a book I've never seen or heard of before that day. A book called "National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly That Strangled Pro Wrestling".

As a fan of anything old-school related, I had to grab it and take it home.

Here's a warning: It's a lot like a book you'd get at college. Lots of facts and stories being thrown at you like you're preparing for a mid-term. The movers, the shakers, the wars, the government getting involved...this made the Monday Night Wars look like a sissy-boy slap fight in comparison. People who finked others out were blackballed or worse - Buddy Rogers was almost killed, arenas by ruthless outlaws were burned to the ground, lives were threatened.

The book is listed at 396 pages by ECW Press. Stories of mainly the early days of the NWA (1948-63) and how things have changed since then. A whole chapter on how "Capitol Sports" grew (the WWWF to you younger fans). A look at Thesz, Muschnick, Carpentier, Buddy Rogers. The wonder at why Verne Gagne was at the center of controversy in the mid-50s. Why Thesz felt the way he did about certain matters, like only dropping the title to certain people, or why he only travelled to certain parts of the NWA.

Lots of background stories about double-crossing promoters, agents, the NWA itself. Lots of intrigue, lots of mob activity, 2 chapters on US Government lawsuits against the NWA for breaking the antitrust laws.

This was just an amazing book. If you have anything more than a casual interest in the NWA and how it operated, or old-time wrestling, this is the book for you. If it's in the library, I recommend giving it a look. It may seem overwhelming at first, but it took me 3 good reading days to get through it all.

And it was well worth it, I now have a better idea of what the NWA really was...and how we're actually better without it.

[BrodietheSlayer]

Damn, now I'm going to have to read it. That DOES sound interesting.

And I'm not being sarcastic in the least.....seriously.....I will read this book in the next two weeks, and then.....onto Bret's.

[Mr. Mediocre]

PWI reviewed it in their PWI 500 issue. They gave it a pretty good review (4/5)...I guess this means I'm going to have to pick it up.

[willywonka666]

This is great! I've been hoping they would make such a book and now they have-thanks for the heads up, I'll certainly look for it

[The OP]

I bought it, but I've only read a few chapters so far because I have so much stuff to read for school. It's interest so far though, and I second the reccomendation.

[imnotbooked]

Iagree Sandmanbrawl, it's definately overwhelming, but a great read on the whole. This book could definately be the basis for a college level class on the history of pro wrestling, for sure....

[Deleted]

I didn't know if anybody else had even heard of it, but according to one of those book websites, it's been out since May.

You can get it for $20 at any bookstore, or as low as $12 used through a site.



Looking through the contents, they have chapters on:

1) The Origins of a Wrestling Monopoly
2) International Expansion
3) The Undisputed Champ: Lou Thesz
4) The Backbone of the Alliance: Sam Muchnick
5) The Nekoosa Strangler: Ed "Strangler" Lewis
6) Chicago's Consummate Entrepreneur: Fred Kohler
7) The Red-Haired Shooter: Joe "Toots" Mondt
8) Wrestling's First $100,000 Gate: Thesz vs. Baron Leone
9) United States V. The National Wrestling Alliance
10) Sonny Myers V. The NWA
11) The Founding Father Resigns
12) The Expansion Of Capitol [WWWF] Wrestling
13) NWA World Heavyweight Champions (1948-75) [capsule profiles]
14) Distinguished Wrestling Champions [guys that never got the chance to run with the ball and ended up starting their own lineage to the title: Dick the Bruiser, Cowboy Bob Ellis, Fritz Von Erich]
15) Promotional Wars
16) Booking Wrestling's Future: The Members of the NWA [more capsule profiles on the promoters]
17) NWA Heavyweight Champions (1975-Present). [Ends around late-2005. You will see how the business changed after Muchnick left. Greed sets in.]
18) NWA History (1975-Present.) [Ends around late-2005. More changes and how Crockett became the main name behind the banner and why it died. Even touches on the rebirth in 1994.]

[willywonka666]

Just how much do they focus on Jim Crockett promotions? Just that last chapter?

[Lance Uppercut]

yeah listening to old stories, and especially this review, I can't see why people are too mad about Vince, or anyone else for that matter, coming and pretty much turning upside down a world full of an alliance of carny wrestling promoterswho resembled organize crime (you can't set up shop here, this is our territory you have to join us, give us money).

[Deleted]

willywonka666 said:

Just how much do they focus on Jim Crockett promotions? Just that last chapter?

Pretty much, they were not a huge part of the NWA until the national expansion of the '80s, and they started picking up territories that fell by the wayside. Since they had a cable television feed (as did Georgia), they were considered the strongest of the remaining territories. They talked about Crockett mainly while also discussing Vince McMahon Junior's national expansion. That's why Crockett's area was considered "the NWA" - because that's what we saw on TV.

(Keep in mind that the WWF was an NWA member from 1971-1983. When Vince started picking up faltering or dead territories, that's when Crockett Jr and company had to spring into action. That was a supposed no-no according to the written NWA bylaws, but by the 80s, guys were pretty much doing what they felt like anyway. Cable television was a huge part of the big changes being made. You can freeze a certain group from participating out of your area, but you can't stop a cable feed.)

Jim Crockett Senior was a huge proponent for tag-team wrestling, which is why, even in the 80s - long after his son took over - some of the greatest tag teams of all time wrestled on TBS. That is also the reason why they had a "Crockett Cup". His effects on tag-team wrestling was that strong.