Best/Worst Autobiography

[Deleted]

My favorites: Jerry Lawler & Freddie Blassie. Ever want to know how wrestlers worked during the territorial system days? These are good starting points.

Mick Foley's first book and Chris Jericho's first should be staples in any wrestling fan's library.

Least Favorite: Kurt Angle. The whole thing reminded me about how Mick Foley recalls reading a book by Jack Tatum and found out the guy who wrote it just met the subject that day and chatted for about 45 minutes, then wrote a whole book on that experience.
That's how Kurt's book read. A lot of things were repeated to the point it took away from getting "involved" with the story. You start getting "into" the story and then he repeats something he said in Chapter 2. You're like "Wait a minute, I read this." Just pretty bad.

[khyledeen]

I own Edge's book, Batista's book and Eric Bischoff's book

My mum owns Chyna's, Kurt Angle's and Stone Cold's

I have only read Eric Bischoff's book... i loved it, brilliant read, very fascinating look into WCW, much recommended, I wish it was avail on iBooks to read on my iPhone, i'd buy it again on there definitely, brilliant, read it!

I really should read all the other WWE books in my houses, may get Jericho's 2 books and not read them haha

*leaves the room in silence*

[TCA]

Jun 2, 2012 21:15:25 GMT -5 austinariesfan88 said:

I hope its okay to post these, its pretty funny Paul London reviewing wrestling books.

I love Paul's reviews ;D
His review of the Hardyz book is so funny.

[repomark]

Recommended:

Mick Foley Have A Nice Day
Foley Is Good
Hardcore Diaries (not really an autobiography but excellent insight)
Bret Hart's
Jericho Around the World In Spandex
Jericho 1001 Steps to Being WWE Champion (or something like that)
Ric Flair's

Reading Bobby Heenan's, and some excellent stories in their about Andre, Vince and wrestling bears.

[Lardlad]

Jun 3, 2012 11:42:23 GMT -5 repomark said:

Reading Bobby Heenan's, and some excellent stories in their about Andre, Vince and wrestling bears.

Which Heenan book are you reading? I know he has two.. I read one of them and finished it pretty underwhelmed.

[willywonka666]

Jun 1, 2012 21:31:50 GMT -5 cool245 said:

As said above the parts about his life are good, but for some reason the parts about his wrestling career are written like a Rock promo.

I haven't read it, but this was like one of the first WWF books after the success of Foley's and I'm guessing they were still feeling things out and learned what to do and what not to do with wrestler's bios

[kingoftheindies]

Jun 2, 2012 22:38:10 GMT -5 Jonathan Michaels said:

Obviously Foley and Jericho's books, I found Bischoff's, Flair's and Edge's fascinating as well.

Bret's was fine, but REALLY, REALLY bitter.

The bitter comment made me think, and in a way it is a very bitter book. BUT I think I look at the bitterness I see as bad is the resentment and shame he has for what happened to his family rather than his stuff with Shawn.

[unc40]

Thanks for the suggestions. Looks like Mick Foley's first book is the one to get.

[repomark]

Jun 3, 2012 11:47:26 GMT -5 Lardlad said:

Jun 3, 2012 11:42:23 GMT -5 repomark said:

Reading Bobby Heenan's, and some excellent stories in their about Andre, Vince and wrestling bears.

Which Heenan book are you reading? I know he has two.. I read one of them and finished it pretty underwhelmed.

I actually did not realise he had two. It's the "wrestling's bad boy reveals all" one. It is pretty poorly written (I believe it is a ghost writer) in that it does not have a very clear structure and does just feel like rambling. If you get past that though and just enjoy the stories it is a good read - a lot of interesting little tales I had never known about before.

That said, it is way too short.

Also - Jerry Lawler's book is awesome and I forgot to list it. I actually even inexplicably told him that when I met him a few years back when he was going into a house show in Manchester.

[Deleted]

Chris Jericho's two books (with A Lion's Tale being better than Undisputed) are great books to get. Hell, I had my copy for $1, but I'd be willing to plunk down $15 for it. Also, Mick Foley is pretty detailed with his anthology of books (Have a Nice Day, Foley is Good, The Hardcore Diaries, and Countdown to Lockdown). Bret Hart is another good tome to look at, but it's a monster of a book, almost at War & Peace length.

As for bad books, Kurt Angle's, Chyna's, and even the Rock's are not even worth looking at. Angle croons about his medal, Chyna is, well, Chyna, and the Rock's book is done mostly in the viewpoint of the character, so expect a lot of third-person references.

[Deleted]

Not an autobiography, but the book that came out a couple of years ago about Bruiser Brody is pretty good.

[wildojinx]

Jericho's books are also cheap too, since the softcover versions of a lions tale and undisputed are both under $10.

[Tiger Maskooo]

Christians book was pretty terrifying.

Chapter 23

Malaysia


One of the perks of being a WWE superstar is getting to travel places and pick up reminders of your trip. Some pick up snowglobes or toys for their children. Me,I purchased a village. A village full of toys. Young malnourished toys that I could break.


And break I did. It's important to break a slave. I broke them by manual labor and the promises that if they just finished making that sock that maybe theyd get to see their family again.

I still remember the look on young Yangs face when after finishing the set of commerative dinner plates centered around my ecw championship run I told him he couldnt return to his family. He cried. I told him"Hey do what i'd do...just close your eyes and imagine them".

Surprisingly,asians dont have the AWESOME sense of humor I do so they just kinda spend all day crying. I was like"Hey guys...i'm a humanitarian,i'm giving you work. You should be thanking me." Those jackasses would say"BUT WHAT ABOUT MONEY?". Jerks. I was paying them with autographs.

They were just unappreciative. I remember Tam just begging me for water once saying that He needed it. I'm like...I need alot of things stop being such a baby but he kept on and he kept on. I had to discipline him. I made him get up and walk outside and dose himself in gasoline. I ordered him to stay there. I told him that I was going to burn him alive but that he'd have to wait outside shackled to a tree knowing his fate was coming. I stopped by every day for a week telling him that all I need to set him ablaze is"one..more...match". I even would show up with lit cigarettes and feign that I was about to fall ontop of him. Usually he would respond by losing control of his bodily functions. I would hit him with a rolled up newspaper and say"bad slave"and then force his nose into it like a dog.

Finally,when I figured he had learned his lesson I decided to bring a match and let him think that his time was going to come. However,he didnt see the humor in this and he just died. It was HILARIOUS. Dying rules! Especially when it's in a pool of gasoline,urine and the tears of someones broken spirit!

It was the best of times.

Protip though,while you need to keep your slaves in line...you probably shouldnt try to use a whip with razorblades lodged into it. It kinda tends to kill them which I mean..killing slaves rules but you got to keep some around. How else will you have people to torture?

[chazraps]

Jun 4, 2012 17:21:31 GMT -5 Tiger Maskooo said:

Christians book was pretty terrifying.

Chapter 23

Malaysia


One of the perks of being a WWE superstar is getting to travel places and pick up reminders of your trip. Some pick up snowglobes or toys for their children. Me,I purchased a village. A village full of toys. Young malnourished toys that I could break.


And break I did. It's important to break a slave. I broke them by manual labor and the promises that if they just finished making that sock that maybe theyd get to see their family again.

I still remember the look on young Yangs face when after finishing the set of commerative dinner plates centered around my ecw championship run I told him he couldnt return to his family. He cried. I told him"Hey do what i'd do...just close your eyes and imagine them".

Surprisingly,asians dont have the AWESOME sense of humor I do so they just kinda spend all day crying. I was like"Hey guys...i'm a humanitarian,i'm giving you work. You should be thanking me." Those jackasses would say"BUT WHAT ABOUT MONEY?". Jerks. I was paying them with autographs.

They were just unappreciative. I remember Tam just begging me for water once saying that He needed it. I'm like...I need alot of things stop being such a baby but he kept on and he kept on. I had to discipline him. I made him get up and walk outside and dose himself in gasoline. I ordered him to stay there. I told him that I was going to burn him alive but that he'd have to wait outside shackled to a tree knowing his fate was coming. I stopped by every day for a week telling him that all I need to set him ablaze is"one..more...match". I even would show up with lit cigarettes and feign that I was about to fall ontop of him. Usually he would respond by losing control of his bodily functions. I would hit him with a rolled up newspaper and say"bad slave"and then force his nose into it like a dog.

Finally,when I figured he had learned his lesson I decided to bring a match and let him think that his time was going to come. However,he didnt see the humor in this and he just died. It was HILARIOUS. Dying rules! Especially when it's in a pool of gasoline,urine and the tears of someones broken spirit!

It was the best of times.

Protip though,while you need to keep your slaves in line...you probably shouldnt try to use a whip with razorblades lodged into it. It kinda tends to kill them which I mean..killing slaves rules but you got to keep some around. How else will you have people to torture?

I highly down any autobiography actually contains the word "Protip."

[Deleted]

Well, I mentioned the Rock's book yesterday, and believe it or not, I now own "The Rock Says...".

It was a lot better than I remembered, mainly because Dwayne was so honest about his childhood, his short football career and the early days of "Die, Rocky, Die". What's wrong with the book is that some of the Rock's most important matches in his early career were done in the point of view of the character, especially the WrestleMania XV match.

[Urfarkendarf]

My favorites:

1. Hitman
2. Have A Nice Day. The other wrestling related books Foley wrote are good, but the first is the must-read.
3. Jericho's books. Both of them are stellar reads. Hilarious too.
4. The Death of WCW - Not a bio, but I really enjoyed the read.

Worst:

Shawn's - This book is a pile of horse manure. I was extremely disappointed in it and the way he comes off in the book is rather annoying. He constantly prefaces (yes I know it was ghostwritten, but obviously came from his mouth) negatives and doesnt own up to anything except by using a biblical stance. I understand that is a big part of his life, but the constant "Not to sound conceited" type of prefaces are grating. Just be honest and own up to things. It also glosses over a lot of stuff.

The Rock Says - I love The Rock, but this book is an attempt by the WWE to cash-in at the height of his WWE popularity. Its not badly written and is not a terrible read, it just seems rather pointless when he has so much of his life to go.

[frankincleveland]

Rey Mysterio's wasn't bad. It's WWE-published, so you know what to expect in that regard, but it does have a pretty bizarre Juventud Guerrera story in it.