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Post by DeeBee on Jul 20, 2022 19:03:48 GMT -5
I am wanting to get deeper into wrestling's history and I'm not really sure where to start as far as books are concerned. I have all of the Hornbaker books and I've heard the Scott Teal books are awesome. Anything else you guys would recommend as 'essential'? I preferably would like stuff on pre-1990's wrestling. Having lived through that era and since there's at least a million podcasts on it, I think I'm good there.
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Post by Limity (BLM) on Jul 20, 2022 20:09:01 GMT -5
First book that comes to mind is Pain And Passion: History Of Stampede Wrestling. Tremendous read.
There's also a lot of history in Mick Foley's first book, as he travels through the tail end of the territories, as well as Bret Hart's autobiography.
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Post by "Playboy" Don Douglas on Jul 20, 2022 21:03:14 GMT -5
Don’t know if I would count as a historian, but the first thing that came to mind for me was Hornbaker’s NWA book ( a bit dry in places, but a ton of historical information), “Hooker” by Lou Thesz, and “Listen, You Pencil Neck Geek” by Freddie Blassie.
I haven’t read every Scott Teal book, but the ones I have read have all been good.
I really enjoyed the books by JJ Dillon, Harley Race, and Ole Anderson. Ole’s at times gets heavy on his gruff demeanor and disdain for younger wrestlers who looked at themselves more as TV stars than wrestlers, but I still recommend it.
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Post by "Playboy" Don Douglas on Jul 20, 2022 21:06:41 GMT -5
Also, it’s nearly impossible to track down and I’m unfortunately not sure where my own copy is, but “My Life in Wrestling “ by Gary Hart is tremendous as well.
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Post by DeeBee on Jul 20, 2022 21:17:23 GMT -5
Also, it’s nearly impossible to track down and I’m unfortunately not sure where my own copy is, but “My Life in Wrestling “ by Gary Hart is tremendous as well. Yeah, I've heard this one was more or less impossible to get a legit copy of. I would love to pay for a copy, but yeah, I don't think that's going to be realistic. I guess I'll stick with the pdf copy I found.
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XIII
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Posts: 18,561
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Post by XIII on Jul 20, 2022 21:23:38 GMT -5
I enjoyed the Bruiser Brody one from I think Crowbar press. Pretty decent read, I’m a Brody fan so your mileage may vary.
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Post by "Playboy" Don Douglas on Jul 20, 2022 21:26:34 GMT -5
Also, it’s nearly impossible to track down and I’m unfortunately not sure where my own copy is, but “My Life in Wrestling “ by Gary Hart is tremendous as well. Yeah, I've heard this one was more or less impossible to get a legit copy of. I would love to pay for a copy, but yeah, I don't think that's going to be realistic. I guess I'll stick with the pdf copy I found. I lucked up by being at the NWA Legends Fanfest just after it was released, and there was a table of them for sale. I think I paid $35 for it, which was more than I typically wanted to spend on books at the time, but I knew I wanted to read it. I’m still pulling stuff out of storage since moving, so hopefully I find it.
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Cranjis McBasketball
Crow T. Robot
Knew what the hell that thing was supposed to be
Peace Love and Nothing But
Posts: 41,949
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Post by Cranjis McBasketball on Jul 20, 2022 21:33:00 GMT -5
It’s not history exactly, but Hardcore Holly’s book is way better than you think it is.
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,464
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Jul 21, 2022 0:51:46 GMT -5
Also, it’s nearly impossible to track down and I’m unfortunately not sure where my own copy is, but “My Life in Wrestling “ by Gary Hart is tremendous as well. If people do not mind e books the E book version of Gary's book is easy to find. And now I am jealous sir. Gary's book is one of the few wrestling books I want and have nver got. Any of the Tim Hornbaker books are good reads for history,but as someone said they are very dry. I can normally aveage 80 to 100 pages in one hour of reading. The NWA book took me 5 weeks to finish. The GRappler's book is a great one for history of Mid South and other feds that don't get as much attention. Now this is a niche but Gil Culkin,the son of the Culkin that ran the MS territory,put out a book a few years ago that is great. Avoid the Death of WCW book,either version. Full of so much stuff that is flat out wrong. Most of which wasn't fixed in the updated version. IF you want to know more about the 90s thru 2010s WWE Bob Holly's book is good for that. What I want is a really good book on the history of lucha that is in English. last year I found one on Amazon. Ordered it and ,it was 10 bucks,this thing was 90 pages tops. Read like a kid re-writing what they found on Wiki. Total crap. Left it a bad review on Amazon. And sold the book for a loss at the last BIW show.
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,464
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Jul 21, 2022 0:52:57 GMT -5
I enjoyed the Bruiser Brody one from I think Crowbar press. Pretty decent read, I’m a Brody fan so your mileage may vary. I am glad I got that one cheap. Think it was 5 bucks. Cause half the book is good,the other half was boring to me. THe boring half was the stuff about Brody's wife.
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Bo Rida
Fry's dog Seymour
Pulled one over on everyone. Got away with it, this time.
Posts: 23,580
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Post by Bo Rida on Jul 21, 2022 1:51:53 GMT -5
The Wrestling - Interviews with various stars from British wrestling's 70s peak. Essential mostly in the sense there's not much else on that era (at least not that I'm aware of).
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msc
Dennis Stamp
Posts: 4,460
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Post by msc on Jul 21, 2022 2:50:39 GMT -5
The Wrestling - Interviews with various stars from British wrestling's 70s peak. Essential mostly in the sense there's not much else on that era (at least not that I'm aware of). Yes, this is a great book and heavily recommended. It was also a surprise reading it (about 2009-ish) to learn that Alan Dennison, who has a frequent World of Sport grappler uploaded to YouTube, had actually died before I was born. That information wasn't online at the time! The reunion meets kept on happening though the last I read about in detail was for Mick McManus's 90th! (Which came shortly after a Sky interview with Sid Waddell, which I'd dearly love to show up online, where McManus claimed he was in his 70s!) Funnily, my Great Gran was a huge wrestling fan, and used to be front row whenever it was in town. She'd loudly cheer Mick McManus's every dastardly move because "someone had to root for the poor man". One of my jokes, which goes over the head of my entire family, is that she invented being a smark 30 years before the internet!
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Post by A Platypus Rave on Jul 21, 2022 3:40:37 GMT -5
Avoid the Death of WCW book,either version. Full of so much stuff that is flat out wrong. Most of which wasn't fixed in the updated version. It and the Wrestlecrap book are decent reads... but yeah... both are full of misremembered/misreported stuff or are just flat out biased opinion. (can't speak on the second edition I didn't read it)
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Post by "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay on Jul 21, 2022 5:06:32 GMT -5
Unladylike by Heather Bandenburg
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2022 8:29:14 GMT -5
I don't know that I'm a historian, but Bret Hart's book is an absolute must-read, even if only for getting a peek into his thought processes on different aspects of wrestling.
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Post by CeilingFan on Jul 21, 2022 8:41:37 GMT -5
Sex, Lies, And Headlocks.
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Post by DeeBee on Jul 21, 2022 10:00:37 GMT -5
Also, it’s nearly impossible to track down and I’m unfortunately not sure where my own copy is, but “My Life in Wrestling “ by Gary Hart is tremendous as well. If people do not mind e books the E book version of Gary's book is easy to find. And now I am jealous sir. Gary's book is one of the few wrestling books I want and have nver got. Any of the Tim Hornbaker books are good reads for history,but as someone said they are very dry. I can normally aveage 80 to 100 pages in one hour of reading. The NWA book took me 5 weeks to finish. The GRappler's book is a great one for history of Mid South and other feds that don't get as much attention. Now this is a niche but Gil Culkin,the son of the Culkin that ran the MS territory,put out a book a few years ago that is great. Avoid the Death of WCW book,either version. Full of so much stuff that is flat out wrong. Most of which wasn't fixed in the updated version. IF you want to know more about the 90s thru 2010s WWE Bob Holly's book is good for that. What I want is a really good book on the history of lucha that is in English. last year I found one on Amazon. Ordered it and ,it was 10 bucks,this thing was 90 pages tops. Read like a kid re-writing what they found on Wiki. Total crap. Left it a bad review on Amazon. And sold the book for a loss at the last BIW show. I had my eye on that Gil Culkin book, but I haven't heard anything about it, so I wasn't sure if it was any good. I will definitely pick that one up. I'd like to pick up Jimmy Valiant's book and the Midnight Express Scrapbook, but good Lord they're going for a heavy price. Has anyone read Dave Schultz's book? How is that one?
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Post by "Playboy" Don Douglas on Jul 21, 2022 10:20:54 GMT -5
If people do not mind e books the E book version of Gary's book is easy to find. And now I am jealous sir. Gary's book is one of the few wrestling books I want and have nver got. Any of the Tim Hornbaker books are good reads for history,but as someone said they are very dry. I can normally aveage 80 to 100 pages in one hour of reading. The NWA book took me 5 weeks to finish. The GRappler's book is a great one for history of Mid South and other feds that don't get as much attention. Now this is a niche but Gil Culkin,the son of the Culkin that ran the MS territory,put out a book a few years ago that is great. Avoid the Death of WCW book,either version. Full of so much stuff that is flat out wrong. Most of which wasn't fixed in the updated version. IF you want to know more about the 90s thru 2010s WWE Bob Holly's book is good for that. What I want is a really good book on the history of lucha that is in English. last year I found one on Amazon. Ordered it and ,it was 10 bucks,this thing was 90 pages tops. Read like a kid re-writing what they found on Wiki. Total crap. Left it a bad review on Amazon. And sold the book for a loss at the last BIW show. I had my eye on that Gil Culkin book, but I haven't heard anything about it, so I wasn't sure if it was any good. I will definitely pick that one up. I'd like to pick up Jimmy Valiant's book and the Midnight Express Scrapbook, but good Lord they're going for a heavy price. Has anyone read Dave Schultz's book? How is that one? I had several opportunities to get Valiant’s book when he was still selling it at personal appearances and kept saying, “Next time.” I wish I had gotten it. I did get the Midnight Express Scrapbook, and have gotten it signed by Jim, Bobby, and Dennis, as well as the Rock n Roll Express, the Fantastics (Fulton and Rogers) and Steve Keirn. I’ve still not managed to meet Stan Lane. I didn’t know Schultz had written a book. I’d be interested just to see what he wrote about his training under Herb Welch. And hopefully he blasts the hell out of Eddie Mansfield.
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Post by government mule on Jul 21, 2022 11:14:18 GMT -5
I found the Titan Trilogy of books chronicling the WWF from 95-97 very interesting, and also another vote for 'The Wrestling' too.
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lucas_lee
Hank Scorpio
Heel turn is finished, now stripping away my personality
Posts: 6,726
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Post by lucas_lee on Jul 21, 2022 12:36:18 GMT -5
There's a board member that just released a book on Herb Abrams UWF that's really good. Also Lou Thesz s "Hooker" is a really good book about the olden days of wrestling and Stan Hansen's book is great it goes into detail about AJPW and the behind the scenes stuff.
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