Every wrestling fan has read Mick Foley’s classic autobiographies, some of us even went as far as to read both his novels too. We all know about Chris Jericho’s books, Bret Hart’s autobiography, and the assortment of WWE released books ranging from Steve Austin and The Rock to Lita and Eric Bischoff. So, I thought why not take a look at ten of my favourite books that y’all may not have heard of. By no means do I own every wrestling book out there, but I do own a good portion. Some of which are not commonly known or available, such as the Diana Hart book all the way to your WWE releases.
That’s enough of that though, let’s get into what are in my opinion the top ten wrestling books that should be more well known.
10 – El Bandito: The Story of Orig Williams
This is one I picked up purely by chance. I was in a book store which had the special offer of buy two, get the third free. So, with the two WWE releases in hand that I’d gone into purchase (I actually forget which two they were they were overshadowed so much), and I picked up the story of a Welshman I’d never heard of. Inside I found a tale of a man who’d played and managed in football (Soccer) and eventually would travel the whole world performing as a professional wrestler. It’s only a short book and is an incredibly quick and fun read. With hilarious stories from his trips to India and Pakistan, and how he came to book WWE stars that weren’t quite WWE stars if you know what I mean. If not, you should definitely pick up a copy of this little gem.
09 – Wrestling’s 101 Strangest Matches
I decided to try and make this top 10 a little diverse and not just include bog-standard autobiographies, which brings me to this book. Again, this is another book I just picked up because I can’t resist but buy a wrestling book I haven’t got when I see it. This is piece of literature does exactly what it says on the tin. It is a run down of the top 101 strangest matches every in professional wrestling history. Another quick and fun read which could either be read whilst traveling somewhere, or just picked up and a page or two read at a time with the short, but precise written entries for each match. There will be a lot of matches you’re familiar with and to the casual fan there will be many which they’re not so familiar with.
08 – Stan Hansen: The Last Outlaw
How could I not buy a book on arguably the greatest gaijin (Foreigner) to have a career in front of the Japanese audiences? Knowing it was put together by the excellent historian and publisher Scott Teal of Crowbar Press, I just knew this would be a fantastic read, and boy was I not disappointed. The book takes you on an in depth look at the workings of Japan and Hansen’s journey whilst there. Of course he touches on the times he worked in the United States also, including the Bruno Sammartino incident, but the majority is naturally focused on his legendary run in famous venues such as Budokan Hall. There’s a slight wit to the book, but it is mainly a serious story for the fan who likes more than just funny stories.
07 – JJ Dillon: Wrestlers are Like Seagulls – From McMahon to McMahon
The manager of the Four Horsemen. If ever there was a mind in wrestling that could tell a story it is this man. Which leads to the question, if you’ve heard of this book and you haven’t bought it, why not? JJ Dillon was the super glue that held the Horsemen together, and this is the book that provides the substance to bind all of your wrestling knowledge together. There is a running humour running through-out the book as you can imagine from someone constantly ‘babysitting’ Ric Flair, and having worked in the offices of wrestling world also. Wrestlers are Like Seagulls is far more than just a humourous read to kill a couple of hours, it’s one of the most descriptive and informational pieces out there on the inner workings of this business. A must have for anyone who wants to know more.
06 – Frank Gotch: The Life and Times Of
Composed by the very highly regarded historian, Mike Chapman, who is considered as the leading researcher into the life of Frank Gotch. This book is a short, but tremendously well put together look at the subjects life. Mike manages to keep the focus fairly well balanced through-out the book. Although the pages of written content don’t pass the 100 page mark, that’s not a bad thing, because it makes the reading itself easy, rather than using filler content making the whole thing long winded. Obviously, this may not appeal to everyone, but for people with a true passion for this business and it’s history, this is a book that should be on your shelves.
05 – Bruno Lauer: Wrestling With the Truth
Often when I mention Bruno Lauer, I’m met with looks of confusion. If I’m talking to an old school fan they may recall Downtown Bruno, but most remember him as Harvey Whippleman. The annoying manager that many grew to love during the early 1990’s in the, then WWF, started in the business a long time before that and continued to work backstage after that. Once you pick this autobiography up you will not put it down. From cover to cover it is a laugh a minute type of affair incorporated with inside goings-on of the business. Bruno tells a fantastic story that comes across more genuine than most wrestling personalities could only dream of reaching in writing their own life story. Part of the reason for this, is Bruno has actually penned the words himself, giving you an authentic first hand view of his life around the squared circle.
04 – Say Uncle!: Catch-as-Catch-can Wrestling and the Roots of Ultimate Fighting, Pro Wrestling, & Modern Grappling
Any list I give of the greatest wrestling books in history will include Say Uncle! on it. It is by far my personal favourite book I’ve ever picked up. This is a further book that I managed to buy just because I happened to see it in a shop, and I quite liked the fact it said it contained interviews with Karl Gotch and Billy Robinson. Other than the interviews, I did not have a clue what to expect from this written masterpiece. There’s a brief history of Catch-as-Catch-Can wrestling and how it branched off into MMA and the spectacle now known as Sports Entertainment. Not only that, you have interviews with a handful of the most well known Catch wrestlers alive at the time of being written, including the two aforementioned names and man of much publicity, Josh Barnett. We then get a look at the scientific logic behind Catch, and finally photo’s and training exercises for any aspiring grapplers out there.
03 – The Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Heels
Where to begin with this magnificent piece of work? Greg Oliver is a very well known name in the journalistic side of professional wrestling and for this project he teamed up with Steve Johnson. Together they compiled a very impressive count down of the greatest heels in wrestling. Each wrestler has a good portion written about him, obviously depending on how much information is out there as they take you all the way back to arguably the very first gimmicked heel, Lord Lansdowne. Whilst not a light at heart book by any means you will stumble across the odd funny story of situations the heels got themselves into. This is just another book that should not be passed up on, it’s a valuable piece of wrestling history wrapped together at around 300 pages long.
02 – Queen of the Ring: Sex, Muscles, Diamonds, and the Making of an American Legend
Journalist Jeff Leen set the task of researching one of the first major female attractions in professional wrestling, Mildred Burke. Being allowed to view Mildred’s own unreleased autobiography and going through a mass of newspapers and other sources of the time period from the later 1930’s – 1970’s when Mildred was apart of the industry, Jeff puts together a very well thought out story. This is not a book for the faint of heart. It’s the story of a small town girl, who rose to fame as part of a women’s wrestling troupe after marrying the male manager of said group. The story goes on to involve affairs with family members, hard work, sexism by promoters, crumbling marriages, lesbians, abuse, lavish living, and most importantly how all of these things came together and proved that sex appeal sells, and it would be beauty and muscles that fans would flock to see as Mildred became the longest ever reigning world champion. At one time she was earning as much as any of her male sports counterparts of the day and even after retiring from the ring she continued to be a huge influence in women’s wrestling. If you haven’t heard of Mildred Burke, you should have. If you haven’t read this book, you need to. It’s a thoroughly unique look into what to this day many believe is the ‘side show attraction’ within the ‘side show attraction’ that is professional wrestling.
01 – Fall Guys: The Barnums of Bounce
If ever there was any doubt to people who knew that wrestling was pre-determined before Vincent Kennedy McMahon announced it to avoid paying taxes and charges to the State Athletic Commissions, this book should put an end to any of that nonsense. Marcus Griffin released this book in 1938, and he goes inside the world of wrestling, revealing trade secrets and talks specifically in depth about the ‘Gold Dust Trio.’ Some of you may know that name, for those who don’t, the they were Billy Sandow, Ed ‘Strangler’ Lewis, and Joseph ‘Toots’ Mondt. The book reveals how these three men changed the world of wrestling forever with a formula that is still used to this very day. For me, this is one of the most important historical books out there that you can get a hold of.
Hopefully I’ve managed to include some books that you may not have heard of before in there, and may-be even intrigued you enough to purchase one or two of them. I just want to throw out there a couple of honourable mentions also, some of which I didn’t include because I think most you will have at least heard of them, and one of which I didn’t include as it is a very hard book to actually get a copy either digital or physical, but by all accounts it is worth a good hunt.
Honourable mentions:
Playboy Gary Hart: My Life in Wrestling
Gorgeous George by John Capouya
Ole Anderson: Inside Out
Joe Hamilton: The Man Behind the Mask
Lou Thesz: Hooker
Bruiser Brody by Larry Matysik
– By Jimmy Wheeler
If you would like to buy any of these books, check out http://www.crowbarpress.com/ or http://www.amazon.com
