Customer Reviews

WrestleCrap: The Very Worst of Pro Wrestling

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

First of all, I am a big fan of Reynolds's web site. For the record, Reynolds each week features examples of "wrestlecrap," i.e. story lines and gimmicks from the world of professional wrestling that seem particularly lame. (For example, a guy whose gimmick is that he's a wrestling plumber qualifies as wrestlecrap.) The Wrestlecrap site has a large, devoted following, due in part to Reynolds's peerless knowledge of the sport, but mostly to his wicked, dead-on sense of humor.

Numerous times on his site, Reynolds promised that the book would NOT simply consist of rehashed examples from his web site. Unfortunately, that's exactly what at least 95% of this book is.

A true fan of the site will recognize almost all the material here. Compounding the problem is that Reynolds's trademark wit is absent. Except for a few bright spots, he seems to be holding himself back, adopting a lamer, more "proper" writing style than the funnier, freer one found on his site. So not only is the reader presented with old material, but it's not even presented in as amusing a fashion as it has been before.

Also, the "exposé" material promised by Reynolds on the site is rather weak. His account of the fall of the WCW is accounted more thoroughly and better elsewhere - Shaun Assael's solid yet unspectacular "Sex, Lies, and Headlocks" is one such example.

I am a Reynolds fan, and I wanted to like this book. For the reasons given above - which, I believe, anyone will recognize upon an open-minded reading of the book - I could not. If you're not a fan of wrestling, you probably don't care about the myriad ridiculous wrestling angles from throughout the years. If you are a fan of the site, skip it entirely. You've seen it all before, only better.

This leaves the wrestling fan who is not familiar with the site. This might actually be a good book for such a reader. It's sure to conjure up some hilarious moments that you forgot about long ago. There is, after all, a rich history of material to work with here. For everyone else, I would recommend a pass. Reynolds certainly has it in him to crank out an excellent book. This one just isn't it.

First off, I have never visited the Wrestlecrap Website. That said, when I heard about the premise of this book, I was expecting a slightly amusing look at bad gimmicks like "The Red Rooster." I was surprised to find that this book gave more than lists and photos of outrageously horrid characters. "Wrestlecrap" is so much more. This book ponders the thought process of the higher-ups in WCW and WWF. It describes gimmicks that were created for personal satisfaction rather than business savvy, gimmicks that were created out of desperation rather than creativity, and bad gimmicks that the promoters honestly thought were brilliant. Best of all, I found this book to be more than just slightly amusing; this book is hysterical!

Wrestlecrap primarily focuses from the mid 1980s to the present, when Vince McMahon Jr gave pro wrestling a brand new paint job, and how folks like WCW's Jim Herd tried to "outcamp" the WWF with disastrous results. While I've read countless articles presenting icons like McMahon as everything from innovative to cutthroat to no-nonsense maverick, it's not very often you get to read a detailed report on the many blunders that go on amidst the successes, in the ring and behind the dressing room curtain. Yes, we know multiple Doink the Clowns were lame, how embarrassing the fake Razor Ramon & Diesel was, or how we cringed at WCW's "Wonderful World of Oz." But Wrestlecrap goes into great detail about the geniuses who dreamed these angles up, why they expected them to work, why they didn't work. We read about backstage politics, and how some promoters created bad gimmicks specifically to make the wrestlers they disliked personally look bad. The author is also humble enough to point out a gimmick that, considering how way-out it was, should have failed, but instead became one of the most successful pro wrestling personas of all time: The Undertaker.

Early on in the book, Reynolds and Baer appropriately take the heat off the wrestlers for performing these gimmicks, since they are performing a job at the booker's request.

The point of wrestlers following the orders of the promoters is driven home in the book's forward, which is written by John "Earthquake" Tenta. Tenta was a Sumo and legit tough guy long before he became Earthquake. Even with that reputation, he did not hesitate, when asked, to dress up like "The Shark" or as Golga of The Oddities (confession time---I think we all have at least one "Wrestlecrap Guilty Pleasure"...mine is The Oddities!). In a business where big egos and dressing room hissyfits can make headaches for promoters, Tenta is a breath of fresh air. He stresses that wrestlers have to make do with the personas given them, and give it their best shot, and that for every "Stone Cold" Steve Austin created, there are a hundred "Sharks." He is able to laugh at the bad gimmicks he did, as well as laugh at himself. John Tenta, despite being a Sumo, obviously never thought that the wrestling business was "beneath him" unlike many folks in the biz. For this, I take my hat off and salute John Tenta.

This book is a shockingly wonderful book, and highly recommended for anyone who wants to see the rationale behind bad decisons!

I'm not sure if the other reviewers are trying to be funny but if your a true wrestling fan then you need to buy this book. If it is anything like the website (www.wrestlecrap.com) then this book will be just amazing. I can hardly wait for his next book which is about the fall of WCW. Buy this book as soon as it comes out. You wont regret it

These so-called authors must be mad! They forget that TRUE wrestling fans know all about this sports-entertainment. That's because REAL fans read Capt. Lou Albano's Idiot's Guide to Pro Wrestling. Sorry RD but's it's hard to buy into a book by someone who doesn't even know the Rock's real name (Rocky Melvin for those of us in the know). Come on, the authors would have us believe that the Gooker did not thrill and entertain us all with his dance moves. Who could forget that the Gooker had a great WCW tag-team title-run with the Shockmaster? The authors of this book...That's who! Shame on you! If you have extra money in your pocket save it for former WWE wrestler Chyna's rap cd...Don't waste it on this!

If you are a wrestlign fan, you will enjoy it. Lots of funny sarcasm and tasty bits of backstage politics.

The problem is, it focuses too much on being a history of the last 15 years of pro wrestling, and often lost focus of bringing up the worst ideas in wrestling. A book similar to the old Baseball Hall of Shame series would have been far better, in which the various catagores of bad ideas are the chapters and then list the most egregious examples. This is too much of a straight history for a book with its supposed thesis.

As a wrestlign book, its five stars. BHut for one with a specified topic, its only a 4 out of 5.

When I purchased this, I was under the assumption that the book was going to be all about Wrestlecrap and the bad ideas in wrestling over the years, but it wasn't. Instead, I got a book that simply detailed the history of WCW and the WWF (mentioning both the good and the bad). While that's a nice little story in it's own right, that's not what I paid for. I got the book to read about the likes of Papa Shango and Repo Man, not the Monday ratings wars. While it's true that certain gimmicks are covered, they're only presented in these two ways:

A.) Barely described and only given one sentence or paragraph.

or

B.) Copied and pasted from the WrestleCrap site.

There are far superior wrestling books out there.

This book had promise but ended up with a mediocre delivery. There was some entertaining moments for remembrance of ridiculous gimmicks but overall, it began falling flat about half way through. Reynolds dwells upon Hulk Hogan's movies rather than on actual wrestling for a lengthy chapter. Now I know Hogan's movies are unbelievable crap but I didn't really need Reynolds to rehash and summarize every one of the movies. He also rants about the Monday Night wars and the nWo at length after promising he wasn't presenting this book to look at the mainstream stars and stories.

While the book was certainly readable, I was expecting something a bit different, maybe more coverage on the lame ass gimmicks he began talking about. There was more to Scott Hall than the nWo afterall (he did portray a gator wrangler). The further the book went, the more Reynolds talked about the big stars.

Overall, the book is entertaining to some degree and a wrestling fan will enjoy it. I expected more focus on the could-a-been gimmick-wrestlers and stories rather than the superstars and major storylines. Maybe some of the dumbass gimmicks the stars used to be (Blue Blazer, Starship Coyote, Big Bully Busick, Planet Stasiak, Raven's Nest, the Skyscrapers, Powers of Pain, etc.). I certainly could have done without the movie review chapter and the author's venting of his despisal of the nWo and the McMahons.

This book informed and brought back memories of the Dumbest Gimmicks of Pro Wrestling.

This is a funny book about the worst moments in professional wrestling. It is a spinoff of the website of the same name. The main difference between the two is that on the website individual crap is looked at, while here in the book, the various crappy aspects of wrestling are strung together to form a larger story. What I mean by that is that the chapters will usually focus on what happened in WCW or the WWF during a particular time period. There are a few exceptions, like a chapter all about the Ultimate Warrior and one about Hulk Hogan's "acting" career. If you are the type of person who likes to laugh at the "worst" of anything, you should get some chuckles out of this book.

I read this book and found it to be fantastic! I have watched wrestling off and on for many years. This book was so well written that it helped me to understand alot about wrestling. The author obviously is a huge fan of wrestling and also very interested in talking to people who may not understand all of the behind scenes and scenarios that make Pro Wrestling work (Or not work)!!
Anyone could pick up this book and have a good understanding of wrestling and the promoters. I could not put it down. Thank you Randy Baer and R.D. Reynolds--Great Job!!! I will recommend this to all of my friends.