Customer Reviews

Adventures in Larryland!: Life in Professional Wrestling

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book was a fast read, with much humor, which provided an excellent review of professional wrestling from the 1970s up through the 1990s when World Championship Wrestling was locked in a television rating war against the World Wrestling Federation (later changed to World Wrestling Entertainment)in an attempt to win over the hearts and souls of the fans. This book should be picked up by serious fans of pro wrestling. There are nuggets of solid information into the workings of pro wrestling which can be picked up from Larry's stories. One of the unique stories presented in the book is the relationship between Larry and his mentor, the great Bruno Sammartino, wrestling's original Living Legend. The story of their dealings with the McMahons, Vince Sr. and Jr. is the stuff of legend. Wrestling fans throughout the world will truly enjoy Adventures in Larryland!

Best part of the book was Larry's one true great angle: the 1980 Sammartino feud. Did a great job re-telling and re-visiting. The setup for this match was step by step laid out beautifully. It made go ahead and watch both the set up match from tv, and the classic Shea Stadium cage match. Really fun stuff.
Biggest complaint of the book was the length. Bret Hart's book is 5 bucks more and you get literally 4+ times the content. Larry's book is less than 200 pages and has old-lady huge font. This book took me just over 1 hour to read. For twenty bucks. Probably a good thing tho, it was edited right down to the meat. No crap, just a quick concise bio. A tad better than average. Only for hardcore fans who will throw down big bucks for a little book.
***Remember to discount the reviews from people who have only 1 review. Chances are they're friends of the author and that 5 star review is worthless.

Here's what you will not learn:

-You will not learn anything about Larry Zbyszko's personal life. Although he mentions a crazy girlfriend, three wives, and pictures of children, you will not learn anything about them much less that he is married to Kathy Gagne!
-You will not learn where he got the name Zbyszko from.
-You will not learn anything about his professional career from 1981 - 1984 as he goes from WWF to AWA with just a bare mention of Georgia later in the book. The fact that he was rumored to be blackballed for two years and was stuck doing outlaw/indy shows headlining with David Sammartino is never mentioned. This could have been the most interesting part of the book.
-You will not learn much about his WWF/WWWF tenure except for the feud with Bruno which does make for very entertaining reading.

I got through this book in a couple of hours as it is less than 200 pages although Amazon is saying 240. Just not true even with pictures.

Some stories are definitely entertaining but so much was left out it was ridiculous and a slap in the face to any reader. His exaggerations were ridiculous too. While he has every claim to the Shea Stadium gate with Bruno, he also claims that he and Saito sold out the Tokyo Dome and that his 2 PPV matches in 1997/1998 for WCW set PPV buy-rate records. He even tried to say he wrestled in front of a sold out crowd when he won the title. He didn't even say he won it in a battle royal in the Minneapolis Auditorium in front of less than 2,000 fans.

I was really looking forward to this as I thought he would fill in the blanks but this was a very lazy effort with large print and small margins to boot.

His timelines are also all over the place as he says that WCW brought in Hulk Hogan for purposes of Nitro.

Really poor effort overall.

Just like his wrestling technique, he stalled right through this effort and I fell for it hook, line, and sinker with my wallet.

This a must read whether you are a fan of wrestling or not! It may be a short book, but the entertainment value more than makes up for the large font everyone seems to be concerned about. You get an insiders view of the way wrestling used to be instead of the new hyped up matches. Larry takes you on his journey into the world of wrestling from his beginnings. He allows you into his inner circle and shares some very colorful and entertaining experiences through the ups and downs of his career. It is well worth the journey and I would highly recommend this book to anyone!
The only reason you would not like this book is if you work for Vince McMahon!!

I read this book in two short sittings...not because I couldn't put it down, but because it was so short. This is more like someone jotting down notes than an autobiography. Years would pass in one sentence. Nothing particularly groundbreaking at all, more like a few interesting anecdotes.

His matches with Eric Bischoff and Scott Hall set records? Uhhhh...maybe that's because the Bischoff match was on the undercard of Hogan/Sting? That's like Koko B. Ware saying his match with Butch Reed at WrestleMania III broke all kinds of records.

Go buy Jericho or Bret Hart's autobiographies instead. Pass on this one.

I really enjoyed reading Larry's book, since I knew Larry from his wrestling days at the Winnipeg Arena in the 80s. A very smart and articulate man, the
book was well written and without the gossip that other wrestling books almost always have. I'm happy that he's now doing something he loves and I wish him
and his family the very best. Well done, Larry!

This book makes it seem like Larry Zbyszko needed some money and decided to make some quick cash by writing a book. The book was a good read detailing his start in wrestling and WCW years, but very little time is spent on anything else. He seems to skip over a lot in a book that was pretty short and could have used a few more stories to fill the pages.

Larry Zbyszko is one of the most well traveled wrestlers of any generation, having worked for nearly ever major promotion during his glorious career.

Larry sheds just enough light on his suburban upbringing, and speaks with awe and affection about his mentor and hero, Bruno Sammartino. Throughout the book Bruno's influence is obvious on Larry, and he applied it to carve out a legendary career of his own.

Larry shares insights on doing business with both Vince McMahon Sr. and Jr., and the chessgame between the McMahons against himself and Bruno that almost led to the dropping of the Sammartino/Zbyszko angle, to this day IMO the best angle ever done.

Larry glosses over his time in the NWA territories, which is understandable since he didn't spend a great deal of time in either area, but does give insight into why his blackmail angle with Dusty Rhodes and Baby Doll never happened.

Larry's stories of dealing with father-in-law Verne Gagne in the AWA are entertaining, as are his stories of the territory in general, such as the story behind his ninjas, and his wrestler vs. boxer feud with Scott LeDoux.

You'll hear Larry talk about the end of his in-ring career and his commentary career in WCW. He talks about business dealings with Jim Herd, Kip Frye, Bill Watts, and Eric Bischoff, why a program with Ric Flair never materialized, how his comeback feud with Lord Steven Regal came about and produces stellar matches, and caps it off with his stand against the New World Order, while talking about backstage dealings with the members, including Hulk Hogan.

You wish he'd have gone into a little more detail, but his writing of his time in the WWWF alone make it well worth the buy.

I've read a large majority of the books by the wrestling stars and some were good and some were not so great. Some books didn't know when to get to the point or what parts we didn't care to hear about.

Reading Adventures in Larryland! was a breath of fresh air. It was very interesting, well written, and I couldn't put the book down from the start. It was an easy and very entertaining read. The stories flowed and it was very interesting. It was also pretty cool to read about some of the stories that ushered in a new wave of wrestling.

If you are a wrestling fan or know one, or if you are a fan of reading or just want to have a great book to add to your collection, pick up Adventures in Larryland!

I DID LIKE THIS BOOK BY THE LIVING LEGEND. LARRY WAS A VERY ENTERTAINING AND ANNOYING WRESTLER. HE REALLY KNEW HOW TO GET A CROWD RILED UP. HE HAD GOOD RING SAVY AND GREAT MICROPHONE TALENT. HIS SARCASTIC AND ABRASIVE COMMENTS WERE ONE OF HIS TRADEMARKS. I DID NOT SEE HIM IN THE WWWF WHEN HE WAS THE LIVING LEGEND. I GOT CABLE TV IN 1983 AND I FIRST SAW HIM ON TBS WHERE HE WAS THE NATIONAL CHAMPION. I IMMEDIATELY LOVED WATCHING LARRY HE WAS ONE OF THE BEST PERFORMERS I HAVE SEEN. HE ALSO KNOCKED AROUND THE WCW, WWF AND AWA. HE LATER BECAME AN ANNOUNCER AND WAS KNOWN FOR SMART A__ COMMENTS AND HUMOROUS SARCASTIC DIALOG. I WISH HIS BOOK HAD MORE TO IT. I DID LIKE WHAT I READ. I HOPE LARRY WRITES ANOTHER WITH MORE MEAT AND DETAIL. HIS STORY OF HAYSTACK CALHOUN ON THE PLANE IS A GREAT BELLY LAUGH. THE BOOK IS KIND OF SKIMPY BUT I STILL RECOMMEND IT FOR ALL WRESTLING FANS.