Customer Reviews

The Buzz on Professional Wrestling

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

What happened. I have always enjoyed Scott Keith's entertaining, though opinionated, rants on his website. The writing style used in "The Buzz on Wrestling" is COMPLETELY different. It is stilted, contrived, and excessively verbose. Much like this review. On his site, his style is natural and easy to read. Maybe the authors were trying to impress someone with their mastery of the English language. Unfortunately, this does not happen. The impression I got was that the book was rushed, as their are glaring errors of style and grammar. This type of sloppiness should never have made its way into a professional publication. You would think that a professional editor would have tidied it up, as the mistakes stick out like Doink the clown at a funeral

Anyone knowing of Scott Keith (Netcop) from Rantsylvania will know what to expect of this book, as he covers a lot of the "inside" intricacies of the pro wrestling scene, from a historical perspective, to extensive wrestler profiles covering the major aspects and backstories of each individual's career, to the modern-day "sports entertainment" angle that has proven so popular. Almost being an unofficial "idiot's guide" to the behind-the-scenes goings-on for people who are fascinated with terms such as "workrate", "selling", "heat" and "kayfabe", The Buzz on Professional Wrestling is a great "primer" for those not familiar with the "fake" aspects of wrestling, and also a very good reference on wrestling in general, without becoming too pedantic. "Favorite move" hounds will enjoy Mr. Keith's treatement of standard and finishing maneuvers, though like me, they will probably wish it were longer.

From a critic's point of view, although the book *IS* informative, those who are "in the know" (or think they are) may think "Buzz" doesn't focus enough on this or that aspect of the business. While this might be a valid argument to purists, to accurately portray, perhaps even dissect professional wrestling and its history which stretches back hundreds of years, would take FAR more than one single volume - it would end up being an encyclopaedia (which, I'm sure most fans would agree, we'd happily buy); the Buzz on Professional Wrestling does its job quite efficiently, providing a very entertaining and nostalgic read, allowing you to see previous years of wrestling in a whole new light.

At the risk of sounding "markish", following Scott's lead, as a longtime fan of wrestling in all its forms (TV, PPV, games, books, collectibles), I would say The Buzz on Professional Wrestling deserves **** (four stars), with the only element really missing being one-on-one interviews with the primaries (wrestlers, bookers, managers) themselves.

I see that two of the negative reviews featured on the front page were written by people who have not even read this book. It seems at least several people decided to sound off their opinions on Keith's internet rants under the guise of reviewing the Buzz on Pro Wrestling.

For those that are unfamiliar with him, Scott Keith is most well-known for his "rants" on the internet, in which he reviews WWF Pay-Per-Views and television shows. Several reviewers have argued that Keith never writes anything positive about pro wrestling, that he just doesn't "get it" (a slogan the WWF has not used for at least a year). Obviously, such reviewers have not read Keith's review of WM X-7 (he called it perhaps the greatest PPV of all-time) or his glowing reviews of just about every PPV the WWF released in 2000.

Admittedly, Keith has been highly critical of the WWF's direction for the past year or so. Not coincidentally, however, the WWF has seen a major ratings decrease during that period. This week's episode of Smackdown! received a 2.9, a lower number than Raw put up at times when it constantly being trounced every week by WCW Monday Nitro. It appears that the fans who blindly defend the WWF against any criticism of the product are the ones who don't "get it."

Keith has shown an insight into Pro Wrestling that few exhibit, as can be seen by reading this book. After introducing the reader to basic wrestling concepts and "inside" terms, the author takes us through the early history of the sport, leading up to the 1980's, which begins the modern era that is Keith's major focus.

Keith separates the last twenty years into several distinct periods, providing biographies of the wrestlers that contributed most to the evolution of the sport and its popularity. Rather than simply a laundry list of wrestler stats and short stories, the book is actually a running narrative of the last two decades, conveyed by the stories of the wrestlers who stood out the most. He starts in the 1980's with Rock 'N Wrestling and Hulkamania, moving on to the WWF's down period in the mid 1990's and the corresponding rise of WCW. Finally, we meet the major players who contributed to the WWF's current (waning?) run of greatness from 1998 until the present.

There seem to be two major criticisms running through the negative reviews of this book. First are the grammatical errors. I had actually heard that the grammar was pretty bad before I read the book. However, whatever grammatical errors were present did not detract from my enjoyment or education while reading. There definitely are some errors, but not nearly enough to distract the reader or to merit (with no other reasons) a negative review.

Secondly, at least one reader argued that this book is "obsolete" because of the changes the industry has undergone since the summer of 2000. Since most of the book focuses on wrestling's history, I fail to see the reasoning behind this argument. Nothing Keith has written has been rendered factually inaccurate by recent events. While WCW no longer exists, of course, it is still both valuable and entertaining to learn about the careers of some of its performers, especially Ric Flair, who is still in the business. In addition, Bill Goldberg, also covered by the book, recently was released from his Time Warner deal, rendering it likely that he too will wrestle for someone in the near future. This book does a better and more objective job of covering the last twenty years in wrestling than any I know of. That it was written in 2000 does not change that.

I do have several criticisms, though. Firstly, I think Keith could have done a much better job documenting his information. He gives credit to Wade Keller's Pro Wrestling Torch and Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer Newsletter as sources for most of his information, but never makes clear exactly what information was obtained from which source. It is impossible for the reader to independently verify much of what Keith writes, especially from the period before the rise of the internet. Even after that point, it is unclear what separates documented fact from unfounded internet rumor.

Secondly, this book was too bland. Scott Keith's greatest strengths as a writer are his sarcasm and wit. This book utilizes neither to anywhere near their full capacity, and this was a huge disappointment to me. The book is mostly just bland storytelling, which is especially unsatisfying for someone who is so used to Keith's wonderful humor. I highly recommend looking up his rants on the internet, especially if you enjoy this book.

As a big fan of Scott Keith's rants, I was eagerly anticipating this book for quite some time. For those of you who aren't aware, Scott runs www.rantsylvania.com . To all the new fans to wrestling, this is the book to buy! Keith takes you behind the scenes, going into details on most major wrestling occurances in the last 20 years. This book does have a few errors and typos, but it is much more accurate then The Complete Idiot's Guide To Pro Wrestling. Most of them can't even be attributed to Keith, as I'm 100% sure he knows how to spell Curt Hennig's name. Keith does talk differently in the book then he does on the website, however, this is his first book. Some of his writings are a bit harsh with hard language, and you don't want to alienate the publishers or fanbase the first time thru. He's working on two more books, one about the WWF, and one about the fall of WCW. Those both promise to be more candid and frank, as Keith doesn't pull punches, but gives you the straight version. This is probally the best outsiders book ever written about wrestling, and Scott Keith is just beginning...

THE SHORT: A fan's tongue-in cheek review of wrestling's golden era, the 80s to the turn of the century. The author has a divided audience due to his internet column, but this book is much less negative and cynical and covers the "sport" with such passion and knowledge that it makes this the best and most informative wrestling book I've read.

THE LONG: I didn't know that this book's author, Scott Keith, has so many detractors until I saw negative reactions to him on the internet. It was then that I realized I'd read his second wrestling book, "Tonight In This Very Ring", which indeed is extremely judgmental and sometimes just cruel. Scott, like myself and many of you, is a fan generally thought of as a "smart mark"- that is, a fan who knows the truth behind most of what he's seeing yet watches it for the entertainment value and judges it accordingly. In that other book, "Tonight In This Very Ring", Scott shows what I believe people dislike in him- flat out disgust with the (admittedly worsening) product, so much that he seems to overstep his bounds as a fan and tear into the pseudo-sport as if he wishes he was calling the shots himself.

That's why I love this book so much (and did for a couple years before I read "Tonight"): It features Scott's legitimately extensive and correct knowledge of wrestling's inner-workings, but since it's part of a series that he didn't create (The "Buzz On..." series), it seems as if there was a natural restraint to his language and prose. As a result the entire mood of the book is different. If "Tonight" was a harshly critical and expectant viewpoint from a jaded fan, "The Buzz On" is a fan's history of the WWE/WCW that appreciates its better offerings but shows reserved disappointment when it could clearly do better.

This book then does two things that I believe it does best: Takes us through wrestling's circus-like heyday of the 80s and into the evolution of several of its most prominent characters, and also takes the action with a grain of salt. For example, unlike "Tonight" in which you'll see Scott flat-out call the Undertaker names that I can't recite here, in "Buzz" you'll see him basically laugh in disbelief when the same character morphs into an apparent zombie whose magic urn is stolen. In other words, he calls it like it is, and pokes fun where you know it should occur- but he's not overly aggressive or mean-spirited about it. The tone of this book is one of a fan who knows what wrestling can offer, and is disappointed when it goes terribly wrong.

As also stated, one of the book's finest virtues is a pretty thorough trip through wrestling's best years, the mid 80s. I haven't read any other book that describes the goofery of that specific decade so deeply, such as the feud between Jake the Snake Roberts and the Honkytonk Man, or the politics between Hulk Hogan winning Randy "Macho Man" Savage's title (which even Hogan's shallow autobiography didn't bother getting into). This is the era when I grew up watching wrestling, and I stayed for WCW and N.W.O.'s dominance. I lost a great deal of interest when the WWF just got ridiculous and homogenized in '95 through '98, and this book pretty lovingly covers the highs and many lows of that epoch as well. And again, though you get a clear understanding of Scott's preferred wrestlers and least liked workers, it's great shades lighter than his critical, unrestrained opinions of later efforts. The result is an informative book written by a knowledgeable fan, not a stale, uninvolved observer.

Most of the stuff you'll recall is in here: Andre's presence, Hulkamania, the rise of Shawn Michaels, WCW and its more technical style up until the N.W.O., Undertaker's increasing cartoonery, the war between WCW/WWE, Bret Hart's famous screwjob, and the over-saturation of Austin and the Mcmahon family. And as I already mentioned, a lot of other, smaller details are included, making this, if nothing else, one of the more historically interesting wrestling books available. And don't pay much attention to the occasional silly drawing and goofy photo selections in the book, it's all there to help cultivate the lighthearted mood.

Though several books on the subject are either markish (getting too into the fake side of things), too clinical and dry, or flat out critical (Scott's other works, as well as "Wrestlecrap" though in a fun way), none of them seem to best capture the history and silliness of the sport the way this one does. I went into it not knowing any of the politics behind the author, and wound up liking it a great deal. If you pick it up objectively, chances are you'll have fun reading it too.

This book was very well written. I am familiar with theauthor's writing from .... I really enjoy reading his retro rants of old shows. This book is the same type of quality work. I have been watching wrestling for 15 years. Wrestling was very different when I first started. The business was very protected and a lot of the behind the scenes stories were difficult to come by. This book fills readers in on behind the scenes stuff dating back to the mid-80s to the present day. It is fascinating to see how the sport and its stars have evolved in the last couple of decades. The only down side is the author is too much of a WWF mark. I would highly recommend this book to any fan.

Wow! Was this book ever written terribly. I found countless grammatical errors as well as spelling mistakes. Was this book proofread before released? The proofreader should be pile-drived into a concrete floor. The author should be put into a figure-four leglock until he passes out. Can I get a refund with double my money back for wasting my valuable time?

What happened. I have always enjoyed Scott Keith's entertaining, though opinionated, rants on his website. The writing style used in "The Buzz on Wrestling" is COMPLETELY different. It is stilted, contrived, and excessively verbose. Much like this review. On his site, his style is natural and easy to read. Maybe the authors were trying to impress someone with their mastery of the English language. Unfortunately, this does not happen. The impression I got was that the book was rushed, as their are glaring errors of style and grammar. This type of sloppiness should never have made its way into a professional publication. You would think that a professional editor would have tidied it up, as the mistakes stick out like Doink the clown at a funeral

To be honest, I've always like Scott Keith's writing on the internet. He was able to be witty and informative at the same time, and, in this limited medium, was one of the few bright spots available. He was able to treat professional wrestling with respect and insight.

This book, however, was written with the Flair (pun intended) of a drunken legal clerk and with the insight of an absolutely new fan. The writing is literally so tortuous to go through that, at many times throughout the book, one feels the need to throw the book down and run far, far away. It's horrendously dead prose, the type of limp, overly complicated tripe that uses too many words and still says nothing. It's like he was trying to avoid getting pinned to any one opinion by being unclear and confused.

As I said, Keith brings absolutely NO new insight to anyone who has watched pro wrestling for more than a month. It's really that bad. As he reels off pointless factoids, none of them interesting or revealing about the business or people in it, one gets the idea that he rushed this book and forgot to actually analyze his subject. It's an extremely tedious read.

One has to feel that Keith was over his head on this project...really over his head. I can't imagine a more clumsy or disappointing product.

Scott Keith is very controversial on the internet wrestling scene, and many of these "one-star" reviews are from people who have not read the book, and are instead airing their personal biases against Scott Keith in this public forum.

That being said, this book does not offer the hardcore wrestling fan very much, as that person would already be familiar with all of the related information. However, if you are a new fan, or a casual fan who does not follow all the news on the internet, this book is a great way to get caught up on all the major points of interests in recent wrestling industry. Get Foley's books and Dynamite Kid's book if you're a hardcore fan, get Scott Keith's book otherwise. And then get those books. :)