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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Memoir, December 14, 2004
This review is from: King of the Ring: The Harley Race Story (Hardcover)
This is an excellent autobiography for folks who are fans of Harley Race or the NWA World championship. Mr. Race tells the story of his career with both candor and respect to the people he works with in the wrestling biz.
Harley Race tells of his humble beginnings in the business; serving as chauffer for 800+ pound wrestler Happy Humphrey, learning how to market himself properly, from being a tag team mid-card wrestler to an individual main eventer. You'll read how he worked his way through several major injuries and tragic losses from his rookie years and past his career as an active wrestler.
For those of you who have never seen Harley Race wrestle, he is one of the most unique and talented of the classic NWA Heavyweight Champions. He looked like one of those old-movie whisky-voiced sailors you might see belting it out with Popeye, but in the ring he moved with the grace of a dancer. He could take just about anybody out in a fight, but was a true professional, always making his opponent look good in a match, always giving the wrestling fans a good show.
There are lots of great "On the Road" tales here, from his friendships with Humphrey, Ted DiBiase, Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith, his having to put folks like "Lawman" Don Slatton and Robot C3 in line, his plane flight sitting next to Boy George, to the friendships he acquired with fans throughout the years. Harley Race is one class act.
I don't know if I would recommend this book for somebody who is new to wrestling fandom; great as the book is, I think it might occasionally lose the reader who does not already have a decent understanding of old school pro wrestling.
If there is any other criticism of this book, it is only that it is too brief. I would have loved another hundred or so pages of Harley Race memories. That said, Mr. Race does an excellent job of compacting his story into just under 200 pages; he included the most pertinent, compelling, and moving stories into the mix. This is a must buy for fans of old school pro wrestling.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Race books details decline of National Wrestling Alliance, November 27, 2004
This review is from: King of the Ring: The Harley Race Story (Hardcover)
I started going to wrestling matches in Topeka, KS, in 1963. This was the home territory for "Handsome" Harley Race as they called him. The wrestling promotion here was called All-Star Wrestling, which was a major portion of the National Wrestling Alliance Central States division. Even though Harley's home town area was Kansas City, we really didn't see him in the ring around here nearly as much as the other All-Star wrestlers like "Bulldog" Bob Brown, "Texas" Bob Geigel, Mike George, and Rufus R. Jones. The reason seemed to be because Harley was forever traveling as one of the most famous wrestlers in the world. So when we did see him here he was always just back from some distant place where he accepted challenges from other wrestlers. Even then we realized Harley was a major star in the sport, too big to just wrestle in the Central States region.
Harley's book details all this: his rise to fame in our area, his world travels, and his frequent homecomings. It is very well written and nicely illustrated.
I am particularly interested in the reproduction of the cover of the program booklet for the first "Starcade" event which really was the first ever wrestling televised pay-per-view.
Harley's book also details the decline of the National Wrestling Alliance during the 1980s as the umbrella organization for locally owned and operated wrestling organizations around the U. S. and other countries. All these years later Harley writes as though he still cannot believe how massive the World Wrestling Federation became during that decade, and quickly, too, causing numerous local wrestling promotions, including our beloved All-Star Wrestling, to go out of business.
Earlier this year, I read Ric Flair's autobiography. In that book, too, I read an awful lot about the decline of the NWA as well as World Championship Wrestling in the wake of the WWF. I recommend that you read both Flair and Race's autobiographies in order to understand how drastically professional wrestling has changed since the 1980s. It is quite a story!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Strong On Character But Needing So Much More, February 19, 2005
This review is from: King of the Ring: The Harley Race Story (Hardcover)
King of the Ring gives a basic insight into the wrestling world of Harley Race. He tells some good stories here and there about his mat wars and some of the people he met along the away. Based upon his long career in wrestling, Harley's bio does command some interest.
However, this book is a mere 178 pages. What it clearly lacks is some detail about some of the people in his lives. Little is mentioned about Harley's family. Who were his close wrestling comrades? Harley keeps that a bit of a mystery. Somehow you know very little about his personal feelings.
Also Harley's writing style is quite dry and run of the mill. Very little humor is shown and one just gets the impression that Harley was just a man's man who wants to add his two cents.
Don't get me wrong, Harley Race was a big player in the history of professional wrestling. Certainly his point of view is greatly valued. However, much more detail is needed to enhance Race's influence on the wrestling business.
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