Customer Reviews

National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly that Strangled Pro Wrestling

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

 

 

The highly anticipated book, National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly That Strangled Pro Wrestling, which chronicles the turbulent history of the National Wrestling Alliance, has finally hit the book shelves. There seems to be dozens of books out there focusing on more modern topics like WWE and various wrestlers going as far back as the early 1970s. The pre-70s era, which was heavily featured in this book, is truly uncharted waters to the active wrestling book market -- until now.

The world of professional wrestling was a much different place in the early 1900s, with an entirely different set of rules and the entire sport as a whole was viewed differently by spectators as well as the grapplers themselves. The promoters, ironically, pretty much stayed the same! This fascinating story is an extremely in-depth well-researched printed documentary shining a frothy spotlight on a generally misunderstood era of professional wrestling. For a young person like myself (aged 29), whose parents were in diapers for the time period featured in this book, it was one wrestling lesson after another as I journeyed though the pages of this 372 page historical novel.

Author Tim Hornbaker took the time to thoroughly research his subject and managed to present the story from several different perspectives. Each chapter seemed to add a new flavor to the enormous melting pot that would eventually end up becoming the tale of the one true governing faction of pro-wrestling known as the NWA. Other chapters were dedicated to some of the more important figures involved in the creation and maintenence of the NWA; Lou Thesz, Sam Muchnick, Ed "Strangler" Lewis, Fred Kohler, and Joe "Toots" Mondt are all prominently featured in properly organized mini-biographies.

This book is by no means a biased glorification of the NWA. Hornbaker expounds upon many factors within the Alliance, as well as outside factors, that contributed to the rise, and the eventual fall, of the National Wrestling Alliance. Great detail is provided about several bitter court battles fought internally as well as externally over the years including an aggressive investigations by the U.S. Government in the 50's that almost shut down the entire operation for good.

One of the NWA's most respectable traits was its insistence that their champions be held in the highest esteem. The NWA World Heavyweight wrestling title was guaranteed to sell out any building in whatever city the champion happen to be in on any given night. The legendary Lou Thesz was the key figure for many years, entrusted by the NWA office with the duty of carrying the torch for the Alliance. Whomever the champion, be it Thesz, Dick Hutton, Gene Kiniski, Dory Funk Jr., Jack Brisco or somebody else, NWA members were well aware that the champion was ready, willing, and able to shoot on any challenger who decided to go into business for themselves by drifting from the pre-approved script. It seemed as though everything that happened in the ring was based on honor, but the office was a different story.

Another intriguing chapter covers the expansion of Capitol Wrestling in the Northeast, headed by the combined forces of Vincent J. McMahon and Toots Mondt. Additional chapters focus on the lineage of the NWA World Heavyweight championship and all of its title holders over the many decades. The book also deals with the more recent history of the NWA and goes all the way up to 2005, acknowledging TNA (Total Nonstop Action) during the final chapter.

I was astounded by the amount of research put into this project by author Tim Hornbaker. It has to be the most thoroughly organized book about wrestling that I have yet to come across. I can only imagine the years of tireless exploration and study was involved with piecing together the history of such a tangled subject that covers nearly of a century of material scattered all over the globe. So Hornbaker's tireless dedication alone has earned a thumbs-up from me. This book comes highly recommended by me. Thank you.

National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly That Strangled Pro Wrestling is available at bookstores everywhere or at various online sources such as Amazon.com; for more information you can visit the publisher's website at www.ecwpress.com

by Brad Dykens of OnlineWorldofWrestling.com

Overall I really liked the book, but there are a few problems. The most glaring problem with the book is that Hornbaker writes it as if the reader is already privy to certain information. He name drops several times without going into any background about who a person is. For instance, when discussing Ricky Steamboat's training, he says he was trained by Khasrow Vaziri. It's only in a later part of the book that he mentions that Vaziri is the Iron Sheik. He also mentions Sting teaming up with James Hellwig early in his career. At no time in the book does he mention that Hellwig went on to become the Ultimate Warrior. I would think that since he's so informative about the plethora of other names he mentions, he might've added the extra info about those two individuals. But there are other names and terms he mentions in the book that a non-wrestling historian (like myself) won't know. And how in the world can you write a chapter on NWA champions and not have a separate profile on Harley Race? Maybe I missed it, but I don't think so. Despite all of that, Hornbaker provides a thorough history of the NWA any wrestling fan will treasure. I had a lot of questions answered about the membership and territories that had lingered with me for years. Required reading for any fan of the backstage politics of the wrestling industry.

This is easily the best wrestling book on the market and I've read them all. Hornbaker's ability to trace the complex lineage of the NWA--it's formation and ability to universalize the World Championship--is amazing. In many ways this book is the "History of Pro Wrestling in the U.S."--without the NWA there is no wrestling as it has become. That the author has been able to seemlessly and imformatively link the vast NWA terrioritoy system together for the reader to understand is an accomplishment in its own right.

This book should be considered an encyclopedia, because it is organized in a way that facts can be found throughout each chapter, but a lot are repeated in other chapters. This book gets four stars, because of all of the information that won't be found in other books.

I've read many wrestling books, and this was the hardest to get through. (DDP's was the worst book I stopped after 3/4 a chapter). Doesn't move in chronological order; its more a collection of short stories that revolve around one person or event. Lou Thesz's book Hooker gave me a better sense of how the NWA worked back then.

The research by author Tim Hornbaker on the early history of professional wrestling, leading to the birth, glory years and fall of the NWA, is nothing short of spectacular. But the book ultimately fails to deliver a winning move on the premise that the "monopoly" of the NWA somehow did damage to the industry.

Covering the beginning of the organization in 1948, with six founding members from across the nation, Hornbaker separates specific periods of the NWA with features on legendary wrestlers and personalities.

The focus of the text concerns a federal investigation in the 1950s concerning alleged monopolistic practices, which was settled in 1956 through an agreement signed by the NWA on specific guidelines to permit competition by independent promoters.

Under the leadership of Sam Muchnick - NWA president from 1950-1960 - pro wrestling emerged out of a substantial troubled economic period into a decade of great popularity - fueled by TV - and recognizable champions and belts. This was not sports-entertainment by any stretch of the imagination.

There are few wrestling books which delve into the subject with such depth, while placing events in a real historical perspective. And instead of being a stranglehold, it can be argued that the NWA kept the industry honest for the talent by having strict rules that promoters must adhere to; importantly, that they have the financial means to operate a territory.

This book reads like a text book which is the way I would prefer to learn about the history of the NWA. I only recommend this book to really big pro wrestling fans who also happen to love history.

Though I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would recommend it, I gave this book a low rating for several reasons.

One, the lack of footnotes and annotations bothered me. I believe any good academic-style history text - as this book attempts to be - should give me the resources to retrace the author's steps in writing it. Hornbaker occasionally attributes sources within the main text of the book,and he does have a thanks page of people I assume he interviewed, but even these instances are incomplete.

Two, another reviewer rightly complained about the order in which certain information is presented. The early chapters set the stage for the chapter "United States vs. National Wrestling Alliance;" yet those same chapters constantly reference the antitrust investigations as if the reader already knows the scoop.

Three: Hornbaker repeats himself a lot in the early chapters, and digresses frequently throughout the book. The book would have benefited from using more sidebar articles and appendices to cover certain information and trivia.

Four, while there's no doubt about crooked practices in wrestling, there's still a lot of debate over whether you could have called the NWA a "monopoly" proper. That's almost like calling the NFL or the NBA monopolies because they govern all their respective pro teams. Wrestling, like boxing, isn't a team sport (or even a sport), and that makes governing it a difficult task; it would be like an NFL that had to monitor thousands of teams each season. Furthermore, none of these governing bodies could be to blame for "destroying" anything.

Fifth, the perfunctory treatment that he gives pivotal figures in the last half of the book is dissappoiting (e.g. Jim Barnett, Jim Crockett Sr., Don Owen, Bill Watts, Jack Brisco). If the first few chapters read like book reports on other wrestling books (e.g. "Hooker," or "Wrestling at the Chase" or "Chokehold"), the last chapters left me feeling he got tired of researching his subject.

Lastly, I'm suspect that this book came out via ECW Press. If this is the same ECW that is related to the WWF/WWE/Paul E. faction, their products always seem biased, i.e. Vince McMahon created anything worthwhile about professional wrestling. They also seem to put down other promotions in order to bolster their own, e.g. there's not a lot in their stuff on Piper about his days in the Pacific Northwest or with Crockett, on Hogan about his days with Gagne and in the South, on any incarnation of the Horsemen with Ole Anderson, etc.. This book sometimes gives the same impression of bias.

The middle chapters on the Department of Justice investigations are the primary reason to buy this book; Hornbaker does give this topic the most thorough treatment I've seen, and I commend him for reading through all that crap at government depository libraries to do so. If you're looking for stories about Barnett's sexual life, Thesz' shoots overseas, hookers breaking legs in the ring, mysterious deaths, pompous superstars, ring psychologt, racism or wrestling before 1930 and after 1970, look elsewhere.

If you've read and liked this book, I would recommend getting a copy of "Fall Guys: the Barnums of Bounce" (for anyone who wonders about who first broke kayfabe), Lou Thesz'prattling but provocative autobiography "Hooker," Ole Anderson's opinionated but insightful autobiography "Inside Out," Jim Wilson's bitter but astounding expose "Chokehold," and Mike Chapman's magnificent novel "Gotch."

I grew up with St. Louis wrestling in the 50's and 60's. This was an excellent history which provided a behind the scenes look into wrestling as a business.

First, I'm a huge fan of reading about and watching classic pro wrestling history, much more so than watching the current programming, which is mostly hideous.
The author, as many reviewers note, deserves serious praise for his research. He really did his homework over several years.
However, that's part of the problem: I got the feeling several times that I was reading a term paper with meticulous notes and documentation, rather than a flowing, interesting story with the right context and perspective.
This is one of the more poorly organized historical-type books I've ever read, which is very disappointing considering the vast amount of information. There's absolutely no flow or even much of a sense of drama, despite the non-stop double-crosses and back room dealings. He really didn't bring these guys to life (like the recent book on the Harts and Calgary wrestling, which was great). He repeated several things at different points of the book, and would return to the same eras 100 pages later, which was confusing.
The court documents were interesting, but again, it was like he wanted to show off by including EVERY LAST LITTLE DETAIL, which only got in the way of telling the story.
I honestly thought of putting this book down almost every time I tried to read it since it never got going; and this is unheard of for a wrestling book! I usually burn through these things in a matter of days.
In the end, it did pick up a little past the halfway mark, but I just kept thinking how much better it would've been with a better editor and more organization. Give all this stuff to a guy like Dave Meltzer and let him run with it, and you'd have the definitive epic-scale history of a fascinating organization. Otherwise you're left with this, and if you can tough it out I suppose it's worth a shot, but recommended for only the most hardcore fans.