Customer Reviews

The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Heels (Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame series)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Finally there's a book on the over-flowing wrestling literature market dedicated to the wrestlers that we, the enthusiastic legion of marks, absolutely love to hate. We call them bad guys, villains, or evil-doers, but in the carnival world of professional wrestling, they are known as "HEELS." The purpose of a wrestling heel is to create a buzz around a match or a storyline and influence the marks (fans) to buy tickets and maybe a little merchandise too - this "buzz" is called "HEAT." The heat generated by these sultans of immorality is ultimately the catalyst that builds up our favorite wrestlers, the ones we cheer for, into bonafide heroes. So in essence, the heel is the most important responsibility in a professional wrestling environment.

Established wrestling journalists, Greg Oliver and Steven Johnson, hit the road to conduct hundreds of interviews with wrestlers, managers, promoters, historians and many others to piece together mini-biographies of about seventy-five of the most hated grapplers of all-time. Starting with a top twenty, and then cycling through several categories such as Pioneers, Madmen, Monsters, Technicians, Foreigners and several others (I'm not going to spoil it for you!). All of your favorite bad guys are found in the latest publication in the "Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame" series. Previous Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame books featured compelling stories about Canadian wrestlers, and Tag Teams - both highly recommended.

My personal favorite heel of all-time, The Sheik, did make it to the top twenty but did not place first as I would have prophesized; however the top twenty is a veritable who's who of wrestling villainy.

Some other Hall of Fame heels you can look forward to reading about are (in no particular order); Randy Savage, George "The Animal" Steel, Gorgeous George, Fred Blassie, Gorilla Monsoon, Eddie Gilbert, Nick Bockwinkel, Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, Mr. Perfect, The Iron Sheik, Jake "the Snake" Roberts, Ted DiBiase, Bad News Allen, JBL, Rick Rude, Bulldog Brower (featured on the cover photo), Johnny Valentine, Terry Funk and that is only the tip of the blood-soaked iceberg. There is a perfect blend of old school and new school incorporated into this book and there are several chapters covering some very obscure wrestlers, who nevertheless are deserving of a mention in this book. All the many heel philosophies are covered in this book, from guys who use fear to manipulate the audience, to the connivers who use their superior intellect to outsmart their opponents, to the guys who pride themselves on being bar-room brawl specialists - you really get a feel for the art of being a wrestling bad guy in, and sometimes out of, the squared circle. It's a fascinating journey that manages to maintain a positive twist despite the focus on debauchery that occurs within the professional wrestling realm.

The wrestling industry has always been build on the philosophy of good vs. evil - but the truth of the matter is one cannot survive without the other. To quote my old pal, Diamond Dallas Page (who is not featured in this book), that's not a bad thing, that's a good thing!

Reviewed by Brad Dykens of OnlineWorldofWrestling.com

Talk about making an impression. When this oversized paperback arrived in the mail, I couldn't help but be awed by it's packaging and presentation. Start with the cover: could you find a picture that better illustrates the absurdity, and the gore, of pro wrestling?
This is a fun book, and belongs in any wrestling fan's library. The aesthetic qualities alone make "The Heels" worth the price; the content therein only strengthens the book's worth. In-depth reporting on dozens of the greatest 'bad guys' the business has seen is what the authors deliver. This is no pre-packaged WWE puff piece, nice and edited, safe for the kiddies, and of course with a completely altered series of events. Nope, this is the real, bloody, forehead-scarred deal.
Haven't you ever been sitting around your home, like most of us, thinking to yourself, "I feel like I need to know more about Magnificent Don Muraco"? Well, now you can. This thick tome also includes the author's picks for the 20 greatest heels of all time, and separates the detailed biographies of each heel by what they played in the ring: Were they pretend foreigners, like "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff? Possibly they were preening, robe-wearing dandies such as the legendary Gorgeous George, or more recently, "Exotic" Adrian Street.
Of course, despite my enormous praise, it's not quite perfect. You'll find yourself wondering why there aren't some legendary figures discussed more in depth, such as Kamala or One Man Gang. And does Jeff Jarrett, who spent about half his career as a babyface, and when breaking the rules didn't exactly light the world on fire, belong on this esteemed list? Certainly not.
Small quibbles, all. Enjoy this wonderful read, and pay proper homage to wrestling's greatest characters, the heels.

What a pleasure it was to open this book and find so much new information about my wrestling heroes of old - the bad guys! I've always wondered just how much of this was real, and whether any of the wrasslers ever got in trouble for excessive roughness, whether some matches ever got truly out of hand, and if match finishes were always predetermined or could possibly be stolen. This book gave me many clues and answers on those subjects, and provided lots of insights into the personalities of the wrestling stars.

I can see that a tremendous amount of research was painstakingly done to produce such a thorough volume on the villains. Thanks so much to authors Greg Oliver and Steven Johnson for the wealth of reading pleasure they have provided!

Peace, Don Robertson

I was really impressed with Oliver's other two books about the Tag Teams and Canadian wrestlers so I was pretty excited when I saw this title. And it did not disappoint. The bios are solid and I really liked the way that he split up the heel types and didn't try to mash it all into one big list. For any fan of wrestling, hardcore or casual, this is a must for the library.

When it comes to wrestling history and writing wrestling books Greg Oliver and Steve Johnson rank right at the top. This is the third book of theirs that I have bought and I must say, "they know their stuff". Entertaining, informative and very professionally done and researched. I give them every star you have and recommend their books to any wrestling fan.

This is easily one of the best wrestling books out there . If you're like me & were a fan during the 60's & 70's , then this book is a must have . Pretty much if you can think of one of the villains of the ring , then they're probably covered in this book . I also highly recommend the tag teams book by the same author .

I,ll tell you I have a great many Wrestling Books but reading this has proven it to be one of the best I have read so far,The sad part is that the teams other two books on Canadians and Tag Teams were not as big or as long as this one which really paled the other two and made the not as enjoyable to read.This book The Heels has one major flaw though you think they would have used glossy paper for their color pics in the photo section in the middle of the book,but instead they used cheap matte type paper a great misjustice to this high quality project.shame on you guys.

Scott Denny
Runnemede,New Jersey

this book is a spectacular and historical in site to the heels true world of professional wrestling ... once you start reading, you can't put it down a very well written book indeed.
I recommend this book to any true fan of classic pro wrestling.

Only the hardcore mat fans will "get" this book. The regular marks like the babyfaces but the hardcore fans and wrestlers themselves love the heels. They make the sport and drive it. Skandar Akbar says the bussiness is about dragons and dragonslayers. Dragons rule.

This book, and its companion pieces, are the best references on pro wrestling history out there. They are not self serving bios or sponsored by WWE. They are written by someone who researched the subjects meticiously and has a great love and respect for the sport. This book is a great read, covering the history and colorful characters, the heels, that made pro wrestling so entertaining. I have just two minor nits to pick. Despite what previous reviewers say, I felt this book wasn't as detailed and personal as the first two of the series. Secondly, I questioned listing Moose Cholak as an all time great heel. Nothing in the narrative suggests any nastiness and I've seen him in action and he was a face through and through. Ox Baker and/or Bruiser Brody would have been better choices.
P.S. I have a feeling the next book will cover the "Faces", but I hope the next book should cover the top 100 wrestlers of all time. There is currently a book out there with that title, but from what I seen in the reviews and knowing the author from his magazine editorials, (Metzner), this one would be far superior.