The Tables All Were Broken, McNeill's Take on the End of Professional Wrestling As We Know It [Paperback]

Pat McNeill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 17, 2002

Pro wrestling is big business in North America, as millions of fans tune in every week on cable and network television. But in 2001, the business took a turn for the worse, and two of the three major wrestling promotions went out of business. Critically acclaimed wrestling columnist Pat McNeill of Pro Wrestling Torch was there for all the great (and not-so-great) wrestling moments of the year. This collection of McNeill's best work is pithy, insightful, tragic and comic. And that's not a bad thing, that's a good thing.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Pat McNeill is a columnist Pro Wrestling Torch Weekly, wrestling's widest read weekly print newsletter. In his other life, McNeill is a practicing attorney in Fairfax, Virginia. This is his first book.

Product Details

• Paperback: 371 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (April 17, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595224040
• ISBN-13: 978-0595224043
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,008,733 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Perfectly Acceptable Wrestling Book, August 17, 2002

By 

C.S. (Hagerstown, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Tables All Were Broken, McNeill's Take on the End of Professional Wrestling As We Know It (Paperback)

Okay, if you don't like McNeil, or the Pro Wrestling Torch, or you've already read all of this stuff before, you should probably skip the book. Some of it is even online now, if you know where to look. It remeinded me of Dave Barry's books, where he collects his old columns and slaps them together.

I hadn't read most of this before, and I thought it was entertaining. The song parody chapter is hysterical. McNeil should stick to comedy, and not be an analyst. The fake pay-per-view in the book with DDP getting murdered was also classic stuff.

The Torch should do another book like this one, except with Bruce Mitchell's columns.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars By An "Expert", For The "Expert", August 18, 2003

By 

Daryl Brewer (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Tables All Were Broken, McNeill's Take on the End of Professional Wrestling As We Know It (Paperback)

"The Tables Are All Broken" is the first wrestling book that I have seen that was written exclusively for the hardcore wrestling fan. It is generally comprised of three sections: Recaps, Parodies, and Insights.

The Recaps section does just that - re-lives writings that appeared in the Pro Wrestling Torch newsletter, from the last days of WCW to the current storylines (at the time) of the World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment). While it is interesting to read some of the happenings of that time, this part of the book can wear on, especially if you're not really interested in things that happened years ago.

While the title may lead you to believe this book is all gloom and doom, it's actually just a reference to one of Pat's witty and enjoyable song re-writes that he's become well known for at the Pro Wrestling Torch Web site, and many of these are present in the Parodies. Pat is very good at these, and there are some immensely entertaining examples given here in the book.

The Insights are the part of the book I enjoyed the most. Pat writes in a style that does not assume that the reader is a moron, as is the case with many other wrestling columnists. Pat's columns are always informative and insightful, and they will help you to look at a topic or situation from all sides. This is the real meat and potatoes of the book - I just wish there was more of it.

If you're just a passive fan of wrestling, this may not be the book for you, but any hardcore fan should definately pick it up. I hope Pat's next book focuses more on his own insights and opinions. These are the insights which caused Rolling Stone magazine to label him the "Internet Smark Writer Of The Year", and I believe a full book of these would be extremely enjoyable for every type of wrestling fan. I eagerly look forward to his next book.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I only wish they had negative stars!!1, June 3, 2003

By 

Verdelak (East Amherst, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Tables All Were Broken, McNeill's Take on the End of Professional Wrestling As We Know It (Paperback)

This is a horrible book. No flow to any of it.
It is just a bunch of old columns thrown together, despite outward appearences that would lead one to believe they were getting a book detailing the rise and fall of the recent wrestling scene.

The song paradies were terrible and there were lots of them.
There really was little to no substance to this book at all.
Go read Blassie's or Heenan's book for behind the scenes tales and fun stories. Go read Scott Kieth's book for match reviews.
Go read anything else if you just need to pass some time.