Customer Reviews

WrestleCrap: The Very Worst of Pro Wrestling (WrestleCrap series)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have to admit, "Wrestlecrap" is one of the few books where I actually considered inflating my rating. The book seems like it was a genuine labor of love for someone who, as far as I know, is not a professional writer by trade. And there were a number of good laughs to be found within its pages. But I would be lying if I didn't acknowledge that as a big fan of the "Wrestlecrap" web-site, I found myself somewhat disappointed in the book, and have a feeling that other fans of the site will have the same reaction.

The whole appeal of the "Wrestlecrap" web-site, and what makes it a source of such hilarity, is how it goes into minute detail describing the ridiculousness and inanity of some of the worst wrestling gimmicks ever presented to the public. In this book, though, instead of "going with what brought him to the dance", the book is written more as a "Cliffs Notes" history of the wrestling business over the past twenty years. The dumb angles, preposterous gimmicks, and ridiculous storylines that are gone over with a fine tooth comb to hilarious effect on the web-site are often given only a few sentence description in the book. Granted, these are generally a hysterical few sentences, I just wish the book offered the same level of detail that the web-site does.

I also noticed a number of factual and chronological inaccuracies in the book, which leads me to believe that the author chose to rely primarily on his memory for research (the very short "Sources" section at the end of the book seems to confirm my suspicion). For example, the author claims that Hulk Hogan's box office bomb, "Santa with Muscles", as opposed to ruining Hogan's acting career, actually led to him getting his own TV series, "Thunder in Paradise". Only problem is, "Thunder in Paradise" came out in 1994, "Santa with Muscles" hit theaters in 1996. In the chapter entitled "Warrior Wisdom", Reynolds claims that after breaking into the business together in California, Jim "Ultimate Warrior" Hellwig and Steve "Sting" Borden went their separate ways, with Sting going to the Mid-South/UWF promotion and Ultimate Warrior going to World Class Wrestling in Texas. Actually, Sting and Warrior went to Mid-South/UWF Wrestling together as The Blade Runners tag team before Warrior later left for World Class. Reynolds was also off on when Ole Anderson was fired as WCW booker (he was actually fired BEFORE the infamous "Black Scorpion" angle reached its conclusion, not after as the book claims) and on when the NWO split into the "NWO Hollywood" and "NWO Wolfpac" factions (the book claims the split came after the "Fingerpoke of Doom" angle between Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash, when actually that angle is what ended the split). Admittedly, some of these are fairly minor errors, but for a book that is primarily going to appeal to long-time hardcore wrestling fans, there is nothing that an author can do to lose credibility with his audience that to present a number of incorrect facts that many readers will pick up on.

I'm probably being overly negative here, a result of high expectations. I should mention that the book is very well-written and there were times when Reynolds really hit his grove, like when describing the inane plotlines of many Hulk Hogan movies, rehashing some of Vince McMahon's hair-brained schemes like the World Bodybuilding Federation and XFL, or when going off on the 200 years behind the times portrayal of black wrestlers like Kimala or Saba Simba. I also selfishly hope that despite its faults, the book sells extremely well so that Reynolds can bring back the full Wrestlecrap web-site, instead of the scaled down version that has been up for the past few years.

If you are a wrestlign fan, you will enjoy it. Lots of funny sarcasm and tasty bits of backstage politics.

The problem is, it focuses too much on being a history of the last 15 years of pro wrestling, and often lost focus of bringing up the worst ideas in wrestling. A book similar to the old Baseball Hall of Shame series would have been far better, in which the various catagores of bad ideas are the chapters and then list the most egregious examples. This is too much of a straight history for a book with its supposed thesis.

As a wrestlign book, its five stars. BHut for one with a specified topic, its only a 4 out of 5.

First of all, I am a big fan of Reynolds's web site. For the record, Reynolds each week features examples of "wrestlecrap," i.e. story lines and gimmicks from the world of professional wrestling that seem particularly lame. (For example, a guy whose gimmick is that he's a wrestling plumber qualifies as wrestlecrap.) The Wrestlecrap site has a large, devoted following, due in part to Reynolds's peerless knowledge of the sport, but mostly to his wicked, dead-on sense of humor.

Numerous times on his site, Reynolds promised that the book would NOT simply consist of rehashed examples from his web site. Unfortunately, that's exactly what at least 95% of this book is.

A true fan of the site will recognize almost all the material here. Compounding the problem is that Reynolds's trademark wit is absent. Except for a few bright spots, he seems to be holding himself back, adopting a lamer, more "proper" writing style than the funnier, freer one found on his site. So not only is the reader presented with old material, but it's not even presented in as amusing a fashion as it has been before.

Also, the "exposé" material promised by Reynolds on the site is rather weak. His account of the fall of the WCW is accounted more thoroughly and better elsewhere - Shaun Assael's solid yet unspectacular "Sex, Lies, and Headlocks" is one such example.

I am a Reynolds fan, and I wanted to like this book. For the reasons given above - which, I believe, anyone will recognize upon an open-minded reading of the book - I could not. If you're not a fan of wrestling, you probably don't care about the myriad ridiculous wrestling angles from throughout the years. If you are a fan of the site, skip it entirely. You've seen it all before, only better.

This leaves the wrestling fan who is not familiar with the site. This might actually be a good book for such a reader. It's sure to conjure up some hilarious moments that you forgot about long ago. There is, after all, a rich history of material to work with here. For everyone else, I would recommend a pass. Reynolds certainly has it in him to crank out an excellent book. This one just isn't it.

Anyone who has visited the Wreslecrap website and is expecting more of the same will probably be disappointed with this book. While it does cover a lot of the silly angles and gimmicks over the years, most of them are only given a cursory glance, and there are many others that are completely overlooked. Instead, the author(s) seem more interested in presenting their halfassed wrestling history of the past 20 years, liberally colored with their own "smark" predjudices (you know what I'm talking about - Hogan, Nash, and Triple H are the devil, Ric Flair is a god, Stephanie McMahon should be burned at the stake, etc.)

For example, in one chapter the author blames Kevin Nash for nearly destroying the WWF due to his title run in the mid-90s, but two chapters later he's running down all of the lame gimmicks the WWF tried to pass off on the wrestling audience during the same time, which had a FAR greater effect on the poor wrestling business of the mid 90s than the guy who held the big belt for barely a year.

There's an entire book that could be written about all of the bad gimmicks WCW threw out there in their last two years, but most of these are glossed over in an attempt to recap the Nitro/Raw war (which most people who would be interested in this book are already very famililar with). Basically, they should've stuck with the "wrestlecrap" and left out the pseudo-insider commmentating completely.

Another gripe I had was despite the authors' attempt at historical perspective, they managed to get several dates wrong and juxtapose events... for example, "Santa with Muscles" came out over two years after the TV series "Thunder in Paradise" began, contrary to what the book claims.

This book would be a keeper had the author attempted to get interviews with those involved with "wrestlecrap" over the years. But aside from John Tenta, there's virtually no opinion from the wrestlers themselves.

Oh, and I counted at least four variations of "an enemy most vile" - time to invest in a thesaurus, I believe.

Between the errors and the emphasis on "history" over simply describing lame angles and gimmicks, I cannot recommend this book.

As a wrestling fan for 15 years, it was real treat to take a trip down memory lane with this book. I was a big fan of the Wrestlecrap web site, but since it has been cut down, it was great to read these stories again. The book had me laughing and often finding the nearest person to me to read sections to. If you've been a wrestling fan for any period of time and there have been times when you have said "that was quite possibly the dumbest thing I ever seen on wrestling", trust me. There have been far dumber and they are all in this book. A great read.

It is amazing reading this that people actually watch wrestling as the storylines that the authors mention are so laughably ridiculous that one would think that people couldn't possibly love the sport.

I found this book to be a good read, contained a great deal of humour and it gave a concise history of the recent years in wrestling.

As mentioned in earlier reviews, there are a number of research errors in the book that take away from the overall rating of the work but nevertheless I think it is a worthwhile addition to the wrestling bookshelf.

I've loved wrestling, and at times, like from 1996-00 and pretty much nowadays, I've hated wrestling. But even the wrestling that I did love, such as the Ultimate Warrior's triumphant destruction of the early 90s, had to be taken with a grain of salt and the smile of a smart mark.

What I love about this book is that it's just like me. It's a smart mark. The author clearly likes wrestling, has a long and involved history of watching it, and appreciates good gimmicks, good workers, and good matches. But what the guy doesn't like are wrestlers like Bastion Booger, gimmicks like Robocop coming to WCW, and workers with egos such as Hogan's. This guy appreciates good wrestling, and he likes to watch the "sport". But at the same time, he knows what it is and therefore has certain expectations of quality. He does a good job of calling out the events that came below that line. Some way below.

Take for example a ludicrous situation where in the early 90s, Jake the Snake Roberts was trying to help the Ultimate Warrior overcome his fears to face the Undertaker, and at one point Jake buries him in a casket. The author takes amusement in the fact that the Warrior commands "Bury me snake man!" and then, upon the casket's closing, "screams like a little girl". The way it's written, and the mental images it creates, is worth a laugh. This guy's good enough however to point out when the Warrior has a match worth watching, and that's pretty much the tone of this book.

While not always presenting absolutely stinging satire, the book is certainly light-hearted and tongue-in cheek. It often speaks in a flat-out unobjective sarcastic narrative, such as when "poor Vince Mcmahon, beacon of integrity, was being beaten in the ratings by evil millionaire Ted Turner". The book gets as many facts straight as I can tell, from my own memories and having cross-referenced a lot from my other more straight wrestling books. Sure, this book's a lot less polite and paints a lot of things with impressions of ulterior motives and dishonesty, but that's the point, it intends to poke at the silly, tasteless, and flat out ridiculous aspects of wrestling. More or less chronologically from the early 80s to present day. My only gripe is that sometimes the author centers on a specific subject, such as one of Hogan's movie bombs, for a little too long. But hey, no one else has done it to this extent and it doesn't happen often enough to hate the book by any means.

While my favorite book on the subject, for a multitude of reasons, is still "The Buzz on Professional Wrestling", Wrestlecrap is a more specific and ridiculing (though still very much respectful) take on the dumber side of sports entertainment. Pick it up for a good laugh at some of the stuff you've always remembered or may have missed, or just for some humorous validation that yes, that stuff you saw was pretty dang crappy.

I read this book and found it to be fantastic! I have watched wrestling off and on for many years. This book was so well written that it helped me to understand alot about wrestling. The author obviously is a huge fan of wrestling and also very interested in talking to people who may not understand all of the behind scenes and scenarios that make Pro Wrestling work (Or not work)!!
Anyone could pick up this book and have a good understanding of wrestling and the promoters. I could not put it down. Thank you Randy Baer and R.D. Reynolds--Great Job!!! I will recommend this to all of my friends.

First off, I have never visited the Wrestlecrap Website. That said, when I heard about the premise of this book, I was expecting a slightly amusing look at bad gimmicks like "The Red Rooster." I was surprised to find that this book gave more than lists and photos of outrageously horrid characters. "Wrestlecrap" is so much more. This book ponders the thought process of the higher-ups in WCW and WWF. It describes gimmicks that were created for personal satisfaction rather than business savvy, gimmicks that were created out of desperation rather than creativity, and bad gimmicks that the promoters honestly thought were brilliant. Best of all, I found this book to be more than just slightly amusing; this book is hysterical!

Wrestlecrap primarily focuses from the mid 1980s to the present, when Vince McMahon Jr gave pro wrestling a brand new paint job, and how folks like WCW's Jim Herd tried to "outcamp" the WWF with disastrous results. While I've read countless articles presenting icons like McMahon as everything from innovative to cutthroat to no-nonsense maverick, it's not very often you get to read a detailed report on the many blunders that go on amidst the successes, in the ring and behind the dressing room curtain. Yes, we know multiple Doink the Clowns were lame, how embarrassing the fake Razor Ramon & Diesel was, or how we cringed at WCW's "Wonderful World of Oz." But Wrestlecrap goes into great detail about the geniuses who dreamed these angles up, why they expected them to work, why they didn't work. We read about backstage politics, and how some promoters created bad gimmicks specifically to make the wrestlers they disliked personally look bad. The author is also humble enough to point out a gimmick that, considering how way-out it was, should have failed, but instead became one of the most successful pro wrestling personas of all time: The Undertaker.

Early on in the book, Reynolds and Baer appropriately take the heat off the wrestlers for performing these gimmicks, since they are performing a job at the booker's request.

The point of wrestlers following the orders of the promoters is driven home in the book's forward, which is written by John "Earthquake" Tenta. Tenta was a Sumo and legit tough guy long before he became Earthquake. Even with that reputation, he did not hesitate, when asked, to dress up like "The Shark" or as Golga of The Oddities (confession time---I think we all have at least one "Wrestlecrap Guilty Pleasure"...mine is The Oddities!). In a business where big egos and dressing room hissyfits can make headaches for promoters, Tenta is a breath of fresh air. He stresses that wrestlers have to make do with the personas given them, and give it their best shot, and that for every "Stone Cold" Steve Austin created, there are a hundred "Sharks." He is able to laugh at the bad gimmicks he did, as well as laugh at himself. John Tenta, despite being a Sumo, obviously never thought that the wrestling business was "beneath him" unlike many folks in the biz. For this, I take my hat off and salute John Tenta.

This book is a shockingly wonderful book, and highly recommended for anyone who wants to see the rationale behind bad decisons!

As a fan of RD Reynolds / Randy Baer as a person and a writer I bought this book a few years ago. I read this book cover to cover 1 time and have had no desire to pick it up ever again. Due to the many factual and writing errors in the book as well as its lack of depth, the book just has no re readability. This is especially true for any fan of the Wrestlecrap web site, which I have been for a long time, because the entire book is just reprinted and rehashed from the Wrestlecrap site.

Every entry about an old wrestlecrap gimmick in the book is the same as "Gimmick A was a stupid idea because Wrestler X looked stupid in his costume while playing a wrestler with blank day job." Outside of the comments from the late, great, John Tenta on being Earthquake / Shark / Avalanche there is no depth to any of the characters or why they existed and failed. The remainder of the book is just the usual "smart fan" opinionated garbarge that can be read on any wrestling web page about how Hart, Flair, Benoit and all wreslers under 6 feet tall are gods and Bischoff, Russo, McMahons, Nash, Hogan, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels are all the spawn of the devil who have conspired to destroy the greatness of professional wrestling. These problems with the book come from the fact that Reynolds did no research on the book and has no inside knowledge of the wrestling business.

My advice is to read the Wrestlecrap web site once per week for an entire year. If you do this you will read everything that is in this book for free and in a more entertaining fashion with video / sound clips. This book is okay to check out from a friend or a library once for a trip down memory lane. If you buy this book you will find it mildly amusing once and then it will just gather a lot of dust.