WWF WrestleMania : The Official Insider's Story (Hardcover)

by Jr., Basil V. Devito (Author), Joe Layden (Author), Wwf (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-Some people consider WrestleMania the greatest event in the history of sports entertainment. It is the marriage of sports stars, celebrities, singers, and politicians. Aficionados can relive the most electrifying moments from the first contest held in 1985 at Madison Square Garden to "WrestleMania XVI's Fatal Four-Way Title Match with Triple H, Cactus Jack, the Big Show and The Rock." This engaging coffee-table book has striking, hair-raising photographs, incredible moments of fan pandemonium, and oodles of behind-the-scenes stories, and it comes bundled with an exclusive DVD that underscores the great "Championship matches that link WrestleMania events through the years." If you buy but one wrestling book this year, let this be the one.

ayo dayo, Chinn Park Regional Library, Prince William, VA

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

When Hulk Hogan hoisted the seven-foot-four, five-hundred-pound Andre the Giant into the air and over his head, the crowd fell briefly silent, as if not quite able to believe what was happening. As the Giant crashed to the canvas with a great THUD!, a roar went up from the crowd. It was pandemonium!

Goosebump-raising moments like this one at 1987's WrestleMania III in Pontiac, Michigan, are what sports-entertainment is all about. Now fans can relive sixteen years of these electrifying events through vibrant color photographs, previously untold insider anecdotes, and an exclusive DVD of WrestleMania 's greatest moments.

In WrestleMania: The Official Insider's Story, Basil V. DeVito Jr. -- a man with intimate knowledge of the past sixteen years of WrestleMania -- takes fans on a journey into the squared circle and into the private worlds behind the curtain and behind the boardroom doors.

Fans will be treated to:What happened when the Hell's Angels showed up backstage for the first WrestleMania demanding to be seated in the sold-out houseHow Vince McMahon boldly predicted the weather -- with 93,000 seats on the lineWhich Superstars were in the first-of-its-kind, main-event 60-minute Iron Man match at WrestleMania XIIWhat the guest celebrities were really like, including Muhammad Ali, Liberace, Pete Rose, Mike Tyson, Willie Nelson, Donald Trump, Lawrence Taylor, Vanna White, Burt Reynolds, and many othersWhich Superstar mistook the president of Trump Plaza for the concierge and asked him to sell two WrestleMania IV tickets and bring him the money backstageHow the championship matches link WrestleManias through the yearsWho ushered in a new era of "Attitude" at WrestleMania 13How WrestleMania XVI's Fatal Four-Way Title Match -- with Triple H, The Rock, the Big Show, and Cactus Jack -- came to have a McMahon in every corner And much, much more!

Whether you're a new fan or an old mark, you don't know sports-entertainment unless you know about the sixteen-year history of its crowning jewel, WrestleMania !

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 204 pages
• Publisher: HarperEntertainment; Har/DVD edition (March 6, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060393874
• ISBN-13: 978-0060393878
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 10.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #805,253 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WWF History Lesson, May 28, 2001

By	Louis Rusconi (El Cajon, California United States) - See all my reviews

If WWF's Wrestlemania was a college course, this would be the required text! Great photos and writing make this an entertaining and informative read!It's great that this has been documented for history and in ten years they should do a companion book.Two let downs about this book: #1 It comes with a Dvd video. I only have VHS, so I guess I will have to wait to when I an forced into purchasing a Dvd player. It's kind of presumptous of the publishers to assume everyone has a dvd player.#2 I follow wrestling pretty close and know much of the "inside scoop", and this was written clearly from an "event-based" point of view, not from how it really happened.I guess the writer wanted to steer clear of any of the "backstage politics" and just cover the historical events that took place.Which is great, not everyone wants to know all that stuff. Bottom line, this book is great and should be purchased by any wrestling fan. It is a testimony of how great the WWF is and has been and will continue to be!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Book, March 17, 2001

By	R. M. Williams (NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is just incredible. It has amazing photos, well-written text, and is just a great read. I was glad to see that it didn't "disrespect" the first few WrestleManias in order to praise the so-called "WWF Attitude" of the last 3 events. I've heard some people complain about the price for the book, but believe me it's well worth it. Basil Devito tells really interesting stories about what went on before, during, and after each WrestleMania event. There are only 2 negatives I have regarding the book- first, they should have printed the results of each WrestleMania match. They included the lineups of each event, but no results which I thought was kind of dumb. Second, the DVD that's included with the book is just basically a shorter version of the "WrestleMania History" disk that was included with the WrestleMania 16 DVD. If you own that DVD, you already have most of what's on here. But other than those two small points, this is a must-have book for any wrestling fan.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good........but not Great, March 25, 2001

By A Customer

The book is very good. And for NEW wrestling fans who just started following the business past few years it gives a nice history of WM. But most hardcore die-hard pro wrestling fans have heard most of these stories before or won't be all that intrigued by them. It is a solid book that can be read in a day or two. The DVD is nice. But like I said, if your a die-hard pro wrestling fan don't buy this book expecting to learn anything.