Inside Out: How Corporate America Destroyed Professional Wrestling (Paperback)

~ Ole Anderson (Author), Scott Teal (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

INSIDE OUT is a sometimes funny, sometimes bitter, and always intriguing and entertaining journey through the 1960s-1990s wrestling landscape. -- John Wantanabe, announcer for KDAR-FM, Oxnard, CA

This ranks up there with Lou Thesz' HOOKER as the best and most important books written on American pro wrestling. -- Sheldon Goldberg, owner New England Championship Wrestling

Whether you agree or disagree, Ole's honesty on the various personalities and aspects of professional wrestling is refreshing. -- Flint Benson, Up and Coming Weekly

Product Description

Here, for the first time, Ole Anderson finally tells his story. The people who know him, know that Ole is never hesitant to speak his mind — and this book is no exception.

Combining facts and opinion, Ole's biography is a straightforward look at the many phases of his career in the wild, if somewhat seedy, world of professional wrestling. From his days in amateur wrestling, to the time when he hooked up with Gene and Lars Anderson as the Minnesota Wrecking Crew, Ole relates 30-plus years of never-before-told stories.

Ole tells of his feuds, both inside the ring and out, with people like Ric Flair, Wahoo McDaniel, Mr. Wrestling, Dusty Rhodes, and Bill Watts.

However, his biggest feuds took places behind the scenes in the halls and offices of corporate giant, Superstation WTBS. The matches in the ring were nothing compared to his battles with The Suits, corporate executives like Vince McMahon, Jim Barnett, Bill Shaw, Jim Herd, and Eric Bischoff. In Ole's own words, "The wrestling matches may have been staged and scripted, but there was nothing ‘fake' about the corporate and legal battles."

As a former wrestler, booker, promoter, owner, and executive producer, Ole goes deeper in the inner workings of professional wrestling than anyone ever has. He tells the stories about financial, legal, and drug problems that plagued the wrestling business.

It doesn't matter whether you hate wrestling or love it. This is a powerful story about a man who stood up to the establishment. His insight, humor, and colorful use of the English language makes this a "no-holds barred" book that you won't be able to put down.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Crowbar Press (November 2003)
• ISBN-10: 0974554502
• ISBN-13: 978-0974554501
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #886,553 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Better Books about Wrestling, January 27, 2006

By	Tony Correia "GarpinBC" (Vancouver, BC Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This books should be called, "How Corporate America Ruins Everything." This isn't just a story about wrestling, it's a story about big money coming in and taking control of something it knows nothing about and running it into the ground. What I liked about this book is that Anderson is not just an athlete, he's a business school graduate, so he knows what he's talking about. I'm sure he's stretched the truth here and there, or left out certain details, but the circumstances and situations he describes are believeable and told with a degree of spit and vinegar that is sorely lacking from wrestling as we know it.

This book is interesting on a variety of levels: there's his relationship with Gene Anderson, the quiet thug who was happy to let Ole do all the talking and make all the decisions; his descriptions of the territories, and how they operated; and his portraits of some of my favorite wrestlers and storylines growing up. But what really sets this book apart is Anderson's analysis of wrestling "psychology" - what kept us glued to our TVs and got us into the stadiums and arenas.

I divided my time reading this book as well as John Irving's, (another wrestler), "Until I Find You," and I found "Inside Out," infinitely more interesting and captivating. When you read it, you feel like you're sitting on Anderson's porch over a beer listening to him tell you his story. There's a certain charm to the fact that for as much as he uses the word "Sh#!" he never actually spells it.

This book is for anyone who grew up watching the NWA and AWA on Saturday afternoons and for those who know nothing of wrestling but the WWE. It's nostalgic, insighful, and at times, poignant. It does get a little repititive near the end but I think has more to say about Anderson's passion for the sport than his regrets.

This is a truly American story, and a comment on our culture.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Remembering Ole from 1982-1984 Dayton, Ohio, April 27, 2005

By	Cheryl (Dayton Ohio) - See all my reviews

Ole was the most arrogant man that I had ever met and that is what I liked the most about him. His point of view on EVERYTHING was written just as I expected when I ordered this book. 21 years later I still laugh when I talk about those years to others. Some of the book surprised me and some of it didn't! I especially got a laugh about the guy who held a gun to the back of his head while he walked away and Stan Hansen and others stood and watched and then told him later. Ole asking why they didn't tell him, they replied "we wanted to see if he would do it". You would have to actually have a conversation with Ole to understand that point of view. Well worth reading. He is a very intelligent man, despite his overwhelming personality!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Same old tough guy talk, January 9, 2007

By	M. James "Aussie Mike" (Washington DC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you like formulaic tough guy talk common to old time wrasslers of the"I was always the straightest talking, toughest guy in the room, who never lost a fight" vein this book is for you.

Although one must admire OLE'S honesty in admitting that he was never in the same class as the likes of Thesz and the old shooters as far as wrestling was concerned. Anderson's description of how new wrestling prospects were treated is chilling in its brutality. Opens your eyes to another side of the wrasslin business that's for sure.

Worth the buy if you are interested in one person and one person only's viewpoint with no room for alernative opinions or reasoned analysis. Then again it is a book about OLE ANDERSON and apparently that is him, so as an autobiogrpahy it serves it's purpose. Worth the buy but not in the same class as top flight wrestling books like "Hooker" and "Wrestlers are like Seagulls" in my opinion.