by R. D. Reynolds, Bryan Alvarez
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Product Description
This detailed tell-all of the demise of the former top pro wrestling company World Championship Wrestling explores the colorful personalities and flawed business decisions behind how WCW went from being the highest-rated show on cable television in 1997 to a laughable series that lost 95 percent of its paying audience by 2001. Behind-the-scenes exclusive interviews, rare photographs, and probing questions illustrate with humor and candor how greed, egotism, and bad business shattered the thriving enterprise. Wrestling fans will devour the true story of this fallen empire, which in its heyday spawned superstars such as Sting, Bill Goldberg, and the New World Order.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 A TRULY INTERESTING READ, 2008-05-17
I REALLY ENJOYED THIS BOOK CONCERNING THE DOWNFALL OF WCW. THIS BOOK TAKE US FROM GEORGIA WRESTLING NWA AND FINALLY WCW. THE DETAILED SOAP OPERA AND STORY LINES BROUGHT BACK THE GREAT MEMORIES I HAD OF THIS ONCE GREAT WRESTLING ORGANIZATION. AT ONE TIME IT'S MONDAY SHOW OF NITRO DOMINATED THE WWE. ONLY TO SEE IT FADE AWAY DUE TO STUPID SPENDING, OVER USED PERSONNEL AND A LACK OF FRESH STORYLINES AND NEW FACES. THE BOOK GIVES A GREAT DEAL OF DETAIL OF WHAT WENT ON BEHIND THE SCENES TO MAKE THIS ALL HAPPEN. FROM DUSTY RHODES, TO ERIC BISHOFF TO VINCE RUSSO THE AUTHOR POINTS THE FINGER TO ALL THE ABOVE PLUS MANY MORE LIKE HULKSTER, SCOTT HALL AND KEVIN NASH. I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK FOR ALL WRESTLING FANS AND MOSTLY FOR THOSE WHO REALLY ENJOYED THE WCW AND NITRO. ONE THE BEST BOOKS ON PRO WRESTLING.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
 Enjoyable read, but badly sourced, 2008-01-01
This is a tough review to write. On the one hand, I enjoyed this book immensely. It was a fun trip down memory lane reviewing all the twists and turns of the Monday Night Wars in terrific detail. In fact, this is probably the most detailed book you'll find out there about this period. The authors also have a wonderful sense of humor, and the book is a quick and fun read.
What immensely frustrated me, however, was that almost no effort was made to provide sources for the voluminous amounts of information presented. While there is a very short bibliography at the end of the book listing a handful of sources organized by chapter (which probably do not account for most of the information in the book), no indication is given as to which pieces of information came from which source. To me, this is a major issue because the wrestling industry is rife with unfounded internet rumors, and it's important for the reader to be able to distinguish documented facts from unfounded rumors or speculation.
For example, the authors make numerous allegations about WCW's financial status at different points throughout its history with no citations or any other indications as to where this information purportedly came from. In his book, "Controversy Creates Cash," Eric Bischoff lamented the fact that internet writers often made unfounded and inaccurate claims about WCW's profits and losses since the company's information was proprietary and was allegedly unavailable to anybody outside of WCW. Of course, Bischoff could be lying through his teeth, but there's no way to tell (at least from this book) because Alvarez and Reynolds give us no way to determine where their figures came from.
In addition, the book is replete with allegations of conversations and happenings that occurred backstage with, again, no citations provided to allow the reader to verify any of it. This became especially frustrating when the authors wrote about promoters' and wrestlers' INTERNAL motivations for certain actions. The authors write about these internal thought processes as if they were mind-readers. Hulk Hogan got the worst treatment, as he was frequently accused of internally plotting to put his own interests above those of WCW. A notable example occurs on page 139, detailing what allegedly led to the July 6, 1998 match between Hulk Hogan and Bill Goldberg:
"As the date drew near, Hogan, the wily veteran, came up with a plan. Aware that all the Turner bigwigs would be at the show, he offered to take Goldberg on in a non-title, non-televised match in which Goldberg would get the win and and send the folks home happy. All the company execs, seeing the huge house, would obviously assume that Hogan drew it, and his standing as WCW's top dog would be cemented."
How do the authors know this was Hogan's motivation and thought process? Did they interview him? Did they rely on his book or something else that he wrote? Not according to the bibliography. In the bibliography, the only sources listed for the chapter on 1998 were a Prodigy Chat with Eric Bischoff CONDUCTED IN 1997 and a personal interview R.J. Reynolds conducted with Bobby Heenan (which is also listed as a source for the chapter on 2000). Since the Heenan interview is never referred to in the text of the book, it's entirely unclear which pieces of information (if any) actually came from that interview. Even assuming that Heenan provided the authors with information about Hogan's "plan", at best that's hearsay about another individual's internal thought processes from somebody who may or may not have an axe to grind. The reader is left to wonder whether Hogan's "plan" is a documented fact, the result of hearsay from Heenan (or somebody else), or completely unfounded speculation by the authors.
That's just but one example of the unfounded allegations that arise throughout the whole book. In sum, while this book is an immensely enjoyable read, the facts presented in it, other than what we saw on our TV screens, simply are not reliable. And that is a shame.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Good To Read Once, But Not Repeatedly, 2007-12-29
I bought this book a few years ago and have read it 3 times. I am a fan of RD Reynolds as a writer and his Wrestlecrap web site. I thought this book was good when I first read it at the time it came out. However, it has not held up well over repeated readings as time has passed and a lot of the so called facts in the book have been disproven.
Here is the good and bad about this book.
The Good
This book does at least attempt to provide some facts and information to back up its opinions, which is more than most wrestling books do. It is very funny and clever in the parts written by Reynolds. The subject matter of the destruction of the second largest wrestling organization in the world is an important subject. If you are a long time fan of wrestling, then this book is a good trip down memory lane.
The Bad
The pseudo journalism in this book is fairly sloppy and the book is basically a collection of internet wrestling fan fantasies that can be read any place on the web. The book has fun bashing the people the authors personally dislike, such as Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Eric Bischoff, Vince Russo, the leaders of AOL / Time Warner, et cetera, but the authors never bothered to talk to any of these parties for their views. The so called sources the authors use are mostly unnamed (which is always a sloppy journalism tactic) and mostly consist of small time under card wrestlers who are just bitter at their lack of success. The personal favorite wrestlers of the authors, such as Ric Flair, Bret Hart, Chris Benoit, et cetera are lauded and applauded without receiving any criticism for their roles in the fate of WCW.
The book makes unsubstantiated, unsupported, conclusions about how Vince McMahon mishandled his purchase of WCW and how they think professional wrestling should be. As with WCW, the authors did not interview anybody in the WWF or any McMahons, so the portion of the book at the end where they are rambling about the WWF is misinformed and uneducational. Outside of the first chapter, very little is written about WCW before the birth of Monday Nitro in 1995, which is a huge omission. The book basically ignores the internal strife within AOL / Time Warner, which almost led the entire company to bankruptcy and the economic and business factors that were the real cause of the death of WCW (such as having no no DVD releases and weak overall merchandising and sponsorships).
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Maybe the Best Wrestling Book , 2007-12-06
This is my favorite wrestling book. The best I've ever read. Thought I should start by saying that. I've read it well over 5 times(I'm actually in the middle of reading it a 6th time).
Anyway, like the title says, its a book detailing the Death of World Championship Wrestling(WCW). Not only that, but it also documents the birth, and rise of the company based in Atlanta Georgia.
Bryan and RD Reynolds do a great job of not only dissecting WCW as a whole, but also going into detail about some of the more sublte snafus the company made, some of which helped with its demise. And if you've ever heard either of these two's respective radio shows, or read their writings, you know that it has to be full of humor. And it is. It brings out a lot of humor in a situation so sad that it almost HAS to be laughed at.
5 stars, easily. Also, do yourself a favor and read RD's two other books.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
The best full-length description of WCW's Late History, 2007-10-29
Wrestling Organizations rarely die in such a fantastic fashion as WCW did in the early 2000's, but when it's IP was bought up by WWF, it was a lightning rod moment for the change of the US wrestling industry. RD and Bryan in this book did a fantastic job summing up post 1990 wrestling's history (for more on the pre-Bischoff era, RD's other book Wrestlecrap: the Worst of Pro-Wrestling covers it more in detail) and then going into depth on the numbers and antics of how WCW first pushed ahead of WWF, and then sank to nearly nothing.
I don't give five stars, only because I find the book slightly inconstant in tone - you can tell definitely when the two authors are writing, as RD's tone is nearly silly, and Bryan's much more serious. I found it disjointing and occasionally pulled me out of the experience of reading the book. Some more polish with an editor might have helped this issue. There are a few minor factual questions, but nothing that disrupts the flow of the book's story. I can also say I totally agree with the conclusion, but I think more time could have been given to the aftermath. If the book is ever re-printed, another chapter with more fallout might be a welcome addition.
Those few things aside, both are entertaining and informative. Both have been part of the Internet wrestling community for years, and we hope for a long time more. I can only say it's unfortunate wrestling has been so completely boring in the last 5 years, as a book about the post-WCW history would read like a diner menu of loathsomeness.
(I truly hope RD or Bryan look at this, find "loathsome" in a review, and get worried before they read the context. Sorry guys, just yank'n your chains!)
Also note RD has a new book coming soon with his Wrestlecrap Radio cohost Blade Braxton, which will be a full-on wrestling comedy book called Wrestlecrap Book of Lists and will be released in Nov. 2007.
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