Ask anyone, wrestling aficionado and non-wrestling Joe on the street alike, to name one wrestler and I bet most will immediately say Hulk Hogan. Some people probably believe that Hogan actually invented wrestling, while of course this is not true, his saga and persona have made him a god and in reading his book, Hogan reminds you just why he is so great.
I was-and still am a Hulk-A-Maniac. I said my prayers and ate my vitamins. I became a wrestling fan because of Hogan. Yes, I fell off the wagon a couple of times, but you cannot deny this man’s drawing power. The fans love him and cheer him on like they did in the 80s- maybe even more. For over 25 years, he has rocked the wrestling world and deserved every ounce of success he has got.
This book begins on that fateful day in the year 2002 in the city of Toronto where Hulk-A-Mania was reborn against The Rock at Wrestlemania 18. From there you are thrusted back in time to meet the pudgy kid who no one could imagine would be a wrestling star. Hogan was initially a rock-n-roller and baseball player with no aspirations of becoming a wrestler. He had his idols like Dusty Rhodes and Superstar Billy Graham, both whom he would emulate, but wrestling was the furthest thing from his mind until he was discovered and encouraged to make it in the biz. From wrestling independents in Florida and the hotbed of Memphis, Hogan eventually caught a break in the major leagues of the AWA and the WWWF. However, it was not until his cameo role in Rocky III that Hogan would become the star that he is and a young Vince McMahon, trying to turn the then-WWF into a national powerhouse, would give birth to Hulk-A-Mania.
Hulk Hogan tells some great tales of what it was like to be held back in the AWA despite growing popularity. He speaks of how it felt to gain superstardom in Rocky III and how it would later translate into other not so notable movie roles. He also discussed what it was like to work with Mr. T and later Dennis Rodman and how it felt to beat the legendary Andre the Giant before a record crowd in the Pontiac Silverdome. Hogan also tackles a steroid controversy, the lawsuit against him from comedian Richard Beltzer the move to WCW and the politics that hurt the company and his decision to return to the WWE.
Despite all of the great tales told in these pages, I feel the book lacked a trait every great person who appreciates their fame should have -humility. Hogan takes credit for far too many things. He discusses being the one who helped bring the Undertaker into the WWE, how he was one of the main men behind the decision of forming the New World Order. There was not enough talk about his earlier days, the days that made him who he is today. Missing also were Paul Orndorff and their classic feuds, nor was there much about his tag teams with Junkyard Dog or his feelings about Bret Hart.
Nothwithstanding, there is no denying how successful Hogan is and in the end this is a good book about that rise to the top.
Hulk Hogan may not have been as great if not for the anti-Hogan, Rowdy Roddy Piper. The Rowdy Scott is probably the greatest wrestler to have never won the World Title. The fanatical host of Piper’s Pit was probably one of the best speakers in the game and this perfectly translated into a great book. You are a guest in Piper’s Pit, but this time you are the one hearing his story. You cannot help but feel like Piper is talking to you himself with that hyperactive wild ranting style that has made him nothing short of legendary!
In the Pit is the tale of young thin kid who was never taken seriously but got by because he could irritate the fans like no one else ever could. From playing his bagpipes to utterly insulting the hometown hero, Piper knew how to get under the skin of the fans and grow into probably one of Hulk Hogan’s most well-known enemies.
In the Pit with Piper is a nice, quick read with some great moments from Piper’s long, storied career. Readers are treated to tales about how Piper once promised for weeks to learn and play the Mexican National Anthem for Chavo Guerrero on his bagpipers, but instead playing La Cucaracha. We read about the famous bloody battle with Greg Valentine in a Dog-Collar Match. Of course, we also hear about the infamous scene when Piper cracked Jimmy Snuka over the head with a coconut and changed Snuka for the worse. We also get some very interesting tales as to why he was almost never pinned cleanly toward the highlight of his career, why he chose to lose cleanly to Bret Hart and why he never allowed himself to look bad against Hogan. Not until I read this book, did I realize that I could not remember him being pinned much at all. You will also discover why Piper hated Mr. T and how he endured two years of battling him at Wrestlemania I and II.
However, Piper, like Hulk Hogan in his autobiography Hollywood Hulk Hogan, also suffers from egomania. Piper proudly takes credit for the WWE’s Pay Per View success, Hulk-A-Mania and changing the way wrestlers delivered their promos. Piper also has a tendency to go on tangents when describing his over-the-top loony ways during the steroid trial against Vince McMahon and in a chapter where he discusses what he calls the sickness that a lot of wrestlers suffer. Piper’s pride in himself often overshadowed his true skills as a color commentator and his description of the B-Show play-by-play seemed like an even bigger soap opera than the wrestling we see every week. Who knew that blip in wrestling history deserved so much attention? I would have rather learned about how he felt turning face in the WWF for the first time and what it was like to have to team with Hogan when he saved Piper from an attack by Adrian Adonis on Saturday Night’s Main Event. Or what was going through his mind when he made decision paint himself half white and half black when he faced off against Bad News Brown?
Regardless of these few indiscretions, In the Pit with Piper: Roddy Gets Rowdy is a great read and combined with Hogan’s autobiography tells the tale of two wrestlers with two different views traveling two different trails and reaching the same lofty status of Icon.
Hulk-A-Mania would have been nothing without the slew of enemies led by Bobby the Brain Heenan. From Nick Bockwinkle and Paul Orndorff to King Kong Bundy, Andre the Giant and Ric Flair, Hogan’s rogue gallery rivals that of Spiderman and it is all because of the most intelligent manager to ever step foot in a squared circle.
From the AWA to the WWF to WCW, Heenan maintained that he hated Hulk Hogan, even when Hogan himself turned to the darkside. So, I found it so interesting to find out that these two were best of friends. Hogan even writes the foreword to Heenan’s book with poignant and touching words about the manager that made his life a living hell.
Strangely, I loved Wrestling’s Bad Boy Tells All, not because of the wrestling, but for the human element of the story. You can tell from Heenan’s witty, yet intelligent and warm banter, that he loves wrestling with all his heart. There is no real ego in this book. It is about Heenan’s blood family, his squared circle family, and the family he searched for and found.
Readers will discover that Heenan was actually not a bad wrestler himself and even wrestled a bear at one time, despite pointing out in the WWF that he had never wrestled before. Heenan got down and dirty with the best of them in various bloody encounters and was never shy about taking bumps, even as a manager, which it turned out, Heenan was best suited for, managing the rising stars as they entered the WWF. Heenan even found success in the broadcasting field (as a color commentator making the announcing team he had with Gorilla Monsoon as memorable as the one Gorilla had with Jesse The Body Ventura. Heenan was a happy-go-lucky star who was never afraid to take one for the team. However, he had some obstacles to overcome.
Stricken with cancer, Heenan discusses his fight and eventual victory over the illness. He even discusses a meeting with a long lost family member, a brother he still keeps in contact with. We also read about the special bond he shares with his wisecracking daughter. Heenan does not just make you feel part of the wrestling world, he makes you feel a part of his life, sharing so many intimate thoughts and emotions with the fans.
Unfortunately, we are missing such key topics that I would have loved to read about Heenan’s relationship with Paul Orndorff (why is he so often ignored?). What about the incident where he tried to sell Hercules into slavery, the storyline where he verbally attacked Big Bossman’s mother and his career in WCW, which is barely mentioned. Heenan was in the business for so many years that 200-pages seemed miniscule considering his successes.
If you haven’t read this book you really should. I swear Sex, Lies and Headlocks is probably the closest thing to an unbiased look at the inner workings of what the wrestlers call the business. Sex, Lies and Headlocks gives an in-depth history on the World Wrestling Federation and its rise and falls in the wrestling world, including glimpses at the corporations' rivals over the years and how they hindered and contributed toward World Wrestling Entertainment’s near monopolistic success.
From small bingo halls and studio shows to large-scale arenas readers are treated to an interesting history on McMahon’s father decision to compete with the powerhouse National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Yet, McMahon, Sr. was not willing to go the extra mile, not like his son. Strangely, McMahon Sr. did not want his son involved in wrestling. Apparently the young McMahon had a hard time proving himself, after failing to successfully pull off wrestling events, including the Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki fiasco. However, like every true entrepreneur failure after failure did not stop the young McMahon who decided to confront his father and give him an offer he could not refuse.
The elder McMahon was nearing the end of his life and Vince bought the WWF from his dad and his partners and decided to compete with nationwide, breaking the tradition of territory wrestling. Gobbling up all the territories’ top stars, McMahon formed a federation with no boundaries. Every territory soon became WWF territory and it was either compete on the same level or face extinction, which the American Wrestling Association (AWA) and the NWA soon discovered.
McMahon did all he could to bring his brand of wrestling to the masses, even airing his show on Turner Cable. This is where their feud first began, as Turner did not like the ratings of the WWF program, and resurrected the NWA Georgia Championship Wrestling a majority of fans in the south seemed to enjoy more. However, the WWF would eventually succeed, something that would not have happened had a little experiment known as Wrestlemania did not make money. Using an idea of closed-circuit television and then pioneering Pay-Per-View, McMahon continued to revolutionize wrestling until Turner bought the NWA’s World Championship Wrestling program and soon decided to compete with the big boys.
We learn about WCW and the federations slow rise to power when Eric Bischoff, at the spur of the moment decided that they needed a live Monday show with the best wrestling matches to compete with the WWF’s Monday Night Raw program. Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) is also discussed as they used an edgy format to compete with the two main federations, an idea McMahon would eventually steal and modify to form WWF Attitude and win the war against WCW. Of course that came at a price of a strained relationship between WWF and the USA Network that became concerned over the content of the program, including a show when Brian Pillman pulled a gun and apparently fired at Steve Austin. It worked and the WWF won, eventually making a move to TNN and UPN, buying out WCW and knocking ECW out of their coveted TNN national cable deal. Conversely, with success comes failures and those are depicted as well, including the failed World Bodybuilding Federation, XFL and the steroid and sex scandals that could have put the WWF out of business.
My only complaint about this book is that it is a little one-sided, but the great tales make for a great look into wrestling history and offering up an opportunity for a rebuttal by Mr. McMahon himself. There are two sides to every story and this is one side of the epic tale about how and why the WWF and now-WWE rose, fell, fought back and remained in power changing the state of wrestling forever.
Send your comments and or questions to Badseed@ybfree.com.