November 9, 201311 yr comment_5571762 Excerpt: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/993188...acism-wrestling In fairness to David here on his PWTorchcast appearance he did say he didn't title that article that. The original line was something along the lines of Race and Wrestling. I will stop saying it after this but he does come across as a nice and well meaning guy. I hope he continues giving that impression by accepting corrections.
November 20, 201311 yr comment_5573388 I skimmed through Shoemaker's book at Barnes & Noble today. Among other things, I learned that the famous Liger/Pillman match took place at the 1995 edition of Superbrawl and that Sid wrestled as Lord Humongous in Mid-South. Also, the chapter on Crush contains a completely irrelevant side discussion of "geopolitics in wrestling" (anti-American heels, in other words). I don't know if I'm more confused by that or the fact that there was a chapter dedicated to Crush in the first place. EDIT: It looks like most of the chapters on individual wrestlers were lifted virtually verbatim from his Dead Wrestler of the Week columns. So I guess that explains it. Oh, and he thinks that Iron Mike DiBiase is more well-known among wrestling fans than Mitsuharu Misawa.
November 20, 201311 yr comment_5573397 Is there even any footage of Iron Mike Dibiase out there? I don't think tons of fans know who Misawa is but I really doubt more than a handful of current fans and smarks know anything about Dibiase other than his relation to his son. I really only know who he is because Filsinger Games released a card of him for their Legends card game. That's really it as I've never encountered footage of him and not a lot is written about him.
November 25, 201311 yr comment_5574122 Almost done with the book. I think Shoemaker was attempting something interesting, but focusing it around dead wrestlers feels like it prevents a real focus on the ideas. Also - I don't the Warrior is an interstitial because he's supposed to represent a bridge between the two eras; it's because he wanted to talk about him but he's not dead (but was believed to be by some).
November 25, 201311 yr comment_5574264 The whole half history of the business, half here are some dead guy's biographies thing makes it really disjointed and hard to follow. I'm just about done with it as well but I would definitely stopping reading if I wasn't doing a review of it.
November 26, 201311 yr comment_5574290 It's too bad that there's only a "Best Pro Wrestling Book" in the WON. This sounds like a good Worst Pro Wrestling Book candidate. It would also be fun to know how many of those SKeith would have won over the years. John
November 26, 201311 yr comment_5574299 It's too bad that there's only a "Best Pro Wrestling Book" in the WON. This sounds like a good Worst Pro Wrestling Book candidate. It would also be fun to know how many of those SKeith would have won over the years. John To be fair to Keith, he may have crappy reasons for 'why' it happened and crappy opinions on specific matches, but he usually isn't bad on history he's familiar with (ie. Hogan-era WWE & WCW and so forth).
November 30, 201311 yr comment_5574666 Here's my review of "The Squared Circle": http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2013/11/2...estling-review/
December 2, 201311 yr Author comment_5574861 Here's my review of "The Squared Circle": http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2013/11/2...estling-review/ What I found was a cursory glance-over of various eras in professional wrestling history (these were great) What was "great" about these? Would a book about any other sport be widely praised with massive factual mistakes about major players and eras? Pro wrestling fans are so desperate for "mainstream" that they will literally praise anything.
December 2, 201311 yr comment_5574875 I thought they were easy, well-written reads. All the facts weren't money but from a strictly "quick bio about this guy" standpoint, they were very good. Funny you picked out that quote when the rest of my review is a total hackjob on the book and it's many issue but whatever.
December 2, 201311 yr comment_5574878 Perhaps. I thought those little capsules were an interesting read for someone (as I mentioned) who hasn't watched since The Attitude Era but totally enforced from the get-go that readers of our site, this site or any "smart" wrestling site don't even need to bother picking it up.
December 2, 201311 yr comment_5574882 The factual errors look mostly like typos, frankly (although the mixing up of Memphis and Mid-South is constant and surprising for a guy who grew up in Louisville). I really don't think they derail the book, although from a major publisher, you think they'd get it right. I'm with Rich - it's a nice attempt at something, but it mostly fails to be more than it is, which is some okay bios and era specific histories. I generally enjoyed reading it, but I don't recall much from it a week or so later.
December 3, 201311 yr Author comment_5574899 The factual errors look mostly like typos, frankly How do you mean? He doesn't even get the way the WWF booked heels and babyfaces right. And that's the stuff he lived through. His historical portraits are a bad rewrite of Fall Guys, which itself problematic. He doesn't know much about wrestling history.
December 3, 201311 yr Author comment_5574900 This is a guy who talks a ton about Ed Lewis and barely mentions Joe Stecher. It's like someone doing an NBA book and writing at length about Larry Bird and never discussing his rivalry with Magic.
December 3, 201311 yr comment_5574988 This is a guy who talks a ton about Ed Lewis and barely mentions Joe Stecher. It's like someone doing an NBA book and writing at length about Larry Bird and never discussing his rivalry with Magic. Did you end up interviewing him and/or reviewing the book?
December 3, 201311 yr comment_5574991 The factual errors are because he doesn't understand wrestling very well. I've heard him on Bill Simmons twice and was almost screaming at my Ipod multiple times for each appearance because he gets so much shit wrong or just doesn't know. Great example is they were talking about Bret Hart and Curt Henning and Simmons wondered why Hennig just kind of disappeared after losing the IC title to Hart. He never once told Simmons that it was because Hennig was hurt. And those are just the things that I caught and my memories of anything pre-2012 are blurry at best.
December 4, 201311 yr comment_5575043 http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/100729...ing-survive-wwe Have fun...
December 4, 201311 yr comment_5575048 "A brief history of the indie scene, plus an interview with Chris Hero, the wrestler who almost became the next CM Punk" Yeah, that sub-headline alone is hilarious.
December 4, 201311 yr Author comment_5575108 This is a guy who talks a ton about Ed Lewis and barely mentions Joe Stecher. It's like someone doing an NBA book and writing at length about Larry Bird and never discussing his rivalry with Magic. Did you end up interviewing him and/or reviewing the book? No. Ultimately I think it's a bad look for me to review his book. Bix needs to step up to the challenge.
December 4, 201311 yr comment_5575114 http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/100729...ing-survive-wwe Have fun... I see he fixed the error I saw yesterday where he noted Daniel Bryan was out of WWE for a year after the choking incident. Now it reads "short hiatus".
December 4, 201311 yr comment_5575118 It's kind of funny that he doesn't mention anything about Linda's campaign in that "short hiatus".
December 4, 201311 yr Author comment_5575126 I don't understand how the indies are copying the ECW business model. That doesn't seem right.
December 4, 201311 yr comment_5575127 Doesn't the entire premise of his argument not work because John Cena was an indy worker?
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