The Great Debate `08 - Bruno Sammartino vs. Harley Race [KayFabe Commentaries]

The Good
Two huge stars from the 1970s, Bruno favors the 1960s a little and Harley worked well into the late 1980s, but regardless, two true legends. I think if you like listening to either of these two you'll find this enjoyable. Bruno Sammartino had such an amazing career and he is as opinionated as he is experienced. Harley's career perhaps had more variety and scope to it and while he has his views, he's not really abrasive. Since this was billed as a "debate," I expected questions that would put them on opposite sides of a topic. Largely they saw eye-to-eye, so there was little disagreement between them. So, this turned into a tandem shoot of sorts. If you accept that reality, then you can probably see this as a very good one. Sean Oliver is excellent at organizing questions and making things flow well and these two have so much mutual respect that it makes for good back-and-forth. The structure and specific questions made this a little different and I'd certainly recommend a one time listen.

The Bad
If you wanted a heated argument about the supremacy of the NWA versus the WWWF, why a champion should be a heel versus a face or what makes a good promoter, you won't get it. Bruno and Harley are largely in agreement on the issues raised and other than a few slight differences of opinion (that are usually played down as being relative to a region). Those agreements aside, these two are very respectful of one another and seem unwilling to even try to steal the spotlight here. While the Great Debate concept is a neat one, it simply did not happen here. This needed to be like Jim Cornette and Vince Russo, Jerry Lawler and the Honky Tonk Man or Billy Jack Haynes and a sane person to have a real debate. A nice shoot, but not an out-of-the-park-homerun.

The Rating: ***3/4

King of the Ring: The Harley Race Story



Author, Ghost Writer, Editor: Harley Race, Gerry Tritz
Publisher: Sports Publishing
Released: 11/04

The Good
The pro-wrestling book craze has led to many of the old-timers publishing their memoirs to make some money and each book has it's own account of a part of history. Harley Race's in-ring career spanned from the early 60s to the late 80s, a time period that saw power shifts in the NWA and ultimately their demise and the rise of the WWF. He was not only a top pro-wrestler during that time, he was a touring NWA World Champion, booker in numerous places, part owner of the Kansas City territory and one of many who joined Vince after a tough battle against him. He candidly covers all that and wraps up things by talking about managing, retirement, his school and his recent involvement with various people and companies. All of this is fine and well. He talks about his numerous accidents that has left his body shattered, the importance of his family and even his faith, which is really the material most original to this book. This is one of those brief autobiographies that you'll enjoy if you like the wrestler and maybe don't know their story very well and haven't heard their shoot interviews.

The Bad
Any book that mentions Lex Luger several times and paints him in a positive light can't be good, can it? Actually, the big fault of this book is it's length, less than 200 pages. The chronology is good, but Race's fast-life seems to have made for a fast-book. I read this in a 24 hour period, which I had never done with a pro-wrestling book and was never had that "I can't tear myself away" feeling. Tritz is not the best ghostwriter, since he lacks credibility in many ways and probably kept this from being the book it should have been. Race was just as important as someone like Ole Anderson, but he never explains running a territory, how to book or any of that. In fact, he seems like a mark for himself just like Ole said he was. There are plenty of bad wrestling books, this isn't one of them, but it's far from the best. Borrow it if you can, read it in a day or two and you should be mildly satisfied.


The Rating: **1/2