Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame - The Canadians
Author, Ghost Writer, Editor: Greg Oliver
Publisher: ECW Press
Released: 10/02
The Good
Greg Oliver is an excellent pro-wrestling journalist and this, the first in the "Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame" series is a nice sampling of the work he has been doing for years on his Slam! Wrestling website. This book is more of an encyclopedia of Canadian and adopted Canadian wrestlers than what future installments would be. Oliver top twenty listing could raise eyebrows, but nothing is grossly omitted, overlooked or downplayed. If you've never browsed his site, this is great original content with interview tidbits, anecdotes and well-researched history. A sound first attempt.
The Bad
"Hall of Fame" books are always full of subjectivity that irks everyone. While I have read some of the flaws of this book, it is generally good. I think its limitations are in its depth. However, Oliver had to choose between a wide variety of people to profile or great depth in those profiles and he chose the former. His top twenty had the depth I enjoyed, but was not on par with the mini-biographies in Dave Meltzer's Tributes books. Although this is okay, his future books make this look amateurish.
The Rating: ***3/4
Showing posts with label lists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lists. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Monday, February 22, 2010
Top 100 Pro-Wrestlers of All-Time
Author, Ghost Writer, Editor: John F. Molinero; Jeff Marek, Dave Meltzer
Publisher: Winding Stair Press
Released: 12/02
The Good
A fun read that is pretty accurate and fair to people's legacies. It tries not to be negative, for better or for worse. Molinero and his editors know their wrestling and the fact they push some of the people as high as they do is probably alarming to some, but I think after a single reading anyone would be sold on anyone of the questionable wrestlers. That is a difficult task. Some wrestlers are romanticized to an extent and some are not and either makes for an interesting read. It's pretty straightforward and if you don't learn something I'd be surpised.
The Bad
As one would expect there is so wrong with this list. The three guys that made it are very knowledge, but they're fallible in their selection as anyone would be. They do acknowledge that at least, but it doesn't dismiss them. Dave himself thinks the first 75 are strong, but the last leg is here & there. Certain minorities are groups are ignored, namely Japanese women (Chigusa is 45!), Europeans (there are only like 5 native borns) and one could make cases for Japanese and Mexican wrestlers as well and not to mention countries that no one knows a lot about (India's Dara Singh is kind of the exception), but everywhere from Puerto Rico to Australia is overlooked to a degree. I could go on forever about all the flaws of this list, but the fact is it's an impossible task. Other than that it has a few inaccurate pictures, which never looks good, but they're not ones that most people would notice.
The Rating: ****1/4
Author, Ghost Writer, Editor: John F. Molinero; Jeff Marek, Dave Meltzer
Publisher: Winding Stair Press
Released: 12/02
The Good
A fun read that is pretty accurate and fair to people's legacies. It tries not to be negative, for better or for worse. Molinero and his editors know their wrestling and the fact they push some of the people as high as they do is probably alarming to some, but I think after a single reading anyone would be sold on anyone of the questionable wrestlers. That is a difficult task. Some wrestlers are romanticized to an extent and some are not and either makes for an interesting read. It's pretty straightforward and if you don't learn something I'd be surpised.
The Bad
As one would expect there is so wrong with this list. The three guys that made it are very knowledge, but they're fallible in their selection as anyone would be. They do acknowledge that at least, but it doesn't dismiss them. Dave himself thinks the first 75 are strong, but the last leg is here & there. Certain minorities are groups are ignored, namely Japanese women (Chigusa is 45!), Europeans (there are only like 5 native borns) and one could make cases for Japanese and Mexican wrestlers as well and not to mention countries that no one knows a lot about (India's Dara Singh is kind of the exception), but everywhere from Puerto Rico to Australia is overlooked to a degree. I could go on forever about all the flaws of this list, but the fact is it's an impossible task. Other than that it has a few inaccurate pictures, which never looks good, but they're not ones that most people would notice.
The Rating: ****1/4
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