Hooker: An Authentic Wrestler's Adventures Inside the Bizarre World of Professional Wrestling

Author, Ghost Writer, Editor: Lou Thesz, Kit Bauman
Publisher: Wrestling Channel Press
Released: 2/01

The Good
This is, according to many, the definitive source of pro-wrestling from its rough and tumble days through the territorial NWA years up to the national expansion of the WWF. Thesz has dozens of great stories and provides the history that any wrestling fan should desire. This reads easy and even non-fans can get into some of the less wrestling history intensive stuff (as I caught my mother flipping through it once and enjoying it). This stands up well and is typically considered amongst the best books on pro-wrestling and with good reason.

The Bad
Thesz has a very skewed view of things. He likes people and dislikes people and though he does not keep that a secret throughout some fans might be interested in his selective memory and interesting prespectives. His opinions on the modern product are what you'd expect and there is a fair degree of bitterness there. This is not as venomous as Pure Dynamite, but it has more hidden agendas or whatnot. Read this with a skeptical eye and probably read Chokehold afterwards.

The Rating: ****1/4

National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly That Strangled Pro Wrestling

Author, Ghost Writer, Editor: Tim Hornbaker
Publisher: ECW Press
Released: 5/07

The Good
Tim Hornbaker’s book on the history of the NWA is perhaps the most comprehensive on pro-wrestling that will be written. He essentially tells the story of pro-wrestling in much of North America and even Japan over the last hundred years. While this could have been narrower in scope, Hornbaker took liberties to be more far-reaching and almost encyclopedic in approach. The main thread is detailing the formation of the Alliance, its developments, its challenges from “outlaw” promoters and even the U.S. government, the decline of the Alliance and the stories of all the players. The immense amounts of information make this superior to Chokehold and Sex, Lies and Headlocks, which had similar goals. Hornbaker has chapters dedicated to “Strangler” Lewis, Toots Mondt, Sam Muchnick, Fred Kohler and Lou Thesz, which all relate to the NWA story through fascinating mini-bios. He also has thorough pieces on numerous key pro-wrestlers who often doubled as bookers and promoters. Perhaps more interestingly, Hornbaker covers nearly everyone who has ever been an Alliance member, which are stories seldom told because they were often not performers or that aspect of their career is not told. This book is a must-have for the pro-wrestling historian. 

The Bad
Tim Hornbaker’s book is as extensive a book on pro-wrestling history as there is on the market. In just over three hundred and fifty pages, he shoehorns an amazing amount of detailed information. Unlike the history in books like Pain and Passion, Death of WCW and some autobiographies by wrestler/promoters, Hornbaker’s writing style is more substance over style. The complaints of a friend who felt the boringness of this book had overshadowed all the great information inside were convincing. This is not a “fun” read, the two lawsuit chapters are, in fact, largely dull, despite their importance. However, just as one would not read an encyclopedia from cover to cover, so is the case here. This book is a phenomenal resource and a lackluster pleasure book. 

The Rating: ****3/4