Wrestlecrap And Figure Four Weekly Present . . .: The Death Of Wcw

Rating:
Summary: A great read. Not perfect, but great.
Review: First of all, let me say - if you're a hardcore wrestling fan, you're not really going to get much new information from this book. Pretty much everything that's discussed here, you've read about on a message board somewhere. Frequently, not in the level of detail that RD Reynolds goes into, however, which is what makes this book good.

There are, however, some inconsistancies. One thing Reynolds completely fails to take into account was the popularity of the nWo Wolfpac, writing the part of the book dealing with that time period as if Goldberg was the only person in the company who could draw as a main eventer. He obviously didn't remember the audible "Goldberg sucks" chants from the Wolfpac loyalists at Starrcade '98.

My other major gripe with the book was that it failed to mention the excellent undercard WCW had put together just before it collapsed. Having recognized that one thing WCW could easily beat WWF on - Cruiserweights - they hired a good half dozen of cruiserweights, and frequently gave large portions of the undercard to these guys. They brought in some amazing talent like AJ Styles, Jason Jett (ECW's EZ Money), Air Paris, Kid Romeo, etc, the WCW braintrust seemingly knew what they were doing with these guys. But again, it wasn't in time to have any effect on the ratings. A mistake which WWE is duplicating yet again today...

As for the good things about the book, generally everything else. RD Reynolds maintains the humorous edge he keeps in his wrestlecrap website, while keeping the tone of the book generally serious and leaving it to the reader to laugh his head off about the various inane things WCW management did. He documents such things as how Goldberg's career was ruined, how WCW managed to build up a $100 million debt, the problems that Eric Bischoff's panicked attempts to win the weekly ratings war with WWF caused.

This book isn't just a narrative on Hogan and Nash ruining the careers of Goldberg and Bret Hart - there's a lot of stuff on smaller name wrestlers. Some of whom would go on to be huge stars in WWF later, such as Chris Jericho. Psicosis - one of world's most underrated wrestlers, and the guy who got me interested in wrestling in the first place - got a fair amount of print in the book, as it discussed his cruiserweight title "win", and the crisis surrounding a match between himself and Mysterio that took place in Mexico, after Mysterio was unmasked by then WCW booker Kevin Nash. And he's not the only one. No matter who you're a fan of, said wrestler probably got some print in the book - quite possibly more than they got from WCW itself.

If half star ratings were possible, I'd have given this 4 1/2, because the book does have flaws. But on the whole, this is an excellent read for any wrestling fan.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Book!
Review: From within the pages of this book you can learn the history of Jim Crockett Promotions and the birth of WCW after Ted Turner bought up the company. Then you can learn how Eric Bischoff took the company and made it a huge success. Then you can learn how people like Bischoff, Vince Russo, and Hulk Hogan drove the company into debt and oblivion.

Of course, this book doesn't cover a lot of things. Yes, it covers the creation of the NWO but doesn't even mention anywhere in the book the second "incarnation" of the NWO, the Wolfpack. It doesn't mention a lot of the people and gimmicks that helped WCW take off, though what it does mention it goes into great detail about.

This book is nothing short of great and is a high recommended read to any degree of wrestling fan.

Rating:
Summary: WCW: In Memoriam
Review: How a company can go from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the ocean in 3 short years is a story filled with more turns, betrayals, confusions, and DQ finishes than any other in wrestling history.

If you're a fan of Wrestlecrap, or just a diehard wrestling fan with a twinge of sadism, pick up this book. RD Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez both put their heart and soul into getting every painstaking detail down, and it's well worth a read.

RIP WCW: 1989-2001

Rating:
Summary: Memories-good and bad
Review: I became a fan of JCP (WCW's predecessor) in 1985 and remained loyal to the end in 2001. I've always felt that the reason WCW failed was because they failed to deliver what the fans wanted to see for one of two reasons-(1) they didn't know what the fans wanted, or (2) they knew and purposely did the opposite. When you consider the egos involved it's pretty clear that #2 is the right answer. It is said that failure from learn from mistakes guarantees the repetition of them. I hope all the higher-ups in WWE read this book and take it to heart. Kudos to the authors on a job well done.

Rating:
Summary: The Story of WCW's Amazing Rise & Fall
Review: I've been reading Bryan Alvarez' column now for quite some time and he is one of the most respected people covering pro wrestling today. Along with R.D. Reynolds they tell the story of the remarkable Rise & Fall and eventual Death of WCW. Relive some of the classic moments as WCW began its increidble rise from a second rate wrestling company who once gave us Robocop in the ring, to the juggernaut that nearly did the unthinkable: Nearly putting Vince McMahon and the WWF out of business.

Through interviews with many of the stars and other participants we'll see how WCW used the WWFs long-time strategy of raiding its rivals talent rosters as they systematically stole nearly every major star that the WWF had in the 80's and early 90's: Hogan, Savage, Nash, SCott Hall, Bret Hart, Ted DiBiase, Sean Waltman, the Nasty Boys, Ultimate Warrior, and more. The eventual "turning" of Hulk Hogan and the creation of the NWO led to WCW winning the Monday Night ratings war with the WWF for over 80 consecutive weeks.

Riding high, WCW will soon collapse under its own weight. Soon, big, guaranteed contracts given to wrestlers take their toll on WCWs budget as guys like Nash, Hogan, Hall, and Hart would be injured for months at a time. WCW leaked money like a sieve, tossing about millions to bring in celebrities like Dennis Rodman, Jay Leno, and Karl Malone, and trying to make wrestlers out of people like Jerry Only of the Misfits.

Meanwhile egos clashed as the powerbrokers like Bischoff, Hogan, and Nash controlled everything and kept younger wrestlers down. Fights backstage and no advancement would eventually lead many younger stars like Chris jehrico, Chris Benoit, and Eddie Guerrero to jump ship to the WWF.

Small cracks became large fissures. WCW brings in Vince Russo to do the booking leading to some of the greatest embarrassments in the history of wrestling with Hogan lying down on the mat to lose and actor DAvid Arquette becoming WCW champion. Add to that, WCW could find no answer to the WWF's two hugely popular stars: Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock.

It would all lead to a company that was once worthy tens of millions being bought by Vince McMahon for a fraction of that and opening up the last Nitro show announcing the purchase of WCW.

Many of these details are quite well known but the interviews are great and its amazing the way even years later some of the parties involved still refuse to accept any blame for WCWs downfall. Excellent Read!

Rating:
Summary: Great read in the style of Figure Four Weekly
Review: Really great. Funny and well-written account of the idiotic business, booking, and personal decisions which led to WCW going from the biggest wrestling company in the world with the highest cable ratings of ANY show, to being sold for *THREE* million bucks to Vince McMahon, in the space of four years. Entertaining fun, and a cheap book. Good read, even if you have zero interest in wrestling (the book doesn't go into "match details" or "in character" at all). A friend enjoyed it and he hadn't watched wrestling since the 80s.

Rating:
Summary: time to face the bad news about WCW
Review: The author has impressive research materials at hand: the A. C. Nielson television ratings surveys, the pay-per-view buy rates, the arena gate receipts, and likely a complete or near-complete collection of video cassettes of every television program broadcast by World Championship Wrestling. With these tools, along with a great deal of insider information, the author has set about to detail the origins, the climb to prominence, and the complete unraveling of WCW. Most of this book discusses the "Nitro" period of WCW and devotes the majority of its pages to the decline of WCW during the last few years of its existence.

More than just reporting the events leading to its demise, the author offers an endless series of suggestions for alternatives for each wrong turn taken by WCW. I am sure the author is well-informed, but please take into consideration that these suggestions are not necessarily sure-fire solutions to the company's problems, but merely the author's opinions. I think it helps to realize that while reading this book.

I have been a wrestling since I was a kid in the early 1960s and was a WCW fan from start to finish. I watched WCW on televsion usually three times a week: "WCW Nitro", "WCW Saturday Night", and "WCW Worldwide". I just couldn't bring myself to watch "WCW Thunder" with regularity simply because I thought it was one TV show too many. WCW came to my local arena eight times starting in 1991. I attended every show and still have my ticket stubs.

As a fan, I felt uncomfortable reading this book simply because it was so full of bad news about my beloved WCW. There has been fragmented reports of the undoing of WCW since 2001. The author has tried to bring all this information to one place and I appreciate his efforts.

I have read the autobiographies of Ric Flair and Harley Race, both published this year. I recommend both.

Rating:
Summary: A Biased, Wrong fannish kind of book
Review: The thing about wrestling is that it always requires believing
in something fake. In the old days, the fans used to believe
what was in the ring was real. Now, things have changed in
that they don't believe whats in the ring is real....but they
believe (as the guys who wrote this book) that every bit of
phony insider propoganda put up by wrestlers and hangers-on
in the business is utterly real.

This book will not tell you what went wrong in WCW. It will
give you stories from one faction of people in WCW usually
with their own agenda.

The truth about WCW is that it failed as a business way back
at the time it was sold to turner broadcasting. Turner was
willing to keep it around because it could fill TV time in a
very cost-effective way but nobody at Turner really cared
much about wrestling. And would have preferred to spin
WCW out on its own as a production company rather than having
it in-house. But it could not support itself.

Certain people at WCW were able to convince the turner
organization to increase the money going to WCW in exchange
for a better timeslots. The increase at WCW happened at the
same time that wrestling went into one of its cyclical booms.
And WCW was even more helped by the fact that its only competitor
(the WWF) was putting out a bad product with little appeal.

WCW then prospered for a while, overexposed itself and then
fell apart as the boom in wrestling ended. Then,
time-warner came into the picture, ted turner went out....and
time-warner wanted to take the turner networks in a different
(more upscale) direction. And WCW sold for so little (and to
the WWF) because the wrestling promotion minus the programming
slots at turner isn't worth anything at all.

The people the book doesn't go after are:


- All the whiny little wrestlers (Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit,
Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko, Eddie Gurarreo and others) who kept
telling their friends in the fan community that WCW would be
saved if they turned into headliners instead of being "held
back". They went to the WWF and for the most part spend their
time as mindcard attractions. Their roles in the WWF were
not substantially different. And the worst of them were
invited to leave even the WWF because aside from in their
own minds, their appeal was close to zero.

- Bobby Heenan (whose skills as an announcer suffered because
of his personal problems). Not mentioning the problems with
him is an almost deliberate omission.

- The problem that almost all of the talent in WCW had serious
problems. Most businesses don't have to deal with most of their
staff being drunks and junkies or out of control steroid
psychos or hooking up with a co-workers wife or guys who don't
want to work out and get fat. And when you make an example
and fire one of the worst messed up guys, nobody in the fan
press will applaud....they will scream for the managements
head because they were not being fair to a "talented" guy.

And then there is Goldberg. Goldberg was a football player
turned wrestler. He could draw attention and money for a while
by knocking over everyone in sight like they were nothing, but
he had a problem for the long run that nobody could fix....
he had no skills to put on a match and had no particular love
for his job. Despite the confusion of many people, he was
always going to be a short-term attraction because once he
was exposed in a match as having no skills, the cheers were
going to stop. (and they did).

There is some useful information in the book, but don't believe
all of whats there. WCW's biggest flaw was that nobody could
get along, nobody could enforce discipline and that everyone
with a grudge could get a sympathic response from the fan
publications.



Rating:
Summary: suckas gots to know!
Review: Well, it took me 9 hours but I did finish it in one shot. I must say I haven't laughed out loud so much in a while. It's truly an amazing book. Now, let's keep in mind that WCW produced great shows. They mention that too. But let's face facts. This is THE DEATH OF WCW. WCW didn't just decide to call it quits. They slowly dug their own grave and possibly wern't even aware of it. You'll learn in great detail how it happened. I bought The Monday Night Wars DVD and in no way whatsoever is it as good as this book. Hell, I sold the watered down WWE DVD on Amazon for $15.00. I would not even think about selling this work of art book. It's going into my library for a very long time. So many great things to mention, but one that comes to mind is the Warrior/Hogan match when Warrior does the log roll. Damn.
Not only is the book tremendously hilarious but I love how you guys provided all the specific information on ratings and business strategies they came up with. Ok, most of that is hilarious too. Anyway, I thank you guys for reminding me of all those memories and stuff I've never heard of and wasn't aware of. You know what? I miss WCW. True wrestling fans and non wrestling fans should buy this book. Why? Because it's an extremely great story and this is a part of history! Don't pay attention to those who are bitter just because they have a crush on Kevin Nash. I've met Nash, he aint that great. The truth is out there. This book is awesome! Oh, let's not forget that this book is dedicated to Hunter and Steph.



Rating:
Summary: Very Entertaining ...
Review: With a book such as this, you're going to have people questioning the legitimacy of the facts that are presented. Many will say that they're "one sided" and "don't tell the whole story", in my opinion R.D. Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez do their absolute best to give the most detailed second hand account that they can possibly muster.

If you're a long time wrestling fan, and most likely you are if you're considering this book, then a good majority of the information that is presented here is not new to you ... however it's presented in such a way where you are entertained when re-reading it. There are also enough new tidbits to keep your appetite wettened for more.

I read this book in one day, and normally I don't do that, I usually make it a point to break my books up over a few days. However, this is an extremely entertaining read, and beyond that it also provides a good majority of information that many may not have been aware of prior.

I cannot recommend this book enough.