Have a Nice Day!: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks (1999)
On my reading list
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On my reading list
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On my reading list
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Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling (2008)
On my reading list
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Chris & Nancy: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling's Cocktail of Death (2009)
On my reading list
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The Death of WCW: 10th Anniversary Edition of the Bestselling Classic — Revised and Expanded (2014)
On my reading list.
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I have a very distinct memory of when I first watched Brian Pillman. I was going through 1997 RAW on the WWE Network (RIP) and started the week after Wrestlemania 13. The Hart Foundation was a pivotal faction during this period and I remember seeing Pillman standing alongside Bret, Owen and the rest of the Foundation and I was drawn to him. He had a gravity about him, something that drew you to him. He felt completely unpredictable. I loved it.
"Crazy Like A Fox" was an impulse add to my Christmas wish list one year, not sure if I'd feel like reading it but I always liked asking for books at Christmas. One of those "guilt free" purchases a parent can make, y'know what I mean? I got it and started reading soon afterwards and was hooked. Reading about some of Pillman's most unhinged, deranged locker room ribs was both horrifying and hilarious, somehow simultaneously. Learning about where his signature raspy voice came from as a result of childhood health complications was eye opening as well.
It's one of those stories that you already know the ending to, but it doesn't make it any less saddening to read about. His star shone so bright for such a short period of time, but that's part of what makes Pillman so special. He changed wrestling with an beautiful combination of insanity and brilliance, holding a mirror to the carnies in a way that fooled even them. He's an unrecognized genius and this book does a fantastic job of chronicling that, page by page.
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This book isn't really one you'd read cover to cover. I know some people will, and I'll probably be one of them sooner than later, but this feels more like a coffee table reader. That is, if you are someone who keeps your interest in wrestling out in the open and not hidden in some dark closet.
This book does what it says on the cover, it's a collection of every one of Dave Meltzer's "Wrestling Observer" articles from 1997. They've organized it in sections, going over some of 1997's biggest talking points such as ECW's Pay-Per-View debut, Vader's arrest in Kuwait, AJW going bankrupt, this thing called "The Montreal Screwjob," and just about everything else that happened those 365 days.
I've done some highlighting and annotating in this book as I tried to get more information about Montreal as well as the WWF and WCW war that was in its dying days here. It's a fantastic volume that gives you more than enough information to sink your teeth into. Meltzer has since done a bunch of other yearbooks that I hope to add to my collection some day.
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MOX (2021)
I truly wish I had the words to describe how much I adored this book. I've really struggled with having the attention span to read anything the past few years, but MOX held my attention from cover to cover. I took this book with me everywhere, on short drives around town, on bike rides on warm summer days, all to read even just a few pages.
Every word on every page can be heard coming from the mouth of Jon "Moxley" Good, his personality is etched into this tome with a lot of deeply personal stories and anecdotes. In between stories about his fathers selflessness, a chapter dedicated to the late Jon "Brodie Lee" Huber, to his first days training to become a professional wrestler are "jokes Claudio told me," movie and album recommendations, as well as an entire chapter about making the perfect sandwich. You can tell Mox had fun working on this book.
I keep this book bedside, along with whatever current book I'm reading and a Farmers Almanac I flip through when I'm missing home. I fully intend on reading MOX a second, third, fourth, and even fifth time. I want to wear this book down to its spine, memorize the words until I could recite it backwards from memory. I genuinely love this book. It showed up in my hands as a random gift from a friend while I was attending a party for him and his fiance. I couldn't dream of a better random gift than this one.
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