R. D. Reynolds

The proper title should be "Mostly made up lies about WCW"

It's been about 20 years now, since Vince McMahon was able to buy his only real competition, thanks to the horrible Time Warner/AOL merger and people working hard to get rid of "rassling".
This book came out just a couple years after WCW folded and the WWE subsequently botched what should've been one of the biggest storylines in wrestling: WWE vs. WCW.

The authors are Bryan Alvarez, who ran a wrestling newsletter and R. D. Reynolds, show more who runs Wrestlecrap.com. Both people, in theory, should be knowledgable about wrestling and the history of WCW, but i guess they had a different agenda.

The book is usually hailed by marks, who simply don't know any better and take it as gospel. To actual wrestling fans, who listen to interviews, podcasts, shoot interviews and read other "behind the scenes" bookes though, this can be summed up in one word: Crap.

Why?
Well, there are a lot of true stories in here, how the nWo started, how it was turned from a great story to a never-ending horror, how Vince Russo came in and showed he wasn't a great booker/writer or how bad Hulk Hogan was.

But in between there are a lot of lies and made up stories. The book for example still calls out Jamie Kellner as the guy who "killed" WCW by removing Nitro from TNT. This has been debunked just a few weeks after the WWE bought WCW by one of their higher employees, Bob Ryder, in an interview with 1wrestling.com.

Another made up story is presented as a showcase of how idiotic WCW was booked, with a story involving Rick Steiner getting attacked by a masked man. In the book, it ends with "The masked man got unveiled and it was Rick Steiner". When you read that, it sounds incredibly stupid of course. But this isn't how the story played out in reality. In reality, the attacker turned out to be his brother Scott Steiner and they subsequently started a feud.
What is really baffling about this lie is, that R.D. Reynolds has this storyline in its correct form on his wrestlecrap website. So why did he feel the need to lie here in this book?

Another lie for example is their claim that WCW had an Ad in USA Today for a Nitro episode on Tuesday, when Nitro was usually shown on Monday. They word it as if they made the ad one day too late. Pretty dumb, huh? In reality though Nitro was moved to Thursday because of the NBA (not uncommon during the playoffs, which were shown on TNT) and that was, what they advertised on Tuesday.

As i said: I don't know what the agenda of the authors was, but it's just sad. Even sadder is the fact, that so many people still call this a great book and reccommend it.

If you want to read a great book with hard facts about the downfall of WCW, get Nitro by Guy Evans. show less

This is easily the most fun I've had reading anything about pro wrestling.

I've been a fan of the sport for the better part of 21 years. During that time, I've sat through some of the most painful garbage that has ever been given the opportunity to be on television. However, that's part of being a fan of this ridiculous form of entertainment. It's just as much fun to watch the stuff that actually "works" as it is to bitch about the stuff that sucks.

That's probably why the guys that run show more Wrestlecrap.com are so successful. They've managed to build a popular website that is dedicated to poking fun at the "sport". Not only have they created a substantial internet presence, they've written 3 books about the industry. The Book of Lists is the 3rd entry and is just as excellent as the first two.

R.D. Reynolds and Blade Braxton cover such important topics as the "Most Pointless Additions to the nWo", "The Worst Gimmicks of all time", "The Most Non-Sensical Celebrities To Appear At WrestleMania", "The Most Filthy Sounding Wrestling Names of All Time", and my personal favorite "The Most Ridiculous Wrestling Moves of All Time". For anyone who knows anything about pro-wrestling, Reynolds and Braxton's description of Scotty 2 Hotty's "Worm" finisher is flat out hilarious.

I do the bulk of my reading an hour or two before I hit the hay each night and 9 times out of 10, my wife is laying sleeping beside me. This is by far, the hardest book I've ever had to read and at the same time, remain totally silent. I can't tell you how often I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from laughing; it was just that good. show less

Can't imagine ever watching a wrestling match but fascinated by the bizarre stories it throws out - and this is one of the biggest: how World Championship Wrestling went from being one of the biggest shows on US cable to bust in just three years. And based on what we learn about the company's management here, it's a wonder it lasted that long.

If wrestling ever interested you, or if seeing how inept handling can bring a product crashing into oblivion after huge success would be fascinating, then this is a great read. I was a wrestling fan in the 80s and 90s, and I had a great time with this book.