Which Book to Read First

[brochester8]

Alright Guys!

I love to read the wrestling books/autobiographies. I have just bought 4 of them. In everyone honest opinion which should I read first.

Mick Foley: Countdown to Lockdown - Now I love Foley's writing his first three were awesome and I enjoyed his novels and children's books.

William Regal: Walking the Golden Mile - I've wanted this for a while and finally came across a decent price for it. Should be an interesting read.

Roadwarriors: As a big fan of the Roadwarrior I think this will be interesting to hear Animal's story and hear stories about his late partner and other situations in there career.

Kanyon: I'm sort of leaning toward this given the story of him writing it before committing suicide. It should be a little dark in my opinion. I've seen wrestler comment on how good it is via twitter. Has anyone else read it. I just think it will make for an interesting book. He was never a top star but stayed relevant in WCW for a few years. I would like to see his opinions of others.

Any thought on what order I should read these in definitely if you've read them yourself.

 

[Police Penis Sucking Goat Fucker]

Being a die hard Foley fan I would say read his first

the only wrestling books I own is Kurt Angle The Rock Mick Foley's first book and Mick Foley's Christmas Chaos. I feel stupid because I never finished the Mankind or Angle book and never read The Rock's book but that was a hand me down from my brother. I'm too busy reading comics these days

I didn't know that Kanyon had a book kind of makes me want to get it. because WHO'S BETTER THAN KANYON

I'm sure William Regals and The Road Warriors both should be good books I know those guys must have a lot of interesting stories

http://www.canoe.ca/WrestlingImagesChyna/chyna_book.jpg Or you can get this book instead

 

[Jimmy King]

I don't want this to be marked as spam, so I'll say go with Kanyon's first since his story is one that most are not familiar with.

But, a great book that goes unnoticed is Eric Bischoff's book Controversy Creates Cash. Well worth a read.

 

[supernatural1981]

ive got the bret hart book which is good but he seems a little whiney in it aswell, ive got 3 foley books( have a nice day,foley is good and hardcore diarys) which are all good. the eric bischoff one is good. but the best wrestling books ive read is the chris jericho books. really good and not afraid to hold back onm his opinions of others.

 

[brochester8]

Yea, I have all those books you mentioned. I agree with the Brett book, he is a little whiney but it was still a good read. I've read all the Foleys but the last one which I just bought and to me he is an awesome writer. I am a huge Jericho fan so his was the funnest to read for me. His writing is similiar to Foley's which I think Foley gave him some pointers. Both his were great reads and I can't wait for the third. I try to get all the books I can, some are a little boring (Piper & Lawler) and others are awesome. To me I'd say jericho, Foley, and Brett were the best reads. Others were good but there books are all great.

 

[tommyh]

Out of the books that you said you have got i would say eather read the mick foley book or theroad warrior books.Ive got all of foleys books an the count down to lockdown book is a good read but there is some parts of the book has nothing to do with wrestlin.It has alot to do with his overseas work and other stuff like that.But on the other hand the road warrior book was a good read to me.It had alot to do with there older stuff plus animal talked alot about hawks troubles toward the end of his life.Another good book if you can find it is the goldust book.Its a short book but it gives you a great deal into dustins life and his troubles. Also like brochester8 said if you can get any of the jericho books they are great reads and very funny.Thanks for saying that kanyon an regal had a book out.Thats two books im going to have to look for an read

 

[brochester8]

I can also vouch for the Goldust book. It's a real good read and I hope he is able to do another.

Bishcoff's was real good to and you learn alot about why WCW really failed (or atleast his opinion). It was a real good read.

 

[thebarber]

Read the Road Warriors book first.

Joe Laurinatis has written this book and it was not a WWE release, thus he is very open and critical when needbe of the WWE product. He is very honest and it is an eye opener, big time. I oly fins=ished it about a month ago. Like Jericho and Bret Hart, these autobiographies that are not company released make for great reading, unlike Flair and Michaels books where all they do is kiis up to Vince and the company.

Some of the other wrestling autobiographies that I have include: Tito Santana, where he laughingly usuggests he should have veen the guy to beat Flair in 1992 and be the face of the Next Generation, as The Matador mind you.
Arn Andersons book is brilliant, to the point and factual.
Diamond Dallas Pages book is again a brilliant read. Hard to find though.
All 4 of Foleys books are great, Jerichos 2 are the best of the lot, looking forward to his 3rd book.

 

[Psyclone]

alright so here are the wrestling books I have.... all of mick foley's books, Both of chris jericho's books, The rock's book, bret harts book, shawn michaels book, william regal's book, Goldust's book, and I'm sure I have some others that i've clearly forgotton....

anyways after reading all of those, I did find foley's countdown to lockdown a little bit better than his hardcore diaries... however it was far below his previous 2 ones (tale of blood and sweatsocks, and foley is good).. I would read Regal's before you read foley's as most of foley's book is about a match with sting that you've clearly already forgot about or never cared about in the first place... (there are some asides but mostly its about that..) Regal's book is interesting as it gives you a great background of regal and some of the trials he's gone through to get back to where he is now..

as for the road warriors book or kanyon's never read either so can't really comment about it

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I would say go for Foley's as you already have read his earlier ones and know all his background. "Countdown to Lockdown" will probably finish off his story pretty well for you.

I had no idea Kanyon had written a book. I am sure it will be very interesting to see his thoughts, but will probably be very dark as you said knowing what happened to the guy.

I am hoping to pick up the Road Warriors/ Regal books myself at some point, they will definitely have some stories that I will want to read, especially as Regal has come through all the drug problems, and the RW's book is not a WWE release so will be alot more honest than some autobiographies.

I have read ALOT of wrestling books- Bret Hart, All Foleys, Angle, Austin, Edge, HBK, Flair, both Jericho, and I recommend the 1st Y2J book "A Lions Tale" and the Bret Hart one as 2 you should definitely read. If you struggle to finish books, go for the Jericho one as the Bret one is VERY detailed.

 

[Nick Black]

Definitely Foley's book. It's a fantastic read and just adds to the other 3 books he wrote. Also, as someone else said, you should really look into the Jericho books. They're very well written and rather entertaining. Especially when he goes into the WWE Debut/Rock Promo.

The books these guys put out are so interesting and its great insight into their lives and beginning of their careers.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Foley always does a great job, interesting stories. I read one of Jericho's books, good read. Flair's book tells a lot about the evolution of the industry and details the real fight for wrestling supremamcy, the war between Vince & Jim Crockett Jr to control the nationwide wrestling industry along with insight as to points both men were very successful and the points where Vince pulled ahead and eventually won, that history is fascinating to me.

 

[Ryyu]

TBH 3 of the books are very good (I cant vouch for the Road warriors one mind as i have yet to read it), Kanyon is quite a hard read at times, not in the bad book kinda way, just how much this guy went though, also adding in the horribly sad ending, Foley is very funny while still giving a very good insight into everything, the last few he did Esp CTL got worse mind, and Regals is a must if you want to know more about the inner workings of wrestling/Are a worker yourself.

But still, Bret Harts is the best wrestling book by far.

 

[tommyh]

I have to agree with ryyu about it being hard at times to read kanyons book.ive got to the part where he was strugglin about what was wrong with him cause he was gay.so far a good book but very sad

 

[Psyclone]

But still, Bret Harts is the best wrestling book by far.

disagree with that one whole heartedly... I really did NOT like bret's book.... It comes across to me (and I've read lots of the books from this time period) as someone who didn't adjust to the business and where it was going (the attitude era) and got bitter over it... It just dwells on how the business was changing for "the worse" in his opinion and how the screwjob ruined everything... I mean yes it gives insight into Bret's life and the troubles he went through, but if you want that sort of story both William Regal's and Goldust/Dustin Rhodes books are better for that... If you want a great story you can go with Foley's first 2 books or Jericho's 2 books as they're more entertaining... HBK's book is alright for the most part, Ric flair's is pretty good considering the amount of time it spans...

I just feel Bret would be better off writing a biography now, now that some time has elapsed from everything detailed towards the end of his book because he said things in it that werent true.. "I never want to wrestle when I'm old..." "I'll never forgive that punk shawn he's a yellow dog who deserves to be beat" etc etc... He was bitter and angry coming off of a career ending injury and subsequent stroke, the death of his father and mother, infighting with his family, the death of owen, and the montreal screwjob.... The whole tone of the book is bitter resentment and I think if given the chance to rewrite it, would be a little bit better...

 

[Self High 5]

Bret Hart's book is definately worth a read. The amount of information and detail is amazing, and it's very well written and unflinchingly honest but I'm in agreement with the above poster. Bret comes across as a deeply flawed, bitter individual. On one hand, it's easy to sympathise with him, with all the GENUINELY bad things that have happened to him (ie deaths, his stroke), but he takes the whole Montreal thing FAR too seriously (not to condone what happened of course, but it's not exactly black and white). He clearly cared deeply for his fans, but he was guilty of believing his own hype a bit too much. He can be quite self-righteous, despite brushing off his endless stream of infidelities on the road. Ultimately, he became one of the dinosaurs he rallied against in the 80s and early 90s by opposing the dawning Attitude era so harshly.

I'd rather it had been written by the Bret of 2010, who had made his peace with the world, Shawn, and the WWE.