I've also read alot of wrestling autobiographies. I've read Stone Cold's, The Rock's[although not even a full chapter, since he kept alternating between in character and out, confusing the hell outta the readers], Ric Flair's, Eddie Guerrero's, and Shawn Michaels' stories. It is definetely interesting to read Shawn's autobiography and compare how he feels about Montreal to Bret's view. I liked Austin's book because he didn't come across as bitter or selfish. Which leads me to Ric Flair. Flair has to be the most selfish, bitter, insecure, and overall childish character to ever produce a book about himself. He spends the majority of his time bitching about supposed wrongs done to him and knocking other wrestlers as subpar and not worthy of being in his league. If it's even possible, I believe Flair is even more a mark for himself than Bret ever could've been. At least from what Bret tells us, he seems willing to help other talents and wants to put them over. Flair spends long lengths of times in his book ranting about other wrestlers and badmouthing them. The only people he compliments are those he is outright kissing ass to[such as HBK, Triple H, or Vince McMahon]. may have funny stories too."
I have no idea what book from Ric Flair that you read. I read that book when it came out and found it a fascinating read, telling in depth stories about how hard it was to train and break into the business in the 70s, how much pressure was put on wrestlers back in then to maintain their on TV personnas in public (the NWA didnt want all the wrestlers names published in newspapers accounts of the plane crash that nearly killed Flair because their were fan favorites on the flight who in the storylines never would have associated with villains like Flair and Johnny Valentine), gave trememdous background to the business decissions being made by both Jim Crockett & Vince McMahon when they were both expanding nationally and fighting over control of the US wrestling market in the mid 80s, not too mention personal stories about his first wife and children, the hardships of his travel schedule on his children, how he overcompensated when he got older and wrestled less, as well as his role in recruiting Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage into WCW (Hogan basically confirms Flair's account of his recruitment in his autobiography).
As far as criticizing other wrestlers, there isnt much, and quite honestly most of what he does say critical is stuff we've heard a hundred times from other books, wrestler's biographies, industry insider exposes, etc. Flair gives huge props to Dusty Rhodes for buidling his character in the 80s and as a creative booker (the criticism that Dusty too often favorably booked himself has been written numerous times before by others), he puts over Brett Hart as a talented in ring performer capabale of putting on great matches at big shows and blames much of his failures on lousy booking in both WWE & WCW (he admitts he didnt see Brett as a larger than life personality like Hogan or Savage but the list of people who have praised Hart's in ring ability and criticized his charisma or lack thereof is a mile long), he has numerous compliments for Savage as both a top draw and as a performer (the story about Savage asking to "practice" their upcoming match was something Steamboat said about him in reference to their matches in interviews a few years before this book was published), Flair does nothing but praise Sting's growth through the years as a legit star and talks about going to bat for him to be champion in 1990 when WCW wanted to downgrade him after getting injured at a TV special, Flair praises Luger for his intelligence (believe it or not) and his willingness to educate the other wrestlers on financial matters relating to house show payments, etc becaue of his knowledge of contracts and payouts from his pro football days, portrays Hogan as an extremely savvy business man and praises him significantly for his work with the Make A Wish Foundation, details his dealings wih Vince Russo and while explaining his differences with him creatively praises him as guy who keeps his word and always tried to be honest with him, particulary when Russo granted Flair time off for shoulder surgery and WCW tried to stop paying him (he said Russo guaranteed he would get paid while off, when he complained, Russo apologised and got him his money back), Flair praised Eddie Guerrero for his in ring talents and abilities and explains why he believed he deserved a major push in WCW, praises Steve Austin for his work ethic and willingness to work fairly with others in the ring, Flair praised Undertaker and Kurt Angle for their deication and willingness to work hurt (also tells a famous story about Christian being in a neck brace, barely mobile, but wrestling that night on RAW), has almost nothing but good things to say about Piper as a character, worker, and friend,
The only peeple who get skewered by Flair are Jim Herd (for his horrible mismanagement of WCW, something documented in numerous books and exposes on wrestling, all basically in line with Flair's portrayl) and Fritz Von Erich (for not doing enough to help Kerry with his drug problems, even lying to press about him, making up stories about him wrestling with a terrible illness to explain a lackluster performance in the ring that Flair atributed to him being high before the bout.) Kerry as you probably know had numerous issues with drugs in WWE, eventually getting fired, and committed suicide shortly after while facing jail time on drug and gun related charges. Flair is critical of Paul Roma for a poor work ethic (has anyone ever disputed this ?) and Sid Viscious as being a poor worker and unreliable (lot of call offs, no shows). Again, not exactly ground breaking, pretty much echoing what many others have said before. There is also a small riff on Brutus Beefcake, basically portraying him as mid level talent who survived due to his friendship with Hogan (again, basically echoing sentiments pretty old and often heard before this book was ever published) and details a disagreement with him over how a match between Flair & Guerrero was booked (according to Flair Beefcake warned him afterwards that Hogan would be upset because Flair insisted on making Eddie look good and having a fair share of offense before going over instead of squashing him because Eddie was a talented performer with potential who deserved a showcase, not a squash match loss). For anyone interested, the match in question is showcased on the Best Of Monday Nitro DVD that WWE put out a year ago. It's considered one of the best Nitro matches of all time.
Admittedly he doesnt have much to say positive about Ultimate Warrior, either as a worker or talent, but what little he says is basically a re hash of what everyone and their mother has said about him in the past. You would have a much harder time finding someone to dispute Flair here than you would to agree with him. Same thing with his brief mention of Scott Steiner, often ridiculed today for his rambling rants against most of the wrestling establishment, often portrayed by others as being difficult to get along with back stage and hard to work with in the ring, criticims echoed by many, both during his WCW and WWE runs in the last decade plus.
Even his riff on Foley, which he admitts is in response to comments Foley made in his first book is more about pointing out factual errors in Foley's account of their situation (Foley contended Flair was in chage of booking and didn not untilize him, Flair contended he was traveling on the house show circuit and was not heavily involved in booking, but admitts he would never have had the insight promotion wise that Vince McMahon did to make Foley a major attraction). Ironically, these two made peace and seemed to get along just fine when the worked together in WWE.
With regards to Eric Bischoff Flair praises him as a great on screen character, great on the mic, and as someone with new ideas and a fresh, updated idea of presentation for the product when he first took over.
The book I read spent a lot of time talking about the good qualities and contributions of many, many wrestlers, going out of his way to highlight the positives even of guys he admittedly didnt get along with while detailing their disagreements, if there were any. In a book that talks extensively about Hogan, Piper, Savage, Undertaker, Hart, HBK, HHH, Vince, Crockett, Dusty, Harley Race (great champion, hard worker, major legit tough guy according to Flair), Steamboat, Sting, Luger, Angle, Rock (great talent, great mic work, great charisma, tells stories of knowing him as child through his work for his families promotion in Hawaii), Blackjack Mulligan (regrets they didnt stay friends), Barry Whyndam (in his heyday a "prime racehorse"), Eddie Guerrero, Austin, Funk, etc there is a boat load of praise and acknowledgement of accomplishment to go around (compare that to Hogan's book which largely portrays everyone as bit players compared with only Rock & Flair as being close to his level).
There are also numerous stories of outside the ring excapades with Piper, Race, Stan Hansen, Earl Hebner, etc that show the "Nature Boy" personna existed outside the confines of the TV studios and arenas, all entertaining but with a purpose (near the book's end Flair talks about his embarassment when he was accompanying his younger son to wrestling tournaments only to find out that another wrestler's wife had been telling stories about Flair's nightlife to other parents, the point where his "Fun Times" had invaded the "safety net" that he built around his kids, having to confront the stories, many of them several years old, something he never wanted to do because he always preached against such excess and behaviors with his kids).
There are also numerous quotes throughout the book by other wrestlers and wrestling personalities on the various topics discussed, including Chris Jericho, HHH, HBK, Arn Anderson, Jim Cornette, Jim Ross, Goldberg, and Steve Austin, about as ecclectic group of big names as you will ever meet.
There is some harsh criticism for Brett Hart regarding the Owen Hart situation, which takes on a whole new meaning in light of Brett going back on his numerous public statements that he would never work for Vince McMahon and/or WWE again. Even still, lots of praise for Hart's in ring ability and criticism of WWE & WCW for not booking him well which would have lead to him having even greater success.
The insights into Kerry Von Erich's decline are heartbreaking, the stories about his kids, missing them due to his travel schedule, and having to deal with his partying past as they got older and learned some of those things are touching (a lot of these books deal almost exclusively with the wrestling aspects but little about family, not the case), plenty of fun side stories, and terrific insights into the Wrestling Wars of the 80s and The Monday Night Wars of the 90s, what worked, what failed, in hindsight what should have been done differently, and why ultimately Vince won both times. Flair definately points out the positive impact Dusty Rhodes had on his career depsite their booking differences, there is just a lot of positive stuff in this read. If anything the problem is that most of critcisms of things are "old hat", stuff we'd already heard ad naseum before the book was printed (Ultimate Warrior, Jim Herd, Sid). He doesnt break any knew ground there, but he does with regards to Vince Russo, who is not skewered or slandered beyond repair (despite what many others in the IWC think of him).
I would recommend this book, along with Foley & Jericho books, to any serious wrestling fan.
