Wrestling autobiographies

[Remy LaCroix]

Don't remember the full title of the book, but "Being Moore" stood out. It's written by Christian Moore, a low-tier indy wrestler from the Midwest (Iowa, I think.) He gives us the inside scoop on the life of an indy wrestler who never made it to the big leagues or upper-tier wrestling promotions. The way he retired might not be cool, but its was pretty tough for him and he had a choice to make. His biggest opponent was Elix Skipper. =/

 

[IT Factor]

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).

I never claimed I didn't enjoy the read of Flair's book. I did enjoy his life story and the positive things he managed to say about a brief few workers and/or promoters. However, he had alot of negative to say in his book. Almost to the point of wonder if Flair suffers from some sort of psychological disease or maybe even bipolar disease. Whatever the case is Flair seems to put himself on a pedestal while taking unjustified shots at others with no actual basis to do so.

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,

Like I said before, Flair does manage to compliment a few people. Mostly the old timers or people whom he wanted to kiss ass up to in order to either gain favor with them personally or setup future work with them[i.e. Triple H & Vince McMahon]. Just look at the current standing of Flair being rumored to be returning to WWE. Is that a coincidence? Or did Flair write such great things about McMahon & Triple H knowing full well he would need them in the future? While I do recognize that as smart business, it is never a good idea to trash people unless there are alot of justifiable reasons to do so. Alot of Flair's targets; like Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan, Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner are all badmouthed by Flair simply because of prior problems with them or simple dislike of them personally. It's funny too, because alot of those guys have actually called Flair out over his comments in the book and Flair never responded. Seems like a chickenshit coward thing to do. All of that coming from the same Ric Fliehr who also has physically abused numerous wives and girlfriends. Seems like the actions of a psychological damaged and mentally unstable man. Which would definetely explain his numerous rants on those he deems not in his league or outright harbors hatred towards.

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.

It seems as though you are mixed personal feelings for Flair the wrestler/entertainer for Richard Fliehr, the real man. While I'll be the first to admit that Ric Flair is quite possibly one of the top 5 workers and performers of all time, he seems to be a vastly troubled man with a history of demons. I understand everyone has them, but Flair's are mostly all his own fault and doing. You say he only badmouths a couple of guys? Again, you seem delusional in what was actually written. He outright claims Bret was a lousy champion, says Scott Steiner and Jeff Jarrett sucked and would never draw a dime, and takes various shots at Hulk Hogan when on bad terms with him[he had a complicated relationship with Hogan, it seemed]. He also rightfully calls Vince Russo a moron. That last one was justified, however it is yet another name on the list of people Flair bitched about intensely.

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.

Warrior seems to be a bad person, so Flair is justified in his claims about him. However, Scott Steiner has been said to be a nice enough guy with real anger problems. Flair's problems with Steiner stemmed from Scotty getting a singles push in WCW in the 90's and Flair's subsequent sabatoge of Steiner during their matches together. Even professional critics claimed that Flair seemed to be off his game and other wrestlers even mentioned it to Steiner. So, you see, Flair is revising history and lying outright about his encounters with Scott Steiner. Which is another pattern you notice with Flair in his book; he lies ALOT. He seems to be delusional about how bad others are only to reinforce himself as great. My problem comes in when great workers are being torn down by Flair just to somehow feed his own ego. If you didn't get that vibe from reading "To Be The Man", you obviously are a Flair mark or are ignoring all the evidence to support it.

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.

I believe Flair just didn't like Foley, that simple. He's done interviews where he shot on Foley personally and ripped him for doing hardcore matches. He called Foley a "glorified stuntman", which goes to show his naivety about different styles of in-ring work. Not everyone can be a showman or 5 star in ring technician. Some guys like Terry Funk, Foley, The Dudley Boyz, and Tommy Dreamer have all excelled at performing hardcore styles matches. Does that mean they are less pro than Flair? No. It simply means different performers have different niches and Flair doesn't have the intellectual depth to accept that.

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.

Flair does say good things about Bischoff. That, however, is also half and half. He also claims that Bischoff was too biased with his love of Hogan to see what was happening. While that may be true, it comes off sounding alot like jealousy.

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).

Again, it's a mixed view. While he does praise some of these guys for their acheivements, he also details numerous grievances that slant his view on those said workers as professionals. It's almost as if Flair cannot seperate professional work from personal bias.

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).

As I previously stated, Flair is a great performer and does have alot of funny & interesting stories to tell. It just seems like he minimizes certain things and overreacts to his own personal view of certain individuals. He comes across as being a bitter man who is very insecure. Flair himself even admits that by the time he went to WWE after WCW ended, that he was a broken and insecure man. All of that is seemingly from his mental nuances and problems with people. He seems to always be a negative person, which would stand to explain alot of things he says in his book.

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.

I dare you to count the number of people Flair compliments to the number of those he slanders. I guarantee, those being badmouthed will vastly outnumber those being complimented.

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.

He had alot of negative to say reguarding Bret Hart[btw, Bret is one T and not Brett ]. Flair doesn't know what Bret went through and looks ignorant for even talking about the Owen situation. It doesn't seem as though Flair thinks before he speaks, which the Bret Hart topic only reinforces at length. To be honest, I believe that Flair was jealous of Bret and alot was manifestation of that. He does compliment Bret's ability[rightfully so] but also claims he never drew well as WWF Champion and that business died because of him. Which is total bullshit to those who remember that time in history. At the time Bret became WWF Champion for the first time, Vince McMahon was about to be indicted for the steroid scandal and WWF was being scrutinized yet again for other scandals. Bret's book talked about a scandal with three gay backstage WWF personnel and also the scandal of Jerry Lawler being in trouble for having sex with an underage girl[imagine that!]. Not to mention that WWF had very bad television and was cartoony back then with awful gimmicks and such. Bret was a great champion and he did the best he could while under tough circumstances. Flair took it upon himself to knock Bret to somehow feel better about how great he reguards himself. Somehow thinking he was a better champion than Bret. Delusions of grandeur are abound in Flair's book and he is quite honestly one of the most narcisstic guys to ever produce an autobiography.

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.

As far as the storytelling goes, I'd recommend Flair's book as well. I believe people should get to recognize who these performers are as individuals. Sadly, Ric Fleihr is a delusional, insecure, and bitter man. His shots at others in the pro wrestling profession are proof that he's troubled. Just look at what has happened with Fleihr outside of wrestling with his maritial problems. Then take a look at those he has problems with in wrestling. Seems to be a pattern there with him and I believe he needs psychological help. Although I doubt he'd even admit it to himself, let alone do it.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

Yeah a thing you have to remember is a lot of wrestler autobiographies are ghostwritten... Foley's weren't but almost everyone else's are. They are supposed to check over them once they're done. I can't imagine Rock checking over his book though lol I'll agree with what you guys say that him writing in in-character took a lot away. But the main reason it's not as good is because it was written two years too early IMO. It was just short of when Rock was REALLY at his prime. I really want Dwayne to write another book especially now his whole career can be taken into account.

Bischoff's is probably my favourite book. Regal's book is another one I think is great and not mentioned often, much like Regal himself haha. I still have not read Flair's, terrible I know! I have however read a lot of crap wrestler books. Here are ones not to read. Triple H, Chyna, Batista, Goldust, and the Hardys.

 

[theBec2101]

I honestly didnt read any of them. I dont really care for the stories they have only because you dont know how true it is or if they are just trying to sell the book. Also what happens if another wrestler contradicts what the other said and yada yada yada. I do like the DVD cause of the quick incites and matches. I could really care less about the person underneath. But if I had to read one it would be either Mick Foley or the Steve Austin one.