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Post by stephenvegas on Mar 7, 2006 21:26:46 GMT -5
Has anyone else gotten the book "WWE Legends"? When I was in Orange County last Friday, I saw it at a bookstore and decided to buy it. The book cost me $14.00, contains 254 pages, and appears relatively new because it has a copyright date of 2006. The book's focus is on the WWE's "territorial" period from 1953-1983 back when most WWE shows only or mainly took place "from Maine to Maryland."
The book focuses upon a number of wrestlers and managers during this period who paved the way for the current supersatrs of today. Some of the wrsetlers from LOW who have sections (about 5-6 pages) of this book devoted to them include: Antonino Rocca, Buddy Rogers, Capt Lou Albano (as a manger), Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, Killer Kowalski, Johnny Valentine, Bobo Brazil, Nikolai Volkoff, Iron Sheik, The Valiants, Don Muraco, and Ivan Koloff (I really his card will be part of Legends Teams).
Some of the non LOW wrestlers (hopefully we get some of these guys one day too) who also have sections of the book devoted to them include: "Classy" Freddie Blassie (in the manager's section), Andre the Giant, Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, Bruno Sammartino, Superstar Billy Graham, Ernie Ladd, Fabulous Moohlah, Pedro Morales, Pat Patterson, the Graham Borthers, the Blackjacks, and the Wild Samoans.
Each wrestler's section is palced accordingly by chapter theme. For instance Rocca and rogers are in the first chapter entitled "In the Beginning: The Capitol Years" and Patterson, Muraco, and Ken Patera are in the section entilted "Blame it on Rio: The Early Intercontinental Champions."
I haven't started reading the book yet because I'm currently in the second half of Stephen King's "Cell." But I always enjoy learning about wrestling history (hence LOW is my favorite Filsinger Games product even though I play COTG constantly) and either this book or Jerry Tarkanian's "Runnin' Rebel" (I'm a UNLV graduate) that I also bought on my trip to Orange County will be the one I read next. If anyone has read "WWE Legends" yet, please let me know what you think.
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Post by Big Bri on Mar 7, 2006 21:36:06 GMT -5
Thanks for the tip. I'm looking for a new book to read. I'll have to pick this up ASAP.
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Post by hooligans2 on Mar 8, 2006 2:11:13 GMT -5
I saw an ad for this book when I was flipping through a Smackdown magazine. I went to Barnes & Noble and picked it up. Since I am a big wrestling history freak, I really enjoyed it. It had a lot of facts in there that I didn't know (Vince has a brother named Rod; the WWF was supposed to go from Vince Sr. to Gorilla Monsoon, not Vince Jr.) plus the bios were very well done. I had a hard time putting the book down. A very cool read.
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Post by stephenvegas on Mar 30, 2006 20:38:29 GMT -5
Earlier this week I finished reading WWE Legends. I think it is a great book especially for someone like me who, because in my case I started watching the WWE during the mid 1980s when I was in elementary school, does not know an extensive amount about the early years of the WWE's history. As I mentioned in my previous post on this thread, the book focuses on the company's history during the years from 1953 to 1983 back when the company was a territorial federation that ranged mostly just "from Maine to Maryland."
The following 40 individuals and tag teams have profiles (about 5 pages each) devoted to them in the book: Vincent J. McMahon, Toots Mondt, Antonino Rocca, Buddy Rogers, Arnold Skaaland, Capt. Lou Albano, The Grand Wizard, Freddie Blassie, Gorilla Monsoon, Chief Jay Strongbow, Andre the Giant, Bob Backlund, Jimmy Snuka, Sgt. Slaughter, Fabulous Moolah, Killer Kowlaski, Johnny Valentine, Ernie Ladd, Billy Graham, Bruno Sammartino, Bobo Brazil, Pedro Morales, Ivan Putski, High Chief Peter Maivia, Rocky Johnson, Ivan Koloff, Mr. Fuji, Nikolai Volkoff, The Iron Sheik, The Graham Brothers, The Valiant Brothers, The Blackjacks, The Wild Samoans, Tony Garea, Pat Patterson, Ken Patera, Don Muraco, Haystacks Calhoun, Baron Mikel Scicluna, and George "The Animal" Steele.
Some of the many things I learned from reading this book:
Vincent J. McMahon left the NWA largely due to a dispute over whether Buddy Rogers (favored by McMahon) or Lou Thesz should be NWA Champion, the original plan was for Gorilla Monsoon to take over for Vincent J. McMahon- as hooligans2 mentioned earlier on this thread, Toots Mondt and Ed "Strangler" Lewis were two members of the Gold Dust Trio who really influenced modern professional wrestling by introducing ideas such as the "packaged tour attraction," the "program," and the wrestling style called "Slam Bang Western Wrestling,'" Antonino Rocca was a regular broadcast partner of Vincent K. McMahon, Arnold Skaaland managed the WWWF's Heavyweight Champion from December 1973 to December 1983 (except for Billy Graham's 10 month reign during this period) because he managed both Sammartino and then Backlund, the wrestlers whom the Grand Wizard managed included LOW's the Sheik, Ox Baker, and Killer Kowalski, that Gorgeous George ran for US President in 1952 with Chief Jay Strongbow as his campaign manager, that Bob Backlund could not read or write during his first Heavyweight Championship reign, Antonio Inoki actually defeated Backlund for the WWWF Championship in Japan in 1979 but Backlund quickly won the belt back and Inoki's victory was never officially recognized, Hank Williams proposed to the Fabulous Moolah, Superstar Billy Graham's 10 month reign as WWWF Champion is still the longest such reign for a heel, the Rock's grandfather Peter Maivia is a villain in the James Bond movie "You Only Live Twice," Peter Maivia originally disapproved of his daughter marrying Rocky Johnson, Ivan Koloff wrestled in the first-ever coffin match against Dusty Rhodes, Ivan Koloff is the only wrestler to pin Sammartino in Madison Square Garden, Dr. Jerry Graham started the worst riot in Madison Square Garden's history in 1957.
But I know the book is not completely accurate. For instance, in the Ken Patera bio it says that Patera competed in the first Survivor Series, the first Summer Slam , and was a competitor in the World Championship Tournament at Wrestlemania. But Patera was not in that tournament and instead participated in the battle royal that opened Wrsetlemania 4. But overall, this was a great book!
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Post by Big Bri on Mar 30, 2006 23:49:35 GMT -5
I thought my gf was going to get this for my b-day, but I got Vol 1 of the WM Anthology instead (still a good gift), so I'll have to buy this myself. Still looking forawrd to it. Thanks for the review SV!
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Post by gwffantrav on Apr 1, 2006 1:02:00 GMT -5
Backlund couldn't read or write?!!? It really said that?!? Not that everyone who goes to college can read or write, but he was a Division II All-American in wrestling and would seem like he would have been able to read and write.
Maybe that was the problem with his bland interviews though!!
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Post by tafkaga on Apr 1, 2006 1:21:45 GMT -5
That seems odd to me too. Backlund is one of my favorite wrestlers and I never knew that. My knowledge of his early WWF days is limited though. I really got acquainted with his work when he came back to the WWF in 1992 I believe. I thought he was hilarious both as a face and a heel. His "howdy doody" face image was hilarious, and I loved the fact that he was #2 in the 1993 Rumble and was there at the end. His heel work vs. Bret Hart was classic stuff as well. I thought he and Hart complimented each other so well and should have worked longer together. Bob really impressed me as a guy who went from being a pretty plain wrestler to being able to do the over-the-top gimmicks and make them very entertaining.
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Post by stephenvegas on Apr 1, 2006 2:28:58 GMT -5
I also was atonished to read about Backlund's initial inability to read or write during his first reign as World Heavyweight Champion. According to WWE Legends, Backlund could neither read or write despite being a notable high school wrestler who later won a heavyweight championship in the NCAA Division II at South Dakota State University. The book then mentions that Backlund, years later, actually taught himself to read and write and eventually even ran for public office.
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Post by gwffantrav on Apr 1, 2006 2:35:16 GMT -5
I'm in shock! I think it proves my point that college is the biggest scam in the entire world!!
Backlund, as a heel though was incredible. I remember when the WWF first started broadcasting on USA in the early 80s. I used to think who in the hell is this howdy doody freak?!?!
But his heel work in the early 90s was absolute classic!!! Shame his run ended early to ol' chicken legs.
NOTE to WWE writers. Backlund was a TRANSITIONAL champion between Hart and Diesel. When you win and then lose it back to the same guy, that's not transitional.
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Post by tafkaga on Apr 1, 2006 2:45:50 GMT -5
I'm in shock! I think it proves my point that college is the biggest scam in the entire world!! Backlund, as a heel though was incredible. I remember when the WWF first started broadcasting on USA in the early 80s. I used to think who in the hell is this howdy doody freak?!?! But his heel work in the early 90s was absolute classic!!! Shame his run ended early to ol' chicken legs. NOTE to WWE writers. Backlund was a TRANSITIONAL champion between Hart and Diesel. When you win and then lose it back to the same guy, that's not transitional. What's funny is that Backlund always came off to me like a very intelligent and educated man. I know that being intelligent doesn't necessarily mean reading and writing, but I guess it's hard for me to imagine someone going through school in this country and not learning those two very basic things. I was reading Tolkein in 2nd grade and writing my own short 30-page horror stories. What really sucks to me is that Backlund was even considered a "transitional" champion between Hart and Diesel. I know many will probably disagree, but I never saw Diesel as anything more than a really big guy who thought he was incredibly cool. There are many big wrestlers who I could give a lot of credit to. Andre was the greatest of all time...the Big Show was very impressive in WCW... even Sid Vicious could play his character very well even though his wrestling sucked. But Nash just has always been slow and sucky and boring IMO. Backlund should not have been a transitional champ. As good as he was as a heel, he was the perfect opponent for Bret. Bob was still in great shape for his age and had really good charisma, not to mention the fact that he could wrestle. This was always such a disappointment to me that Bob did not have a much greater presence in main event storylines in WWE in the 90's. |
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Post by gwffantrav on Apr 1, 2006 2:52:32 GMT -5
Well, not that I agree with only making Backlund a transitional champ. I would have liked to see him at least get the run until the Royal Rumble. Would have been a fun two month reign.
I always thought it was a funny gimmick where Backlund made people recite the Presidents of the US if they wanted an autograph. Maybe they should have asked him to read who the presidents were!!
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Post by stephenvegas on Apr 20, 2006 1:41:56 GMT -5
Apparently the WWE is planning a sequel (or at least a book that would apparently serve as a sequel) to WWE Legends. While WWE Legends focused on the period from 1953-1983, there are plans to put out another book about the WWE during the 1980s. It is called Main Event Raging 80s or something like that. Over at the wwe website you can now vote on which of two possible book covers you prefer.
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