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From TheSmartMarks.com Movies / TV Typically, I lied about when this would be posted. I'm in the "shit I've done no work" stage of the academic year, so that took priority. My last column, Booker T's parents are dead, he's been arrested and Lawler sucks is provoking quite the reaction, so check it out!
This weekend, I took a train ride to London. Thanks to morons sitting wherever they wanted (despite the reserved seats), I was out of a seat. So I spent the best part of two hours sat in the corridor. I was tired, cold and pretty pissed off. I needed something to cheer me up. "Wrestlecrap: The Very Worst of Pro Wrestling" was that something. If you haven't heard of wrestlecrap yet, then get over to wrestlecrap.com now, and check out the (sadly non-complete) site. Throughout 2000, the site updated every week with new "inductees". Sadly, the cost of running the site meant it shut down. It's back now though, with a couple of new entries every Friday. Now, it has hit the printed page. Before reading the book, I was worried about how the author, R.D Reynolds would fill it out. I mean, with most gimmicks, there's not a lot to say other than, "he looked like a shark, came out for a few weeks, everyone hated it, and it stopped," and that's exactly what wrestlecrap.com does every Friday.
Luckily that was not the case. Instead, we are taken through a history of wrestling, from "Gorgeous" George Wagner, who is credited with the first gimmick, all the way through to Necrophilia, stopping off with Hulk Hogan, the nWo and WWF Attitude on the way. Each chapter deals with a specific time period and promotion, but largely focuses on WCW and the WWF. The promotion is then followed over a period of time, usually starting out with a good idea and having it completely blow up in their face. While the history lesson is something that most readers will have heard before, the focus this time is greatly skewed � the greatness of the nWo is skipped over, and the Crap takes centre stage.
It is here that Reynolds works the smaller stories into his larger one. At one point, he's talking about Hulk Hogan bringing in his friends to work at WCW, and segues seamlessly into Ed Leslie (who is a running joke on the site) and his numerous failed gimmicks, before returning to Hulk Hogan. It isn't distracting in the least, and works extremely well.
The content is almost all new, too. Obviously, a lot of people are "inducted" on the website, as well as the book, but generally the text is new. For some of the smaller entries, there's some crossover, but that's understandable. WrestleCrap is a hilarious book, and it is obvious that R.D is a real fan of the business. He is a witty writer, and has the amazing ability to talk about "pushes", "heel turns" and all kinds of backstage politics without sounding gay. One of the only real problems with the book is that wrestlecrap.com is a hugely interactive site; as well as text, there's pictures, animation and audio. The clich� about a picture telling a thousand words holds true, as huge paragraphs could be eliminated with a single picture. It'd probably make things funnier, too.
For whatever reason (although it shouldn't be too hard to guess), R.D couldn't get the rights to WWE footage, and so the book remains largely pictureless. There's a couple of shots throughout the book, presumably taken by fans, but they are few and far between. Obviously nobody wanted to photograph shit like Duke "Dumpster" Drosse. The book's funny, well written and different, even if the partial history lesson is something we've heard before. Highest recommendation. To buy the book, check out wrestlecrap.com's list of distributors in YOUR area. Nik [email protected] all images above are stolen from the original wrestlecrap site. © Copyright by TheSmartMarks.com |
