TCS Book Review:

The Death of WCW

I know you guys know how to read. If not, you’re a wank and don’t know it cause you can’t read that I just called you a wank. But for the rest of you, let’s take a trip into the magical world of books.

Today’s book from El Gringo’s Book Club list is none other than the superb piece of wrestling literature known as The Death of WCW by RD Reynolds (of WrestleCrap.com fame) and Brian Alvarez (of Figure Four Weekly fame). This book was written as part of the WrestleCrap series of books; it was preceded by WrestleCrap: The Very Worst of Pro Wrestling and soon to be followed up with The WrestleCrap Book of Lists.

As far as subject material goes, the title pretty much says it all. It chronicles the early days of the defunct WCW and its rise to being big enough to not only take on Vince and the WWF, but nearly destroy it. From this point, of course, the book details the various things that went wrong after the high points, taking us down the spiral and eventually to the ultimate rock bottom, when WCW was purchased by the WWE.

The question of “who killed WCW” is definitely answered within the 334 pages (I won’t spoil it, of course - that would be dickish of me), but it highlights all the major players during the “Monday Night Wars” (like Turner, Bischoff, Flair, Nash, Hogan, McMahon, Russo - you name it, it’s covered) and how they all contributed to the rise and fall of World Championship Wrestling. It also touches on the most important moments that were considered to be milestones during this era, like the Montreal Screwjob, the jumping of Chris Jericho, Nitro giving away Raw taping results on-air, the “Fingerpoke of Doom”, Starrcade 97, how Vince totally buggered the Alliance angle, and countless others, including name-dropping the person that TRULY killed WCW. Again, I don’t want to say too much, because you should read this book. C’mon. All the cool kids are doing it…

If you were really into wrestling from about 1996 to 2000, or watched the “Monday Night Wars” DVD, much of what you read will be familiar, but one thing that is very important to note is that this book is NEVER BORING. If you distinctly remember that era of wrestling, then this book will be a fantastic trip down memory lane written in an extremely laid-back style. However, if you were strictly a WWF mark, just getting into wrestling more recently, or just have a terrible memory, you’ll read this and become very informed about this great time in wrestling and probably feel like much more of a fan overall (I know I did) All in all it’s extremely accessible to anyone - from the most casual to the most diehard of fans.

I really can’t say anything bad about this book. I love it. If it were a woman I’d…well, I’ll just leave that part out. Any and every wrestling fan should read this book. Hands down. I’ve read many wrestling books and thus far, this one was the best - I’ve read it three times just for the nostalgia alone. It’s an honest (i.e. not Vince-i-fied), informative, and hilarious (both purposefully and unintentionally) reliving of the most fascinating and all-around awesome stops on the pro wrestling timeline. It’s also the bomb.

You can purchase this book by clicking here. If you don’t buy anything else from our site buy this book.

I PROMISE you won’t regret it.

El Gringo’s Grade: 5 out of 5

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Adios.