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WWE Encyclopedia

WWE Encyclopedia

Did you find the gritty neorealism of “The Wrestler,” well, depressing? Fear not: The “WWE Encyclopedia,” which enters the hardcover miscellaneous list at No. 10 this week, brings back 50 years of World Wrestling Entertainment in all its cartoony, acid-washed glory. –The New York Times, March 26th 2009

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars A Must Own indeed
The WWE Encyclopedia is a great buy and read. While people have pointed out The Miz is excluded, he is indeed in this book. He is part of the tag team of Miz and Morrison, which is fine for me. Alot of wrestlers get 2-3 entrants in the book with different gimmicks and tag teams. I wrote a few names that I thought would not be in the book but I was surprised alot of them did show up. I’ll probably think of more after this review is over but here is the ones I came up with

Kenzo Suzuki

Who-The failed masked Jim Neidhart gimmick

Tony Roy

Reno Riggins

Luther Reigns

Cloudy

TL Hopper-they have a few pictures of Hopper under PJ Walker but no summary of him. Funny to note Hopper is wrestling Aldo Montoya, whose is really PJ Walker.

They have may have forgot a small amount of wrestlers, but i’m sure there will be a second edition. Most summaries of wrestlers are very short and incomplete. I know someone must have a problem with that. Also, I appericate them saying what the main event for a PPV event was but why not reveal the winner as well? That would have helped out. All in all, I have a few small gripes. A must own for the WWE fan.

1 Star WWE DROPS A BOMB WITH WWE ENCYCLOPEDIA
When is the WWE or WWF as we know them going to ever get real.First Vince McMahon tells the world that wrestling is faked and staged,and then years later here we are in 2009 and McMahon,s company writes a book that does not even have the class to tell you that Issac Yankum and Kane are the same guy.I guess some people like Vince McMahon will never know that Wrestling Fans are Doctors,Lawyers and Teachers and not stupid idiots which he apparently believes we are as he expects us to believe this trash he puts out here.Same your money and buy the memphis Dvd,s here on amazon,Jerry Lawler has always treated the fans with respect and it shows on the Memphis dvd,s buy them instead and let this WWE encyclopedia go by the way of the other books that no one ever reads.

5 Stars Fantastic Book!
A must own book for WWE fans of all ages.Great Pictures,Loads of Detail.Buy It now,you will not regret it.

4 Stars Very Good Overall With Just A Few Issues…
I got the Encyclopedia last week and overall I was rather impressed with it. There were however some things that irked me. I’ll list the major things.

The book is written mostly in kayfabe which means it pretends that people who wrestled under different identities were actually different people…such as Tony Atlas/Saba Simba, Iron Sheik/Col. Mustafa, Sultan/Fatu, and so on and so forth.

They are inconsistent with listing tag teams/stables/ factions. For some they list the group and also list separate profiles for each member, and for others they just lump everyone in the group profile and in some cases don’t even mention the members by name. For example Owen Hart and Yokozuna each have separate profiles, then are grouped in another profile for the tag team Owen Hart and Yokozuna. Savio Vega has his own profile and is also featured in the Los Boricuas profile, but the other three members are not named, nor do they have their own profiles.

Since the WWE owns the rights to WCW, ECW, AWA, WCCW and others and they are inducting people into the WWE Hall of Fame from said promotions, I would have liked to see profiles on the wrestlers and personalities from those promotions included as well.

The title histories have some printing errors. In several instances the same title change is listed twice in a row. For instance the July, 09, 1986 entry where Fabulous Moolah won the title from Velvet McIntyre is repeated immediately below it.

Antonino Rocca’s profile though labeled as “Antonino Rocca”, is listed alphabetically by his nickname “Argentina”. Gangrel is listed by real name Dave Heath, but his profile appears in the G section.

There is also a giant error where wrestling plumber T. L. Hopper (Dirty White Boy Tony Anthony of Smokey Mountain fame) is misnamed as PJ Walker. The real PJ Walker became Aldo Montoya then moved on to ECW where he became Justin Credible. Ironically, in the photo for this entry Hopper is fighting Aldo Montoya.

I’ve been able to think of a few WWE wrestlers/personalities that aren’t listed at all in the Encyclopedia. Frankie Kazarian, Tiger Ali Singh, Nathan Jones, Amy Weber, Public Enemy, Sean O’Haire, Mordecai, Rico, Ernest Miller, Chris Walker, Ultimo Dragon, Rodney Mack, Daniel Puder, Kanyon, Doug Furnas and Phil Lafond, PG 13, Velvet McEntyre, Sakoda from the tag team Akio and Sakoda, Max Mini, Matt Morgan, Tony Schiavone, Kizarny, Sean Mooney, and Todd Pettingill to name a few.

Aside from these issues, the Encyclopedia is surprisingly detailed and informative and is well worth the purchase price in my opinion.

5 Stars Chock Full of Interesting Info and Fun Trivia
The “WWE Encyclopedia” is a fantastic reference for wrestling fans. There is so much info packed into this book you will spend hours upon hours reading through the various items presented. You get a thorough history of each and every title in WWE’s history, from the Heavyweight Titles, down to the Intercontinental Title and Tag Team Titles to things like the Hardcore Title and European Champ titles as well. You also get the history of WCW and ECW titles too.

You get the history of every Pay Per View the WWE has presented over the years, as well as look at ALL of WWE’s TV programming through the years. Of coures the real reason to purchase the Encyclopedia is the indepth SuperStar Profiles. Of couse you get the profiles of guys like “Hulk Hogan”, “Stone Cold Steve Austin” and “The Rock”, but you also get profiles on everyone from “Doink the Clown” to “The Brooklyn Brawler” and “Haku”. No one is left out of this reference, even “Chris Benoit” gets a profile, which surprised me as he’s been purged from most other WWE projects. It was nice to see profiles on the older wrestlers as well, guys like Bruno Sammartino, and Black Jack Mulligan get a nice profile, and credit for helping shape wrestling during the early years.

The book is laid out in alphabetical order, so if you want to take a quick glance at say the “Backlash” pay per view history, it’s easy to locate. One thing to note, which is a little odd, that the wrestlers are alphabetized by their first names, which means if you are looking for Bobby Heenan for example you would turn to the “B” section, not “H”. Another nice addition, is that the various tag teams have both a team entry as well as an individual entry in this reference. So if you were a fan of US Express say, they will have a profile on the team itself, but you will also have individual profiles for both Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo.

The photographs of some of my favorite childhood superstars really brought back some great memories as well. It’s obvious WWE spent a TON of time and money on this book, and I can honestly say it’s one of the best WWE produced products in a long time. If you were a fan of WWF’s Hulkamania era, or the Attitude era there is plenty of interesting info in here for you. Even if you aren’t a fan of the current product being put on tv today, you will still enjoy this book. Highly recommended for both casual and hardcore fans.

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