And speaking of books, where do I go from here? Well, the WWF won't be putting out any books soon, at least not in the near future. I could maybe go to Dynamite Kid's book, but the annoying shipping problems ruined my experience of trying to get this book last time. Maybe Arn Anderson's bio or the Gary Michael Capetta ones? I don't know... I have been reading, closely, the interviews Capetta has done about his past, and it was quite interesting. I just wish that a lot more wrestling books would get distributed through the stores, because some of the online sales are an absolute hassle to go through at times.
Anyway, let's talk some wrestling and eventually review Kurt Angle's book.
-I wouldn't doubt that Mike Awesome will receive the famous Fed-Ex firing while recovering from a possible knee injury. Oh, what is a Fed-Ex firing, you ask? In WCW, Eric Bischoff used to fire his injured wrestlers with a letter through Fed-Ex, showing no faith in the wrestler for hurting himself on the job. X-Pac is the most famous case, for he received one in the mail about 3 months after a neck injury. It would eventually lead X-Pac to the WWF, where he'd not only make history with the WWF's early success, but shot on Eric Bischoff as well. I believe the British Bulldog received the same treatment, after he nearly died from a spinal injury done by a trap door in a wrestling ring. (The trap door was there for the famous Warrior entrances)
Mike Awesome is NOT in the favor of WWF officials, which is why I brought this up. Awesome has been in trouble ever since the Undertaker gave him a bad review for a houseshow performance (along with reviewing DDP, too), and since then, Awesome has had a reputation for being a bad worker, so to speak. Instead of using him as someone who could have been used as a key piece of talent for the Alliance, he's on Heat and jobbing to many lower-end WWF wrestlers. He was one of the best ECW champs, ever, and had a good WCW career when Russo wasn't giving him stupid gimmicks.
-WWF scored a 4.1 in the ratings for RAW. I believe that's an increase of 0.1. Ooooooh, what an improvement! Of course, if you've ever studied statistics, it's probably likely that this increase is NOT statistically significant. It should be noted that I have tried to do statistical studies on the WWF's ratings, but from the recent ratings drop, it's hard to get anything accurate from a declining number every week.
For RAW, I saw many people who loved it, and a nice handful of those who didn't. I thought that the show was the best RAW-before-the-Pay-Per-View "sports entertainment" show that they've attempted to do. The Mondays before the PPV are always filled with sports entertainment, and this was one of the best attempts. Some of the storylines made sense, for once, too. I would have placed this show in the A-range if the wrestling was a little better, and that's my opinion of the show.
Overall, though, this book is a very simple read. If you have a young wrestling mark in your family, I'd suggest that you get him this book for Christmas. With a very few exceptions in content, this would be an excellent read to get a little brother or son. Probably the easiest book that I've read out of the wrestler biographies. With that being said, it's a good overall look at Angle's career, but he leaves out a lot of personal stuff about himself. Sure, he talks in detail about his brothers and family, but when it comes to his own personal life, he sort of held back, I thought. I guess you can't reveal all in a 309 page book.
One thing I really liked was how Angle didn't confuse readers about amateur wrestling. He never went into detail about mat wrestling, which made it a lot easier to read about his amateur wrestling career. To me, that sport is confusing, and it was good that Angle (or his ghost writer) somewhat understood that. So if you thought that the amateur wrestling chapters would bore you, think again. It's quite intense, especially about his workouts and injuries, about how Angle actually became the Gold medalist at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics. I wouldn't wish his workouts on anybody, and it's amazing to see how far he wanted to push his body through injuries (especially a broken neck!!).
A fault that sort of hurts this book is Angle's over-confidence. I don't know if they are sort of using Angle's gimmick throughout the whole book, but he was extremely proud or just bragging about whatever he accomplished or will accomplish in wrestling (WWF or amateur). I'm thinking that he's confident in himself in whatever he does, and it rubbed off in his book, I suppose. It didn't bother me too much, but I've talked to a few who didn't like that aspect of the whole book.
The ending helps to close this book in a great way. Kurt Angle announces that he MAY do something in the future. Now, I won't reveal it, for those of you who are still wanting to read the book for yourselves. All I can say is if Angle does this, it will give a few things some nice publicity. That's all I'm saying. :)
LAST WORD: Good read all around. It's just a basic biography, from the WWF, through a ghost-writer. However, it's way better than the Rock's or Chyna's book. For the reasons listed above, I'll give this book a
7. The Rock: The Rock Says..... - Great read from the start, until the Rock got into character. How can you get into character in your own book?!? This becomes an unbearable read at that point. (C+)
6. Chyna: If they Only Knew - A complete opposite of Angle's book... Chyna goes into detail of her personal life, while avoiding to talk more about her WWF career. The credibility of the book was hurt from mentioning her breast enhancements, but not her jaw surgery. (B-)
5. Kurt Angle: It's True, It's True - Very easy read, although it doesn't get too personal as many would like. (B)
4. Bill Goldberg: I'm Next - A good account of Goldberg's football and wrestling career, although the chapter format is sort of weird. It has a lot of honesty about Goldberg's opinions and he's not afraid to express them in his own book. Especially about Scott Hall. (B+)
3. Mick Foley: Foley is Good - It's very good on filling the small gaps in Foley's first book, like the Drugs section, but it's hurt by going off the subject several times and talking too much about the success and life of being a best selling author. It was like a rapper bragging, on his next album, about going platinum on their previous album release. (A-)
2. Diamond Dallas Page: Positively Page - Very close to being #1. DDP, too, is very descriptive about his life through the early bar scene and through his interesting wrestling career. (A+)
1. Mick Foley: Have a Nice Day - Just an incredible read, all around. Foley is incredibly descriptive about his whole career, and this should be a required reading for any wrestling fan. (A+)
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@That's all for today's edition. I'll be back, tomorrow, with some Daily Apples and Smackdown hype (non-spoiler). Until then, just chill.............
Take Care, and Thanks a Million for Reading.