Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Nitro:
“He’s reviewing a professional wrestling book? I told you this guy was white trash.”
Quick synopsis:
A look into the rise of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) when it took on the Word Wrestling Entertainment (WWE formerly WWF).
Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like:
You think wrestling is just for white trash? When Turner Broadcasting actually did a study, they found most of the wrestling viewing audience was well educated. Not that it matters, wrestling is fun so stop being a snob.
Fun Fact for History Nerds:
America Online (AOL) was kind of a mess back in the day. The merger with Time-Warner is a well-documented mess and was driven mainly because the powers that be at AOL knew they were sitting on a timebomb. When you think about it, they had very little real assets and dozens of businesses were coming in behind them. I still have my AOL email, though. Got to have somewhere to send junk mail, right?
My Take on Nitro:
Did I enjoy this book? Mostly, hell yeah. Is this a good book? Not really.
Guy Evans certainly did his homework. The book is packed with information from primary sources and covers everything WCW for more than ten years. The problem? He needed to cover less.
Pure nostalgia got me to finish this book but ultimately, it is too disjointed as it jumps between the business side of things to the wrestling. Each subject has its own fun little tidbits, but it is very distracting trying to understand where you are in the timeline. Plus, some of it is just not that interesting and Evans doesn’t move on fast enough. And many times, a subject will be hinted at but unexplored and you are left wishing he focused on that.
Also, if you didn’t live through this period and watched wrestling then you will be completely lost. The people and characters will not resonate.
Verdict:
Read it for pure nostalgia if this is your thing. All others need not apply. Buy it here!
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