Product Description

The classic account of the men and women who used to fight each other for pride and money. Simon Garfield brings them to life in one last glorious bout of jealousy, myth, revenge, passion and deep devotion. When British wrestling was dropped from the ITV schedules in the mid-1980s it left the giants of the ring - Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Kendo Nagasaki - bereft. This is the true story of the circuit, the big names and their rivalries, told with humour, warmth and affection. This edition features a new afterword by the author.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #120168 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Observer
'Funny, tragic, and full to the brim with outrageous arse-whupping, The Wrestling does its subject proud.'

About the Author
Simon Garfield was born in 1960. His books include the prize-winning The End of Innocence: Britain in the Time of AIDS, The Wrestling (1996), and The Nation's Favourite: The True Adventures of Radio 1 (1998), as well as three recent works of history: Our Hidden Lives, We Are at War and Private Battles.

Customer Reviews

A very British "sport"......
Whilst wrestling thrives in the rest of the world its British cousin seems in terminal decline. This is the background against which Simon Garfield stirs the meomories of the "glory days" of wrestling in Britain. He tells the tale through the words of others and has produced not a definitive history but an entertaining parable of egotistical "characters" and rivalries that last to the present day. The book is never completely open about the realities of a professional wrestling match but instead allows the reader to feel like an outsider hearing careless wispers from behind the curtain. The vow of silence these men took seems to remain with most of them today. This is to some extent misguided, as anyone who is a fan of America's WWF knows. There the big names to not "insult" the fans intelligence by insisting it is real at all costs. In interviews and books outside the WWF's world (and sometimes in it) they make no secret of the way things are. And that is why so many people find it a form of entertainment that appeals to them. The wrestlers for the most part make up history to suit there own ends and thus presented together on the page form a hilarious patchwork of stories. Sometimes all the contributers are pulling in the same direction and a heart warming (or horrifying) story presents itself. Other times it desends into funny or meloncoly slanging matches about who "f***ed it all up". This is a slightly frustrating book if you already are aware of some of the behind the scenes bust ups and stories but to others it will delight at every turn. The last 2 chapters are the most depressing with two young(ish) talents from the current scene are quietly wallowing in the poverty of British wrestling as they compete with insulting rip-offs of WWF characters (usually the ones they ripped off were rubbish in their first incarnation). The underground scene has picked up slightly since the book was written with talented foreigners visiting occasionally and some "new-age" talent popping through. However the only thing that drives these youngsters on is getting out to America or Japan. At the base end of the market promoters are still presenting the outdated style of many mentioned in the book and the product is slowly dying. This book leaves us with lovely memories of a very British "sport".......one which is gone, best forgotten.

Tragi-Comedy
When I think of the (few!) books I've read in the past 5 years, this one keeps coming back to me. Simon Garfields style of quotation over narration (as per his Radio One book - almost as great as this) works well here with an obviously (inadvertantly in some cases) hillarious cast of heros, daredevils and madmen who loved the sport and reaped very few benefits. It's a sad story of the decline of a great 'spectacle' I loved in my youth on World Of Sport. Listening to the stories of being paid 15 quid a fight and squashing the puss out of pig-bitten fingers pre-fight only makes you love this era more and wonder quite where it all went wrong with American Wrestling! Gloriously entertaining stuff.

the best of uk wrestling
Simon Garfield gives a timely reminder of the days before the World Wrestling Federation,a time when World of Sport was supreme and Saturday afternoon was taken up with an old friend Big Daddy beating the shhhh out of the masked man Kendo.A totally different world to todays superstars but to those of us in the UK who remember the times a worthy publication.