So Close

The first half of this book is a stunning examination of Vince's rise to power, framed as a heel background story and neatly showing the differences between Vince's telling of his own story (sometimes more than one version) and other people telling Vince's story. As a backdrop to "the unmaking of America," it is stunning. The second part of the book turns to a mildly repentant love letter to the Attitude Era. And I get it, I really do. The Attitude Era was my brief love affair with WWE and it was nice to relive it, painful to share the repentance for the people who got hurt for my enjoyment. But it does lose the thread that ties wrestling to politics and events in the rest of the world (with some exceptions). And this means that we come back to that thread in a single chapter at the end that covers a good 20-year span. And, to start and end at "the end of the world" (pandemic lockdowns) without giving a single nod to AEW seems odd. That said, pacing issues aside, this is well written and beautifully narrated (hats off to Alyss) and very worth a listen, particularly for non-wrestling fans. For Me, I'd like to see another book really digging into the 21st century, Vince's monopoly, the politics, the connections to Trump, the New World Kayfabe, AEW riding an opportunity and competing by not competing (except financially). Just to complete the promise of this book.

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Was expecting more

Very much the same stuff. Was hoping for a bit more. Narrator wasn't great but did improve through the course but it was very clear they had little to no wrestling knowledge, so some of the mispronounced names was a little jarring.

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1 person found this helpful

Great book just terrible narrator

Great book but a terrible narrator, if a sequel needs a new narrator just awful

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No new insights

Nothing new for the hardcore fan, narrators pronunciation of certain names left a lot to be desired

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An excellent book

I listened to this because I was incredibly impressed with Riesman’s previous book, a biography of Stan Lee that used meticulous research and strikingly insightful and nuanced writing to cut through the fog of self-mythology and fan speculation that surrounds that extremely divisive figure.

Well, Reisman has done it again.

As a comics fan who’s never been into wrestling, I didn’t have the context for McMahon that I did for Lee, but it’s clear from the sheer breadth of sources both primary and secondary that the author employs that this book is just as painstakingly researched, and that the subject themself is not only just as influential on modern culture, but equally as shrouded in manufactured legend and legitimate controversy.

I absolutely loved this book, and would heartily recommend it to anyone- with the only caveat being that if you’re personally invested in the obvious fictions men like Lee and McMahon cultivate about themselves to craft their personal brands, then you should know that Reisman isn’t going to give you that. This is a book about the truth, and is all the more fascinating for it.

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Disappointing

Offers nothing new on the subject that isn't already widely known. Terrible narrator clearly doesn't follow wrestling.

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"It's hard to find a blameless wrestler"

Could not get past the author's contempt for the people she was writing about. Dave Meltzer drew my attention to this book but I wish I hadn't wasted my time. Feels like most of the facts were taken from his Wikipedia page and spliced together with the author's very clear political opinions. Seriously disappointing.

Narrator had a nice voice but was clearly clueless about the subject matter given various mispronunciations of wrestler's names. This is not a knock on the narrator in general, as clearly this is a problem with audiobooks in general.

One quote that left a sour taste in the mouth was the one in the headline of my review which said something along the lines of "it's hard to find a blameless wrestler" which summed up the author's contempt for the industry. Really disappointed as I'd been counting down the days for this one.

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Could have been so much better

Some interesting insights into Vince’s youth, but on the whole a disappointing read/listen, too many small disproven Meltzer “facts” swamp this book, i.e. such as HBK coming up with the finish for the screwjob when it’s well known now that is was Bret and Patterson who came up with it. Save your money and just listen to podcasts about Vince far more insightful. Narrator was very good however.

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A confused biography, with a well researched beginning that ends too soon.

An ambitious biography to write that has a very promising start, with well researched and well presented stories of McMahon growing up.

Sadly it goes downhill from there.

There seems to be a lack of understanding of the wrestling industry and a clear bias against it from the author. There is unnecessary emphasis on many things and little to no insight on much more significant events.

The story ends prematurely with so much of McMahons career to be discussed.

Unfortunately the narrator doesn’t help as it’s clear she has no knowledge on the subject matter with several mispronunciations contributing to an often disconnected story.

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Good but wanted it to be great

There are a few new tid-bits in this book but nothing mind blowing.

I didn’t understand the need for the divergence into the Trump Presidency.

A little gripe I had was the lack of mention of The Big Show - despite in depth analysis of two key moments of which he was a major part of - The Black Wedding and The Valentines Day Massacre Cage Fight. Poor Big Show!

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