biographies

I dont know what I can say that I didnt say about the amazing DVD set. Ric Flair is beyond a legend, and is still going strong at age 55, and is still a HUGE draw. Ric Flair vs. Triple H could easily outdraw any other Wrestling Event today.

The Book, if you are a hardcore wrestling fan is a must read, you wont be able to put it down, as Flair came from humble beginnings to become the Greatest of all Wrestlers, the very definition of Pro Wrestling. Eric Bishoff, the arrogant towel boy of Vince McMahon gets punked out by Flair(No cameras for this one it was truly personal), and nearly beaten bloody by a pissed off Nature Boy in the dressing room, recently, and Hogan is next if he doesnt watch his step, Hell hath no fury like an angry Ric Flair.

Buy this book, Flair takes you into the dressing room, and behind the scenes, and we travel with the Nature Boy to each and every event in his career and life, and find out that the blood sweat and tears were for us, his hardcore fans, the ones that dressed like him in high school, and were bored by the NFL because Nature Boy is taking on Rhodes tonite, and we'd rather watch that, we could not MISS that. A must read.

The best wrestling book put out, period. No surprise given that Ric Flair's name was attached to it, it had to be the best. My only gripe was that it was too short--I wanted more.

Lots of good inside stuff from the 70's and 80's, and the tragic sufferings of a man who was literally beaten down by one of the biggest clowns in wrestling, Eric Bischoff. Flair doesn't really pull any punches here, and it is intriguing to watch his relationships with Dusty and Hogan develop from one of idolization to a certain animosity (Dusty Rhodes), to a mutual respect to a portrayed hatred (Hulk Hogan).

Flair clearly has his favorites: Harley Race, Wahoo, Steamboat, Windham, Sting and Arn--no surprise. He also identifies some folks who should not never have even bothered wrestling, Ultimate Warrior, Brutus Beefcake, to a lesser extent, Mick Foley. Gotta love the take on Shane Douglas as well. How's your book Shane? heh heh.

What's great is Flair's respect for the guys who came before him, and the hard work that had to be put in for Flair to be the best. How many people today could live through Verne Gagne's training camps? If Flair hadn't partied so hard, we might be already looking at the next sports politician. Great story, but I just wish it was longer- Flair's stories are so good that you really wish the book would keep going. Fantastic read, you have to pick this up.

This is the story of Ric Flair, written towards the end of his career. Flair's book has an advantage over other wrestling books. Since he wrote it now, as opposed to ten years ago, it is pretty comprehensive, whereas when people like Rock and Foley wrote their's, they were unable to cover everything since their careers still had plenty of more time. The main advantages Flair has though are his life experiences, stories, and accomplisments. Put another way, he has a lot better material to work with than other wrestlers because he has been around a long time and practically 'done it all.'

So what is in the book? A few chapters about his early childhood, years in high school and college, and then the story of how he broke into wrestling. From there, he tells of the people he first met, and how he was in awe of many of them, as he had followed their careers. We learn that Flair was an avid wrestling magazine collector, who idolized many wrestlers. Flair talks a lot about people like Wahoo McDaniel and Dusty Rhodes.

From there he talks about his early successes. Among them are some title wins (tag titles, tv title) and his early feud with Ricky Steamboat. A lot of the book is devoted to his first few reigns as NWA champion. Less is devoted to his first stint in WWF, his return to WCW, and then his take on different time periods in WCW, mainly when Hogan first came in, when the NWO was hot, and then when Russo came in.
Do not worry though, he spends enough time talking about his backstage battles and concerns with Hogan, Bischoff, and Russo that the reader should be satisfied.

Throughout the book, he gives his take on several wrestlers like: Savage, Sid, Bret, Sting, Lugar, Triple H, Jarett, Foley, Michaels, Undertaker, Hogan, the list goes on. While I do not agree with everything Flair had to say about these guys (I especially disagree with him on Bret and Savage), he is Ric Flair and I believe he has the right to be heard. Basically, Flair tries to distinguish between a "good" wrestler and a "great" wrestler. To him, Bret and Savage are just good, whereas people like him, Steamboat, and Michaels are great.

This is far from a perfect book, but I'd still give it 5 stars. If you ever wanted to know what kind of person Flair is, and what he thinks, you will get a lot out of this book. You will not get everything you want, but probably more than enough to satisfy.