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Book Review : Countdown To Lockdown : A Hardcore Journal By Mick Foley
Reviewed by Steven Wilson of MainEventRadio.com
The hardcore legend Mick Foley is back with his fourth book of memoirs entitled Countdown to Lockdown : A Hardcore Journal, hitting bookshelves this October. This time around Foley looks at the weeks leading up to his in ring debut with TNA at their Lockdown PPV in April 2009, but alsotouches on a wide variety of important topics along the way as well.
Written in a similar format to his last book “The Hardcore Diaries”, Mick tells us the story of what was mostly self inflicted pressure that he dealt with In preparing for his in ring return against Sting at last year’s Lockdown. Foley has often set the bar high when it comes to what he hopes to get out of a program. I recall watching Beyond The Mat seeing Foley get stitched up following a brutal I quit match with The Rock at The Royal Rumble 99 while he questioned and hoped that the match had come off well enough ensuring the fans got their money’s worth, I realized it then, and reading Countdown to Lockdown made me realize it again, Mick Foley cares, If only everyone was like him nowadays, perhaps the wrestling world wouldn’t be in the slump it seems to be in.
Putting my state of the wrestling business rant aside, Foley’s story is told via a series of diary entries which gives you a interestling look into TNA’s backstage world, dealing with Vince Russo’s creative ideas, the budgetary issues that sometimes throw wrenches into the products direction and having Dixie Carter as a boss.
While Foley’s “Countdown To Lockdown” is a intriguing story in itself, there is plenty of other meaty subjects he has to touch on. This includes his departure from the WWE, The Chris Benoit Tragedy, Steroid Use in Pro Wrestling and Kurt Angle’s overly sensitive personality amongst many other topics.
Keeping with Foley’s writing tradition, he avoids any major burial of those he has disagreed with over the last few years. While his final days with the WWE and the weeks of problems he had with Vince McMahon yelling expletives in his ear while attempting to announce the weekly Smackdown matchups is covered, he decides not to provide the specifics of what was said, and offers only a small insight into some of the rules announcers in the WWE have to deal with, Apparently Vince hates pronouns so I hope he doesn’t read this review!
Meanwhile one of the chapters I found most capturing is one entitled “Kurt Angle, The Sensitive Olympian” Foley tells a story of a day where he and Kurt crossed paths with UFC star Mark Coleman, a former amateur wrestling rival of Kurts. Over the last few years we’ve heard many stories of Kurt’s mental and physical shape, and have also heard of the tough times he has dealt with in his personal life with the ending of his marriage. The story told by Foley is from around the time Angle’s marriage was coming to an end, he was visibly upset, but would proceed to breakdown after Mark Coleman had a slight botch in memory saying he beat Angle at a championship meet in 1992, Foley tried to talk some sense into Angle but there was no stopping his breakdown, a saddening story to read, and makes one hope that Kurt is doing better nowadays.
Add in a touching appeal to the young up and coming wrestlers in the business to not go down the abusive road that so many in the past have and you have yet another great read from the hardcore legend. I’d definitely recommend checking it out when it hits bookshelves in October.
Countdown To Lockdown : A Hardcore Journal will be available as of October 1st from Grand Central Publishing with a suggested retail price of $26.99. To get your hands on a copy check out your favorite online retailer or head on out to your local book store. To read my previous reviews check out www.wrestlingdvdreviews.vze.com
