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The wrestlers profiled in this book are Buddy Rogers, Gorgeous George, The Sheik, Mad Dog Vachon, Bill Longson, Freddie Blassie, Johnny Valentine, The Destroyer, Killer Kowalski, Harley Race, Danny McShain, Abdullah The Butcher, Nick Bockwinkle, Gene Kiniski, Boris Malenko, Hans Schmidt, Ray Stevens, Ric Flair, Bull Curry, Roddy Piper, Terry Funk, Killer Karl Kox, Ernie Ladd, Randy Savage, The Spoiler, Chief Chewacki, Ted Cox, Dick Daviscourt, Billy Edwards, Abe Kashey, KO Koverly, Heel With A Heart, Lord Landsdowne, Buddy O’Brien, Lou Plummer, Dick Raines, Ivan Rasputin, Frederich Von Schacht, George Zaharias, Tim Brooks, Bulldog Brower, Pampero Firpo, Luke Graham, King Curtis Iaukea, Moondog Mayne, George Steele, John Tolos, Beauregarde, Edge, Billy Graham, Roger Kirby, Buddy Landel, Randy Orton, Rick Rude, Bobby Shane, Adrian Street, Crusher Blackwell, Black Angus Campbell, Moose Cholak, Eric The Red, Kane, Jos Leduc, The Mongolian Stomper, Gorilla Monsoon, Bull Ramos, Vader, The Zebra Kid, Don Fargo, Curt Hennig, The Masked Superstar, Big Bill Miller, Paul Orndorff, Bob Orton Sr., Pat Patterson, Angelo Poffo, Roy Shire, Tully Blanchard, Ripper Collins, Chris Colt, Eddie Gilbert, Dr. Jerry Graham, Rip Hawk, Triple H, Jeff Jarrett, Jake Roberts, Larry Zybysko, Bad News Allen, Mario Galento, Stan Hansen, JBL, The Missouri Mauler, Sputnik Monroe, Blackjack Mulligan, The Magnificent Muraco, Dick Murdoch, Dutch Savage, David Schultz, Dick Slater, Stan Stasiak, Ron Wright, The Iron Sheik, Ivan Koloff, The Great Mephisto, Mr. Moto, Toru Tanaka, Nikolai Volkoff, Fritz Von Erich, Waldo Von Erich, Karl Von Hess, Kurt Von Poppenheim, Baron Von Raschke and Tojo Yamamoto.
As you can see by the long list of names I put above, this book is easily one of the most comprehensive wrestling books ever written. Off the top of my head, I cannot think of any past wrestling heels that both authors had left off the list, but I’m sure that there are some longtime wrestling fans out there can pick a name or two that was forgotten.
However, if there is one complaint a have about the book, it is that the authors decided to include several currently active pro wrestlers in the book. Wrestlers like Randy Orton, Edge, Jeff Jarrett and Triple H all are included in various section of the book. While it doesn’t hamper the book in any way, it just seems a little odd to put active professional wrestlers in a “hall of fame†style book.
The write ups on each of the hundred plus wrestlers is around a few pages each, filled with a lot of information about the wrestler, inside and outside of the ring. Also, I kind of felt it was a little odd not to include any female personalities in the book, as female talent like The Fabulous Moolah, The Glamour Girls, Sherri Martel and others could’ve been included.
Overall, this book does a lot better job of looking at the past of professional wrestling than the previously reviewed WWE Legends book did, despite the fact that the book only focused on pro wrestlings heels instead of all aspects of a pro wrestler (heel, face, tweener, etc.).
You can find the book at the PWInsider Store for only $15.56!
You can contact David Tees at bigteesps3@yahoo.com
