Coming hot on the heels of the excellent book Ballyhoo! The Roughhousers, Con Artists,  and Wildmen Who Invented Professional Wrestling covering the genesis of wrestling being  a grand ol’ sport with legit hours long matches to gimmicks and planned finishes, this is a  book covering the start date of when the WWF and Vince McMahon lied, cheated and stole  the territories from rival promoters and turned professional wrestling into sports  entertainment.  

Author Balukjian goes back to what he considers to be the magic moment when Vince  McMahon’s plan to monopolize wrestling really kicked in. On December 26, 1983, the Iron  Sheik beat WWE champion Bob Backlund for the belt. While The Sheik thought he would  have a somewhat decent run as champ, he was only a short-term pawn who would soon  lose to Hulk Hogan (recently poached from the AWA). This was the turning point as Vince  would push Hogan to the moon and he would go from the guy from ROCKY III to a world famous celebrity bringing mainstream attention to the WWF. He attempts to track down  some of the participants on the card for that pivotal show. He has mixed results as there  are subjects who avoid him, subjects who will be interviewed for a fee and the rest. His  targets were The Iron Sheik (whom Balukjian was earlier planning a whole book about),  Tony Atlas, Sgt. Slaughter, Tito Santana, Jose Luis Rivera, The Masked Superstar aka Bill  Eadie, Vince McMahon and Hulk Hogan himself.  

In addition to talking with the wrestlers about that evening and their history in the business  we learn about Atlas’ shoe fetish, The Sheik’s ruined marriage to a nice woman and Eadie’s  lawsuits against WWF. The book is fun and well written but since the author travels all over  

in search of these superstars (including a trip to Puerto Rico) the book works as a crazy  adventure as well. The author goes to the hometowns of some of the subjects to get a feel  for their past and also interviews locals and childhood friends. Fans of this era of  professional wresting will enjoy the profiles of the wrestlers who are willing to tell their  stories and will look back with affection at the days when wrestling was still wrestling and  how that door was shut for good.