The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: Heroes and Icons

by Steven Johnson, Greg Oliver, Mike Mooneyham

The most marvelous good guys worthy of a spot in the pro wrestling hall of fame At its core, professional wrestling has always been about the forces of evil trying to undermine everything good ― and a red-hot heel needs a valiant hero to battle against, someone fans can root for, identify with, and look up to. Wrestling heroes like Hulk Hogan, Dusty Rhodes, The Rock, and André the Giant are celebrated worldwide. But in Heroes & Icons, Oliver and Johnson dig deeper to include more than just the household names, telling the stories of forgotten heroes and regional stars, like Tiger Jeet Singh, who has an elementary school named after him, and Whitey Caldwell, whose gravesite still sees flowers from fans 40 years after his passing. Based on the comprehensive research and numerous in-depth interviews for which their acclaimed Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame series is known, authors Oliver and Johnson lead readers through the 1930s to the present day, as they examine what truly makes a great hero.

Genres: Nonfiction

576 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Reviews

[Celia]

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[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you love wrestling, this is the book for you! I love wrestling, I grew up on Hulk Hogan and moved on to cheering The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. What this book did for me is gave me a pretty good history lesson on wrestling and pointed out a lot of wrestlers I'd never heard of (not surprising really) and this is just the "good" wrestlers. Okay, I have to know if there is going to be a "villan" companion book to this, because that would be another really cool read. The pictures in the book are pretty awesome also, but there aren't so many pictures that you get distracted by them.

I received a copy of this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

[Jarr · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won a copy from the give-aways section. Would never have thought about reading this otherwise. I haven't watched wrasling since I was kid and reading this doesn't make me want to watch it ever again. It's not terrible and the history/back story behind some of the old timey guys is interested but not spectacular. It reads like a history text book though. If you're a die hard fan then it's not so bad but it's very monotonous and drags on. I'll probably just trade it towards something I'm actually interested in reading. Glad I won it though.

[Oliver Bateman · Rating 5 out of 5]

More prosopographical greatness from Johnson and Oliver. These books are required reading for all semi-serious wrestling fans.