Between the Ropes: Wrestling's Greatest Triumphs and Failures

by Brian Fritz, Christopher Murray

As wrestling dominated the pop culture airwaves in the late 90s, wrestlers like The Rock and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin became international cultural icons. But, by the turn of the millennium, wrestling began its downward descent. In early 2001, both WCW and ECW closed its doors and were bought out by WWE, whose fortunes hit the skids shortly after, despite their virtual monopoly. In 2002, a new group rose from the ashes of WCW and ECW ― Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Between the Ropes examines the last decade of pro wrestling, looking at its unprecedented popularity surge that transformed it into a legitimate billion-dollar business, and the decision-making follies that put WWE back down on the mat. It examines the upstart TNA, and its current position on the cusp of a national breakthrough. Fritz and Murray study the four organizations, their rise and fall from a business, storyline, and character standpoint. Also included from the authors’ show Between the Ropes are insights from major wrestling stars like The Rock, Hulk Hogan, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Ric Flair, Vince McMahon, Mick Foley, Bret Hart, Sting, Eric Bischoff, Chris Jericho, Rob Van Dam, and Shane Douglas.

302 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2006

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some guys who host a wrestling radio show rehash the last 15-20 years of wrestling.

This is the fifteenth book in my Kindle Unlimited Experiment. For the 30 day trial, I'm only reading books that are part of the program and keeping track what the total cost of the books would have been.

I'm not sure what I was expecting but it wasn't this. Since the authors host Between the Ropes, I thought there would be wrestler interviews in this. Nope. It was mostly a recap of the last couple decades of wrestling, most of which was during the height of my fandom. There's very little new information here for me, and what little there was could have been found on Wikipedia if I'd cared enough about TNA Wrestling to investigate. There weren't even any opinions thrown in. Give me something! Even some arm-chair quarterbacking would have been nice.

There were some interesting quotes from wrestlers scattered throughout the text but it wasn't enough to make this book feel necessary. I'm glad this was part of the Kindle Unlimited program and I didn't actually have to spend money on it. 2 out of 5 stars.

Current Kindle Unlimited Savings Total: $87.04.

[TPC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Between the Ropes tells the story of a Wrestling based sports radio show hosted by Brian Fritz, B. Randall Myers, Brian Dickerman and Chris Murray. They started this show as wrestling started to grow in popularity as a way to legitimize it as a sport and have the fans talk about it in the same fashion as more mainstream sports. While telling their story, they also provide the history of the various wrestling factions over the years: ECW, WCW, WWF/WWE and TNA. They include some personal interviews from former wrestlers and business men behind the events. I think the book does an amazing job telling the history and legacy of wrestling. As the book is now almost 20 years old, I would love if they could make a new edition that expands upon what they have already written to explain how the WWE has managed to keep their legacy alive with further changes and reinventing the sport. So much has continued to change. I learned a lot and was able to relive some of my childhood memories from when I watched wrestling. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and would recommend.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great overview of the recent history of WCW, ECW, WWE, and TNA. The Monday night wars, mismanagement that has occurred in all of the organizations but most importantly, the personalities involved. It was a great trip down memory lane. I'd love to see a sequel to this.

[Frank Taranto · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting stories, just not enough.

[Juxhin Deliu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and entertaining report from two respected wrestling radio podcasters upon american major's main successes and failures. The parts regarding WWE, WCW and ECW can be quite obvious if you are already adequately informed on their story (like I have been after reading such books for one year) but the one documenting TNA's tormented beginnings quite caught my attention and put some lights on their notorious management problems.