Inside Out: How Corporate America Destroyed Professional Wrestling

by Ole Anderson

Here, for the first time, Ole Anderson finally tells his story. The people who know him, know that Ole is never hesitant to speak his mind — and this book is no exception. Combining facts and opinion, Ole's biography is a straightforward look at the many phases of his career in the wild, if somewhat seedy, world of professional wrestling. From his days in amateur wrestling, to the time when he hooked up with Gene and Lars Anderson as the Minnesota Wrecking Crew, Ole relates 30-plus years of never-before-told stories. Ole tells of his feuds, both inside the ring and out, with people like Ric Flair, Wahoo McDaniel, Mr. Wrestling, Dusty Rhodes, and Bill Watts. However, his biggest feuds took places behind the scenes in the halls and offices of corporate giant, Superstation WTBS. The matches in the ring were nothing compared to his battles with The Suits, corporate executives like Vince McMahon, Jim Barnett, Bill Shaw, Jim Herd, and Eric Bischoff. In Ole's own words, "The wrestling matches may have been staged and scripted, but there was nothing ‘fake' about the corporate and legal battles." As a former wrestler, booker, promoter, owner, and executive producer, Ole goes deeper in the inner workings of professional wrestling than anyone ever has. He tells the stories about financial, legal, and drug problems that plagued the wrestling business. It doesn't matter whether you hate wrestling or love it. This is a powerful story about a man who stood up to the establishment. His insight, humor, and colorful use of the English language makes this a "no-holds barred" book that you won't be able to put down.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sports, Autobiography

384 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2003

Reviews

[Mark James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book! This book covers Ole's career in the ring and behind the scenes. Had an amazing career and the book is well worth buying!

[John Spiller · Rating 2 out of 5]

To use a phrase that Ole Anderson repeated again and again: this book was the shits. He is a miserable person who hated virtually everyone with whom he worked. He has respect for a few people, but for the most part, everyone (except him, of course) was incompetent, stupid, lazy, or all of the above. But that's not what ruined this book for me.

Ole Anderson was involved in professional wrestling both as a wrestler and booker for over 30 years. He has a fairly compelling argument: corporate ownership of professional wrestling companies destroyed wrestling. This topic is largely ignored until the last 100 pages of the book. Instead, he focuses his attention on the minutiae of box office receipts for wrestling shows in Georgia Championship Wrestling in the 1970's. To be sure, there were something interesting tidbits: the different methods people used to skim the take from shows, the economics of running a wrestling company, the logistics of booking shows, etc. These insights are largely lost in Ole's airing of grievances against his bosses or fellow wrestlers.

[John Hardin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best inside accounts of the pro wrestling business. Anderson (real name Al Rogowski) tells about how a business he put his heart, soul, and blood into was destroyed by people who had no idea how to run a pro wrestling outfit. If only they had listened to him.

[David Salchow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ole did a great job explaining the psychology of booking and working. He's clearly a master of old school wrestling. It was also clear he's a bitter old man who either couldn't or refused to change with the times.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of good info but a tough read b/c Ole is a fairly miserable person who seems to hate everything and everybody. A big contrast from Chris Jericho's book.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good read. Those who followed wrestling in 70's. will enjoy some of the stories. Just one word of caution, Ole loves Ole, and other than Gene Anderson and Verne Gagne, no one else.

[Scott Fulton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit of a slog to get through just purely because of the negativity. Ole is a salty salty old bastard and takes every opportunity to take potshots at people he doesn’t like throughout.

Has a good word to say about barely more than 5 or 6 people in the entire business and seems to be genuinely mean.

That being said, a ton of good info and insight into the business and psychology, and the inner workings of Georgia, the Carolinas, TBS, WCW etc.

Doesn’t talk at all about the horsemen or much about that in ring run. Covers the run with Gene and that’s basically it in terms of his in ring career.

Worth reading if you’re particularly 70s/80s Southern wresting savvy but probably not as a casual.

[steve grossman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book particularly about old school wrestling. The history of the sport and Ole’s time in the 60s and 70s was very interesting. His knowledge is without question.

Where it goes a little off the rails is his very personal views of how he got screwed by certain people. While I understand his feelings which are probably righteous, over the last 50 or so pages, I just wanted the book to end.

No question Ole could be an SOB. To his credit, he absolutely acknowledges that. While I don’t agree with some of his methods, it’s not my place to say. Overall, interesting book and interesting man. Different perspective on what we see today. RIP.

[John Schorg · Rating 3 out of 5]

News of Ole Anderson's death led to a desire to revisit his treatise on the demise of professional wrestling. This is truly a jaw-dropping read. While his comments on the corporatization of wrestling have proven to be prescient, it must be balanced against pages upon pages detailing Ole Anderson's genius. He makes it clear he thinks he is smarter than practically everyone else, and he is quite eager to detail just how stupid everyone else is in the business. It must be said that this eternal grumpiness can be fairly entertaining to read, but Ole's love of Ole can get a bit thick, as they say.

[Jerzy Baranowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read

Ole Anderson is the biggest fan of Ole Anderson. He will give some self criticism but that’s only for modesty reasons. The book however is very enjoyable. What should be a warning it is mostly about Ole’s career as a booker, so there is not much about his famous turn on Dusty and almost nothing about four horsemen.
Ole’s views on wrestling are really old school but there is a lot of insight and it read really well.

[Brian Olinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting read about the mechanics of territorial wrestling.

This book is less about Ole’s in ring career (although you get that) and more a book on the philosophy of promoting and running a pro wrestling company in the territorial wrestling days.

Also, Ole holds nothing back and gives his unfiltered views of many of his contemporaries. He is the classic crotchety old man. I sense this is a very polarizing book, but it is a must read for serious wrestling fans.

[Jason Presley · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the more detailed accounts of how the business really worked. While a bit repetitive and contradictory at times, Old gets his points across. Despite his somewhat justified reputation as a bitter old man, he gives credit where due while pulling no punches. Definitely a must read for anyone interested in the Georgia and\or Mid-Atlantic territories in the 1970s and 1980s.

[Jay E. Holstein · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring

. He keeps saying the same things over and over. The corporate guys who ran wrestling were jerks and didn’t know what they were doing. Over and over.

[Drew Martin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ole Anderson, the cantankerous, grumpy old man of professional wrestling. A main event singles and tag team star, he booked, promoted, and did about everything in the world of professional wrestling. Older fans remember him as a member of the famed “Minnesota Wrecking Crew” with his “brother,” Gene Anderson. Fans in my age bracket know him for another version of that team with another “family member,” Arn Anderson. He was also an original charter member of a little group known as “The Four Horsemen.” We can add author to this long list of accomplishments. Along with Scott Teal, Anderson wrote Inside Out: How Corporate America Destroyed Professional Wrestling...

To read the rest of this review go to /https://drewmartinwrites.wordpress.co...

[Dkolacinski · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have loved professional wrestling since a child, and the facts and opinions of Ole Anderson help put current day sports entertainment in perspective. The problem is that Ole protests too much, wanting to both ways. The "good old days" weren't so good for wrestlers who worked excessively to make a decent wage, and while Ole wants those days back, he certainly wanted his share of the pie and was cut throat in not sharing it with others.