Bluegrass Brawlers: The Story of Professional Wrestling in Louisville

by John Cosper, Kenny Bolin, Jim Cornette (Foreword)

Louisville loves sports. It's the birthplace of the Muhammed Ali, the home of the Louisville Cardinals, and proud host of the Kentucky Derby. But Louisville has another obsession nearly as old as the professional wrestling. As early as 1880 fans gathered at the downtown opera house to see men and women grapple on the mat. In the early 20th Century Louisville gave Ed "Strangler" Lewis the name that made him famous. Then in the 1940s Louisville fans had a front row seat to the golden age of Lou Thesz, Mildred Burke, and The Black Panther Jim Mitchell thanks to the Allen Athletic Club. Jerry Jarrett and Jerry Lawler built Louisville into the number two town in the Memphis territory, giving Louisville fans a first look at stars like Hulk Hogan, Kane, Steve Austin, and The Rock. And when the territories died, the independents gave future stars like CM Punk. Brock Lesnar, and John Cena their first taste of the business. Bluegrass Brawlers takes you from the early days at the opera house to the Louisville Gardens to the Davis Arena. It's an action packed take that will delight fans of wrestling and the Derby City!

Genres: Nonfiction, History

322 pages, Paperback

First published June 23, 2014

About the author

John Cosper is an award-winning writer from Southern Indiana and the founder of Righteous Insanity. He has written more than 2000 sketches and produced over 100 short films. He is the author of several science fiction novels, short story collections, and even kids stories.

John's film credits include the Fluffy trilogy, the Clive the Zombie puppet films, The Hauss Show, and award-winning short films Out of My Mind, The Telemarketer, Tolerance, and Bots. He's dabbled in noir, horror, and other dark realms, but for the most part he prefers humor and space opera to dystopian societies filled with moody teenagers.

Never one to stay stuck in one genre for long, John also writes about professional wrestling. He is the author of several wrestling histories and biographies, and he writes about wrestling's past and present on his blog www.eatsleepwrestle.com.

John's official website is www.johncosper.com.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. History has always been a favorite topic of mine so when I got into wrestling I wanted to learn all the history behind it. Never knew the depths of Louisville's wrestling history but this is a great starting point. The only thing that bugged me was the lack of coherent chapters and the lack of solid dates about shows or events. There are plenty of dates included but when it would discuss things such as rematches the author sometimes didn't put those. I'm a stickler for dates and accurate timelines so this was a bit aggravating. For the most part, it went in chronological order but sometimes it would hop around from the present to the past and vice versa.

Still, I would definitely recommend this as a starting point for anyone who wants to delve into the wrestling history of Louisville, Kentucky. We have quite the history I was largely clueless about, and this was absolutely fascinating.

[Jason Presley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent history of wrestling in Louisville. I hope a lot more of this type of city history is written. Could have use another edit to weed out the remaining typos, but the content was excellent. I almost wish Cosper could step back and write a book for every decade.

[Wes Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being a Kentuckian and a pro wrestling mark this book was an awesome read. I can't wait to read more books by this author.

[Branan Whitehead · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're a fan of professional wrestling with a Kentucky connection, this is a must read.