BEYOND NITRO: Untold Stories from the WCW era

by Guy Evans

Bestselling author Guy Evans ('NITRO') returns with a monumental 680-page volume on World Championship Wrestling, bringing to light scores of revelatory insights in the process. Informed by over 100 new interviews, hundreds of internal company documents, confidential corporate materials, and never-before-seen financial records, BEYOND NITRO goes to places that no pro wrestling book has!

BEYOND NITRO is divided into three parts, as outlined

Part 1: Untold Stories – a series of engrossing personal profiles of people with a unique connection to WCW;

Part 2: Where The Big Boys Played – an examination of various aspects of the WCW story which often escape introspection, such as the byzantine nature of its corporate accounting system, the company’s historical Southern lineage, and the impact of its pioneering production team;

Part 3: A Wrestling Odyssey – a look at some of the changes which occurred in the wrestling business post-WCW, including a noticeable change to the mainstream wrestling style, the proliferation of what is sometimes called ‘the wrestling bubble’, and the phenomenon of WCW experiencing a ‘second life’ through the waves of ‘90s nostalgia.

To supplement this rather weighty structure – and to break up the presentation more generally – six ‘interlude’ chapters are included of various lengths, ranging from incredibly detailed (e.g., ‘Spiked!’) to relatively direct in scope (e.g., ‘Don’t Touch That Dial’). In all cases, these ‘interludes’ relate to a theme (or set of themes) explored in the preceding chapter. In the process, the book is able to delve into some thrilling uncharted waters, relative to the world of late ‘90s WWF - and even TNA during the 2010s.

BEYOND NITRO features exclusive interviews and comments

Eric Bischoff, fmr. WCW President;
Stuart Snyder, fmr. WWF President & COO;
Keith Mitchell, legendary fmr. WCCW, WCW, TNA and AEW producer;
Kevin Sullivan, fmr. WCW head booker and wrestler;
Jerry Jarrett, legendary wrestling promoter and booker;
Kevin Kay, fmr. President of Spike Television;
David Schwarz, fmr. Senior Vice President of Communications at Spike TV;
Scott Fishman, Executive in Charge of Production at Spike TV;
Eric Fleischer, fmr. Sr. Director of Consumer Insights, WWE;
Christine Lawrence, fmr. Senior Director of Media Insights and Analytics, WWE;
Michael Capretta, fmr. VP of Global Research and Insights, Warner Bros. Discovery;
David Sahadi, fmr. Creative Director, WWE;
Sami Callihan, fmr. Impact World Champion;
Lash LeRoux, fmr. WCW wrestler;
Scott Hudson, fmr. WCW announcer;
Neal Pruitt, fmr. WCW feature producer and 'voice of the nWo';
Dick Cheatham, fmr. group controller for TBS;
Jenni Sloan, designer of the nWo logo...

And many, many, many more!

Informed by the same attention to facts, research, analysis, drama and detail which made NITRO a bestseller, Beyond NITRO is finally here.

It's a simply sensational sequel!

682 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 28, 2025

Reviews

[Dan Limun · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an amazing achievement in the growing world of wrestling literature. As a 680-page sequel to Evans' acclaimed NITRO book, BEYOND NITRO builds on its predecessor, presenting a wide variety of previously untold stories, incisive analysis, and a commitment to objectivity that sets it apart in the genre.

[WCW Revenge · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing collection of standalone stories about WCW. The information regarding the WWF sale and WCW's finances is absolutely mind-blowing, and worth the price of admission alone. World class writing and research!

[Dan Limun · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an amazing achievement in the growing world of wrestling literature. As a 680-page sequel to Evans' acclaimed NITRO book, BEYOND NITRO builds on its predecessor, presenting a wide variety of previously untold stories, incisive analysis, and a commitment to objectivity that sets it apart in the genre.

Drawing from over 100 new interviews and with unbelievable access to WCW's financial records, the book explores the chaos of WCW’s final days, the cultural significance of the Monday Night Wars, and why the company still matters to this day.

Highly, highly recommended for its objective writing style and engrossing storytelling. A+

[Timothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even better than the first book. The amount of new information here is ASTOUNDING. I can't wait to read it all over again!

[Lucas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I believe Guy Evans quoted my Goodreads review in his expanded edition of NITRO, so my bona fides here are strong. Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy BEYOND NITRO nearly as much, and found it overly self indulgent.

Don’t get me wrong, the writing is often well done, and there are some highlights. Eric Bischoff tells a story he’s never told before about being the subject of an internal Turner investigation. There’s the story of the WCW hotline, and a Detroit wrestling hotline man Curly who turns out to be a pedophile. There’s a good Lash LeRoux bio.

I do think this book will find some ardent supporters. It isn’t meant to be for the average WCW fan, or even the average fan of the first NITRO book. It’s essentially a collection of essays or appendix pieces tangentially related to the original book, so it’s meant for the truly fanatical devotees only. You may think that you are one of them, but before opening this book, ask yourself these questions:

Do you care to know the history of Tulsa based Commercial Financial Services, a full service debt management company that was growing very fast in 1994? What about the exact dollar amount each employee was given on the company trip to Disney World? Do you want to read a Stanford Economist’s take on whether the Atlanta Braves would have been profitable or not in 1985, if they had been a standalone entity and followed different accounting procedures? What about the Financial Accounting Standards Board and their feelings on goodwill amortization? What about the exact contract language of THQ’s cut of net receipts on CD ROM Units versus cartridge units? (There’s three paragraphs on this). What about how many violent incidents were recorded in the United States Congress between 1830 and 1860?

This book will answer all those questions for you, you just have to decide if that interests you in a book ostensibly about WCW.

There’s some sections that are fairly outside WCW entirely, including a large portion of the Vince Russo chapter being a history of TNA on Spike. These non WCW explorations aren’t the strongest in my opinion, such as an essay about Cody Rhodes “finishing the story” and how it compared to Sting at Starrcade 1997, which inaccurately says Wrestlemania 39 was in Atlanta.

Overall, there’s a lot of deep research here, and academic pondering of topics. But it’s not going to scratch the same itch for most readers that the original book did, and there’s far less of a central thesis that this book is trying to convey.

[Billy Saladino · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say? It is the most comprehensive book on the death of WCW. If you're a wrestling historian, definitely give this one a read.

[Taurus Y · Rating 5 out of 5]

BEYOND NITRO: Untold Stories from the WCW Era by Guy Evans is hands-down one of the best wrestling books I’ve ever read. If you loved Evans' first book, NITRO, this sequel cranks it up to 11.

BEYOND NITRO is packed with stories that personally, I’d never heard before, and I thought I knew it all as a diehard WCW fan. The book is split into three parts, and each one feels like a book within itself, whether Evans is going into WCW’s backstage drama, Turner's crazy accounting system, or all of these other interesting sidebars that I really, really enjoyed. Those who like the business of wrestling will definitely appreciate how Evans somehow got his hands on WCW's detailed financial records! He outlines all that, and I found that section very interesting too. Now I’m just hoping for a third book!

[Matt B · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m disappointed with this book. I didn’t bother finishing it and I’m upset about that. If you’re expecting something like the first nitro book then I wouldn’t bother with this. The first third of the book there’s more about TNA than WCW. The bits with Lash LeRoux and Shaya are good but other than that the first third was a struggle to get through and being kept invested in. We then get a big section about Hogan, Eric and others time in TNA. Again nothing we don’t already know and not really related to WCW. There’s a lot from Russo too but stuff that’s been said a million times already.

Then it goes into financial stuff. How Turner and the execs came up with the profit margins the way they moved money around, boring stuff to say the least. Does touch on the figures raw was making from merch, ad revenue and gate receipts but stuff that doesn’t really matter and hasn’t been told before. This part does include some points from Eric Bischoff however these have all been taken either from the first nitro book or one of Eric’s 2 books, nothing new here.

Clearly a lot of research has gone into it as have all of Guy Evans books, but this is nothing like Penzers books or Eric’s newest one Grateful. This was the first book I’ve ever pre ordered too which is a shame. I’ve listed it on vinted if anyone wants to buy it.

[Tony Farinella · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I thoroughly enjoyed Guy Evans’ debut book, Nitro, his subsequent work, Beyond Nitro, suffers from a lack of objectivity due to the author’s growing bond with the subject matter. Nitro evoked nostalgia for the 1990s and the professional wrestling I experienced during my upbringing. It presented factual information, engaging interviews, and profound insights into WCW and the Monday Night Wars.

Since then, Evans has collaborated with Eric Bischoff and cultivated a close relationship with him and other individuals closely associated with the company. This personal connection has compromised his impartiality, resulting in a disjointed and uneven narrative. While certain chapters offer heartwarming moments, insightful analysis, or humorous anecdotes, others consist of mere rehashes of old documents, interviews, or recycled news.

It is important to note that I am by no means a Vince Russo supporter. Instead, I am a devoted Jim Cornette enthusiast. However, Evans appears to be criticizing Russo for his numerous errors in WCW and seeks to rehabilitate Bischoff by burying Vince Russo, who can bury himself just fine with his own stupidity. This personal bias has eroded Evans’ ability to maintain objectivity, leading to a lack of cohesion and a disjointed plot. I found the book to be frustrating and a significant disappointment from an author who has become overly invested in his interview subjects and self-promotion. Ultimately, Beyond Nitro became a lengthy, rambling, and tedious mess.

[Andrew · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Untold Stories from the WCW Era"

In the words of Tim Robinson, "You sure about that?"

Here is what's wrong with the book, in the eyes of this reader:

Chapter 9: CFS Mania

This chapter revolves around a story about a CFS trade show where Hulk Hogan "wrestled" the guy who ran the company for a boatload of cash. That's fine! Interesting enough for a few paragraphs or a couple of pages.

But I hope you want over 5 pages JUST explaining the background of CFS the company. That's not an exaggeration.

Here is a sample of those 5 pages:

"In 1995, the CFS organizational chart had been able to fit on a single piece of 11-by-17 inch paper, by 1997, however, it had grown to encompass a display some 30 feet long, wrapping halfway around an executive's corner office. New recruits were being added at a frenetic pace - up to 45 people a week, and one point - supporting a workforce making 2.2 million phone calls a day. Already the second largest employer in the state of Oklahoma, CFS offices in Europe where now supposedly in the works, as was a $180 million move to a new, state-of-the-art company headquarters. By 2000, it's executives promised that 9,200 more jobs would be created - en route to the ultimate goal of creating a formidable army of 30,000 CFS employees."

Nothing to do with Sting. Or Savage. Or Lodi. Or Reese. Or Kidman. Or... okay, I'll stop naming Flock members. Nothing to do with pay-per-view buy rates, ratings, backstage fights, the WWF, Ted Turner, etc. etc. etc.

It's about CFS.

Before you tell me to shut my pie hole, and how that paragraph is painting a picture, this is just one example. Over the course of 600 pages (!!!!), you will find so, so many topics, anecdotes, interview subjects, and entire chapters that are an extreme stretch to include in a book about Nitro or WCW.

Had the title of the book been different, I'd say go Hog Wild and put in as many random stories about wrestling as you want. But calling it "Untold Stories from the WCW Era" is a bit misleading. I don't think the author did that to be nefarious. I think he genuinely found these stories to be fascinating. But you could easily cut out 400 pages of this book, again, not exaggerating.

The book is well-written enough, it's exhaustively researched, it's a true passion project. The chapters of Lash LeRoux, Neil Pruitt, and a few others are interesting and fit in nicely. I'm not going 1 star to be mean, I'm going 1 star because I've never read so many pages in a book that had seemingly so little to do with the main topic.

Beyond Nitro just doesn't work as a cohesive read and is so all over the place you'll think you're watching a 1997 Roddy Piper promo.

[Taurus Y · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, just wow! BEYOND NITRO: Untold Stories from the WCW Era by Guy Evans is hands-down one of the best wrestling books I’ve ever read. If you loved Evans' first book, NITRO, this sequel cranks it up to 11.

BEYOND NITRO is packed with stories that personally, I’d never heard before, and I thought I knew it all as a diehard WCW fan. The book is split into three parts, and each one feels like a book within itself, whether Evans is going into WCW’s backstage drama, Turner's crazy accounting system, or all of these other interesting sidebars that I really, really enjoyed. Those who like the business of wrestling will definitely appreciate how Evans somehow got his hands on WCW's detailed financial records! He outlines all that, and I found that section very interesting too. Now I’m just hoping for a third book!!!

[Norman Benford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book! The first Nitro book is inarguably the most well-researched and engaging wrestling book I've ever read, and this does fall a little short of that incredibly high standard. But it's still an excellent, informative, and entertaining read for fans of the business. Think of it of an episode of "This American Life," with lots of individual stories about how WCW impacted the lives of people who had a relationship with in in some capacity. An absolute must-read for fans of the first book.

[Jason Weber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book 30 of 2025.

3.5 stars.

Maybe it’s because the first book was SO good. (Possibly one of the best wrestling books out there IMO), but this one didn’t hit like the first one.

Obviously Guy did a ton of research, and it’s filled with a bunch of WCW related topics, but not to beat a dead horse… not nearly as good as the first one!

Still worth checking out for any wrestling fan!

[Richard Luck · Rating 3 out of 5]

A useful if far from essential follow-up to Mr Evans' superb Nitro.