Shocking Wrestling Plans You Won't Believe Almost Happened

by James Dixon (Editor), Jim Cornette

Featuring a foreword by wrestling legend Jim Cornette, and exclusive stories from former WWE writers, including Vince Russo. What if Undertaker had hatched out of a giant egg? What if Daniel Bryan hadn't got his WrestleMania XXX push? What if 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin had been named Chilly McFreeze? All of this nearly happened. What about those plans that never got off the drawing board? How different could the landscape of modern professional wrestling be had some of these shocking plans actually made it onto our screens? WhatCulture.com takes a journey behind the scenes to explore a host of what ifs, what might have beens, and what almost was. We look at proposed matches that never were, characters that could have been very different, booking plans that were changed at the last minute, promotional jumps that nearly happened, and backstage shenanigans that would have changed the business. We take you on a journey into a world of Shocking Wrestling Plans You Won't Believe Almost Happened!

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction

132 pages, Paperback

Published March 18, 2016

About the author

James Dixon is Chief Editor and writer at historyofwrestling.co.uk, and is a frequent contributor to WhatCulture Wrestling content.

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reprints of various online columns and vlogs about wrestling. Probably better to see and hear these on youtube.

[David Lawrence-Watt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Copied and pasted stories straight out of the dirtsheets

Would have been much less frustrating of a read had someone ran a spell check before publishing. Otherwise, it's a fairly disjointed affair. Makes no effort to introduce wrestling terms, baby face/heel/kayfabe/shoot etc, so only suitable for those familiar with such terms...in which case, most of the stories are ripped off from dirtsheets and are known to most hardcore fans...Vince Russo is a mess, McMahon is obsessed with incest storylines, HBK was a prick backstage...nothing new. Honestly though, worth it for the Cornette foreword... very entertaining.

[Boomer · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're an old school wrestling fan who was around when the Monday Night Wars were happening (as a lot of the stories here are from around that period) this is an entertaining read. Unfortunately if you've read a lot of wrestling books like I have there wasn't really anything I hadn't heard before. It's a rapid fire list of wrestling bad ideas, most given less then a page of explanation. Still it did its job of keeping me amused for an hour or so. I would say if you're a wrestling fan and have Kindle Unlimited check it out. I had fun, but its not worth $4.99 if you don't have KU

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know everyone complains that these stories are well-known and have been told dozens of times on blogs, but I quit watching wrestling in the mid 90s so they were new to me. I was way more annoyed by the countless spelling/grammar/usage mistakes. Hire a copy editor for crying out loud. But I'm giving it a whole extra star for Jim Cornette's forward and all the shade thrown at professional golddigger Triple H (god, I hate Triple H).

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable read, being a lifelong fan of wrestling and a frequent visitor to various forums and message boards I have heard of most of these anecdotes before, some that I hadn't.

It is very disturbing to see what could have been, glad that most of these have never seen the light of day though there are a few interesting 'what if's'.

[Brent L. Aasved · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you aren't a mark......

Then this book is NOT for you. The stories are good, but if you are a ''smart" fan, you've already read about all of the stories in this book. A good, quick read for the casual fan.

[Mark Ashill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant for any wrestling fan

Great book , brilliant and funny stories worth a read for what it costs its worth the money most definitely

[Mat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read. It was cool to think about all the "what ifs" and "could have beens."

[Tommas Ethridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good book very interesting especially thinking about what it would be if they did some of these angles i liked several of them that should have been done

[Jack Archer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is fascinating. Anyone who knows even a bit of wrestling history will recognize the names Jim Cornette and Vince Russo and will also know of their very brutal hatred for each other, so it comes as a surprise that, among many other people in the booking business, they both agreed to lend their thoughts for this project.

This book, along with its 'clickbait' style title, is a fascinating dive into a world of "What ifs" and "near misses" that would've shaped the world of wrestling differently. A massive compendium of trivia about what goes on behind the courtains of the industry of Sports Entertainment. Moments like the hysterical "McFreeze 3:16" to the almost pivotal WWF Title run of the 9th Wonder of the World: Chyna.

However, this book is plagued by spelling mistakes and a column format so atrocious that it pulls you back out from the fun. This kind of writing may be acceptable for an Internet article, but on print, it's extremely obvious this didn't go through proofreading and editing.

Don't get me wrong, despite all of it's flaws, this is an incredible read for any wrestling fan and a solid first attempt by WhatCulture at print media. Here's to hoping the next is a bit more readable.

[Pryder · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice wee book, even if the title isn't quite as accurate as it could be.

It's an interesting wee throwaway read, but if you're a full blown wrestling fan and/or frequent WhatCulture Wrestling's website or youtube channel you'll have seen/read/heard a lot of this before.

Still not a bad wee read for 4 quid (the digital edition that is). The spelling mistakes are forgivable too.

[Ben Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating breezy book marred by a number of spelling errors and a strange layout that doesnt always work. The content is generally sound though and a great read for fans of the sweaty man wriggling sport.

[Matt Beal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to learn what could've happened. Loved the feature by an ex member of creative. Shame there were so many spelling and grammar mistakes.

[Dkolacinski · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick fun read with a confusing structure.