When It Was Big Time

by Rock Rims

It is the world's oldest sport and one of America's oldest forms of entertainment. Take an epic journey to a time and place when pro wrestling was "real" and battles between good and evil took place within a 20-square-foot ring!
WHEN IT WAS BIG TIME chronicles one hundred years of professional wrestling history in Northern California, going back to the pioneers of the sport in America and tracing it's evolution as well as the demise of the kayfabe era of professional wrestling.
Produced in a deluxe 8x10 format and including over 200 photographs and images - some never before published - You'll re-live the titanic battles between the heroes and villains that graced the wrestling rings of Northern California, entertaining millions over a one hundred-year period and making an indelible impression on the wrestling fans who watched them!
Ad Santel, Joe Malcewicz, Ben and Mike Sharpe, Leo Nomellini, Lou Thesz, Roy Shire, Ray Stevens, Pepper Gomez, Pat Patterson, Moondog Mayne, Roddy Piper, Buddy Rose and many more legends of pro wrestling are profiled as are the most compelling storylines and in-ring rivalries they participated in. Images of arena programs and actions shots of the wrestlers are including among the 225 photographs contained in this monumental book as is a 12-page photo gallery.
Written by pro wrestling researcher and California-native Rock Rims, this 350-page book contains meticulous research and interviews with fans and wrestlers, photographers and ring announcers who worked for wrestling promoter Roy Shire. It will take you in the ring and behind the scenes of one of the most successful pro wrestling regions in the history of the sport, to a time when pro wrestling truly was BIG TIME!!!

350 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Jason Presley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rock Rims produced a master class in how to write a book on a wrestling territory with "When It Was Big Time". Spanning from the early 1900s, all the way until then last days of the AWA in the late 1980s, this book details nearly everything of significance that happened in Northern California. There is so much information presented, and the sheer amount of text per page leaves the reader feeling like they just consumed a book of 500 pages or more. As testament to how successfully Mr. Rims accomplished his task, the book has now gone through four or five printings, all of them sold out.

If you want to know about the professional wrestling business in and around the San Francisco area, pick up a copy of this book!