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Big Apple Takedown
December 2001: Vince McMahon steps out of a snowy night into a diner in upstate New York for a meeting with old friend Phil Thomson, now a highly placed government official. Thomson has a strange proposition: creating a new covert black-ops group using the Superstars of World Wrestling Entertainment. The WWE's talented men and women are perfect. Highly skilled athletes with the ideal cover, they travel all across the country and the globe; no one would find it unusual to find them in a town one day and gone the next. The government would train and support the wrestlers in every way possible except one: no one must know the truth. March 2006: The Superstars have been handed their latest assignment -- take down a commercial-grade methyl-amphetamine plant that is bankrolling terrorist activities in Europe. Their mission seems simple and straightforward, until a member of their team is taken prisoner. Now all that they've worked so hard for is in jeopardy, and one of their own might be killed...
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 27, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 18, 2016
Best book I've ever read
I like how the wrestle-men team up to stop a Bad Crime, and I also like the way that Torrie helps to catch the criminal men by being sexy.
Hey crime-doers! Next time you're thinking of doing a crime, you better think twice because the wrestle-men are watching and they will come down and give you a suplex and a "stone cold stunner" and then your crime days are over
I like how the wrestle-men team up to stop a Bad Crime, and I also like the way that Torrie helps to catch the criminal men by being sexy.
Hey crime-doers! Next time you're thinking of doing a crime, you better think twice because the wrestle-men are watching and they will come down and give you a suplex and a "stone cold stunner" and then your crime days are over
July 3, 2022
Wrestlers as a special forces unit is such an absurd and unbelievable idea that it has a lot of potential and could be an amazing, fun and wild ride if they went all out on the sillyness of the concept... but this ain't it unfortunately.
The premise is quite basic: Mr.McMahon (the chairman of the WWE) is joined by an old friend by pure "coincidence" at a diner. Just happens that this old friend (Phil Thompson) is now the Director of the NSA. So he makes a wild proposition to Vince (Nick Fury in the Avengers movie style): create a black ops unit using the WWE wrestlers as agents.
From here the main mission is to take down a commercial grade meth plant, so they'll need many wrestlers to get the job done. A lot of superstars are trained and participate in this mission: Batista, Triple H, John Cena are some of the most recognizable stars that engage in this adventure.
The plot "thickens" for a minute (as implied in the back of the book) when one member is taken prisoner, plus some things are not what they seem, since some allies start to show strange behavior and look like they are keeping information from the rest of the team, so this might be more complicated than what it seems...
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
... except it isn't.
The mission is as straight forward as it seems and everything gets done so quickly, the "prisoner" part that is heavily implied in the synopsis at the back of the book lasts like 1 page because a certain "bionic redneck" shows up immediately to save the day from the bad guys. And all hell breaks loose at the end for our favorite superstars (and Chavo Guerrero) to save the day.
Even though no one would expect a good book coming from such a ridiculous idea like the plot of this novel, the author could've at least researched the superstar's personality and story a bit more, since the author is clearly not a wrestling fan, and it shows. I mean, the book does have references to other wrestlers and storylines, but they are written like just a little nod at the reader and could've been easily replaced by any other dialogue 90% of the time. These references include the rivalry between Triple H and Cena at the time, and when Batista and Hunter were allies in Evolution. But my favorite reference is when Torrie excuses herself for not having spent the night with a bad guy with the excuse that "she doesn't like her puppy to be left alone", making reference to Chloe, her puddle that used to accompany her to the ring during her entrance. (RIP Chloe, I still remember you and your superstar page at wwe.com)
It doesn't help either the fact that this is a book with literal WRESTLERS working as special forces, yet the first action scene involving violence takes part past page 200... in a 277 page book, this is certainly a bad choice and wasted potential, additionally, not ONE wrestler hits a finisher move in the book, dissapointing.
Nonetheless, the book does have some positive aspects, and this involves the characters being the superstars that we know and love: Vince McMahon and Torrie Wilson are the best written and most developed characters in the novel. Especially Vince, acting and speaking as you would imagine Mr.McMahon would do in a situation like this, being a dominant, unintimidated, egotistical boss who wants to always have and stay in power. There's even a line that uses his now famous backstage catchphrase of "such good shit".
Torrie Wilson on her part takes the role of a femme fatale, and it suits her, considering she's a WWE diva characterized by her good looks and beauty, being only natural that she'd use these aspects at her advantage and persuade the bad guys to speak and/or give her access to otherwise forbidden locations.
However, she's the character that has the most fights in the novel, but her in-ring skills are not exactly what she's known for (which even she has admitted before) so that doesn't feel right at all. I mean, I bet she can fight and take care of herself, but from that to be the character that has the most fights when Triple H, Batista and John Cena are in the same story, it's a bit much.
The characters that are most affected by the bad writing and poor choice of personality are Batista and Chavo Guerrero, Batista being claustrophobic and afraid of tight spaces as a consequence of this, which was obviously the author's idea having seen his size.
For me Chavo is a strange choice to include in this book to say the least, even stranger is the fact he's the hacker of the team when that has nothing to do with his personality, in-ring style nor gimmick, so it just feels out of place when others call him to deal with computers and tech stuff. A better choice, even though not much more suitable to be a hacker would've been Rey Mysterio, considering that Chavo works a lot with Batista, and at least Rey and Dave have more of a friendship (having even been tag team champions at one point) and team dynamic than just Chavo and Dave. It almost feels like this role was written for Eddie, since he "lies, cheats and steals" and maybe that would've made him more of a hacker character, since hackers "steal" information.
This book is a strange adventure that had a lot of potential, but fails in execution due to a writter that didn't do his research thoroughly on the wrestlers he'd use as characters, plus, he's not good at writing thriller novels either since everything happens with little to no detail so things are over before they get the chance to pick up some momentum.
But don't get me wrong, I still gave the book 3 whole stars, but that's just on a personal note, being very VERY kind, it's a 2 star book AT BEST objectively and I wouldn't recommend it if you are not a WWE fan.
But if you are a WWE fan, go ahead, read it, you will enjoy it if you don't take it too seriously, the book is just light reading to kill some time and have a bit of fun with the silly jokes, references and jabroni bad guys that are solely there to make our favorite wrestlers look good, just like WWE movies!
The premise is quite basic: Mr.McMahon (the chairman of the WWE) is joined by an old friend by pure "coincidence" at a diner. Just happens that this old friend (Phil Thompson) is now the Director of the NSA. So he makes a wild proposition to Vince (Nick Fury in the Avengers movie style): create a black ops unit using the WWE wrestlers as agents.
From here the main mission is to take down a commercial grade meth plant, so they'll need many wrestlers to get the job done. A lot of superstars are trained and participate in this mission: Batista, Triple H, John Cena are some of the most recognizable stars that engage in this adventure.
The plot "thickens" for a minute (as implied in the back of the book) when one member is taken prisoner, plus some things are not what they seem, since some allies start to show strange behavior and look like they are keeping information from the rest of the team, so this might be more complicated than what it seems...
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
... except it isn't.
The mission is as straight forward as it seems and everything gets done so quickly, the "prisoner" part that is heavily implied in the synopsis at the back of the book lasts like 1 page because a certain "bionic redneck" shows up immediately to save the day from the bad guys. And all hell breaks loose at the end for our favorite superstars (and Chavo Guerrero) to save the day.
Even though no one would expect a good book coming from such a ridiculous idea like the plot of this novel, the author could've at least researched the superstar's personality and story a bit more, since the author is clearly not a wrestling fan, and it shows. I mean, the book does have references to other wrestlers and storylines, but they are written like just a little nod at the reader and could've been easily replaced by any other dialogue 90% of the time. These references include the rivalry between Triple H and Cena at the time, and when Batista and Hunter were allies in Evolution. But my favorite reference is when Torrie excuses herself for not having spent the night with a bad guy with the excuse that "she doesn't like her puppy to be left alone", making reference to Chloe, her puddle that used to accompany her to the ring during her entrance. (RIP Chloe, I still remember you and your superstar page at wwe.com)
It doesn't help either the fact that this is a book with literal WRESTLERS working as special forces, yet the first action scene involving violence takes part past page 200... in a 277 page book, this is certainly a bad choice and wasted potential, additionally, not ONE wrestler hits a finisher move in the book, dissapointing.
Nonetheless, the book does have some positive aspects, and this involves the characters being the superstars that we know and love: Vince McMahon and Torrie Wilson are the best written and most developed characters in the novel. Especially Vince, acting and speaking as you would imagine Mr.McMahon would do in a situation like this, being a dominant, unintimidated, egotistical boss who wants to always have and stay in power. There's even a line that uses his now famous backstage catchphrase of "such good shit".
Torrie Wilson on her part takes the role of a femme fatale, and it suits her, considering she's a WWE diva characterized by her good looks and beauty, being only natural that she'd use these aspects at her advantage and persuade the bad guys to speak and/or give her access to otherwise forbidden locations.
However, she's the character that has the most fights in the novel, but her in-ring skills are not exactly what she's known for (which even she has admitted before) so that doesn't feel right at all. I mean, I bet she can fight and take care of herself, but from that to be the character that has the most fights when Triple H, Batista and John Cena are in the same story, it's a bit much.
The characters that are most affected by the bad writing and poor choice of personality are Batista and Chavo Guerrero, Batista being claustrophobic and afraid of tight spaces as a consequence of this, which was obviously the author's idea having seen his size.
For me Chavo is a strange choice to include in this book to say the least, even stranger is the fact he's the hacker of the team when that has nothing to do with his personality, in-ring style nor gimmick, so it just feels out of place when others call him to deal with computers and tech stuff. A better choice, even though not much more suitable to be a hacker would've been Rey Mysterio, considering that Chavo works a lot with Batista, and at least Rey and Dave have more of a friendship (having even been tag team champions at one point) and team dynamic than just Chavo and Dave. It almost feels like this role was written for Eddie, since he "lies, cheats and steals" and maybe that would've made him more of a hacker character, since hackers "steal" information.
This book is a strange adventure that had a lot of potential, but fails in execution due to a writter that didn't do his research thoroughly on the wrestlers he'd use as characters, plus, he's not good at writing thriller novels either since everything happens with little to no detail so things are over before they get the chance to pick up some momentum.
But don't get me wrong, I still gave the book 3 whole stars, but that's just on a personal note, being very VERY kind, it's a 2 star book AT BEST objectively and I wouldn't recommend it if you are not a WWE fan.
But if you are a WWE fan, go ahead, read it, you will enjoy it if you don't take it too seriously, the book is just light reading to kill some time and have a bit of fun with the silly jokes, references and jabroni bad guys that are solely there to make our favorite wrestlers look good, just like WWE movies!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 27, 2016
This was such a cool idea...I wish the made more of these :(
January 4, 2014
Dumb but fun. Exactly what I wanted from this book.
May 17, 2023
This is certainly one of the books of all-time. It's real horny for Torrie Wilson and the only character growth is 'Batista learns to crawl through holes good' but hey, the final chapter is absolutely insane and I think they steal a train? I'm not really sure.
February 27, 2026
bad but like, funny bad. i’ll give them that
reads like fanfiction ~derogatory~ (i can’t believe this is officially published?? in 2006??) and i wouldn’t be surprised if this is the result of v*nce and triple bald putting their egos together, jesus christ
reads like fanfiction ~derogatory~ (i can’t believe this is officially published?? in 2006??) and i wouldn’t be surprised if this is the result of v*nce and triple bald putting their egos together, jesus christ
September 11, 2023
What the fuck 😭
January 20, 2025
A book full of basic plots and cheesy dialogue. It's a one star as it's not a good book. But the WWE fan in me thought it was a fun silly little read.
June 18, 2007
Some light reading. Just something for fun. Helps to know who the WWE wrestlers/characters are.
July 29, 2011
This is a great one for any WWE fan
January 9, 2012
So bad it becomes awesome and hilarious to read!
April 22, 2017
Picked this up at a discount book place a while ago and finally got to read it. It's dross.
I spent most of the book wondering if there would have been any difference in the story if they were a ragtag group of fresh recruits from spy school instead of wrestlers I mean apart from the risk of being recognised by the general public and having to complete missions within three days, which I would have thought would have been reasons not to get them to work as spies. Really if this book were not released by WWE not much of the story would be different.
By the second last chapter though when John Cena, who is about to drop on to a goon whispers to himself "You can't see me" I had to facepalm.
Worse still when Austin is driving a car with Torrie, Batista and Eddie.... "Can I get a Hell Yeah?" he asks his passengers.. who reply by shouting "Hell Yeah!" because I'm sure they totally would in real life.
What's rather odd is that Booker T's picture is on the back of the book and he doesn't appear in the book at all... very strange.
Yeah, nah.
I spent most of the book wondering if there would have been any difference in the story if they were a ragtag group of fresh recruits from spy school instead of wrestlers I mean apart from the risk of being recognised by the general public and having to complete missions within three days, which I would have thought would have been reasons not to get them to work as spies. Really if this book were not released by WWE not much of the story would be different.
By the second last chapter though when John Cena, who is about to drop on to a goon whispers to himself "You can't see me" I had to facepalm.
Worse still when Austin is driving a car with Torrie, Batista and Eddie.... "Can I get a Hell Yeah?" he asks his passengers.. who reply by shouting "Hell Yeah!" because I'm sure they totally would in real life.
What's rather odd is that Booker T's picture is on the back of the book and he doesn't appear in the book at all... very strange.
Yeah, nah.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews