At just £7.99 (RRP) this is one of the cheapest and, in my humble opinion, best WWE releases in recent years. If you’re into nostalgia with a distinctly American feel then this book is perfect for you.

It takes a look at over forty McMahon employees who all appeared for the company long before the panda created WWE and many who were around before Vince began thinking of words like ‘sports entertainment.’ We’re talking people like Bruno ‘to hell with the Hall of Fame’ Sammartino, Ernie Ladd and The Blackjacks.

Each star is given on average about six pages which is pretty good for books of this nature. Those pages give you all the basic knowledge you need to know about each wrestler.

It’s split into handy sections beginning with ‘The Capitol Years’ which tells you about the career of Vincent J McMahon and then goes on to reveal the stories of Toots Mont, Antonio Rocca and Buddy Rogers.

I’ve always loved the managers in WWE and although there’s no Bobby Heenan mentioned here which is a surprise, there’s potted histories of Arnold Skaaland, Capt. Lou Albano, The Grand Wizard and the legendary ‘Classy’ Freddie Blassie who was entertaining fans in the WWE almost up until his dying day.

Crowd favourites come next with Gorilla Monsoon, which is handy reading for those who just remember his out the ring activities, Chief Jay Strongbow, Andre the Giant, Mr Personality himself Bob Backlund, Jimmy Snuka and Sgt. Slaughter. After the heroes of course have to come the villains so bring on Ernie Ladd, The Fabulous Moolah (now a total face of course) and Superstar Billy Graham.

There are also looks at the overseas wrestlers who made their name in the company, a chapter dedicated to tag teams and finally ‘the weird and wacky’ including George ‘The Animal’ Steele.

This really is an excellent reference book and as I’ve mentioned pretty cheap. It’s highly recommended.

Points: 8 / 10

Stephen Ashfield

Buy It:

UK: £6.39

USA: $11.20