Swimming with Piranhas (eBook)

Surviving the Politics of Professional Wrestling

Howard Brody (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2010 | 1. Auflage
412 Seiten
ECW Press (Verlag)
978-1-55490-867-7 (ISBN)

Infos

Exposing wrestling’s inner workings and back-office deal making, this memoir is a hard-hitting firsthand look at the sport from Howard Brody, one of its most controversial promoters. Beginning with how he became involved with professional wrestling and produced his first television program, it then focuses on his time as president of the National Wrestling Alliance and reveals the truth behind the rumors surrounding his departure from the organization. Brody’s relationships with many of wrestling’s most powerful and creative figures—Vince and Linda McMahon, Eric Bischoff, Paul Heyman, Tod Gordon, Antonio Inoki, Hiro Matsuda, the Funks, Dusty Rhodes, Jim Cornette, and Hulk Hogan—are discussed in detail, revealing many little-known details about the behind-the-scenes negotiations involved in booking and promoting shows. From dealing with building and talent managers to working with radio and television stations, Brody explains the nuances of booking promotions, discusses the nature of negotiating and selling wrestling to television networks and sponsors, and divulges fascinating details about many aspects of working in the wrestling business.

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As the former president of the National Wrestling Alliance, Howard Brody gives a first-hand account of how he was able to survive the world of professional wrestling politics, despite getting a few bloody noses along the way. Brody delves into the historical aspects of his time at the NWA, describing encounters - both good and bad - with some of professional wrestling's most powerful and creative minds. Brody also describes how he got hooked on the business and reveals the inner workings of the industry. An honest and deep look at the politics behind this infamous sport.

Textauszug

WHERE HAVE YOU WRESTLED? Sometime in late 1982 - I don't remember the exact month or date - I met the 'Dean' of pro wrestling announcers, Gordon Solie, for the first time. It wasn't exactly a stellar meeting. At the time I was attending the University of Florida in Gainesville, and to me, like many fans of the old Championship Wrestling fromFlorida territory, Solie was wrestling. I drove to the old Tampa Sportatorium at 106 North Albany Avenue seeking a public relations job with the Florida office. I do remember that it was on a Wednesday morning because that's when they filmed for tv. After being escortedinside and invited to watch from behind the scenes, I waited for nearly three hours after filming was done before Gordon was able to see me. The meeting lasted onlya few minutes, and after reviewing my then skeletal rsum, Gordon's advice was to stay in school then look him up when I graduated. Not exactly what I wanted to hear. But I took his suggestion and reluctantlydrove back to Gainesville. It was an interesting day, to say the least. Perhaps the most interesting part,however, was when I first arrived at the office. At 10 a.m. I was met in the lobby by none other than former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Dory Funk Jr. He was the booker back then. 'Can I help you?' he asked. 'I'm here for a job,' I said as I handed him my rsum. He scanned the eight-and-a-half by eleven sheet of paper and then darted his eyes back toward me. 'Where have you wrestled?' he asked, perplexed at not seeing any wrestling credentials anywhere on the paper. Didn't he know? Why back in the summer of '77 I had made my pro debut at the tender age of 17 . . . well, sort of. Hold everything! Didn't you say in the introduction, 'I never wrestled a match in my life?' That's true. But in pro wrestling people lie all the time. People pretend to besomething or someone they are not. For decades those in the industry lived and died by the code of kayfabe, something that has since been broken into a million pieces. Simply put, kayfabe is the act of acting. When a wrestler broke kayfabe, he was no longer pretending to be the character that he was in the wrestling world and was just being himself. Back in the day, the unwritten rule was that in order to prevent the business from being exposed for what it was, people in the industry never brokekayfabe when they were around people who weren't in it. So was I a wrestler or wasn't I? For as far back as I can remember, pro wrestling was a part of my life. Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, I remember watching guys like Karl Gotch, Rene Goulet, Gorilla Monsoon, Haystacks Calhoun and Crusher Verdu on our oldblack-and-white Zenith television. You had to get the rabbit ears just right to get channel 47 out of Newark, New Jersey. Many times my older brother Brian and Iwatched the show through a screen full of snow. It used to drive my dad out of his mind, and he used to ask, 'How can you watch this phony crap?' Needless to say, he was not a fan. In public school some of the kids who knew I was a wrestling fanatic called me 'Chief ' after my then favorite wrestler, Chief Jay Strongbow. I don't know if they really called me Chief because he was my favorite wrestler or because I had a nose as big as his. It didn't matter because I learned early on something that was important growing up in Brooklyn: if you had a reputation for being a tough kid and the perception was you could kick some serious ass, the real bad kids left you alone.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 20.12.2010
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Sport ► Kampfsport / Selbstverteidigung
• ISBN-10: 1-55490-867-1 / 1554908671
• ISBN-13: 978-1-55490-867-7 / 9781554908677