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8797999's review
4.0
It has been a while since I last read a biography or autobiography, especially a wrestling one. If ever there is a life story in Wrestling to salivate over, aside from Vince McMahon, it has to be Good Ol' JR's!
A very easy going read and absolutely fantastic, covering his life and career up to 1999, the best thing with the book was JR not shying away from the negatives in both his life and career. The misfortunes that made the man.
The beauty of the book for me is that towards the end it is a trip down memory lane for myself, remmebering the matches, characters and events that left a lasting impression on me and my childhood.
If you want to read a wrestling related biography, I highly recommend this from a man who has been there and done it all. I hope there is going to be a sequel to cover the years between 1999 and today.
A very easy going read and absolutely fantastic, covering his life and career up to 1999, the best thing with the book was JR not shying away from the negatives in both his life and career. The misfortunes that made the man.
The beauty of the book for me is that towards the end it is a trip down memory lane for myself, remmebering the matches, characters and events that left a lasting impression on me and my childhood.
If you want to read a wrestling related biography, I highly recommend this from a man who has been there and done it all. I hope there is going to be a sequel to cover the years between 1999 and today.
metcren's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
3.0
tittypete's review
5.0
Loved it. JR is full of good stories. His voice is frank and self-deprecating and he spins some great yarns about mescaline, weed, booze, farting and also wrestling.
dantastic's review
3.0
Slobberknocker is the biography of wrestling announcer Jim Ross.
My first exposure to Jim Ross was during that shot time when a St. Louis station carried Bill Watts' UWF syndicated show. After that, I listen to him call matches in WCW and finally, the WWF/WWE. When I saw he was working on a book, I knew I had to read it.
The book starts and ends at Wrestlemania in 1999. The middle chronicles Jim Ross's life, from his days as a kid watching wrestling to breaking into the business to eventually becoming head of talent relations in the WWE.
The material within is great. There's self-deprecating humor and JR doesn't sugar coat much of anything. He freely admits his devotion to the wrestling business destroyed two of his marriages. He also goes into his bouts of Bell's Palsy with candid detail.
On the wrestling side of things, JR goes into the nuts and bolts of working for Bill Watts in the UWF/Mid-South, riding with the older wrestlers to learn the business. He goes into the chaos backstage at WCW and tells some very interesting stories about his friendship with Vince McMahon, something that's not normally touched upon in books like this. The road stories are pretty hilarious, as they usually are in wrestling books.
And here come the gripes! For one thing, some of the dates were way off. Did no one fact check this? Everyone knows the Montreal Screwjob happened in 1997, not 1998. And why the hell were some really interesting time periods glossed over? We got two pages of Bill Watts working for the WWF prior to Wrestlemania 11, and just a page or two more of Watts running WCW. Jim Ross was in the wrestling business for over forty years. Why wasn't this book about twice as large? And why did it stop at 1999? That's 18 years that weren't covered!
Gripes aside, this was a gripping book. It was too short, though. I expected the world from it and it's definitely a second tier wrestling book. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
My first exposure to Jim Ross was during that shot time when a St. Louis station carried Bill Watts' UWF syndicated show. After that, I listen to him call matches in WCW and finally, the WWF/WWE. When I saw he was working on a book, I knew I had to read it.
The book starts and ends at Wrestlemania in 1999. The middle chronicles Jim Ross's life, from his days as a kid watching wrestling to breaking into the business to eventually becoming head of talent relations in the WWE.
The material within is great. There's self-deprecating humor and JR doesn't sugar coat much of anything. He freely admits his devotion to the wrestling business destroyed two of his marriages. He also goes into his bouts of Bell's Palsy with candid detail.
On the wrestling side of things, JR goes into the nuts and bolts of working for Bill Watts in the UWF/Mid-South, riding with the older wrestlers to learn the business. He goes into the chaos backstage at WCW and tells some very interesting stories about his friendship with Vince McMahon, something that's not normally touched upon in books like this. The road stories are pretty hilarious, as they usually are in wrestling books.
And here come the gripes! For one thing, some of the dates were way off. Did no one fact check this? Everyone knows the Montreal Screwjob happened in 1997, not 1998. And why the hell were some really interesting time periods glossed over? We got two pages of Bill Watts working for the WWF prior to Wrestlemania 11, and just a page or two more of Watts running WCW. Jim Ross was in the wrestling business for over forty years. Why wasn't this book about twice as large? And why did it stop at 1999? That's 18 years that weren't covered!
Gripes aside, this was a gripping book. It was too short, though. I expected the world from it and it's definitely a second tier wrestling book. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
glendareads39's review
5.0
Jim Ross is the greatest wrestling announcer along Lance Russell and Gordon Solie. This book is emotional and inspiring. Ross give readers insights on how he got into the wrestling business, growing up in Oklahoma, how his toughness, strength and candor helped him during his career. The most inspiring part on how he overcoming his bouts of Bell's palsy with the confidence in himself, the staff, the wrestlers and the fans.
joestephenson96's review
4.0
A very enjoyable read. Chronological throughout Jim Ross' life and allowed some insight in to his life and career. The book ends very abruptly in 1998 and I believe there is a sequel which I would like to also read! The bits about his early career are more interesting than I would imagine too
blevins's review
3.0
Growing up, one of my favorite things in life was professional wrestling. I watched broadcasts of the local circuits in the Oklahoma region like WCW or Mid-South but also watched telecasts from other regions such as Georgia Championship wrestling on TBS, CWA out of the Memphis area, and even a little bit of WWF in the northeast. While at the grocery store, I'd read wrestling magazines while Mom shopped. I would hone in on the shots of the matches with a bit of "color" to them [blood]. I loved the spectacle, the violence, the blood, the drama, the battles between good and bad [in wrestling lingo, good guys were "babyfaces" while the bad guys are known as "heels"], the outrageous characters, the promo videos...I loved wrestling!
My friends and I would create our own characters or emulate our favorites and try to recreate their holds. My brother and I would jump on my poor mom on the floor and double-team her with leg locks, elbow drops, and even this dastardly move we called "The Lobster." Trust me, you don't want to have The Lobster applied to you. My best friend Scott and I got into trouble one afternoon after we double-teamed his younger sister Amy on a trampoline pretending to be our two favorite masked heels at the time: Mr. Wrestler #2 and The Spoiler. When Amy went crying into the house after Scott [er, Mr. Wrestler #2] got her in a figure four leg lock while applied a "claw" hold on her, we got a major balling out by his mother. It was worth it.
I would go watch it in person at an amazing Art Deco building in Tulsa--the Pavilion. I saw a lot of matches there but two standouts were Andre the Giant winning a Battle Royale and watching the heel tag team Midnight Express [led by Jim Cornett, their obnoxious rich boy manager who I loved] top the babyface duo Rock n Roll Express. I hated the Rock n Roll Express. I didn't care for most of the babyfaces to be honest--I liked the heels. They were more entertaining. One of my grandma's loved to watch two things on TV--preaching and pro-wrestling. She was a devout Pentacost & loved the babyfaces. I couldn't stand babyfaces. We had many discussions about how one of my "bad guys" was going to defeat her "good guys." She couldn't believe I wanted her babyface to beaten and bloodied but I openly rooted for such a thing. I once saw the Junk Yard Dog in an OKC airport and ran up to him and excitedly said, "JYD!" and he promptly barked at me, never breaking stride. It was one of the greatest moments in my 12 years on earth to that point.
So, yeah, my wrestling bonafides are legit, hence my interest in this autobiography of fellow Oklahoman and wrestling legend Jim Ross. My favorite childhood wrestling viewings are with Ross, or JR, as the announcer. He's simply the greatest wrestling announcer of all-time in my book. All-time. SLOBBERKNOCKER goes into details of all the things he did through the years in the business from ads, talent, bookings, announcing...he's literally done it all. Some good stories--I wish it had been a bit more tell all but I understand that JR didn't want to alienate some of the legacies of these performers so he kind of held back a bit I'm guessing. There were still a lot of folks mentioned I haven't thought about in a long time. I haven't watched pro-wrestling since the mid-to-late 1990s but I watched enough of it before then to last me a lifetime. This was a nice trip down memory lane.
My friends and I would create our own characters or emulate our favorites and try to recreate their holds. My brother and I would jump on my poor mom on the floor and double-team her with leg locks, elbow drops, and even this dastardly move we called "The Lobster." Trust me, you don't want to have The Lobster applied to you. My best friend Scott and I got into trouble one afternoon after we double-teamed his younger sister Amy on a trampoline pretending to be our two favorite masked heels at the time: Mr. Wrestler #2 and The Spoiler. When Amy went crying into the house after Scott [er, Mr. Wrestler #2] got her in a figure four leg lock while applied a "claw" hold on her, we got a major balling out by his mother. It was worth it.
I would go watch it in person at an amazing Art Deco building in Tulsa--the Pavilion. I saw a lot of matches there but two standouts were Andre the Giant winning a Battle Royale and watching the heel tag team Midnight Express [led by Jim Cornett, their obnoxious rich boy manager who I loved] top the babyface duo Rock n Roll Express. I hated the Rock n Roll Express. I didn't care for most of the babyfaces to be honest--I liked the heels. They were more entertaining. One of my grandma's loved to watch two things on TV--preaching and pro-wrestling. She was a devout Pentacost & loved the babyfaces. I couldn't stand babyfaces. We had many discussions about how one of my "bad guys" was going to defeat her "good guys." She couldn't believe I wanted her babyface to beaten and bloodied but I openly rooted for such a thing. I once saw the Junk Yard Dog in an OKC airport and ran up to him and excitedly said, "JYD!" and he promptly barked at me, never breaking stride. It was one of the greatest moments in my 12 years on earth to that point.
So, yeah, my wrestling bonafides are legit, hence my interest in this autobiography of fellow Oklahoman and wrestling legend Jim Ross. My favorite childhood wrestling viewings are with Ross, or JR, as the announcer. He's simply the greatest wrestling announcer of all-time in my book. All-time. SLOBBERKNOCKER goes into details of all the things he did through the years in the business from ads, talent, bookings, announcing...he's literally done it all. Some good stories--I wish it had been a bit more tell all but I understand that JR didn't want to alienate some of the legacies of these performers so he kind of held back a bit I'm guessing. There were still a lot of folks mentioned I haven't thought about in a long time. I haven't watched pro-wrestling since the mid-to-late 1990s but I watched enough of it before then to last me a lifetime. This was a nice trip down memory lane.