Some facts from the book Ring of Hell:
1. What life really was like at the New Japan dojo during the company's peak, including countless stories of outrageous hazing, violence, psychological torture, from anally raping trainees with bananas to pissing on their backs while they do pushups to ***ually molesting them in the showers to making them drink their own semen ...
2. The behind-the-scenes story on Kensuke Sasaki beating New Japan trainee Hiromitsu Gompei to death.
3. The most coherent and well-sourced profile of Antonio Inoki being completely ****ing nuts ever committed to print, including how Castro tricked him into buying a barren speck of sand with the promise of pirate treasure, which Inoki then named Inoki Friendship Island and immediately (allegedly) started hitting up his, um, financial backers for funding to launch search expeditions.
4. Stories about Riki Choshu & Masa Saito being completely hardass nuts Japanese crackers, including Masa Saito beating the **** out of Vader for telling him that "Vader calls the match, mother****er!", KOing him for real in the middle of the ring and having the referee count him out "1! YOU ***GOT! 2! YOU BIG PILE OF ****! 3! TOO FAT TO GET UP YOU BIG *****ASS *****?"
5. The de rigor stories about Benoit being a violent nut to trainees and Jushin Liger randomly punching rookies in the face for the **** of it.
6. The most in-depth, grisly, unbelievable behind-the-scenes expose of the role of the yakuza in Japanese pro wrestling and countless stories about them and Inoki, Benoit, Vader, etc.
WCW/ECW/WWE Wrestling Fruit Tidbits
1. Oh my god, Paul Heyman talks about his drug use (Against cocaine! Used GHB! Never was Marty Jannetty's dealer!)
2. The greatest catalogue ever of ECW/WCW backstage debauchery, including new Hall and Nash stories. Think the The Fall of WCW but, instead of focusing on buyrates and OMG JAY LEnO IS WRESTLECRAP!, it focuses on how many drugs and groupies were being abused and how absolutely insane everyone went.
3. The REAL story of the Kevin Sullivan vs. Radicalz brouhaha.
4. A previously unpublished story about how Bischoff started Nitro to avenge himself on a rib played against him by an unnamed, anonymous devilish promoter.
6. The bar-none most uncensored look at modern-day Vince McMahon, his outlandish behavior, and his bizarre relationship with Stephanie.
7. The first behind-the-scenes, uncensored, completely honest look at what it's like on the WWE Creative Team, including interviews from a half dozen former writers on the record including Heyman.
8. That longtime WWE Head Writer Dave Lagana fired in early 2008 for repeatedly extorting ***ual favors out of the wrestlers, male and female alike, with the alleged knowledge of WWE management -- a scandal that has been successfully kept from the press until now. Including the nipple-flicking details.
9. That Vince McMahon recently fired a heavily injured wrestler for seeking medical help -- calling him a "*****" who wasn't worthy of being a WWE wrestler and creating a neurotic fear of rehabilitating injuries within the WWE roster.
10. Some great McMahon family stories, including writer Dan Madigan driving in the McMahon limo and watching Vince very gently cradle and snuggle Stephanie to sleep in his arms, then fall snoringly asleep himself, only to catch HHH looking at them drool unto each other and snore into each other's faces with a mixture of utter repulsion and spectacular triumph.
11. Hey, did you know that multiple sources claim that Dean Malenko was allegedly Eddy's drug hookup? AFTER rehab and return? HOWBOUTDAT?
Benoit-Family Tidibts
1. An entire chapter ("Turd Polish") delving into what a magnificient piece of **** Kevin Sullivan was, including his carny secrets, how he used Nancy to get booking power, eyewitness stories of his druggy debauchery, how he beat Nancy, and how he crazily booked Nancy to cheat on him and then beat her until she finally decided to actually cheat on him.
2. Publisher PR. "Despite regularly passing "comprehensive" World Wrestling Entertainment drug tests, Chris Benoit's psychological meltdown was partially caused by an enormous drug habit that he maintained for the majority of his WWE tenure. On a daily basis, Benoit haphazardly mixed huge dosages of amphetamines, steroids, painkillers, psychiatric drugs, and alcohol -- with catastrophic effect on his psyche."
3. PR: "Chris Benoit had displayed dangerously violent and sadistic behavior as early as 1987, and over the next twenty years he was involved in countless incidents of cruelty and extreme hazing of younger wrestlers. "
4. Sullivan booking era, "In 2000, Chris Benoit threatened his bosses in Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling with the promise that he would mutilate himself on live television if he was forced to go through a storyline he didn't like." Story in detail, obviously.
5. The gritty details about Benoit being a drug addicted lunatic.
6. Probably the only honest psychological profile of Benoit published, speaking in detail just how much of a selfish, misguided, utterly cruel and ridiculous man he always was and how his choice of lifestyle indicted him from the beginning.
Some of that is just messed up! If some of it is true then I refuse to look at pro wrestling the way I did before. Randazzo obviously has some degree of credibility, being one of Meltzer's main sources for a long time. Either way, I'd me most interested to pick this new book up.
