I was looking for a book that would be a complete in-depth history of wrestling, but there doesn't seem to be one out there. This book has no photos (except for Lou Thesz on the cover), but it contains short bios of more pro wrestlers than any other book. Unfortunately, only the briefest of bios are provided (it basically lists championships won, with very little personal info provided). Height, weight, & birth dates are provided for some, but not most, wrestlers. Lentz has written some great books on film history for McFarland, but this one is a disappointment due to lack of more info in the entries (which is perhaps not possible given the subject matter). At first I thought this book lacked completeness, but after seeing other so-called wrestling "encyclopedias," this one is certainly the most complete. For example, a major star of the early 1960s, Argentina Apollo, gets no mention in any of the other wrestling books, but is included here. It's very dry reading for a wrestling book, & if you buy this one you should get at least a couple of other books with photos to accompany it. I'd like to see more info included in the entries (at least for the major stars) that would distinguish the wrestlers a bit more than the author has done here (for example, how they were innovative, what their style was, gimmicks used, special techniques, etc.). A worthy addition to your wrestling reference library, but will somebody please write a definitive encyclopedia on this subject? A second edition of this book is due in November 2003, but with only 20 or so additional pages, I doubt if it will expand the entries into what I was hoping for.
