Missy Hyatt: First Lady of Wrestling [Paperback]

Missy Hyatt was one of the first "modern day" wrestling divas and a pretty big star throughout the 80's and early 90's. This book is the story of her life and her career in the world of professional wrestling.

The writing style is pretty decent and comes across more as a "talk-story" session at the coffee shop. It's very easy (and fast) to read. Many of the wrestling fans "in the know" know about Missy's legendary promiscuity which the quotes on the back cover will allude to, but to be honest, the book is "relatively" clean and not the sleezy "kiss and tell all" book you'd think it would be. Of course she does give a laundry list of sorts of the many, many men she's been with in her life, but it's nothing overly filthy. In a movie rating it would be about a PG-13.

Overall, this book is just a neat story about a pretty average girl named Melissa and the MANY cool experiences, places and people she's had, seen and met throughout her life, not only in her wrestling career, but also as a celebrity.

In the book you get:

- A quick rundown of her childhood

- Her start in the wrestling business as a "groupie"

- Her pretty messed up relationship with Jake "The Snake" Roberts

- Her relationship with "Hollywood" John Tatum

- The formation of the "Missy Hyatt" character in WCCW and her program with Sunshine and Scott Casey

- Her stay in Bill Watt's UWF and program with Jack Victory, Dark Journey and the Missing Link and great stories about Sting, Steiner and J.R.

- The cute story of her courtship, life and marriage (and eventual divorce) to the late, great "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert while in the UWF.

- Her and Eddie's travels through the Memphis territory and the CWF

- Her BRIEF stint as a WWF Superstar with "Missy's Manor" and some great tales about her meeting with Vince McMahon

- Her rocky career in the WCW with some great tales about her meeting with Ted Turner, Ric Flair and Eric Bischoff

- Her relationship with Jason Hervey (Wayne Arnold (the big brother) from the Wonder Years)

- Her many, many flings thereafter (football players, hockey players, other wrestlers...)

- Her career in ECW with the Sandman and friendship with Paul Heyman

- Her current whereabouts (current career and college, but no mention of her `adult' website).

Overall, Missy's got some GREAT stories to share about all the people and places she's been to (and been with), and met. She has tons of great stories from the road and "backstage/off-camera" anecdotes about a lot of the others in the business. Among others she shares things about are Paul E, the Freebirds, Luger, Buff Bagwell, Road Warrior Hawk, Tommy Rich, Brutus Beefcake, Dr. Tom Pritchard, Shane McMahon and a HILARIOUS story about Val Venis.

I particularly enjoyed her stories about her relationship with Eddie Gilbert, being a fan of both of their work. It's just really sad things didn't work out between them and I could sense a lot of that sadness when she talked about him. It's obvious that there were still some strong feelings there. To me, it's equally sad that Eddie never did get the big breaks he deserved in the business because he was just ultra-talented...

Overall, this is a great book to read. It definitely holds its own up against the other wrestling autobiographies of recent years (and is A LOT better than an autobiography written by some OTHER female wrestling personality earlier this year...). She comes across as honest and real and the stories she has to share are great and even pretty funny. I wish there was more to read but what she says is short, sweet and to the point. There's also tons of GREAT photos in here of Missy and some of the other great wrestlers and celebrities she's met. The book is fairly short (at 164 pages) and it reads fast. I got through it in 3 sittings, total read time about 6 hours. In sum, if you're a wrestling fan you should love and enjoy Missy Hyatt: First Lady of Professional Wrestling.

Highly Recommended

I remember having a HUGE crush on Missy Hyatt when I was 16. She was the highlight of every week's episode of UWF Wrestling; The action was great, but I struggled with the reception of the UHF channel so I could see Missy, not Hacksaw Jim Duggan or The One Man Gang. (No offense to them!)

Well, in the wake of Mick "Mankind" Foley's smash Autobiographical books "Have A Nice Day!" & "Foley Is Good", Missy has penned her own story, with the help of Writers Charles Salzberg & Mark Goldblatt. I was expecting a sleazy bedroom tell-all, and what I got couldn't have been farther from that. It's actually a rather tame book, and Missy comes across as a sweet girl who led a somewhat wild life. She breaks the book down into brief chapters revolving around her tenures with the various Wrestling organizations (WCCW, WCW, UWF, WWF, ECW, etc.), and tells some wickedly funny stories about some of the people she met and worked with. There are a few sex-partner stories, but they don't get into explict detail. (She does tell VERY funny anecdotes about Ric Flair, Val Venis, and The Freebirds in particular.) She's got a pretty good sense of humor, and reading the book is almost like meeting an old friend you haven't seen in years and hearing an summary of what they've been up to. Unfortunately, Missy doesn't mention her recent foray into soft-core internet sites...

The book is VERY short; I'd estimate it only took a few hours to read. But when I was done, I wished it had been longer. It's a fun read, and the book is loaded with pictures, both color & black-and-white. Wrestling fans will have a ball reading this book.

This has to be every man's worst nightmare-- a woman who has dated pretty much everyone has decided to write a tell-all. I

can only imagine how nervous these guys were in the days leading up to the release date. The book can be defined as a cross between Missy's diary and her little black book. It's pretty much what anybody would expect it to be, dishing the dirt on some of the biggest names in and out of professional wrestling.

Here's a brief rundown of the men with whom Missy has engaged in "sexual relations": Tommy Rich; Jake Roberts (gave her

cocaine and halcyons); Hollywood John Tatum; Road Warrior Hawk (slept with him to get even with Jake for dumping her);

Hotstuff Eddie Gilbert (the love of her life); Dr. Tom Pritchard (slept with him to get even with Gilbert-- see a pattern here?); Atlanta Falcons' Bill Fralic; Jason Hervey of The Wonder Years ("...money was a big part of our relationship."); The Philadelphia Flyers' Rod BrindÁmour ("...had to put a bag over his head- mentally..."), Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly (this poor guy really comes to take a beating in this book); Raven; Eric Watts (slept with him because "I didn't have time to do my laundry"); Brutus Beefcake; Scott Putski ("...like driving a Ferrari with a volkswagon engine. You rev it once, and it stalls."); Val Venis ("...shortest, lamest sex I'd ever had."); as well as numerous football and hockey players-- WHEW. If the rumor mill is to be believed, there are many more names missing from this list. Brian Pillman is never mentioned although she has appeared in a number of his memorial events, and Tom Zenk makes a veiled reference to a "menage" on the back of the book. My guess is that Pillman was excluded out of respect to his widow and children. Also, despite leasing an apartment just to be next door to Buff Bagwell, who had a girlfriend at the time, nothing sexual is ever mentioned.

The sexual exploits aside (which bears mentioning in this review only because it comprises the bulk of the book), Missy is

very candid in her views of the people and the goings-on in the business. For anyone who has read a wrestling biography you

will quickly come (sorry Jim Kelly) to realize that these are not regular/everyday folks. Terry Funk --a legend in this

profession who is just finishing his own book-- once told Missy that "...if (she) ever got stabbed after a match, (she) should take it as a compliment..." Years later Missy was almost stabbed before a match, and wonders aloud how she should take that. Ric Flair is referred to as a perv who loved to show everybody his penis. This is pretty much the same impression I was left with after reading Flair's own biography (a great read by the way). Even WCW owner Ted Turner comes across as a perv (surprise, surprise) as Missy recounts how he grabbed her ass and invited her to mud wrestle the first time they met.

The most baffling story however, even by wrestling standards, was when Freebird Buddy Roberts was caught attempting to urinate on Missy as she was getting ready to shower. Apparently "...Freebirds always pee on people they like. It's like a privilege... a ritual, a sign of respect." I'm not quite sure how to respond to that.

This was an enjoyable, easy read -- about a day and a half. Missy doesn't pretend to be anything she isn't which I appreciate in any autobiography. She openly admits that her in-ring persona was very close to the real life Melissa Hiatt. She admits to being a prima-donna who openly used her sexuality to get what and who she wanted. Arguably she was the hottest thing going before the days of Sunny, Sable and all the modern day Divas. The only glaring omissions that I thought should have

been covered was the ridiculous amount of work she has had done to her face in recent years, and her venture into internet

porn. It's a shame that such a beautiful woman has taken the path so many others have, and butchered herself in the quest to

stay young-- you'll know what I mean when you see the pictures. Aside from that I'd say definitely pick this one up.