- Hardcover: 174 pages
- Publisher: Praeger Publishers Inc; annotated edition edition (30 Jun 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 027598401X
- ISBN-13: 978-0275984014
- Product Dimensions: 24.1 x 16.5 x 1.9 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,357,348 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Ringside: A History of Professional Wrestling in America
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"Beekman's book is thick with historical detail and archival evidence, which makes it a real resource for research into professional wrestling's enduring allure." -
TDR: The Drama Review
Product Description
Despite its status as one of the oldest and most enduringly popular sports in history, wrestling has been pushed to the background of the current American sports scene. Wrestling, its modern theatrics, is rarely considered in the same terms as track and field or boxing. But until the 1920s, wrestling stood as a legitimate professional sport in this country, and a widely practiced amateur one as well. Its respectability may not have endured, but the advent of cable television in the 1980s offered the sport a renewed opportunity to play a determining role in American popular culture. "Ringside", the first work to fully examine the history of professional wrestling in this country, provides an illuminating and colourful account of all of the various athletes, entertainers, businessmen, and national outlooks that have determined wrestling's erratic route through American history. This chronological work begins with a brief account of wrestling's global history, and then proceeds to investigate the sport's growth as a specifically American institution. It shows how the sport has survived in the face of adverse technological developments, scandals, public ridicule, and a lack of centralised control, to become an international industry capable of attracting enormous television audiences. "Ringside" focuses on the business of wrestling as well as on the performers and their in-ring antics.
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4 reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
The Backstory
18 Jan 2009
Format:Hardcover
Before buying nearly the entire professional wrestling industry, Vince McMahon tried to erase the history of sports entertainment, or so it seemed to the weekly viewer of his numerous shows. In taking the World Wrestling Federation national, breaking with the territorial agreements of old, he sought to have his organization exist in a vacuum. To the viewer of WWF programming, no other federations existed, and any wrestler that did not wrestle for him was just as invisible. When wrestlers did leave the NWA or AWA to join the WWF, they left their past with them.
So what came before the rise of the WWF (now WWE)? Beekman follows the trail back through the heyday of the National Wrestilg Alliance, to the days when run-of-the-mill George Wagner decided to reinvent himself as "Gorgeuos George." He digs even deeper to the stories of the famous stars of the early part of the twentieth century, to find Jim Londos, Ed "Strangler" Lewis and Frank Gotch. He traces the story of William Muldoon, a contemporary and friend of boxing's first hero, John L. Sullivan. He reveals wrestling presidents and finds the activity in Civil War camps.
The author reaches even farther back, to find the roots of the professional side of wrestling, the first moneymakers, and finds them in a place no one might have guessed. He also unveils the evolutionary sequence that brought the sport to its familiar form today, from the elimination of wrestling styles to the development of angles and storylines.
In all fairness to the McMahon and his WWE, now that the wrestling war has been won - for now, if history is any indication of what's to come - their stance has softened considerably, and the history of the sport is now embraced with open arms.
So what came before the rise of the WWF (now WWE)? Beekman follows the trail back through the heyday of the National Wrestilg Alliance, to the days when run-of-the-mill George Wagner decided to reinvent himself as "Gorgeuos George." He digs even deeper to the stories of the famous stars of the early part of the twentieth century, to find Jim Londos, Ed "Strangler" Lewis and Frank Gotch. He traces the story of William Muldoon, a contemporary and friend of boxing's first hero, John L. Sullivan. He reveals wrestling presidents and finds the activity in Civil War camps.
The author reaches even farther back, to find the roots of the professional side of wrestling, the first moneymakers, and finds them in a place no one might have guessed. He also unveils the evolutionary sequence that brought the sport to its familiar form today, from the elimination of wrestling styles to the development of angles and storylines.
In all fairness to the McMahon and his WWE, now that the wrestling war has been won - for now, if history is any indication of what's to come - their stance has softened considerably, and the history of the sport is now embraced with open arms.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
An exhaustive history of pro wrestling in America
19 Sep 2008
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Scott Beekman was a subscriber to my pro wrestling history newsletter for years and corresponded (and credited me) in his book. Yet, it was I who learned from him.
This book is one the best pro wrestling history books I have ever read. Tremendous in it's coverage of the pioneer era of wrestling (the days before Frank Gotch). Inside you will learn of the various styles and how they progressed and changed. The different masters of the styles and how they eventually developed into what we today know as pro wrestling and MMA.
Yes, the two genres have their roots in the pioneer days of wrestling. Frank Gotch and Farmer Burns had far more in common with Matt Hughes and Randy Couture than with Triple H or the Undertaker. However, in just a few short decades that all changed. The original sport of American pro wrestling evolved (or de-evolved!) from legitimate competition into farcical fantasy. Yet both sides of the tree grew into billion dollar businesses.
Scott's book is a must have for any serious wrestling or MMA historian.
This book is one the best pro wrestling history books I have ever read. Tremendous in it's coverage of the pioneer era of wrestling (the days before Frank Gotch). Inside you will learn of the various styles and how they progressed and changed. The different masters of the styles and how they eventually developed into what we today know as pro wrestling and MMA.
Yes, the two genres have their roots in the pioneer days of wrestling. Frank Gotch and Farmer Burns had far more in common with Matt Hughes and Randy Couture than with Triple H or the Undertaker. However, in just a few short decades that all changed. The original sport of American pro wrestling evolved (or de-evolved!) from legitimate competition into farcical fantasy. Yet both sides of the tree grew into billion dollar businesses.
Scott's book is a must have for any serious wrestling or MMA historian.
8 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Professional Wrestling 101
8 Oct 2006
Format:Hardcover
I knew what I was going to get when I read this book before I even started it.When I saw that the author,Scott Beekman was a college professor (Ohio University)I knew Professor Beekman would be treating professional wrestling in somber tones.After all he has to face his esteemed colleagues in department meetings and annual conferences and he couldn't very well write a book on professional wrestling that was, well you know....fun or funny. (tongue firmly in cheek) I'll give one example of where the book fails to entertain.Managers have historically been an important part of professional wrestling and yet are barely mentioned here.Too bad.Any book on professional wrestling could/should have at least a chapter devoted to managers.The book is well-researched no doubt but not once did I laugh or even smile.I did however find myself saying "Hmmm,I never knew that". Entertaining ? Not at all.Informative ? Absolutely.Think of it as a textbook.Don't take it to the beach and don't buy the book,but rather borrow it from a library and read it while sitting in a straight-back chair.Somehow that seems appropriate.
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