Getting bookish

First thing's first, thanks to all of your for your patience. I've been really busy the last two weeks (and I will continue to be busy over the next month). However, I've got time to crank out a new Off The Turnbuckle this week.

I plan on trying to update OTT every two weeks for the foreseeable future. Hope you all understand.

As those who remember my original column may know, I am a big fan of books about professional wrestling. As an avid reader, I've been constantly looking for new additions to my library. Over the past few months, I've checked out a few tomes written by some wrestlers. Some were excellent. Some were good. Others were just pure crap.

Here's a brief synopsis of the wrestling books I've read, and whether or not I'd recommend them to you, the wrestling audience:

MUST HAVES: "The Road Warriors: Danger, Death and the Rush of Wrestling," by Joe "Animal" Laurinaitis with Andrew William Wright; "Bobby 'The Brain' Heenan: Wrestling's Bad Boy Tells All," by Bobby Heenan with Steve Anderson; "Playboy Gary Hart: My Life in Wrestling With a Little Help From my Friends," by Gary Hart with Phillip Varriale

WORTH PURCHASING: "Chokehold: Pro Wrestling's Real Mayhem Outside the Ring," by Jim Wilson with Weldon T. Johnson

WORTH A READ: "King of The Ring: The Harley Race Story," by Harley Race with Gerry Tritz.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS: "Dusty: Reflections of Wrestling's American Dream," by Dusty Rhodes with Howard Brody

The Gary Hart book is out of print and difficult to track down (it's not even available at your local library; trust me, I checked). I was fortunate enough to land a copy. I'm about seven chapters in and it was well worth the time and trouble to find it.

Gary Hart was one of wrestling's most notorious wrestling managers in the 60s, 70s and 80s, mostly in the Southern territories. He was very respected by his peers. In his book, he pulls no punches not just about some of his fellow wrestlers, but also about himself. A good look into the business during the early days, before Vince McMahon Jr. bought the World Wrestling Federation and brought down the territorial system of the National Wrestling Alliance.

Animal's book is a nice narrative about his revolutionary tag team, The Road Warriors, along with Mike "Hawk" Hegstrand. Hawk was one of wrestling's tragedies in the early 2000s, dying a young death due to the wrestling lifestyle of drugs and steroids. Animal is candid about the circumstances surrounding Hawk and how he wished he could have done more for his friend while he was alive. In fact, he was encouraged that Hawk had, like he did earlier, become a born-again Christian and was participating in wrestling shows with fellow born agains Ted DiBiase and Nikita Koloff just before he died.

One of the most interesting part of the book was when Animal talked about bouncing at a bar in Minnesota called Gramma B's before he got into wrestling. His fellow bouncers were Hawk, Rick Rude, Koloff, Barry Darsow, Scott Norton and John Nord. Every single one of them were discovered by Eddie Sharkey and Verne Gagne and trained to become wrestlers.

Heenan's book is, as you'd expect, very entertaining. It's a quick read, but is full of quips and one-liners. Heenan talks about how he came up with the words "humanoids" and "ham-and-eggers" and reveals that it was Hulk Hogan who got him his job with the WWF back in the mid-1980s and that they were great friends away from the ring, even though Heenan played one of Hogan's biggest foils as a manager and then as a broadcaster.

If you didn't like the headscratchingly bad stuff that was going on in WCW, you will love this book. Heenan reveals that WCW wouldn't allow the announcers to view the backstage vignettes on their monitors, so it made them sound clueless. He also burys Tony Schiovane, which I loved.

The "Chokehold" book is one that was recommended to me back in the early 2000s by a colleague of mine at the Morning Journal who was a big wrestling fan. I put it on an Amazon list, but never bothered to read it. I checked it out of the library last month and found myself buying it.

The quick synopsis -- Wilson was one of the wrestlers who came forward to 20/20 back in 1985 that revealed the secrets of pro wrestling (or breaking kayfabe), talking about how matches were all predetermined and showing how the art of blading was done.

Wilson, a former All-American football player at Georgia who played in the NFL for the 49ers, Falcons and Rams, started wrestling in the offseasons in the late 1960s in Georgia Championship Wrestling. He claims he was promised big pushes by different promoters, especially after he started wrestling full-time when his NFL career came to an end.

Wilson claims that a promoter named Jim Barnett, one of the head honchos in the NWA, dangled a world championship push to him while he was doing a tour in Australia but then propositioned him sexually. Wilson turned him down. Immediately, he was depushed, his pay was slashed and then he found himself blackballed by any territory associated with the NWA. He then spent years fighting them in the courtroom and for bookings by launching his own promotion (it failed).

In later years, he became a big advocate for the unionization of pro wrestlers due to the way promoters do not pay out health benefits and structure their contracts. He died in 2009 after a battle with cancer.

Wilson's book is a very interesting look at the inner workings of the NWA, once the most powerful wrestling organization in the world and run almost like the mafia. Another eye-opening allegation -- one young wrestler who supposedly took Barnett up on his offer became an out-of-nowhere NWA champion in the early 1980s (I'll let you look him up).

Race's book was good, but too brief. He glosses over everything. A guy like Race should have been able to write an in-depth book like Mick Foley, Bret Hart or even Chris Jericho. Instead, it leaves you wanting more. It's worth getting out of the library, but don't buy it.

Rhodes' book is one of the biggest pieces of self-serving drivel I've ever read. It also was hard to follow, as Dusty bounced around from subject to subject almost by the sentence. Do yourselves a favor and don't even bother, unless you happen to be a big Dusty Rhodes fan.

Happy reading.

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EXTREME RULES: Here's a look at the card for WWE's upcoming pay-per-view, Extreme Rules, which takes place next Sunday at 8 p.m.:

<> John Cena vs. Ryback in a Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Title
<> Dolph Ziggler vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger in a Triple Threat Ladder Match for the World Title
<> Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H in a Steel Cage Match
<> Sheamus vs. Mark Henry in a Strap Match
<> Randy Orton vs. Big Show in an Extreme Rules Match

I'm sure there will be more matches added to the card at Raw tomorrow night.

Ziggler's status is up the air due a concussion he suffered during Tuesday's Smackdown TV tapings. He interfered during a match with Jack Swagger and Big E Langston, and Ziggler took an inadvertent kick to the head by Swagger.

He was diagnosed with retrograde amnesia due to the concussion. In an interview, he said he doesn't even remember what happened on Raw Monday night, let alone what happened Tuesday.

The WWE won't clear him to wrestle until he's passed the mandatory concussion tests. They are working an alternative plans for the PPV in case Ziggler is not medically cleared. It could turn into a ladder match between Del Rio and Swagger for the No. 1 contendership, or Langston could wrestle in Ziggler's place (which would probably be brutal to watch).

It's safe to say that Ryback's heel turn has only made him more boring than he was before. Fans can only chant "Feed me more" so much. Like the wrestler he has been compared to in the past, Goldberg, Ryback is proving that he is a one-trick pony that's getting pretty stale. I can't see Ryback going over Cena so soon after WrestleMania.

The Lesnar-HHH rematch was brought back almost out of necessity, due to The Rock skipping out on the post-WM Raw and CM Punk's injuries suffered during the Undertaker match. This match was a giant snoozer at WrestleMania, and I can't see a steel cage making it more interesting (unless WWE allows both wrestlers to bleed).

The other two matches seem like throwaway matches. The Orton-Big Show feud has been brewing for a while. I guess "extreme rules" is another term for "hardcore," so expect chairshots, fighting on the outside and possibly even fighting backstage as part of this match. For that alone, it could be entertaining.

Strap matches are usually pretty boring. Strap matches involving Mark Henry should be flat out outlawed. That's all I have to say about that.

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METAL MANIA: WWE was well represented at the fifth annual Revolver Golden Gods Awards two Thursdays ago. The awards ceremony is done specifically to celebrate hard rock and heavy metal music, since metal gets shunned by the mainstream award ceremonies.

For the third year in a row, Chris Jericho was the MC of the show, introducing the presenters and some of the bands. Jericho is a huge metalhead who also is the lead vocalist of his own metal outfit, Fozzy, whenever he's not wrestling.

Also, Triple H beat out a few skateboarders, Angels pitcher C.J. Wilson and Packers tight end Tom Crabtree for the Most Metal Athlete Award (all awards were voted on by fans). Triple H taped his acceptance speech from Australia, where he thanked the fans for voting for him, made a joke that he was filling in for Jericho in Fozzy, and said that metal music has always been the soundtrack to his life and that he'll always be a fan of metal music.

Triple H is a big fan of Motorhead, having used them to perform three of his entrance themes, including his regular "The Game" song. He also guested on one of Motorhead's albums and used Lemmy and Co. to perform his song live at a few WrestleManias.

Finding wrestlers who aren't metalheads is pretty rare. CM Punk used Living Color's early 1990s hit "Cult of Personality" as his entrance theme. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin used both Black Label Society and Disturbed to record versions of his "glass-breaking" entrance theme and used to wear BLS shirts to the ring. And, going back to ECW, Rob Van Dam using Pantera's "Walk," Shane Douglas using Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers," and Tazz using KISS's "War Machine" as their entrance themes. And, who can forget the original -- The Road Warriors using Black Sabbath's "Iron Man."

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MORE GOONAGE: The WWE is still planning on opening it's new Performance Center in Orlando in July. The building is coming along as planned.

<> The WWE Network is still being discussed for a launch, but no timetable has been set. For now, WWE's 24-7 PPV network is still in existence. The WWE Network will air a lot of classic programming from their vast library, air some of the DVDs they've released and air replays of their pay-per-views, along with some original programming.

<> The WWE has petitioned the Arizona State Court to move a lawsuit featuring them and The Big Show to federal court because involves a video posted on WWE.com. Former Digital Content promoter Andrew Green is suing Big Show and WWE over a video he had to produce involving an interview. Big Show reportedly cursed at Green when Green approached him with the assignment and threatened him, then gave a horrible interview. WWE is included because they never paid Green for his work. Green said the incident made him "afraid" to work for WWE and severed his ties to the company immediately.

<> Dean Ambrose of The Shield suffered an eye injury during his match with Daniel Bryan at the Smackdown tapings. Ambrose is sporting a nice shiner, but nothing was broken and he won't miss any ring time.

<> During an interview with the Between The Ropes radio show, The Honky Tonk Man talked about his failed tag team with Greg "The Hammer" Valentine called Rhythm and Blues. He said the WWF came up with the idea, which Honky was for. It was supposed to help rejuvenate two stale characters in HTM and Valentine. However, Valentine was not for it and sulked. Honky said there were plans to push Rhythm and Blues to get the tag team belts from the Hart Foundation, but they were depushed. Valentine has since told Honky that he wished he would have bought in to the gimmick.

<> The May 27 edition of Raw, taped from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, will be known as Bret Hart Appreciation Night. Shawn Michaels is slated to make an appearance at the show. WWE has announced plans to use the show pay tribute to the former seven-time world champion, but hasn't announced what they will do to commemorate the occasion yet.

<> NXT diva Summer Rae has been used as Fandango's dancer a few times, but WWE doesn't want to make it her permanent gig. They like his original dancer, whose name is not known, because she is an actual dancer. However, she is a college student who is not always free to travel for the Monday night shows.

<> Paul Bearer has already been announced as a member of next year's WWE Hall of Fame class. There are plans for the Undertaker to induct his former manager.

<> WWE would like for the Undertaker to team up with Kane and wrestle The Shield at SummerSlam. Taker hasn't worked a SummerSlam in many years. They are leaving the call up to Taker to see if he'd be willing to wrestle. Daniel Bryan's status for the match is currently up in the air.

<> The Miz missed last week's Raw due to filming The Christmas Bounty. He will be able to appear at tomorrow's Raw.

<> WWE has announced a dance off between Fandango and Chris Jericho for tomorrow's Raw, and may turn that into a match at Extreme Rules.

<> Damian Sandow may have his own talk-show segment for Smackdown. They had him do a "Damian Sandow Show" with John Cena after the recent NXT TV tapings.

<> Sin Cara will return to WWE TV this week, while Christian may return the week after. Christian has been cleared to wrestle, but he's waiting on creative to come up with a storyline for him to return. Evan Bourne is not yet ready physically to return to WWE.

<> The Rock has not been cleared to fly yet. However, he has resumed working out multiple times a day.

<> WWE will released a "Best of Madison Square Garden" DVD and Blu-Ray set on Aug. 27. New interviews with Bruno Sammartino will be used, along with some never-before-seen matches in the three-disc set.

<> Ring of Honor's Mike Bennett is reportedly one of several independent wrestlers going through medical screening with the WWE.

<> The WWE house show (featuring the Raw crew) in Youngstown on Friday, May 3 drew 5,000 fans for a gate of $190,000.

<> WWE officials would like for CM Punk to return to the ring in time for the Payback PPV from Chicago on June 16.

<> And finally, the Bella Twins may be revealed as Kaitlyn's secret admirer. The angle would be that the Bellas would be playing a cruel joke on the Divas champion as a way to enhance their feud.

Until next time, watch out for the frog splash!