Mad Dogs, Midgets and Screw Jobs: The Untold Story of How Montreal Shaped the World of Wrestling

by Pat Laprade, Bertrand Hébert

Montreal was the proving ground for the biggest names in wrestling, including Andre the Giant, Abdullah the Butcher and the infamous Mad Dog Vachon. It was also the site of the first midget battle and was made famous for the screw job that saw Vince McMahon, the Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michael and Bret Hart create the "attitude" that reshaped the business. With a complete history of how wrestling developed on Montreal TV and an investigation of the murder of Dino Bravo, this book demonstrates how much of what has occurred in wrestling most likely happened in Montreal.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Canada

457 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 19, 2012

Reviews

[Andrew Garvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not the perfect book on pro wrestling. But it comes as close as any and it's absolutely one of my favourites.

I already knew Montreal was one of the most important cities in pro wrestling history. I knew a fair amount about the Vachons and the Rougeaus. I knew a little about Eddie Quinn and Yvon Robert.

But I learned so much more from this book. And had a great time along the way. I even understand now just why Dino Bravo (who I previously knew mostly from his time in the WWF, late in his career and pumped so full of protein shakes he could barely move) was so beloved in Quebec.

Laprade and Hebert have done an incredible job of researching Montreal's wrestling history, of interviewing it's legends (or using existing interviews to great effect) and of telling the story with warmth, pride and a very obvious love for the city and it's lutteurs, from the nineteenth century, right up to Quebec's modern greats, Kevin Steen and El Generico.

These profiles, of the big names, and the lesser known (outside Quebec at least) like wrestlers Larry Moquin and Pierre Lefebvre or trainer Pat Girard and broadcaster Michel Normandin, are the heart of the book and almost without exception, they're a rich source of great stories, facts and anecdotes.

Any story relying heavily on the recollections of old wrestlers is bound to feel like an exercise in rose-tinted myth-making. Here it feels as if they're largely telling the truth because Laprade and Hebert prove - using attendance figures, details on TV ratings, and newspaper articles - that Montreal wrestling really was huge during it's numerous golden ages, and even for its final triumph in the mid-1980s before the eventual, inevitable wilting in the face of Vince McMahon's WWF.

Late in the book, there's a useful title history, details on Quebec's wrestling Hall of Fame, rankings of the province's best wrestlers and a great little (sorry) summary of how midget wrestling was pioneered by Quebecers and a superb story about Sky Low Low punching an obnoxious fan in the nuts.

So, why doesn't this book quite get the ***** treatment it comes so close to?

The structure and formatting are awkward. Telling Montreal's story through profiles of the biggest stars - particularly it's locals, but featuring plenty more from other provinces and countries - makes it difficult to keep up a narrative flow and does lead to repetition.

The formatting of the Kindle edition makes going back and finding the relevant profile difficult, too. None are listed in the table of contents, leading to much searching and scrolling for anyone wanted to re-read a section. The text would also have benefitted from more stringent editing. At times, it seems to have been literally translated from French and just doesn't flow as well as it could have.

But the positives far, far outweigh the negatives and this comes highly recommended for any fan of professional wrestling. Or anyone interested in learning about a fascinating, and sadly departed (Laprade and Hebert's sad conclusion is surprisingly affecting) subculture.

[Anthony Perrone · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I liked the book, there where a lot of things I didn't like. For starters, I like fluidity in books and this had the fluidity of a 20 ponds rock in a glass of water. It did however have a lot of great facts about the Montreal territory that I didn't know. The book repeats itself often and reading on page 256(just a number I pulled out of my head) about someone mentioned on page 7, ha me flipping back every 10 pages. All in all I found it entertaining albeit the fact that the book was oddly written.

[Evan Kirby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like how it singled out each player or major event in the Quebec wrestling scene and profiled them, but I would’ve rather it just told it as a story from the beginning and including each character/wrestler as time progressed to them. Now that I write that out it seems kinda hard ie. why they probably focused on wrestler profile to wrestler profile, but I think more of a mix of the two styles would have worked better.

[David Quattrocchi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Docked a style point for the storytelling device being short chapters devoted to singular topics at a time (a wrestler, a promotion, a venue) rather than a linear narrative. Past that, it packs in all you’ll ever need to know about pro wrestling in Quebec! Amusez-vous!

[Jason Presley · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, encyclopedic history of professional wrestling in Montreal, covering all of the most notable wrestlers, promoters, venues and programs over the 120+ years of wrestling in the city.

[Aaron · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrifically written and edited. Much too long. Basically a boring attempt at an encyclopedia.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I enjoyed this book immensely and would recommend it to anyone interested in the rich history of Montreal wrestling, it was a hard read at times due to skipping around at points in the timeline instead of a clear "point A to point D" layout. If it had had a better lay out, more dates that included the years and perhaps put the biographies of the individual wrestlers in a separate section it would have made for a smoother read for me. Regardless of these quibbles, Pat and Bertrand have written a fine book that does justice to the history of Montreal. There's quite a bit more to it than just the 1997 screw job.

[I.D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great look at a territory that most people won't know about. It's really a lot of small articles about people/angles/stories etc rather than a long form book. Makes you want to check out footage of the matches.