The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pro Wrestling

by Lou Albano, Bert Randolph Sugar

Written by Captain Lou Albano, the "godfather of wrestling," this book tells you the history of the stars, leagues, and moves of pro-wrestling. It includes updated coverage of WCW and WWF, of wrestling as a business, and of today's hottest stars and biggest promoters. If you want to be a wrestler, this book tells you how to get started in the business.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published December 28, 1998

About the author

Louis Vincent Albano was an American professional wrestler, manager and actor. With an over-the-top personality and a penchant for boisterous declarations, Albano was the epitome of the antagonistic manager that raised the ire of wrestlers and incited the anger of spectators. Throughout his 42-year career, Albano guided 15 different tag teams and four singles competitors to championship gold. A unique showman, with an elongated beard, rubber band facial piercings, and loud outfits, he was the forefather of the 1980s Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection. Collaborating with Cyndi Lauper, Albano helped usher in wrestling's crossover success with a mainstream audience. Capitalizing on his success, he later ventured into Hollywood with various television, film, and music projects.

Reviews

[Sophie Crane · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Complete Idiot's Guide To Pro Wrestling"'s main selling point is its detailed analysis about today's pro wrestling, but in my opinion it doesn't truly deliver, but the one thing that gives me the right to give the book 5 stars is it's story telling of the older wrestlers like Ed "Strangler" Lewis, Lou Thesz and "Killer" Kowalski.
They were people I knew a few things about in the time that I've watched wrestling, but reading the book made me appreciate their talents even more. Reading in detail about Kowalski ripping off Yukon Eric's cauliflower ear made me a "Killer" fan for life! Who would have known at the time he would spawn "The Eliminator" Perry Saturn and the Cerebral Assassin, "The Game" Triple H?
All in all, if you want to buy this book to learn about today's stars, then other books like Scott Keith's book are more appropriate, but buy this book if you seriously want to know what wrestling was like in the VERY OLD DAYS! If you're a hardcore fan like me, you will appreciate this information that Captain Lou brings to you! BUY THIS BOOK!!!

[Drew Kenyon · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you grew up watching pre-Hulkamania/WrestleMania professional wrestling on the local TV channel at midnight on Saturday nights, then you’re no idiot and you’ll love this book.

[David McLaughlin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Say, I don't remember Owen Hart's finishing move being the dropkick. Or how Kane and the Undertaker were really brothers, and the first ladder match was in ECW. That's the kind of bullshit research that went into this book, which advises the reader to only attempt to follow one wrestling promotion (perhaps so as not to become overwhelmed), and then more or less presents the matches as legitimate athletic competitions. It's also a textual blowjob for Bill Goldberg; hitched your wagon to the wrong star there.
This book is absolutely terrible. I really can't remember where I got it. I still have it. Wrestling books are often really, really bad. That's part of the charm; as such, TCIGTPW is a keeper. It's certainly not as twisted as If They Only Knew, or as laughably false as Hogan's book, but it's a worthy piece of crap. Captain Lou Albano!

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book over two months while on the can. After checking out semi-pro wrestling in North Texas in December 2007, I realized that I had to reconnect with my WWF childhood. This book, despite what one might expect, was actually pretty interesting, covering professional wrestling's inglorious history in all its splendid glory.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um, I used to really be into wrestling.