Scott Keith's book has plenty of punch
By MICHAEL JENKINSON -- Edmonton Sun
Twenty-six-year-old Edmonton resident Scott Keith has launched his
literary career on the unlikeliest of subjects. He's written an intelligent,
insightful and interesting book about professional wrestling.
At the moment, Keith may be an unknown in his own home town, but he's quite
well-known in cyberspace where he has written articles and columns for a
number of professional wrestling Web sites, including his own Web page,
Rantsylvania.com.
Last year, he was given a chance to put his vast knowledge of the sport and
spectacle that is professional grappling to work for real (which is to say,
for money). The result is The Buzz on Professional Wrestling, a history of the
"modern" era of wrestling, from about 1980 to the present.
'I'VE KNOWN KEITH FOR YEARS'
Writing about Buzz is full of conflicts of interest for me, so I'll be
upfront about all of them. I've known Keith for years. I like his writing. He
was kind enough to let me read and critique the finished draft of his book
before it was sent to the publisher.
Still, whatever little objectivity I have left says this is a great book. I
devoured the draft copy in about two readings, reliving the long-forgotten
exploits of wrestlers I watched in my youth.
The final version, the one which went on sale last Thursday, is laid out in
an easy-to-read format, chock full of pictures and just as good a read as the
plain-paper draft I saw last fall.
The book is organized both chronologically and by subject, going through
the last two decades of wrestling history while stopping from time to time to
focus on some of the biggest and most influential names to have entered the
squared circle, like Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Bret Hart and Steve Austin.
But a book on who won and who lost in a fixed sport isn't particularly
interesting until you know why a particular wrestler won or lost, and that's
where Buzz truly shines. Keith brings the reader behind the scenes, where the
real battles take place. For what goes on in the dressing room and booking
meetings is far more important than the scripted matches played out night
after night in front of the paying audience.
Like the time Ric Flair, recognized as the world champion by the
Atlanta-based World Championship Wrestling, was pinned in Japan by Tatsumi
Fujinami in a title match. By the long-established "rules" of pro wrestling,
Fujinami should have been the WCW champion.
But WCW didn't recognize the title change for political reasons you'll have
to buy the book to read about (it's too long and complicated to get into
here).
Or the infamous Montreal double-cross, where Vince McMahon, head of the
World Wrestling Federation, took his world title belt off Canadian hero Bret
Hart in a match where Bret thought he was going to keep the belt. In a
nutshell, Bret was leaving for rival WCW, and McMahon was scared he was going
to show up on WCW's TV show with the WWF title belt. To prevent that from
happening, McMahon changed the outcome of the match - and never told Bret.
Even for a wrestling match, it was "fixed."
COMPLICATED BACKSTAGE POWER STRUGGLES
When discussing one of these complicated backstage political power
struggles manifesting itself in a bizarre in-ring outcome, Keith notes in the
book that "Stuff like this happens all the time in wrestling, and it's best
not to dwell on it too long."
Though re-reading Buzz last week, it was impossible not to dwell on that
kind of thing for too long, as the book demonstrates a wrestler's destiny is
more likely to be determined by who his friends are in the dressing room and
whether he's chummy with the guy writing the scripts than whether the fans buy
his T-shirts and chant his name while he wrestles.
There have been a lot of quick-and-dirty books put out in the last couple
of years by publishers hoping to capitalize on the popularity of pro
wrestling. But none can hold a candle to The Buzz on Professional Wrestling,
the best book of its kind on the market today.
At the moment, The Buzz on Professional Wrestling can be ordered in Canada
through Amazon.com, though Keith tells me Chapters will soon be offering it as
a special-order item for Canadian customers.
Not one to rest on his laurels, Keith is already working on a book
specifically about the WWF. It's expected to be published early next year.
NOTE: We'll have a review of the book later this week on SLAM! Wrestling.
