It occurred to me that $3.99 is probably a bit too high for an e-book so therefore, all of the 24 e-books I’ve written are now available for $2.99 each (the lowest amount I’m allowed to sell them for). That will be the case for any I release going forward.
Here’s my Amazon author page with all the options I have available at the moment, including both paperbacks and e-books:
As you probably know, I write news stories for Wrestlingrumors.net (check them out if you haven’t already). Yesterday I put up a story about Titus O’Neil’s TED Talk, which was posted online. The Tweet that Wrestlingrumors put out with my article in it was liked by Titus and quoted/commented on by Randy Orton.
So the other night, someone left me a comment (politely) saying that my older reviews were better/more entertaining than the current ones. I tend to agree with this, but I’m not entirely sure how to fix it. I know I used to get more annoyed and angry at a lot of the stuff back in the day but that’s not something I can just turn back on. My life is a lot better than it used to be but more importantly, so much of wrestling today feels more bland than stupid and anger inducing.
On top of that, I now do live coverage for almost every show, which takes away the amount of time I have to really go into detail and such (notice that in the reviews of older shows, the details/annoyances are at a bit of a higher pace). At the end of the day, the live coverage style is what has me paying my bills and actually doing this for a living so I can’t change much of that.
Now all that being said, the last thing I want to be is boring/dull. Therefore, I thought I’d ask my loyal readers (who I certainly appreciate and whose opinions matter more than most anyone else as you’re the ones who stick with me) what they think I should change/what they want to see more/less of. I’m not saying I’ll make the changes (some stuff I have to do for the sake of finances) but I can always use input like this.
So what would make things more entertaining for you here? More of a certain kind of show? Less of something? More opinion stuff? More anger/annoyances? More analytical style? Anything really. I’m typically just going off what I’ve done in the past so I’d like to know what you would like to see. Like I said, I can’t guarantee that I’ll do/not do some of them but I can always go for some (hopefully constructive) criticism.
Go for it.
KB
Quick Note on Comments
For some reason the comments aren’t working properly and I’m not getting notifications when there’s a new one. I can still see them all but if I’m a bit slower replying to them, please bear with me as I have to go and check if something is there instead of being told it’s there. This has happened before and it fixed itself so it should be fine in time.
History of Saturday Night’s Main Event and Clash of the Champions Now in Paperback, Plus Price Drops
Before we get to these new ones, a quick update: I’ve lowered the prices on all of the books. I was looking at them the other day and the prices were just too high. I probably wouldn’t pay that much for them and I have no idea why anyone else should be expected to either. Each one has been lowered by at least a dollar and some far more than that. The British prices have been lowered as well.
You can check them out, with the new prices, by clicking on any of the following:
If you’re a wrestling fan, odds are you’re familiar with these two series. They’re some of the most important wrestling shows in history and for vastly different reasons. While Saturday Night’s Main Event offered a chance for the masses to see the WWF on a major TV network, Clash of the Champions went the other way and offered pay per view caliber matches on TBS.
In these books I’ve gone back and looked at every episode of both series to see why each one worked (and didn’t work) in their own ways. There were thirty five Clash of the Champions specials and thirty six Saturday Night’s Main Events, though I’ve thrown in the five Main Event specials as a bonus. Each show is broken down match by match and segment by segment with context, play by play and analysis.
Both are ready to go from Amazon in full paperback form. They’re both priced at $9.99 each and are available worldwide (only in English) from any country’s Amazon page. Here are the links for the US and UK versions.
I hope you like these and please shoot me any questions you may have.
KB
Back on the Positively Pro Wrestling Podcast
I really like this show as the host is a very nice guy and you can tell he knows what he’s talking about. I’m on here for about half an hour, starting around the 17:00 minute mark. Check out the whole show though with some cool wrestling stories.
Went to WrestleCon and Met over 120 Wrestlers
For those of you who aren’t familiar, WrestleCon is kind of like Axxess on a budget with everyone running their own booth. The key differences though are you have a TON of indy wrestlers, plus dozens of legends. You pay a flat rate to get in () and then each autograph and picture you want is an additional charge (I think the most I saw for a regular guest was but most are less than half of that). For the sake of finances, I only paid for a handful of pictures.
Some of these are people I’ve been wanting to meet for as long as I can remember so these are a pretty big deal for me.
Booker T.:
Some of the biggest hands I’ve ever seen, and I have some big ones myself.
Demolition:
Every bit as intimidating as you would expect. I said they were one of my favorites when I was a kid. Ax: “WHAT DO YOU MEAN WERE? WE BETTER STILL BE!” He smiled after.
Jerry Lawler:
Probably the nicest guy I met. Very friendly and talked for probably a good three minutes about baseball, my hometown being an old stop for him and UK basketball. I even got to wear the crown. Lawler is every bit as friendly and quick witted as he comes off on TV and he was a blast to talk to. On a random note, Lawler was doing a podcast later that day with Cleveland Indians closer Chris Perez, who was there with him. I’m a lifelong Indians fan so this was a major bonus.
Vader:
This was overcoming a childhood fear. Vader beat Sting. No one could beat Sting!
Lita:
The camera doesn’t do her justice. I know she was hot when she was wrestling but my goodness she’s aged very well. Absolutely stunning and one of those people who kinds of oozes sexiness if that makes sense. On a side note, her handler was a horrible jerk. Lita was signing and the line was a bit long so I asked how long she would be signing. He glares at me and says he doesn’t know (that’s a pretty important thing to be missing). Then when I was paying, he literally snatched the money out of my hand. None of the others were like that all day so it’s not like it can’t be done.
Speaking of the camera not doing justice, here’s what I saw when I left Lawler:
That would be Brooke Tessmacher, Kelly Kelly, Christy Hemme and Candace Michelle. Kelly has some of the most hypnotizing eyes you’ll ever see and again, the camera does not do her justice. The other three are gorgeous but Kelly was just on another level.
And finally, Tito Santana:
My all time favorite midcarder and, before New Day, the original Kofi Kingston. Very nice guy.
Those are just the ones I took pictures with. In addition to those, I said hi to/chatted with the following. Most of these are just a handshake/”nice to meet you” so I’ll just list the name unless there was anything of note. These are in no particular order:
Bobby Heenan (This was sad as he’s in horrible health and can’t close his mouth. It was actually hard to shake his hand.)
Stan Hansen (Talked to him a bit about growing to appreciate his work a bit more. He seemed pleased that someone younger was taking the time to do so.)
Drew Galloway (As lame as it might sound, I talked to him about Mustang Sally for a bit. I know this place isn’t the most close knit group in the world, but whenever I see Drew, she comes to my mind. We also talked about his match the previous night (recap coming) and apparently a lot of people loved it, myself included. He seemed really happy to have entertained that many people. How this guy isn’t WWE Champion I have no idea. He’s WAY taller than I am (about 5’11) too as I was looking up at him.)
Lex Luger
Tully Blanchard (One of the first guys I talked to. Blanchard: “Well you start with the best.”)
D’Lo Brown (He was all over the place today, saying hi to almost anyone he could.)
J.J. Dillon
Lashley (VERY nice guy and I talked to him for a few minutes. I even got to pick up the TNA World Title and it actually took two hands. That thing is WAY heavier than it looks.)
Scott Hall (Long line so just a quick handshake and Too Sweet.)
Ken Shamrock (Nicer than you would expect.)
Rob Van Dam (Very nice, talked to him about seeing him win the Intercontinental Title, which I said was one of the best matches of the night. That seemed to really make him smile so it seems that he’s glad he gets to entertain people.)
Abyss (Nice guy again. Told him that he and AJ had my favorite TNA match ever, which he said was his favorite too (Lockdown 2005).)
Kevin Nash (Again, just a quick Too Sweet as the line was long.)
Slick
Brutus Beefcake
Barry Windham
Shelton Benjamin
Billy Gunn (Found out I wasn’t buying and barely acknowledged me.)
Honky Tonk Man (Found out I wasn’t buying and sneered at me while shaking my hand. Probably the biggest jerk there.)
Luke Williams (Bushwhackers) (I said he had licked my face as a kid and he seemed to act like that was the weirdest comment ever.)
Winter (Gorgeous.)
Laurel Van Ness
Ivelisse (Those eyes man. Just…..dang.)
Thea Trinidad (Barely staying in her top.)
Karlee Perez (Catrina/Maxine) (Gorgeous, built, knew how to dress. That’s as nicely as I can put it.)
Melissa Santos (Funny, looks much better in person and you can hear the announcer in her.)
Taeler Hendrix (That is some pale skin and again, barely staying in her top. I know it might not sound great but I’ve seen swimsuits that showed less.)
Fred Ottman (Tugboat) (Nice guy.)
Christy Hemme (Same as Lita/Kelly: You can feel the energy coming off of her.)
Wade Barrett (Tall, very polite, seemed to be having a great time.)
Steve Lombardi (I said I had watched him lose for years and he said “You mean watching me make money all those years?” Very positive guy and seemed to know what he was in wrestling, which is rare.)
Ryback
Velvet Sky (Again, camera doesn’t do her justice.)
Raquel (BroMans manager for a few weeks) (Looked outstanding.)
Mil Muertes
Wild Samoans
Lillian Garcia (There is no way she’s 50. Like, I don’t believe it’s possible. She seemed touched when I praised her National Anthem performances.)
Torrie Wilson (Got to give her a quick hug. Still looks great.)
Raven (A lot calmer than you would expect. We talked about his podcast for a bit and I asked about the golf cart story at Wrestlemania XVII, which he says is true.)
Ethan Carter III (Funny guy.)
Steiner Brothers (Scott is WAY smaller than he used to be. He’s probably lost 50-60lbs and is downright slim.)
Eugene (Trying to sell a lot until I mentioned I was from Lexington and then had a nice chat about his family being from there.)
One Man Gang (Nicer than you would expect.)
Lisa Marie Varon (Victoria/Tara)
Gary Michael Cappeta (Ring announcers fascinate me for some reason and he was another nice guy.)
Noelle Foley (I know some people say she looks a bit odd at times but she can fill the heck out of a tight black dress. I mentioned that her dad was my all time favorite and she gave me this somewhat surprised look and said he was her favorite too. So she’s got a sense of humor.)
Teddy Long (Very polite and seemed to be having a blast.)
Jack Swagger (Incredibly nice, had a quick chat with him about his ECW run. WAY taller in person, which he says he gets a lot.)
Rock N Roll Express (Their line was almost empty for some reason. You would think they would be a hot ticket right now.)
Sinister Minister
Bill Apter (Asked my name and thanked me for coming out after a chat about his book, which is worth reading.)
Abdullah the Butcher
Al Perez
Al Snow
Aron Rex (Nice guy.)
Bill Alfonso
Brian Blair
Brian Knobbs (Says he’s lost 50lbs and looks like he has.)
Bruce Prichard
Bully Ray (KB: “I met you before at a TNA show.” Bully: “I’m sorry that it sucked.” KB: “You were World Champion at the time.” Bully: “That’s the only part that didn’t suck.”.)
Chavo Guerrero Jr. (Talked with him about his team with Eddie, which he seemed very proud of. Nice guy and much more fun to talk to than I was expecting.)
Cisco (Lucha Underground)
Dink
Dan Severn (Not really a fan but came off as one of the most well spoken there.)
Duane Gill (Gillberg)
Gail Kim (I know she gets on my nerves but DANG she is a beautiful woman in person.)
Gangrel
Harry Smith (The hardest handshake I’ve ever felt by a mile.)
Jake Roberts (Much friendlier than last year at Axxess)
James Storm
Jeff Jarrett (Told him I was from Lexington, which was an old USWA town. He smiled quite a bit.)
John Hennigan (Very cool. He said he and Miz were talking the other day about Miz’s promos about Cena, which were basically the old Dirt Sheet bits. Had a good time talking to him.)
Jim Brunzell
Jim Neidhart
Justin Roberts
Ken Anderson
Kevin Thorn (Talked to him about his OVW days, which seemed to be a good topic for him.)
Marc Mero
Mascarita Dorada (El Torito)
Virgil (Actually really nice.)
MVP
Molly Holly
Pete Gas
Rachel Ellering
Glacier
Rene Dupree
Samuel Shaw
Eddie Edwards
Davey Richards
Rockstar Spud (Talked to him about his match with Bully Ray vs. Austin Aries/Bobby Roode, which is the funniest match I’ve ever seen. He seemed very pleased and was another very nice, humble guy, which I’ve often heard about him.)
Rocky Johnson
Sabu
Sam Houston
Hurricane
Shelley Martinez (Not exactly able to rock the sexy outfits anymore.)
Stevie Ray (With Booker. Has some massive arms.)
Stevie Richards (For you Lee.)
Taya Valkerie (Talked about her stuff from the WrestleCon Supershow. Very nice.)
Tommy Dreamer
Tony Atlas (Thought he was being rude but it turned out he didn’t see me. We talked about the Wrestlemania II battle royal, which he seemed to have very fond memories of.)
Vickie Guerrero
That’s 120 wrestlers in four hours. By comparison, I’ve been to 4 Axxess sessions and might have met 20 people. The names might not be as huge (Ric Flair, Sting, Edge and Christian were at this show too) and the memorabilia might not be there but there are major, major names to meet at a reasonable price. Check this out if you go to Wrestlemania in the future. I’ll be going every single time as it’s a total blast.
So This Happened
I’ll never top this as a wrestling fan. Ever.
Signed 30 years to the day.
Taken while a Hart Foundation match with Jimmy managing was playing on a TV just over my left shoulder. He seemed rather excited.
Greetings From Orlando
So in case I forgot to mention it, I’m back at Wrestlemania this year but since the wife is visiting family, I can go to WAY more stuff than I did last year. On the schedule this year:
Minimum of 3 signings (might be four depending on time)
Two indy shows
Axxess
Wrestlecon
Takeover
Wrestlemania
Raw
Smackdown
Therefore, as you might expect, the regular shows will be a bit late. Smackdown will be up tomorrow, assuming I don’t go to the Orlando Magic game. I’ll have my live reports up as soon as I can as well.
KB
KB’s History of NXT Volumes 1 and 2 Now Available in Paperback
I don’t think I’d be going too far to suggest that NXT is one of the most entertaining and well received promotions to come along in years. Now it gets its own spot on Wrestlemania weekend and feels like a genuine alternative to the main roster. But how exactly did we get here?
In these books, I take a look back at the history of NXT from its debut at Full Sail University in June 2012 to the debut on the WWE Network (Volume I) and from the Arrival special all the way through Takeover: Dallas (Volume II), looking at 190 episodes of NXT plus all ten live specials. Each show is broken down match by match and segment by segment with context, play by play and analysis.
Both are ready to go from Amazon and are full on paperbacks. Volume I runs $9.99 (£ 8.99) and Volume II runs $12.99 (£ 10.99). They are available worldwide (only in English) from any country’s Amazon page but here are the US and UK links:
