Ring of Hell
Matthew Randazzo V
Phoenix Books
May 2008
278 pp
$25.95

Almost a year ago, the murders of Nancy Benoit and her son Daniel by former professional wrestling champion Christopher Michael Benoit, left families, friends and fans in absolute shock and still asking “Why, Chris why?”

Benoit, born in Montreal, was a quiet, shy and extremely obedient employee for any wrestling company he worked for. His many peers and ex-wife saw him before and after his untimely death as one of the greatest human beings they’d ever met.

Matthew Randazzo V’s novel, Ring of Hell: The Story of Chris Benoit & The Fall of the Pro Wrestling Industry, chronicles the story of Benoit as an eager young man who abused steroids and painkillers in order to survive in pro wrestling. We learn that he first started using drugs at the age of 16 in order to compensate for his lack of size.

That Benoit’s brain had been damaged to the level of an 85-year-old man’s by the time of his death shows not only the brutality of the sport but also the gradual effects of Benoit’s steroid abuse.

By focusing in on role model figures, pro wrestling trainers and wrestling friends that died from drug abuse, we are given a better understanding of the kind of world Benoit came to emulate. The wrestler he grew up idolizing, Tom Billington (aka The Dynamite Kid) was a loner and bully to anyone who rubbed him the wrong way. Billington took great pleasure in terrorizing people and did so many times over. Benoit in many ways followed in Billington’s footsteps, emulating his moves, his abuse of drugs and his attitude towards rookie wrestlers. Unlike Billington, Benoit was highly respected due to his strong work ethic and his obvious dedication to the wrestling profession.

How Benoit and Nancy fell in love and broke away from their first marriages is simply bizarre. Nancy’s ex-husband and pro wrestler Kevin Sullivan tried to push a wrestling storyline that they were cheating on their spouses by forcing them to spend time together. Eventually, Sullivan’s abusive relationship with Nancy simply served to make the storyline real.

Randazzo, a crime writer, did his homework when it came to past wrestling autobiographies, as there are quite a few excerpts from them. Randazzo also was able to get quite a few former writers for World Wrestling Entertainment to give their two cents on some of the horror stories they’d witnessed first hand. The story of how Paul Levesque, aka HHH, and his wife Stephanie McMahon worked against Benoit are appalling as both still have considerable control in the WWE.

Randazzo comes up short in providing names for his sources, which doesn’t always bode well for their credibility—one of his sources he simply refers to as a ‘friend.’ Randazzo makes a few erstwhile assumptions and attempts to get inside Benoit’s head during his early steroid days and the week of the murders, something that no one could possibly know except Benoit himself. But for Randazzo to declare the “fall of the pro wrestling industry,” as he does in the title, is weird considering the WWE is coming off one of its best years in terms of revenue. The negative and at times slanted views of the pro wrestling industry are highly exposed in Ring of Hell. Wrestling fans that keep up with Internet wrestling news might have already heard most of the stories or a slightly different variation of them. Benoit fans will hate how the novel blames him for getting involved in the crooked side of wrestling. For wrestling fans new to the sport, and for people interested in a broad view of Benoit’s life, you can’t go wrong with Ring of Hell. But don’t be surprised if you never look at wrestling the same way again.

Adventures in Larryland
Larry Zbyszko
ECW Press
May 2008
240 pp
$12.99

Larry Zbyszko is known in the professional wrestling world as a great villain, a jerk, a backstabber, selfish and a familiar voice on World Championship Wrestling television programming.

Zbyszko's biography, Adventures in Larryland takes the reader on a trip through the highlights of Zbyszko's three decades in pro wrestling, minus the bad stuff. His wrestling idol, Bruno Sammartino, plays a huge role in the beginning of the book-Zbyszko starts off stalking him and the two end up feuding for the cameras.

Zbyszko tells about how in the 1970s wrestling was considered real to the general public and that outsiders needed to be dealt with in order to keep the secret alive. This resulted in wrestlers seriously injuring wannabes. Zbyszko was so hated by the fans for turning on his hero that fans would chant “Larry sucks!” One fan went farther, stabbing him in the right butt cheek four inches deep.

Zbyszko tells his side of his World Wide Wrestling Federation career and holds nothing back when talking about his dealings with the McMahon family. Zbyszko had his ups and downs with Vince McMahon Senior, but when it comes to Vince Junior he recalls a conniving crybaby who always started off conversations with maniacal-not to mention moronic-laughter. Zbyszko also takes credit for helping Hulk Hogan change from a jobber to one day becoming a wrestling god with Hulkamania.

Following his scandalous departure from WWF, Zbyszko found success in WCW and the American Wrestling Association. In the AWA Zbyszko became a world heavyweight champion for the first and only time-with the title victory he finally got to live out his life-long dream.

In retirement, Zbyszko found more success-he became an employee of Ted Turner's, working as part of Turner Broadcasting. Zbyszko ended up creating a whole new fan base as a commentator and was paid handsomely for his opinion. Zbyszko came out of retirement twice and managed to get on two WCW pay-per-views with some of their highest recorded buy rates.

The road stories that Zbyszko puts in the book are at times funny and emotionally charged. From being a pilot in a plane that was about to crash, to making fun of young wrestlers for using too many clotheslines, wrestling fans get to read about the “New Living Legend” in a whole new light.

Zbyszko's belief in standing by his booking commitments is somewhat hypocritical-he threatened to miss wrestling shows since he thought he should be WWWF champion and paid more, but when AWA champion Jerry Lawler was not paid by AWA, Zbyszko criticizes Lawler stating that it was “the most unprofessional act in the business.”

For fans wanting to read about Lawrence Whistler, the real-life Zbyszko, you're out of luck. Zbyszko keeps his private life to a bare minimum-Zbyszko's real name is only mentioned on the back of the book. Wrestling fans that do not like to read long books are in luck-Zbyszko kept it under 200 pages and keeps chapters short. His opinions on love in wrestling is a mere sentence. Overall, the biography is a unique perspective from a Polish émigré who battled tough wrestling politicians and came out alive.