Tonight...in This Very Ring: A Fan's History of Professional Wrestling

by Scott Keith

An unprecedented look at this bizarre world of professional wrestling and the characters who inhabit it, offering a fan's history of the world's most fascinating sports entertainment form. Not the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0806524375
• ISBN13: 9780806524375
• Release Date: November 2002
• Publisher: Citadel Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 8.5" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

Awesome Jaded Re-cap of the Recent History of the WWE

Infamous `Net Columnist Scott Keith takes us on a great ride through history with his take on the WWE's past, present and foreseeable future.THE AUTHOR:Scott Keith has long been on the forefront of the Internet wrestling scene with his opinionated and controversial recaps and coverage of wrestling events. His first book "The Buzz on Pro-Wrestling" was released to mixed reviews in 2001. His follow-up book, "Tonight In This Very Ring" shows marked improvement from the first effort.THE BOOK:Keith starts off with a very quick intro into the history of the business and the founding of the WWF and its early years. The vast majority of the book covers the recent history of the WWE from their doldrums of the mid-90s through the late 90s boom period before wrapping up with the events of the past year. In it he discusses not only the events we saw as fans on TV but also a lot of the "behind-the-scenes" real-life stories about the talent and much of the backstage turmoil that went on. In between Keith also highlights many of the key matches that took place over the years by including many of his infamous "Smark Rant" match reviews.THE COOL STUFF:Keith's writing style is easily described as either "you love it, or you hate it." You'll either find the biting sarcasm hilariously funny or you'll find it pompous. What I personally enjoyed about this book was Keith's comparison of the WWE story to other literary works or historical events. For example, his equating of the WWE doldrum years to both the King Lear story (McMahon's burial of the loyal Bret Hart to the "less-than" sincere Shawn Michaels and Kevin Nash) as well the Biblical story of Lazarus (their rise from the Doldrums to the Heights of the Attitude Era boom period) was pure genius.THE CRITIQUE:Admittedly, much of the material in the book (like his Match Rants and other remarks) can be found in the collected writings on his website so many long-time Keith readers have already heard a "good portion" of what he has to say in this book. So, if you are a Keith reader don't be surprised if a lot of what you are reading sounds familiar.THE VERDICT:Overall, "Tonight In This Very Ring" is a great collection of the WWE's history as seen through the eyes of one of its fans (not matter how jaded). If you are a fan of WWE you'll appreciate seeing the Fed through Keith's unique point-of-view, whether or not you agree with his take. If you are a Keith fan then you definitely want to pick this up. If you are not, then by all means take a pass.Highly Recommended

AWESOME

...it is the best wrestling book I've ever seen. All the others dont compare to this book. It the most honest and complete book out there. So if you are new to the wrestling world (I've been watching it for 13 years) and dont know much about the history of the WWE, and you wanna know it all, this is the book you need. I mean, it's a great read even if you have been following the sport for 50 years. Every fan of pro wrestling should check it out if nothing else...

A must read!!

Scott Keith is the most entertaining writer about wrestling in the world--a true master of the recapping genre. This book is basically his unique perspective on the rise and fall and rise and fall of the WWF/E. He does a great job giving the skinny on the major players and storylines and makes some damn funny jokes about HHH's hair. He's also very frank about certain aspects of the business that usually aren't talked about, cough, cough, steroids, cough, cough.A great companion piece to Shaun Assael's narrative history of the business, SEX, LIES and HEADLOCKS, this book is simply a must own for any fan. Cue Nigel Tufnel: "and it makes a great gift, too!"

The Best Synopsis of Modern Wrestling History Possible

Scott Keith has done the impossible. He's managed to take some of the darkest times in the history of professional wrestling and make them entertaining. For those not familiar with his work, "NetCop" Scott Keith is a Canadian critic and author who has written extensively on professional wrestling for a number of years, including his "The Buzz on Pro Wrestling". Keith is a knowledgable historian, a shrewd critic, and engaging read. High recommendation to both the wrestling fanatic and the wrestling neophyte alike.