Ringmaster
Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America
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Narrated by:
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Alyss Weissglass
About this listen
This definitive biography of Vince McMahon, former WWE chairman and CEO, is “riveting, essential reading” (Rick Perlstein, New York Times bestselling author) as it charts his rise from rural poverty to the throne of one of the world’s most influential media empires. Featuring exclusive interviews with more than 150 people who witnessed, aided, and suffered from his ascent.
Even if you’ve never watched a minute of professional wrestling, you are living in Vince McMahon’s world.
In his four decades as the defining figure of American pro wrestling, McMahon was the man behind Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, John Cena, Dave Bautista, Bret “The Hitman” Hart, and Hulk Hogan, to name just a few of the mega-stars who owe him their careers. For more than twenty-five years, he has also been a performer in his own show, acting as the diabolical “Mr. McMahon”—a figure who may have more in common with the real Vince than he would care to admit.
Just as importantly, McMahon is one of Donald Trump’s closest friends—and Trump’s experiences as a performer in McMahon’s programming were, in many ways, a dress rehearsal for the 45th President’s campaigns and presidency. McMahon and his wife, Linda, are major Republican donors. Linda was in Trump’s cabinet. McMahon makes deals with the Saudi government worth hundreds of millions of dollars. And for generations of people who have watched wrestling, he has been a defining cultural force and has helped foment “the worst of contemporary politics” (Kirkus Reviews).
Ringmaster built on exclusive interviews with more than 150 people, from McMahon’s childhood friends to those who accuse him of destroying their lives. “Smart, entertaining, impressively reported, and beautifully written. Wrestling fans will devour it, but everyone who wants to better understand this crazy country and one of its truly original characters ought to read it” (Jonathan Eig, author of Ali: A Life).
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Straight Shooter
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- By: Stephen A. Smith
- Narrated by: Stephen A. Smith
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Stephen A. Smith has never been handed anything, nor was he an overnight success. Growing up poor in Queens, the son of Caribbean immigrants and the youngest of six children, he was a sports-obsessed kid who faced struggles, from undiagnosed dyslexia to getting enough cereal to fill his bowl. As a basketball player at Winston-Salem State University, he got a glimmer of his true calling when he wrote a newspaper column arguing for the retirement of his own Hall of Fame coach, Clarence Gaines.
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Trash🗑
- By Maurice Davis on 01-25-23
By: Stephen A. Smith
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Talking to Canadians
- A Memoir
- By: Rick Mercer
- Narrated by: Rick Mercer
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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What is Rick Mercer going to do now? That was the question on everyone's lips when the beloved comedian retired his hugely successful TV show after 15 seasons - and at the peak of its popularity. The answer came not long after, when he roared back in a new role as stand-up-comedian, playing to sold-out houses wherever he appeared. And then COVID-19 struck. And his legions of fans began asking again: What is Rick Mercer going to do now? Well, for one thing, he's been writing a comic masterpiece.
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Mercer Killed and He Will Kill Again
- By Quinn M on 11-28-22
By: Rick Mercer
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Will
- By: Will Smith, Mark Manson
- Narrated by: Will Smith
- Length: 16 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
One of the most dynamic and globally recognized entertainment forces of our time opens up fully about his life, in a brave and inspiring book that traces his learning curve to a place where outer success, inner happiness, and human connection are aligned. Along the way, Will tells the story in full of one of the most amazing rides through the worlds of music and film that anyone has ever had.
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Will sure loves Will
- By Kejeco on 11-18-21
By: Will Smith, and others
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Chasing the Light
- Writing, Directing, and Surviving Platoon, Midnight Express, Scarface, Salvador, and the Movie Game
- By: Oliver Stone
- Narrated by: Oliver Stone
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
An intimate memoir by the controversial, Oscar-winning director and screenwriter about his rarefied New York childhood, volunteering for combat, and his struggles and triumphs making such films as Platoon, Midnight Express, and Scarface.
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Impressive
- By Merle O. Tanner on 10-07-20
By: Oliver Stone
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Sound and Fury
- Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship
- By: Dave Kindred
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Muhammed Ali and Howard Cosell, a legendary athlete and a television icon, were individually interesting, but together they were mesmerizing. They were profoundly different, young and old, black and white, a Muslim and a Jew, Ali barely literate, Cosell an editor of his university's law review. Yet they had in common forces that made them unforgettable: both were unprecedented performers who covered enormous insecurities by demanding, loudly and often, public acclaim.
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Great insight into Ali & Cosell
- By Steve on 05-04-06
By: Dave Kindred
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Homey Don't Play That!
- The Story of In Living Color and the Black Comedy Revolution
- By: David Peisner
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Few television shows revolutionized comedy as profoundly or have had such an enormous and continued impact on our culture as In Living Color. Inspired by Richard Pryor, Carol Burnett, and Eddie Murphy, Keenen Ivory Wayans created a television series unlike any that had come before it. In Living Color shaped American culture in ways both seen and unseen. Now, Homey Don't Play That! reveals the complete, captivating story of how In Living Color overcame enormous odds to become a major, zeitgeist-seizing hit.
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Wow, that sucked......
- By Just W on 10-11-18
By: David Peisner
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Audience of One
- Television, Donald Trump, and the Politics of Illusion
- By: James Poniewozik
- Narrated by: Matthew Josdal
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the tradition of Neil Postman's masterpiece Amusing Ourselves to Death, Audience of One shows how American media have shaped American society and politics, by interweaving two crucial stories. The first story follows the evolution of television from the three-network era of the 20th century, which joined millions of Americans in a shared monoculture, into today's zillion-channel, internet-atomized universe, which sliced and diced them into fractious, alienated subcultures. The second story is a cultural critique of Donald Trump.
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Enlightening, insightful, terrifying.
- By L Watson on 09-22-19
By: James Poniewozik
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Best. Movie. Year. Ever.
- How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen
- By: Brian Raftery
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From a veteran culture writer and modern movie expert, a celebration and analysis of the movies of 1999 - arguably the most groundbreaking year in American cinematic history.
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Like talking about movies with a friend
- By Shawn Inmon on 05-30-19
By: Brian Raftery
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The Simpsons
- An Uncensored, Unauthorized History
- By: John Ortved
- Narrated by: John Allen Nelson, Justine Eyre
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
John Ortved's oral history is the first-ever look behind the scenes at the creation and day-to-day running of the television phenomenon known as The Simpsons, as told by many of the people who produce it.
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Great Content, Awful Reading
- By JH Easton on 03-13-11
By: John Ortved
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Dynomite!
- Good Times, Bad Times…Our Times - A Memoir
- By: Jimmie Walker, Sal Manna
- Narrated by: Jimmie Walker
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
>Born into the violence of South Bronx ghetto life, the comic pioneer of TV’s Good Times fame offers a hilarious and politically charged review of his career as one of television’s first hugely successful Black stars. From opening for the Black Panthers and getting his first Tonight Show spot to becoming the first “Black” TV sitcom star, having comedians David Letterman and Jay Leno writing jokes for him, recording number-one comedy albums, and opening for rock n’ roll bands in 50,000 seat stadiums, Walker’s career hit all the highs.
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An transparent story of a socially but funny American icon.
- By John Lucasey on 05-08-21
By: Jimmie Walker, and others
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What It Takes
- The Way to the White House
- By: Richard Ben Cramer
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 54 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
An American Iliad in the guise of contemporary political reportage, What It Takes penetrates the mystery at the heart of all presidential campaigns: How do presumably ordinary people acquire that mixture of ambition, stamina, and pure shamelessness that makes a true candidate? As he recounts the frenzied course of the 1988 presidential race, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Richard Ben Cramer comes up with the answers, in a book that is vast, exhaustively researched, exhilarating, and sometimes appalling in its revelations.
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Great political book
- By Hebern on 09-11-20
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The Comedians
- Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels and the History of American Comedy
- By: Kliph Nesteroff
- Narrated by: Kliph Nesteroff
- Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In The Comedians, comedy historian Kliph Nesteroff brings to life a century of American comedy with real-life characters, forgotten stars, mainstream heroes and counterculture iconoclasts. Based on over 200 original interviews and extensive archival research, Nesteroff's groundbreaking work is a narrative exploration of the way comedians have reflected, shaped, and changed American culture over the past 100 years.
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Performance issues
- By E. A. Smith on 09-02-19
By: Kliph Nesteroff
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Seven Dirty Words
- The Life and Crimes of George Carlin
- By: James Sullivan
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In Seven Dirty Words, journalist and cultural critic James Sullivan tells the story of Alternative America from the 1950s to the present, from the singular vantage point of George Carlin, the Catholic boy for whom nothing was sacred.
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Carlin's CV with no Depth or Insight
- By Dubi on 01-23-14
By: James Sullivan
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How to Save a Life
- The Inside Story of Grey’s Anatomy
- By: Lynette Rice
- Narrated by: Kate Mulligan
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
More than 15 years after its premiere, Grey’s Anatomy remains one of the most beloved dramas on television and ABC’s most important property. It typically wins its time slot and has ranked in the top 20 most watched shows in primetime for most of its 17-season run. It currently averages more than nine million viewers each week. How to Save a Life takes a totally unauthorized deep dive into the show’s humble start, while offering exclusive intel on the behind-the-scenes culture, the most heartbreaking departures, and the more polarizing plotlines.
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Perfect for fans
- By Pink Amy on 09-23-21
By: Lynette Rice
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Nitro is a story about much more than WCW and the Monday Night Wars. It is a story of an era, a time in which the media and cultural landscape precipitated - and later supported - pro wrestling's mainstream popularity. It is a story of how a company made in the image of an intuitively brilliant risk-taker betrayed its original promise. It is a story of how a handful of men, each struggling with their own limitations, facilitated a public obsession that changed television forever.
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way better than the death of wcw
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Business Is About to Pick Up!
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For wrestling fans, Jim Ross’ voice is the soundtrack of an era. This book is your ringside ticket to wrestling’s most unforgettable moments—from the announcer who made them iconic. In the last 50 years, professional wrestling has risen up from a collection of regional territories to become a global phenomenon—and Jim Ross has been there for it all. From the grit and glory days of the 1970s with NWA, to the rise of WCW and the heyday of WWF and WWE, to signing on as on-air talent and senior advisor for wrestling’s newest chapter at AEW, Jim Ross has long had the best seat in the house.
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White meat babyface from Norman OK
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Kayfabe: Stories You're Not Supposed to Hear from a Pro Wrestling Production Company Owner
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BEHIND THE SCENES GALOUR
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We Promised You a Great Main Event
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Nitro
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Death of the Territories
- Expansion, Betrayal and the War That Changed Pro Wrestling Forever
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By creating WrestleMania, jumping into the pay-per-view field, and expanding across North America, Vince McMahon changed professional wrestling forever.
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An Enjoyable Listen
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Macho Man
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- By: Jon Finkel
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Macho Man: The Untamed, Unbelievable Life of Randy Savage is the sensational, definitive biography of the WrestleMania headlining, Spider-Man fighting, Slim Jim snapping, minor league baseball playing American original: Randy Savage. Savage, a WWE wrestling hall of famer, was an A-list celebrity who sat atop the entertainment universe for much of the '80s and '90s. His outfits were as flamboyant as anything worn by Liberace, Elton John, or Prince. His charisma surpassed Hulk Hogan's and is rivaled only by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock.
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Fantastic story!!
- By Tasha on 09-18-24
By: Jon Finkel
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The Last Real World Champion
- The Legacy of "Nature Boy" Ric Flair
- By: Tim Hornbaker
- Narrated by: Joe Hempel
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
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Overall
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Story
For more than a century, professional wrestling has cultivated some of the most eccentric and compelling personalities. As the embodiment of flamboyance and intensity, the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair stood at wrestling's apex for decades, cementing his place as a once-in-a-lifetime athlete and performer. When he was in the ring, fans knew they were witnessing the very best, and he not only became a multi-time world heavyweight champion in the NWA, WCW, and the WWE, but his status as a generational great has been confirmed with inductions into numerous Halls of Fame.
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Awesome story of the GOAT, WOOOO
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By: Tim Hornbaker
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Titan Sinking: The Decline of the WWF in 1995
- By: James Dixon
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Overall
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Throughout the history of the WWF, there have been times of prosperity and times of hardship, cycles that shape the ethos of the company by forcing changes to its infrastructure and on-screen direction. The one constant throughout three decades of change is Vincent Kennedy McMahon, the stalwart puppet-master who captains the ship. Unflinching, thick-skinned, and domineering, McMahon has ultimately outlasted all of his competition and come out on top of every wrestling war he has waged. In 1995, he very nearly lost.
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Excellent Walk Down Memory Lane
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Slobberknocker
- My Life in Wrestling
- By: Jim Ross, Paul O'Brien
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Overall
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Performance
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There are few people who have been in the wrestling business longer than Jim Ross. Slobberknocker is the story of how an Oklahoman farm kid with a vivid imagination and seemingly unattainable dreams became "The Voice of Wrestling" to record TV audiences and millions of fans around the world. Jim opens up about his life as an only child on a working farm, who became obsessed with professional wrestling having first seen it on his grandparents' TV.
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Somewhat disappointed
- By Maci Hutson on 11-16-17
By: Jim Ross, and others
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Crazy Is My Superpower
- How I Triumphed by Breaking Bones, Breaking Hearts, and Breaking the Rules
- By: AJ Mendez
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Recently retired WWE superstar AJ Mendez Brooks is a powerhouse - strong, quirky, and totally confident. But that wasn’t always the case. With humor and tremendous heart, she opens up for the first time about her harrowing struggle to understand her demons and the diagnosis that helped her gain control over her life.
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Expected a wrestling book, got a lot more
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Wrestling for My Life
- The Legend, the Reality, and the Faith of a WWE Superstar
- By: Shawn Michaels, David Thomas
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As a WWE wrestler with millions of fans, Shawn Michaels had adulation and all the attention he could ask for, but he found himself longing for something more. When he became a committed Christian at the height of his career, Shawn learned what it's like to be a man of faith in a secular arena. Wrestling for My Life documents Shawn's journey to finding a new way of life - one that's marked by faith, family, and forgiveness.
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Love hearing about the other side & the relationship with God
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Earl Hebner: The Official Story
- By: Earl Hebner, Kenny Casanova
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
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Overall
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Performance
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Earl Hebner used hard work and determination to become the most recognizable officiating name in professional wrestling, if not "the greatest of all time." Starting in Virginia as ring crew, he gained the respect of Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair, going on to referee NWA's biggest events. Then, in front of 33 million fans, Earl debuted on WWF's most-watched event ever as the evil twin ref who stole Hulk Hogan's title. As WWE senior official, he played an integral part in "The Montreal Screwjob", calling an unplanned controversial finish that screwed Bret Hart out of his championship for real. ...
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The best ref writes the best book
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By: Earl Hebner, and others
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The Squared Circle
- Life, Death, and Professional Wrestling
- By: David Shoemaker
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A breakthroughexamination of professional wrestling - its history, its fans, and its widercultural impact - that does for the sport what Chuck Klosterman did for heavymetal
The Squared Circle grows out of David Shoemaker'swriting for both Deadspin, where hestarted the column "Dead Wrestler of the Week" - a feature on the many wrestlingsuperstars who died too young because of the abuse they subjected their bodiesto - and Grantland,where he covers the pro-wrestling world and its place in the pop culturemainstream. Shoemaker's sports writing has since struck a nerve withgenerations of wrestling fans who, like him, grew up worshiping a sport oftenderided as "fake" in the wider culture. To them, these professional wrestlingsuperstars are not just heroes but an emotional outlet and the lens throughwhich they learned to see the world.
Starting in the early 1900s and exploring the path of prowrestling in America through the present day, The Squared Circle is thefirst book to acknowledge both the sport's broader significance and wrestlingfans' keen intellect and sense of irony. Divided into eras, each section offersa snapshot of the wrestling world, profiles some of the period's preeminentwrestlers, and examines the sport's influence on our broader culture. Throughthe brawling, bombast, and bloodletting, Shoemaker argues that pro wrestlingcan teach us about the nature of performance, audience, and, yes, art.
Full of unknown history, humor, and self-deprecatingreminiscence - but also offering a compelling look at the sport's rightful placein pop culture - The Squared Circle is the book that legions of wrestlingfans have been waiting for. In it, Shoemaker teaches us to look past thespandex and body slams to see an art form that can explain the world.
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Good stories, bad editing
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Blood and Fire
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He was the most vicious, bloodthirsty, reviled villain in the history of the ring. During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, he drew record crowds everywhere he went and left a trail of burned and bloody opponents in his wake. But what those legions of fans screaming for his head never knew was that The Sheik was really Eddie Farhat. The son of Arab immigrants, Farhat served his country proudly in World War II and was fulfilling the American dream. When he wasn't screaming unintelligibly and attacking his enemies, he was busy being the owner and operator of World Wide Sports.
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An amazing story!
- By Drew Mac on 08-29-24
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Best Seat in the House
- Your Backstage Pass Through My WWE Journey
- By: Justin Roberts, Tommy Dreamer - foreword
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Story
Justin Roberts always dreamed of being a ring announcer at World Wrestling Entertainment. From playing with action figures of the Ultimate Warrior, the Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels, Bret Hitman Hart and Hulk Hogan to actually announcing these larger-than-life characters to the ring, Roberts lived out the dream of countless, passionate wrestling fans worldwide.
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Honest book detailing the life of a WWE performer
- By GMT.JD on 06-23-17
By: Justin Roberts, and others
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The Six Pack
- On the Open Road in Search of Wrestlemania
- By: Brad Balukjian
- Narrated by: Brad Balukjian
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2005, Brad Balukjian left his position as a magazine fact-checker to pursue a dream job: partner with his childhood hero, The Iron Sheik (whose real name was Khosrow Vaziri), to write his biography. Things quickly went south, culminating in the Sheik threatening Balukjian’s life. Now seventeen years later, Balukjian returns to the road in search of not only a reunion with the Sheik, but something much bigger: truth in a world built on illusion.
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It's OH-lee Anderson
- By James Vargas on 07-12-24
By: Brad Balukjian
What listeners say about Ringmaster
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Tom
- 04-08-23
Not what I expected or wanted.
My Confirmation Bias chose this book for me because I had long agreed with the Author’s late admitted premise that there was remarkable similarity between Trump’s “Covfefe” and McMahan’s “Kayfabe”.
I was expecting that there would be an emphasis on revealing these parallels. Instead it was a probably well-researched Biography of McMahan’s rise to dominance over the World of “Professional” Wrestling. Most of the anecdotes he shares ring true to anyone with even a fleeting exposure to the craziness of his productions over the years.
I’ll give it three stars for his mention of some of the Greats a neighbor took me to see at Sunnyside Gardens in New York City when I was ten. At the risk of sounding sexist, I would have preferred a male voice narrating this subject, but Weissglass did a good enough job. Three Stars. ***
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- Brendan Dalton
- 05-03-23
For real?????
Even if the narrator was unfamiliar with the material, the editors should have picked up on the mispronunciations that made listening difficult
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- Justin Loyear
- 04-11-23
Worst narrator in over 300 books I’ve listened to
The book was clearly written with an agenda to teach rather than a recollection of a man’s life.
The narrator is however by far the worst I have listened to in over 300 books on this platform.
It appears it was read by the lowest bidder and no research was put into proper pronunciation.
Also, why bleep out the N word and not all the other offensive words. Plus the use of the N word was completely irrelevant and not even part of the biography.
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- Anonymous User
- 07-20-23
Didn’t like the narrator
Too much detail in storylines that doesn’t matter and was annoying listening her emulate crowd chants
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- AndroidGuys
- 05-01-23
Incredibly Frustrating
If you follow Vince McMahon or the inner workings of WWE, then you already know a lot of what's on offer.
The UNMAKING OF AMERICA component of this book is a promise that is not delivered on so don't look for strong parallels to WWF/WWE and society at large. You'll get bookends of political intrigue but other than that there's not much meat on those bones.
Far too much emphasis and detail is placed on specific instances, which have already been well documented. More time and energy should have been spent on the last two decades.
I came in expecting to learn more about what was going on in the US when some of these events unfolded. The Attitude Era only worked because it came along at the right time. What else happened in America that made it successful?
Instead of drawing those lines the author provides us with a play-by-play of the Greater Power storyline. Instead of giving us the how and why he ended up buying WCW and that fallout we get a deep dive into The Montreal Screwjob.
What's happened over the last 20 years? Surely more than what's crammed into the final hour of a 15 hour book.
Missed Opportunities
- Relationship with Ultimate Warrior (good and bad)
- Vince's penchant to micro-manage scripts, stories, characters
- WCW purchase, inclusion of talent, working with team, etc.
- XFL
- Saudi Arabia (how the relationship began, why they
- WWE Network (genesis of idea, execution, selling to Peacock, etc.)
- Hulk Hogan (washing hands of him, welcoming back, etc.)
- Moving into film production, talent moving to and from Hollywood
- Social media (leveraging it, understanding its potential, pivoting to YouTube, etc.)
- Immediate aftermath of hush money payments
There's surely another five hours worth of content that could have been included which would have lived up to the expectation teased in the book's title.
Perhaps most frustrating is the narration. Off the top of my head I can name mispronunciations of Ole Anderson, Lanny Poffo, Joe Piscopo, Rocky Maivia, and NWO. It's jarring to hear these over and over and really signals to the listener that there was no oversight or vetting.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Ashley Firth
- 07-08-23
Poor narration
The story is great but the narrator comes off as scoffing towards the topic. Print may be the way to go.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Gabriella
- 04-08-23
Fun story, poor narrator
Enjoyed hearing the ins and outs of Vince and the WWF/E. However, the narrator didn’t know any of the subject matter. She made several mispronunciations throughout the story.
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- Christopher
- 04-14-23
Is it about Trump or McMahon?
It's often hard to tell. There was no need for the author's left wing politics. Narrator is terrible and constantly mispronounced names. She also has a lisp which is distracting.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Brandon Z. Hamilton
- 05-07-23
Meh
Story was okay, as it tells the story of a truly strange and despicable man. Performance was, see other reviews. I wish I would have just read the book instead of listening to this.
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- Dan Arriola
- 05-21-23
Hit piece
This book was a hit piece on Vince. All negative , somehow trying to loop in Trump in a bigger way than reality, and pretty negative overall. Barley a mention of the Rock or taking the company public..
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