Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
While traveling last week, I picked up the new book Why Hulk Hogan Matters by David Shoemaker of The Ringer.com in Charlotte, North Carolina, intending to read it while relaxing on my trip.
Within two hours, I had tossed the book to the floor of my hotel room. It remained there when I packed up my room in The Queen City and was abandoned there when I left to go back to NYC. I have no idea where the book will end up, but I assure you, as someone who has read countless pro wrestling books, it stands as one of the worst books ever printed about the subject.
Hulk Hogan was the lynchpin for professional wrestling becoming a national fad in the 1980s and was a legitimate star, to the day he died. You can break down the good, bad and stupid of his life (and I have) but the one thing that you can't dispute about him are the facts of his career. Indeed, one of the frustrating things about Hogan was his ability to stretch stories and talk about a reality that never really existed. The fish was this big and Hogan dropped the leg on it. He never let the truth get in the way of a good promo or media appearance.
Honestly, that's OK, because Hulk Hogan was a character, one that enveloped Terry Bollea over time and if there's one thing I've learned is never get mad at the carny for being a carny. It's like trying to be upset at zebras for having stripes.
However, facts matter when you are writing a book about WHY Hogan matters, as Shoemaker did - and they especially matter when the book is published by Harper Collins, one of the major publishing entities that control that world - but in reading through this book, which oddly enough reads like a robotic review of Hogan's career, there are so many glaring factual errors here that I had to stop reading the book after the umpteenth time I wondered who the hell proofread this, approved this and allowed it to hit book shelves in its current form.
I am sure all the Hogan aficionados out there remember Hogan losing the WWF title to Yokozuna in Japan in 1993. You know, at King of the Ring, which was actually held in Ohio. The only time Hogan was in Japan that year was for New Japan Pro Wrestling and no, he didn't wrestle Yokozuna there.
This is the first of many errors, listing incorrect events, years and ages for Hogan and others in the pro wrestling world.
The worst and most frustrating error is a recounting of what is easily the most important and famous angle for Hulk Hogan, ever - the Piper's Pit in East Rutherford, NJ where Andre the Giant turned on him and challenged Hogan for the WWF title. In this version of the story, Andre ripped Hogan's shirt off, challenged him and stood there and glared at him. Yeah, except this never happened. Andre turned and exited with Bobby Heenan. Hogan went down in disbelief as Roddy Piper, who never missed a chance to be over the top and bombastic, went the opposite route, quietly telling Hogan he was bleeding, since Andre had knicked his chest ripping off the shirt and Hogan's crucifix necklace.
There are more errors in the book than there were Hulk Hogan Wrestlemania appearances and that's excessively frustrating since this book carried a plug from former WWE Creative head and Seven Bucks Productions executive Brian Gerwirtz promising the book "redefines what a pro wrestling book can be." That might have been true for Mick Foley's first autobiography but the only thing this book may redefine is the level of resentment those who purchase it may discover, yours truly included.
Writers make errors all the time, myself included, but when a book of this nature is promoted and published, it's not promoted towards die-hard militant wrestling fans who live for every TV episode and independent show, but the general public. By putting this mess in the hands of that audience, it reiterates that pro wrestling is a joke and shouldn't be taken seriously. After all, if the author who was paid to write this didn't care about the subject matter being correct and the publishing house didn't care about the subject matter being correct, why should the readers?
As much Hulk Hogan's autobiographies were overpacked with whoppers that don't hold up to scrutiny, it appears Shoemaker's attempt to show why Hogan mattered was to match Hogan with more stories that don't hold up to scrutiny when you give them even the most pedestrian fact-check. Again, when this is someone promoted and put on a pedestal as if he's THE wrestling expert on WWE A&E documentaries and Ringer.com articles, Houston, we have a problem, brother.
The idea that a book about Hogan's life could be written, turned around, published and shipped to book stores within a year of his passing seemed like it would be a hardship to put together, but it appears they bypassed a lot of the issues by just bypassing a lot of the facts altogether - in the writing process, the editing process and beyond. It makes you wonder how many other books published out there are just ignoring the same basic process. One almost wonders if it was jammed through an AI program and sent for publishing. It's that bad - like Tommy Wisseau's The Room bad - to the point that if you grew up watching Hogan, the mistakes will give you a headaches trying to wrap your head around the book while reading it.
Let's hope the payday involved was worth burning whatever Hogan fans and casual readers ended up worked here and that the scorched earth left behind by this book doesn't prevent far more passionate authors and writers from getting their own deserved chance at a book published at this level.
Avoid, at all costs.
Bryan Gewirtz may have endorsed this book, but I suspect that was sight unseen - and I advise you go read Gewirtiz's WWE memoir instead....and wait for Guy Evans' planned trilogy, where I suspect that based on his Nitro books, facts will ACTUALLY matter.
Mike Johnson can be reached at MikeJohnsonPWInsider@gmail.com.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
