Post by Deputy Doug on Dec 30, 2005 20:15:45 GMT -5
I just finished reading Jimmy Valiant's new autobiography. Good book. Here are some haphazard thoughts on it, if anyone cares to read.
Jimmy Valiant's new privately published book 'Woo... Mercy Daddy! - Welcome to My World: The Jimmy Valiant Story' is not a brief highlight reel. It's a comprehensive testimony of over 60 years of his life that comes in at a whopping 566 pages, and was written by him and his wife Angel, with no ghost writer involved.
The book begins at his birth and concludes with his final wrestling match on December 25, 2004. Pretty much everything that you would expect to be covered in between is in there. His early territories - Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, etc. - to WWWF, Japan, Memphis, JCP, and the independents. Lots of good stories about the legends of the game are included. thingy the Bruiser, The Sheik, Jerry Lawler, Gorilla Monsoon, Dr. Jerry Graham, Lou Albano, and Gypsy Joe are just a few of them. There are lot of people talked about. Even good old Spaceman Frank Hickey gets covered!
My favorite story was of his trying to leave the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis one night in the late '70s with a young Ricky Morton driving, before Morton began wrestling. JV, like most other strong heels, was attacked by fans numerous times throughout his career. Valiant was the biggest heel in the Memphis territory at the time and the heat on him was thick. He told Morton to not stop no matter what until they were out of the gates and on the road. Ricky stopped to avoid hitting fans who were blocking the exit and their truck was immediately surrounded by a mob of irate Memphis wrestling fans. A scary situation resulted that they managed to get out of, but not without damage sustained to the pickup truck. And young Ricky learned a lesson - "I told Ricky, "Each one of those vigilantes back there were a couple sandwiches short of a picnic. So be aware of what is going on around you at all times and keep your eyes open."
Jimmy Valiant's life story is what was promised and he delivers. He writes in the book's introduction, "...what I will tell you is plenty of dirt on myself. The reason I'm doing that is if I can help just one human being from making the same mistakes that I have, my life and this book will not have been in vain."
His human weaknesses are indeed tackled head on. Years of hard drug and alcohol use and extramarital affairs are written about candidly, as is his steroid use in the '60s. This book covers it all, the good times and the bad times. The bad times are long over and the book's final chapters are upbeat and positive as the Boogie Woogie Man met his current wife Angel and turned his life around in the early '90s, and started his Boogie's Wrestling Camp in Shawsville, VA. BWC is still very much alive and well, and JV plans on spending the rest of his days there passing on his 40 years of wrestling knowledge to tomorrow's wrestling stars.
Like most other wrestling autobiographies, there are some errors. A lot of names are misspelled and a date here and there is off - Jimmy's describing the events of 1986's war with Paul Jones and his Army as taking place in 1988 stands out the most. Some stats about other wrestler are incorrect - the kayfabed stats for Andre's height and Haystacks Calhoun's weight are presented as fact, for example. The errors in no way detract from the reader's enjoyment or invalidate the author's story, though. The book is about Jimmy Valiant's life and not a scholarly text of the history of professional wrestling, and I very much recommend it.
The book can be purchased only through Jimmy Valiant at his personal appearances, at his wrestling camp/museum, or through his Web site at www.jimmyvaliant.com
Jimmy Valiant's new privately published book 'Woo... Mercy Daddy! - Welcome to My World: The Jimmy Valiant Story' is not a brief highlight reel. It's a comprehensive testimony of over 60 years of his life that comes in at a whopping 566 pages, and was written by him and his wife Angel, with no ghost writer involved.
The book begins at his birth and concludes with his final wrestling match on December 25, 2004. Pretty much everything that you would expect to be covered in between is in there. His early territories - Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, etc. - to WWWF, Japan, Memphis, JCP, and the independents. Lots of good stories about the legends of the game are included. thingy the Bruiser, The Sheik, Jerry Lawler, Gorilla Monsoon, Dr. Jerry Graham, Lou Albano, and Gypsy Joe are just a few of them. There are lot of people talked about. Even good old Spaceman Frank Hickey gets covered!
My favorite story was of his trying to leave the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis one night in the late '70s with a young Ricky Morton driving, before Morton began wrestling. JV, like most other strong heels, was attacked by fans numerous times throughout his career. Valiant was the biggest heel in the Memphis territory at the time and the heat on him was thick. He told Morton to not stop no matter what until they were out of the gates and on the road. Ricky stopped to avoid hitting fans who were blocking the exit and their truck was immediately surrounded by a mob of irate Memphis wrestling fans. A scary situation resulted that they managed to get out of, but not without damage sustained to the pickup truck. And young Ricky learned a lesson - "I told Ricky, "Each one of those vigilantes back there were a couple sandwiches short of a picnic. So be aware of what is going on around you at all times and keep your eyes open."
Jimmy Valiant's life story is what was promised and he delivers. He writes in the book's introduction, "...what I will tell you is plenty of dirt on myself. The reason I'm doing that is if I can help just one human being from making the same mistakes that I have, my life and this book will not have been in vain."
His human weaknesses are indeed tackled head on. Years of hard drug and alcohol use and extramarital affairs are written about candidly, as is his steroid use in the '60s. This book covers it all, the good times and the bad times. The bad times are long over and the book's final chapters are upbeat and positive as the Boogie Woogie Man met his current wife Angel and turned his life around in the early '90s, and started his Boogie's Wrestling Camp in Shawsville, VA. BWC is still very much alive and well, and JV plans on spending the rest of his days there passing on his 40 years of wrestling knowledge to tomorrow's wrestling stars.
Like most other wrestling autobiographies, there are some errors. A lot of names are misspelled and a date here and there is off - Jimmy's describing the events of 1986's war with Paul Jones and his Army as taking place in 1988 stands out the most. Some stats about other wrestler are incorrect - the kayfabed stats for Andre's height and Haystacks Calhoun's weight are presented as fact, for example. The errors in no way detract from the reader's enjoyment or invalidate the author's story, though. The book is about Jimmy Valiant's life and not a scholarly text of the history of professional wrestling, and I very much recommend it.
The book can be purchased only through Jimmy Valiant at his personal appearances, at his wrestling camp/museum, or through his Web site at www.jimmyvaliant.com