I’ve been a loss on where to begin in regards to reviewing books. I couldn’t decide where to start: I was considering “The Hitman,” Bret Hart’s excellent autobiography or Mick Foley’s renowned “Have A Nice Day: A Tale Of Blood and Sweatsocks.” I ultimately decided that it would be fitting to start with the first wrestling autobiography that I had the privilege to read, Chris Jericho’s debut autobiography: “A Lion’s Tale: Around The World In Spandex.”
“A Lion’s Tale” covers the beginnings of Jericho’s career. From being a hockey loving, Beatles obsessive ten year old through debuting on Raw interrupting undisputedly one of the biggest superstar’s the wrestling business has ever known, “A Lion’s Tale” covers the rise of man known as Chris Jericho.
The tale begins in Winnipeg, Canada where Chris Irvine (yet to become Chris Jericho) spent his formative years. From there the book follows him through school, the beginnings of love affair with music and of course and the development of his love for wrestling. From there we follow Jericho through triumph and tragedy as he learns his trade (and many a personal lesson) across the world. We see his career begin in the indies in Canada before passing through Mexico and Lucha Libre, Germany and the “Catch” style of wrestling before returning to North America to work for “Smokey Mountain Wrestling” and reuniting with his fellow “Hart Brother’s Wrestling Camp” alumni, Lance Storm, as “The Thrillseekers.”
From Smokey Mountain Jericho achieves a long term aim in getting to wrestle in Japan. In his time in the land of the Rising sun, Jericho was given the opportunity to work with luminaries such as Super Liger, Ultimo Dragon, Jado & Gedo (who he formed a stable called “No Respect” with) and Wild Pegasus, the man better known as Chris Benoit. From Japan the book follows Jericho to the land of extreme, the much fabled and talked about “Extreme Championship Wrestling”, before following him to the polar opposite, the land of the Turner Corporation: “World Championship Wrestling” before the novel reaches its’ finale in the “World Wrestling Federation” (to those of you that hold the name dear, you’ll be happy to note that it is always referred to as being the WWF as opposed the WWE), just as the millennium clock wound its’ way down to the unveiling of the debut of Y2J on “Raw Is War”.
This book is as equally comical as it is heart breaking. You get a real sense of what life was like on the road for wrestlers through this book. There are some stories are insanely funny and have to be read to be believed, such as Eddie Guerrero, Jericho and others playing a game of bowling while on Helcion, a strong sleeping tablet. One the other hand however, there are other stories that pull at the heart strings where he recounts the deaths of some of his colleagues. Jericho wrote a poem which was on the front of “The Wrestling Observer” which does a superb job of conveying the camaraderie and relationships that wrestlers’ enjoy to the reader.
The book also has a sense of authenticity which is rare with autobiographies. You can hear Jericho on every page of the book, which is evident from the opening pages that this really has been written by the man himself. This is opposed to the opposite situation where a writer scribes down pre-recorded tapes by an individual unable or unwilling to put the time into writing their own autobiography, as many wrestlers have been guilty of doing over the years. I guarantee you, this is not the case with “A Lion’s Tale.” Because of the obvious authenticity of the book, it makes the emotions and stories all the more genuine because they are being recounted first hand, nothing has been lost between the subject and the ghost writer.
Another thing which is commendable in the book is Jericho’s ability to be honest about himself. He isn’t shy in praising himself but at the same time he doesn’t hold back in criticising himself either. It’s pretty self-deprecating and the author comes across as a down-to-earth guy well aware of his own flaws. If others deserve praise he’ll give it, but at the same time if they don’t then he tends not to pull his punches. One of my favourite sections in regards to this is the section where he goes back to North America after Japan. Some of the stories about Paul Heyman and the stunts he pulled in running ECW really have to be read to be believed! By the same token, his account of WCW and the individuals running that give a fascinating insight into why that company was fatally flawed. And yes, he does recount his infamous run in with Goldberg which was a precursor to the heat that there was between them when Goldberg eventually turned up in WWE.
One of the things that makes the book truly special is that Jericho is one of the last wrestlers to come through this way. He started in the territories in Canada before learning his trade around the world. In the days of a one promotion monopoly, this is potentially the last book that will chronicle the experiences of a young man learning his trade over North America and all over the world. By buying everything, ironically the one thing Vince McMahon has eradicated is the opportunity for his future employees to develop and grow to what they could do.
Instead, what we have is a machine churning out fairly uniform young wrestlers who are much of a muchness. They simply do not have the same opportunities to develop and grow as performers if they’re spending years in developmental. I pose you a question: if some of the young WWE performers had the opportunity to experience even half of what is in this book would they, and therefore the wrestling business, be in better shape? A relevant question to end this article on I feel.
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A Lion’s Tale is one of the top five wrestling books of all time. And Jericho has stated in many interviews that the lack of worldwide experience is a big reason as to why the business isn’t producing the level of talent it was 15-20 years ago (guys like Bret, Owen, Lance,Guerrero, Benoit,etc). The only way to get that expereince now is on the indy scene, but the indies don’t prepare you for eveything that comes with competing in a major national promotion like WWE. Though, guys like C.M. Punk and Daniel Bryan turned out pretty well once they made it to the big leagues.
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Cannot disagree with a word of that. Guys like Jericho, Bret, Benoit, Eddie had the opportunity to become massive stars abroad, be it working in the Lucha companies in Mexico or in the big two in Japan for example. Or even in WCW for some of them before ending up in WWF/WWE.
Out of interest, what would you rank alongside it? Mick Foley and Bret Hart featuring I’m presuming?
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I would certainly rank Bret and Foley’s first book in that category. And Flair’s as well. Jericho’s second book wasn’t too far off the mark either. But I would probably have to give Regal’s book the #5 spot. I haven’t read Regal’s, but I heard he had a very fascinating life, inside and outside the ring, to say the least. Plus I heard his book was the best when it came to revealing the dark side of the business (his substance abuse problems).
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I never even knew that Regal had written a book, I’ll need to look into it. I’m interested in getting “Pure Dynamite” as well, which is supposedly very good, even if it was a source of contention between Bret and Dynamite for years.
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I’ve heard good stuff about Dynamite’s book. I think Dynamite was one of the first major stars to write a book. I recently ordered the following books which I heard were great: Pride and Passion: The History of Stampede Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams and Legends of Pro Wrestling: 150 Years of Headlocks,Bodyslams and Piledrivers. Can’t wait to get started on them!!!
I read yesterday that Jericho is currently in the process of writing his third book. Scheduled for a late 2013 release.
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It’ll be interesting to read today’s stars own books, considering how much has changed in this era. Punk, Cena, DB, Orton, etc. would all be super interesting.
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Agreed. Especially for Cena/Orton, guys who haven;t exactly had massive careers in the indies and have been in the WWE system their entire careers more or less, whether it be in the WWE itself or in it’s developmental territories (OVW I think it was they served time in when Jim Cornette was there).
Punk and Bryan would be interested, solely to note the differences between the independent scene now as opposed to how it was back in the 80s and 90s which you read reports of fairly easily in various people’s books!
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Plus, they were really some of the first “big” stars in the IWC era where the backlash happens so fast.
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It’s official, I really need to get this book.
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You really, really should. In my opinion it’s a better read, but I’ll save why for when I review “Undisputed,” which will be happening at some point down the line!
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Yes you do! You should be able find it super cheap on Amazon or e-Bay. You will not regret it. And it is by far the funniest wrestling book ever written.
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Tied with Bret’s book for my favorite book. Love how he talks about his travels from company to company, country to country.
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I loved “Hitman” as well, but I have to say I prefer Jericho’s efforts. I just find them much easier to read as well being more enjoyable for the reader. Bret’s isn’t as an easy a read in my opinion, although still a superb and informative read. It all comes down to the style of the writer, and quite frankly I do prefer Y2J’s.
Maybe it’s also because I feel more of a connection to that era as opposed to the wrestling scene in the 80s. I think the only real exposure I had to Bret when he was actually wrestling was on an Austin video that I had that looked at him first breaking into the WWF. He might’ve been on some episodes of WCW that I watched but he isn’t one of the people I remember (yet I do happen to remember Lex Luger and Vampiro, makes sense!).
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Yes, Bret’s book can be difficult to get into, and of course the length can also deter potential readers, as well.
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Yet it has an endorsement from “The Sun” on the front cover in the UK! The most classless tabloid in the country.
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For me, I think this is great choice to start with when reviewing wrestling books. I’d rank this top 3 in my all time favourites (1st Bret Hart’s, 2nd this, 3rd Jericho’s “Undisputed” book).
I’m not usually one for reading books, unless it’s an autobiography of someone I admire. Considering Jericho is my 2nd favourite wrestler of all time (again, behind Bret!), I had to read this.
I absolute loved this book, from how he got into wrestling, to the training, meeting up with Lance Storm, his travels around the world, and what when on in WCW…for me, it was a pretty good insight into everything he’s been through. I also loved the fact, every now and then, he’d throw in a joke, aimed at other wrestlers, and sometimes even himself. The ending was done well, leaving you wanting more, and it made me really want to get the 2nd book, to see Jericho’s take on how his career progressed (and admittedly, “Undisputed” was a bit of an eye-opener).
If people haven’t read it, I’d highly recommend you check it out if you can!
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Funny thing is, for me I became a Jericho fan based on his books as opposed to his wrestling. Sure I’d heard of him and I thought he was ok, but I hadn’t been a wrestling fan since being 10/11 (when doing a chokeslam was seen as a cool move). I was looking for something to entertain me and I saw that his book had gotten really good reviews. It was as much “A Lion’s Tale” that got me back into wrestling as anything else.
I noticed something actually when I was rereading it for this review. He talks about one of the wrestling icons from Mexico, and how people booed him because they were supposed to as opposed to really hating him. I found slightly ironic given that I think this I presume a large percentage of wrestling fans see Jericho himself, given that he’s getting pretty senior in age!
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