| Product: |
Heartbreak and Triumph: The Shawn Michaels Story - Shawn Michaels |
| Date: |
26/02/07 (129 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: A very thorough, honest look at his life and career
Disadvantages: Becomes a Little too religious towards the end, but not too much of a bad point
I've been a big fan of WWE wrestling ever since we first got cable TV at home back in the early 90's. Of course my enthusiasm and desire to watch it has lessened over the years I used to watch it every week without fail. Around about the same time Shawn Michaels was really starting to make a name for himself. He was one of the first wrestlers I really started to support, even though he was being portrayed as one of the bad guys, or heels as he refers to them. So when Pip showed me a copy of his autobiography I decided to borrow it off her and give it a read.
I had heard that a couple of the wrestling books in previous years had been pretty good but this was actually the first one I'd gotten round to reading. The book looks at a number of aspects, from Shawn's early life, through his career to date and also how his personal life was going throughout. I also thought that he gave a good insight into how professional wrestling or Sports Entertainment as it should perhaps be known actually works.
While I was well aware of the matches that Shawn had wrestled during his career a lot of the information and insight he gives in this book were a little bit surprising. Of course everyone knows how wrestling isn't real but Michaels actually goes into detail about how staged it actually is. Throughout the book he talks about his big matches and storylines and quite openly discusses how a lot of the other wrestlers didn't actually like him. The stories between Shawn and the others really do make for interesting reading.
He also goes into details about the report Clique he was apart of and how much influence they actually had over the decision making process. As someone who watched a great deal of wrestling while Michaels was at the top I found all this to be very interesting. The insight into some of the moment I can still remember clearly made for very interesting reading. While I am a fan of Shawn's there are a lot of people who aren't and may be put off reading this for that reason. I can honestly say whether you love or hate Michaels this does make a very interesting read.
It's really a book for wrestling fans in general and that is reflected by Michaels attitude to the injuries he received and obstacles that fell in his way throughout his career. I also found the explanation on the infamous match in Montreal with Bret Hart to be incredibly compelling reading. In fact the whole book, from the moment I picked it up, made me want to keep reading. While I don't think everyone will find it such compelling reading I certainly did and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.
I found the writing style to be quite straightforward, but effective. He didn't waffle in too much detail over little bits but got straight to the point he was trying to make. My only complaint came towards the end of the book. While I realised that finding religion had played a huge part in his life, I felt that perhaps he tried to push it too much on me as a reader, but other than that I found his book to be very interesting.
Overall despite not really thinking a wrestling biography was really for me, despite having watched it for years, I did really enjoy Shawn Michael's autobiography. While this isn't a book that everyone will enjoy I think it is a must read for all wrestling fans. Having not read any of the others I don't exactly have a lot to compare it with but I did find it very interesting. Like with a number of footballers though I think he would have been better off waiting till he was totally giving up wrestling before writing this as with his recent return it means this book is out of date, but still an enjoyable read.
Amazon: £5.39
Amazon Marketplace: £4.52
Summary: A good insight into the life and career of the HBK
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