Hardcore History: The Extremely Unauthorized Story of ECW Paperback – November 1, 2011

Although I enjoyed this book as an alternative-perspective history of ECW, there are a few factual errors within... not many, but enough so that it makes me question the reliability of other information.For example, in the chapter that talks about the first ECW PPV, Barely Legal, Hardcore History mentions that it opened with a match between the Dudley Boyz and the Eliminators for the ECW Tag Team titles. This much is correct; however, the book describes the match as being one in which Perry Saturn, with a legitimate broken leg, defied doctors' orders and actually worked the match (after he and John Kronus came out to the ring ostensibly to forfeit the belts to the Dudleys), even getting the pin in the match. While this incident did take place, it was not at Barely Legal - rather, it was at the next major ECW Arena show following the PPV, Wrestlepalooza '97, where it closed out the show. (The Barely Legal match was essentially a glorified squash of the Dudleys, meant primarily to showcase the Eliminators' incredible precision double-team work.)In another section discussing the first ECW One Night Stand PPV, Francine is mentioned as coming out with Tommy Dreamer to be his manager that night. In reality, Dreamer came out with no manager, and Francine actually did a run-in where she attacked Dreamer during his match (leading to the surprise return of Beulah MacGillicudy to make the save).There are also a few passages that ambiguously suggest things happened a bit later than they did in reality. For instance, the Blue World Order is first mentioned in a section detailing the events of early summer 1997, as if it began then, when in fact the BWO had all but run its course by that point, owing mostly to Stevie Richards needing time off for injury purposes. While the book doesn't actually say the BWO started at that point, the placement of this section certainly implies to someone who may not have lived through the ECW era that was the case.Admittedly, I myself did not notice too many of these errors, as most of the book covers a time period where I was not able to follow ECW. However, the fact I can point out such errors in the sections I was familiar with make me call other areas of the book into question, which is probably not what author Scott E. Williams had in mind.Setting these nitpicks aside, Hardcore History is an entertaining read, and does a credible job of painting a picture of what ECW was like behind the scenes, even if some of what happened in front of the cameras is slightly misrepresented. Fans of Paul Heyman might not appreciate it as much, since the book tends to paint a less-than-flattering picture of the man at times, but Williams really does try hard to be fair in his assessment of what he and his interview subjects percieved to be Heyman's strengths and weaknesses, both as a creative mind and a businessman.There are some editorial decisions that may raise an eyebrow or two, such as devoting a full chapter to Brian Pillman's very short ECW tenure in 1996. While Pillman's attempts to work the entire industry were undoubtedly a landmark moment in the business, one of the first high-profile cases of kayfabe being well and truly broken in the public eye, the truth is that Pillman, with all due respect to his memory, appeared on only a couple of ECW shows, and his impact on the company was relatively minor in the end. This chapter would not at all be out of place in a book detailing the way the business changed during the '90s -- and in fact, should have been even longer in such a book -- but for a history of ECW it feels a bit weird to have more pages devoted to Pillman's antics than are used to tell the entire story of Barely Legal, undoubtedly one of the biggest watershed moments in the company's history.Overall, I found Hardcore History to be a good, if flawed, retelling of some of what went on in ECW that the fans weren't necessarily privvy to. It should not, however, be taken as a complete and accurate account of ECW's history, but as a companion volume to some of the other ECW-themed books out there, it makes a good addition to your wrestling bookshelf. Worth checking out, but it should no more be the only book you buy about the history of Extreme Championship Wrestling than WWE's own book should be considered the definitive, unbiased history of the company.This softcover version contains a new chapter focusing on WWE's 2006 relaunch of the brand, which will speak to any old-school ECW fan's frustration with the way WWE has treated this property since they brought it back. The entire six-month devaluation of the ECW brand under WWE's auspicies -- from a promising start in June to a December PPV that can only be described as a disaster of epic proportions -- is detailed in all its, er, "glory," as are Paul Heyman's clashes with Vince McMahon over the creative direction of the revived product.

Yes, there were way too many mispellings and other typographical errors but other than that this is a fairly interesting in-depth examination of ECW from it's humble origins all the way to the bitter end. If you happened to be a fan of this outllaw promotion that could, then this account will bring back some fond memories of unforgettable matches, explosive personalities and fiscal disregard. I enjoyed the behind the scenes history as I was a huge fan back in the day and it is unfortunate that Paul Heyman's company couldn't stay afloat regardless of how successful they appearred to be. Go back in time to a run down bingo hall in South Philly and a bunch of rag tag rebels that made it all possible. ECW was the real deal! Not your father's idea of pro-wrestling.

I admire anyone who writes a book, but I have to say that it was frustrating to see how many spelling errors are in this book. I’m only 60 pages into the book but I have seen Trisa Hayes called “Theresa,” I have seen Bill Alfonso called “Bill Alphonso,” and I have seen Peter Senerchia called “Peter Senerca.” These weren’t even isolated incidents, they happened multiple times thoroughout the book thus far.I see others on here discuss historical inaccuracies but I can’t comment on that since I didn’t watch a lot of ECW (I was a WCW kid growing up). But it makes me wonder how much in this book is indeed inaccurate.All that said, I appreciate the quotes from the wrestlers themselves that are in here.

There are some interesting behind the scenes stories in here. If you read the dirtsheets regularly or watched the shoot interviews of the ECW guys then you probably know over half the stuff in here already. It has been an interesting book.The biggest problem is with the editing. There are way too many spelling errors and punctuation errors. There seems to be some kind of error every two to three pages. One of the biggest is Ric Flair is always spelled as Rie Flair (with an "e"). Other names of wrestlers and companies are spelled wrong. Twice in the book the numbers 111 are use instead of the contraction "I'll". Such as "...because Fve been very public that 111 never work for Vince again,"... Yes that is right Fve instead of I've and 111 instead of I'll in the same sentence. One other word that may need an explanation is that "forewer" is supposed to be forever, as in the "Forever Hardcore Documentary DVD".Another problem is that the writer still follows the company line. He seems to still have the hatred toward WCW and WWF that ECW promoted when it was around. He also comes across as believing that ECW started everything cool in wrestling, such as hardcore brawls. He does acknowledge some history of other promotions, but there were wild brawls in Memphis long before ECW started doing it. And many promotions, including Smoky Mountain Wrestling (which he mentions a few times in this book), were doing triple threat singles and tag matches before ECW.Overall, I'm glad I read the book. It brought back some great memories of 90's wrestling. I am glad I got the inexpensive e-book version because the editing is so bad if I had paid more for a paperback I would be trying to return it. The writer and publisher should really try to proofread this and fix all the problems, because right now it kind of reinforces the stereotype of wrestling fans having low intelligence. All the spelling and punctuation errors really do a disservice to the name of Extreme Championship Wrestling. Fix all the silly problems and you'll have a great book worthy of the great memories of the ECW legacy.

For what could be an interesting book, it appears to embrace the ECW philosophy a little too well.There are a few obvious errors (picture of Buh Buh Ray called 'D'von', and a few od

i have read all three books on ecw. This one, the wwe's "RISE & FALL OF ECW", plus another one i cant remember the name of.This one helps fill in lots of gaps that were left out of the other 2

great book