Review of The Life & Legacy of Frank Gotch

I got my review copy of this book along with Wrestling by Frank Gotch. While I didn't want make comparisons between the two that proved to be impossible. This book discusses the history of wrestling while the other one is a piece of wrestling history. If you only want to buy one book on Frank Gotch, I would recommend the one written by Frank over this one. However, if you have the money and a great interest in the early days of the sport, I would recommend both.

This book is like two books in one. The first-half lived up to the title of the book as it discusses the life and legacy of Frank Gotch. The second-half contains almost 80 black and white photos from Frank's era.

Not only does one get a look back at the life of Frank Gotch, the book also provides an analysis of wrestling in the early days and the different styles that were used in that era. However, the author wound up leaving me with one major question. I don't know if a match was won with a one-count or a three-count back in that day. While the author goes on to describe how wrestling became "fake" and admits to the fact that some of Frank's matches were fixed, he doesn't describe how the three-count came into being.

The author confronts the historical debate about the legitimacy of the matches from that era. The author explains why he feels that the majority of the matches from that era are real. Unfortunately, his theory is based on the media coverage of the era. As we all learned from Nancy Grace and her contemporaries during the Benoit saga, the way that the media reports on things shouldn't be used as a basis for any theory.