Pain and Passion by Heath McCoy

This is a revised version of the book which is available in the U.S. for the first time. If I read the original version of the book I might have given it five stars. However, the added chapter reeks of Benoit exploitation. In a rush to add this chapter to the book, someone forgot to edit the older chapters for the deaths of Chris Benoit and Bad News Brown. According to this book, both men are currently alive and dead.

I started watching wrestling during the territorial era, but being from New York, my local territory was unlike others. The WWF was the place everyone wanted to go and thus did not run into the problems the other territories did. This look back at Stampede wrestling shows the ups and downs territories of the era constantly found themselves facing as homegrown stars would leave for bigger territories and more money.

While the book has the name the history of Stampede Wrestling in the title, the history of that company is really the history of the Hart Foundation. This book takes an honest look at the family and tells both about their greatness and their sometimes Jerry Springerish lifestyle.

There is a thorough end note section that allows you to see where the author got his information and which allows the reader to further pursue the sections they find interesting. However, one of the sources is Diane Hart's book which was pulled from the shelves due to inaccuracies.

If you are interested in a look at the Hart family and only want to buy one book, I would recommend waiting for my review of Bret Hart's autobiography which comes out later this month. If you were a fan of Stampede wrestling then this is a must buy.