Hardcore History

The Extremely Unauthorized Story of the ECW

ECW was one extreme contradiction piled on top of another. It was an incredibly influential company in the world of professional wrestling during the 1990s, yet it was never profitable. It portrayed itself as the ultimate in anti-authority rebellion, but its leadership was, at various points, working covertly with the two wrestling giants, the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling. Most of all, it blurred the line between real life and the fantasy world of professional wrestling like no other company before it - many of those who thought they were conning others ended up being victims of the ultimate con.

Hardcore History: The Extremely Unauthorized Story of the ECW offers a frank and balanced look at the evolution of the company, starting even before its early days as a Philadelphia-area independent group called Eastern Championship Wrestling in 1992 and extending past the death of Extreme Championship Wrestling in 2001. Writer Scott E. Williams has pored through records and conducted dozens of interviews with fans, company officials, business partners, and the wrestlers themselves to bring listeners the most thorough account possible of this bizarre company.

The book sets out to answer several questions: Did World Championship Wrestling really try to destroy ECW by draining off its talent? Was Vince McMahon secretly as a friend to ECW, as he has claimed? What really caused the death of ECW? Who lied to whom? Hardcore History: The Extremely Unauthorized Story of the ECW will address all of those mysteries and many more in a story that is sure to be extremely controversial for fans and critics of both the ECW and professional wrestling.

©2006, 2007, 2011 Scott E. Williams. Foreword copyright © 2006, 2007, 2011 Shane Douglas (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

ECW

If you loved ECW back in it's hayday or are just a fan of hardcore wrestling in general, youll love this.

Good not great.

I enjoyed the book but the reader mispronounced several names and the story was alright but I feel it could have been told a little better. All in all though I did enjoy the book and enjoyed it.

A outside baseball look at ECW

After watching WWE’ Rise and Fall of ECW and other stories it is nice to hear a neutral version. It doesn’t seem to praise Heyman, or Curse Mchahon

Buy only if u watched Ecw !

What made the experience of listening to Hardcore History the most enjoyable?

The back story's of the stars

What about Karl Miller’s performance did you like?

sorta monotone but not to the point of unlistenable. Still enjoyed it.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Bit of both. Good trip down memory lane. :)

Any additional comments?

If you didn't watch Ecw then I'd recommend skipping this one.

Fun and in-depth

This is a very enjoyable, seems fairly unbiased, dive in to the life cycle of the renegade promotion of ECW. Anyone who enjoys wrestling will enjoy this listen. Anyone who is interested in business turmoil stories will enjoy this listen as well.