The Squared Circle: Life, Death, and Professional Wrestling Hardcover – October 31, 2013

When it comes to writing about professional wrestling, it’s hard to come by truly great writers of the craft. David Shoemaker is one such writer. He’s eloquent and his book “The Squared Circle” reads like a Greek play, a battle between Gods in a, well, squared circle. It’s a book that spun out of his column chronicling the deaths of wrestlers and came to encompass the history of professional wrestling.And professional wrestling’s history is also the history of American spectator events, television, cable, PPV, and everything in between. As one example, how many great sports athletes, entertainers and other figures cite Gorgeous George, a prominent wrestler in the 1950s timed with the explosion of television, as an influence? Muhammad Ali, for one.“The world wants to be deceived, so let it be deceived,” is a quote Shoemaker has from Petronius toward the start of his book and right there is the catch. That quote perfectly encapsulates the magic of art, of fiction and of entertainment. That’s the rub. When I go to the movies, I don’t want Brad Pitt winking at me that he’s an actor and all of this is fake. I want to “buy in” to the fictional presentation. When I read Stephen King, I don’t want an interlude from the author winking at me. I want to “buy in.” Professional wrestling is no different. I’m not here to convince people that professional wrestling is vastly under-credited and under-analyzed and under-respected, which it is, but it’s worth stressing the rub. And it’s just a good quote.As Shoemaker opens the book, he gets at what’s really “fake” about professional wrestling and to which says something larger about other sports and life and idolatry, “It’s the story of a mythology populated not by gods, but by real men, fallible mortals who served as vessels for a larger truth, men who lived the lives of kings and who suffered to be our idols. This is the ultimate fakery of wrestling — that the emperor has no clothes, that the gods are mortals. But in reliving their lives, what became clear is that the mythology is what matters the most. We make our own gods for our own purposes. And we love them, and that’s the whole point.”Right. We don’t want to know the story of Joe Montana having a concussion, not remembering where or who he is. We want to “buy in” to their godliness, their feats that seem beyond human abilities on the gridiron, in the squared circle, on the stage, wherever. Even if you’re not a wrestling fan, the idolatry that wrestling fans bestow on professional wrestlers is one other fans of other sports and entertainment products can relate to. Moreover, they can relate to watching (and anguishing) over the fall of their gods.Which is why I think even a non-wrestling fan could enjoy this book. It’s a familiar story of the highs, lows, drugs, sex, deception and tragedy associated with the searing heat of the spotlight, the desire to maintain the spotlight and the pitfalls of an elusive spotlight.Perhaps the worst tragedy of it all is the “ignoble existence” of a wrestler in the real world, a “painful and deadly one,” as Shoemaker says toward the end of the book. That a wrestler punishes themselves in the ring, punishes themselves going up and down the roads that transverse the world, and they do so under the bizarre suffocating blanket of wrestling’s “fakery.” Sure, the wrestling fans give them idol-status, if they’re good enough, if they punish themselves enough and even then, we always beg for that “one last match,” but beyond that niche? They’re like the gods of the sewers.Reading this book gives you the most comprehensive, well-written expose and homage into the lives of those that lived this ignoble existence and died for it. Sacrificial lambs to the altar of their dreams.

It is an impressive book and worth buying. I would tell any wrestling fan it is worth reading. I am not talking about just current wrestling fans, anyone who has ever been a wrestling fan will enjoy it. Even if you have not watched a match since Wrestlmania V or the last Monday Night Nitro, part of this book will speak to you.The book is an enjoyable read. I had an easy time getting into it. I read it on my kindle, mostly on my lunch break. The chapters are the right length where I could finish a chapter or start over if I needed to get back to work.Each chapter is the story of a different wrestler. The roots of the book was Shoemakers Dead Wrestler of the Week column he started at Deadspin. He tells the story of pro-wrestling by framing the stories around the dead wrestlers. He does not focus on how wrestlers died, but how they lived. He frames many of the great stories of wrestling this way.He starts the book with the History of Wrestling. He tries to figure out the point where wrestling went from a competitive sport to a "worked" sport that we have today. This gives him a way to introduce many of the tropes of wrestling. This was the least interesting part of the book to me, but I can see why he had to include it. You could tell he did research on this part of the book, but only about 10% of it was new to me.The most interesting stories were about the wrestlers I watched first hand. Reading about Andre the Giant, Randy Savage, and Road Warrior Hawk put a smile on my face. It made me feel like I was celebrating their lives. It is odd to read about them now because I am older then they were when I started watching them wrestle.It is the stories like Curt Hennig that make me sad. While we saw a lot of great matches from Mr. Perfect, I always felt like he never got as far as he should. The sad stories are the people you feel did not get enough out of their life. More of these stories are in the back of the book, for the wrestlers about my age.I could tell that David Shoemaker is younger than me. The book did not have the feeling of a writer that have lived first hand through things before I was a wrestling fan. This books is good, but it left me wanting more. There are more dead wrestlers who I want to read about, more periods of wrestling to explore, more wrestling promotions to learn about, and more wrestlers to read about. May of the people in this book deserve their own book. I have no doubt that Randy Savage or the Von Erich's could support a whole book.The book ends with the duel stories of Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero. Their deaths was either the last moment of the last era in wrestling or the first moment of this era of wrestling, maybe there is no difference between the two. There is a darkness that hangs over everything we see when we watch wrestling. Reading this book just makes that clear.

scary, the number of pro wrestling deaths.

Possibly the most interesting wrestling book I have read in a long while. Although the book is chronological, as each chapter focuses on a different (dead) wrestler, you can dip in and out of the book at your own leisure.Most of the stories in this book I have read about before, but it was nice to see a chapter dedicated to such lesser lights as S.D Jones.Another good reference tool for the wrestling library.

The author offered a book far better than its source material. Professional wrestling is much like a travelling show with snake oil salesman and bearded ladies, but the experience of being a fan is real. For some odd reason this theatre of strong men in tights and masked gladiators continues to be compelling. We know that it is nothing more than a protein filled demolition derby. Yet we get caught up in this madness and lose a bit of ourselves in it. Even after the curtain is pulled back we hide our embarrassment and seek out fellow believers. Professional wrestling reveals the worst in all of us. And we still can't get enough of it. Maybe it is the only true sport left. How else can we explain being in on the lie and so reluctant to give up on its truth?

David Shoemaker is one of the best pro-wrestling journalists working today and this book is a fun read for the pro-wrestling fan. It isn't overlong and is interesting, although I personally knew a lot of the facts and stories recounted within.

'Life, Death...' less a cohesive read than initially expected, but I do think that actually works to its benefit. As it is presented - a series of articles about wrestlers and their eventual deaths, connected only by the shared details of them being wrestlers and, well, dying - it lends itself to being picked up every now and then, chipped away at, read in fits and spurts as and when you see fit.The connecting tissue about the history of wrestling and how its ridiculous traditions, parlance and everything else came to be is equally fantastic, it's worth pointing out, way more than mere filler between tales of excess, glory and eventual downfall. I genuinely learned things I did not know about pro wrestling, and I pride myself on knowing a lot about pro wrestling. My parents aren't so proud of that, but there you go.A thoroughly enjoyable, illuminating and damn interesting collection of articles masquerading as a book, 'Life, Death...' is a perfect read for any wrestling fan - as well as a great read for even those who have no interest in the art of greased up large men in pants pretending to hit each other. Lovely stuff.