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jenmcgee 's review for:
Undisputed: How to Become the World Champion in 1,372 Easy Steps
by Chris Jericho
I love professional wrestling and professional wrestling memoirs for an almost-anthropological glimpse into a world very foreign to me. The world of wrestling is a bastion of old-fashioned masculine status and dominance rituals, and Chris Jericho details those hierarchy struggles with hilarious gusto. The testosterone-laced narrative, however, falls away at intriguing points to reveal a deep melancholy: the pro wrestling business is a dangerous one in many different ways, and the ghosts of Owen Hart (killed by a fall during a stunt), Eddie Guerrero (heart failure from years of battering and steroids), and Chris Benoit (murder-suicide of his wife and son) haunt the pages of this story. Add to that the death of Jericho's mother, her life shortened by an assault by her boyfriend when Jericho was 19, and some of this is pretty somber reading. Jericho keeps things from getting too grim with an engaging mix of braggadocio and self-deprecation, and he writes intelligently about various parts of the life and craft of wrestling (I was impressed by his respect for Japan and Japanese wrestling fans, for example).
My only gripe (and I almost feel guilty saying it) is that Jericho also has a band, and it's clear that he's always really, really, really wanted to be a rock star. He spends a lot of time talking about life in his band, and because he takes that part of his life more seriously than wrestling, the pace drags a surprising amount during those chapters. It's like reading Julia Child's memoirs and finding out what she really wanted to do with her life was compose haiku, so you get chapter after chapter of her poetry and earnest discussion of her persona as a poet, while you're groaning, "Get back to the food, Julia!" Jericho comes across as such a likable guy I want his band to succeed, but I'm not that interested in reading about it.
My only gripe (and I almost feel guilty saying it) is that Jericho also has a band, and it's clear that he's always really, really, really wanted to be a rock star. He spends a lot of time talking about life in his band, and because he takes that part of his life more seriously than wrestling, the pace drags a surprising amount during those chapters. It's like reading Julia Child's memoirs and finding out what she really wanted to do with her life was compose haiku, so you get chapter after chapter of her poetry and earnest discussion of her persona as a poet, while you're groaning, "Get back to the food, Julia!" Jericho comes across as such a likable guy I want his band to succeed, but I'm not that interested in reading about it.