Ring of Hell: The Story of Chris Benoit and the Fall of the Pro Wrestling Industry - Hardcover

Matthew Randazzo V

3.73

399 ratings by Goodreads

9781597775793: Ring of Hell: The Story of Chris Benoit and the Fall of the Pro Wrestling Industry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1597775797 ISBN 13: 9781597775793

Publisher: Phoenix Books, 2008

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In the notoriously crooked and exploitative world of professional wrestling, WWE legend Chris Benoit was supposed to be the exception. Chris was universally recognized as the best pro wrestling had to offer: a decent, humble, and devoted family man loved and admired by all who knew him. Nobody could have predicted the horrific events of June 22-24, 2007 when Chris strangled his wife and seven-year old son before committing suicide. RING OF HELL is the true story of Benoit's journey through the destructive, dysfunctional, and bizarre pro wrestling industry and the catastrophic physical and mental breakdown that led to his grisly end.

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About the Author:

Born to one of New Orleans' oldest and most colorful Sicilian families, Matthew Randazzo V is a novelist and true-crime writer with expertise in American organized crime and political corruption. He works professionally as the Senior Legal Consultant for a New Orleans commercial law firm, where he manages Hurricane Katrina rehabilitation projects.

Review:

In June of 2007, the professional wrestling community was rocked by the suicide of wrestler Chris Benoit, after murdering his wife and seven-year-old son. In this wide-ranging expose, crime reporter Randazzo demonstrates that, among professionals driven to incredible levels of steroid, drug and alcohol abuse, Benoit was not unique. Benoit spent years in Canada and Japan enduring training that bordered on the medieval, eagerly employing steroids to achieve the industry's standard physique. As his star rose, so did the injuries and the chemicals; Benoit's signature move, a flying headbutt, was responsible for countless concussions. Culminating in a 2001 spinal injury that left him at risk of permanent paralysis, Benoit, like many other wrestlers, treated himself with copious doses of painkillers before returning to work for more punishment. Combined with a crumbling marriage, Benoit's life became a perfect storm of mental and physical anguish.... Wrestling fans will savor the industry gossip. --Publishers Weekly

Fans of the wrestling business will experience real shock and awe with Matthew Randazzo's new knockdown, drag-out page-turner Ring of Hell. This hard-hitting, no-holds-barred account of the industry takes a shocking look behind the curtain of a secretive subculture where performers die young, promoters get rich and broken families are the norm. --Mike Mooneyham, author of the New York Times bestseller Sex, Lies, and Headlocks and columnist for the Charleston Post and Courier

With all the zeal of a back-alley surgeon, Matthew Randazzo V wields the scalpel of reason to flay alive the corrupt, drug-addled, incestuous, racist world of pro wrestling, creating what is probably the first ever history of 'Sports Entertainment' that appeals to somebody besides wrestling fans. Alternately hilarious and depressing...Ring of Hell is a must-read. --K. Thor Jensen, author of Red Eye, Black Eye

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