[.ca] Sex, Lies, and Headlocks: The Real Story of Vince ... (ISBN 1400051436)

Another journalist's crusade against wrestling:
This is not a book that does any justice for professional wrestling in the least. It is written by yet another one of these elitist journalists who has a disdain for wrestling. Just to give you an idea of the quality of this book, look at the cover; Vince McMahon's head is placed on Scott Hall's body in some kind juvenile attempt to take a shot at McMahon. On top of that, like most of these pro wrestling haters in the newsroom, it is not factually written, because they don't watch the shows and therefore they don't know much about the topic. Plus they are so insensed on ripping apart Vince McMahon they just plainly don't care, which they show in this heartless, thoughtless diatribe about the wrestling business. There is not all good in wrestling, but books such as Wrestlecrap, Tributes and the Top 100 cover the hard topics in a tasteful method. The reason is because these books are written by individuals who understand and respect the wrestling business. These elitist journalists make me sick. If you want to learn about wrestling, please don't buy this book, it is just a journalist's hateful look at professional wrestling and we don't need books like this associated with professional wrestling. Just a plainly awful book all the way!

Not as Bad as Some People Claim:
During the first 10 pages of Sex, Lies and Headlocks I learned more about wrestling history than I had in my first 10 years of watching. This book is an informative retrospective on the history of television wrestling. Is it a biography of Vince McMahon like it claims? Not quite but what it is even more fascinating. Shaun Assael and Mike Moeneyham have researched their book tremendously, talking to and reading material by some of the foremost authorities in this sport. Have they left some stuff out? Of course they did, but it the book is less than 300 pages. Is Vince portrayed as almost evil? Yes, but let's be honest folks, Vince McMahon is not exactly the white angel of professional wrestling. Honestly, no one should expect any wrestling promoter to be painted purely because, professional wrestling is historically a con artists game. Some will claim that this book is innaccurate and mixed up but the only time that was really a problem for this reader isn't until around the last third of this book when the book inexplicably goes from May of 1998 to November of 1997. After the initial confusion though you do realize what is going on. This book does have tangents but no more tangents than Wrestlecrap, which is almost universally praised. If you are interested in learning wrestling history this book is a must to at least learn some, and peak your interest to learn more about the subjects discussed.

Good book, but title is misleading:
This is a really good book. But it is not all about Vince McMahon. It is about wrestling in general, the whole WWF, WCW, Eric Bischoff, the Monday Night Wars. I would have loved to read more behind the scenes stuff w/ McMahon. I don't know why the author named the book what he did, he should have made the title more general. I mean they do talk about Vince, his steroid trial, and the way he took over most of the wrestling world. But there are chapters full of info not involving Vince at all. But it is still very entertaining. I liked hearing why Ted Turner bought WCW, Dusty Rhodes almost destroying it with too many "Dusty finishes", how Vince put on Pay Per Views and even a free Royal Rumble on at the same time WCW shows were run, trying to destroy them (I didn't know that!!), the theory behind Goldust and how he started the new direction of the WWF, Brian Pillmans Loose Cannon personality actully being a gimmick Bischoff created, his death and how Mcmahon treated it, among other stuff. The main problem I had was the author talked about certain wrestlers by their real name, not stage name, and it made me a little confussed, I had to keep going back to see who they were talking about (I ended up reading about this guy I didnt know who it was, then realized it was Ole Anderson). And the Steroid trial, although informative, was a little too informative, too many names of attorneys and watchdogs mentioned. Other than those two tiny things, plus the title being misleading, I really found this book to be very good. Any wrestling fan should pick it up.

Facts wrong.:
This book is well written, but not a lot of research was done. It's written like fiction. Andre the Giant did not retire in 1987, as this book states. He won the world title in 88, and the tag titles in 1990. Sloppy facts and enough made up info and verbiage make this book a no go.

A Mess of Contradictions and Just a Bad Book:
Other reviewers have mentioned the many factual errors in Sex, Lies and Headlocks, so those aren't worth rehashing. However, these apparently novice writers can't decide on a point of view - in one section they're cheering the WWE's or WCW's ratings dominance, the next they're presenting the actions of L. Brent Bozell as if his assertions had some basis in reality. And why is WCW even mentioned outside its role as a competitor? The book is subtitled "The real story of VINCE MCMAHON AND WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT." Full chapters are devoted to Eric Bischoff and WCW, presumably to lengthen an already-brief book with plenty of fact-checking problems. What's more, there is no information here that can't be found in the WWE's own video, The Monday Night Wars, or on WWE Confidential. This "real" story is the same as the one the WWE tells, begging the question, "Why say this again?" Finally, this book is poorly written and badly edited, lending another level of amateurism to its writers and their publisher. Did no one line-edit this book? If they did, they can take one of my writing classes, as long as they don't expect to do well. Sex, Lies and Headlocks is a pitiful excuse for a book on anything, much less a book on wrestling or a "tell-all." I regret wasting my money on this piece of unmitigated garbage, and its "writers" should be ashamed of themselves. The world needs far, far fewer books like this one.