Review: Inside Out: How Corporate America Destroyed Professional Wrestling By Ole Anderson

Inside Out: How Corporate America Destroyed Professional Wrestling

By Ole Anderson w. Scott Teal

Crowbar Press, 2003

Paperback, Ebook

Long time wrestler and booker Ole Anderson is a legendary name in professional wrestling. A former member of both the Minnesota Wrecking Crew and The Four Horsemen, Anderson's name should be near the top of any list of legendary tag team competitors. Anderson was also a prominent booker in the Georgia and Carolina territories for periods between the 1970s and 1990s. Inside Out is his first book.

Anderson makes a very persuasive argument regarding the corporate expansion of the wrestling industry in the mid 1980s and its detrimental impact on the wrestling industry.  Though Anderson presents a relentless thesis against the current structure of the industry, it is not a pre-requisite to agree with all of his arguments in order to enjoy the book.

Anderson's chronicle of his time in the professional wrestling business (late 60s - early 90s) is as complete a glimpse into the most turbulent and evolutionary period in the business as possible. 

Anderson is very complimentary of many of his contemporaries and predecessors.  Anderson provides a primer into the responsibilities of a booker during the later territorial period and how the job changed under the new corporate structure.   The author is experienced, persuasive and at times humorous. At several points in the book, Anderson presents wrestling as an industry that, though it was not without its flaws, was a business that entertained thousands on a nightly basis and employed hundreds of people on basis throughout the United States.  The book is not unlike many business related books that discuss the virtues of the family owned small business and their eventual destruction at the hands of the multi national corporation.

The major weakness of the book is that many of Anderson's points are rooted in opinion rather than actual fact.  The average fan may prefer the current state of the product.  A slick show with pyro and a plethora of high spots may be exactly what the average fan is looking for. Admittedly, this may further strengthen Anderson's argument that wrestling is no longer the show people are paying (or not paying) to see. Professional wrestling survived, some would argue thrived, since it became a corporate entity.  Contrast the rise of professional wrestling with the decline of Roller Derby during the same time period.   One wonders if the old style would be as competitive in today's flashy instant gratification style of entertainment presentation.

Anderson is also very critical of current workers, however, he does not provide specific examples of performers, matches or cards he has watched in order to reach his conclusion.  We are expected to accept that every wrestler is, in Anderson's view, sub-par and would not have succeeded in his period. Readers looking for a plethora of humorous road stories and/or a biography of a member of The 4 Horsemen will be disappointed.  These drawbacks being noted, they are not enough to dissuade others from enjoying the book.  Anderson provides information and data when he can and, as noted, provides a strong argument to support his beliefs even if many of them are not technically provable statements.

The book is highly recommended and is required reading for anyone with any interest in the history of North American professional wrestling.  Unlike many of his contemporaries who have softened their views on the state of professional wrestling and embraced the current product, Anderson remains one of the lone voices who is unapologetic in his scorn of the current product.  He remains one of the even fewer voices who makes a substantial argument rooted in experience and logic.