Title/Author:
“Soulman: The Rocky
Johnson Story” by Rocky Johnson with Scott Teal
Tags:
Wrestling, professional,
memoir
Publish date:
September 3, 2019
Length:
360 pages
Rating: to
5 of 5 stars (outstanding)
Review:
A native of Nova Scotia, Wayde Bowles
left home at 14 in order to pursue a career in first boxing, then professional
wrestling, starting in the 1950’s and continuing well into the 1980’s, helping
the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF) become the gigantic entertainment
company it is today as the WWE. Never heard of Wayde Bowles? That could be because he wrestled under the
name Rocky Johnson. If you still haven’t
heard of him, then maybe you have heard of his son. His son followed in his footsteps into
professional wrestling, then transformed into a movie actor. The son’s name – Dwayne “The Rock”
Johnson.
With that introduction out of the
way, this memoir written by the senior Johnson with wrestling author Scott Teal
is a very good look at the life of Rocky Johnson in the days when professional
wrestling was much more about the regional territories and when wrestlers of
color, especially black wrestlers, were working hard to eliminate being cast
into stereotypical, often insulting, roles.
Rocky was one of the trailblazers for this new type of black wrestler who
gave fans excellent shows without resorting to racial stereotypes.
He writes about not only his
childhood and early life with good detail, he also gives readers who are not familiar
with the business of professional wrestling an excellent, in-depth look at the
industry. He was well-traveled in his career, working in many different regions
in the United States and in Canada. He
describes the promotion and management of the industry in great depth. Readers will also learn about the
communication between the wrestlers in the ring as they ensure that they follow
the planned show discussed before heading into the ring. A reader will also learn about how the “championship
belts” get distributed to either babyfaces (good guys) or heels (bad guys) in
order to maintain the highest level of interest. This was the best aspect of the book.
Rocky also dedicates a chapter to the
success of his son, but also talks about so many important people in the
business – both inside and outside the ring – that this could almost be considered
a Who’s Who book of professional wrestling from the 1960’s and 1970’s. Rocky also stays very positive throughout the
book by never truly insulting or badmouthing anyone. He does have some negative comments about
Tony Atlas when the two of them were tag team partners and Ole Anderson for
some of his racist comments, but in both of these cases, Rocky explains why he
felt this way. Otherwise, he writes with
fond memories of his time in the sport and with great pride at the success of
Dwayne.
Any wrestling fan who is familiar
with Rocky’s work or who wants to learn more about the business at that time
should pick up this book. Even at 360
pages, it is a page turner that won’t take a long time to read and is very
entertaining as well.
I wish to thank ECW Press for
providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Book Format Read:
E-book (Kindle)
Buying Links:
Have to suggest this one to our library system. I notice that as well as two Wrestling lists the book is alsoon the R&B Artist Biographies list on Amazon. How did that happen I wonder?
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