J.R. Benson book review

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J.R. Benson book review: “Extremely Strange”

 

J.R. Benson is not like any other wrestling manager or wrestler, so it goes without saying that his autobiography is nothing like the other wrestling-related autobiographies out on the market. His life has consisted of mass chaos and his autobiography reflects that. J.R. doesn’t try to portray himself as somebody who he’s not. He’s a survivor who did severely messed up stuff over the course of his life and is still alive to tell the stories. His book explains how he ended up being the psychotic adult that he is today by delving in-depth into teenage and young adult drug stories.

The wrestling stories themselves are second to none, and it was these that made me finish 95% of the book in a single day. J.R. is one of those people who seemed to be in the right places at the right times over the past 20 years. J.R. has smoked weed with Sabu, sold drugs to Rey Mysterio Jr. and Sandman, and watched bitches get thrown out of hotels with New Jack. Some of the most interesting stories you can expect are those involving Chris Jericho & Lance Storm, Chris Candido, Dick Murdoch, Jim Cornette, Sabu, Scott Hall, and Vic Grimes.

J.R. also saw first-hand pro wrestling evolve from a circuit based on territories into mainstream entertainment. He wasn’t stuck in one promotion. Instead, he got glimpses of ECW before it took off as a national phenomenon. He was also a part of APW when it was one of the top indys in the country and XPW when it was redefining what it mean to be a pro wrestling fan on the West coast. And perhaps most notoriously, he was the mastermind behind one of the most disturbing wrestling matches ever to occur on this planet: the Tub of AIDS & Infected Syringes Match. Yes, you read that correctly…

Benson effectively conveys the mindset that goes through wrestlers’ heads when they do insane stunts like falling into/onto tables, thumbtacks, light tubes, fire, etc. You get a first-hand account of all the insane stunts that led up to Vic Grimes being hyped by many as the next Mick Foley. You also get to follow Spike Dudley from day one of his wrestling training (and how much he embraced the bumps everyone else in the class feared!) to the day he left for his WWF developmental deal. J.R. also hung out with Spike outside of wrestling a little bit, so he is able to provide insight into what Spike was like outside of the ring. You see what J.R. saw. You follow the Mike Modest and Mike Diamond’s APW class as it thinned out from several eager students to three: Steve Rizzono, Spike Dudley, and J.R. All of the rumors about Roland Alexander are addressed, and there are even a few Mike Lano stories to boot!

The XPW chapter is just as great. A lot of the boys to this day think back to the crazy days at the Aku Aku Inn and wish they could relive them. You will find out just what was so “crazy” about those days. From Supreme roughing up a fan to the Messiah attack to all the big names who passed through the promotion, J.R. talks about his entire experience in XPW.

J.R. even got to dabble in Smokey Mountain Wrestling, and was witness to the legendary Jim Cornette incident at Dairy Queen. J.R. supplies details to that story that you probably don’t know, as well as stories of traveling on the road to SMW shows with Jericho, Storm, Murdoch, and others.

What I could’ve gone without in the book is some of the overview of the history of wrestling. As infamous as J.R. is on the underground circuit, the average mainstream wrestling fan doesn’t know who he is, but if you’ve purchased his book, you probably already know a fair amount about the history of wrestling and don’t need it recapped as he does every now and then. Occasionally, there were also some grammatical and spelling errors in the book. There are some photos scattered throughout the book as well, all in black-and-white.

Make no mistake about it: J.R. Benson is infamous. As this book explains, Raven, Jericho, Storm, Candido, and others were big fans of his psychotic, depraved wrestling endeavors before they even met him. The fact that even Rob Black turned down some of the storyline ideas he proposed should give you an idea of how sick and twisted the stuff going through this guy’s mind was. Even better, many of the big names that J.R. has met in the wrestling business, he met on more than one occasion, so in this book, he compares how they changed over periods of time. For example, J.R. talks about meeting Crash Holly in a bar a few weeks before his death, and compares how he was then to how he was when he was first in APW in the mid-‘90’s.

In their biographies, a lot of wrestlers tend to “hold back.” I don’t know if it’s because they want to keep some stories for only their self or because they don’t want to get heat, but whatever the reason is, J.R. did not follow that protocol with this book. Forget the word “shoot.” That’s too tame to describe what J.R. does with this book. Any wall of decency that a wrestler is supposed to follow when writing his autobiography, J.R. knocks down entirely and pretends wasn’t even there. The saying, “what happens in the locker room stays in the locker room” does not at all apply to this book. A lot of people will be horrified by what J.R. talks about in this book. Some wrestlers will probably even be pissed off by what he says. A lot of the stuff J.R. discusses during the ISW and ESW sections are too appalling and downright vile to even mention here, as they represent the depths of human depravity. You will be shocked by some of the stuff in this book.

In 1994, J.R. Benson redefined the term “chairshot” when Sabu literally caved in his skull. In 2007, J.R. redefines the term “wrestling autobiography.” If you’re not easily grossed out or appalled and want dirt, this is something you should go out of your way to read.

 

 

To purchase the book, go to http://www.jrbenson.com/WhatsNewbook%20release.htm