Book Reviews

Rope Opera: How WCW Killed Vince Russo
Vince Russo
ECW Press
Available Now - £15.99 (Trade Paperback)
Review by Omer Ibrahim

I love wrestling. I really do. It’s a form of entertainment unlike anything in the world. I love the athleticism, the incredible feats of strength, the death-defying moves and the tension of two workers in a nail-biting match. I even love the over-the-top characters and the backstage dramas.

This book makes me want to hate wrestling.

Lets not start off on the wrong foot here, I’m not jumping on the “Fire Russo” band wagon, nor am I reviewing Vince Russo himself, I’ve never met him.

I so wanted this book to be good. I wanted Russo to do something since 1997 that justifies his high profile position in the wrestling industry. Not only does he not do this, he doesn’t really write a book either...

What he has done is jot down things that may or may not have happened throughout his life in a non-chronological manner and strung them together with 80’s American TV references and terrible examples of pop-culture humour. Vince, I really couldn’t give a shit that when you first met Hulk Hogan you pulled a face that resembled Bob Bobbington when he got Thatthinghewanted in Genericeightiesshow. I want to know about the backstage workings in WCW and TNA, and we just don’t get enough of it here.

Then there’s Russo’s continuous Bible-bashing. I understand that he is a born-again Christian, and I have no problem with that. What I do have a problem with is his insistence on telling us. I’m searching for a joke or two here, but there really is no humour in the fact that the guy can’t go ten pages without letting us know that God himself is writing the book through Russo, and that if the reader doesn’t believe in God, he pities them. Yup, in a book in which Vince is trying to convince us that he is not useless/insane, he insults the purchaser of the work.

There are a few titbits of the inner workings of wrestling, and some pretty sound insights that actually translate to fact, as well as interesting interactions with some of the biggest names in the recent history of wrestling such as Ric Flair, Goldberg and Kevin Nash, as well as current stars like AJ Styles and Samoa Joe, but it just doesn’t do enough to excuse all of the self-contradiction and insane ranting.

The Emotionally Fourteen Rating:
Violence: Yes. No. Imagine watching 300 through a stained glass window.
Sex/Nudity: Good Lord, no!
Swearing: FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! That was me, the book contains no swearing.
Summary: It will end up in a £1 shop, so wait until then. If this were a fictional novel, it would be entertaining. It’s not, so it isn’t. 3/10

---

---

Square Enix Ltd., the publisher of Square Enix® interactive entertainment products in Europe and other PAL territories, today announced new DLC content The World of Recycled Vessel for the Action-RPG Nier®. This additional content will be available for the Xbox 360 from today, and the PS3 from tomorrow.

Nothing is as it seems in Nier, set in a crumbling world plagued by disease and dark, unrecognisable creatures. Players assume the role of the unyielding protagonist, Nier, resolute in his quest to discover a cure for his daughter, infected with the Black Scrawl disease. With powerful allies and a mysterious book by his side, Nier encounters things that will confound even the mightiest warrior.

Players are invited to unravel more mysteries in The World of Recycled Vessel, when the pages of a diary open a gate to a strange world that mixes past and present.

Larry Sparks of Square Enix comments, “Nier offers action-filled gameplay and a memorably shocking storyline. We’re very pleased to be able to offer The World of Recycled Vessel, content that rewards players with new battles and challenges to face, expanding the world of Nier and offering lots more surprises.”

The diary entries of Nier’s wife became stranger and stranger as the Black Scrawl took hold of her body and edged her mind towards madness. “Recycled Vessel. Severance. Penance. Aberrance. Sufferance. Acceptance. Disturbance. Hindrance. Defiance . Forbearance. Intolerance. Vengeance. Repentance. Radiance. Extravagance. Malignance. Vigilance. Obeisance. Dominance. Allegiance. Resistance. Discordance. Petulance. Misguidance. Deliverance.”

What mysterious power draws Nier and Weiss into a twisted amalgam of his past and present?

The World of Recycled Vessel is priced at €6.99 (£6.02) and 560 MSP.