Awesome Truth: A Wrestling Book Club

For anyone who grew up on '90s wrestling, Yokozuna was larger than life. He was the man who sat on Hulk Hogan, the foe of Bret Hart and the Undertaker, the behemoth who Lex Luger somehow slammed on the USS Intrepid. And now, on the first episode of WWE Icons, we finally get to hear his story. What made Yoko burn too bright too fast and become — literally — too big for wrestling? And is this new WWE Network doc series worth a watch?

Take a trip on the greatest wrestling nostalgia tour we’ve ever had on Awesome Truth! With Hardcore Gaming 101 Presents: Wrestling with Pixels as our guide, we discuss the features and nuances behind the most iconic wrestling video games of all time. From WrestleMania: The Arcade Game to Fire Pro Wrestling World, we discuss games from every era and console and decide once and for all which ones deserve to be called the best wrestling games ever made.

Do we need another detailed history of WWE? That's the question we couldn't stop asking while reading Bill Hanstock's otherwise entertaining We Promised You a Great Main Event, and it's what we're talking about today on Awesome Truth. Who is this book for? Is there really a chunk of the fan base that wants to read about wrestling's recent past yet doesn't already know it like the back of their hand?

2021 is already shaping up to be Kenny Omega’s greatest year in professional wrestling. So what better way to ring in the new year than to watch the Kenny Omega documentary? From Kenny’s humble beginnings in wrestling to his decision to turn down a WWE contract and his incredible rise in Japan, Awesome Truth is here to dissect his journey thus far, from Kota Ibushi and the Golden Lovers to his top-dog status in AEW.

For a year and change, Bill Goldberg was the biggest name in wrestling. His unbeaten streak and championship win over Hulk Hogan captivated fans and gave WCW an aura of invincibility that felt endless...until it ended. In this episode of WWE Network's Untold series, Goldberg and frenemies like Kevin Nash and DDP dissect the phenomenon that was the streak, and we dissect the ins and outs of the angle that fueled and then signaled the end of WCW.

You've heard our interview with Matt and Nick Jackson; now it's time to go in-depth on their smash-hit book, Young Bucks: Killing the Business from Backyards to the Big Leagues. Would the Bucks have made it big in WWE? What do we think of their performance thus far in AEW? And are they the most important indie act of the last few decades? We break down all things Bucks as we review perhaps the year's best wrestling book.

It's a Superkick Party on Awesome Truth; the Young Bucks are here. Tag team champions of the world Matt and Nick Jackson join us to discuss their new book Killing the Business from Backyards to the Big Leagues and explain how they went from indie darlings to AEW executive vice presidents to best-selling authors — and how they documented that remarkable journey.

Vice's Dark Side of the Ring has become a surprise sensation, the network's highest-rated show and a much-needed alternative to WWE's stranglehold on the history of pro wrestling. To share how this engrossing docuseries came to be, we welcome Evan Husney, the show's co-creator and executive producer, as he discusses his favorite episode(s) and what it was like to tell the stories of wrestlers like Owen Hart and Chris Benoit.

Welcome to 30 Days of the Deadman, whatever that means. Though The Last Ride came out mere months ago, it's been 30 years since The Undertaker's debut at Survivor Series 1990, which means the WWE Network is once again awash in Mark Calaway content. Fortunately, this one is a good one: wrestlers remembering the first time they met The Phenom. Join us as we analyze what The Rock, Batista, Edge, and (sigh) Baron Corbin had to say about their initial Taker interactions.

It's a little weird to say, but this Chris Jericho autobiography from 2011 might be the best Vince McMahon book ever written. The shockingly honest Y2J dissects his Raw is Jericho debut, his uncomfortable first few years in WWE, and most importantly, his day-to-day interactions with the oft-manipulative Mr. McMahon. Plus, there are Fozzy and Hollywood stories! Nine years later, it holds up as one of the most insightful and intriguing wrestling books ever written.

Many wrestling fans think David Arquette winning the WCW championship killed the business, and the man himself doesn't agree. That's why the Hollywood actor decided to return to pro wrestling the right way, a journey documented in the 2020 documentary You Cannot Kill David Arquette. But is this really a doc? And who wants or needs a stylized, overproduced chronicling of the David Arquette story?

Ken Shamrock is a UFC Hall of Famer and a star from the early days of WWE's Attitude Era; he's also one of the few wrestlers to fall out with Vince McMahon so thoroughly that he's never, ever returned to the company. We sit down with Jonathan Snowden, acclaimed author of a new Shamrock biography, to discuss Ken's thoughts on pro wrestling and to dissect what makes the World's Most Dangerous Man tick.

The rise of AEW and the rebirth of indie wrestling have changed the game for WWE and beyond, and the first great chronicle of this new world order has emerged: Too Sweet: Inside the Indie Wrestling Revolution by Keith Elliot Greenberg. We welcome Keith back to the show yet again to discuss the Young Bucks, Kevin Steen, Pro Wrestling Tees, PWG, and everything else over the last two decades that's given indie wrestling new life.

We've booked our first star of the small screen! Ben Giroux, also known as Coach Fener on Netflix's The Big Show Show, joins us to discuss acting alongside The Big Show himself, Paul Wight. Sadly, their show was canceled right after we recorded this interview, but that doesn't mean we can't all enjoy his stories of going toe to toe with Show on set for four glorious episodes.

Just because Netflix canceled The Big Show Show moments before we recorded this episode doesn't mean we abandoned our plans to talk Paul Wight's sitcom debut! It's not every day that a WWE superstar gets a starring role on TV, and surprisingly enough, Big Show proves up to the task. To talk about Show's fake family, I needed my family; my brother Chris and friend of the show Matt both stop by to break down Big Show's performing chops, Roman Reigns' handshake, and pro wrestler acting prowess on the big and little screens.

As the "Million Dollar Man" and beyond, Ted DiBiase is one of pro wrestling's all-time greats. But like almost every star from the 1980s, DiBiase had his demons. His son, former WWE superstar Ted DiBiase Jr., decided to dissect those demons in the 2017 film The Price of Fame. It's a decent little conceit for a wrestling documentary, but does it hold up for 95 minutes? And does it even attempt to unpack the complications that come from being a second- or third-generation wrestler, operating almost entirely in your father's shadow? Join us and find out.

Once upon a time, Vince McMahon gave a director named Barry Blaustein full access to the WWF locker room. Paul Heyman, Terry Funk and Jake Roberts all signed up as well. Almost 21 years later, it's amazing that Beyond the Mat even exists, but it does. Why did all these wrestling luminaries provide the cowriter of Coming to America with so much access? Did this documentary convince Vince to close ranks and start producing all those WWE-branded docs? Join us as we revisit this remarkable pro wrestling time capsule.

No pro wrestler has battled his "demons" quite like Jake "The Snake" Roberts. His recovery from years of drug and alcohol abuse was documented in 2015's The Resurrection of Jake the Snake, in which Diamond Dallas Page famously adopts Jake and Scott Hall while nursing them back to health. To break down this instant-classic wrestling doc, we've invited our friend Dr. Chris on to discuss the power of friendship and also the insidiousness of using a redemption story to promote DDP's yoga brand.

For years, Mark Calaway fully lived the Undertaker gimmick. Now, he's finally speaking out as himself, a decision highlighted in great detail throughout WWE Network's Undertaker: The Last Ride. Though it's become one of the network's highest profile documentaries, how entertaining is it to watch Calaway lament all his recent injuries and subpar WrestleMania performances? Do we actually learn anything about the man behind the Deadman? Is it a fitting send-off (temporary or otherwise) for the Undertaker character? We answer all the big questions about this five-part limited series.

The second season of Vice's Dark Side of the Ring ends with a gut punch: the story of Owen Hart. Instead of telling the sanitized WWE version, we get an intimate look at Owen the father and husband as much as Owen the wrestler. To help us dissect what the highest flying Hart meant to us, we've brought on a special guest: a childhood friend who had us over for Over the Edge 1999, the night Owen lost his life.