Steve "Mad Dog Ganz" Gans wrote that Blue Collar Ballet isn't just the first-ever pro wrestling autobiography/expose, it's still the best, and here's why: The other books don't tell you about limping to your day job after getting 3-4 hours of sleep, because you drove 800 miles round-trip the day before to put over another worker in seven minutes of violent mayhem for fifty bucks and a crowd full of obscenity-laced catcalls. Or about fracturing the bones in your shin at the beginning of your match, but fighting through the pain for another ten minutes, because you respect the hell out of the other man in the ring with you, and want to give all 39 fans in the seats a good show. Most of all, they can't tell you why anyone would do all these insane, ridiculous things and love every damned minute of it. But "Luscious" knows, and tells you all about it. Reading this book made me fall in love with pro wrestling all over again. Anyhow, enough talk! Ring the bell! Show me... More > some rasslin'!< Less
You must be logged in to post a review.
Please log in
3
People Reviewed This Item
By sarkovitz
Aug 2, 2009
"A Ballet for All" Blue Collar Ballet is a perfect title for this most unique expose' into a world many of us find alien. This form of performance art has always been to me a "fake" entertainment for the mid-American redneck culture. Having had little passion for the art for much of my life, I gained a completely new perspective that I'd never had guessed I could gain. CRa exposes Professional Wrestling, I imagine, for the first time, hence the worthiness of the effort. The prose flows nicely, is easily understandable, and indeed draws the reader into the world of wrestling like no one has before, so far as I know. Not to mention, it is a lot of fun. I am looking forward to what he has next to bring to the table.
"Celebration of a Working Class Art Form" OK, I'm not particularly a fan of professional wrestling, but I've always been fond of men and the ways they invent to celebrate their masculinity. I'm particularly fond of working class men, men like my father, my uncles, my cousins, my neighbors, and the guy who fixed my heat pump. The kind of men who love cars, trucks, guns, and professional wrestling, not necessarily in that order. I enjoyed this book a lot. It gives the reader an inside look into a masculine art form that most people in this country dismiss without ever really seeing. It's well-written, funny, perceptive, loving without being blind. Reading this book made me wish I hadn't skipped the professional wrestling match at the LaRue County (Ky.) Fair this past July. In fact, I'll probably go next year, or the next time I see those signs beside the highway announcing an upcoming professional wrestling event at the National Guard Army in Taylor County. And I'll watch the... More > matches from a new point of view because of the wisdom and insight contained in this little book.< Less
"Professional Wrestling Is Real" C Ra McQuirt's Blue Collar Ballet is a personal memoir of his career as a professional wrestler. In telling his own story, McQuirt weaves in a history of the sport and an exposition of what is real and compelling in professional wrestling - the theater and drama of the ring itself and the acrobatic, free form "dance" the wrestlers perform together in every match. Blue Collar Ballet is amusing, entertaining, informative, educational, inspiring and uplifting. And for the many who find professional wrestling the only thing worth watching on television, reading C Ra's Blue Collar Ballet is just the ticket for whiling time away during the commercials.
