November 15, 2006 Observer Newsletter: History of the Monday Night Wars

The history of WCW, the Monday Night Wars that brought pro wrestling to a popularity in many ways never seen before, and the Eric Bischoff reign and legacy in the business are back in the news with the release of Bischoff's autobiography a few weeks ago.

Due to the strong promotion, the book looks to be the best-selling WWE book since Ric Flair's book in 2004. The No. 16 opening on the New York Times best seller list is probably more impressive than it sounds. It got off to a better start than the disappointing results from the Eddie Guerrero and Shawn Michaels books. They were two of the company's biggest stars the year the books came out, and Guerrero's came out shortly after his death. The wrestling book market had obviously fallen from when it was a novelty and even very bad WWF books spent weeks on the bestseller list.

Most best sellers are available everywhere. I know in this market, almost none of the bookstores were even carrying the book. After one major store after another didn't have it, I ended up having to order it. All the great TV promotion done isn't going to be of a lot of benefit if stores aren't carrying it.

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