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Crowbar Press has officially released the memoir of Tri-State Wrestling Alliance promoter Joel Goodhart. We Wrestled, We Brawled, We Started It All:
Since the 1940s, professional wrestling in the Northeast part of the United States had been ruled by the powers behind the World Wide Wrestling Federation, and for the most part, that holds true to this day. Mention the words "pro wrestling" to people there and, most likely, they'll immediately mention the names Hulk Hogan, Bruno Sammartino, or Vince McMahon.
However, in 1990, a successful businessman and independent pro wrestling promoter named Joel Goodhart came along and introduced a style of wrestling that changed the way wrestling fans looked at wrestling. Whereas wrestling had always been presented in the U.S. as a legitimate contest of wrestling skill, Joel presented matches that were so violent and unpredictable that the action just couldn't be contained inside the ring. In fact, at Tri-State Wrestling Alliance shows, every fan had a ringside seat at one point or another because the wrestlers took their battles outside the ring and into every part of the arena. Joel is considered by many to be the "father of extreme hardcore wrestling" here in the U.S., and in the early '90s, his Tri-State Wrestling Alliance shows in Philadelphia were the talk of the wrestling world. His shows were the polar opposite of the "cartoonish" product promoted by the established World Wrestling Federation.
In this book, Joel sits down for a series of in-depth interviews with Crowbar Press publisher Scott Teal and reveals the details of how he formed an independent wrestling company that became the talk of the wrestling world. He brought wrestlers to Philadelphia from other parts of the country and stacked his cards with top-tier talent. Added to the mix were local up-and-coming wrestlers, and their style of wrestling was every bit as violent as that of the big stars.
The process of putting that all together is the focal point of this book, which can best be summed up as Joel's (by his own admission) "riches to rags" story. In his zeal to bring the most exciting, albeit violent, pro wrestling to Philadelphia wrestling fans, Joel lost more than $150,000 (and that was a lot of money in those days) in less than two years. The behind-the-scenes details, however, are a fascinating look into what it takes to become a very successful wrestling promoter, and at the same time, an unsuccessful businessman.
Despite that, Joel Goodhart's style of promotion is credited with inspiring Tod Gordon's "Extreme Championship Wrestling" promotion and the WWF's "Attitude Era" that popularized high-profile superstars like "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock.
This is the story of how one man popularized what is known today today as "hardcore wrestling."
ECW founder Tod Gordon has written the foreword for the book.
For more, click here.
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