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Everyone at PWInsider.com sends our best wishes to NECW promoter, author and historian Sheldon Goldberg, who suffered a torn achille's heel tendon over the weekend and will require surgery. Sheldon's a great friend to us here and we wish him all the best. You can get signed copies of his books at www.NECW.tv.
Tiger Mask will retire at tomorrow's New Japan Pro Wrestling event.
The latest podcast from Thea Trinidad and Charlie:
The latest book from author and historian Ian Douglass has been officially released on sale.
Only Built for Turkish Links: The Turkish Invasion of American Pro Wrestling features a foreword by JBL and an afterword by Tom Lawlor.
Promotional material for the book:
"All forms of art reflect the distinct cultures that map its DNA, imbuing it with uniqueness and power. Once again, Ian Douglass excavates forgotten history and aims a prism at how professional wrestling's trajectory and growth were infused with the majesty and might of Turk Yousouf, Adali Halil and other warriors who brought the hallmarks of the Ottoman Dynasty to the squared circle. In doing so, another important link from the past to today that was once forgotten can now be studied and celebrated forever—a piece of the pro wrestling tapestry once thought lost, now repaired and restored to its rightful place of distinction and honor. Douglass' passion for history and research is matched only by the lives, magic and ferocity of the fighters rediscovered in this tome." - Mike Johnson, PWInsider.com
The invasion of the U.S. pro wrestling scene by Turkish wrestling stars between 1898 and 1901 rocked the foundations of a developing entertainment industry. In that short span of time, Yousouf Ismail, Adali Halil, Kara Osman, and Nouroulah Hassan forced American sportswriters, wrestling fans, wrestlers, and even public officials to grapple with uncomfortable truths about the standing of American athletes in the world, and even the battle-readiness of American soldiers for global combat.
Capturing the core of the "Turkish Invasion" from its understated start to its unsettling finish, Only Built for Turkish Links clarifies the historical record of what the Turkish invaders accomplished on American mats, how their intrusion reshaped the essence of professional wrestling, and how their larger-than-life statures and personas left indelible marks on professional wrestling that still carry staggering weight in the modern era.
The book can be ordered at this link.
The Lucha Libre USA YouTube channel released a collection of Shane Helms matches in the promotion, which ran for several seasons on MTV2:
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