Rating: 
Summary: Hackneyed Moronic Journalism.
Review: I was looking forward to this book. Both Assael and Mooneyham are well-known 'respectable' journalists whose aim, I believed, was to write an objective account of the history of pro-wrestling. The second word of the title is unfortunately a description of this book rather than pro-wrestling itself. The flaws are far too numerous to list therefore I will concentrate on just one - the 1976 match between Muhammad Ali and Antonio Inoki.
The book claims that Ali was approached to fight Inoki in a pro-wrestling match and the idea was for Inoki to win. Ali however did not trust Inoki and in a bad mood, abandoned the script and went after Inoki for real and Inoki was so scared he fought like a spider - running from Ali and refusing to stand up and fight. In addition Inoki wore spikes on his shoes which caused all the damage to Ali's legs. The authors' only source for this story is Bob Arum, Ali's promoter, whose interest in the affair is far from neutral. Arum has been quoted telling many different stories about the event in other books (Ali had too much pride to perform a fake match and demanded that the fight should be real etc. The spiked shoes are new to this book however). The authors' relate to Arum's story as truth when it is in actuality a fiction.
The authors missed out the following facts:
- The match with Inoki was Ali's 4th pro-wrestling match.
- Ali's objection to the Inoki fight was that he was supposed to lose and demanded that Inoki threw the match (Ali was given the win in all his other pro-wrestling matches).
- Inoki refused to lose and suggested the match was to be a shoot (real). Ali agreed and a set of fair rules were agreed and signed by both fighters and their camps.
- On the 18th June 1976 (one week before the fight) Ali saw Inoki in a public training session (kicking through baseball bats, having 300Ib men jumping on his stomach and so on) and refused to fight Inoki unless the rules were changed. A new set of rules were agreed which allowed Ali to box and kick on the ground. Inoki was banned from punching, kicking unless three points were on the ground (i.e. both hands and the other foot), takedowns and slams. In addition if Inoki grappled Ali and Ali touched the ropes the hold would be broken. Inoki only agreed to these rules as he had more to lose if the fight did not go ahead.
- During the match Inoki fought under the limitations of the rules. Ali refused to move away from the ropes so whenever Inoki grappled him the fight was restarted. Inoki's so called 'cowardice' was the only offensive move he could legally use. Ali's legs were badly damaged during the fight but not from puncture marks. Despite the bad position from which Inoki had to throw his kicks they were still hard enough to cause internal bleeding, blood clots and severe swelling which forced Ali to spend a number of days in the hospital.
The rules for the match were well publicized before the match and are well documented by the Japanese press. Assael and Mooneyham have no excuse (other than breathtaking ignorance) for writing such nonsense. The book is just overflowing with stupidity and inaccuracies. Assael and Mooneyham should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing book!!
Review: Whether you are a wrestling fan or not this book is a must read.
This book shows the real story behind the king of wrestling. I will never watch RAW the same way again!!
Rating: 
Summary: Not as Bad as Some People Claim
Review: During the first 10 pages of Sex, Lies and Headlocks I learned more about wrestling history than I had in my first 10 years of watching.
This book is an informative retrospective on the history of television wrestling. Is it a biography of Vince McMahon like it claims? Not quite but what it is even more fascinating.Shaun Assael and Mike Moeneyham have researched their book tremendously, talking to and reading material by some of the foremost authorities in this sport. Have they left some stuff out? Of course they did, but it the book is less than 300 pages. Is Vince portrayed as almost evil? Yes, but let's be honest folks, Vince McMahon is not exactly the white angel of professional wrestling. Honestly, no one should expect any wrestling promoter to be painted purely because, professional wrestling is historically a con artists game. Some will claim that this book is innaccurate and mixed up but the only time that was really a problem for this reader isn't until around the last third of this book when the book inexplicably goes from May of 1998 to November of 1997. After the initial confusion though you do realize what is going on. This book does have tangents but no more tangents than Wrestlecrap, which is almost universally praised. If you are interested in learning wrestling history this book is a must to at least learn some, and peak your interest to learn more about the subjects discussed.
Rating:
Summary: Good book, but title is misleading
Review: This is a really good book. But it is not all about Vince McMahon. It is about wrestling in general, the whole WWF, WCW, Eric Bischoff, the Monday Night Wars. I would have loved to read more behind the scenes stuff w/ McMahon. I don't know why the author named the book what he did, he should have made the title more general. I mean they do talk about Vince, his steroid trial, and the way he took over most of the wrestling world. But there are chapters full of info not involving Vince at all. But it is still very entertaining. I liked hearing why Ted Turner bought WCW, Dusty Rhodes almost destroying it with too many "Dusty finishes", how Vince put on Pay Per Views and even a free Royal Rumble on at the same time WCW shows were run, trying to destroy them (I didn't know that!!), the theory behind Goldust and how he started the new direction of the WWF, Brian Pillmans Loose Cannon personality actully being a gimmick Bischoff created, his death and how Mcmahon treated it, among other stuff.
The main problem I had was the author talked about certain wrestlers by their real name, not stage name, and it made me a little confussed, I had to keep going back to see who they were talking about (I ended up reading about this guy I didnt know who it was, then realized it was Ole Anderson). And the Steroid trial, although informative, was a little too informative, too many names of attorneys and watchdogs mentioned. Other than those two tiny things, plus the title being misleading, I really found this book to be very good. Any wrestling fan should pick it up.
Rating:
Summary: A Mess of Contradictions and Just a Bad Book
Review: Other reviewers have mentioned the many factual errors in Sex, Lies and Headlocks, so those aren't worth rehashing. However, these apparently novice writers can't decide on a point of view - in one section they're cheering the WWE's or WCW's ratings dominance, the next they're presenting the actions of L. Brent Bozell as if his assertions had some basis in reality. And why is WCW even mentioned outside its role as a competitor? The book is subtitled "The real story of VINCE MCMAHON AND WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT." Full chapters are devoted to Eric Bischoff and WCW, presumably to lengthen an already-brief book with plenty of fact-checking problems. What's more, there is no information here that can't be found in the WWE's own video, The Monday Night Wars, or on WWE Confidential. This "real" story is the same as the one the WWE tells, begging the question, "Why say this again?" Finally, this book is poorly written and badly edited, lending another level of amateurism to its writers and their publisher. Did no one line-edit this book? If they did, they can take one of my writing classes, as long as they don't expect to do well. Sex, Lies and Headlocks is a pitiful excuse for a book on anything, much less a book on wrestling or a "tell-all." I regret wasting my money on this piece of unmitigated garbage, and its "writers" should be ashamed of themselves. The world needs far, far fewer books like this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Facts wrong.
Review: This book is well written, but not a lot of research was done. It's written like fiction. Andre the Giant did not retire in 1987, as this book states. He won the world title in 88, and the tag titles in 1990. Sloppy facts and enough made up info and verbiage make this book a no go.
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