2015 Reading Challenge Book 077 The Hardcore Truth

TITLE-The Hardcore Truth The Bob Holly Story
AUTHOR-Bob Holly and Ross Williams
FORMAT-Oversized Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-No
PRICE-Free,was a gift

Yeah I can hear some of yall laughing. "Bob Holly wrote a book LOLOLOL!" I am a huge fan of Hardcore Holly,so as soon as I heard he had a book coming out I knew I had to read it. A few years back one of my Aunt's ordered it for me as my X-mas gift.

Like most wrestling biographies the book starts off with Bob's childhood and works it way forwards. And while reading about Bob's youth was fun,what I was really wanting to hear was about his life once he got into pro wrestling. I happened to be at what had to be one of Bob's first few matches. And thanks to him at the time working as a welder on the Gulf Coast,I got to meet him. He was working with the same company my father worked with. That summer at a company picnic I got to meet the person my father referred to as "Dat bastard Robert". I am sure Bob got tired of answering all my questions that day. But he was nice and talked to me for hours that day.

I figured going into book,since Bob was in the WWE for 15+ years and him not wanting to go back all the best stories would come from that time period. Trust me there is some great stories from then. But my favorite actually comes from before he started wrestling. Bob was raising his young child and wanted a way to make some extra money. So he started entering "tough man" contests held in various bars along the Alabama coastal area. He kept winning.Which made a few people mad. So one night he shows up and finds out they had brought in a bear for him to fight. Yep Hardcore Holly fought a bear in some redneck bar outside Mobile Alabama.

Now onto the WWF/WWE years. I love how much details Bob gives about "Wrestler's Court". I had heard a few stories about wrestlers court before. But never in the amount of detail that Bob goes into. Wrestler's Court for those that haven't heard of it,is the wrestlers in WWE's way of self policing the roster. The Undertaker is the judge,JBL is one of the lawyers and the other lawyer changes each time. This is how the wrestlers resolve differences. With the loser usually having to buy the winner beer.

Bob also goes into great detail on why he left the WWE. Seems Ken Anderson ,currently in TNA,had told Bob to go into his bag and get a pain pill. Then Anderson turns around and ratted Bob out to the office. After this Bob was sure once his contract was over WWE wasn't going to renew it. So once it was ended he left and as of this writing hasn't attempted to go back.

One thing that stands out about this book compared to other wrestler bios is that since Bob is pretty much retired he doesn't bite his tongue. Which means he dishes lots of dirt on various WWE wrestlers.

Like with my review of The Gunslinger it is hard for me to be objective about this book. Hardcore Holly is one of my favorite wrestlers of all time. Minor only complaint about this book is I wish it was longer.

The Hardcore Truth gets a 4.93 outta 5.

3 Toys from the junk box April 9th 2015 edition

Since I am getting so much feedback on these I got another one done quick.Also since someone asked,Yes all the pictures are of toys I own. And taken in various rooms of my house.

From the late 90s here is the Jakk's Pacific WWF bendie Hardcore Holly figure.I got a Stone Cold Steve Austin bendie figure from this line for years. Had it hanging from the rearview mirror in my car. Then ended up giving it to a buddy when he moved.

Last year a good friend in Cleveland told me he had grabbed me a small gift at a recent AIW show.He wouldn't tell me what it was,just that I would love it.

As anyone reading this knows I am a big wrestling fan. And one of my favorites is Hardcore Holly. Part of it is I got to meet him back when he first started wrestling. He worked as a welder on the gulf coast. And worked a few plant shutdowns with my father. So when the company they worked for had a company picnic my father told me I had to go. "Newt we got this guy named Robert who is training to be a wrestler." So I went and got to talk to Robert for a bit.

Fast forward 4 or 5 years and Hardcore appears in the WWF as Sparky Plugg. And quickly became one of my favorite wrestlers.

I had no idea Jakks had made a bendie of Holly. And since I got it I have kept him by my desktop computer. Some people have Norton or Macafee protecting their computer. I got Hardcore Holly and the next figure.

Anyone reading this,if you have any Hardcore Holly merch you want to get rid of leave a comment here.

From the old Playmates Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toyline here is Panda Khan.When this toyline first started I grabbed the four turtles and that was it.Then when I started hitting thrift stores in the early 90s I started grabbing any anthropolymorphic figure from the line.

I haven't read all of the Mirage TMNT stuff,but I have read most of it and Panda Khan never showed up. I must assume he was created for the cartoon.

He has really nice sculpting. The paint job is well done. And the articulation is really good.I like how the pieces of armor on his shoulders and legs is made from a semi flexible rubber. No clue what accessories came with him.The green sword holder on him,well I doubt it originally came with him.

I got this Panda,I had owned him years ago and sold him when I moved from MS to TX back in the mid 90s,at the annual Wesson outfoor swapmeet. One guy had boxes of toys. I found this and asked what he wanted. Since I was getting 4 figures he told me $2.

While I have never been a huge fan of the Transformers toylines,when I saw this lego like set I had to get it.

Pretty sure this is Terraking.He is in his dragon form. The toy is so great. Once you build it you can transform it by removing a few pieces and twisting some stuff around. Yes it is basically a Transformer you make outta lego like pieces that you can transform.

Seems these toys came out in 2012. Construct Bots is the line name. They each come in a resealable tray. Which is perfect for keeping the pieces and instructions in.

I found this one a few months back at Dirt Cheap. With the discount I think I paid $5. Which is a good price. Looking around online these were $15 to 20 each when they came out.

Since finding this one,I have found Blitzwing at my local Walmart. And he was $7.50. Expect him to show up in a future installment of Toys from the junk Box.

Well that wraps up this edition. As always no idea when the next one will pop up. Keep checking here for the next one.