Sisterhood of the Squared Circle: The History and Rise of Women's Wrestling

Easily the best reference book on the history of professional women's wrestling from the early carnival days to the present as of 2017. There are many great biographies and autobiographies out there with both fans and detractors based on the wrestlers themselves and their fans. Pat Laprade, who is a leading authority on pro wrestling with a special fondness for women wrestlers, gives an unbiased view on the individual women themselves. As well as the history of the sport past and present. I titled this review an abridged history of professional women's wrestling which I feel it was. No doubt, there will be critics who will wonder why a certain time span or their favorite wrestler was not included or given more their due. In order for all time spans, promotions and wrestlers to be included would require volumes and vo!umes. Perhaps Pat will write more. One could only hope on this entertaining and well written subject. Check out more wrestling books by Pat Laprade for unique well researched and entertaining perspectives on professional wrestling.

It kind of bogged down and became more of an essay on how one promoter took advantage of women's wrestling and abused and full filled his own predatory desires. I was looking for more of the stories of actual matches and how the women felt and a little more characterization. It had a lot of little tidbits and so you got a little blurb of things. But, not much meat to the stories.

When I entered my preteens, I finally found out the channel that broadcasts Monday Night Raw. One of the first memories I have as a regular watcher of WWE was Candice Michelle vs Beth Phoenix 2 out of 3 falls match. I didn't know anyone involved in the match, but those two pulled me into the match. When Candice Michelle fell from the top rope and injured herself it put a permanent memory in my mind. No, it wasn't a technical masterpiece; however, the fact that they laid it all on the line made me respect not only them, but female wrestling in general. From that point on, I was a lifelong women's wrestling fan.I started to research women of the past and present. I watched their matches just as much as I watched the matches of my favorite wrestler, The Undertaker. As I grew into my teenage years, I am twenty at the time of this writing, I began to look up women's wrestling outside of WWE. I learned that women were capable of doing more than what they were in WWE through the work of women like Manami Toyota, Akira Hokuto, Aja Kong, Amazing Kong, and Gail Kim. That is what kept me eager for the 2 minute Diva matches during the "Bathroom Break era" of WWE women's wrestling. When I would visit wrestling websites and see the endless bashing of WWE's Divas, I would always shake my head and think 'yeah, but those are my girls.' The Divas and other women's wrestlers were all my girls, some of them just needed a chance to shine.Honestly, to see how far women's wrestling in general has come, fills me with such gladness. Its just like a big "I told you so" to all the haters and bashers. Women's wrestling right now, is in a time of prominence.This book is a celebration of said prominence. It not only covers the notable and celebrated, but also the forgotten and unsung. It covers wrestlers and there are some you will be inspired by. There is also clarification on the injustices of the Fabulous Moolah. It also chronicles important events and moments in women's wrestling history.You can tell that absolute care was taken when developing this book. It is truly amazing, and a must read for any women's wrestling fan. Hopefully, this will not be the last of books such as this one.

This is a superb book whose time is long overdue.Women wrestlers have been a part of the business dating back to the 1800's, but their contributions have almost always been ignored and trivialized. Conservative, sexist social strictures literally made the participation of women in wrestling criminal in many states, including New York, where it was not legalized until the 1970's. The toughness and courage of women in wrestling, as in other pugilistic sports, has been downplayed and ignored. This has not only robbed women of the respect they earned and the money they generated, but has also stolen from fans an important and fascinating part of wrestling history. This book, along with the excellent documentary 'Lipstick and Dynamite' by Ruth Leitman, corrects that injustice in an entertaining and informative way.Published by ECW Press authors Pat Laprade and Dan Murphy have made an excellent addition to the growing cannon of books chronicling professional wrestling.My own library has shelves of wrestling books but very few are about women’s wrestling. Jeff Leen’s “Queen of the Ring” (an excellent and engrossing book about Mildred Burke) is a notable exception. Prior to the very recent release of AJ Mendez Brooks ‘Crazy is My Superpower’, the only published wrestling biographies by women were those by Lita, Moolah, and the late Joanie Laurer (aka Chyna, whose pariah status in WWE is indefensible). Tammy Stych, Missy Hyatt, and Jeanie Clark also have books, but all three were valets, with only Stych having some experience as a wrestler/in-ring performer.Sisterhood offers a brief but enlightening section on the pioneers of women in wrestling in the 19th and early 20th century. Scott Beekman's 'Ringside: A History of Professional Wrestling in America' offers a detailed account of the full history of wrestling in the US for readers looking for more. The performers of the Billy Wolfe and Lilian Ellison (Moolah) eras are detailed next, before the 1980's Rock and Wrestling era is covered. There are nice breakout pieces throughout on topics such as the legalization of women's wrestling, the 'original screwjob' and the apartment wrestling phenomenon. For more on that particular topic, the Taschen photo book 'Exquisite Mayhem' juxtaposes the fetishistic apartment wrestling phenomenon with the LA Olympic wrestling scene of the 70's and 80's. The section on GLOW was also enlightening (there is a great documentary on that promotion available as well).The book contains well over 400 pages of brief, but detailed and illustrated career profiles of over 100 women wrestlers, organized chronologically, by era. From Minerva to Manami Toyota, from Mae Young to Sexy Star, and from Mildred Burke to Sasha Banks this book takes us across the globe and across time. The reference style and formatting of the book is similar to that of ‘The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame’ book series (also by ECW Press). There are excellent chapters on international women's wrestling (Japan, Mexico, Australia, and the UK are covered), SHIMMER, and the growing Indy scene.Sisterhood chronicles the ongoing, uphill battle for respect in and out of the ring by the cadre of brave and tough athletes. The book concludes with chapters on the women of NXT, the death of the diva's title/resurrection of the women’s title, the 'women's revolution', and the future of women's wrestling in consideration of Stephanie McMahon's push of the division. Ronda Rousey's impact on women in fight sports is discussed - women were denied the right to compete in the UFC by that company until 2011 - when that discrimination ended, in large part, due to Rousey, who is on the WWE women's division 'wishlist'.Sisterhood also contains an excellent introduction by Nattie Neidhart, whose work (including famous matches with Charlotte Flair) helped to demand the respect that modern women wrestlers are finally starting to receive. This is an excellent and much needed book on the history and evolution of women’s wrestling. It’s highly readable, packed with interviews, images and enlightening insights into a subject too long marginalized.Well done and highly recommended.

Overview of the different eras of women's professional wrestling around the world.Plus bios for the important names from each era.The best of its kind. Well, written and researched. Light reading, more of an oral history than a dry, scholarly tome.

I like wrestling. This book had information on all the women from past and present. Pictures.

This is an excellent book that any supporter of women's wrestling should read.Before I read this book, I knew virtually nothing of women's wrestling in the WWE pre-Attitude Era, apart from a few snippets of the 80s and 90s, and knew virtually nothing of women's wrestling outside of the WWE. And so I could not wait to finally educate myself of the entire history of women's wrestling globally.I found this book to be highly informative, incredibly well researched, incredibly addictive, and could not stop wanting to read it. Despite only a couple of pages being dedicated to each individual wrestler (with a few exceptions), the book packs in a shockingly expansive level of detail. The book details profiles of 116 female wrestlers, from the late 19th century to the present day.This 400+ page book is divided up into 12 individual chapters. These consist of the origins of female wrestling, the pioneers, the Billy Wolfe era, Fabulous Moolah and her employees, the 'Rock 'n' Wrestling' era of the 80s, the Attitude Era, TNA, the Divas era, international female wrestlers, the independent scene, NXT and the "women's revolution", concluding with the future.As an impartial detailing of the history of women's wrestling, this book also sheds light on controversial topics. A good portion of the book reveals what a vile human being Moolah was, detailing accusations from many within the industry that she'd pimp her female wrestlers out to male wrestlers, allow them to be raped, take a hefty chunk of their earnings to ensure they wouldn't be able to make a living without her, while also convincing promoters to blacklist women who didn't want to work for her. Before reading this book, I had never heard of the original WWF screwjob in 1985 involving Wendi Richter.Despite how excellent this book is, it gets a 4 star rating from me for a few reasons:- I found it quite disappointing that Layla El didn't get a profile, despite being a significant part of the WWE Divas division from 2009 - 2015. Especially considering her Lay-Cool teammate Michelle McCool got a profile, despite being employed for WWE for a shorter amount of time than Layla, and Layla arguably achieving more success and popularity than McCool.- I felt that AJ Lee wasn't given any credit in the book for inspiring the 'Women's Revolution', despite undoubtedly being a huge influence on it. Having changed the perception on women's wrestling during her time in WWE (before her popularity, women did not have shirts made for them, segments involving her were some of the highest rated), AJ Lee unquestionably inspired fans to demand more spotlight on women in WWE, with her tweet publicly pointing out the hypocrisy on Stephanie McMahon's part. In the book, Natalya is suggested as inspiring the women's revolution. I just did not agree with that at all, especially given that she didn't really do as much to change people's perception of women's wrestling or gain as much popularity as AJ Lee did during her time in WWE. AJ Lee should have been credited instead of Natalya.- There is a really poor error on page 400, stating that WrestleMania in Dallas (WrestleMania 32) was Paige's first WrestleMania, despite her first WrestleMania having been the year before, at WrestleMania 31, teaming with AJ Lee against the Bella Twins. Although this was the only error I noticed, I'm shocked that this one was not caught before being published.So in conclusion, this is an excellent book that is definitely worth buying, and one that I'd highly recommend to anyone who supports women's wrestling.

Pat's book is terrific. It's rare to find so much info about the women's side of wrestling beyond lightweight "autobiographies" of some of the former WWF/E stars. This is well researched and gripping from start to finish - it's not afraid to shine a light on some of the seamier characters that dotted the promotions, as well as celebrating the true greats. I'd have liked to have seen more focus on the Japanese stars of the 1980s and 1990s but appreciate the North American audience is less familiar with those individuals. A really good read, and here's to the next volume!

Ok, p.s.a to any fans of women's wrestling, BUY THIS BOOK. It goes through the history of women's wrestling from the very start when women were seen as circus acts and not looked at on the same level as male wrestlers, all the way to the present day of the women's revolution and the women absolutely killing it in today's wrestling. It also visits different countries cultures and eras, and it was fascinating to read about a time when women were redefining what it meant to be a female wrestler and paving the way for the women of today. Could not recommend enough! Kudos to Pat Laprade and Dan Murphy for retelling the stories from the past and showcasing women's wrestlers who might not have been necessarily known to fans of wrestling today. Thoroughly enjoyed reading it!

Really enjoyed this book. Informative and interesting.

Ottimo libro per chi vuole conoscere la storia del wrestling femminile.