The book met my expectations, and is quite informative (as well as being controversial). I was impressed by Amazon's quick delivery of the product; their superlative service is the reason that I turn to them first when I am seeking a product.

A year after the Benoit murders, the media circus has forgotten and moved on. Now is a great time to make a book that reinforces what went wrong and help other wrestlers. Unfortunately, this is not that book.

Lance Storm called this the "Jerry Springer" of wrestling books. I'd rather think of it as the "Rush Limbaugh" of wrestling books. If you are a wrestling fan, this book would more likely insult you into staying one. It seems to be written for the folks that say "Yeah, you stick it to `em, Randazzo!"

The book chronicles the life of Chris Benoit and what changed him over his career. You get an idea of each organization that he wrestled for and how each atmosphere may have affected him. If you weren't already knowledgeable, this book can teach a lot about the industry and its history.

That is, if the book didn't seem like it was written by a high school student that didn't know Word had a spell check option (exactly how much is "tenty"?). There are odd phrases like "finding the hell out of Jesus". There is a mountain of curse words and f-bombs. This is book is so well researched, it's just a crying shame that all that great info couldn't be compiled in a less insulting way, either to wrestling fans or to the reader's intelligence.

As for the truth in this book, who lets the truth get in the way of a good wrestling book anymore? Many say it's full of lies, though not many specific statements have been challenged. From the stories I've heard over the years, I'd say at least 80-90% of this book is true. Some statements do seem do seem far fetched: When Randazzo says "[Stu] made Helen Hart feel like a brood mare", did she specifically say she felt this way or is this speculation? When Kevin Sullivan suplexed Tazz, did Dean Malenko say "I'll have what he's having"? (You'd have to read the book to get THAT one...) But hey, controversy is what wrestling, much less wrestling books, are all about!

The one thing missing: Benoit is painted as a driven man, no dispute there. This drive is only explained by "he was smaller than the others". If a child is brought up well, that one fact doesn't lead putting yourself through anything to be accepted. The father gets a free pass, here.

As a long time fan, I enjoyed reading about the atmosphere of the sport I once enjoyed, although everything is painted in the most negative light possible. Almost every character is displayed as despicable. Sure, wrestlers are a dysfunctional bunch, but I know there are plenty of happy and enjoyable stories. They just aren't here.

Maybe they shouldn't be. The book does give you an excellent insight into the stress that Chris went through. Drug use, dying friends, locker room politics and physical abuse eat away at Benoit until he spirals out of control. You get a pretty clear understanding why the tragedy happened.

This book could save lives, sure. But it would have had a better chance if it was written more professionally.

For any TRUE Chris Benoit fan, who still hasn't been able to come to grips with the loss of one of, if not the absolute best, wrestler of all time,this book is for you. Matthew Randazzo V has done his research and has done it well. In this book, he shares an in depth look at the world of wrestling in which Chris Benoit lived. Not the world of wrestling in which the viewer lives, but the hardcore truth. His style of writing brings with it both truth that hurts and comforts. If you are looking for some answers and maybe some closure on what brought on the tragic loss of a great wrestler and a great man, look no further than "Ring Of Hell". Bravo to Matthew Randazzo V on such a fine piece of work.

This book is pure shock!! If your a life long wrestling fan like myself, your view of the wrestling world will forever be changed after you read this book. Usually it takes me two months or so to read a new book. This book took me 3 weeks. I just could not put it down.

Well first let me ask, did the author's over use of the word "sadistic" annoy anyone else? Seriously, he probably use it 200 times! Dude, ever hear of a thesaurus?

The first 100 pages in this book can be summed up in 3 easy words. "Benoit used steroids". The majority of Ring Of Hell I felt like I was reading a direct copy of A Lions Tale, only all the positives were warped and twisted into negatives. Where Jericho talked fondly about Benoit, Mr. Randazzo would turn it into a negative "sadistic" description. Mr. Randazzo talked about the entire Hart family and any wrestler whose name was unlucky enough the be printed in his book with total disgust. Understand when you pick this book up that the author is not a sports writer or a wrestling fan, he writes about murderers. Chris Benoit is a murderer, and what he did was undoubtedly evil and disgusting. However, I think this man, Matthew Randazzo, was the wrong person to write a book on the life of Chris Benoit. I didn't want to read a rewrite of other wrestlers' biographies or shoot interviews, I wanted to read an accurate description of one of my favorite wrestler's tragic life.

This is a crazy book...especially if it is all real. Most of it probably is, but some of it might not be. His sources are listed in the back, however, wrestling is a business that will sometimes lie about what goes on or someone exaggerate because they are bitter.

All that aside, it is a fun book to read.

Where do I start? Well, first of all, the book is littered with inaccuracies. Inaccuracies that are too numerous to list. Next, and maybe most importantly, is how the author talks down to the fans of professional wrestling. He peppers the entire book with his personal opinions about how wrestling is a ridiculous form of entertainment. He mocks anyone who would consider pro wrestling as a career. Claiming, in so many words, that you would have to be mental to ever consider a career in wrestling. The entire book is written with an incredibly negative slant.

It's apparent that the author doesn't like or respect wrestling in the least and simply tried to cash in on the "Chris Benoit murdered his family and I'm going to write a book about it" money train. What a douche bag!

I'm sorry I wasted my money. Don't waste yours.

The problem with this book is that Randazzo based his book on the testimony of not so good sources. It's sad what happened to Benoit and his family but we cannot put on trial a lot of people who really has nothing to do with it.

For example the Hart's of Stampede wrestling. Stu Hart (father of Bret and Owen Hart) who was Benoit's first promoter. Randazzo destroys one of the most beloved and respected figures of wrestling saying that he was this crazy old man obsessed with pain and suffering that Benoit admire with a twisted fascination, I think that was uncalled for.

Randazzo's thesis is that Benoit had serious mental problems dating back to the earliest years of his career, issues related to self-consciousness about height, an emphasis on technical perfection bordering on trauma, and a propensity for cruelty whose limits were apparently nonexistent. Maybe that's a bit true, but Randazzo's half truths and lies have no limits.


Randazzo's tone and word choices throughout the book make clear not only that he is not a wrestling fan, but that he harbors serious hatred for both the wrestlers and their fans. He seems unable to understand what could drive wrestler to make the sort of foolish sacrifices required for success in the modern wrestling business, although they aren't anything that would be unfamiliar to, say, a pro football player or a rock musician.

Yes, death has been part of wrestling for long, yes, there are a lot of substance abuse in wrestling, but the problem is not the business is each individual, the only guilt the system had is not to protect their own as an industry would do, but it's not the fault of wrestling itself. Randazzo took the easy way out and blames the whole wrestling industry.

The only interesting credit of this book, is the description of some situation in Japan that may be quite real, and a couple of mention of key wrestlers and managers, but besides that Randazzo's venom can be felt all over his book.

If you are looking for an honest look at the business this is not the book, if you want to be reminded of some of the issues that haunt the wrestling business and want to be delighted with the twisted humor of Randazzo, be my guest, but if you are a fan of wrestling and more important if you are a fan of Chris Benoit you will be deeply insulted.

It is easy to look at the life of a champion wrestler like Chris Benoit and think that the guy had it all - talent, money, success, beautiful wife and family - yet this book tears away the facade of bliss and shows the incredibly dark and brutal life that Benoit led before he did such a heinous act of killing his family and himself.

The stories in this book are so unbelieveable but they are true (assuming the author got his facts correct, which taking into account the extensive bibliography, I would have to accept).

A book that wrestling fans should read. It may well be the best wrestling book ever written as it details the true lifestyle of our champions.

I have just finished "Ring Of Hell" the story of Chris Benoit. When I first learned of the deaths of Chris, his wife Nancy, and their son Daniel
my first thought was: "Oh my God they died in an accident." Then I thought
maybe they were murdered. Little did I realize the dark nature this tragic event would soon take. So horrifying was this event it was enough to smack some sense in the WWE to discontinue the "Vince's death angle".

As quickly as the tribute to Chris Benoit and what he ment to "The Business" came about it was dropped as fast as one could drop a hot potato. The author brought up the fact that here was a small man trying to
make his mark in a big man's world and the insecurties the business brings out in the wrestlers now matter how over they are.

The back stage politics pulled off by people who couldn't hold his jock weren't surprising. I doubt if they appreciate his professionalism and refrained from turning a match to a "shoot." Having gone through the
punishment of the Hart's dungeon to the physically and mentally trying
traiing in New Japan forged the steel in the man. Mr. Randazzo's calling
the man "The Ultimate Mark" is grossly un-fair. Here was a man who had taken pride in his craft and continuoslly tried to improve upon it.

Here was a man that Lou Thez's mentor George Tragos could appreciate. Mr. Tragos was a no nonsense "hooker" who once messed up a prospect shoulder up so bad because he lacked respect to the veterans an infection set in and the man lost his arm. One
of the best if not the best match I had ever watched was a match he had with Charlie Skaggs a.k.a. "Too Cold Scorpio". It was a work of art with a
continueos flow in transistion.

Sadly, despite the fact he had lost several friends to the obsessive quest to get "the look" he ignored the signs. My regret is that he never
got the chance one last match to get into the ring with "The Immoral hulk Hogan"
and make squeal like a "little girl".*

*The title of Terry Bolea was mispelled on purpose.

Professional wrestling is dying in North America and this book pinpoints exactly why that is happening. In no other form of entertainment do the performers have as much disdain towards their fans as pro wrestlers have towards theirs. The fact that men and women are destroying their minds, bodies and lives for this "sport" is sad. Mr. Randazzo takes us on a journey into the dark and sadistic world of a physically and emotionally stunted man who believes there is no more noble calling in life than to be a fake wrestler for a living. On the way to achieving his goal of being the best at his chosen "profession" he manages to mangle and mutilate his body, destroy a marriage, become hopelessly addicted to pills and needles and eventually ends up a brain damaged murderer. Excellent read.

The author is legit. I thank him for taking the time to get his facts straight, unlike many news sources who were getting their facts by watching wrestling videos from the eighties.
However, it is obvious to any reader who is actually paying attention to the writing, that this is not an author who cares about the material at all.
Factual, yes! Honest, seemingly! But there were parts where of the book that will have the reader convinced that Randazzo is a scorned wrestler wannabe.
Remember, this guy never claimed to be a wrestling fanatic, he writes mafia books, and true crime. So the harsh language in the book might not necessarily be provoked by his disdain for pro wrestling, but from his real life Sopranos upbringing. I am Italian and those sicilians are not known for much more than being Mafia and at many times uneducated.

Randazzo did well, but at times was unprofessional and a bit hateful.
Also, if you are looking for indepth on Benoit, this book might not be for you. there is information on Benoit, but it is mostly a history on pro wrestling, fueled by the Benoit tragedy.

"Ring of Hell" is a wake-up call for wrestlers, promoters, fans, and--most importantly--the rest of the world. One cannot rationally imagine why any wrestler wouldn't champion this book, which is a watertight argument in favor of improving working conditions--if not basic human rights--within the industry.

Grim subject matter aside, this entertaining, captivating and informative book will ultimately engender positive change. Any aspiring pro wrestler who reads this book will have no choice but to think twice about their perspective vocation. At the very least, they will gain well-founded misgivings about working for Vince McMahon, saving their own health and happiness in the process. Randazzo can hardly be faulted for that.

Randazzo is already being unjustly vilified for pointing fingers, naming names, and exposing facts that those within the industry gamely attempted to hide for years. Many have bristled at the book's wider exposure of Chris Benoit's colleagues and their respective proclivities. Such inclusions of "dirt" are entirely justified, if not unavoidable, in order to illustrate the pervasive, industry-wide insanity that fed Benoit's downward spiral.

Contrary to the recent self-serving carping of lesser authors who mistakenly consider themselves Randazzo's "competition" (Irv Muchnick, I'm looking in your blog's direction...), "Ring of Hell" will stand the test of time due to the pure, visceral honesty contained within. At times, this direct approach lapses into a narrative voice that seems downright insulting (especially if your last name is "Hart"). Depending on one's personal alignment, the reader may find this alienating. The ugly truth cannot be avoided: people are suffering, if not dying, in ways that are entirely preventable. Randazzo's fresh perspective is a welcome and long overdue slap in the face.

Wow is all i can really say... An outstanding book that goes deep into the secret and sickening world of pro wrestling. Behind the glitz and glamour, this book chronicles the rise and fall of not just Benoit but of many lives in the wrestling industry. This book blows any other pro book out of the water with the amazing stories that are hard to believe but sadly are very true... 5 star book. Guarantee you will not be dissapointed.

It's a certainly interesting, disturbing, and entertaining (in a grisly gallows humor sort of way.) Ultimately, it's also relatively hampered by relying on unnamed sources with obvious biases, which lead to the reader not being sure of their particular story's veracity.

Ultimately, I bought it because I am greatly interested in anything Vince McMahon dislikes or does not want revealed and if things revealed in this story are anything like they are in real life, I am justified in this mindset, particularly since I have not ever paid for a WWE event, or attended one, and plan on never doing so.

As much an autopsy of the career of Chris Benoit as it is a written mockery of the current state of the professional wrestling (an insidious oxymoron if there ever was one, if again, stories presented here are at all true) industry, Ring of Hell probably should have been released along with Beyond The Mat.

This book is the perfect buy not just for wrestling fans interested in the seedier side of the business, but for any fan of non-fiction.

I found myself quite literally hesitant to put this book down for any lengthy period of time. The stories in this book will amuse, repulse, and fascinate, often within the same paragraph.

I highly recommend this book, and am eagerly looking forward to more from this author.

This is another in a long line of books that tries to bring attention to the public about the pitfalls of being in wrestling - injuries, steroid/drug use, no insurance, low pay, early deaths, etc. Don't get me wrong, we need books like that, but this one is different in that it's so mean spirited to it's subject. I could literally feel the venom the author had toward the wrestling indusry, and its participants (wrestlers and promoters alike), drip off each and every page. Wrestlers who genuinely loved the business and wanted to succeed were labeled as stupid marks (as were fans); wrestlers who gamed the system were manipulative jackasses, and promoters were practically the devil's compatriots.

As a wrestling fan, after reading this book, I feel dirty, insulted, demeaned. And hey, maybe after what happened with Benoit, wrestling fans need that slap in the face, but frankly, I think it was unnecessary. Sex, Lies, and Headlocks does an equally good job of explaining the seedy underside of wrestling without demaning the "business" in the process. The authors of that book seem, to me at least, to be fans who want to see the industry reform so that fans are proud to be fans and wrestlers won't die at age 40 or be crippled for life.

Basically, if you hate the business and everyone involved in it, this book is for you, but even then, I could see people get turned off by the amount of bile it presents. Wrestling fans, you're much better off reading Sex, Lies, and Headlocks, as I said. Its more balanced, in my opinion.

It's all there in the title. This book, it is rad. Ring Of Hell is like the wrestling equivalent of Helter Skelter, only better written. This is the book Bugliosi wishes he had written.

Benoit was suppose to be wrestling's chosen one like Anakin Skywalker and his demise was similar. Just like Anakin he was the very best at what he did. Eventually Anakin took down the emperor and destroyed the sith, Benoit murdering his family has forced Vince McMahon to enforce his drug policy due to the amount of attention and criticism the media has been giving him, potentially saving a lot of lives.

Also if you listen closesly to Benoit's entrance music it claims "i'm not driven by fear i'm driven by angery" Very perceptive to Chris Benoitt the man.

This book is phenomenal like AJ Styles would say. You get to see how sleazy the world of wrestling is and how Benoit's obsessions lead him to his demise. This isn't for youtube shooters or the wrestlers who believe that a MONSTER took over Benoit in the last 3 days of his life. This is for people who thought these deaths came out of nowhere and feel like they need closure. This book offers that.

Benoit was suppose to be wrestling's chosen one like Anakin Skywalker and his demise was similar. Just like Anakin he was the very best at what he did. Eventually Anakin took down the emperor and destroyed the sith, Benoit murdering his family has forced Vince McMahon to enforce his drug policy due to the amount of attention and criticism the media has been giving him, potentially saving a lot of lives.

This book is phenomenal like AJ Styles would say. You get to see how sleazy the world of wrestling is and how Benoit's obsessions lead him to his demise. This isn't for youtube shooters or the wrestlers who believe that a MONSTER took over Benoit in the last 3 days of his life. This is for people who thought these deaths came out of nowhere and feel like they need closure. This book offers that.

This book is a poorly written mess. From the absurd adjective use, to the sketchy sources (at one point, one source questions the credibility of a source cited throughout the book), 2+2=45 logic, and lack of focus make this book a pass. The information about Benoit's time in Japan and Canada was the only worthwhile information in this book. After that it becomes an unguided mess filled with all kinds of questionable stories. Many of which come from sources where it appears agendas were ignored. Overall, not a good book at all.

Randazzo's first effort, Ring of Hell, is a sensational and lurid account of a revolting, sleazy industry pockmarked with broken backs, broken hearts, and ultimately murder.
I should now post the caveat that I am not a wrestling fan like most of the other reviewers seem to be so I come at this book from a different level. But I had no idea the depths of depravity and vulgar desperation that this hideous pseudo-sport could sink to. And yet, in spite of my bemused contempt with which I originally viewed pro wrestling, as a fan of true crime, I could not pass up this book. I consider this book in many ways to be the Rhapsody In Blue of true crime: sprawling, ambitious, and distinctly American. I can only imagine that it makes other wrestling books (especially those "written" by those deranged psychotic drug addicts) look like childish drivel. I can't recommend this one enough.

Ring of Hell, the second book about Chris Benoit released since he killed his wife, their 7 year-old son Daniel, and himself, is not perfect. That said, it's a comprehensive and engaging read that is unlike any previous wrestling books and a must-read for all wrestling fans. Randazzo is very savvy, and he writes in a serious, blameful tone that stresses the wrestling business's collective insanity. If you're a wrestling fan, it's a must-read. If you're not, but you took an interest in the coverage of the murders, the wrestling business's drug culture, and Benoit's brain damage last summer, then I highly recommend it.

Attempting to explain to non-wrestling fans just how shocking the news that Chris Benoit had brutally exterminated his immediate family shortly before, in a gesture pregnant with symbolism, strangling himself on his weight bench is more or less an impossible task, mostly because it requires people to explain the appeal of wrestling in the first place. After all, the story arc of Benoit's entire professional career - if not his entire life - is one of the redemptive power of professional wrestling, the vector he exploited to overcome his physical and charismatic shortcomings and become a genuine favorite among fans despite decades of conditioning to reject wrestlers like him on first sight. For fans of Benoit's no-nonsense, give-%110 approach to their beloved form of entertainment, the news of his family's fate was almost Shakespearian in its tragedy; it was as if Paul McCartney were to admit to have killed his first wife Linda and eaten her corpse for Christmas dinner.

Matthew Randazzo's "Ring of Hell" is simultaneously both the best possible introduction to that world for outsiders and the most intimidatingly thorough reckoning for fans yet put out. The stories it contains are wild beyond belief, but Randazzo documents his sources extensively, attributes quotes whenever possible, and demonstrates a willingness to question his own sources' credibility if journalistic responsibility demands it. The end result is a ruthlessly compelling read which nevertheless leaves the reader feeling like they've learned something - namely, that contemporary professional wrestling is a soberingly cannibalistic industry driven on the willing suicides of its stars.

"Ring of Hell" is the story of a love so absurd normal folks probably haven't ever even considered its existence - an all-consuming love for pro wrestling. As the book exhaustively documents, this singular love motivated Benoit to endure nightmarish training regimens all over the world, poison himself with performance-enabling (not, the book stresses, "-enhancing") drugs, and willingly subject himself to degenerative brutality with a regularity so reliable as to defy comprehension. Worse, Benoit's tragic compulsions are mirrored over the course of the book by dozens of figures, from functionally insane billionaires to palpably good-natured, kind-hearted fellow wrestlers. All are punished.

Randazzo explains how a climate for such behavior could even exist, let alone flourish, by relying on an treasure trove of source material, much of which comes to light for the first time in this book's pages. While the notion that pro wrestling is a dangerous, sleazy place shouldn't really be news to anyone, literally every page of "Ring of Hell" brings revelations about the depth and wicked creativity of the professional wrestling industry's inherent amorality with the potential to drop your jaw. Sometimes, these stories are cartoonishly hilarious (Japanese icon Antonio Inoki buying "Inoki Friendship Island" on the assurance of treasure being buried therein by Fidel Castro springs to mind), particularly when Randazzo lets his gift for vituperative phrase-turning loose. Others are salacious enough to stagger even the most hardened wrestling adherent; senior WWE writer Dave Lagana's sexual improprieties (and correlating abuses of power) practically cry out for a book of their own. Most, however, are just sad, all-too-believable tales of former World Champions working at Target, or speaking to sincere desires to try and fill "the empty hole in my heart with wrestling" - a bafflingly inappropriate urge even without being preceded by two hundred pages of supporting exposition.

But really, the value of all the garishly ghoulish anecdotes is dwarfed by the context Randazzo steadfastly refuses to ignore for all of the respect Benoit received - earned - over the course of his career. In laying out, in gruesome detail, the hows and the whys of Benoit's rise to prominence, Randazzo fearlessly cites contemporary accounts of not just praise for Benoit's efforts as a wrestler, but stinging critiques of behind-the-scenes forces disinterested in (or outright dismissive of) his televised death spiral. Randazzo also never neglects to remind the reader of Benoit's character, widely considered among the most unimpeachable in the history of wrestling before that weekend in June. Even in the book's first chapter, Randazzo makes a point to mention how, despite "unprecedented pressure to close ranks and demonize Benoit so as to exonerate the wrestling industry of all responsibility", the wrestler's colleagues were a unified front of praise for the man, both in wrestling terms and in terms of the character they'd always only ever seen him exhibit.

"Ring of Hell" isn't without its weaknesses; since Benoit neglected to leave a note explaining his actions and the cyclical nature of the news media guaranteed a woefully short shelf-life for the story, investigations have hit a potentially-insurmountable wall, meaning there's precious little in the way of revelations about Benoit's actual crimes (a roadbump likely to prove particularly galling to readers approaching this book first and foremost as a work of true crime). To harp on those weaknesses, however, would mean missing the point of the entire book, which announces itself as a revelatory work rather than a supplementary one from the first page. Its outspoken intent - boldly couched, relentlessly revisited - is to impress upon the reader the sheer impossibility of justifying the tunnel-visioned love for pro wrestling Chris Benoit worked his whole life to embody, and its greatest triumph might be its conclusion that he never really managed to do so until his last few hours on earth.

Don't let the reviews of this guy's friends fool you. Mr. Randazzo is no better than a maggot feeding off of a corpse. And the book sucks.