Review by Jahanzeb Khan
Backlund: From All-American Boy to Professional Wrestling’s World Champion is no ordinary autobiography. Most readers have likely read one by their favourite actor or athlete, but it’s unlikely they’ve read one by someone who was both of those at once. This is a book about a professional wrestler, the unique art of wrestling performance, and self-help motivation.
Professional wrestling is like creative non-fiction come to life inside of a wrestling ring, where body slams and elbow drops serve as literary devices to tell a story that blur the lines between the real and imagined. For a professional wrestler, their real-life persona and their wrestling character start out as completely distinguishable constructs, however, as the years and decades go by, both personas essentially fuse into one. I am talking about performers like the Minnesota born-and-raised Nelson Simpson who, during the 1980s, wrestled as the Russian villain Nikita Koloff and stood against all things Americana. Even today wrestlers invent nuanced personas that they bring into their performance. The person presented to the audience is often different from who they really are, blurring the lines in a way that keeps their audience, and I dare say even their loved ones, guessing. In doing so, some have also become fine actors in the process.
Before those colourful characters there was Bob Backlund: a clean, wholesome, All-American lad who was one of wrestling’s notable world champions. His autobiography, co-written with Rob Miller, transforms the tall-tales of the former world champion into a biographical account that not only chronicles the life of Bob Backlund the person, but also Bob Backlund the professional wrestler; delivering a tale of a lived creative non-fiction where art imitates life and life imitates art, sometimes even simultaneously.
The book was first published in 2015, and by then nearly everyone on the planet knew that this colourful sport wasn’t a real competitive sport, but to call it ‘fake’ is a bit crass. Yes, it is scripted and preordained, but the pain and endurance that wrestlers put themselves through is anything but make-believe; the injuries and bruises are very much real, and history has shown time and time again how the punishment can be life threatening too.
Knowing full well the intelligence of his target audience, Bob Backlund doesn’t beat around the bush in this tell-all account, as he chronicles the entirety of his life and wrestling career. Here he lifts the curtain and lets the audience in, much like a magician finally sharing their secrets they once swore would go with them into the grave. Yet, despite his raw honesty in depicting the inner workings of a wrestling performance, he never diminishes the sheer dedication required to master the craft. If anything, his deep insights and firsthand experience will likely make readers respect the theatrics rather than dismissing it as something fake.
Backlund displays his career highlights and achievements with humility. The honesty in his storytelling style has a way of getting the reader to cheer for him as the archetype underdog. Now, he didn’t necessarily win championships through legitimate competition like one would do in the Olympics, but him becoming a wrestling world champion is still a huge achievement in his profession. It’s quite simple when you think about it: being chosen to carry the championship means that the wrestling promotion sees you as the very best, the one that fans lineup at the box office to see. No amount of perceived legitimacy, or lack thereof, can take away from what holding the world title belt means and represents.
Bob Backlund held the world championship for six years between 1978 and 1983, and he recollects all his epic battles in vivid detail. This is where a book of this nature shines, because not only does the reader get a firsthand account from the performer himself, but many of these classic bouts took place during an era when most wrestling events were simply not televised or taped. For wrestling enthusiasts and historians, having this on record makes the book a real treasure. A great example was an exhibition he had with wrestler (later turned actor) ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper, a match that was never taped but elaborated here in vivid detail- including the foreword to the book written by Roddy Piper himself.
In reliving his life and career in detail, the book also paints a picture of the kind of person and professional he was, and why out of all the other wrestlers who might have been bigger, stronger, or even cooler, he was chosen to represent wrestling as its champion for six years. Bob Backlund was quite simply the quintessential role model for that generation; hardworking, honest, clean, and embodying all the virtues of the prototype American citizen – all these qualities were true for both him as a performer and him as a person. This was the kind of person to not only draw crowds, but to inspire them too, especially the younger fans. Backlund was all about determination and integrity, defeating all the wrestling villains without ever losing his principles. To use the contemporary Marvel Cinematic Universe as an example, he was like a real-life Captain America, except Backlund performed all his stunts without computer effects.
Lifting the curtain on wrestling as an entertainment business, the book also confesses how being a champion meant that he was surrounded by a team of writers and promoters who had to market him to the public, but one thing also becomes clear in his autobiography: he wasn’t playing a make-believe character even as a performer. Backlund genuinely lived by the very same principles he portrayed in the wrestling ring as its representative champion. Unlike most performers he walked the walked, unlike say a certain polarising wrestler who told his fans to say their prayers and take their vitamins while he himself was abusing steroids. Bob’s character just naturally shines through in the autobiography just from the way he authentically retells his formative years, to the way he balanced his family responsibilities with his career demands. The many glowing testimonies from friends and colleagues, which are punctuated throughout the book as segment breaks between Bob’s major career moments, also reaffirm his esteem.
The stories and testimonies already make the autobiography inspiring enough, but the book also doubles up as a self-help guide where the author leads by authentic examples and lived experiences; warts and all. He draws inspiration from famous American self-help author, Napoleon Hill. Each chapter opens with a Hill quote that fits the tone and theme of the respective chapter. Later, Backlund reinterprets Hill in his own unique spin, and so by the end of the book he has 18 principles of his own to impart upon the reader. Normally this sort of advice can come across as hammy and presumptuous at best, but after reading through all the triumphs and heartbreaks of Backlund’s life and career, the advice comes across as genuine and helpful.
It’s a professional wrestling tell-all that dives into the mind of one of its greatest champions. Backlund: From All-American Boy to Professional Wrestling’s World Champion presents a hero that will likely inspire readers to work hard the clean and honest way.
You can find more of Jahan over at BlueSky.