• Hardcore History

  • The Extremely Unauthorized Story of the ECW
  • By: Scott E. Williams
  • Narrated by: Karl Miller
  • Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (395 ratings)

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Hardcore History

By: Scott E. Williams
Narrated by: Karl Miller
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Editorial reviews

The ECW was always an underdog in the world of wrestling, smaller and scrappier than its bigger brothers, the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling. In journalist Scott E. Williams' Hardcore History: The Extremely Unauthorized Story of the ECW, Karl Miller intrepidly narrates the now defunct company's fascinating backstory, from its genesis in 1992 to its collapse in 2001. Miller's clear and sympathetic voice performance underlines the brutality of the sport, while critically unveiling the truth behind questions that still linger, including the ECW's relationship to Vince McMahon and the WCW, and the real reasons the ECW died.

Publisher's summary

ECW was one extreme contradiction piled on top of another. It was an incredibly influential company in the world of professional wrestling during the 1990s, yet it was never profitable. It portrayed itself as the ultimate in anti-authority rebellion, but its leadership was, at various points, working covertly with the two wrestling giants, the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling. Most of all, it blurred the line between real life and the fantasy world of professional wrestling like no other company before it - many of those who thought they were conning others ended up being victims of the ultimate con.

Hardcore History: The Extremely Unauthorized Story of the ECW offers a frank and balanced look at the evolution of the company, starting even before its early days as a Philadelphia-area independent group called Eastern Championship Wrestling in 1992 and extending past the death of Extreme Championship Wrestling in 2001. Writer Scott E. Williams has pored through records and conducted dozens of interviews with fans, company officials, business partners, and the wrestlers themselves to bring listeners the most thorough account possible of this bizarre company.

The book sets out to answer several questions: Did World Championship Wrestling really try to destroy ECW by draining off its talent? Was Vince McMahon secretly as a friend to ECW, as he has claimed? What really caused the death of ECW? Who lied to whom? Hardcore History: The Extremely Unauthorized Story of the ECW will address all of those mysteries and many more in a story that is sure to be extremely controversial for fans and critics of both the ECW and professional wrestling.

©2006, 2007, 2011 Scott E. Williams. Foreword copyright © 2006, 2007, 2011 Shane Douglas (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Hardcore History

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Get a narrator with product knowledge

What a great book on the history of ECW! it is well written and has tons of quotes and backstage stories. As good as the book is, the narrator ruins it. His voice is flat with little intonation. I can forgive that, but I can't forgive the mispronounced names throughout. He could have jumped on YouTube to hear the names, he could have asked the author, he could have done his homework. Instead, we are treated to Chris Benoyt (Benoit) and Tony Skee-ah-voon (Schiavone) He ruined the entire book.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

terrible reading

this guy made so many mistakes in his reading. it was comical how many names he got wrong and how many times a clearly different voice was reading the odd line.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Hardcore Resurrected

Loved reliving the glory days of one of the most influential companies in wrestling history. ECW and it's impact could be seen while watching the Big 2 engage in the Monday Night Wars. The impact is still felt in arenas today. Only drawback to this book was the lax narration, compounded with the mispronunciation of wrestlers names throughout the book.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good not great.

I enjoyed the book but the reader mispronounced several names and the story was alright but I feel it could have been told a little better. All in all though I did enjoy the book and enjoyed it.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Compelling story

It's a big nostalgia flashback for me from behind the scenes of a show I spent my college years watching. It's an engaging story written by someone who was clearly a fan and read by someone who clearly wasn't. The three pronunciations of Sytch and the reference to Hunter "Heart" Helmsley pulled me out of three moment ever so briefly. Still worth it.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Well written, good coverage

I believe at some point the author notes that he's a newspaper writer, or maybe I made that up, I really can't remember. However this book reads like it was written by a newspaper journalist - which isn't bad since the book is strong on substance and structure but that also means its not strong on narrative and 'heart'. By that I don't mean it's dry but it does feel fairly detached at times.

With that out of the way I enjoyed the book as a recap of the history of ECW. It seems well researched and moves at a good pace. I knew a good part of the general history but this book fills in a ton of details. If you have any interest in the subject you'll most likely enjoy the book.

The reader does a good job even if it is a pretty straight read.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fun and in-depth

This is a very enjoyable, seems fairly unbiased, dive in to the life cycle of the renegade promotion of ECW. Anyone who enjoys wrestling will enjoy this listen. Anyone who is interested in business turmoil stories will enjoy this listen as well.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Was ok.

It was slow to get going and it was a lot more detailed in places that you wouldn’t expect it to be. I was hoping for a lot more dirt and less timeline.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

eh slow build

it's a slow build then it can't keep the pace, your on a roller coaster of highs and lows but it does get the point and story across 3.5 overall

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

really enjoyed this one

loved this book well written and read lots of good info and depth to it I recommend for any body that's wants to hear a good David and Goliath story with wrestling promotions.

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