411 Book Review: Blakwidow: My First Year As A Professional Wrestler
Posted by Josh Nason on 09.23.2001
Go inside the web of the "Blakwidow," but don't expect to like your stay.
While there is no shortage of women in wrestling, there are few who make an impact for political or physical reasons. On the Northeast indy circuit, at least one woman had made a minor impression - Amanda Storm. The sizable young lady decided to put her rookie year of 1999-2000 into words with "Blakwidow - My First Year As A Professional Wrestler." However, instead of an intriguing look at the true hardships of a woman on the indy circuit, "Blakwidow" comes across as bland and an unprepared work that tells less of the author than an autobiography demands.
Storm's recognizance comes in several forms - she is almost a dead-ringer for early-WWF Chyna, was trained by Killer Kowalski (Chyna and Triple-H's teacher), and was briefly shown in the age-old MTV "I Am A Pro Wrestler" documentary. In the early chapters, the West Coast-based Storm tells of her journey into wrestling by checking around for schools before finally finding Kowalski. Here's where my frustration began. Storm never goes into detail about how she was able to get the cash together to just get up and go across the country to initially meet the Killer, such things that are important for an autobiography.
Part of the appeal in Mick Foley's "Have A Nice Day" were the images of him sleeping in a car and driving hours and hours to train with Dominic Denucci. By him simply explaining, the reader got a real feel of the sacrifices that he made to get his start in the business. I understand that not every wrestler's story is the same as Foley's, but at least explain where you're coming from. There were times in "Blakwidow" where my connection to the author was completely lost.
One of the major reasons "Blakwidow" fails is this lack of detail in certain areas: wrestlers' names, names of organizations, suffificient background, etc. that give the reader the full story and not just bits and pieces. How are we supposed to truly know the person if we don't entirely know who they are? Other points of confusion/befuddlement:
*She started a website (www.blakwidow.com) before she even became a wrestler that had "a growing fan base." How is this possible? Why would people go to this site in the first place? How did she spread the word?
*The story of her and her husband's cross-country move that resulted in an attempted robbery by knifepoint on a "lonely stretch of highway" This apparently elicited Storm to wield an assault rifle on the assailant and then caused her husband to "roll the guy's truck on its side in one motion."
*The same husband just seems to follow Storm around with no fear of money, job relocation, etc. Are they rich? What does he do?
*Storm briefly mentions a stint in a motorcycle gang. Details on this interesting fact? None.
In general, most of the conversations Storm recalls seemed scripted and very much of a fictional nature. At times, "Blakwidow" reads more like a novel than an autobiography, leading me to wonder if some of the situations happened at all. Having been involved with an indy fed for almost a year myself, I have never heard promoters, etc., pursue talent like they did with Storm. Maybe she was a phenom, but she manages to get an indy job in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, a week before training with Kowalski. Yet, there is no explanation of how she managed to do this considering she wasn't a wrestler and she doesn't even name the organization. How do we know it is true?
But "Blakwidow" is not all disappointment. Storm's analogy of the Honky Tonk Man to Albert Einstein (you have to read it) is clever and very perceptive. As the book grinds to its last few chapters, Storm does exactly what "Blakwidow" promised all along - locker room differences, her first man vs. woman match and learning the business from a female perspective. In short, she tells what it's like to be a woman breaking into one of the toughest businesses in the world.
However, not even the small sparks can ignite the Morning Glory that "Blakwidow" could have been. Few times do female grapplers get the chance to truly make their voices heard at this early stage. It's unfortunate that Storm blew her chance at saying something when she got the chance to reach some ears.
