Heartbreak & Triumph - The Shawn Michaels Story

Steve's ability inside the ring and his quick-witted responses lead to his becoming one of the most popular WWE© Superstars of all times. With the creation of the Stone Cold™ character, Steve's popularity expanded exponentially. It seemed nothing could stop the Texas Rattlesnake™, except himself.

Despite growing up with "a lot less materially than other people" in the small town of Orangeville, Ontario, Copeland recalls his formative years fondly. He remembers a loving mother who, while working multiple jobs just to pay the rent, nurtured her son's passion for Spider-Man comics and KISS albums. He also recalls the family tragedy that created a void in his life at nine years of age, and how that void was soon filled by the yellow-and-red-clad form of wrestling legend Hulk Hogan, whose intensity and personality "made me feel like I could accomplish anything."

Yeah, I'm the towering red-and-yellow warrior who revolutionized the wrestling business, the larger-than-life superhero who transformed an entire country into a horde of Hulkamaniacs. I'm the guy who spit blood and breathed fire to help create an empire called World Wrestling Entertainment.

But it wasn't always like that. Once I was a fat kid named Terry Bollea watching legends like Dusty Rhodes and Superstar Billy Graham, never dreaming I'd be a professional wrestler myself one day.

Run with me on the streets of Tampa, where a bass guitar became my salvation. Fight alongside me in the wrestling arenas of Japan, where opponents try to bite your fingers off to make a name for themselves. Slide into the ring with me against 700-pound Andre the Giant, who only became my best friend after he found out he couldn't beat me down.

Then cruise L.A. with me and Sylvester Stallone on the heels of Rocky III. Learn why Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura hates my guts. Go head-to-head with Dennis Rodman in a hard-liquor drinking contest, and share a dressing room with Liberace.

Find out what makes me cry like a baby, what makes my blood boil, what I think of Jesus Christ, and what scares the living hell out of me. Then tell me you know the man called Hollywood Hulk Hogan.

Join the Babe Ruth of wrestling on a gritty, no-holds-barred odyssey from his start in the barbaric wrestling arenas of the seventies through the heartbreak of potentially career-ending surgery to the achievement of his greatest triumph yet.

Along the way, lock up with the likes of Cyndi Lauper, Andy Kaufman, Dolly Parton, Mr. T, Ted Turner, George Foreman, Jay Leno, Undertaker, Triple H, The Rock...and of course, Vince McMahon, head of World Wrestling Entertainment. They're all in here, waiting to show you what they've got.

Hollywood Hulk Hogan. It's the real deal, brother.

To wrestling fans, the Nature Boy is a platinum-blond deity, a sixteen-time world champion who accurately boasted that he could have a five-star match with a broom. No matter how limited the opponent, Flair had the skill and determination to bounce all over the mat, transforming his rival into a star. When the camera light went on, "Slick Ric" could convince viewers that, if they missed an upcoming match, a momentous life experience would pass them by. Flair's opponents were challenged with this simple taunt: "To be the man, you have to beat the man."

Away from the arena, Richard Morgan Fliehr spent years struggling with his own concept of what it meant to be a man. He suffered periods of crushing self-doubt, marital strife and—in a profession where there was room for only one Ric Flair—broken friendships.

Ric Flair: To Be the Man, cowritten with Keith Elliot Greenberg, chronicles the anguish and exhilaration of Flair's life and career—in painfully honest detail. In addition to his own words, Flair's story is enriched by anecdotes from ring greats like Superstar Billy Graham, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, Harley Race, Sgt. Slaughter, David Crockett, Arn Anderson, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, "Mean" Gene Okerlund, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Undertaker and Brock Lesnar.

Until now.

Wrestling fans know him as Rey Mysterio, an American luchador of unparalleled talent, the ultimate proof that good things come in small packages. Now for the first time, Rey adds the personal side to the story:

• How he had to fight to get a tryout in the ring

• Who he was before Rey Misterio Jr. -- and even before Colibri, usually noted as his first identity

• What it was like to wrestle in Mexico -- from the bullrings to the riots

• How he fought plans for his unmasking in WCW -- and why he wishes he hadn't succeeded

• The inside story of the 619, the West Coast Pop, and his other signature moves

• The impact of Eddie Guerrero on his career in WWE

• The personal struggle that cost him ring time in 2008 but ultimately made him a stronger man

• His real passion in life as husband and father

In Rey Mysterio: Behind the Mask, Rey talks candidly about his twenty-plus-year career, from the days of sneaking into bars as a fourteen-year-old to his most recent showdowns in WWE. He speaks of the emotional moments in the ring with his uncle Rey Misterio, and the dark days when he went under the knife to repair his damaged knee. Along the way, Mysterio introduces American audiences to the mysteries of lucha libre, the high-flying, anything-goes Mexican wrestling style that he has done so much to popularize in the U.S. He also talks about the debts he owes to wrestlers such as Konnan, known as the Mexican Hulk Hogan, and dishes some behind-the-scenes dirt on the collapse of WCW at the height of the Monday Night Wars. Mysterio talks tenderly -- but realistically -- of his friend Eddie Guerrero, providing a well-rounded picture of one of the most beloved wrestling figures of recent history. He also details his march toward the Heavyweight Championship, and his mastery of the WWE Triple Crown -- a feat that placed him in an elite group for all time.

Behind the Mask is the intimate portrait of one of wrestling's all-time greats, a story wrestling fans of all ages won't want to miss.