Guest Booker review

This is the first of my wrestling blogs, thought I would do this and share it in State of the Game and Can We Find 1 Million wrestling fans groups on Facebook just to express my views on something I love. So to start this I decided I would review a series of dvd's called the Guest Booker series which you can get from http://www.kayfabecommentaries.com/. The idea of these dvds is that they get a famous wrestling booker and gives them a scenario which they will rebook. I've seen a fair few of these so will keep the reviews brief and will not put many spoilers incase you go to watch them.

Gary Hart-Booking the Dallas Territory
The late great Gary Hart is given the job of rebooking Fritz von Erichs WCCW territory during the year where everything went wrong but in this case non of that happens. The dvd starts of looking into the Texas territory and looks into how Gary books. He does a pretty good job aswell, now it's nothing special but it's still worth a watch. The DVD shines during the 'Behind the Scenes' with some outrageous stories from the past including a truly epic one including the Missing Link. Overall this dvd is worth a watch.

Kevin Sullivan-Rebooking WWF in 1984
Kevin Sullivan is given the job of rebooking the WWF as if Hogan never came and he had his pick of talent from the territories at the time. Kevin picks a great selection of talent for his booking project. He books the entire year leading to a X-mas day Supercard. This dvd shows of the great booking mind of Sullivan and you can see why he has been used in a booking role so much. The only downside is that I find his selections a little odd e.g. he picks Superstar Billy Graham to be the Intercontinental champion. Anyways this is a great dvd.

Gabe Sapolsky-Rebooking the 'New' ECW
One of the best bookers still going today gets the chance to rebook the new ECW. Gabe is given the job of booking from the relaunch to the December to Dismember ppv. Gabe picks a selection of superstars from the old ECW stars, OVW stars and WWE stars at the time most of these would of been attentainable however the odd choices are Randy Orton and Ric Flair however Gabe explains every choice he makes when it comes to the selection. One of the things you'll find is the odd choice of the main event story revolving around Orton vs. Flair for the ECW title when Gabe books the rest of the card to show that it was different from WWE and was like the old ECW. Regardless of that fact Gabe does a great job and you can learn a lot from this DVD.

Jerry Jarrett-Rebooking WCW 2000
The legendary booker gets the job of rebooking WCW in 2000 from the fresh start they had (when WCW vacanted all titles). Jerry cuts down the locker room from 60+ to just about 25/30. He removes many titles and focuses on just 3 belts, he gives out great storylines from for all the titles and some more smaller story lines. He shows that he put alot of effort into it going past the supercard goal they gave him. This dvd really shines in the 'Behind the Scenes' segments as Jerry is very honest about many subjects and it shows that they were actually his idea. One of the things I found funny was that Jerry points out that his son Jeff is a better babyface underdog then a heel and when you think about it thats very true.

Raven-Booking Hall & Nash in ECW
Raven is not a booker but is seen as one of the great minds in wrestling and he's given a truly unique scenario to book. In this world Hall & Nash left WWE and went to ECW instead of WCW. The dvd starts off with Raven's view on booking and he points out one of the things that many of these bookers in the series does that if you're an active wrestler you shouldn't book as you'll either put yourself over or put yourself under because your booking. Thats just one of the many things you'll learn by watching this dvd. Now the title is a little misleading as Raven also adds Sean 'X-Pac' Waltman into his plans. It's a great dvd to watch and you can see how good of a booker Raven could have been if given the chance, this is a must watch.

Mike Graham-CWF/Crockett Merger
This is probably the worst dvd from a booking stand point. This dvd is more a shoot that explains the hostory of the Florida territory, his dad Eddie Graham and his booking style, the closing of CWF and his experiences in WCW including a great story of why Benoit, Guerrero etc. left the company. All Mike does booking wise is selected a roster out of both rosters for this merger, he explains his choice of why he would use the guys and why he would want them removed from the rosters. This is more of a look into how he books and how his dad booked, he doesn't create any storylines or books anything really.

Greg Gagne-Rebooking the Opposition Attempt
This is one of my favourite Guest bookers. Greg is given the job of booking Pro Wrestling USA (the combination of the territories to fight the WWE). Greg picks his roster from each company trying to select talent from each territory and not taking too much from one or another. He books a year of this and does a great job. What I love about this dvd is that he uses Sean Oliver aswell and both end up booking it, very early on in the process Greg points out that one man booking is no good you need more people to bounce ideas off hence why Sean becomes involved in the booking. Greg books a brillant card which would of been great if Pro Wrestling USA actually happened. I highly recommend this one.

Jim Cornette-Rebooking the Invasion
The tag line sums this up 'The most requested booker doing the most requested angle'. Jim Cornette rebooks the invasion angle, he books from just after WWE brought WCW which is around April to Wrestlemania of next year. He starts by doing all the first weeks promos himself and then goes from month to month developing the story. His final card would of been 5 hours long with a huge amount of matches. Just like any shoot involving Jim Cornette it's a must watch, without a doubt he creates an angle that would of lived up to the hype of an invasion angle at the time. Not only do you get to see how Jim books but he also shares some great stories at the start of the dvd. If have to watch this even if you don't like shoots or the idea of guest booker you should still watch this.

Overall
I love this series of dvds, each is unique and a great watch. It really gives you great insights into booking and bookers from the past. Go check them out, none of them would be a waste of time watching and you'll probably learn from them.