WWE ENCYCLOPEDIA (2nd EDITION) (FSM 92; April 2013)

Information - ISBN-13: 978-1409376798 - Distributor: DK Books - Price: £25 - Pages: 400 - Release: Out now - Weblink: www.DK.co.uk

It was surely with a sense of both excitement and trepidation that Bret Hart stepped into the vast WWE vaults in order to bring together his personal BluRay set, The Dungeon Collection, as reviewed on Page 68. That being the case, one can only wonder what went through the mind of authors Brian Shields and Kevin Sullivan when they set about putting together the officially-endorsed WWE Encyclopedia, which would not have to cover just one career, but thousands.

Although there are two-page spreads dedicated to WWE's TV shows, the Hall of Fame, and The Undertaker's WrestleMania streak, for example, the majority of the 400-page resource comes in short biographies of both famous and forgotten WWE performers, with a photograph (sometimes more than one) accompanying each. Frankly, it's both fun and fascinating to look simply at the pictures.

The introduction to the volume notes that wrestlers should be searched for under the name that garnered them the most fame, but gimmicks portrayed by the same man, that weren't acknowledged in storyline, are given individual entries. As examples, both Kane and Issac Yankem have bios, as do Papa Shango and The Godfather. Where the change took place in storyline, such as with The One Man Gang and Akeem, or Tugboat and Typhoon, it's listed in a singular description.

Indeed, there is a strange mix of kayfabe and real-life throughout, as whereas Lex Luger's career would appear to end when he left the WWF in 1995, one of his last opponents, Ludvig Borga, has "in recent years entered the political arena in his homeland of Finland." While that may be true, Halme actually died in January 2010.

Though it may be a morbid segue, the difficult subject of Chris Benoit is not totally shirked, as he is given a near full-page biography, listing accomplishments from throughout his career. Understandably, his bio ends simply with his loss of the World heavyweight title to Randy Orton, rather than the tragic events of June 24, 2007.

Frankly, there are far too many interesting quirks in the WWE Encyclopedia to make note of in this review. It's certainly an incredible document that's great just to pick up and flick through, while also being a useful resource on all of the crazy characters that have appeared in WWE down the years.

At a very sensible price of £25, WWE fans will more than get their money's worth.