My only real disappointment about the book’s final version is that there are passages that deviate from Ric’s voice. But short of starting from scratch and re-writing the whole thing, that was inevitable. I didn’t re-write the book as much as edit it with a fine-tooth comb. Given the deadlines that existed, it was the best I could do.
But I will take credit for punching it up.
Greenberg was a WWE fan. He made it sound like Ric was a Mick Foley fan, a Bret Hart fan and a Bruno Sammartino fan. That’s because Greenberg was a fan of theirs and didn’t want to insult them. Well, Ric is not a fan of those people. So I talked to Ric about them and wrote sections about them that were critical but fair. The words were Ric’s, the opinion of the greatest wrestler ever.
I used to co-host a radio show with ex-Pittsburgh Steeler Jack Ham, the greatest outside linebacker in NFL history. With a guy like that, his opinion on football should be considered to border on fact. It’s the same with Ric’s opinion on wrestling.
Greenberg didn’t get that. To him, treating Foley “fairly” was more important than staying true to what Ric actually felt. That’s absurd. Who the hell is Mick Foley, or Bret Hart, or even Bruno Sammartino compared to Ric Flair, especially within the context of Flair’s autobiography? Greenberg was an idiot.
Lazy, too. Didn’t even bother to interview Stone Cold Steve Austin about Flair even though he knew Austin was a big fan. Come to think of it, maybe that’s WHY he didn’t interview Austin. I did, and I think Steve’s input definitely added to the finished product.
I want to give Triple H credit. As a devout Flair disciple like me, it was extremely important to Trips that this book turned out well. If not for his persistence and concern, I might not have had the chance to make the revisions I did.
I put about 50-60 hours into saving the book, all within a relatively tight time frame. I’m proud of “To Be The Man,” though I definitely believe it would have turned out a lot better had I been the main writer from beginning to end. But it’s very good, and it was a success, reaching #5 on the New York Times best-seller list.
I can’t say Greenberg didn’t contribute, because he did a lot of research, most of which even turned out to be correct. He got primary writing credit because that’s the way the contract read, and he got a lot more money. That’s OK. I don’t do many labors of love, but “To Be The Man” was definitely one of them.
WWE gave me a mere thousand bucks for saving “To Be The Man,” and WWE’s book division rep made me feel like she was doing me a grandiose favor by paying even that. She also gave me the opportunity to re-write the text for Triple H’s bodybuilding book – another one of WWE’s Shakespeares had mangled things badly – but she wouldn’t give me a contract or advance, so I declined.
I recently had a chance to ghost-write a book for Kurt Angle, but his manager wouldn’t come up with a contract, or even a bona fide offer. “Just get to work and we’ll see what happens.” I declined.
Wrestling companies want marks to do jobs like this. Free labor from fans. That’s not me. When I work, I want paid. I’m a professional. I must admit, though, that the original publishing house gave me an advance of over $11,000, none of which I had to pay back. I deserved it.
Ric occasionally talks about writing another book, and I’d love to do it. But low-level journalist Mike Mooneyham has spent most of his life with his lips planted on Ric’s ass, and I don’t want to work with him, so maybe Mooneyham will do it (and maybe I’ll have to save it). Mooneyham wrote the credits for “To Be The Man,” turning them into a valentine to himself and actually misspelling Howard Cosell’s name. In those credits, Mooneyham got thanked. I didn’t.
BONUS MOONEYHAM STORY: The guy’s a nobody, so I hate to give him additional notoriety. But when I got fired from WCW, it was because I had a backstage pissing match with DDMe and his neighbor Eric Bischoff was about to buy the company, so DDMe got me canned. No complaints. Eric did a lot for me, and there’s nothing worse than hearing DDMe whine like the bitch he is.
But one of the excuses WCW used was that I did an interview with Mooneyham without first getting company permission. That was curious, since I’d never talked to Mooneyham. Turns out Mooneyham quoted something I said on the WCW Hotline as if he’d talked to me directly. Howard Cosell, he ain’t. Or Cossell.
