When it comes to book covers, David Shoemaker's 'Why Hulk Hogan Matters' has possibly one of the best to come along in quite some time. After all, it has the Hulkster in all his red and yellow glory from back in the day.
That, unfortunately, is where my praise ends. Never judge a book by its cover. And all that.
I was aware of David Shoemaker before I picked up a Kindle copy of 'Why Hulk Hogan Matters'. I've found his writing style to be slick, words flow superbly. Just a few important things, though: Shoemaker's research and knowledge of wrestling history is lacking. Terribly.
There are countless inaccuracies in this work. I genuinely don't know where to begin. I've read other readers claim 'Why Hulk Hogan Matters' could have been written with the use of Artificial Intelligence. Going by how I noticed errors with AI when I used it to fact check some research I did for Taylor's Pro Football Gambling Annuals (
cheap plug!), I can understand that suggestion.
Giving Shoemaker the benefit of the AI doubt would mean he's a dreadful researcher and wrestling historian.
If your task is to write about Hulk Hogan's career, you should know Hogan's last major match, before heading to WCW the following year, was a losing effort to Yokozuna in Dayton, Ohio at WWF King of the Ring 1993.
Shoemaker informs his readers the loss occurred in an untelevised bout in Japan. Completely untrue.
Then there are blips stating Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior had their first altercation - to set up their WrestleMania bout - at the 1992 Royal Rumble. That was off by two years because WrestleMania VI occurred in 1990.
Anyone who follows the 'sport' at Shoemaker's level should know that.
Then there's little things like stating Bob Backlund returned to the WWF as a heel in the 1990s. He didn't. Backlund's 1992 comeback was as a babyface before turning heel a couple of years into that run. There's a claim 'Macho Man' Randy Savage joined World Championship Wrestling before Hulk Hogan's arrival. That's false as well - Savage's WCW debut came in late 1994. The Macho Man's opening angle for the company was whether he would slap Hogan's face or shake the WCW Champion's hand at Starrcade 1994.
The following note was equally annoying.
As you can see, it claimed Hulk Hogan returned to WWE in 2002 after the company was forced to change its name, from the WWF, following a legal dispute with the World Wildlife Fund.
That isn't how it went. Hogan arrived back in the WWF during February of 2002. The WWF changed its moniker to WWE in May of that very same year. Not 2001.
I could go on.
A concerning thing about such a book being out there on shelves is that it creates a false history of Hulk Hogan. Newcomers aren't going to get the accurate story. Ironically, Hogan himself would distort his own history with tall tales about himself. Shoemaker fails to sieve truth from Hogan's fiction. He piles on more through inept research and knowledge.
⭐/5
