# Review: Too Sweet: Inside the Indie Wrestling Revolution (2020)

- Link: https://www.nyrdcast.com/review-too-sweet-inside-the-indie-wrestling-revolution-2020/
- Published: 2023-02-06T15:59:27-06:00
- Author: Eugene Tierney

### **Too Sweet: Inside the Indie Wrestling Revolution**

#### **Keith Elliot Greenberg**

[⌊Review of Too Sweet⌉⌊Review of Too Sweet⌉[

ECW Press, 2020
SRP: $19.95[Amazon Link](https://www.amazon.com/Too-Sweet-Inside-Wrestling-Revolution-ebook/dp/B089VBHCL8?ref_=ast_author_dp)

Independent wrestling has gotten huge in the last couple of years, but why? New 
Japan, Ring of Honor, and Impact have been low level competition to the WWE for 
years, but it seems the last few years they have been gaining steam, along with 
the local indie federations that are littered throughout the country and world.

Greenberg looks into many of the United State indie federations and how they started
to take off. It’s a good, historical look at small-time wrestling. You get everything
from Joey Janela, Nick Gage, and Joey Ryan to the biggest indie show in wresting
history, All In. The books packed full of information and gives a little insight
into the life of the indie wrester; from the travel horror to the little pay, from
wrestling in front of 50 people to thousand plus venues.

The book gives a lot of attention to both AEW and Bullet Club, which both had a 
hand in independent wrestling taking off. You also get a lot of info on Janela, 
Cody Rhodes, and Jeff Jarrett. You see the beginning of the big boys the NWA, WCW,
and ECW; you see the emergence of the new wave of Game Changer Wrestling (GCW), 
CHIKARA, and Pro Wrestling Guerilla (PWG). You get a look at international federations
as well.

An added bonus is the book contains pictures of many of the wrestlers mentioned.
It’s interesting because you get to see guys like Keith Lee, Lio Rush, Sami Zayn,
Walter (Gunther), and more before they were stars.

It’s not a perfect book. Much of the book is jumping from promotion to promotion
and feels choppy at times; Greenberg would be better off hitting the different promotions
while painting a bigger picture. Instead, you get the history of AWA, then switch
to GCW in the next chapter; there is no cohesive story bringing it all together.

There is also a big issues with some of the wrestlers involved with the book. Wrestling
got hit hard by the Speaking Out movement, and a lot of those wrestlers are featured
in the book. Joey Ryan, Jimmy Havoc, Marty Scrull, Dave Crist, David Starr, and 
Michael Elgin were all guys mentioned in various degrees and were all named as creeps.
Mike Quackenbush, the owner of CHIKARA, was labeled an enabler for the creep behavior;
CHIKARA closed up shop shortly after wrestlers refused to work for the company. 
Saraya Knight (mother to AEW’s Saraya) was accused in the UK of abusing trainees
and colleagues, leading to her retirement from the industry.

While the book was released in 2020, shortly before or right as the Speaking Out
movement happened, it would have served Greenberg well to note this as a post-script
in the book (he does touch on it in his follow up _Follow The Buzzards_, but it’s
too late for the criticism already online).

Even with the choppiness of the chapters and the questionable wrestlers featured,
the book was very enjoyable. As a independent wrestling fan, the book had a ton 
of information and enjoyable. So much so, I’m reading _Follow The Buzzards_ now (
look for the review in a few weeks).

**Rating: **4.5 out of 5; the chapters can be distracting, but it was a quick read
with a lot of good information.

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