We Promised You a Great Main Event

An Unauthorized WWE History

By: Bill Hanstock

Narrated by: Josh Bloomberg

Unauthorized. Unrestricted. No holds barred.

In We Promised You a Great Main Event, longtime sports journalist Bill Hanstock pulls back the curtain to give a smart fan’s account of WWE and Vince McMahon’s journey to the top. Untangling the truth behind the official WWE storyline, Hanstock does a deep dive into key moments of the company’s history, from the behind-the-scenes drama at the Montreal Screwjob, to the company’s handling of the Jimmy Snuka scandal, to the real story of the Monday Night Wars.

WWE is an extraordinary business success and an underappreciated pop cultural phenomenon. While WWE soared to prominence during the Hulk Hogan years, as the stakes grew more and more extreme, wrestlers faced steroid scandals and assault allegations. The whole story is here, good, bad, and ugly, from the heights of iconic cultural moments like Wrestlemania III to the arrival of global superstars like The Rock and John Cena.

We Promised You a Great Main Event is an exhaustive, fun account of the McMahon family and WWE’s unprecedented rise. Drawing on a decade of covering wrestling, Bill Hanstock synthesizes insights from historians, journalists, and industry insiders with his own deep research to produce the most up-to-date, entertaining history of WWE available. Full of amazing characters and astonishing stories from the ring to corporate boardrooms, it is a story as audacious as any WWE spectacle.

A triumph!

Mr Hanstock perfectly encapsulated the experience of being a lifelong fan of pro wrestling. Well written and researched and well performed. I look forward to future work from Mr Hanstock.

Great kinda Summary of WWE/WWF

As a pro wrestling die hard, I had this book pre ordered months in advance. I have to say well worth it, I enjoyed going down memory lane and reliving some historic moments in the world that is World Wrestling Entertainment, I do disagree with a statement made in the end of the book, because yes AEW has changed the world of wrestling by just simply giving us all an alternative option, that’s not cartoonish or so damn predictable. Recommend any wrestling or non wrestling fan pick this one up and enjoy!!!!

nothing new

nothing new or exciting to add to the history thought this would have been more fact based very opinion

Enjoyed a fresh narrative take

Often it’s the same few recounting the eras and companies of pro wrestling and when a fresh voice aware of the complexity of wrestling? It’s a treat to recap the WWE both from the spectrum of absolute hilarity, to the stunningly speechless tragedies that the company has navigated.

Great story and reading performance.

I loved this book, it was very well researched and was very informative and entertaining.