Living the Gimmick
By Ben Peller
iPublish, (www.ipublish.com), $9.95
Format: Microsoft Reader

Warning: Those who believe that professional wrestling is a real sport and on the up-and-up, read no further!

Are we all still here? Okay then, I'll admit it. As a younger fella I used to watch the World Wrestling Federation every Saturday morning. I had my favorites and railed at the cheating tactics of the bad guys. The fact that the whole smear was rigged was beside the point. People loved it, still do. The sport (such as it is) is so popular that books by or about such stars as Mankind, The Rock and Goldberg have cracked the bestseller lists.

One of the lesser lights of the WWF was a grappler named Ben Peller, whose fightin' names were Davey Starr and The Walking Weapon. Since not every fight card features headliners, these lesser-knowns were the main opponents for the likes of Hulk Hogan, The Undertaker and Jake "the Snake" Roberts. The no-names might enjoy a few seconds of glory but overwhelmingly the outcome of the match was as predetermined as the fate of a red-shirted crewman on Star Trek: gone before the commercial.

Peller, a graduate of Cal State Northridge and author of numerous screenplays, shorts stories and poems, evidently learned the art of observation and turned his experiences into his first novel. Living the Gimmick, is the story of Michael, a young man, who, like Peller, decides early on that he wants to wrestle. Not the kind of rasslin' that wins you a gold medal at the Olympics, but the kind that wins you the "tall green." The shock, dismay and skepticism from family and friends fail to deter him from his ambition to become a champion, so he treks off to sunny California and enrolls in wrestling school where he learns the moves, strategies, cons and other assorted tricks of the trade. Being the dedicated lad that he is, he's soon at the top of the class and graduates to wrestling's minor leagues. And just like Rocky, Michael has to conquer the requisite fear and adversity to climb to the top of the heap. Besides opponents and micro-managing wrestling bigwigs, Michael must deal with his own fears and insecurities.

Some familiar story lines run through Living the Gimmick, but it has enough interesting twists to keep a readerís interest. Peller's characters are easily recognizable to anyone who follows wrestling (which adds to the fun), including the top wrestlers, promoters and referees, and the good guys are not always easily distinguishable from the baddies. If Composition 101 says you should write about something you know, Peller should receive an A for this assignment.

Ron Kaplan lives and writes in New Jersey.