Imagine going back in time and reliving WWF history as it actually happened. Not as the WWE wants to present it, but as it actually aired. No longer would superstars disappear from the history books or angles be edited out because they're deemed too offensive to WWE's current corporate philosophy. Instead, you'd see the WWF as it aired, as you remembered it if you're old enough, or as it really happened for the first time if you're a younger fan. You'd see the WWF that turned a regional promotion into a global billion dollar powerhouse. You'd see the WWF that the fans who grew up on the product came to know and love. Welcome to a year-by-year account of the WWF. This is the history of the WWF as presented on television. Not Vince McMahon's revisionist history, but the WWF that aired on television. This series follows the weekly shows, PPVs, and major events that made the WWF (and later WWE) the household name that it is. Love it or hate it, the WWF has become part of the world's culture and the events in this book helped define that culture. For 1996, see the rise of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Mankind, and Hunter Hearst Helmsley as well as Shawn Michaels's ascent to the top of the WWF card. As the New Generation gives way to the Attitude Era, see the final WWF matches from Yokozuna, Marty Jannetty, and other superstars as well as the debut of future megastar, Rocky Maivia.

本書は、巨大企業が都合良く洗練させた「公式の正史」を鮮やかに拒絶し、当時の放送に刻まれた剥き出しの真実を掘り起こす、極めて批評的なクロニクルです。一地方団体が世界を席巻する帝国へと変貌する過程を緻密に再構成しており、単なる記録を超えて、時代という怪物が大衆文化をいかに形作ったのかという歴史の深淵を鋭く問いかけます。 特に、一九九六年の転換点を描く筆致は圧巻です。新世代からアティチュード路線へと舵を切る混沌の中、スティーブ・オースチンら「異形」の者たちが旧来の英雄像を破壊し、新たなカリスマへと昇華していく様は、まさに現代の叙事詩。読者は、文字というメディアを通じて、かつて熱狂したあの日の「体温」を鮮烈に追体験することになるでしょう。