I have been a fan of WWE since I was a child so I was so excited to learn more about Jim Ross and his career.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy for a honest review. As a fan of wrestling growing up and listening to Jim Ross every week I enjoyed his latest read. He takes us behind the scenes of the business and the most famous matches. Watching wrestling in the late 90s and early 2000s I enjoyed reading about those chapters better than the early years. Nevertheless it was a great read and I would highly recommend if you grew up watching wrestling and Jim Ross.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher BenBella Books for an advance copy by the commentator who made the matches seem bigger, better, broader and with stakes far above what they seemed with just his voice and his passion for the sport.

I started watching wrestling as a child probably about the time of the first Wrestlemania, when a lot of other kids did. I had watched some before but, like most sports it had never really caught me. I liked the promos the wrestlers did they way they put them selves over to the crowd. It was riveting television. I don't really remember who was commenting on the matches, I am sure it was Vince McMahon owner of the WWF at the time. But the commentary did nothing for me. Somehow my illegal cable box received wrestling from other towns and territories, and it was the opposite. And that is where I began to hear Jim Ross, or later when he came north, "Good Ol JR". Ross had an ability to take what seemed like two angry drunks in a bar, and make it not only the sport of kings, but a battle unmatched since the days of myth. There was a passion, an intensity, a need to make one understand yes this might be a wrestling match, but by good this meant more than that. This was Good VS. Evil, right vs. the unjust. Open your eyes and ears and let me tell you their battle song. Jim Ross was, and still is that good. Business Is About to Pick Up!: 50 Years of Wrestling in 50 Unforgettable Calls, written with Paul O'Brien, is a memoir, and a timeline history of Ross, the industry he loved, told in matches called, with background information and the reflection that comes from growing older and seeing things with new eyes.

The book begins with a little bit about Ross, and moves on to how he moved into wrestling, a job that promised him more money than he was making, but a job that had it's own history, and its own idiosyncrasies. Jim began as a driver for a blind promoter, slowly working his way up doing whatever he could. A radio background made him the perfect fill in for a commentator on vacation, and a career, with a few starts, stops, firings, and more began. The book covers 50 matches spread over 50 years, from famous, infamous, not well known, or important for personal reasons. Some of the matches, Mankind's Hell in A Cell, which broke a man in half. Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat three matches that still stun today. Halloween Havoc a mistake that still stuns today, but not for the same reasons. Stone Cold Steve Austin's "last" match. Embarrassing attitude era matches that explain a lot about current Vince McMahon and a few from Ross' current home in AEW. There are background notes, behind the scenes stories, a telling of what it was like to see controlled chaos, and sometimes complete chaos, and reflections about 50 years in the industry, that Ross still loves.

A very good companion piece to Ross' previous books about wrestling, but giving a better feeling to why Ross loves wrestling, and some nice stories about the people he has met along the way. There is no settling of grudges which many wrestling books are full of, though there are mentions about the slings and arrows that WWE put Ross through. I like the inclusions of the match calls themselves, these really show capture these moments in time and put the person back on the sofa and watching these live again if lucky. Ross explains his health issues, which might explain the heaviness of the co-writer writing, there are quite a few sections that don't seem like Ross, but then suddenly when the wrestling starts being discussed, Ross is there. This is my only quibble, as I really enjoyed this book.

Wrestling fans will enjoy this book a lot, the classic matches, behind the scenes stuff, and Jim Ross being Jim Ross. Wrestling historians will learn much, as will those who still dream about getting into the industry. Ross is pretty honest about a lot of things, from enhancement talent, to time away from families, and the health issues. I can't wait to hear more from JR, and look forward to whatever projects he is working on, though I do hope his biggest project is working on taking care of himself. There are not many good people in wrestling, and Jim Ross seems like one of the best.