A Lion's Tale: Around The World In Spandex (2007)
Brandon Sears
PAGES: 432
AUTHOR: Chris Jericho (with Pete Fornatale)
"..And I promise to ignite you, to excite you, to delight you, and I invite you to strap on your seatbelts, ease the seat back, click it into gear, and go into overdrive, cause from this point forward, its 100% entertainment, 100% electricity, 100% Jericho!"
In 2005, Chris Jericho had been about as big of an established star within the pro wrestling industry that you can be but no longer felt challenged in the work place. On the advice of "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Jericho would walk away from World Wrestling Entertainment and take a near 2 and a half year hiatus from the business. He would concentrate on various projects such as his heavy metal band, "Fozzy", sporadic appearances on VH1, hosting his own rock show on XM radio and finally, writing his memoires.
Up to this point, the Lord and Master of autobiographical memoirs detailing the career of a pro wrestler had been Mick Foley. On the eve of Jericho's book release, Foley had dominated the charts with three stellar releases ("Have a Nice Day", "Foley is Good" and "The Hardcore Diaries") and had been basically gone unmatched. Jericho's book would be different then most that preceded him. Granted, the book was written with the assistance of a ghostwriter but the fact that it was not funded or endorsed by World Wrestling Entertainment made it feel more genuine and real. With this book, Jericho proved that he is an honest and faithful storyteller – not hindered by anything.
Certainly the most entertaining autobiography I'd read up to that point, Jericho's storytelling greets you like you were sitting with an old friend. You never feel like it was told through the writing of another person; it's honest and unforgiving. He really had a passion for his work while honoring and speaking fondly of his friends and co-workers, at least the ones that deserved it.
The book ends just as Jericho is about to walk through the curtain onto the Monday Night RAW stage in August of 1999. Chris has promised a second book someday; hopefully written like the first, without influence by the "powers that be" in World Wrestling Entertainment. I'd hate for it to feel censored. Don't get me wrong, I certainly do not hate WWE books (Foley's and Edge's were both excellent), they're fine as it is, I'd just much rather read something independent (i.e. Hitman: My Cartoon Life in the Real World of Professional Wrestling, Pain and Passion: The History of Stampede Wrestling). I very much doubt that Jericho would have been able to speak as fondly of Benoit as he did in this book or would be able to in part II if WWE had anything to say about it.
Brandon Sears is an insurance salesman by day and a superhero by night (not really). He has been writing for Modern Distraction since 2004. He lives in Sydney Mines with his wife, Ashley and his dog Toby.