A couple of years ago I received the Best Buy exclusive “Avengers Illuminated 3D Lenticular Gift Set” as a birthday present, and one of the things it included was a really great 200+ hardcover book called “The Avengers: The Ultimate Character Guide.” I enjoy the Marvel movies, but I’m not a comic book guy, so this book was quite valuable to me because it informed me of more than 200 of the Marvel heroes and villains. It was also just a really well done book, and in fact when I was first looking through it back then I couldn’t help but think that they should do one on WWE.
And well, here I am today reviewing the WWE Ultimate Superstar Guide, also made by the talented folks at DK and in the same style as the Marvel one that I liked so much.
The Ultimate WWE Superstar Guide is a 200+ hardcover book where each page covers a WWE Superstar or Diva complete with cartoonish and exaggerated drawings of the individuals. The art style (illustrations by Daz Tibbles) reminds me a lot of WWE All Stars (video game released back in 2011 that launched this site).
The Ultimate Superstar Guide covers a lot of ground. It’s not just the current crop of WWE Superstars and Divas, but also the legends and NXT talent as well. It’s not as in depth as the WWE Encylopedia’s, but it’s not suppose to. The big name legends like Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Bret Hart, and Bruno Sammartino are here, but so too are guys like Afa, Big Bossman, Brian Knobbs, Don Muraco, and Greg Valentine to name just a handful of the legends that are covered.
Most of the talent that appear regularly on NXT television, and even some that don’t, are also included, although sadly current NXT Champion Kevin Owens came in too late to be included in this book.
Under each superstar or divas name is, potentially, a series of icons that serve as accomplishments. In the shot above, you can see Ric Flair has a lot under his name. Those are Hall of Famer, WWE Champion, World Heavyweight Champion, Intercontinental Champion, United States Champion, Tag Team Champion, Royal Rumble Winner, and Slammy Award Winner. There are icons for performing in the WrestleMania main event, winning the Royal Rumble, Money in the Bank, King of the Ring, Diva’s Search, and the Women’s/Diva’s Championship. It’s a quick and easy way to see the accomplishments of each superstar and diva.
Each superstar gets a paragraph or so written about them, as well as a few facts; height, weight, hometown, signature move, catch phrase, plus other tidbits (like “The Nature Boy’s majestic robes cost more than the average car.”)
The WWE Ultimate Superstar Guide is available now for a suggested retail price of $17 (you can get it from Amazon for $13), and I would say it’s easily worth it for any wrestling fan/collector. It’s just a really well done book with some fantastic illustrations and information. Highly recommend it, it’s a superb book.
The Ultimate WWE Superstar Guide gets a four of five: GREAT.
* A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review.
They should do a Street Fighter esque fighter with this art style.
Yeah they should.