A Lion's Tale: Around the World in Spandex by Chris Jericho

Many autobiographical wrestling books have come and gone, with few standing head and shoulders ahead of the pack. Who would have thought that Mick Foley's trilogy of books would have been better than some of the autobiographies from the biggest names in the business (many of them much bigger than Foley himself), such as The Rock, Steve Austin, Eric Bischoff, Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Roddy Piper, Ric Flair, and arguably Eddie Guerrero and Batista. While I have only read a few of the books mentioned (Shawn's, Austin's, and Piper's) and briefed through many of the others but none of them seemed to be better, heck most of them were way below par with Foley's. Untill now!

Who is it? Obviously by the picture it's Chris Jericho. What is the X-factor that sets up Jericho and Foley's books as the best autobiographes in wrestling? Well it's the fact that they are actually written by them. Jericho and Foley both opted not to use ghostwriters. The others used ghostwriters and therefore, there is a large sense of disconnect between the wrestler and the reader. Those books weren't in the wrestler's own voice. While some were better than others, it's still a third party telling the story. Jericho's book blows all that away.

Well a new king of the autobiographies has dethroned Foley, and his name is Chris Jericho. Chris Jericho learns from the achievements and mistakes of Foley's three books and improves upon the formula.

First off the structure makes the book very fun to read, we still get the same sense of worldliness and adventure but it's streamlined in order to decrease the confusion and exasperation of lines like "and then I traveled to (back to) _______ (insert country)" being used over and over again. It helps with the overall flow and pacing of the book. I guess with can thank Peter Forntale for this.

At the same time, I'm not swearing out Peter Forntale's name because his participation made the book better rather than worse. Like I said, ghost-writer's often detract as the wrestler's voice and personality gets lost in the book. But NOT HERE, Chris Jericho's voice comes straight through the book and punches you in the face. It's great and I feel like I'm having a conversation with the man rather than reading a summary of an interview. Jericho's voice feels honest and balances humor and comedy with the somber and sometimes downright depressing moments very well. Very few times his voice borderlines arrogance as he praises himself as the best wrestler and sometimes putting others down due to looks or failing at the sport, but mainly it's his attempt at providing the most objective subjectivity he can about his colleagues in the business. I mean he is one of the best in the business, so he's definitely allowed some lee-way in saying it.

Finally, the book's theme is also fantastic. It's a true "follow your dreams" success adventure story. His book reads like a full life, complete with ups and downs, positives and negatives, but overall his strong spirit pushes the reader forward. It's a truly tremendous experience to read this book and honestly leaves the readers elated with the happy ending that are few and far between in the wrestling business. Sure it's not the end of Jericho's career, but like life, with the end of one journey just means the beginning of another. It's the perfect end point for this part of Jericho's story, finally achieving his dream of being in the WWF.

My biggest problem with the book is less one with the actual book and more personal problem. It's a great inspiring book that motivates people to chase their dreams, but what if you just don't know, like I don't, what you want to do. It leaves you with a sense of emptiness and life rushing by while everyone else chases their dreams. The book at first left me highly elated but after a while I was very downtrodden as I felt like that passion that reads so well in the book, is missing in my life. I want it, and I hunger for it, and I want to do something important, and something that makes me happy but I don't know what that is. How can you chase the unknown?

Overall, it's an absolutely fantastic book. Probably the most satisfying Wrestling autobiography you'll ever read. I borrowed mine from the library and now I want a copy for my own to add to my personal collection, even though I've already read it.

10/10