Behind the closed doors of a Las Vegas conference room, the conglomerate strategized while reveling in the spoils of a $25-million-a-year industry. Their illegal tactics were well documented, and the 1956 Federal lawsuit only persuaded the group to better conceal their controversial methods. Hollywood might very well paint the assembly like a meeting of mob bosses - and though they carried no weapons, their techniques were almost as lethal. Willing to employ any means necessary to protect their interests, outsiders had to play by their rules or they were blacklisted. Money was the name of this game, not impartiality or integrity. What kind of sport was this? Where cold hard cash was more important than honest competition? This was professional wrestling. And the stone-faced conspirators were members of the National Wrestling Alliance. National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly That Strangled Pro Wrestling explains the rise and fall of the NWA - from its humble beginnings in the postwar Midwest, to its worldwide expansion.

It both celebrates the achievements of stars like Lou Thesz, Ed "Strangler" Lewis, and Buddy Rogers, and explains the U.S. Department of Justice's mid-50s investigation. While providing a detailed account of the most controversial events and figures in the sport's history, the book's clarity and detail offers a refreshing new take on wrestling's legacy. This chronicle of stunning success and failure - and how the NWA's members' relationships with influential politicians, writers, and each other protected their interests for more than 50 years - breaks down the barrier between the public's perception of wrestling, and the realities of how its ruthless moguls made their money. The in-ring mayhem of today's "sports entertainment"? It all pales in comparison to the century of conspiracy and intrigue - the good, the bad, and the ugly - of Tim Hornbaker's National Wrestling Alliance. Book jacket.