WWE Tell-All Book In The Works, Vince McMahon Comments

“I Want My MTV” authors Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum are writing an oral history of WWE, which will be published by HarperCollins’ Dey Street Books.

In the tell-all book, Marks and Tannenbaum will describe how WWE became one of America’s most successful and enduring businesses, per the sports-entertainment organization’s own description of the project. The two have been granted “unprecedented access” to WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon.

Additionally, the authors will interview current WWE Superstars as well as former talent, writers, producers, managers, business executives and celebrities who’ve made guest appearances, according to an announcement today by WWE.

It will be the “most revealing look yet at the innovative and fearless McMahon,” WWE said.

“This will be an unapologetic look at the good, the bad and the ugly, and the journey that made WWE into the global phenomenon it is today,” McMahon said in a statement.

Here is WWE’s announcement on the book:

WWE tell-all book to be published by Dey Street Books

Dey Street Books, an imprint of the William Morrow Group at HarperCollins Publishers, announced today that it will publish the first oral history of WWE, written by journalists Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum.

Marks and Tannenbaum will describe how WWE became one of America’s most successful and enduring businesses. The two will have unprecedented access to the company’s Chairman & CEO, Vince McMahon, who transformed a regional professional wrestling business into a global media and entertainment empire.

The authors will interview current WWE Superstars as well as legends from the past, writers, producers, managers, business executives and celebrities who’ve made guest appearances. This will be the most revealing look yet at the innovative and fearless McMahon, in his own words, his family’s words and the words of those who’ve worked with or against him over the past 50 years.

Generations of WWE fans have savored the action and excitement that characterizes WWE, including the global transformations of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and John Cena, along with the present-day female Superstars who have broken barriers and blazed new trails as part of the company’s Women’s Evolution. This book will be the ultimate look at a once-in-a-generation business success story, as well as a mirror that reflects the cultural, social and political mores of our time.

Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman & CEO, says, “This will be an unapologetic look at the good, the bad and the ugly, and the journey that made WWE into the global phenomenon it is today.”

Marks and Tannenbaum’s previous oral history, “I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution,” was named one of the best books of 2011 by NPR, USA Today, CNBC, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, The Onion, The Huffington Post and many others. A24 is currently developing the book as a movie.

Carrie Thornton, VP and Editorial Director of Dey Street, says, “Rob and Craig bring to this book spectacular skills as interviewers, editors and writers. On ‘I Want My MTV,’ they teased out a wide variety of arcs from a vast array of voices and wove them together into a seamless narrative. I can’t wait to watch Rob and Craig craft a book that will inform, entertain, and even shock readers.”

“We are thrilled to be working again with Carrie Thornton and to be writing about one of popular culture’s most colorful, profitable and somehow under-chronicled enterprises,” says co-author Craig Marks.

“After we finished our MTV book, we spent years looking for a subject with the same ambitious business vision and a larger-than-life cast of characters, and WWE certainly provides that,” adds co-author Rob Tannenbaum. “We can’t wait to start exploring the company’s history and personalities.”