Missouri Wrestling Revival

By Brian Kelley

I just purchased the brand new book by Dennis T McHawes called Blood, Tables and Chairs and must admit that I could not put the book down. McHawes wrestled as one of the favorite Indy stars of the Midwest in the 90’s going by the name of the DRILL INSTRUCTOR.

I had the chance to see him wrestle several times in Boonville, Missouri with his tag team partner Johnny Jett for a promotion that I cannot recall and recall him becoming an important member of Harley Race’s World League Wrestling.
The books first words are ….. “ST Louis – The Checkerdome – 1982” and young Dennis is attending his very first wrestling match. He is excited and makes no qualms about it. McHawes does not deny that he was a fan of wrestling and because of that you find yourself cheering him on. The Drill Instructor would debut at the historic South Broadway Athletic club and Dennis goes into detail about how he went about getting his foot in the door.

Throughout the book, MWR readers will recognize some of the names that he worked with. The Magic Man, Trevor Murdoch, Rick Ruby, Matt Murphy, Pete Madden, Derek Stone and Steve Fender are all included as McHawes lets us in on his ups and downs in his career. Readers will also learn that during his time with Harley Race, McHawes had the opportunity of working and partying with wrestling stars like Meng, Abdullah and even the great Harley Race himself.

He continues to share stories of Koko B Ware and former NHL Star Tony Twist, gives a true insight of how it felt to share a dream with tag team partner and friend Johnny Jett, only to have life move them in opposite directions. You’ll learn about his opinion concerning certain promoters and what kind of advice not to take from the Iron Sheik.

His trips to working for WWE marked the highlights of this book for me. He lets his guard down for the readers, who are therefore able to truly feel how much he and other wrestlers wanted to impress.
You will also not want to miss his reflection on his relationship with Race. Most of us never get to work so closely and become friends with one of the greats. In all walks of life, you have friendships that have highs and lows. In the end you can really get a feel for how thankful McHawes is towards the people who helped him.

For only $12.00, I highly recommend that you purchase this book You can purchase it at Amazon.com