Damn! Why Did I Write This Book Too?
(How To Play The Game)
Jayson (JTG) Paul
Published: 2016
Pages: 84
Synopsis: More behind-the-scenes stories from the WWE locker room from former Cryme Tyme member JTG.
Winning the tournament was a great experience. The prizes, the beautiful trophy, the rainbow sprinkles on my ice cream, and best part of it all: bragging rights for a whole year. I was floating on cloud nine. But why would I put this chapter in the book if didn't end with heat?
The next day at Wrestlemania, a certain top guy got in my face. He was pissed that I didn't use my own character to win the tournament.
While bragging about my win in the locker room- which I had every right to do- this particular top guy, who is a good friend of Kofi’s and who was not even in the tournament, interjected his opinion: “JTG, you have the privilege and honor to be in a video game, an opportunity a lot of wrestlers don't get to have. We have a tournament, and you play as Randy Orton? That's a whole new low. You should have an asterisk next to your name! It’s downright pathetic.”
About a year ago, Jayson Paul (former WWE competitor JTG) came out with his first self-published book. For just 99 cents, you could read what was essentially a published type of shoot interview on how he and partner Shad Gaspard were treated during their WWE run.
Although it wasn't the greatest wrestling biography I'd ever read, it was a fun little read and definitely worth the 99 cent investment. If nothing else, it gave wrestling fans a not-so-subtle reminder about the backstage politics that exist in the world's largest wrestling company.
Fast forward to March, and JTG has come out with a sequel. The price is slightly more this around ($2.99), but there was definitely no harm in returning to the scene of the crime (Tyme) to see what else he had to offer.
Unfortunately, the answer was.... not much.
Whether it's playing the wrong video game character in a tournament, asking for a raise, borrowing WWE's photographer for their own personal photo shoot or taking the elevator up to their hotel room before the veterans did.... Shad and JTG are heat magnets. This isn't to say their treatment was any way fair -- a lot of these incidents sound like much ado about nothing -- but by not playing a smart political game, the duo were buried and were never able to recover from that.
The problem is (from the perspective of this e-book) is that we already KNEW this from reading JTG's first book. Yes, the stories are slightly different, but it's not a huge surprise to read that both members of Cryme Tyme were persona non grata because of these relatively minor infractions.
To his credit, JTG does talk about "playing the game" (which has nothing to do with Triple H - or does it?) and some of the pro tips he picked up after angering the locker room. For example, Shad once puked on the tour bus while the roster was traveling abroad (happens to the best of us), so the team brought champagne, and roses for the women, the following day. Classy and it makes sense.
In addition, JTG mentions some of the gimmicks that he tried to pitch Creative during his lengthy pre-firing hiatus a few years ago. Some of these - such as a puppet that he spoke to and The Urban Joker - actually had a lot of promise, and it's shame that WWE never took a gamble to see whether they would have been successful.
Overall Rating: Transitional Champion. Much like JTG's first effort, this isn't a must read. In fact, I'd argue that this one was less of a must read than the original. It was well-written and funny; just not absolutely necessary. I suspect that this may have been written in order to grab some of that money, money. Yeah, yeah.