- Vince Fahey

Tributes 2, like its predecessor, provides in depth articles on wrestlers who have passed away.

The articles are compiled from Dave Meltzer's widely read Wrestling Observer and covers wrestlers from Lou Thesz to Road Warrior Hawk.

Let me get my criticisms out first:  Having not been a reader of the Wrestling Observer, I was not familiar with the format of these pieces.  Whereas many "obituary" type pieces might be straight forward chronological recaps of the subjects life, many of the pieces in Tributes 2 seem to be more "random snapshots" of the person's life or career.  By this, I mean there often is not a linear progression to some of the pieces.

The other difficulty I had with the pieces were that many of them seemed to end quite abruptly.  There was no wrapping up, no paragraph or sentence that tied together the entire piece or summed up the subject.  Often, the ending paragraph just seemed to dangle there as if more was meant to come.

These criticisms aren't meant to be petty.  I have the utmost respect for Meltzer and what he's done with The Wrestling Observer.  He's always been kind to KM and I appreciate that he does pieces like these and that he's gathered them into two volumes.  But as a reader, these two criticisms I noted consistently jumped out at me while reading.

Aside from this, the book is well done.  Meltzer provides tons of great info throughout each piece and covers a wide range of stars like Thesz who represents the 40s and 50s, Valentine, Wahoo and Woods who represent the 60s and 70s, and Hawk, Hennig and Gordy who represent the 80s.

The greatest impact this book has is emphasizing just who we have lost recently.  All the individuals represented in this book, save Andre the Giant, have all died within the last four years and it's a who's who of wrestling.  The saddest thing of all is, it's only a partial list.  On top of that, six of the individuals in this book died much, much too young.

What Meltzer has created with both Tributes volumes is a lasting imprint of the workers who lay within the pages.  In a business where much too much of its history is lost, be it to time or kayfabe, at least via these books, some part of the workers careers are held onto, noted and recognized.

The added attraction to this book is an enclosed DVD that contains an interview with Meltzer.  The interview sticks to topics and questions regarding those wrestlers covered in the book and is approximately one hour.  A nice extra addendum to an already well done book.  

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