Florida Wrestling Alliance

To most fans, WWE is bright lights, entrance music, and what happens inside the ring.

Backstage, it’s a completely different world.

I took this photo myself while backstage at a WWE event. At first glance, it just looks like a wall covered in paper signs. But to everyone working the show, these are the road map for the entire production.

One direction leads to the TV locker room. Another to the female talent area. There’s the athletic trainer, the doctor, the production meeting, pretapes, the TV office, and even an area marked for Paul Levesque (Triple H).

Every wrestler, producer, referee, camera operator, and crew member is moving constantly throughout the day, often with only minutes between meetings, interviews, rehearsals, and matches. Without signs like these, hundreds of people would be wandering around trying to find where they’re supposed to be.

It’s not glamorous, but it’s one of those little details that reminds you how much work goes into producing a WWE event. By the time the cameras go live, an entire city has been built behind the curtain—and everyone has to know exactly where they’re going.

People rarely get to see things like this backstage and I love sharing rare and unique content like this with you all. Thanks for being part of this page and if you have something to share, send it in.

— Steve Stasiak, Book Pro Wrestlers

Nikita Koloff accepted the St. Louis Wrestling Hall of Fame induction plaque on behalf of his uncle, “The Russian Bear” Ivan Koloff—and it meant something real.

Ivan Koloff was one of the most feared and respected names of his era. The man who ended Bruno Sammartino’s historic title reign. A world-traveled champion whose legacy reached across generations. And in the mid-1980s, when the Koloff name carried serious weight, it was Nikita who proudly carried it forward.

To see Nikita standing there—accepting this honor for Ivan—felt like a full-circle moment for the Koloff name and for those of us who remember the impact they made together.

A special thank you to our friend Herb Simmons, who continues to honor the legends through SICW and his work with the St. Louis Wrestling Hall of Fame. Herb’s love for this business runs deep, and this presentation was another reminder of why his name carries so much respect in the wrestling world.

Congratulations to the Koloff family on this well-deserved honor. Ivan’s legacy lives on.

Photo credit: Frank Murphy Sr.

- Steve Stasiak, Book Pro Wrestlers
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📸 The Match Andre the Giant Didn’t Want the World to See.

These incredible ringside photos come to us from Book Pro Wrestlers reader Joseph Germano, who captured them from the front row in Washington, D.C. at a time when almost nobody expected moments like these to survive.

By late 1989, the WWF was sending Ultimate Warrior vs. Andre the Giant around the house show circuit. The formula was shocking: Warrior would storm the ring, level Andre with a series of clotheslines, hit the splash, and pin the legendary Giant in roughly 30 seconds. It was designed to establish Warrior as an unstoppable force on his march toward becoming the company’s next top star.

What makes these photos so special is that most fans never saw those matches. This was before smartphones, before social media, and before every house show ended up online. Very little footage exists today.

In fact, one television cameraman later recalled being told not to film Andre’s match at a house show. He managed to record Andre’s entrance and the opening bell, but before he could capture the action, the match was over—and Andre confronted him over the camera afterward. That story has become one of the clearest examples of just how protective Andre was of these appearances.

Looking at Joseph’s photos today is like opening a time capsule. Instead of professionally produced television footage, we’re seeing wrestling history through the eyes of a fan who happened to be sitting ringside that night.

Sometimes, the rarest pieces of wrestling history aren’t found in a production truck or a television vault…

They’re tucked away in a fan’s photo album for more than 35 years.

📸 Photos courtesy of Book Pro Wrestlers contributor Joseph Germano. Thank you for preserving and sharing these incredible moments with all of us.

— Steve Stasiak, Book Pro Wrestlers

“It was at the Garden at a WWF house show in I believe '85, might have been '86 where I was out in that concourse while a match was going on.

Sometimes guys who had already worked their match would leave to get on the road early. I happened to be in that concourse when I saw Ricky Steamboat & his then wife Bonnie walking out of the curtain. I ran over to say hi and get a photo, they were very accomodating.

It was at that moment when the match had ended and people came flooding into the concourse and someone yelled:"Hey! That's Ricky Steamboat!" Bonnie reached into her purse, handed me a stack of papers and they took off. I was FLOODED by fans trying to pull the papers out of my hand, they got all but 1 thankfully that I was able to keep. They were order forms for merch from Steamboat's gym he owned at the time in Charlotte, NC and they were all freshly signed with a sharpie too which was cool!

I saved and saved and eventually was able to order a blue satin jacket using the order form, not only did it come with the jacket - that I still have but it also came with a photo of Ricky & Bonnie together that was personalized to me on the back in silver sharpie that said: "To Jason, Ricky & Bonnie Steamboat" I included a letter to him with my order for the jacket.

I still have the photo, it's in a box here at home, this is the jacket I ordered from the order form, it hangs in my closet.

— Jason Fischer, Book Pro Wrestlers Reader

Vince McMahon, WWE and Janel Grant reached an agreement today to move Grant’s lawsuit out of federal court and into private arbitration.

According to a joint status report filed today in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, all parties have now executed an agreement to arbitrate the case. Under that agreement, Grant is expected to voluntarily dismiss her federal lawsuit against the remaining defendants—McMahon and WWE—within five business days.

That point is important because it does not mean the allegations have been dropped, settled or resolved in McMahon’s favor.

Instead, the legal battle is moving from a public courtroom into private arbitration. The filing specifically states that both sides retain the right to pursue their claims and defenses through that process. In other words, the dispute continues—it simply won’t play out in open federal court.

Grant filed her lawsuit in January 2024, alleging s*xual assault, s*x trafficking and other misconduct against McMahon, while also accusing WWE of enabling or failing to prevent the alleged conduct. McMahon has consistently denied the allegations and maintained that their relationship was consensual. WWE has also denied wrongdoing.

Former WWE executive John Laurinaitis, who was originally named as a defendant, was dismissed from the lawsuit in 2025 after reaching an agreement to cooperate with Grant’s legal team.

For McMahon and WWE, today’s agreement is significant because the case is no longer headed toward a public federal trial. For Grant, however, the claims themselves have not been abandoned. They will now be decided through a private arbitration process instead.

While today’s agreement changes where this case will be heard, it does not determine who is right or wrong, nor does it mean the matter has been settled.

This remains one of the biggest legal developments in professional wrestling in recent years, and we’ll continue following the case as more information becomes available.

— Steve Stasiak, Book Pro Wrestlers

For wrestling fans of a certain generation, seeing Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Sgt. Slaughter standing together instantly brings back memories of one of the WWF’s most memorable eras. Both men became symbols of American pride—but they arrived there in very different ways.

Slaughter shocked the wrestling world when he aligned himself with Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War, becoming one of the most hated villains the industry has ever seen. Duggan never wavered. He remained the blue-collar hero waving the American flag and carrying his trademark 2x4 into battle every night.

Then came one of wrestling’s great redemption stories.

After Slaughter returned to the fans’ side, it was Duggan who stood beside him. The two former rivals became allies, fought shoulder-to-shoulder against The Nasty Boys, teamed together at Survivor Series, and reminded everyone that some of wrestling’s biggest rivalries can eventually become great friendships.

That’s part of what makes this photograph so special.

It isn’t just two Hall of Famers posing for a picture. It’s two men whose careers became forever linked through one of the most unforgettable chapters in WWF history. Moments like this weren’t staged for social media. They happened, someone snapped a photo, and decades later we get to enjoy them all over again.

A special thank you to our longtime contributor David Dickens Sr. for preserving another piece of wrestling history and allowing all of us to share in it.

These are the kinds of photographs that remind us of a time that we fell in love with professional wrestling in the first place.

— Steve Stasiak, Book Pro Wrestlers

Bruno Mars was nicknamed after the legendary wrestler, Bruno Sammartino, by his father. In a memorable moment, the two Brunos finally met in August 2017 when Mars' "24K Magic World Tour" made a stop in Pittsburgh. To mark the occasion, Sammartino presented Mars with a replica of his iconic championship belt, bringing two worlds together in a celebration of strength and artistry.

The story behind this picture:

This is my former girlfriend and I with Razor Ramon. (The author is taking the picture) We attended a WWF show at a high school, and Razor and Shawn were working (and traveling) together.

They knew us and asked if we could give Razor a ride down the street away from the school to save kayfabe and avoid a bunch of little kids seeing them leave in the same car, after they had just worked with each other in the school.

This photo was taken on the side of the road in Mt. Pleasant, PA on January 29, 1994 — after Razor got out of our car and back in with Shawn.

— Chris Korbelic, Book Pro Wrestlers Contributor