Quick Take
- Narration: JD Jackson brings the same cultural authority he brings to Howard Bryant’s work, his voice suits the Mid-South wrestling milieu and the racial history at the book’s core.
- Themes: Race and the color barrier in professional wrestling, regional sports culture, the making and unmaking of a legend
- Mood: Journalistic and appreciative, with an undertone of genuine cultural reclamation
- Verdict: A focused, well-researched biography that restores a genuinely significant figure to the record, essential for wrestling history enthusiasts and unexpectedly compelling for anyone interested in American popular culture of the 1980s.
I came to The King of New Orleans with almost no background in pro wrestling beyond its broad cultural footprint, and I want to note that upfront because I think it’s relevant to how this book works. Greg Klein is writing for the converted, for people who watched Mid-South wrestling on television in the early 1980s, who remember the Downtown Municipal Auditorium and can place JYD in the context of Bill Watts’ promotion. But he’s also making an argument that should reach beyond that audience, and at roughly six and a half hours, the audiobook doesn’t overstay its welcome while making that argument clearly.
Sylvester Ritter, the Junkyard Dog, became the first Black wrestler named undisputed top star of his promotion in 1979, breaking what Klein calls one of the final color barriers in the sport. That sentence deserves more attention than professional wrestling’s popular history has typically given it. Klein is right that it does, and the book’s central project, restoring JYD to his proper place in the record, is a legitimate historical exercise dressed as a sports biography.
New Orleans and the Anatomy of a Regional Star
One of the book’s genuine strengths is its account of how New Orleans became one of the hottest wrestling cities in the country during the early 1980s, and specifically how much of that heat was generated by the Junkyard Dog. The Downtown Municipal Auditorium and Superdome crowds that Klein describes were not accidents. They reflected a specific relationship between a performer and a community, and Klein traces that relationship with the specificity of someone who has done genuine archival and interview work.
JYD’s appeal was rooted partly in race: he was a Black idol in a Southern city with a complicated racial history, drawing passionate support from audiences who had rarely seen themselves reflected in their sports heroes. Klein handles this dimension with care, neither overexplaining its significance nor treating it as a simple triumph narrative. The racial politics of Mid-South wrestling in this era were complicated, and the book acknowledges that complexity.
The Famous Feuds in Their Business Context
The professional wrestling sections are the most technically specialized content in the book, and listeners who haven’t spent time with this era of the sport will need some patience. Klein covers the major feuds and business backroom stories with evident expertise, and for those who know the period, this content is apparently revelatory. One reviewer specifically praised the depth of the Mid-South history and the context Klein provides around Bill Watts and the promotion’s structure.
JD Jackson narrates, and his presence here is a curiously apt choice given that he also narrates Howard Bryant’s Rickey Henderson biography. Both books are about Black athletes who broke or tested racial barriers in American popular entertainment during roughly the same era. Jackson’s voice carries the same cultural gravity in both contexts, and his handling of the wrestling argot and Mid-South regional specifics is notably sure-footed.
Where the Book’s Argument Is Strongest and Where It Strains
A reviewer noted a quibble worth taking seriously: the book’s premise, that JYD is a forgotten figure, may not hold for people who watched mid-to-late 1980s WWF. Klein’s argument is most compelling specifically about the Mid-South period and the New Orleans phenomenon; the WWF chapter of JYD’s career is where his cultural position becomes harder to characterize as overlooked. Klein is aware of this, but the book’s framing occasionally oversells the neglect in ways that those with firsthand memories of JYD’s WWF appearances will notice.
The biography’s treatment of Ritter’s later years and the circumstances of his death is handled with appropriate gravity. Klein doesn’t sensationalize, and the contrast between the heights of his New Orleans celebrity and the diminished circumstances of his later career is drawn with sympathy rather than tragedy-bating.
Who Should Listen
Devoted wrestling historians and fans of the Mid-South era will find this the most thorough account of JYD’s career available in any format. Listeners interested in American popular culture, racial history, and the regional sports entertainment economy of the early 1980s will find an unexpectedly rich document here. Those with no tolerance for professional wrestling’s constructed reality or no interest in its specific cultural logic will find this a harder listen, though Klein’s historical framing makes it more accessible than a straightforward wrestling narrative would be.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does The King of New Orleans require prior knowledge of professional wrestling or the Mid-South promotion to follow?
Klein provides enough context that interested newcomers can follow the main narrative, but the book’s depth of reference to specific feuds, promoters, and regional politics will be most appreciated by listeners who already have some familiarity with the era. Klein writes for fans first.
How does the book address the transition from Mid-South to the WWF, and does JYD’s career receive equal treatment across both phases?
The Mid-South period receives the most detailed treatment, which reflects Klein’s primary thesis about JYD’s overlooked significance in that specific context. The WWF years are covered but are treated as a later chapter rather than the book’s primary focus.
Is this biography authorized, and did Ritter’s family cooperate with it?
The book reads as deeply researched journalism rather than as an authorized biography, drawing on interviews with contemporaries and archival sources. The level of detail suggests substantial cooperation from people who were present in the Mid-South wrestling world, though Klein’s methodology is most apparent in the depth of the business history sections.
Does JD Jackson’s narration handle the specific wrestling terminology and regional dialect authentically?
Jackson’s narration is notably fluid with the material, handling both the historical framing and the specific wrestling culture vocabulary without the slight hesitation that sometimes appears when narrators encounter specialized terminology. His performance is one of the audiobook’s clear assets.
