Bothell resident and author Bryan Alvarez’s book, The Death of WCW, is being re-released on Oct. 12 in a newly-revised and expanded hardcover edition.

“I never thought when I wrote the first book that it would not only still be in print a decade later, but that it would get so popular they would want to do an anniversary edition,” said Alvarez, 39. “I think part of it is that it’s not just a book about wrestling. Forbes of all places reviewed it because beyond being the story of the fall of a wrestling company, it is also a cautionary tale about how not to run a business.”

The Death of WCW, co-written by RD Reynolds, tracks the demise of its titular WCW, or World Championship Wrestling. In 1998, WCW was the biggest and most successful wrestling company in history up to that point in time. Three years later, due to a mix of storytelling incompetence and financial mishaps, it was dead. Its assets were sold to competitor World Wrestling Entertainment in a fire sale.

“It was an unparalleled level of stupidity that took the company down,” Alvarez said. “When I was working on the revisions, I couldn’t believe my own book.”

Death of WCW won the 2005 Best Book Award in the prestigious Wrestling Observer Newsletter and has sold more than 50,000 copies to date. It is among the best-selling wrestling books in history. It is scheduled to be released in both hardcover, softcover and eBook editions on Oct. 14, but the books are already shipping early from Amazon.com.

Besides his work in pro-wrestling, which includes a weekly Sirius Satellite Radio program and daily podcasts on his website, Alvarez and his wife also help run a local business, Evergreen Karate and Jiu-Jitsu on Main Street in Bothell, where he is the head instructor of the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu program.