Irv Muchnick is a name wrestling fans will be unaware of. And so they should. You see - there seems to be a stereotype that exists within the mainstream that wrestling fans can't read therefore Mr Muchnick and his writings will not have passed into the minds of those filled with visions of being a Hulkamaniac or a member of John Cena's Chain Gang.
Before now the only Muchnicks known to some wrestling fan would be the St. Louis promoter, Sam. A legendary member of the NWA during the territorial days of the 'sport'. Sam Muchnick was also the uncle of the writer, Irv.
Irv Muhnick has released Wrestling Babylon : Piledriving tales of sex, death & scandal The book is an anthology of Muchnick's writing for major newspapers and magazines over the years. All the work is based on the genre that his uncle promoted. Pro wrestling.
Tragedy seems to exist both on and off the screen in sports entertainment. The rise and fall of one of wrestling's families the Von Erichs is written about in one of the articles.
The piece looks at how the controlling father, Fritz pushed his five sons to be superstars in the sport. The fact that only one son has survived is a dark reminder of the way wrestlers cannot separate the real from the fake. The Von Erich story was one of overdoses and suicide.
One of the most shocking thoughts brought when reading the piece on the Dallas family was that Kerry Von Erich was still alive when the piece was published in 1988. Five years later he took his own life after shooting himself in fear that a drug arrest would send him to jail.
The sole survivor, Kevin's son is now talking about making the profession his own.
The tragic story of the Von Erichs is accompanied with a later chapter based on a recent writing by Muchnick which looks at the amazing death rate amongst wrestlers who were performing during the two boom periods in the industry.
The shopping list of wrestlers who failed to make it to their fiftieth birthday is a shuddering eight pages long and is evidence how these passings have gone undetected by the mainstream. Muchnick makes the point that - had this been any other sport - attention would have been made to the alarming number of fatalities.
The scandalous 1991-92 era of the WWF is also represented in a majority of the writers' work. Muchnick must have been one of the main journalists who covered the revelations that Hulk Hogan was a steroid user, Pat Patterson and Mel Phillips made homosexual passes at male colleagues or ringboys and Vince McMahon raped one of his female referees in the back of a limousine.
All these allegations came out in the open during the early nineties and was a black eye for the WWF. As a fan, Muchnick was able to give more than a reporters edge to these stories.
I found this collection of writings one of the most interesting reads I have encountered as a wrestling fan. I knew a lot about the history of the sport but this anthology is a great example of how a knowledgeable journalist would tackle the stories.
There are far too many mainstream writers out there who don't understand the business and their work is lost before they even make any sense. Muchnick is one of the exceptions.
Before now the only Muchnicks known to some wrestling fan would be the St. Louis promoter, Sam. A legendary member of the NWA during the territorial days of the 'sport'. Sam Muchnick was also the uncle of the writer, Irv.
Irv Muhnick has released Wrestling Babylon : Piledriving tales of sex, death & scandal The book is an anthology of Muchnick's writing for major newspapers and magazines over the years. All the work is based on the genre that his uncle promoted. Pro wrestling.
Tragedy seems to exist both on and off the screen in sports entertainment. The rise and fall of one of wrestling's families the Von Erichs is written about in one of the articles.
The piece looks at how the controlling father, Fritz pushed his five sons to be superstars in the sport. The fact that only one son has survived is a dark reminder of the way wrestlers cannot separate the real from the fake. The Von Erich story was one of overdoses and suicide.
One of the most shocking thoughts brought when reading the piece on the Dallas family was that Kerry Von Erich was still alive when the piece was published in 1988. Five years later he took his own life after shooting himself in fear that a drug arrest would send him to jail.
The sole survivor, Kevin's son is now talking about making the profession his own.
The tragic story of the Von Erichs is accompanied with a later chapter based on a recent writing by Muchnick which looks at the amazing death rate amongst wrestlers who were performing during the two boom periods in the industry.
The shopping list of wrestlers who failed to make it to their fiftieth birthday is a shuddering eight pages long and is evidence how these passings have gone undetected by the mainstream. Muchnick makes the point that - had this been any other sport - attention would have been made to the alarming number of fatalities.
The scandalous 1991-92 era of the WWF is also represented in a majority of the writers' work. Muchnick must have been one of the main journalists who covered the revelations that Hulk Hogan was a steroid user, Pat Patterson and Mel Phillips made homosexual passes at male colleagues or ringboys and Vince McMahon raped one of his female referees in the back of a limousine.
All these allegations came out in the open during the early nineties and was a black eye for the WWF. As a fan, Muchnick was able to give more than a reporters edge to these stories.
I found this collection of writings one of the most interesting reads I have encountered as a wrestling fan. I knew a lot about the history of the sport but this anthology is a great example of how a knowledgeable journalist would tackle the stories.
There are far too many mainstream writers out there who don't understand the business and their work is lost before they even make any sense. Muchnick is one of the exceptions.
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