WRESTLING BABYLON News

WRESTLING BABYLON: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandal – Irvin Muchnick’s book about pro wrestling behind the scenes — is iisted as one of 14 books recommended by Louie Belina, on-air personality and program director of KZNE The Zone, Sports Radio 1150 AM in College Station, Texas. See http://www.kzne.com/louie-authors.php.

The East Bay Express – Berkeley’s alternative weekly newspaper — has an amusing article in the current issue about the recent launch event at Black Oak Books for WRESTLING BABYLON: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandal. “You might not expect” a book so titled “to draw much of a crowd in the Gourmet Ghetto,” Mark Nichol reports. “But every chair was occupied as … author Irvin Muchnick climbed into the virtual ring.”

The full text of the story can be viewed at http://www.eastbayexpress.com/2007-04-25/culture/fists-in-the-mist/ .

On April 4, The New York Times ran an article about pro wrestling under the headline “Wrestling Grabs the World by the Neck and Flexes.” Irvin Muchnick, author of the new book WRESTLING BABYLON: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandal, responded the same day with a letter to the editor, which The Times has not published.

To read Muchnick’s letter, go to the “Not Fit to Print in The New York Times” page of the WRESTLING BABYLON website, http://muchnick.net/times.html. The page also includes a link to the original Times story. (Full access to Times content, however, is limited to registered subscribers.)

WRESTLING BABYLON is the country’s second-hottest book on pro wrestling; the only faster-selling title in the category is The Hardcore Diaries by Mick Foley, the wrestler and perennial bestselling author. New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick (no relation to the author) describes WRESTLING BABYLON as “the book that [World Wrestling Entertainment boss] Vince McMahon no doubt wishes was never published.” Frank Deford says, “Irv Muchnick knows wrestling like Anna Wintour knows fashion, and his intriguing collection of ring tales is written with passion and savage humor.” For complete information, visit http://wrestlingbabylon.com.

WRESTLING BABYLON gets a rave review in today’s issue of The Daily Collegian, the student newspaper at Pennsylvania State University. See:

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2007/04/04-20-07tdc/04-20-07darts-04.asp

Irvin Muchnick — author of WRESTLING BABYLON: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandal – will be the guest on “The Edge with Tony Basilio,” the sports talk show on WVLZ-AM 1180 in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Friday, April 20.

Muchnick will be interviewed by Basilio, “the dean of Knoxville sports radio,” from approximately 11:06 a.m. to 11:35 a.m. Eastern time (8:06 to 8:35 Pacific time). The show also streams live on the Internet, and is archived, at http://tonybasilio.com.

WRESTLING BABYLON – Muchnick’s widely praised new book about pro wrestling behind the scenes — is the bestselling wrestling book at Barnes&Noble.com, as well as one of the top-selling titles in all sports both at B&N and at Amazon.com. For full information, see http://wrestlingbabylon.com. Media inquiries: media@muchnick.net.

WRESTLING BABYLON: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandal – Irvin Muchnick’s new book about pro wrestling behind the scenes — is now the bestselling wrestling book, and the fifth bestselling book in all sports, in the rankings at Barnes&Noble.com.

Sales were boosted by sports-media columnist Phil Mushnick’s praise in the April 15 New York Post. Mushnick called WRESTLING BABYLON “a new book that [World Wrestling Entertainment boss] Vince McMahon no doubt wishes was never published.” (http://www.nypost.com/seven/04152007/sports/to_slur__with_love_sports_phil_mushnick.htm?page=2; free registration required)

From today’s column by Phil Mushnick, sports-media critic for the New York Post:

Want to read a new book that Vince McMahon no doubt wishes was never published?

“Wrestling Babylon” was written by Irv Muchnick, no relation here, but the nephew of long-ago and legendary pro wrestling promoter Sam Muchnick. It’s a soft cover from ECW Press and, for $18, is available in bookstores and through online booksellers.

And it’s loaded with detailed and well-researched goodies about how, under McMahon’s control, the pro wrestling business, inside and outside, became a snake pit in service to sexual deviance, drugs and death.

WRESTLING BABYLON: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandal – Irvin Muchnick’s book about pro wrestling behind the scenes — is rated “a must-have” by columnist Sean Radican in Pro Wrestling Torch.

Radican calls the book “a frank and honest look at how wrestling operates,” “a satisfying mix of factual evidence and sharp humor,” and “harrowing.” Muchnick’s revealing writings about figures such as Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan, the Von Erichs, and Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka will, the reviewer hopes, spur media and government “to shed their veil of ignorance when it comes to steroids in pro wrestling and professional sports.”

The full review can be read by subscribers of Pro Wrestling Torch, one of the leading industry newsletters. The Pro Wrestling Torch website is http://pwtorch.com.

WRESTLING BABYLON: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandal – Irvin Muchnick’s book about pro wrestling behind the scenes — is favorably reviewed today by Michael Weyer at the pop-culture site 411mania.com.

Weyer calls WRESTLING BABYLON “a great even-handed examination of the business and how important it is to our way of life.” The review is posted at http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/columns/52972/Shining-a-Spotlight-4.12.07:-Review-O-Rama.htm.

WRESTLING BABYLON: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandal “is a must read,” says wrestling writer Alan Wojcik in a review at http://alanwojcik.livejournal.com/119857.html

“In none of the stories does Mr. Muchnick hold anything back,” Wojcik writes. The book “takes kayfabe, puts chains around its ankles and tosses it into the local river.”