The Life and Meaning
of Pro Wrestling Legend Rikidōzan
ECW Press,
distributed by Simon & Schuster
Irvin Muchnick, the late sportswriting great Frank Deford said, “produces magnificent investigative journalism.” Reporting for Underwater: The Greed-Soaked Tale of Sexual Abuse in USA Swimming and Around the Globe (2024) spurred government and sports governance investigations in five countries. He also took on the public health crisis in football with Concussion Inc. (2015) and Without Helmets or Shoulder Pads (2023). His classic books explaining the pro wrestling phenomenon in American society include Wrestling Babylon: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandal (2007) and Chris & Nancy: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death (now in its third “Ultimate Historical Edition”).
Muchnick was born in St. Louis and lives in California. A former assistant director of the National Writers Union, he was lead respondent of the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision affirming freelance writers’ copyrights and economic rights, Reed Elsevier v. Muchnick.
Read the profile of the author by Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle.
PREVIOUSLY ON THE GIBNEY TRIAL “Ireland’s, and the Sports World’s, Latest Abuse Trial of the Century Has Started. Here’s Everything You Need to Know (Part 1),”
TRIAL COVERAGE TO DATE “Ireland’s, and the Sports World’s, Latest Abuse Trial of the Century Has Started. Here’s Everything You Need to Know (Part 1),” June
TRIAL COVERAGE TO DATE “Ireland’s, and the Sports World’s, Latest Abuse Trial of the Century Has Started. Here’s Everything You Need to Know (Part 1),” June
TRIAL COVERAGE TO DATE “Ireland’s, and the Sports World’s, Latest Abuse Trial of the Century Has Started. Here’s Everything You Need to Know (Part 1),” June
Publication date for PACHINKO MAN: The Life and Meaning of Pro Wrestling Legend Rikidōzan is January 2027. Orders direct from the author are expected to ship slightly earlier.
TRIAL COVERAGE TO DATE “Ireland’s, and the Sports World’s, Latest Abuse Trial of the Century Has Started. Here’s Everything You Need to Know (Part 1),” June
The Greed-Soaked Tale of Sexual Abuse in USA Swimming and Around the Globe
A deep dive into the unsafety of youth athletes — in the U.S. and abroad — under the commerce-driven Olympic system
The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death
Third and “Ultimate Historical Edition.” Full account of the sensational 2007 episode that still shines light on the dark side of the wrestling industry and of American business, media, and politics.
Investigative journalism isn’t ‘peer-reviewed literature.’ It’s a contact sport.
