The Bottom Line
- Irvin has a great writing style that captivates a reader.
- The Von Erich saga is an unbelievable story.
- The majority of the book is over 15 years old.
- Several major errors of known facts bring about questions of everything else.
- Irvin refers to the WWE Iraq shows as a PR stunt.
Description
- Irvin Muchnick is the nephew of former NWA President Sam Muchnick.
- Sam's St. Louis territory was destroyed by the WWE expansion during the '80s.
- Sam is not related to anti-McMahon NY Post writer Phil Mushnick.
- The book is 240 pages and retails for $17.95.
Guide Review - Wrestling Babylon by Irvin Muchnick
The first big mistake was that the "Anabolic Warrior" was going to win the WWE Title at SummerSlam 92 (he lost). The next paragraph was that the Legion of Doom, "the catalyst of the contemporary steroid craze", were going to win the tag team titles. They weren't even in a title match that night. The tag team title match featured the champions Earthquake & Typhoon, two morbidly obese wrestlers, successfully defend their titles. The worst part was the next paragraph that said that wrestlers like Bret Hart and Randy Savage were "too small to set the standard for drug-free sports entertainment." Savage was the WWE Champion when the article was written and had previously held that honor for a year. A few months later, Bret went on to become the WWE Champion and was the biggest star in the company for almost five years.
At other parts of the book, Irvin has issues with the WWE helping children's charities and referred to the WWE tours of Iraq as a PR stunt. Having spoken to troops about the WWE tour and Edge and Shelton Benjamin about their trip, I can certainly say that what the WWE did is a noble action. Only someone looking to complain about Vince McMahon could find something wrong with these charitable endeavors.
