PACHINKO MAN
The Life and Meaning of Pro Wrestling Legend Rikidōzan
Reserve your autographed copy of the book as soon as it becomes available in the second half of 2026, by putting down a $20 deposit toward the purchase price. The funds can be sent to paypal@muchnick.net, and your order will be acknowledged and you will be billed for the balance. (The price is expected to be set at either $22.95 or $24.95, and will include free shipping to U.S. addresses.)
Coming in 2026 from 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.
Blog
Selected Historical Headline Links to Our Coverage of the Sarah Ehekircher Case — Now Settled by USA Swimming
PREVIOUSLY: “USA Swimming’s Abusive Culture and Revictimizing Methods Near a Reckoning in the Case of Persistent Whistleblower Sarah Ehekircher,” September 22, https://concussioninc.net/?p=16251 “USA SWIMMING SETTLES SARAH EHEKIRCHER LAWSUIT – Dispute, Dating Back 39 Years, Was One of the Sport’s Oldest and Most Resonant,” October 9, https://concussioninc.net/?p=16257 ===================== MARCH 6, 2018 Sarah
USA SWIMMING SETTLES SARAH EHEKIRCHER LAWSUIT – Dispute, Dating Back 39 Years, Was One of the Sport’s Oldest and Most Resonant
Thirty-nine years after she was groomed by her youth coach, who went on to rape her, in the virtual shadow of the U.S. Olympic movement’s Colorado headquarters; 15 years after USA Swimming inaugurated what it calls its Safe Sport program; and seven years after the launch of the U.S. Center
USA Swimming’s Abusive Culture and Revictimizing Methods Near a Reckoning in the Case of Persistent Whistleblower Sarah Ehekircher
As soon as changes in statute-of-limitations wrinkles for civil lawsuits allowed it, Sarah Ehekircher found a lawyer, Jonathan Little, who could help her sue USA Swimming over her years of abuse – the root events of which involved her claim of having been raped at age 17 by her coach
International Swimming Hall of Fame Aquatics Complex – Capital of Historical Coach Sexual Abuse Scandals in South Florida – Seems Headed for a Corrupt Public-Private Redevelopment Project
For more than a decade I’ve written extensively about the cesspool of abuse that has been the Fort Lauderdale Swim Team, whose home site is – either ironically or with quintessentially perverse appropriateness – the aquatics complex at the same location as the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF). Jack
“Coach abuse knows no borders” — at Ireland’s Village Magazine
Perhaps unsurprisingly, on 14 August, the media relations department of America’s ‘newspaper of record’ declined the invitation to tell Village that there will be any addition to its coverage four years ago of an Irish coach who had attained a dubious diversity lottery visa – which a federal judge suggested had
Inside the Book
What You’ll Find in PACHINKO MAN: The Life and Meaning of Pro Wrestling Legend Rikidōzan
A Hero Built on Two Nations
Discover how a Korean-born athlete became Japan’s postwar icon, celebrated as a national hero while concealing an identity the country refused to see.
The Birth of Puroresu
Step into smoky arenas and roaring crowds as Rikidōzan turns professional wrestling into Japan’s new mythology, redefining entertainment and masculinity in a country rebuilding from defeat.
Power, Politics, and Performance
Behind the cheers lies a ruthless industry. Irvin Muchnick exposes the deals, media manipulation, and cultural machinery that elevated one man into a symbol of strength.
Fame and the Price of Silence
Trace Rikidōzan’s rise and fall, from the height of celebrity to a shocking death that mirrored the contradictions of the empire he helped create.
book lists
Others books by me
Books
UNDERWATER
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
$19.95
Also available from:
CHRIS & NANCY
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.
$22.95
Also available from:
Investigative journalism isn’t ‘peer-reviewed literature.’ It’s a contact sport.