Sunday, August 30, 2009

Muchnick.net Releases Intro of Benoit Book

Muchnick.net Releases Intro

Of CHRIS & NANCY,

Story of Benoit Murder-Suicide


AUGUST 31, 2009—The Chris Benoit case amounted to “a conspiracy between those who care too much about wrestling and those who care too little,” author Irvin Muchnick writes in the Introduction of his forthcoming book, CHRIS & NANCY: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death.

“Let’s tell and retell the Chris Benoit story in the hope that it will eventually make enough of the right people care in just the right amounts,” the Introduction concludes.

CHRIS & NANCY, published by ECW Press, will be in bookstores in late October. The full Introduction can be viewed at http://muchnick.net/benoitbookintro.pdf.

Muchnick says the twin missions of CHRIS & NANCY are “to compile a comprehensive and accurate history” of the tragic events of June 2007 and to shed light on the pandemic of death in pro wrestling, which he labels “a generation-long legacy of shame.”

CHRIS & NANCY opens with a Foreword by award-winning New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick (no relation to author Muchnick), which can be viewed at http://muchnick.net/benoitbookforeword.pdf.

A two-page sample of the book’s 16-page color photo section is at http://muchnick.net/benoitbookphotosamplelowres.pdf (low-resolution version) or http://muchnick.net/benoitbookphotosamplehighres.pdf (high-resolution version — long download time).

For complete pre-order information, including international links to Amazon.com, go to http://benoitbook.com.

To reserve an autographed copy of CHRIS & NANCY direct from the author, send $19.95 via PayPal to paypal@muchnick.net or via postal mail (U.S. funds only) to:

Benoit Book

P.O. Box 9629

Berkeley, CA 94709

All U.S. orders of autographed copies direct from the author will be at the American retail price of $19.95, with free standard shipping to U.S. addresses. Prices for Canadian and other foreign orders will be published at a later date.

Irvin Muchnick is author of WRESTLING BABYLON: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandal, and a widely published magazine journalist. He is lead respondent of the current landmark case for freelance writers’ rights, Reed Elsevier v. Muchnick, in which oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court is set for October 7.

Media inquiries:

Irvin Muchnick

media@muchnick.net

Simon Ware

Publicity Director

ECW Press

416-694-3348

simon@ecwpress.com

Blog: http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/irvmuch

YouTube: http://youtube.com/WrestlingBabylon


#####

Saturday, August 29, 2009

'When Daniel Puder Hurt Kurt Angle' ... full text from SLAM! Wrestling

[originally published at SLAM! Wrestling on August 24 under the headline, "Five years after he 'hurt Kurt,' Daniel Puder reflects on defining moment," http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2009/08/24/10583426.html]


By Irvin Muchnick

Maybe one of these days Daniel Puder, a blond-maned mixed martial arts powerhouse, will get a shot against Brock Lesnar or Fedor Emelianenko or Shane Carwin, and we’ll all see for ourselves if he really ranks with the biggest, baddest heavyweights on the planet.

For now, our mental images of Puder are stuck in a history warp and in pro wrestling’s fog machine, But sometimes it’s more fun that way. Puder is the guy who, almost five years ago, “hurt Kurt” — fate dropped him into the middle of a botched skit with Kurt Angle and the moment wound up defining his career. Go ahead, look it up on YouTube. Or, as the case may be, listen, my children, and you shall hear….

Puder, now 28, was a high school wrestling champion in the mat-mad San Jose, California, area. The South Bay also has produced Olympic gold medalists Mark and David Schultz. The best high school wrestler ever from San Jose, Dan Chaid, was a 1985 collegiate champ at Oklahoma who would lose to Angle in the finals of the 1996 Olympic Trials (after which Angle captured his own gold medal). Puder, in fact, trained with Chaid, and Puder says that fully prepared him for when Angle tried to bully him on SmackDown on October 4, 2004.

The background was that Puder was in the last stages of winning World Wrestling Entertainment’s Tough Enough reality-show contest. The eight finalists were flown in to serve as foils for WWE’s “A” team. There are hazing rituals, and then there’s pro wrestling, which is basically an endless series of overlaid hazing rituals. Puder’s own on-camera initiation included getting his back slammed against a locker by The Big Show.

The next week Kurt Angle ran the Tough Enoughers through squat drills, taunting them all the while and gassing everyone except Puder, who clearly won that segment of the competition.

The script called for Angle to take on all eight exhausted rookies, one by one, in the ring. In a piece of confusion, he started with the former college football player Chris Nawrocki, who was mistakenly identified as the squat drill winner. (WWE talent chief John Laurinaitis said “the blond guy,” and referee Jim Korderas pulled out Nawrocki.) In what was supposed to be a “worked” segment, Angle got a little too “ramped up,” as Paul Heyman puts it, and wound up stretching Nawrocki, who suffered three broken ribs.



When Angle turned to the other Tough Enoughers at ringside and asked if anyone else wanted a piece of him, Puder raised his hand.

I, personally, do not claim to be able to interpret what followed simply from viewing the YouTube footage; the only thing obvious to a wrestling layman is that Angle’s angle went sour. As is so often the case, the most accurate comprehensive interpretation seems to be that of Wrestling Observer publisher Dave Meltzer.

Angle later explained the humiliating scene by accusing Puder of a double-cross; Angle also said he was just coming back from a neck injury and was down to 210 pounds. For his part, Puder says he thought it was a shoot, especially after seeing what Angle did to Nawrocki. “I was really mad at Kurt,” Puder told SLAM! Wrestling, “and I was protecting myself.”

(Oddly, Nawrocki would express bitterness at losing to Puder in the Tough Enough fan voting, saying that “if the fans got to know Dan in the way the contestants got to know him, they’d realize he never watched wrestling in his life, kisses more ass than a toilet seat and has the personality of a robot.”)

It was a classic WWE mindfuck, and all over in a blink. Angle bulled Puder into the corner and against the ropes, but in so doing left himself vulnerable to a kimura armbar submission, which Puder calls the “keylock.” He held onto the hold from the bottom.

In Meltzer’s account, “Not only was Angle not getting out of the move, but most MMA fighters would have tapped already. Angle couldn’t tap for obvious reasons.” Ref Korderas counted a fast three even though Puder’s shoulders weren’t fully down, “because the reality was Angle would have been in surgery had it gone a few seconds longer or had Puder not given up the hold.”

After that incident, Puder won Tough Enough in a landslide. That rankled, in particular, fellow contestant Mike Mizanin (”The Miz”), whose dream was a WWE gig. Puder, not a fan of pro wrestling, had entered the competition at the last minute on a lark, at the suggestion of his girlfriend. WWE gave him a $250,000 one-year contract, with options, and sent him to developmental. The Tough Enough hype said it was a million-dollar deal, but only the first year was guaranteed.

Taking Puder under his wing, Heyman advised him to project his character by wearing a T-shirt emblazoned, “I Hurt Kurt.” In a conversation with SLAM! Wrestling, Heyman called the Angle confrontation an example of “being caught up in the whirlwind of the moment. There are no-lose situations, and then there’s this, a can’t-win situation. You’re in a clearly ‘worked’ environment where you think you know but you can’t be sure you know. So Daniel thinks he’s in a shoot and he hooks Kurt. It’s either get stretched yourself or overcome the odds.”

According to Heyman, Vince McMahon and his lieutenants watched Puder closely to see if he would come out of the incident cocky or humble. A naturally brash sort, he chose the former tack. You might think that’s precisely what the company wanted out of its talent. Wrong answer! Despite becoming the most “over” babyface in developmental, Puder was not elevated to the WWE roster. He turned down the company’s modest second-year offer and moved on to the next phase of his career in MMA. “But it was a great experience,” he said.

If there’s one skill Puder didn’t fully develop, it’s talking. He says Angle pissed him off and he’d still welcome a shoot fight with him. Tactfully, Puder doesn’t note the dark, downward trajectory of Angle’s life, which has included getting fired from WWE after refusing drug rehab, a real-life divorce that played out on TNA television and, most recently, an arrest for possessing growth hormone and stalking his girlfriend. Meanwhile, Puder (who also dabbled in Ring of Honor before turning for good to MMA) has moved his operations from San Jose’s American Kickboxing Academy to Southern California, fighting in such exotic venues as Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion.

Paul Heyman, for one, never doubted that Puder had the right stuff for pro wrestling superstardom had the politics properly aligned.

“Are you kidding me?” Heyman said. “Daniel is 6-3. Great genetics, great look, good athletic ability, kicks like a mule. Has a smile so obnoxious he makes you want to punch the television screen. He’s Brad Pitt in Fight Club.”


Irvin Muchnick’s Chris & Nancy: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death, will be published in October by ECW Press. Pre-order information is at benoitbook.com.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

WWE's Rey Mysterio Suspended -- Also Linked to Benoit's Doc

WWE has announced the 30-day suspension of Rey Mysterio for a Wellness Policy violation.

Mysterio, real name Oscar Gutierrez, was the “O.G.” listed iin the federal indictment of Dr. Phil Astin, Chris Benoit’s personal physician, for overprescribing drugs. Astin is now in federal prison and faces a civil wrongful-death lawsuit by Nancy Benoit’s family.

Irv Muchnick

CHRIS & NANCY Ships to Printer -- Here's the Back Cover

Irvin Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death has shipped to the printer for October publication.

The back-cover image is viewable at http://muchnick.net/benoitbookbackcover.pdf.

Other elements of the book that can be viewed online are:

* Foreword by award-winning New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick (no relation to author Muchnick), http://muchnick.net/benoitbookforeword.pdf

* Front cover image, http://muchnick.net/benoitbookcover.pdf

* Sample of two pages of the 16-page photo section, http://muchnick.net/benoitbookphotosamplelowres.pdf (low-resolution version) or http://muchnick.net/benoitbookphotosamplehighres.pdf (high-resolution version — long download time)

For complete pre-order information, including international links to Amazon.com, go to http://benoitbook.com.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Wikipedia Changes Edit Procedure -- Too Late for the 'Benoit Hacker'

Wikipedia has announced that it is testing editor approval of changes to articles. The online encyclopedia says this will facilitate a balance between credibility and openness.

As readers of this blog know, shortly after midnight on June 25, 2007, a Stamford, Connecticut, college student named Matthew Greenberg edited Chris Benoit's Wikipedia page to say that Benoit missed his wrestling appearance the night before because his wife Nancy had died. This was 14 hours before the dead bodies of Chris, Nancy, and Daniel Benoit were discovered by the authorities.

Chapter 9 of my forthcoming book CHRIS & NANCY, entitled "The Wikipedia Hacker," reports in depth on this subject and its implications.

Irv Muchnick

Monday, August 24, 2009

Muchnick Article on Daniel Puder at SLAM! Wrestling

“Five years after he ‘hurt Kurt,’ Daniel Puder reflects on defining moment”

SLAM! Wrestling

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2009/08/24/10583426.html

CHRIS & NANCY Author Muchnick on 'UnderScore,' Hardcore Sports Radio

Irvin Muchnick, author of CHRIS & NANCY: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death, was interviewed today by Sarah Meehan on “UnderScore” on Hardcore Sports Radio, SIRIUS/XM Channel 98.

You can hear the entire 23-minute interview three ways:

* At the show’s online archive, http://hardcoresportsradio.com/groups/underscore/default.aspx (August 24, Segment 2)

* From the Muchnick.net website, http://muchnick.net/UnderScore082409.mp3

* At the WrestlingBabylon Channel on YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/WrestlingBabylon

Sunday, August 23, 2009

CHRIS & NANCY Photo Preview Brings Muchnick.net Record Traffic

CHRIS & NANCY Photo Preview

Brings Muchnick.net Record Traffic


AUGUST 24, 2009—Anticipation of the October publication of Irvin Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death has led to record traffic at the Muchnick.net website.

From August 20 through August 23, the site recorded 7,781 downloads of the low-resolution version of two preview pages of the 16-page color photo insert in CHRIS & NANCY. The pages are viewable at http://muchnick.net/benoitbookphotosamplelowres.pdf. A high-resolution version of the photo preview (http://muchnick.net/benoitbookpphotosamplehighres.pdf, with longer download times) recorded 3,369 downloads.

The full text of the Foreword to CHRIS & NANCY, by award-winning New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick (no relation to author Muchnick), at http://muchnick.net/benoitbookforeword.pdf, recorded 832 downloads over the same period.

For the book’s cover image and complete pre-order information, including international links to Amazon.com, go to http://benoitbook.com.

To reserve an autographed copy of CHRIS & NANCY direct from the author via PayPal, send $19.95 to paypal@muchnick.net. You also can send $19.95 via postal mail (U.S. funds only) to:

Benoit Book

P.O. Box 9629

Berkeley, CA 94709

All U.S. orders of autographed copies direct from the author will be at the American retail price of $19.95, with free standard shipping to U.S. addresses. Prices for Canadian and other foreign orders will be published at a later date.

Irvin Muchnick is author of WRESTLING BABYLON: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandal, and a widely published magazine journalist. He is lead respondent in the current landmark case for freelance writers’ rights, Reed Elsevier v. Muchnick, in which oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court is set for October 7.


Media inquiries:

Irvin Muchnick

media@muchnick.net


Simon Ware

Publicity Director

ECW Press

416-694-3348

simon@ecwpress.com


Blog: http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/irvmuch

YouTube: http://youtube.com/WrestlingBabylon


#####

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Vince McMahon's Campaign Contributions

VINCE McMAHON, THE CHAIRMAN OF WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT, HAS MADE THE FOLLOWING CAMPAIGN DONATIONS, ACCORDING TO THE ONLINE DATABASE OF THE CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS. WWE HAS ANNOUNCED THAT IF McMAHON’S WIFE LINDA, THE CEO OF WWF, RUNS FOR THE 2010 REPUBLICAN NOMINATION FOR THE U.S. SENATE SEAT HELD BY CHRISTOPHER DODD, AS SHE IS CONTEMPLATING, SHE WILL TAKE A LEAVE OF ABSENCE FROM THE COMPANY AND VINCE, IN ADDITION TO CONTINUING AS CHAIRMAN, WILL ASSUME LINDA’S CEO DUTIES.


===============

Contributor Occupation Date Amount Recipient
MCMAHON, VINCENT
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT/CHAIR 4/8/08 $1,000 Shays, Christopher (R)
MCMAHON, VINCENT
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT/CEO 3/24/06 $1,000 Shays, Christopher (R)
MCMAHON, VINCENT
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT/CEO 4/24/06 $1,000 Its My Party Too PAC
MCMAHON, VINCENT
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT/CHAIR 10/18/06 $1,000 Shays, Christopher (R)
MCMAHON, VINCENT
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WORLD WRESTLING FEDE 7/6/92 $1,000 Johnson, Brook (R)
MCMAHON, VINCENT
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WORLD WRESTLING FEDE 9/10/92 $1,000 Johnson, Brook (R)
MCMAHON, VINCENT
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WORLD WRESTLING FEDE 10/14/92 $500 Johnson, Brook (R)
MCMAHON, VINCENT
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WORLD WRESTLING FEDE 10/7/92 $500 Johnson, Brook (R)
MCMAHON, VINCENT K
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT INC./ 5/22/06 $5,000 Forward Together PAC (D)
MCMAHON, VINCENT M
ORANGE,CT 06477
STATE OF COUN 12/6/89 $250 Schlesinger, Alan (R)
MCMAHON, VINCENT M
ORANGE,CT 06477
STATE OF COUN 12/6/89 $250 Schlesinger, Alan (R)

Senate Candidate Linda McMahon's (CEO of WWE) Campaign Contributions

LINDA McMAHON, CEO OF WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT, HAS ANNOUNCED THAT SHE IS TESTING THE WATERS FOR A POSSIBLE RUN IN THE 2010 REPUBLICAN PRIMARY FOR THE U.S. SENATE SEAT NOW HELD BY DEMOCRAT CHRISTOPHER DODD. HERE ARE THE COMPLETE DATA OF McMAHON’S CAMPAIGN DONATIONS FROM THE ONLINE DATABASE AT THE CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS.

===============

Contributor Occupation Date Amount Recipient
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831

10/28/92 $5,000 Connecticut Republican Campaign Cmte
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWE INC/CEO 4/17/08 $2,500 Republican Leadership Council
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWE INC./CEO 6/15/07 $2,500 Republican Leadership Council
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION/CEO 9/16/07 $2,500 Our Common Values PAC (D)
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWE, INC./CEO 3/26/08 $2,500 Republican Leadership Council
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION/CEO 8/22/08 $2,300 Emanuel, Rahm (D)
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWE INC./CEO 9/25/06 $1,500 Its My Party Too PAC
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWE/CEO 5/19/08 $1,300 Whitman, Kate (R)
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWE/CEO 1/30/08 $1,000 Whitman, Kate (R)
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWE INC./CEO 11/23/05 $1,000 Shays, Christopher (R)
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWE INC./CEO 11/30/05 $1,000 Shays, Christopher (R)
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWE INC./CEO 9/18/08 $1,000 Shays, Christopher (R)
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWE INC./CEO 10/23/07 $1,000 Shays, Christopher (R)
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WORLD WRESTING FEDE 9/22/92 $1,000 Johnson, Brook (R)
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WORLD WRESTING FEDE 9/10/92 $1,000 Johnson, Brook (R)
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWF/CEO 10/27/00 $1,000 Sanchez, Stephanie Hunter (D)
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
HOMEMAKER 7/9/02 $1,000 Stephen, John A (R)
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831

7/6/92 $1,000 Johnson, Brook (R)
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWE INC./CEO 10/18/06 $1,000 Shays, Christopher (R)
MCMAHON, LINDA
STAMFORD,CT 06902
WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION/CEO 12/19/05 $1,000 Emanuel, Rahm (D)
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWE INC/CEO 10/26/06 $1,000 Lieberman, Joe (I)
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWE INC/CEO 11/7/06 $1,000 Lieberman, Joe (I)
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWE INC 7/26/04 $1,000 Thune, John (R)
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWE INC./CEO 8/24/04 $1,000 National Federation of Republican Women
MCMAHON, LINDA
STAMFORD,CT 06902
WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION/CEO 4/14/04 $1,000 Emanuel, Rahm (D)
MCMAHON, LINDA
SANDY HOOLE,CT 06482
WWE INC./PUBLIC RELATIONS 8/24/04 $1,000 National Federation of Republican Women
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWFE/COO 5/8/01 $1,000 Murray, Kevin (D)
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWF/CEO 9/4/02 $500 Sanchez, Stephanie Hunter (D)
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWE INC./CEO 6/7/06 $500 Johnson, Nancy L (R)
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWE INC./CEO 9/8/06 $250 Republican Majority for Choice
MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831
TITAN SPORTS 8/15/90 $250 Santorum, Rick (R)
MCMAHON, LINDA E
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT INC./ 9/29/06 $10,000 Democratic Congressional Campaign Cmte (D)
MCMAHON, LINDA E
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT INC./ 5/22/06 $5,000 Forward Together PAC (D)
MCMAHON, LINDA E
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION 9/7/00 $5,000 Connecticut Republican Campaign Cmte (R)
MCMAHON, LINDA E
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT, INC. 10/15/07 $5,000 Democratic Congressional Campaign Cmte (D)
MCMAHON, LINDA E
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWE CORPORATION/CEO 4/30/09 $2,000 Connecticut Republican Campaign Cmte (R)
MCMAHON, LINDA E
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWE INC/CEO 5/11/08 $1,300 Warner, Mark (D)
MCMAHON, LINDA E
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWE INC/CEO 5/11/08 $1,000 Warner, Mark (D)
MCMAHON, LINDA E
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WWE INC/CEO 1/31/08 $1,000 Warner, Mark (D)
MCMAHON, LINDA E
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION/EXECUTIV 10/4/01 $1,000 Connecticut Republican Campaign Cmte (R)
MCMAHON, LINDA E
GREENWICH,CT 06831
WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION/CEO 8/18/04 $500 Sanchez, Stephanie Hunter (D)

Friday, August 21, 2009

'Gina Carano Date NIght in San Jose: Hit Movie, Unhappy nein

by Irvin Muchnick

My first live mixed martial arts show was also a unique Bay Area summer date night: American Gladiator alumna and magazine cover girl Gina “Conviction” Carano vs. Brazilian destruction machine Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos for the 145-pound women’s championship of Strikeforce, the No. 2 torchbearer of the MMA phenomenon. For the first-ever women’s main event at a major MMA show, more than 13,000 fans, almost all shrieking Gina-maniacs, nearly filled San Jose’s HP Pavilion. Some millions more watched on Showtime.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen as many couples at a sporting event. This was like a real-life chick flick with an unhappy ending, as Cyborg won convincingly by technical knockout with a single second left in an action-packed first round. The main draw of the nine-fight card, which made for a big-event atmosphere you can’t manufacture with smoke and mirrors, thus also proved the most entertaining match, by far.

Initially, MMA live can be a disorienting postmodernist experience. Even from press row, a mere dozen rows back, it is almost impossible to perceive much detail through the octagon cage, especially when the fighters hit the ground. You learn to follow the action mostly via the many supersized overhead monitors, and track the crowd reaction (which as often as not is fool’s gold) for the most effective strikes, throws, mounts, and submission moves. Boos accompanying lulls in offense also goad the performers into adrenaline mistakes of commission.

But the profound personal connection fans feel with their favorite fighters is undeniable. Here is where MMA less resembles the boxing/pro wrestling hybrid that is so often cited, and more travels the blue-collar trail blazed by NASCAR. On the Saturday undercard, a Fresno lightheavyweight, Mike Cook, got knocked silly by Scott Lighty of San Luis Obispo. Out on his feet, Cook doubled over from a kick to the gut and shook his head, and the referee stopped the bout after one more head shot. Minutes later, walking down the aisle back to the dressing room, Cook was waylaid by a blonde who asked him to pose with her while the woman’s boyfriend or husband snapped away on his cell phone camera. Cook obliged with a warm smile.

With girl-next-door looks and charm, while also making her mark as a top-tier bad-ass cager, Carano is a once-in-a-generation talent. But no one goes undefeated in this sport, and Saturday she met her match for the first time in eight fights. Cyborg is bigger-boned and longer-reaching, and has superior skills in just about every phase, even though Carano is herself a world-class boxer and Muay Thai striker. As the women traded blows and kicks, and took each other to the ground and against the cage, perspiration ran in rivulets down the gutters of their corn-row braids.

But the five-minute round (up from the usual three-minute women’s MMA rounds) favored the Brazilian android over the American cutie. Gina seemed more caught up in the history and the hype, more unwisely determined to use every weapon she knew all at once, more tactically unfocused – in sum, overwhelmed by her opponent. When she got to her feet following the mildly controversial ref’s stoppage, Gina flashed her trademark dimpled smile and graciously hugged her conqueror.

Carano did not attend the post-fight press conference – unusual for a main event loser though far from unprecedented. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said he did not know where she was. She may have been depressed, injured, deferring to Cyborg’s big moment, or reluctant to have her puffed-up movie-star features photographed at will.

As Carano ponders her future, she has to be wondering how much more of this she needs to take. Women’s MMA is big and growing, but she, and now Cyborg, remain the only names really known by the general public. With a reset button and the right set of fresh foes to build to a Cyborg-Carano II, the first female main event on the pay-per-view gravy train is a viable possibility a year or so down the road – even if the result is unlikely to be much different.

Irvin Muchnick is author of the forthcoming CHRIS & NANCY: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death, and lead respondent in the current Supreme Court writers’ rights case, Reed Elsevier v. Muchnick. He tweets at http://twitter.com/irvmuch.

Cyborg Pummels Carano, Makes History

[originally published at SLAM! Sports on August 16, http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Fighting/MixedMartialArts/2009/08/16/10478786-sun.html

Cyborg pummels Carano, makes history

By Irvin Muchnick

An hour after her technical knockout victory last night in San Jose, just a second before the horn ending the first round, Cris Cyborg was asked if she resented having been cast as the “heel” in her confrontation with the glamourous and charismatic Gina Carano.

“Gina can have the title of ‘face of girls’ MMA,’” the Portuguese-speaking Cyborg responded through an interpreter. “I have this title.”

And she pointed to her new Strikeforce middleweight championship belt – the first ever bestowed on a female fighter by this promotion, at the conclusion of the first major MMA show ever headlined by women.

Carano and Cyborg’s furious five minutes raised the HP Pavilion roof. The arena, filled to 90 percent capacity – with nearly 100 percent of the fans cheering wildly for the American cutie over the Brazilian destruction machine – created an extraordinary gender-neutral big-event atmosphere.

In turn, that could both permanently lift the MMA’s women’s division and transform the profile of Strikeforce as a viable alternative to Ultimate Fighting Championship, where the only women are ornaments.

Moving forward, the only problem may be that other women – or Cyborg and Carano themselves if a rematch is ever made – will be hard-pressed to match Saturday’s performance.



It was an action fight, easily the most electric of the nine-bout card. Cyborg was never in serious trouble. Gina gave as good as she got for at least the first three minutes before Cris’s superior leverage and relentlessness simply overwhelmed her.

On the ground, Carano powered out of Cyborg’s attempted heel hook and foiled a kimura armbar. But eventually Cris got the mount near the octagon cage, Gina’s guard closed up, and a dozen or more wind-up 12-to-6-o’clock right hands rained down.

The crowd booed referee Josh Rosenthal’s stoppage at 4:59, but it was hard to argue with – Carano had stopped defending herself. She rose from the canvas after a minute of medical attention, forced a dimpled smile and congratulated the new champ.

Carano had trained for this fight with Randy Couture, and she may have been overconfident in her new wrestling and clinch skills.

Or she just may have been overly amped up by the history, the hype and the crowd, which led her to try to match Cyborg blow by blow and move by move. Surely second-guessers will wonder if Carano would have better served herself in her more familiar stand-up Muay Thai posture, at least for a round of feeling out an opponent whose overall skill set was at another level.

Even though the more marketable name lost, Strikeforce came out a winner, as the women clearly proved a plus in the company’s quest for perception as a solid No. 2 to UFC, if not a potential 1-A.

Though many male fighters not on Saturday’s card were introduced to the crowd, the other recent Strikeforce coup – the signing of heavyweight kingpin Fedor Emelianenko after he spurned a multimillion-dollar offer from UFC – got no bump at all from the 13,524 in attendance or the Showtime television audience. Emelianenko wasn’t there.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker later explained, “When Fedor is in training, nothing can get him out of camp.” An insider had a less generous explanation: “Fedor is just impossible to work with.”

On Saturday night another Brazilian, heavyweight Fabricio Werdum, made a case for being in line to challenge Emelianenko. Werdum submitted Mike Kyle, one of several San Jose local favorites on the undercard, with a guillotine choke in 1:24 of the first round.

Gegard Mousasi, an impressive fighter out of Armenia, won the Strikeforce light heavyweight championship from Renato Sobral with a one-minute TKO.

Gilbert Melendez, billed as the Strikeforce “interim” lightweight champion during the injury absence of Josh Thomson, stopped Mitsuhiro Ishida with a series of unanswered ground strikes at 3:56 of Round 3.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

CHRIS & NANCY, Story of Benoit Murder-Suicide, Includes 16-Page Color Photo Section

CHRIS & NANCY,

Story of Benoit Murder-Suicide,

Includes 16-Page Color Photo Section


AUGUST 19, 2009—CHRIS & NANCY: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death, will include a 16-page center insert section of color photographs. These include some photos of the crime scene that have never been published, plus shots of many of the wrestlers and personalities involved in Chris Benoit’s career and life, and in the investigation of the June 2007 incident, which made headlines on American cable TV news and around the globe.

A preview of two of the photo pages is at these links:

http://muchnick.net/benoitbookphotosamplelowres.pdf (low resolution version)

http://muchnick.net/benoitbookphotosamplehighres.pdf (high resolution version — long download time)

CHRIS & NANCY, published by ECW Press, will be in stores in October. The book opens with a Foreword by award-winning New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick (no relation to author Muchnick), which can be viewed at http://muchnick.net/benoitbookforeword.pdf.

For complete pre-order information, including international links to Amazon.com, go to http://benoitbook.com.

To reserve an autographed copy of CHRIS & NANCY direct from the author via PayPal, send $19.95 to paypal@muchnick.net. You also can send $19.95 via postal mail (U.S. funds only) to:

Benoit Book

P.O. Box 9629

Berkeley, CA 94709

All U.S. orders of autographed copies direct from the author will be at the American retail price of $19.95, with free standard shipping to U.S. addresses. Prices for Canadian and other foreign orders will be published at a later date.

Irvin Muchnick is author of WRESTLING BABYLON: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandal, and a widely published magazine journalist. He is lead respondent in the current landmark case for freelance writers’ rights, Reed Elsevier v. Muchnick, in which oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court is set for October 7.

Media inquiries:

Irvin Muchnick

media@muchnick.net

Simon Ware

Publicity Director

ECW Press

416-694-3348

simon@ecwpress.com

Blog: http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/irvmuch

YouTube: http://youtube.com/WrestlingBabylon


#####

Friday, August 14, 2009

Mrs. McMahon Wants to Go to Washington

Linda McMahon, Vince’s wife and the CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, is exploring a run for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat in Connecticut now held by Christopher Dodd. The Washington Post’s “The Fix” political blogger Chris Cillizza, reported the news, and WWE confirmed it. The company said that if Linda runs, Vince will serve as both chairman and CEO.

My book on the Benoit murder-suicide, Chris & Nancy, which is about to be published, concludes with Linda McMahon’s appointment to the Connecticut Board of Education. But now the McMahons are hunting bigger game.

Irv Muchnick

Monday, August 10, 2009

New York Post's Mushnick on 'Boring' Steroid Issue

From the column in today's New York Post by Phil Mushnick (http://www.nypost.com/seven/08102009/sports/moresports/redundant_roid_facts_important__not_bori_183833.htm?page=0) on steroid-scandal fatigue:


"The truth may be redundant and become boring, but it's too valuable to be shouted down or eliminated. After all, if not for truth-seekers and truth-tellers, MLB players -- and more than a few -- by now might be hitting 85 home runs, being paid by the yard and being found dead in hotel rooms, two per month, like pro wrestlers."


Irv Muchnick