THE SIX PACK
In the follow-up to his acclaimed baseball memoir, The Wax Pack (2020), author BRAD BALUKJIAN delivers a balanced tribute to wrestling’s 1980s “Golden Age.”
readers face the same reckoning: the point at which it’s time to ease their sagging bookshelves by thinning out their home libraries. For the well-read wrestling fan, it’s all and Ric Flair’s will always make the cut. But for most collections, the question of whether to keep or toss comes down to which books are unique and memorable. It’s something that Brad Balukjian must have had on his brain when he penned as his technique and style have produced a decidedly different kind of wrestling book. Balukjian quickly sets the stage for his unabashedly unorthodox tome by bringing readers into the world of his own wrestling fandom, which includes a longstanding appreciation for the late Iron Sheik. Although Sheik was known in his most glorious days as the ultimate villain, Balukjian embraced him as a childhood hero and eventually cultivated a friendship with him. Although “Sheiky Baby’s” drastic mood swings and severe substance-related issues—which the author personally observed and endured—put their relationship in jeopardy. It’s this dilemma that forms the overarching narrative of the work, which is neatly bookended in the book’s denouement.
