***** This column was written by Jordan Prill, and is posted on the main page as a result of being voted ‘Column of the Contest’ in the recent WZ Wannabes Contest.
Written on 20th December, 2004 *****
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I first want to say I am not accusing ANYONE of taking, distributing, or persuading anyone to take steroids, I am just saying what COULD be happening and what can be done about it.
With the recent steroid happenings in the baseball world, I thought I would look into what could also be happening in WWE and TNA. Barry Bonds, perhaps the biggest star of this generation, supposedly took steroids, so who knows what that will do to the game. That to me is equivalent to someone like The Rock or Stone Cold taking steroids. What can WWE do to prove that it’s superstars aren’t on ‘The Cream’ or ‘The Clear’? I have never heard of steroid testing in any of the major organizations, but I think they are needed. I will now take a look at some of the little hints that some wrestlers are on the ‘roids.
Bob Holly’s Anger: I’m sure most of us have read about Bob ‘Hardcore’ Holly attacking Rene Dupree, and I for one have not forgotten his attack on Matt from Tough Enough 3. Holly is said to be a bully backstage, and these two instances all but prove it. But could there be something else behind these outbursts? If anyone remembers the good ol’ Bob ‘Sparkplug’ Holly days, you never saw him shooting on an opponent. You didn’t see the huge muscles either. Steroids are said to change a persons attitude, make them angry, tense, or downright violent. Could the attacks be because of the steroids getting the best of Holly, or is he just an angry man? We should all know how easy it is to get a hold of these performance enhancing drugs, High School kids have died from them, so no one can use the excuse that he couldn’t get his hands on them.
HUGE Physiques: There are a lot of, well, some would say superhuman physiques in the WWE. Batista, HHH, Gene Snitski, Heidenreich, even John Cena could be accused because of how big they are, but Batista is probably the one accused most often. Just look at the guy! He literally has muscles in places where people don’t have places, as Jerry Lawler would say. Could someone possibly get this big without help from some sort of drug? Maybe, but it is rather unlikely. One example of maybe being on steroids is HHH. He was no where near as big as he is now when he was ‘Hunter Hearst Helmsley’. Does that just happen over night? It seems like just about everyone has a ton of muscle. Everyone from Funaki, to The Hurricane, to Nunzio, are well built. Coincidence? Maybe.
The Jamie Noble Firing: Jamie Noble was supposedly let go for steroid use. This could be a sign of who all is using the steroids. If Jamie Noble, an undercard wrestler, gets caught, think of who else is on them. For all we know, Todd Grisham could be buffing himself up with some sort of substance! What I’m wondering is, where did he get these steroids? Another wrestler maybe? A private doctor perhaps? Or even Vince McMahon himself? However he gets them, he doesn’t do it on his own, and someone had to have noticed him receiving, taking, or even distributing them. As far as I can tell, since the reports are that a doctor found that Noble was on ‘roids, that the WWE doesn’t have a drug testing program. To me, that is just plain stupid. Vince, you are running a multi-million dollar company, and you don’t test the talent for illegal substances? What would happen if the federal government decided to try to bust you again? For one thing, you would lose many, if not almost all of your superstars, which in turn loses fans, which eventually runs you out of business. Not to mention the time you would serve in jail for allowing all this to happen under your ownership, and the fines you would receive. We need a drug policy Vince, before WWE goes away forever.
Recent Firings-Not Budget Cuts?: Could all the recent firings be because of something other than money concerns? Rico, Test, Billy Gunn, just to name a few. Could the WWE have discovered steroids in their system, and made the smart choice? WWE usually doesn’t let injured talent go, it’s not good business. So why would Test be released right in the middle of his recovery? Steroids. What if, when the operation on his neck was being done, the doctors found traces of steroids in his system in the blood samples he gave? What about Billy Gunn? He’s been with the company for years, and a very loyal competitor at that. So why, out of the blue, would he be let go? Steroids. Did someone rat him out to try to run him out of the company? With all of the back-stabbing that goes on, it wouldn’t surprise me. And Rico, poor, poor Rico. He was coming off of a tag-team title run with Charlie Haas, and now he gets released? How does this make any sense? Steroids. Rico is an older man, he might have thought, to try to stay in the business, he needed steroids. Maybe one day, he got caught by someone high in management, if not Vince McMahon himself, and there was no other choice but to let him go. These are just a few examples, but guys, these could very well not have been budget cuts. WWE isn’t running out of money any time soon. Maybe Vince was just making a good move here in getting rid of what could be a problem for him in the future. Let’s hope so.
Deaths: We have seen to many go lately. Hawk, Big Boss Man, Kurt Henning, Rick Rude, and Brian Pillman is just a SHORT list of wrestlers who have died from steroids. They cover it up by saying heart failure, but we aren’t that stupid. We can’t keep seeing these legends pass away this early. And sooner or later, we will begin to see wrestlers pass away in their prime. Right in the middle of their careers, BOOM, they’re gone. Stronger steroids will reveal themselves, and wrestlers will put more and more into their system. What happens, when your superstars start dying while they are still wrestling in your main events? What happens, when a superstar collapses in the ring, and never wakes up? What happens, when you are announcing a new death every week? This needs to stop NOW. People need to start taking notice NOW. If it doesn’t happen NOW, we will lose the legends of the past, and the superstars of tomorrow, to something that could be easily prevented.
What Can Be Done: WWE needs to put a drug testing policy in place. Have monthly, if not weekly tests on ALL of the superstars. Why not throw in a few surprise tests here and there? This way, the wrestlers would not think of using steroids. But, when a superstar is caught, punish him…severely. Make an example of him. I’m not saying pull a Pete Rose and ban him for life. Rather, fine him, and make sure it is a sum that people take notice to. He can’t be let off with just that though. Suspend him. For a long time too, without pay, no matter who it is. From the World Heavyweight Champion to Earl Hebner, make the other performers take notice. This needs to be done as soon as possible too. The sooner this is done, while wrestling isn’t the biggest thing going and the press isn’t all over it, the better. Making it public that this is being done wouldn’t hurt either. If people hear that the sport is clean, people will remain interested, and fans will not stay away. What is preventing this from happening? This needs to be done, and soon.
ON THE BENCH: What Are Steroids?: So what happens when someone uses steroids? If you take it out of a medical dictionary, it will say something like “Anabolic-androgenic steroids are man-made substances related to male sex hormones. “Anabolic” refers to muscle-building, and “androgenic” refers to increased masculine characteristics. “Steroids” refers to the class of drugs. These drugs are available legally only by prescription, to treat conditions that occur when the body produces abnormally low amounts of testosterone, such as delayed puberty and some types of impotence. They are also prescribed to treat body wasting in patients with AIDS and other diseases that result in loss of lean muscle mass. Abuse of anabolic steroids, however, can lead to serious health problems, some irreversible.” Now I’ll give you something you can understand. It boosts testosterone, which in turn makes your muscles bigger and more powerful.
-Source of definition: infofacts.com
Risks of Steroids: The risks of steroids are tremendous. Paranoid jealousy, extreme irritability, delusions, impaired judgment, and feelings of invincibility, are just some of the symptoms. Think of how these could effect a wrestler in, and out, of the ring. In the ring, a wrestler could take an un-imaginable risk, thus ending in serious injury to him and/or the man he is competing with. Outside of the ring, feeling jealous could cause a wrestler to try to sabotage another wrestler’s career. Being irritable could lead to a confrontation with a fan, and we all know how that would be publicized after seeing the fight in the NBA. All of this is very unhealthy and dangerous, but there is still something much worse. Death. A heart attack can happen during, or after you take steroids, and the risk of having one raises immensely after taking just one, and imagine how many some people have taken! Do they not care about these risks? They could think they won’t feel the effects, and it’s not like they are going to get caught, who will test them for it?
Why They Are Taken: Why would someone take these after knowing the risks? You will probably hear “To be bigger, faster, and stronger” a lot, but there are other reasons why I think they would take them. Yes to perform better in the ring is a very big reason. Other reasons exist though, and the one I think is the most common, is seeing all of the bigger men, and feeling you need to look like them. It has been described as “The same as a high school locker room” in the back, and, guessing most of you are either in or have finished high school, know that can be a very high pressure situation. Another way it can be looked at is the same as drugs or drinking. The veteran wrestlers pressuring younger, smaller wrestlers to take steroids to ‘fit in’. They may feel they need an advantage to get their push to the top, or to stand out from the others. And do they think they’ll get caught? Of coarse not! We have seen the likes of Hulk Hogan get away with it, why wouldn’t some new guy? My last reason they would use these is because many wrestlers are involved with other substances such as cocaine and marijuana, and after they get off these, they may be looking to get that high back. The WWE has not shown any signs of punishing someone, so we are going to continue to see steroids be used until that day comes.
Well there you have it, my take on the matter. This took me a very long time to write and research so I hope you all enjoyed it. I have to say I am very excited to be competing in this Wannabe Contest, and I plan on nothing short of winning it. I am very happy that I joined this site about 2 months ago, because I feel like I have been accepted by a lot of people here, and I just love voicing my opinion. Enough of the sappy stuff, I’m afraid now that you’ve done this, I’m going to have to ask you to leave The Locker Room.
