As most wrestling fans are aware, U.S. Senator Henry Waxman sent a letter on Friday to John P. Walters who is the Director in the Office of National Drug Control Policy. He is an Executive Officer of the President.
You can view the report he sent in pdf file: Waxman's Letter to Congress. I HIGHLY recommend everyone that reads this entry to view the report before the facts possibly become manipulated by the media or promotions that are following this story. Here are some of notable points that the report listed:
-In the report, former WWE superstar Chris Benoit had submitted to four drug tests failing three of them before his death in 2007. He only received a warning each time before the controversial deaths of his wife, son, and himself in June 2007.
-When the WWE reinstituted it's Wellness Policy in 2006, 40 percent of the talent on the roster failed a steroid testing despite being warned that it was coming.
-In TNA, 25 percent of the talent tested positive for steroid use during it's first baseline testing. The report also indicated that 11 other wrestlers tested positive for other banned substances listed in the policy.
-Changes to the Wellness Policy in WWE were also criticized by Waxman when he uncovered that wrestlers were allowed to perform without pay at events after being suspended for testing positive for drug use.
-WWE hired five wrestlers that tested positive for steroid or banned drug use during pre-requisite testing. However, those five unnamed wrestlers in the report later tested negative when tested at a later time according to the WWE's report to the Committee looking into this.
My opinion on this
As a long-time fan of wrestling since I lived in Oklahoma watching Mid-South Wrestling as a kid, I'm ashamed at what I read. I'm still a fan of the business, but I will not ignore what was listed in the report.
You can point the finger at the wrestlers, the promotions, or ownerships of each brand. But they all have to shoulder the blame and how irresponsible the industry has been in addressing drug use in wrestling. Sure, the policies have been revised, but drug use still goes on. That's the unfortunate part, but more can be done to control it.
For WWE in particular, this isn't good to have a report with those kind of facts on it at this time knowing that you're three months away from the industry's biggest Pay-For-View event, WrestleMania XXV. And we also can't forget that one main event wrestler, Jeff Hardy, was suspended for violating the substance policy before last year's WrestleMania event. I like Hardy in the ring, but you know he's going to be a bigger target once again because of this report.
For wrestling fans like myself, it's getting more and more difficult to defend an industry that I grew up watching on television since I was a kid. I even know some wrestlers personally that were once in the business, too.
Lives have been lost. People have been crippled. They do make mistakes, and we're certainly in no position to judge any of them. But the fact remains, everyone in the business from wrestlers to the creative team, creative team to front office, and front office to promoters - they made the decision to take a passive approach in dealing with this problem sooner.
The industry continues to be battered and called into question over the lack of responsibility in dealing with this on-going problem head-on. They have themselves and no one else to blame for that. As fans, we cannot ignore it any longer either.
At any rate, the economy continues to fall flat and we're currently at war. I guess those issues aren't as important to some people in Washington as we're led to believe. Nonetheless, this report has brought the issue to light once again for the wrestling industry.
1/05/2009 12:09:00 AM
David Funk
6 comments:
It may not be priority #1, but the issue needs to get out there. Kids need to know how harmful it is and they shouldn't be "forced" to use because everybody else is and without it they won't stand a chance.
I don't disagree with that. The problem is, this has been brought to the surface before when Vince McMahon was on trial about steroid use in wrestling in the early 90s. It's the biggest reason why the WWE nearly went bankrupt in the mid-90s after the scandal. Furthermore, a policy was put in place then until it was scrapped in 1996. Only after the controversy surrounding Eddie Guerrero's death in 20055 did they reinstitute it the next year.
My point is, why is Congress now so hard up after acknowledging this was a problem when McMahon was on trial before? At least baseball kept it under wraps before 2005, but wrestling still couldn't avoid the court system the first time.
Steroid use in wrestling is a bigger problem than in the baseball and football. Heck, even McMahon was a user, too. And that's part of the problem as well.
Over 3 million kids watch wrestling every week, and they do need to be aware of this. It's just that this has turned into such a big mess, I don't know where you start to clean it up.
questions and answers.
Problem is the answers are never really there
This is true MadMan. Drug use will go on just like crime in America. However, steps can be taken to control it better which is clear the report says it hasn't been. This really is a mess for sure. Thanks for the comment buddy.
I think the biggest issue, especially in the current economic climate, is that the steroids make for bigger wrestlers, that in turn creates greater interests (see circus's, bizarre museum displays and even some modern art).
As long as fans continue to pay the money to watch these types of events promoters will continue to encourage the drug taking that currently exists.
It is after all, economics and not competitiveness that drives wrestling ( and so many other sports, look at the HR chase between Mc and Sammy)
The time has come for fans to force sport back into a clean competitive environment by simply not paying... If after this report NO-ONE did the PPV Wrestlemania, would that cause a re-think???
Richard (smokinleeds) Strout
Smokinleeds! Glad to see you over here! Good points.
I do agree with the part about fans supporting the industry. It's for that reason as to why I don't complain about player or wrestler salaries because as long as we watch, buy merchandise, and view advertisements for them, we're helping to pay their contracts. Simply put, if you complain about salaries, then don't watch those sports. However, this is more of an awareness than it is a complaint.
The sad thing with this is that it has been brought to the forefront before with McMahon being on trial. Some will still not get the message about using regardless of what you do to them.
It is economics that the industry thrives on, but steroid use nearly shutdown the WWE after McMahon went on trial in the 90s, not the economy. That scandal should have been the wakeup call the industry needed, but that was far from the case. It was about drawing more money which is why they scrapped the policy for ten years. Promoters aren't so quick to push it now or Jeff Hardy(a main event star and HUGE draw) wouldn't have been suspended before WM last year. At least their are consequences for testing positive now, but the industry isn't doing enough to help public awareness of this problem, IMO.
At any rate, great points buddy and thanks for taking the time to comment!
Post a Comment