A DEFENSE OF STEROIDS IN WRESTLING, By: Luigi Scarcelli

March 27, 2006

Hello All, and thanks for reading.

So, I'm now going to further an unpopular (on most of the Internet) but justified viewpoint about steroids in wrestling. This may or may not be how I completely feel but it certainly comes to mind. I don't mind if you completely disagree with me in regards to this. Discourse is healthy.

Here goes... steroids are good for wrestling. VERY GOOD.

You heard me right. They are good for wrestling. I'm sorry did I say GOOD? Oh that's right, I meant GREAT for wrestling.

Without steroids there would be no Hulkamania, no doubt about it. No Ultimate Warrior, no Sid, no Superstar Billy Graham, no Road Warriors, no anybody really larger than life (the list can go from top to bottom to everyone in the middle, probably 75 percent of the names we know have done it, who are we kidding...) these people have been the backbone of modern wrestling, ushering us into where we are today. Shawn Michaels or Bret Hart with Mr T. and Billy Crystal on SNL to bring wrestling into the modern era?? Not possible.

These are grown men we’re talking about, they can do whatever they please. This is a free society, and I believe you can indulge in whatever you want if you're an adult, as long as you’re not harming another. Think about it this way, steroids are probably no worse than being morbidly overweight, which I see no one trying to tell people they cannot be. I know it sounds silly, but it's kind of a slippery slope, especially when it comes to health.

These are people that would probably be doing the same thing even if they were not getting famous, just as any other bodybuilder might, and often does, do. If they are going to juice for fame, and to feed their family well, should it be any different?

Imagine now how much smaller the characters we watch every week are going to be on TV these days? A 245 pound less-than-monster ‘monster’, or a 261 pound lean, tall ‘animal’? I’m just really not sure it ’ll be the same.

So, in closing, what would we have right now if not for steroids and the bodies they've produced? These men have provided us with multitudes of invaluable memories, all of which I'm not ready to trash just because of what they may have ingested. These people got rich doing it, and they certainly had a choice... no one was putting a shot up to their ass...

If this testing sticks, and if Vince really digs in, we’re gonna start seeing a bunch of shrunken guys... shells of their former selves. It'll be different, and for many people, it will not sell tickets. They may not be those of us that read these sites, but fans nonetheless.

Are we as fans really all about work rate right nowadays, as opposed to physique, or are we just being hypocrites? Really? Can anyone be against roids after all they have done for as fans? They are a part of what gave us the memories we cherish today. Would you prefer to go back and change all that by saying steroids should not have been in wrestling’s past? Or do we just now today say that the innocent kids out there that want to see the current musclemen, or the next HUGE guy that comes up, and look at him with wonder in their eyes, thinking ‘wow he’s like a superhero’, or should they be like us old fans, where they know about testing and think, ‘he’s not that big, but hey he’s got a great workrate’. 

There's something larger than life about wrestling, always been, and that's what's made it so appealing to the youth of the world. I know it was for me. And if you grew up with Hulk, The Road Warriors, Macho Man Randy Savage, Ravishing Rick Rude, Lex Luger, Ultimate Warrior, or Sid, then you understand what I mean.

You wouldn't want it taken away from you. Why take it away from them. 

Just trying to give an opposing view, but I'd like to see what people think. It is a free country, after all.