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For WWE, drug tests a mixed bag
For WWE, drug tests a mixed bag, By: Scott E. Williams Published March 5, 2006, The Daily News Three months after he first said it would be coming, World Wrestling Entertainment Chairman Vince McMahon last week announced the implementation of the drug-testing his wrestlers would undergo.
The policy is pretty much a direct response to the November death of Eddy Guerrero. Guerrero, perhaps the most popular performer in WWE at the time of his death, was only 38 when he was found dead in a Minnesota hotel room. An autopsy later showed Guerrero died of heart failure caused at least in part by drug use, including anabolic steroids.
The new testing, to be administered by a Tennessee firm, will cover steroids, illegal drugs and prescription painkillers.
This will not be the company’s first go-round with drug-testing. In the early 1990s, the World Wrestling Federation (as it was then known) implemented testing while McMahon was staring down the barrel of federal indictments for steroid distribution. McMahon was ultimately cleared of all charges, but the testing remained until 1996. By that time, rival organization World Championship Wrestling had overtaken the WWF, in part because that company did not test, giving it more appeal to the bulk of wrestling fandom’s love for wrestling’s “freak show” appeal.
A decade later, the competition’s stance could prove to be the undoing of WWE’s current program. While I do not share the “Vince McMahon is the devil” view held by many of my brethren in mainstream media, he is undeniably a businessman, first and foremost.
If WWE releases name performers for testing positive and rival company Total Nonstop Action snaps up those stars, the message will be clear — if you want to load up on steroids and other drugs, TNA is the place for you. If that happens, and TNA becomes a threat with its increased star power, WWE’s well-intentioned testing is likely to go the way of the abdominal stretch.
And releasing stars is quite possible under the system announced last week. In the 1990s, test results went to McMahon, who decided with his executive subordinates what action to take. This time, the testing company will decide drug violators’ fates, with no input from McMahon or anyone else in WWE. The test administrators will decide whether a wrestler who tests positive will face no action, rehab, suspension or termination.
That distinction gives credence to the legitimacy of the testing, although a “wait and see what happens when a top guy flunks” attitude would not be unreasonable.
Also, there are loopholes – especially regarding steroids. Steroid use accompanied by a valid prescription will not count as a positive test result, unless drug levels are dangerously high.
The problem with that is, history has shown no shortage of star-struck doctors willing to give their favorite stars prescriptions for various substances, regardless of whether the need is valid.
Still, while this testing is far from perfect, it is a good step in the right direction. It shows that WWE (and we can hope the rest of the wrestling industry will follow its lead, in this respect) might finally be getting serious about the deadly serious problem of drug abuse in our favorite pseudo-sport.
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