Report: WWE pro wrestlers linked to nationwide steroids inquiry

March 20, 2007

Eleven professional wrestlers, including the WWE's Adam Copeland, a.k.a. Edge, have joined the list of athletes linked to a U.S.-wide steroids investigation.

SI.com reported Monday that WWE star Randy Orton allegedly received eight prescriptions for six different drugs - including stanozolol, nandrolone and testosterone - between March 2004 and August 2004. According to the documents SI.com reviewed, two doctors whose names also appear in Gary Matthews Jr.'s file, wrote prescriptions for Orton.

Orton, through the WWE, declined comment, SI.com said.

In its review of documents, SI.com reported it found Copeland, a native of Orangeville, Ont., and Shane Helms, a.k.a. The Hurricane, received HGH from Applied Pharmacy in Mobile, Ala., one of the pharmacies raided in the investigation led by Albany, N.Y., District Attorney David Soares.

Through the WWE, Copeland and Helms didn't respond to a request for comment, SI.com said.

WWE spokesman Gary Davis told SI.com that WWE policy prohibits performance-enhancing drugs but would not say whether any wrestlers have tested positive since the policy was enacted.

A statement release Monday night by WWE said the allegations reported by SI.com occurred before the organization implemented its "Talent Wellness Program," which deems "prescriptions obtained over the Internet and/or from suppliers of prescription drugs from the Internet are not considered to have been given for a legitimate medical purpose."

Also linked to the scandal, in various reports, are baseball's Jose Canseco, John Rocker, Jerry Hairston Jr. and David Bell, former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield, Pittsburgh Steelers doctor Richard Rydze, 1996 Olympic wrestling gold medallist and now-pro wrestler Kurt Angle and bodybuilder Victor Martinez.

Monday, SI.com also reported Arizona doctor David Wilbirt's name has come up in multiple files, including Angle, Oscar Gutierrez (stage name Rey Mysterio Jr.) and former WWE star Eddie Guerrero, who died in 2005.

Through the WWE, Gutierrez declined comment to SI.com about the report that Wilbirt had prescribed him nandrolone and stanozolol.

Wilbirt told SI.com he's not practising medicine now.

"I'll tell you one thing and then this conversation is going to end," Wilbirt told SI.com when asked about the professional wrestlers. "They had done blood work and had laboratory work done and they had come to see me."