Past Comments Coming Back To Haunt Outed WWE Stars
Past Comments Coming Back To Haunt Outed WWE Stars
When talking about the huge number of drug-related deaths in the business, a number of today's WWE stars have said they are due to problems of the past and that the industry is now clean. However, at least ten current WWE wrestlers have been found to be buying steroids and other drugs through the Internet, even after the company instituted a Wellness Policy specifically banning it.
Here are several quotes from a number of those wrestlers implicated in the Signature Pharmacy drug scandal, many of which denying any wrong doing and their own personal drug use.
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William Regal
As recently as this week, William Regal made comments to an Australian newspaper stating that he has never relied on steroids, except for when he was in his early 20s and starting out in wrestling of course. According to Sports Illustrated, Regal received Stanozolol, Somatropin, Genotropin, and Anastrozole between November 2004 and November 2006. Stanozolol is a synthetic anabolic steroid. Somatropin and Genotropin are Growth Hormone drugs. Anastrozole, while not a steroid, is used to counter the affects of steroids such as the development of female breast tissue.
Here are Regal's comments on steroids in professional wrestling that were published in the Sunshine Coast Daily just last Wednesday:
Q: The deaths of Chris Benoit and Eddy Guerrero have all been linked to steroid use, are steroids widely used in professional wrestling?
A: Certainly not, steroids is a hard thing for me to talk about, I'm open to talk about because it's not something that's part of my being as a performer, it's not something that I've ever relied on or anything that I've had anything to do with.
When I was in my early 20s, in fact very early 20s when I was still living in England and traveling the world I dabbled in steroids, but nobody ever told me to or forced me to.
Nowadays we get tested very thoroughly and if guys are going to use steroids and they get tested they're going to get caught and they're going to get found out or they're going to get suspended or fired, there's no getting away from the fact that there are people who use steroids not only in our line of work but in all lines of sports or business and it's something our company is doing its best to get away from and stamp out completely and hopefully that's something that's going to happen.
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Mr. Kennedy
As we all know, Mr. Kennedy had a lot of things to say this summer regarding his personal steroid use and that people like Marc Mero were wrong because drugs were a thing of the past in pro wrestling. According to Sports Illustrated, Kennedy received shipments of Anastrozole, Somatropin and Testosterone between October 2006 and February 2007 — well beyond when the WWE Wellness Policy was put in place. Testosterone is an anabolic steroid. Somatropin is a Growth Hormone drug. And of course, Anastrozole is the drug used to ward of developing female breast tissue.
Here are some select quotes from Kennedy regarding steroids that he made in an interview with The Sun a little over two weeks ago.
"I never took massive amounts of steroids and do you know why I stopped taking them? Because of the WWE's Wellness Policy."
"Because they instituted the Wellness Policy (in February 2006) and I knew that having a job with the WWE was way more important than the 10 pounds of extra muscle that the steroids gave me."
"I stopped taking them and I had the biggest push of my life."
"I worked with The Undertaker for the last six, seven months. Working on top of all the house shows. I worked PPVs, I was on every PPV."
"I didn't take any steroids and that's the thing, nowadays, in our business, you don't have to take that stuff in order to get a push."
"We've got thousands upon thousands upon thousands of applicants every year, that apply to have a job as a WWE superstar and Vince picks the best of the litter, he picks the guys that have very good genetics."
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Edge
Back in March, Adam "Edge" Copeland became a key figure in an alleged steroid ring and drug investigation. On March 19, 2007, Sports Illustrated posted an article on its website in its continuing series investigating a steroid and HGH ring used by a number of professional athletes in several sports. That article mentioned several current and former WWE wrestlers, including Copeland who was alleged to have obtained HGH. In January 2005, Copeland admitted to using steroids in April 2004 after neck surgery as an experiment on TSN's Off The Record with Michael Landsberg. He said he felt it slowed him down, so he quickly got off the substance. According to Copeland, he took HGH after coming back from a spinal fusion neck surgery. He was told by doctors that it would help the bones grow back around the screws and plate that were inserted into his neck. He claims to have taken blood tests, consulted doctors, studied the drug, and got prescriptions before deciding to take them.
It was revealed this week by Sports Illustrated that Copeland received somatropin, genotropin and stanozolol between September 2004 and February 2007. Somatropin and Genotropin are Growth Hormone drugs. Stanozolol is a synthetic anabolic steroid.
On the heels of his name turning up in the media back in March, Copeland did a post on his MySpace page confronting the allegations. In the post, Copeland claimed that he is "clean as a whistle." Here are some select quotes from his MySpace post:
"To the columnist who said a 'roided up thing called Edge' was at the NHL All Star Game a few weeks ago, in 2003, this may have been true."
"Now, not in the least, as my random urine tests, which have always been negative will attest."
"I guess I'll take the fact that he thought I was as somewhat of a compliment. To the fact that I've been lucky enough to have been gifted with a 6 foot 5, 240lb body naturally."
"And finally made it to the top of my industry last year on my own, clean as a whistle."
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Gregory Helms
Back in March, Sports Illustrated posted an article on its website in its continuing series investigating a steroid and HGH ring used by a number of professional athletes in several sports. That article mentioned several current and former WWE wrestlers, including Gregory Helms who was alleged to have obtained HGH.
Helms made a post on his MySpace page defending himself against the allegations. Helms claimed that he got his drugs through a legal doctor to help heal his numerous injuries. However, Sports Illustrated reported this week that Helms received received Testosterone (an anabolic steroid), Genotropin (Growth Hormone) and Nandrolone (another anabolic steroid) through the corrupt Internet drug firm, Signature Pharmacy, between November 2003 and February 2007. Purchasing drugs off the Internet is considered to be a direct violation of the WWE Wellness Policy.
Anyway, here are some quotes Helms made in the MySpace post he did back in March:
"If you get hurt and a doctor prescribes you a medicine/drug and therapy to help you and you take it, did that become wrong somewhere?"
"Several years ago I had hurt my knee and was advised by 2 different doctors to undergo this particular therapy. I didn't ask for it, hell, I didn't even know about it, all I knew is that I didn't want to have to have surgery. Not to mention that I would like for my life after wrestling to be as painless as possible. I won't be able to wrestle forever and I would hope that I'm entitled to the best quality of life availalbe to me when that time comes. I would like to think that it's well in my human rights to take whatever a doctor tells me to if it helps my condition and relieves my pain. Isn't that what everyone goes to a doctor for? Shane Helms committed no crime and did absolutely nothing illegal. And that is a FACT!!!"
"Trust me, there are a million ways to get any kind of legal or illegal medicine/drug you want. However, I was under the assumption that going thru a doctor, getting treatment and therapy for a totally LEGAL medicine was the right way to go about dealing with this particular injury."
"Look at me! I'm not 300 lbs of muscle, the biggest I've ever been is 215, I'm not abusing ANYTHING other that the abuse my body takes doing the job I love."
"Now I get that this "reporter" was just doing his job and was only using certain names from his list to sensationalize the article. And I guess it makes it sound more colorful to use the name Hurricane although I haven't been The Hurricane in almost 2 years now. Hell I guess this guy can pretty much get away with saying whatever he feels, I honestly don't know. I don't know him and I don't even deal with that particular Doctor anymore either. And if that Doctor did anything wrong himself, as long as it didn't involve me it shouldn't concern me or be directed towards me."
"Am I making an excuse? Not at all. Making up an excuse would be admitting that I did something wrong or illegal. I did neither. I'm just a guy that has torn his body to shreds for the job he loves. And there are times that I've had to do to the hospital and get different kinds of medicines/drugs/whatever to help me heal."
"Thanks again to everyone that's supported me, I love you all. Now forget all this bull and go have some fun!"
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Batista
In an interview with an Australia based media outlet last week, Batista made the following remarks in regards to the Wellness Policy and steroid use in wrestling:
"There is a serious testing program in place."
"I love what I do and hate it when people say wrestlers are drugged up on steroids. I won't accept it in the locker room and I'm in total compliance."
Batista's name has yet to be implicated by Sports Illustrated, although ESPN.com reported on Thursday that Batista was a client of the corrupt Internet drug firm, Signature Pharmacy, along with a number of other wrestlers.
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Rey Mysterio
Rey Mysterio has yet to come up in the latest wrestling drug scandal investigation, although his name has popped up in two other ones.
On March 19, 2007, Sports Illustrated posted on its website an article in its continuing series investigating a steroid and HGH ring used by a number of professional athletes in several sports. That article mentioned several current and former WWE wrestlers, including Rey Mysterio, who was alleged to have obtained Nandrolone and Stanozolol from Eddie Guerrero's primary physician, Dr. David Wilbirt. Nandrolone and stanozolol are both anabolic steroids. Wilbirt does indeed have ties to the corrupt Signature Pharmacy drug firm.
In an interview with Fox News on 8/23, Mysterio was asked about steroid use in wrestling, including his own. Host Steve Doocy asked point blank if he had ever used steroids, Mysterio said, "No. Never." When Doocy said people looking at him would think that he's probably on steroids, Mysterio responded by saying, "You can look at my body, and in a way, I am the biggest guy, right? No, I'm all dedication to wrestling. I've been doing this for eighteen years now. I've been training since I was eight years old." When asked about his name coming up in an investigation of Dr. Phil Astin, the doctor of the late Chris Benoit, Mysterio said that his only connection to him was getting pain medication, noting he had six knee operations. Mysterio said if they investigated Astin, they would find he only took pain medication.
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