Jonathan Coachman Talks HGH Use In WWE And Almost Using It, Why He Decided Against It

A PED scandal in pro sports, or sports entertainment is nothing new. In the past week, Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning has been embroiled in controversy surrounding allegations that he used human growth hormone as a member of the Indianapolis Colts franchise.

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Former WWE personality Jonathan Coachman now works for ESPN, and has seen PED scandals across several forms of sports and entertainment. As a replacement host on Russilo & Kannel Monday, Coachman revealed that several of his friends in wrestling used HGH, primarily to heal their bodies. He also noted that it wasn't difficult at that point in time to acquire HGH.

"A lot of my buddies to recover would take HGH to get back to earn a living, because their living was based on performance. For us, it wasn't hard at all. You go to clinics, a lot of those clinics have been shut down because it's illegal now. I had no problem," said Coachman.

Coachman explained that he had a sudden change of heart about receiving human growth hormone due to the negative impact that being associated with the clinics could have on his career. To Coach, the risk wasn't worth the reward.

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"I had all my stuff in a FedEx and was going to send it to a doctor where all my buddies went. At the last minute I was like 'I'm a wrestler, yes, but I'm not going this as much or the length of time I need to do this for.' I knew my future was probably (at ESPN) and didn't want to see my name tied to a clinic like that," he said.

See Also: Billy Gunn Fired From WWE For Test Failure

Coachman then spoke about the accusations surrounding Peyton Manning (which have been thrown into question), and said that the negative connotation associated with HGH isn't entirely accurate. He attributed the WWE's grueling road schedule as a reason why several wrestlers utilized HGH while he was there.

"People just see your name, not the background of what you're trying to accomplish. That's the issue with Peyton Manning here," Coach said. "All they here is 'doping, drugs,' and that's not what it's used for. A lot of my guys did it so they could get in the ring and support themselves and get in the car and ride 800 miles a week."

Coachman confirmed that he knew which clinics were dirty and that people within WWE knew where to get it at that point. Coachman worked for the WWE from 1999 until 2008, when he left to work for ESPN. You can check out Coach's comments at the 9 minute mark at this link.

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