Sports Centre – Issue 14

Steroids have long been used by wrestlers in the WWE to achieve and maintain the strength, size, and stamina needed to succeed in the industry. While anabolic steroid use in professional wrestling was once an open secret, it’s since been masked by a Wellness Policy that was enacted following chairman Vince McMahon’s arrest for distributing the drugs and the untimely deaths of a handful of athletes. Yet, critics claim the policy is sparingly if ever enforced, and that the aesthetic pressures placed on performers still promote drug use. 

This is evident in the callous case of Chris Benoit. Who, in 2007, coldly annihilated his wife, son, and self in a seemingly drug-induced rage. After WWE employees requested a welfare check on the wrestling star’s home when he missed a weekend of events, law enforcement found the dead bodies of the Benoit family in their Fayetteville villa. On the day of the discovery, the WWE replaced the scheduled Raw live show with a tribute to the fallen athlete, airing his past segments, clips from his biographical documentary, and speeches from coworkers and loved ones. While Beniot was initially excluded as a suspect, evidence quickly piled up against him, steering the investigation towards the truth. In addition, proof of decades of anabolic steroid abuse and implicating brain damage was discovered during Benoit’s autopsy. Hence, in spite of the WWE’s obvious role in the damage to the athlete’s body, they were never afforded any sort of blame. 

Today, drug use in the WWE remains a murky issue—publicly condemned, yet quietly tolerated. The Wellness Policy offers a veneer of accountability, but many believe it serves more as PR than protection. As long as the industry continues to prize superhuman physiques and punishing performance schedules, the pressure to use performance-enhancing drugs is unlikely to fade.