Steroids have always been part of the game. As wrestling grew from a freak sideshow to a mainstream, televised pseudo-sport, big, buff bodies became the draw, starting with American (Superstar) Billy Graham. Sports fans may be used to thinking of steroids as simply a performance enhancer, as they are for sprinters or baseball players. But in pro wrestling, the idea of the big man dominates the industry, and many wrestlers get their bulk from steroids.
Allegations of steroid abuse have long dogged World Wrestling Entertainment. In 1994, its chairman, Vince McMahon, was brought before a U.S. federal jury on charges that he conspired to distribute steroids among his performers. Although he was acquitted, many of the day's top stars testified that steroid use was an accepted part of pro wrestling culture.
Famous stars such as Hulk Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, and former Minnesota governor and eighties wrestling icon Jesse (The Body) Ventura, have admitted in the past to using performance-enhancing drugs at one point during their careers.
Canadian wrestler Bret (Hitman) Hart, a five-time champion with the WWF (now the WWE), told The Globe and Mail in an interview that there has been a growing "epidemic of wrestlers that are addicted to painkillers and they've been dying hand over fist for too long now."
Former WWE champion Eddie Guerrero, a close friend of Mr. Benoit, was found dead in a Minneapolis hotel room in 2005. Mr. Guerrero was just 38 when he died of heart failure. He had a well-documented history of alcoholism and painkiller abuse.
Despite its scripted outcomes, professional wrestling is still an extremely physically demanding profession. And in an effort to stay on top of a business where top performers can earn millions, many wrestlers resort to painkillers to stay in the ring.
Scott (Raven) Levy, a former WWE star, told USA Today in March, 2004, that at one point in his career, he was using more than 200 pain pills a day just to keep wrestling. "If you want to be a pro wrestler, you have to be a big guy, and you have to perform in pain. If you choose to do neither, pick another profession."
Dan Lovranski, host of Toronto radio show Live Audio Wrestling for the past 10 years, compares wrestling's touring demands to that of rock stars. But "these guys have to deal with physical pain. Of course there's going to be drug issues. Whether it's prescription medicine or non-prescription medicine. It's a really rough lifestyle."