Pro Wrestling

The recent death of popular wrestler Chris Benoit has caused the media and wrestling fans to examine the whole situation. Did steroids contribute to the tragedy created by Benoit? How prevalent are steroids in the wrestling business? Do the major promotions really care about their athletes and their steroid use?

We may never know how many wrestlers are truly steroid monsters but we can all take guess that would be pretty safe bets. The question is, do we as fans really care if our favorite star is juicing or not. I have often thought that many fans enjoy the look of some of the monster sized wrestlers. It's difficult to assess if the Benoit tragedy will change this.

Will the Benoit tragedy change how the WWE does things? Well, they already had a wellness policy in place and this was supposed to include drug testing. So what happened with Benoit? Did he slip through the cracks or is the WWE wellness program a joke? We may never know.

A good number of wrestlers have passed in the past few years and drugs were a contributing factor in most. Some of those wrestlers are:

- Curt Hennig, 44
- The British Bulldog," Davey Boy Smith, 39
- Louie "Spicolli" Mucciolo 27
- Richard "Ravishing Rick Rude" Rood, 40
- "Flyin' "Brian Pillman, 35

There may well be more and certainly there have been many who have died from other drugs as well, painkillers are very popular among wrestlers as are illegal drugs. Some illegal have been found to be the cause of death in other wrestlers.

Are we as a society going to allow our athletes to continue to make use of drugs or are we going to put it to an end? Only time will tell.

A few years ago an upstart wrestling company began in Georgia. Total Nonstop Action was the moniker and the soon began to make a few small in roads in the wrestling business.

Through all this a smaller company called Ring of Honor managed to be successful doing smaller shows in the north east. They would survive by releasing videos and having live shows.

The style of pro wrestling has changed dramatically or the years. In the early years there were guys who were so good they would only lose their title belts when they felt like it. These guys could legitimately hurt and truly lay a beating on their opponents if they chose. These guys were called HOOKERS.

There are no hookers today as the "sport" of pro wrestling is very tightly controlled with story lines and a direction of where the promoter wants to take the promotion.

Regardless, it's still possible to enjoy pro wrestling if you suspend belief and allow yourself to taken in by the stories.