More on Drug Testing In WWE & TNA, And The House Hearings

In the wake of the information that was recently released from the House Hearings on Professional Wrestling and drug use among it's performers, I've seen some reports on wrestler reaction to marajuana and increased drinking in WWE.

Both TNA & WWE test or tested for marajuana. In the case of TNA 6 performers out of 60 tested positive for marajuana (Jan 2008 tests),representing 23% of the 26 positives for drugs or steroids. Steroids were 57% of the positives in TNA.

In the WWE testing (July 2007-March 2008) 73% of the positive results for drugs or steroids were marajuana positives, while steroids accounted for only 16% of the positives.

TNA is currently not taking action against talent for being tested as positive for drugs, while WWE does with warning, fines, suspensions & terminations. Both TNA & WWE have encouraged talent to seek help in rehab facilities, and both have had talent do so.

In WWE I've been told that drinking and the use of perscription medication has increased as one result of testing. Some stars that rarely drank at all when they joined WWE are now known as big drinkers, including top talent. The Ric Flair belief that a Champion should close down bars and buy the bar crowd rounds of drinks has some truth to it with some WWE stars.

The fines, rumored to be $250-$1000, for marajuana positives has been an issue for quite a few WWE stars. Some reacted by paying the fines, making pot smoking an expensive habit. Others left the company partially at least because of the fines. Others managed to quit smoking, but increased drinking.

I'm not sure I have a major point to make here except that no matter how much testing WWE & TNA do, likely it's talent will continue to have issues with abuse, as it is tough to restrict everything. Older wrestlers tell back in the day stories of buying 12 packs of beer and downing them one by one while driving from town to town at high speed. Everything old is new again.

Source: WZ