Success Of The WWE Wellness Policy

[funkdoc]

something worth considering here that i rarely see brought up in these conversations:

 

while there is obviously a huge public stigma surrounding steroids, HGH has actually gained a sort of respectability at least among the rich & famous. over the last decade or so there has been a major trend of doctors promoting HGH as an anti-aging therapy, and it's caught on pretty well despite the lack of actual scientific evidence. have any of you seen those ads in the airplane magazines with the creepy before & after photos of old dudes? that's exactly what i'm talking about here.

 

i remember during one of the big busts on a clinic selling PEDs to athletes, it came out that tyler perry & mary j. blige were also among this place's clientele. people had a big "WTF" reaction but it's obvious they were in it for the whole anti-aging HGH thing. basically what i'm saying is that HGH use isn't something that world would bat an eye at anymore since people think it's a legitimate medical treatment, so i figure that's the main thing wrestlers use anymore.

 

 

one last thought: in general, i am highly skeptical of guys who consistently maintain sub-10% bodyfat with a lot of muscle. good trainers will tell you that diet is 75-80% of the equation for achieving that kind of look, and that just goes by the wayside too easily when you live on the road.

[jdw]

I think the WWE's Wellness Program is as successful as the NFL's anti-drug policies over the past three decades. Same level of bullshit of those involved, and delusional both on the inside and on the outside.

 

John

[SteveJRogers]

I think the WWE's Wellness Program is as successful as the NFL's anti-drug policies over the past three decades. Same level of bullshit of those involved, and delusional both on the inside and on the outside.

 

John

But people don't give a shit because "hallowed" records aren't being challgened on a yearly basis.

[anarchistxx]

There has been a proliferation of steroid use amongst 'regular' people in the UK, presumably fuelled by the chiselled, buff physiques that young men are under pressure to adopt now. I have a friend who looks down in disgust if someone dares to enjoy a bit of coke on a night out, yet thinks nothing of injecting some steroids into his ass in the car park behind the gym. Couldn't believe how many friends were doing it, and seemed to consider it perfectly safe and natural, it was usually people who you would never assosciate with drug use either. WWE ought to do an awareness campaign on the dangers, reminding people of all the wrestlers who died young, but they won't of course because they would be tantamount to admitting part culpability.

[Loss]

I think the issue more than health risks of the people doing the drugs is the perception of what a normal body looks like that it creates among wrestling fans. It makes it almost impossible for guys who want to stay clean to compete for spots. The end result is that wrestlers who would prefer to stay clean end up having to cycle as well, if only so they can stay competitive.

[Wolfman]

Why do we care about the Wellness Program again? The only reason they are doing it is that they want to look more legit to their sponsors that they actually give a crap about their roster.

[jdw]

 

I think the WWE's Wellness Program is as successful as the NFL's anti-drug policies over the past three decades. Same level of bullshit of those involved, and delusional both on the inside and on the outside.

 

John

But people don't give a shit because "hallowed" records aren't being challgened on a yearly basis.

 

 

As I said: the same level of delusions on the outside.

 

People, including the overwhelming, vast majority of Pro Wrestling Fans, don't give a shit about the Wellness Issues of wrestlers because they just want to be entertained.

 

People, including the overwhelming, vast majority of Pro Football Fans, don't give a shit about the Wellness Issues of football players because they just want to be entertained.

 

So they either don't care, or delude themselves into thinking things are "okay" on some level.

 

I don't want to say this thread is laughable... but we're basically trying to pat Vince, the Wrestlers and ourselves on the back to feel warm and fuzzy about something where we know a big number of wrestlers are still fucked up on drugs, dopes, PED and what not.

 

But yeah... it's been a success because people in the WWE aren't dropping dead.

 

Wait... how many wrestlers have overdosed over the past two decades while on the WWE's payroll?

[Matt Farmer]

something worth considering here that i rarely see brought up in these conversations:

 

while there is obviously a huge public stigma surrounding steroids, HGH has actually gained a sort of respectability at least among the rich & famous. over the last decade or so there has been a major trend of doctors promoting HGH as an anti-aging therapy, and it's caught on pretty well despite the lack of actual scientific evidence. have any of you seen those ads in the airplane magazines with the creepy before & after photos of old dudes? that's exactly what i'm talking about here.

 

i remember during one of the big busts on a clinic selling PEDs to athletes, it came out that tyleqr perry & mary j. blige were also among this place's clientele. people had a big "WTF" reaction but it's obvious they were in it for the whole anti-aging HGH thing. basically what i'm saying is that HGH use isn't something that world would bat an eye at anymore since people think it's a legitimate medical treatment, so i figure that's the main thing wrestlers use anymore.

 

 

one last thought: in general, i am highly skeptical of guys who consistently maintain sub-10% bodyfat with a lot of muscle. good trainers will tell you that diet is 75-80% of the equation for achieving that kind of look, and that just goes by the wayside too easily when you live on the road.

Testosterone has been used by many celebrities as an anti-aging drug too.

 

It's much easier to eat healty now than it was 20 years ago, and knowledge of diets and body chemistry have increased in everyday people.

[jdw]

The hell with test being a Celeb thing. It's being marketed to all of us dude now, along with all the other cock medication:

 

http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7wNC/androgel-low-testosterone

 

John

[NintendoLogic]

Bob Holly talks about the Wellness Program in his book. According to him, all the drug testing is done by urinalysis, which doesn't pick up HGH. So if you have a prescription for testosterone and combine it with HGH, you're good to go. The thing is that HGH costs a couple grand a month, so only the top guys can afford to do that. The undercard guys have to settle for cheaper stuff like deca and hope they don't get busted.

[fxnj]

I think the issue more than health risks of the people doing the drugs is the perception of what a normal body looks like that it creates among wrestling fans. It makes it almost impossible for guys who want to stay clean to compete for spots. The end result is that wrestlers who would prefer to stay clean end up having to cycle as well, if only so they can stay competitive.

Once again, there is no big line you can draw between what's "clean" and "unclean." If there were no steroids, you'd probably see something similar to the testosterone shit in MMA. Even if it's "clean," it probably isn't any healthier considering high testosterone has been linked with weakening the immune system and putting stress on the heart. It's just the nature of the business and sports in general for guys to take whatever they can to get an edge, and banning steroids doesn't change that.

 

lol at anyone calling steroids the main reason for the 80's guys dying young. I'm sure wrestling 250 matches a year and getting barely any time to recover from injuries has nothing to do with that.

[Fantastic]

lol at anyone calling steroids the main reason for the 80's guys dying young. I'm sure wrestling 250 matches a year and getting barely any time to recover from injuries has nothing to do with that.

 

Well, to draw on a recent tragedy for analysis: I'd wager that Ultimate Warrior's heavy steroid usage was a significant contributor to his heart problems, and not the brief - in comparison to other guys during that time - periods he spent on the road as part of his wrestling career.

[artDDP]

As NintendoLogic said, I think as long as they have a prescription for something they can get around any positive test.

 

Testosterone and HGH seem to be the big things these days. It seems so many male athletes are in need of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) and HGH is said to be impossible to detect in a urinalysis.

[kjh]

It's worth noting that WWE no longer bans Therapeutic Use Exceptions for testosterone or other substances.

[Loss]

Whether steroids are the direct cause of death or not, the bigger point is that steroid use in a competitive environment makes some who probably don't want to take steroids feel like they have to in order to stay employed, much less stay competitive. And use of illegal drugs should not be a prerequisite for holding a job.

 

People inside the wrestling bubble see hugely muscled up guys and think credibility and mainstream acceptance. People outside the bubble think drug addict and neanderthal when they see bodies like that. If anything, I think the big muscled up bodies are one of the things (many things) that keep wrestling a sideshow thing.

[BillThompson]

I can vouch that your last sentence holds true for my wife. She hates wrestling, and hates that I watch it. One of her main reasons is that all the guys look like roided up neanderthals and the women are nothing more than strippers. If I remove myself from the bubble I can easily see that her observations are quite realistic and probably explain why much of the general public is still able to easily snub their noses at the product.

[funkdoc]

People inside the wrestling bubble see hugely muscled up guys and think credibility and mainstream acceptance. People outside the bubble think drug addict and neanderthal when they see bodies like that. If anything, I think the big muscled up bodies are one of the things (many things) that keep wrestling a sideshow thing.

 

omfg this x 1000

 

i suspect something of an age gap going on here, perhaps. i'm probably younger than the norm for this forum and more often than not my generation tends to see the batista or prime HHH-type bodies as downright creepy. competitive bodybuilding has been completely irrelevant in mainstream culture ever since arnold went hollywood, and there's been a backlash against some of the old ideals of masculinity that came out of that world. from personal experience, women around my age or younger tend to be most commonly attracted to "men's health cover model" bodies or straight-up skinny dudes (though this one relies much more on hair/skin/fashion sense). at the very least, those are the bodies that get marketed as attractive today.

 

there's also the fact that MMA has shown millions of people that you don't need to be 250 pounds with six-pack abs to be a legitimate tough guy. i've long suspected part of the appeal of punk & bryan is that they look more like MMA fighters than your typical WWE guys do, and that in a way this makes them more believable.

[Fantastic]

In terms of MMA, I don't really think AAS usage is really all that much of an effective performance enhancement in the world of MMA. Take Bob Sapp for instance, who is like the result of an illicit union between Bobby Lashley and Alistair Overeem.

 

Bob Sapp got his ass handed to him on a plate by Kaz Fujita in a K-1 match back in 2004. Kaz Fujita is like half a foot shorter than Bob Sapp and weighed around 60lb less than him, yet he demolished the larger Sapp.

 

That's not to say that AAS usage isn't effective at giving an edge in training or recovery, but in terms of the fights themselves, skill and experience will usually prevail.

[dawho5]

I would agree with the above sentiments completely. There's no need for the "bodybuilder" type guys anymore. I think your prototype big man now is Antonio Cesaro. He's more a tall guy with a good sized frame, but lean and muscled. It actually looks like he can move and everything. That's far more dangerous than a guy who's so beefed up he can barely move if you think about it.