Congress requests WWE drug testing records

[Bix]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=2951586

 

McMahon asked by Congressional committee to hand over records

By Shaun Assael

ESPN The Magazine

 

Two congressmen responsible for conducting steroid hearings into Major League Baseball have requested that Vince McMahon, the head of World Wrestling Entertainment, provide records pertaining to the WWE's testing policies.

 

In a three-page letter dated July 27, Rep. Henry Waxman, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Tom Davis, its ranking minority member, asked McMahon to provide a series of documents intended to give the committee and its investigation a detailed look at WWE's drug-testing policy, including information about the results of performance-enhancing drug tests on pro wrestlers.

 

"The tragic deaths of World Wrestling Entertainment star Chris Benoit and his family have raised questions about reports of widespread use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs by professional wrestlers," the Congressmen wrote.

 

"These allegations -- which include first-hand reports of steroid use by prominent former wrestlers -- have swirled around the WWE for over a decade. Investigations by journalists have described a culture of performance-enhancing drug use in professional wrestling, high fatality rates among young professional wrestlers, and an inability or unwillingness of WWE to address these problems."

 

The letter from Waxman and Davis described WWE wrestlers as "multi-media stars that have an influence on the behavior and attitudes of the nation's youth."

 

"WWE has a responsibility to do everything possible to eliminate the use of performance-enhancing drugs -- or the perception of such use -- by its wrestlers."

 

The records request is wide ranging, and parallels what was asked of Major League Baseball. It seeks a list of drugs covered by its policies; the entity that conducts its drug testing; the number of tests it conducts annually; the protocols followed after a positive test; and the procedures for awarding exemptions.

 

It also wants hard figures about the number of tests that the WWE conducts each year; the numbers of wrestlers tested; positive results for each specific drug; and the number of positive tests for which wrestlers were penalized.

 

In an attempt to investigate the WWE's reaction to past scandals, the committee is also seeking "the results of any investigations prepared [by the company] regarding the deaths, injuries, or illnesses of current or former professional wrestlers that may have been related to the use of steroids."

 

It adds to the list "all communications between [the company] and outside entities including communications with health care professionals or law enforcement authorities, regarding allegations of drug use by wrestlers."

[Guest Will]

I'm not usually a fan of government intervention; however, as a wrestling fan, this is going to be HUGE. It's going to be really interesting when these come out and if they're made public.

[Guest teke184]

I'm not usually a fan of government intervention; however, as a wrestling fan, this is going to be HUGE. It's going to be really interesting when these come out and if they're made public.

It depends on how much Waxman thinks he can milk the headlines out of this.

 

There's not necessarily going to be anything done, but having a Congressional investigation of your industry is always a bad thing.

 

 

I guess that's why the WWE management members were dumping a lot of their stock.

[sek69]

I don't get why people over on DVDVR are upset about this. We just had a month of "OMG SOMEONE NEEDZ TO FIX TEH BIZNEZZ" but having Congress investigate is apparently a horrible thing.

 

I suspect some folks don't want their fake fighting messed with and will just take the trail of dead bodies as collateral damage.

[Tim Evans]

Because it will lead to nothing at the end of the day most beileve. I mean they can't arrest Vince on drug charages can they? The only thing they can do is get the doctors that the wrestlers got the steriods from. But for every one doctor, there's 20 more that will get the drugs. I don't see how Congress can enforce strict Steriods policy for wrestling? And even if they do, How long till they stop looking and Vince goes back to his old ways?

[sek69]

I don't think anyone's trying to arrest Vince, that's just WWE "everyone's out to get us" paranoia. However, if evidence turns up that Vince or any WWE official was aware of the drug trafficking these doctors seemed to be doing, they could be boned.

 

I think people kinda want the deaths to slow/stop more than "OMG GET VINCE".

[Tim Evans]

You'd be surprised how many people care more about getting Vince in Jail than stopping deaths.

 

I wonder when WWE got the letter and if it had anything to do with Rene Dupree getting released. I guess they are cutting bait for Waxman.

[Loss]

I'm hoping the Congressional investigation will eventually get more broad in scope than just looking for mark doctors.

 

Investigating the cause of injuries of HHH, Edge, Kennedy and Batista, to name a few, over the past few years, investigating the case where Johnny Ace knew Bob Orton had Hepatitis and allowed him to bleed all over the Undertaker anyway, the idea of protocol in wrestling when dead bodies are found ... there are a lot of things that make wrestling hazardous besides steroids.

[Al]

Let's be realistic here. Congress won't clean up professional wrestling. They'll make a show of things to the point where Vince and Co. revise their steroid policy and that will be it. The general public doesn't care enough for it to go any further.

[Bix]

So...

 

Will WWE rack up lots of overtime with the shredder, or is it pointless to do so unless Aegis Labs does the same?

[khawk20]

I'm hoping the Congressional investigation will eventually get more broad in scope than just looking for mark doctors.

 

Investigating the cause of injuries of HHH, Edge, Kennedy and Batista, to name a few, over the past few years, investigating the case where Johnny Ace knew Bob Orton had Hepatitis and allowed him to bleed all over the Undertaker anyway, the idea of protocol in wrestling when dead bodies are found ... there are a lot of things that make wrestling hazardous besides steroids.

...and once it's sufficently out of thepublic eye, the policies put in place out of this investigation will slide backwards since nobody will be paying attention anymore. Circle of Life.

[JHawk]

While this needs to be done, why isn't Congress investigating the drug use in the movie industry under the guise of "protecting the nation's youth"?

 

Somehow I think more people under the age of 18 are influenced by Lindsey Lohan than Chris Masters.

[Bix]

Linday Lohan is considered completely pathetic by the media and drug use isn't a condition of employment for most.

[khawk20]

drug use isn't a condition of employment for most.

What do you mean by that exactly? If I'm hiring someone whether they appear to be on drugs or not is definitely a consideration.

 

Granted, I'm not hiring people to act in big-budget movies, but still...

[Bix]

No no, I mean that WWE hires most of their roster based on steroid-inflated physiques.

 

The closest thing in Hollywood would be nudging a star to do one cycle if he's going to be shirtless a lot.

[Guest Will]

The complaints over at DVDVR's boards seemed to be more centered on "doesn't the government have more important things to deal with", than the whole "it's there choice" response that some people were shouting a month ago. In this case, regarding Congress intervening, the small net backlash has to do with political beliefs about the role of government rather than whether or not they want the business "cleaned up". I don't think the same people opposed to congressional involvement are pro-steroid or pro-WWE, they're just anti-government involvement and rather the biz police itself without government coercion.

 

Me personally, I wish the companies would straighten up (drug testing, counseling, time off, benefits, not doing STUPID things) on their own or through the _fans_ demanding it (through boycotts, letter-writing, negative PR, standing outside of Titan Towers holding torches, pitchforks, tar, and feathers, etc.) and would prefer the Fed government stay out of it. But since the .gov has decided to get involved and the fans _haven't done anything_, then we should enjoy the circus, hope the companies will start fixing things, and that maybe the workers will see the light.

 

I'm trying to be optimistic......

[Al]

The complaints over at DVDVR's boards seemed to be more centered on "doesn't the government have more important things to deal with", than the whole "it's there choice" response that some people were shouting a month ago. In this case, regarding Congress intervening, the small net backlash has to do with political beliefs about the role of government rather than whether or not they want the business "cleaned up". I don't think the same people opposed to congressional involvement are pro-steroid or pro-WWE, they're just anti-government involvement and rather the biz police itself without government coercion.

Which is one of my biggest concerns. Congressional action is essentially drug testing employees of a private company. Would any of us be comfortable if the government tested us for drugs at our own workplace?

[maxpower]

The complaints over at DVDVR's boards seemed to be more centered on "doesn't the government have more important things to deal with", than the whole "it's there choice" response that some people were shouting a month ago. In this case, regarding Congress intervening, the small net backlash has to do with political beliefs about the role of government rather than whether or not they want the business "cleaned up". I don't think the same people opposed to congressional involvement are pro-steroid or pro-WWE, they're just anti-government involvement and rather the biz police itself without government coercion.

Which is one of my biggest concerns. Congressional action is essentially drug testing employees of a private company. Would any of us be comfortable if the government tested us for drugs at our own workplace?

 

Really, what's the difference between the government and a faceless corporation who would both likely outsource your testing to an independent lab? But that's not the topic.

 

The way I look at the main topic, the government is going to waste time on things that aren't really important to the country anyway. So they might as well waste it on hopefully improving something I care about

[sek69]

The complaints over at DVDVR's boards seemed to be more centered on "doesn't the government have more important things to deal with", than the whole "it's there choice" response that some people were shouting a month ago. In this case, regarding Congress intervening, the small net backlash has to do with political beliefs about the role of government rather than whether or not they want the business "cleaned up". I don't think the same people opposed to congressional involvement are pro-steroid or pro-WWE, they're just anti-government involvement and rather the biz police itself without government coercion.

Which is one of my biggest concerns. Congressional action is essentially drug testing employees of a private company. Would any of us be comfortable if the government tested us for drugs at our own workplace?

 

 

If my workplace had an alarming amount of deaths, I'd probably welcome any investigation. Now I realize Congress may not be able to directly change WWE policy, but perhaps airing all their dirty laundry on a public forum would shame them into making some real changes. If nothing else, for the stockholders' sake at least.

 

I can understand how anti-government people would be upset at this, but then they should stop and think how we got to this point.

[Tim Evans]

I'd rather the government actually give a crap about the deaths rather than just do it because Nancy Grace and other had it on there show for ratings, so they feel like they have to have a hearing.

[Jingus]

perhaps airing all their dirty laundry on a public forum would shame them into making some real changes. If nothing else, for the stockholders' sake at least.

1. I think it's pretty well established that the WWE as a whole is incapable of feeling shame.

 

2. The same stockholders who are routinely lied to and no-sold at the quarterly press conferences? I'm amazed Linda's nose didn't turn into a broomstick with some of the bullshit she's peddled to the people who literally own her company. And they have that distressing tendency of hanging up on smark stockholders who are actually informed about the bad stuff. Clearly, this company doesn't give a fuck about the stock or its owners.

[khawk20]

No no, I mean that WWE hires most of their roster based on steroid-inflated physiques.

 

The closest thing in Hollywood would be nudging a star to do one cycle if he's going to be shirtless a lot.

Gotcha, thanks for clarifying.

[sek69]

Gah, the "ITS A PERSONAL CHOOOOOOOOOICE" crowd is really pissing me off. Like I said in the DVDVR thread, it's really not a personal choice when it's been made clear the company considers guys who don't do what they're told to be pussies who can't handle the workload of being a wrestler.

[Guest KCook]

It is a personal choice, though. I imagine I could make pretty good money performing in gay porn movies, but I don't want to have sex with men, wax my ass, or get hopped up on whatever it is you need to get hopped up on to be a gay porn dude. Vince McMahon is a huge scumbag, but the wrestlers are the ones ultimately doing this stuff.

 

I don't mind Congress looking into this. They look into all sorts of stuff. Some really low-level staffers will spend a day or two Googling up info on this, some people will testify. It's a few hours out of a few congressmen's lives and McMahon will get shook and probably ban drugs for real.

[Tim Evans]

You mean for another 2 to 3 years when no one cares anymore?