The rumors of professional wrestlers using steroids have been circulating around for years. But it may become a full-fledged truth after the Chris Benoit murder-suicide case and the fact that 11 of wrestling\u2019s biggest stars have been implicated in one of the biggest steroid busts of all time.<\/p>\n
The smell of death haunted a quiet suburban home on 310 Meadow Lane in Fayetteville, Georgia. A weekend killing spree by a seemingly good family man had left three bodies strewn throughout the house. When authorities arrived at the home after being alerted by worried friends, they found the source of the horrifying, deathly stench.<\/p>\n
Former WWE Heavyweight Champion Chris Benoit, his wife, and his 7 year-old son were the source as all three of them were found dead from a murder-suicide case that has rocked the wrestling world in an unspeakable way. So unspeakable that the image of professional wrestling has been dealt a severe blow.<\/p>\n
Police say that Chris Benoit tied his wife down and strangled her in cold-blooded murder before turning on his 7 year-old son the next night and smothering him with a pillow. After spending several hours in the house with the dead bodies, Benoit then took his own life by hanging himself with a pulley from a piece of weightlifting equipment.<\/p>\n
Now, in the aftermath of this unforeseeable tragedy, people are looking for answers as to why this happened. A reason for why Chris Benoit flew off the deep end and took his wife and son\u2019s life as well as his own. And unfortunately, it looks as if many people are finding their answers in the form of Chris Benoit\u2019s juicing habits.<\/p>\n
Sure the lack of control in the WWE has been blamed too but it is steroids that have taken the brunt of the criticism. Authorities found anabolic steroids throughout Benoit\u2019s house after searching it and this immediately led many to start believing that they may have played a big part in the murders.<\/p>\n
Much of the media has even gone as far as to say that Benoit may have killed his family in a fit of \u201croid rage\u201d. And however ridiculous this may be to those who commonly, and knowledgably, use steroids this is truly what many believe caused him to kill his family.<\/p>\n
This has in turn led many to point fingers at the WWE and its seemingly lax drug testing program. They think that because of one person going crazy, the possible unchecked steroid usage will cause other wrestlers to turn into psychotic juice freaks who will also commit similar heinous crimes.<\/p>\n
What many are overlooking though is that Benoit also frequently abused painkillers to overcome his wrestling injuries and suffered from what friends say was a distortion of reality. He had trouble separating what was fictional in the wrestling ring from the person that he was in everyday life.<\/p>\n
Bruce Hart, a professional trainer who started Benoit out in pro wrestling back in the 80\u2019s, said, \u201cI've known too many wrestlers who couldn't separate the character they play on television from their real life. Wrestlers start believing their press clippings and what is said on television. It's like an actor leaving the set but still playing the part. There's a delusional element to this. I've seen it over and over again. Some people can't separate the character from real life, and Chris was one of those people.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Chris](\"\/\/www.elitefitness.com\/images\/bodybuilder\/benoit.jpg\")
Hart also thinks that Chris\u2019 health could have played an issue in his demise as he mentioned, \u201cThere are a lot of wrestlers out there who are dead that you never heard about whose bodies broke down. I've known others who had looming health issues and went a little crazy. Maybe this caused him to go off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether it was his health, drug usage, or something else, the news of Chris Benoit\u2019s murder-suicide has been crippling to the WWE. However, things may have gotten even worse after detectives revealed that 11 of professional wrestling\u2019s biggest stars have been linked to the giant Signature Pharmacy bust in Orlando in addition to a prominent Arizona doctor that was believed to be supplying steroid prescriptions. Randy Orton, Kurt Angle, Edge, The Hurricane, Ray Mysterio, and the late Eddie Guerrero are just some of the people involved in this mess that police are investigating right now.<\/p>\n
And yes, there have been rumors and stories for years now about heavy steroid usage among pro wrestlers but now, there is even more proof that this is a widespread thing across the industry \u2013 especially after what was discovered about superstar Randy Orton who headlines some of the WWE\u2019s main events.<\/p>\n
Police are alleging that Orton had eight different prescriptions for several different drugs from Signature Pharmacy with the most notable ones being stanozolol, nandrolone, and testosterone. What\u2019s interesting about this is that the prescriptions that Orton received have come from the same medical doctors who were writing prescriptions that turned up in police reports on Anaheim Angels outfielder Gary Matthews Jr.<\/p>\n
Orton isn\u2019t the only big-time wrestler in question though as Adam Copeland, better known as Edge, and Shane Helms, or The Hurricane, are alleged to have received Human Growth Hormone from Applied Pharmacy in Mobile, Alabama. Applied Pharmacy was linked to Signature Pharmacy in what is thought to be a huge East Coast steroid ring.<\/p>\n
![\"Kurt](\"\/\/www.elitefitness.com\/images\/bodybuilder\/kurt-angle.jpg\")
Former WWE star and current TNA wrestling icon Kurt Angle, who also won a gold medal for freestyle wrestling in the 1996 Olympics, is on the hot seat as well. Angle has said to have received prescriptions for different drugs including the steroids trenbolone and nandrolone. The drug test failure that started his fallout with the WWE had turned up nandrolone as well.<\/p>\n
Another wrestler of high interest that was mentioned in this ordeal was Eddie Guerrero who died in a Minneapolis hotel room back in 2005 at age 38. It was said that Guerrero\u2019s death came as a result of his years abusing alcohol and painkillers. He is believed to have used stanozolol and HCG after prescriptions for them were turned up in an investigation of an Arizona doctor which brings us to another interesting discussion.<\/p>\n
Both Angle and Guerrero\u2019s cases involve suspended M.D. David Wilbirt who lost his license after the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency found out that he had written 3879 prescriptions for controlled substances during a six month period for people requesting drugs over the Internet.<\/p>\n
Upon further investigation, Wilbirt\u2019s name had turned up in steroid prescriptions for both Kurt Angle and for Eddie Guerrero. Wilbirt was also writing prescriptions for yet another famous wrestler in Ray Mysterio whose drug requests included stanozolol and nandrolone.<\/p>\n
Despite the increasing amount of evidence suggesting that he has been writing steroid prescriptions for athletes, Wilbirt doesn\u2019t appear even close to admitting anything as he fumed to inquiring reporters, \u201cI'm not even practicing medicine now so I don't remember doing half the stuff you're talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n
His rant went on as he continued to say, \u201cI'll tell you one thing and then this conversation is going to end. They had done blood work and had laboratory work done and they had come to see me.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Wilbirt continues to assert that he has done nothing wrong, WWE owner and chairman Vince McMahon is trying to push the same idea across about the world\u2019s largest wrestling federation.<\/p>\n
When asked about the image that the alleged steroid usage by his wrestlers creates he said, \u201cI don\u2019t think it sends a negative message (to fans). It would be one thing if that were brought out and promoted in our events and things of that nature. We are talking about a minority of individuals that do things like this and you are going to find it everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
It has been said that McMahon got angry at CBS affiliated reporters for asking him about steroids in the WWE and said they had \u201cpoor tastes\u201d which prompted one anchorman to say this about Vince on air: \u201cYou send women out to wrestle in dental floss and you are going to lecture people about poor taste? Make sure you windex that glass house you live in before throwing those stones my friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regardless of whether or not the questioning of pro wrestler steroid usage is in poor tastes it is clear that these questions won\u2019t be going away anytime soon. Especially after just two cases alone showed there is a strong possibility that 11 different wrestlers could be juicing. And while a few of those wrestlers are either done with their careers or are in minor federations, the big names in the steroid bust and the Chris Benoit murder case will keep the media attention focused on this issue for quite some time now.<\/p>\n
![\"Nancy](\"\/\/www.elitefitness.com\/images\/bodybuilder\/nancy-benoit.jpg\")
But one really has to wonder if this media attention is deserved. After all, much of the \u2018athletes on steroids\u2019 hunts have involved those who compete in performance-based sports which look to preserve level playing fields throughout history so that records aren\u2019t tarnished or broken by players with unfair advantages.<\/p>\n
Professional wrestling, on the other hand, already has predetermined and scripted outcomes. There is no true competition taking place other than the proper execution of moves and stunts so that the athletes don\u2019t get hurt too bad. Steroids simply help the wrestlers to look the part that they are playing.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately for the WWE and other wrestling associations, the authorities don\u2019t seem to see it this way and you can be sure that pro wrestling as a whole will be under a very watchful eye in the upcoming months. Expect to see many more juicers revealed in during this time as well. Hopefully though, we won\u2019t see any repeats of what Chris Benoit did ever again.<\/p>\n
The rumors of professional wrestlers using steroids have been circulating around for years. But it may become a full-fledged truth after the Chris Benoit murder-suicide case and the fact that 11 of wrestling\u2019s biggest stars have been implicated in one of the biggest steroid busts of all time. The smell of death haunted a quiet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":42764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"yoast_head":"\n