Wrestlers take steroid? No? Surely not!

I have a confession to make, I'm a professional wrestling fan. OK, I haven't watched it for years, but I used to watch it religiously. Not because I thought it was real, but simply because I enjoyed the entertainment and the story lines. It takes a certain level of skill and athleticism to throw yourself around and not actually hurt yourself badly.

Occasionally it goes wrong of course, and those times that it has have sometimes been tragic, Owen Hart of the infamous Hart family was killed during a stunt once - and Chris Benoit before he killed himself and his family was once injured to the point of near-paralysis.

I mention this because today there is an "exclusive" interview in the Sun with the legend, Hulk Hogan (usually a babyface sometimes a heel) which "exposes" the use of steroids in the industry. Why did I put the words exclusive and exposes in quotes? Because it is not new news at all, and if you're a fan and didn't know about the steroid problem then, frankly, you're an idiot.

This is also not the first time that Hogan has spoken out. Back in the days when WWE was still called WWF (before it lost a trademark case against the panda) he fell out with Vince McMahon (the owner of WWE) over the issue. It was alleged that steroids were regularly dished out in Titan Sports main building to its employees. McMahon was acquitted in the end but it would take a special kind of fool to not realise that behind the accusations lied an element of truth about steroid use.

Being a pro-wrestler is not easy. Firstly you have to have the charisma of an actor. Second you have to be built like a brick shithouse, and third, you need to be able to maintain that body whilst touring the US and "fighting" every night with perhaps Christmas Day off if you're lucky. Anyone who thinks that you can live that life and maintain that body without artificial help is living in a dream world.

You only have to look at the wrestler "Triple H" or Hunter Hirst-Helmsley as he was originally to make you question what might be going on behind the scene. Triple H went from being an average built wrestler - putting him in contention for the essentially middleweight "Intercontinental title - to suddenly being projected into story lines that set him up for the ultimate gold because he had become absolutely huge. I have no idea if he took steroids, and I wouldn't make such an accusation, but he exploded in size in such an amazingly quick time that you can't help but wonder.

The problem that pro-wrestling has of course is that it's not a sport, it is, as it even bills itself, "sports entertainment". It is physical but the outcome of matches, being known beforehand, cannot ever make it be required to follow accepted competitive norms about drug usage. It can only ever be self-policing, but it is remains a business that is driven by rating, and the wrestlers are driven by the chance for fame and big pay cheques.

Hogan's "exclusive" interview is really about him promoting a new federation that he wants to start up that will be drug free. Personally I think he should be commended for it, but I fear, if you look at the way the business has gone over the past 20 years, it will be difficult to make it a success. WWE is the dominant force and permeates its tentacles into almost every small-time federation in the US, scouting for talent and often subsidising, sometimes simply buying out the successes - see WCW and ECW for reference.

The reason people like watching wrestling is because they like to see huge bastards throwing themselves around and appearing to do the most extreme things ever. Hogan's dream of a less "super-human" looking federation will probably never achieve the ratings it might deserve, and even if it does it won't take long for Vince McMahon to take it over... that's how the business works