Backstage Update: Drug Use In WWE Among Superstars & Divas

World Wrestling Entertainment has gotten much more strict with their Wellness Policy in recent months, especially in regards to painkiller and marijuana usage.

Company officials recently increased the fine for those who test positive on a marijuana test from $1,000 to $2,000 — which has been called the pot excise tax among some of the wrestlers. They are also testing for marijuana much more frequently than in the past with tests seemingly occurring at more than half of the television tapings. Particularly, those with failures in the past are being tested "all the time." While no one will be suspended over testing positive for marijuana — no matter how many failures — it can lead to wrestlers having their pushes stopped.

In regards to painkillers, WWE policy is that all prescriptions are required to be done through the doctors the company sends on the road, and then approved by Dr. Joseph C. Maroon, MD (Pittsburgh Steelers, Bruno Sammartino and John Cena's Neurosurgeon). Then, all approved prescription information is given to Dr. David Black, an independent third party who administers the company's drug testing policy. In case a talent fails a test, Dr. Black would know ahead of time that there was an approved prescription.

WWE's idea behind their Wellness Policy is to prevent loopholes, but it is definitely not foolproof. Particularly, WWE does not test for Human Growth Hormone, the muscle building drug of choice among talent in the higher income bracket. This explains why it is highly unlikely that a main eventer will ever fail a drug test as a result of muscle enhancing drugs — all have been either mid-carders or developmental talent since WWE started making drug suspensions public in November 2007. Perhaps the most notable wrestler to fail for muscle enhancing drugs is William Regal, who was in the midst of the biggest push of his life when he was suspended in May 2008. While more notable, both Jeff Hardy and Rey Mysterio did not fail for muscle enhancing drugs.

As far as the ladies are concerned, The Sun reported a few months ago that the drug of choice among women throughout the wrestling industry is a weight loss diet pill called Zylene. The pill's main ingredient is Hoodia Gordonii, which helps suppresses hunger. This weight loss supplement has not yet been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is exclusively available online. It is somewhat expensive as a 30-day supply of the pill costs approximately $80.

This particular diet pill is not on WWE's banned drugs list, so the "Sexy, Smart and Powerful" Divas are free to use it without consequence. Likewise, while TNA claims to have a drug testing policy in place (they have yet to release their actual drug testing policy to the public), they have yet to suspend a single wrestler as a result of a failed drug test. Hence, female TNA talent can use the drug without consequence as well — and presumably anything else. TNA tested all wrestlers once for baseline testing in January 2008 (resulting in 43% of the roster testing positive for steroids or other drugs), but no further testing has been done since then.

Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter