‘ROID ROUND-UP (A soon-to-be regular feature of the MuscleFoundry blog)

DISCLAIMER: I hold great respect for the countless hours spent in the gym, in the ring and on the road by the performers of professional wrestling. It is plainly hard work – done for our entertainment and our dollars. So, is our entertainment worth the (literally) human sacrifice? I don’t have the answer -- just tryin’ to get you to think.

The modern Greek tragedy that is the tale of Chris Benoit’s life and death continues to cast a lengthening shadow over Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment empire. Another shoe dropped this week with Benoit’s personal doctor, Phil Astin, being criminally charged for oversubscribing meds to additional patients.

Now, the easy thing to do in this space would be to wag a schoolmarmish finger and toss in a few tsk, tsk’s and cluck, clucks about “the dangers of steroids, class.” And well, I reserve the right to do that later. But I’m not sure it’s that simple – I'm not so certain we’re dealing with that black-and-white a morality play here.

What this case offers, though, is an interesting study in choices, and how a few bad ones in a pressure cooker environment like the WWE can cascade into a cataclysm.

In case you’re not up to speed, Chris Benoit killed his wife and 7-year old son in their suburban Georgia home in June, then apparently hung himself with the cable from a weight machine in his home gym. Most recently, investigators found that Benoit’s doctor had prescribed for him an “excessive” amount of testosterone, purportedly 10 times (!) the recommended dose to treat a hormone imbalance.

Testosterone, of course, is the male sex hormone responsible for muscle growth and other manly features. In excess, it can contribute to “’roid rage,” the highly explosive and aggressive emotional state associated with the use of anabolic steroids.

For the record – I’ve personally never felt the desire or need to take steroids, even at my scrawniest; I do not sanction their use and quite frankly, I know little about how they work at the cellular level. Others have devoted massive resources into the black art of steroidology, and what they label the drugs’ “safe” use. Whether you’re for them or against them, you gotta admit they carry with them substantial risks.

Benoit clearly made a number of what he probably considered calculated risks. These decisions, obviously, turned out to be grave miscalculations. To realize his dream of becoming a pro wrestling superstar, he apparently needed to take muscle-plumping and perhaps mind-altering drugs. To keep his job, he had to press on through injury, devastating his body further. The stress moved him to lash out at loved ones, including the fatal June attacks on his wife and son. All this from a man who news reports suggest was a deeply loyal, contemplative and highly spiritual individual. According to the Associated Press:

The testosterone, a synthetic version of the primary male sex hormone, appeared to have been injected shortly before Benoit died … Benoit's body also contained the anti-anxiety drug Xanax and the painkiller hydrocodone, authorities said.

So what exactly went wrong with his wiring? Was it simply the drugs? What was most revealing about Benoit’s case was not the drug use itself, but the conditions and circumstances which apparently fueled it. I say “fueled” and not “caused” because “caused,” if you think about it, somehow absolves Benoit of ultimate responsibility for his actions. Yes, the life of a pro wrestler is grueling, taxing on the body and spirit, in some ways demeaning (i.e., the lack of sufficient time off and other benefits for “the talent”) and from what I’ve read, aside from the parties and groupies it can be quite lonely and isolating. But ultimately Benoit had choices – he clearly had some waypoints where he could have decided to do one thing or another that would have altered his ultimate tragic outcome.

Unfortunately for him, he seemed almost resigned to meeting a disastrous end. With the passing of his friend, confidant and fellow wrestling superstar Eddie Guerrero in 2005, Benoit’s decline picked up momentum, like an airplane riddled with anti-aircraft fire and nosing its way toward earth. In hindsight, the crash now seems painfully predictable -- if people had only heeded the warning signs.

So just what would drive a man, a superstar in his chosen profession, to murder his wife, strangle his young son and then take his own life? We may never know all the demons that pursued Benoit, but his death certainly shines a bright and unwelcome Kleig light on the darker side of pro wrestling: Despite the “fake,” scripted storylines and match outcomes, the injuries sustained in wrestling are real. They’re exacerbated in these times by the fact that fans demand even more over-the-top signature moves and athleticism than ever before. It’s no longer enough to run across the ring bouncing off the ropes and raining down patently obvious foot-stomp punches. Today’s audiences demand leaping, flipping, aerobatic moves which, not surprisingly lead to a much higher incidence of injury.

By the by, I’ve personally known or known of, over the years quite a few individuals who were pro wrestling aspirants – they all belonged to the “bush leagues” of rasslin’,as an organization like the WWE is reserved for folks at the pinnacle of their craft. Anyhow, the one common trait all these young men possessed was that they always, and I mean always seemed to be nursing one major injury or another. Point: It tears your body apart.

Therein lies the melancholic irony of Benoit’s trajectory, and no doubt that of many pro wrestlers before him. Behind the flashy façade of pyrotechnics, plotlines and choreographed piledrivers of the Big Time, seethes a seamy underbelly: One of painkillers, shadowy anabolic substances and ruthless corporate pressure for its “assets” to deliver, perform or be discarded.

Meanwhile, the “talent” is held up to the public as paragons of health, virility and vitality.

What do you think? Should ‘roids be illegal and banned all over the place? Or should they be treated like alcohol  -- potentially dangerous but a matter of individual responsibility? Leave a comment below.

 Post Script: In other ‘roid-related news, Marion Jones gave up her Olympic medals this week after admitting she had used “the clear,” which she alleges her trainer told her was flaxseed oil. Many pundits link her downfall with her propensity to date bad boys. I say both the drugs and the thugs are mere examples of choosing… poorly.