WRESTLING BABYLON News

In a letter released today by Representatives Henry Waxman of California and Tom Davis of Virginia — respectively, the chair and ranking minority member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform — the committee asks World Wrestling Entertainment to provide complete information on the company’s drug-testing policies and procedures.

The Waxman-Davis letter asks WWE to respond in full by August 24. The letter can be viewed at http://muchnick.net/WaxmanLetter.pdf.

The letter opens by noting that last month’s murder-suicide of wrestler Chris Benoit and his family led to reports of widespread abuse of steroids and other drugs by pro wrestlers. “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.”

Waxman and Davis are the second and third members of Congress to seek an investigation of drugs in wrestling. Earlier Representative Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican, had announced that he would be seeking fall hearings on the subject by the Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The Waxman-Davis initiative, however, has added significance both because it is bipartisan and because it is by the congressional committee that already has held hearings on steroids in major league baseball.

Thus, a congressional probe of wrestling, about which there has been much speculation, is now an actuality.

WRESTLING BABYLON author Irvin Muchnick’s interview today with Vic Porcelli of KTRS, 550 AM in St. Louis (and streaming at http://ktrs.com) was taped and will air tomorrow — Friday, July 27 — at 6:40 a.m. Central time.

Irvin Muchnick, author of WRESTLING BABYLON: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandal will be a guest on KTRS Radio, 550 AM in St. Louis, on the Morning Show with Vic Porcelli and Katy Jamboretz on Thursday, July 26.

The interview will air some time after 9:30 a.m. Central time, and will stream live on the web at http://ktrs.com. KTRS is the flagship station of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Muchnick will be discussing the recent cluster of deaths in pro wrestling, including the double murder-suicide of wrestling star Chris Benoit, his wife, and their 7-year-old son. WRESTLING BABYLON is the country’s hottest-selling book in its category, and Muchnick is writing a second book for ECW Press, CHRIS AND NANCY: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death, for publication next year.

WRESTLING BABYLON website: http://wrestlingbabylon.com. Media inquiries: media@muchnick.net.

Georgiann Makropoulos, wrestling fan and journalist, points out that our item about the death of George Caiazzo, who wrestled as John Kronus, got his age and the spelling of his name wrong. It has been corrected. Thanks, Georgie.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter wrote this in response to the previous blog item stating that John Kronus was the seventh pro wrestler death of this year:

“Actually it’s No. 7 in the last month. Left out Moondog Nathan in Tennessee, plus Devil Bhudakhan in Pittsburgh (copycat hanging, idolized Benoit).”

Bryan Alvarez of Figure Four Weekly reported on tonight’s edition of CNN’s Nancy Grace that painkillers are suspected in the death this week in New Hampshire of former pro wrestler George Caiazzo (”John Kronus”). The toxicology report is pending.

Caiazzo, 38, is the seventh wrestler under age 50 to die since the book WRESTLING BABYLON: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandal went to the printer in December 2006. The other six:

1. January 19: Scott “Bam Bam” Bigelow, 45, heart attack caused by cocaine and anti-anxiety drugs.

2. February 17: Mike Alfonso (”Mike Awesome”), 42, suicide. He was a heavy steroid user.

3. June 15: Sherry Russell (”Sensational Sherri”), 49, likely from a prescription pill overdose.
4. June 20: Shane Bower (”Biff Wellington”), 44, heart attack. Bower was a heavy user of painkillers and steroids.

5. June 23: Nancy Benoit (”Fallen Angel,” “Woman”), 43, murdered by her husband.

6. June 24: Chris Benoit, 40, suicide. Large quantities of anabolic steroids were found at his home, and according to law enforcement, Benoit’s doctor had prescribed him 10-month supplies of steroids every three to four weeks. The toxicology report showed Benoit’s testosterone level to be, depending on interpretation, anywhere from five to ten times above normal. (A number of media reports have noted that World Wrestling Entertainment misled, if not flatly lied, in asserting that testosterone is not an anabolic steroid; the latter is simply a derivative of the former.)

Meanwhile, Wade Keller of Pro Wrestling Torch quotes Congressman Cliff Stearns, Republican of Florida, as being confident that the Commerce, Trade & Consumer Protection Subcommittee of the House Energy & Commerce Committee will take up his call to investigate steroids in pro wrestling. “Although no hearing yet has been scheduled,” Stearns said, one “likely will be held this fall.” See http://www.pwtorch.com/artman/publish/article_21050.shtml.