WWE suspends 10 wrestlers for violating drug policy
 

Linky

They didn't release the names of the suspended wrestlers, so do you think this is indicative of a real move on the WWE's part to curb steroid abuse, or did they just suspend 10 nobodies to take the heat off?

Also, since they didn't release the names, let the speculation begin. I think, if you're Vince McMahon, you gotta suspend yourself. C'mon. Is there anyone else who is more obviously doping than Vince?

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about time, steroids gives these guys way too big of an advantage. maybe now the playing field will be even.

Re: WWE suspends 10 wrestlers for violating drug policy
 

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I think, if you're Vince McMahon, you gotta suspend yourself. C'mon. Is there anyone else who is more obviously doping than Vince?

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Have you seen how much McMahon's head has grown?

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about time, steroids gives these guys way too big of an advantage. maybe now the playing field will be even.

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I agree. Most, if not all, of wrestling's greatest records have been tainted by steroids. Let's face it, there's no way Bob Backlund holds the title that long or gets his hair that red without pharmaceutical assistance.

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I had CNN on this morning and they were interviewing Del Wilkes of all people. They interviewer asked something to the effect of "with most of these matches the outcome is predetermined so why is there a need to take steroids so much?"

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about time, steroids gives these guys way too big of an advantage. maybe now the playing field will be even.

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I agree. Most, if not all, of wrestling's greatest records have been tainted by steroids. Let's face it, there's no way Bob Backlund holds the title that long or gets his hair that red without pharmaceutical assistance.

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lolllllllevel

Re: WWE suspends 10 wrestlers for violating drug policy
 

They named names of the wrestlers who dealt with the pharmacy in question on espn.com yesterday. Orton, Edge, Batista, Booker, Kennedy, among others. The list was 14 names long IIRC and the report said that they weren't sure if all the names on the list were part of the new violations or not.

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about time, steroids gives these guys way too big of an advantage. maybe now the playing field will be even.

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I agree. Most, if not all, of wrestling's greatest records have been tainted by steroids. Let's face it, there's no way Bob Backlund holds the title that long or gets his hair that red without pharmaceutical assistance.

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lolllllllevel

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lol level is right, ducy?

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They named names of the wrestlers who dealt with the pharmacy in question on espn.com yesterday. Orton, Edge, Batista, Booker, Kennedy, among others. The list was 14 names long IIRC and the report said that they weren't sure if all the names on the list were part of the new violations or not.

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This is straight from ESPN.com:

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WWE did not release the names of those suspended. A source close to the investigation said that WWE was told that the following wrestlers were among the clients of one of the pharmacies under investigation, Signature of Orlando: Shoichi Funaki, Dave Bautista, Adam "Edge" Copeland, Chris "Masters" Mordetsky, John "Johnny Nitro" Hennigan, and Shane Helms. Chris Benoit, the wrestler who killed his wife and son before hanging himself in June, was also a Signature client, as were two other wrestlers who recently died, Eddie Guerrero and Brian "Crush" Adams.

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Full article: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=2998062

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about time, steroids gives these guys way too big of an advantage. maybe now the playing field will be even.

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I agree. Most, if not all, of wrestling's greatest records have been tainted by steroids. Let's face it, there's no way Bob Backlund holds the title that long or gets his hair that red without pharmaceutical assistance.

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lolllllllevel

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I bet you live on 14th and Gaines.

Re: WWE suspends 10 wrestlers for violating drug policy
 

This is the list i pulled from a web site which uses SI as a source.
Full List Of WWE Superstars Involved In Pharmacy Probe




Written by: Ryan Gray - August 31st, 2007

There has been a lot of news come out since yesterday. In all there was 20 WWE Superstars that were listed as being clients of the busted Signature Pharmacy in Orlando. 15 out of the 20 are currently under WWE contract, 3 are deceased (Brian Adams, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero), one was recently released (Sylvain Grenier), and another one of the names was about to be signed this week (Johnny Stamboli).

Names Revealed By Sports Illustrated:
Most-Likely The Ones Suspended

* Charlie Haas - Purchased drugs as late as January 2007.

* Chavo Guerrero - Purchased drugs as late as May 2006.

* Edge - Purchased drugs as late as February 2007.

* Funaki - Purchased Somatropin in March 2006.

* Gregory Helms - Purchased drugs as late as February 2007.

* John Morrison - Purchased five different drugs as late as February 2007 .

* Mr. Kennedy - Purchased three drugs between October 2006 and February 2007, including testosterone, which is an anabolic steroid. Kennedy sternly claimed in a recent interview entitled 'WWE Stopped My Steroid Use' that he completely stopped doing steroids as soon as the WWE Wellness Policy was implemented.

* Randy Orton - Purchased drugs as late as February 2007.

* Umaga - Purchased Somatropin as late as December 2006.

* William Regal - Purchased drugs as late as November 2006.

Listed As Clients Of Signature Pharmacy But Not On Sports Illustrated's List:

* Batista
* Chris Masters
* King Booker
* Santino Marella
* Simon Dean

No Longer Under WWE Contract Or Deceased:

* Brian Adams
* Chris Benoit
* Eddie Guerrero
* Johnny Stamboli
* Sylvain Grenier


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This will probably really hurt the WWE considering 1/2 of these are pretty big stars on their programming

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Only William Regal and King Booker are remotely surprising.

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Only William Regal and King Booker are remotely surprising.

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Funaki?

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Ah, I missed Funaki.

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I hope they ban them completely from wrestling. I think it would be hilarious to have a bunch of tiny guys out there.

If there were no steroids I think I could be a prof wrestler.

It will go back to what wrestling looked like in the 80's when it was just a bunch of fatasses in tights.

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Only William Regal and King Booker are remotely surprising.

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I don't watch wrestling anymore, but I watched Summerslam at a friends house and I was shocked at how cut Booker was at his age.

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about time, steroids gives these guys way too big of an advantage. maybe now the playing field will be even.

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I agree. Most, if not all, of wrestling's greatest records have been tainted by steroids. Let's face it, there's no way Bob Backlund holds the title that long or gets his hair that red without pharmaceutical assistance.

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lolllllllevel

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lol level is right, ducy?

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Yes, yes i do. setup for upper level level ftw ldo. ducy?

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I hope they ban them completely from wrestling. I think it would be hilarious to have a bunch of tiny guys out there.

If there were no steroids I think I could be a prof wrestler.

It will go back to what wrestling looked like in the 80's when it was just a bunch of fatasses in tights.

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Hogan was in the 80's....

Looking at that SI list, some names are really odd (Funaki, Marella, Umaga) due to their size.

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I hope they ban them completely from wrestling. I think it would be hilarious to have a bunch of tiny guys out there.

If there were no steroids I think I could be a prof wrestler.

It will go back to what wrestling looked like in the 80's when it was just a bunch of fatasses in tights.

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Hogan was in the 80's....

Looking at that SI list, some names are really odd (Funaki, Marella, Umaga) due to their size.

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Some of those guys have to juice to keep their weight and strength up, not just for cosmetic purposes.

I'm pretty sure the number of wrestlers addicted to pain killers is up there too.

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how many matches are they suspended for?

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I had CNN on this morning and they were interviewing Del Wilkes of all people. They interviewer asked something to the effect of "with most of these matches the outcome is predetermined so why is there a need to take steroids so much?"

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LOL!

I hope every top level WWE wrestler gets arrested for steroid abuse, and that TNA gets shut down by the government. I am so sick of guys who can't wrestle being on tv just because they are big.

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how many matches are they suspended for?

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Alledgely (based on wrestling gossip sites), depends on the person. Some will just get docked pay (guys like John Morrison since he's the top champ of one show, and Orton/Batista since they're in main event fueds), some will just have their fueds run down quick and disappear, and some will just disappear for a while.They just fired Simon Dean.

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I'm hoping wrestling returns to the days of a skinny dynamite kid versus marc rollerball rocco,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb_beuE76aA

rather than the days of a jacked up dynamite wrestling his way to cripplehood.

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about time, steroids gives these guys way too big of an advantage. maybe now the playing field will be even.

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Although you're levelling, there is actually a lot of truth in that.

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poor gordon solie is spinning in his grave...

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Serious question why do wrestling fans care if wrestlers take steriods? I can understand fans of athletic competitions because of a possible unfair advantage along with the importance of historical records but with wrestling you don't have those concerns. Would movie fans get upset if a actor took roids getting prepared for a movie? I doubt it.

Also I thought it was pretty well accepted that pro wrestling was a carny like industry filled with drug abusers, con men and freaks.

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Rocket, as a fan of wrestling I do care for a few reasons.

1)Since the wrestlers are out there every night fans do become somewhat attached to them. I was upset when I heard about the deaths of Henning, Guerrero, and Benoit (before we learned he did it, although I do feel sad that he did it)

2)And steroid wrestlers are terrible to watch. Two big guys juiced with muscles who can't really move around at all and get tired after 15 minutes in the ring is garbage. (Chris Masters, Scott Steiner, Snitsky)

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Jack,

thanks for the answer.

I'll start with 2nd one. I haven't watched wrestling in a long time (>5 years) so not sure about the names but are you sure that taking steroids is what's causing the problem? If being on steroids limits the ability to perform athletically (which I what I think you're getting at) then why would Olympic or professional athletes want to take them? It seems that your real problem is with wrestlers who are picked for their appearance rather than skill which of course happens all the time in other performance industries (TV, Movies, Music). But steroids or not wouldn't this still be a problem again as it is in other similar industries? Some people are going to have more muscular bodies or be better looking than others or will have more wrestling "skill". If anything this will hamper the ability of the skillful wrestlers who do not have great bodies to compete with those that do.

I know enough about wrestling to know that Guerrero and Benoit both were considered outstanding wrestlers and both were apparently taking steroids. So I don't see the where the correlation is coming from?

1) I can understand your attachment and grief whenever one passes away. But do you also care if they are using other illicit drugs or even smoking or heavily drinking? What about other risky behaviors? Does this stuff cause you to be less of a fan in favor of say Mormon wrestlers?

I'm not defending steroid use, I'm just curious because wrestling fans really do seem to get very upset about these sorts of things.

Re: WWE suspends 10 wrestlers for violating drug policy
 

Most simply, it bothers wrestling fans that wrestlers die so young.

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But do you also care if they are using other illicit drugs or even smoking or heavily drinking? What about other risky behaviors?

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Those risky behaviors are personal choice. If Scott Hall wants to get plastered before half of his matches, that's his decision.

Steroid use, on the other hand, is very different. There's a tremendous amount of pressure from the WWE for their wrestlers to get huge. Essentially, wrestling fans are bothered that the WWE is encouraging its wrestlers to use steroids and then washing its hands of the situation. Here's how it plays out:

The WWE wants big guys to be on PPV, on TV, and in main events. That's one of the tenets of their business model. In many cases, the WWE will push the guy with the bigger muscles over the guy who is more talented. So, there is pressure on individual wrestlers (in WWE) to take steroids, as it leads to tangible monetary gain.

For example, Eddie Guerrero became tremendously popular because he was very talented. The WWE recognized that he was popular, and effectively told him, "we will push you to the main event IF you get bigger." Eddie put on huge amounts of muscle in the coming months, and lo and behold, he started main eventing pay-per-views.

The WWE just likes really big guys. If it were focused on pushing great technical wrestlers, or high fliers, or charismatic guys, then steroids wouldn't be an issue in professional wrestling. Pain killers might still be, but steroids wouldn't. And that's why a lot of wresting fans don't like the WWE.

Edit: To be clear, when I say "a lot of wrestling fans" I mean people who know what's going on. The WWE's fanbase at this point is mostly boys and girls aged 5-13, so most of them don't really understand why Chris Masters (very muscular, untalented) keeps getting segments while a guy like Jimmy Yang (short, great high flier) keeps getting 2 minute crappy matches.

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I know enough about wrestling to know that Guerrero and Benoit both were considered outstanding wrestlers and both were apparently taking steroids. So I don't see the where the correlation is coming from?

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The idea is that a guy like Chris Masters is terrible at wrestling. His entire moveset may well be:
-the punch
-the clothesline
-the suplex
-the kick to the gut
-and the masterlock (a full nelson)

He has trouble making moves look realistic. He's not flexible, so he's limited in the moves that he can take from other wrestlers (which leads to the other guy hitting a lot of punches, clotheslines, kicks to the gut...you see where I'm going with this?). His matches are boring to watch, and he sucks at giving promos or expressing emotion.

Then why is he in wrestling? Well, he used to be a bodybuilder. And the WWE likes muscular guys. Hell, one of Vince McMahon's business failures was to create the World Bodybuilding Federation on Pay Per View. So, the WWE continues to give Chris Masters tv time because he is a large man. This takes away time from more talented wrestlers who have been wrestling for years and gives it to Chris Masters, who was given a contract just because he was muscular.

Not coincidentally, Masters tested positive for steroids in May of 2006. He came back in August, and was immediately made fun of on Raw for being skinnier than before.

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OK I follow but that doesn't mean that in the absence of steroids that time won't go instead to non steroid taking body builder types over "more talented wrestlers". Infact given that you state the WWE has a preference for the large muscular type it would seem logical that's exactly what would happen. Would fans who share your opinion then be against weight lifting in wrestling?

It just seems like the real problem is with how wrestling is managed rather than with steroids.

As to the point that the WWF essentially forces guys to take steroids by rewarding those that do. Again the EXACT same thing happens in virtually every entertainment based industry. Are you and others as equally upset when you see a hot looking model, or when a sexier but less talented singer is promoted, etc, etc.

I mean again I understand the grief when a celebrity you are attached to dies but unless you are prepared to stop watching/supporting the product all together then it seems more like just being upset your favorites aren't more prominent then actual concern for the performers.

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As to the point that the WWF essentially forces guys to take steroids by rewarding those that do. Again the EXACT same thing happens in virtually every entertainment based industry. Are you and others as equally upset when you see a hot looking model, or when a sexier but less talented singer is promoted, etc, etc.

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The key difference (for me, and I suspect most fans) is that steroids are very unhealthy. A singer who gets more money because she gets breast implants or is better looking isn't making a choice that actively dangers her well-being.

A model who is severely anorexic is harming herself, and that would bother me.

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I mean again I understand the grief when a celebrity you are attached to dies but unless you are prepared to stop watching/supporting the product all together then it seems more like just being upset your favorites aren't more prominent then actual concern for the performers.

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The problem is that most fans just plain enjoy watching wrestling. Yeah, it sucks that WWE pushes big guys who can't move. But a lot of fans would rather watch wrestling in some form than whatever else is on on Monday nights (although that will change for football season).

I'm a huge ROH (Ring of Honor) fan, and ROH shows feature guys who aren't terribly big or muscular, but are probably the best wrestlers in the world. And their shows are awesome.

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bring back the luchadores!

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The problem is WWE and Vince lean towards the big guy in terms of who gets TV time/titles.

The list of big (muscles, TALL!, FAT!, juiced to the gills) freaks with little talent/ in the WWE is very long. (Hogan (I mean in ring talent) Luger, Warrior, Nash, Mabel/Big V, Giant Gonzales, Khali, Masters, Scott Steiner post WCW) Their Friday night champion has two moves (slam and chop), and he's bad at both! Even Rey Mysterio has put on a lot of muscle recently.

I'm just the kind of fan who prefers a techincal match (Hart v HBK, Malenko v Benoit) or even James v Phoenix over two big guys. Although an exploding barbed wire death match is good too.

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OK I follow but that doesn't mean that in the absence of steroids that time won't go instead to non steroid taking body builder types over "more talented wrestlers". Infact given that you state the WWE has a preference for the large muscular type it would seem logical that's exactly what would happen. Would fans who share your opinion then be against weight lifting in wrestling?

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The WWE loves big guys. They built their company in the 80's on Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant and the Ultimate Warrior, all of whom were huge. The WWE will ALWAYS prefer big guys to small ones, as long as Vince McMahon is at the helm. And I'm cool with that. I think big guy wrestling is boring compared to technical or high spot wrestling, that's all. I would say that most fans who are familiar with Japanese, Mexican or indy wrestling would agree with me.

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It just seems like the real problem is with how wrestling is managed rather than with steroids.

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Hell yes. Hell yes, hell yes, hell yes. Wrestling is so backwards these days, it's ridiculous. As I said, the WWE is in the mindset that its top guys have to be huge. That is completely untrue; most fans would accept smaller wrestlers if they were given the same push.

TNA is the other company with a national timeslot. They have made every possible bad decision over the last 6 months. Presently they're paying Pacman Jones, whose main claim to fame is that he shot a guy in the spine, $25,000 per appearance. And he doesn't even do anything.

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If there were no steroids I think I could be a prof wrestler.

It will go back to what wrestling looked like in the 80's when it was just a bunch of fatasses in tights.

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1) I highly doubt that you could be a pro wrestler. Taking a bump is extremely painful and it takes a long time getting used to the pain to work a match

2) the 80s had tons of roided up monsters. Just look at the WWF. It's funny to see how juiced up Flair was back then too. Roids have been in wrestling since the 60s and got huge in the late 70s and early 80s to where we see what we see now

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Great points Vickrey, earlier TNA did have a lot of non-WWE main event type wrestlers at the top (Samoa Joe, Christian (singles), AJ Styles) putting on good matches.

Slighty off-topic, but the other problem I have with WWE's style is that 99.999% of matches end with a signature finisher, I once wathed a match where I didn't know what the person's finisher was and it was the most captivating match I watched in years since I didn't know if that big move was the ending.

So, I think hosses are WWE's main problem-followed by predictable match endings and Cena.

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I wonder if this will have the same effect as it had in the early 90s with smaller guys (HBK, hart) getting pushed big

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I wonder if this will have the same effect as it had in the early 90s with smaller guys (HBK, hart) getting pushed big

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They actually have a guy named CM Punk who is straightedge; no drugs, no alcohol, no promiscuous sex, lots of tattoos. That's not just his gimmick, either, he's straightedge in real life too. Plus the kids love him, and he had some amazing matches when he was in ROH (his 60 minute time limit draw with Samoa Joe was the first 5-star American match in 7 years). So, if it's anyone, it'll probably be him.

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Great points Vickrey, earlier TNA did have a lot of non-WWE main event type wrestlers at the top (Samoa Joe, Christian (singles), AJ Styles) putting on good matches.

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I know! They just overbook the hell out of everything now. Christian vs Angle vs Joe vs AJ in a ladder match for the title would have sold a million PPVs. Old and new big names, all quality workers, and a match with huge potential.

Instead they turned it into Christian vs Angle vs Joe vs AJ vs A Mystery Man in a reverse ladder match with a 2 minute penalty box and a qualifier that you have to pin someone to be able to climb the ladder in order to hang the I CAN'T EVEN FINISH THE DESCRIPTION JUST LET THEM HAVE THE MATCH

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I can see how the WWE would want to enforce a no-drug policy as these wrestlers are paid according to their performance and condoning the use of steroids in order to profit more is unfair to all professional wrestlers who don't want to break the law and damage their bodies in order to do so.