TNA Gets Letter

[Highway61Revisited]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
- August 14, 2007 -

STEARNS JOINS CHAIRMAN IN REQUESTING DRUG PREVENTION RECORDS FROM ADDITIONAL PRO WRESTLING GROUPS

REQUEST SENT TO TOTAL NON-STOP WRESTLING & NATIONAL WRESTLING ALLIANCE - WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT ALREADY CONTACTED

WASHINGTON, AUG. 14, 2007 - Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), Ranking Member of the Commerce, Trade & Consumer Protection Subcommittee, joined the subcommittee's chairman, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL), in contacting additional professional wrestling associations regarding their drug prevention efforts. Stearns and Rush requested this information from World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. last month.

"After I called for a congressional hearings on the use of steroids and other drugs in professional wrestling, I have heard from wrestlers that steroids, pain killers, and other drugs are used frequently in the industry," said Stearns. "Trafficking in steroids and other drugs is a felony and their use without a prescription is also a crime. In addition to ensuring that our laws are respected, Congress has a responsibility to protect young people from the harmful impact of drug use in pro wrestling. Some 1 million children under the age of 11 watch pro wrestling and many emulate the wrestlers they see."

The associations are asked to outline their drug-testing policies and efforts to detect and prevent the use of steroids and other drugs. As a result of the numerous premature deaths of wrestlers, in many cases involving drugs, Stearns and Rush have discussed holding a hearing in the fall to look into drug use within the industry.

For Further Information Please Contact Paul Flusche at 202-225-5744 or Email.

August 13, 2007


Ms. Dixie Carter

President

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

209 10th Avenue South, Suite 302

Nashville , Tennessee 37203


Dear Ms. Carter:


We are writing to request information regarding the response of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) to allegations of pervasive use of steroids and other drugs by professional wrestlers. The tragic death of Mr. Chris Benoit and his family has focused attention on the seriousness of the problem. Illegal steroid use in professional sports has gained plenty of attention, but the record suggests that the problem is most pervasive and deadly in pro wrestling, an unregulated form of entertainment that is watched on TV and in arenas by an estimated 20 million fans a week, including children. See e.g., attached USA TODAY investigative report, "High death rate lingers behind fun facade of pro wrestling."



As Chairman and Ranking Member, respectively, of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the subcommittee with jurisdiction over sports-related matters, we are monitoring this situation very closely. We request a briefing on this matter at the earliest possible time We also are considering a hearing on this matter, and whether there is a need for Federal regulation to protect the health and safety of the wrestlers. In the 109 th Congress, the Subcommittee held a hearing on "Steroids in Sports: Cheating the System and Gambling Your Health," and reported legislation, H.R. 1862, the Drug Free Sports Act



World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. implemented a Talent Wellness Program in February 2006. Please advise the Subcommittee by close of business on August 28, 2007, whether TNA has adopted a similar program. If so, please provide the Subcommittee with a copy of your program, as well as any other relevant records detailing the specifics of the program as well as TNA' s implementation and interpretation thereof. Records include memoranda, correspondence, and electronic communications. Please also describe any and all actions that TNA has taken - either within or outside any such program - to detect and prevent steroid abuse. Information, including the aggregate number of random tests conducted in each month this year, would assist the Subcommittee in its review, and we request that you provide that information, as well. We are sending similar information requests to other wrestling leagues.



Should you wish to discuss this matter further, please do not hesitate to contact us, or have your staff contact Christian Tomatsu Fjeld or Consuela Washington with the Majority Committee staff at [phone] or Brian McCullough or Will Carty with the Minority Committee staff at [phone].



Sincerely,



Bobby L. Rush

Chairman

Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection


Cliff Stearns

Ranking Member

Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection


Attachment


cc: The Honorable John D. Dingell, Chairman

Committee on Energy and Commerce


The Honorable Joe Barton, Ranking Member

Committee on Energy and Commerce

[euritar]

It was just a matter of time.

[PureHatred]

Outrageous.

TNA is being given two weeks to deliver congress an empty envelope? Let's stay on the ball here, Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection.

[Chris Ingersoll]

Was I the only one who raised an eyebrow here:

We are writing to request information regarding the response of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) to allegations of pervasive use of steroids and other drugs by professional wrestlers. The tragic death of Mr. Chris Benoit and his family has focused attention on the seriousness of the problem.

While the Benoit insanity did indeed draw attention to the issue (outside of those of us who have been aware of it for far too long now), I don't recall ever seeing anything that conclusively confirmed that steroids were to blame for Benoit's actions. It's kind of like saying the 9-11 attacks drew attention to problems in skyscraper building codes -- something that is indeed a good idea to take care of, but sort of incidental to the original problem source.

If tests come back that prove Benoit was suffering from CTE or something (if such tests are even going to be done), would that cause Congress to go "Oops... our bad" and let the wrestling companies off the hook on the steroids thing? I hope not...

[Highway61Revisited]

TNA doesn't need drug testing, PH.

They get verbal acknowledgment from each and every wrestler that they're clean.

A wrestler would never tell a lie.

[PureHatred]

LOL.

Chris, while you are 100% right, I think the whole investigation is a little laughable, despite the fact that I'm sure these guys have good intentions.

For instance, it took them two weeks to send TNA a request for their drug testing policies when they are the only other company besides the WWE with any kind of national TV deal? REALLY?? Before this thing started what are the odds these congressmen even knew TNA existed?

Also, other sites are reporting that congress also sent a request to NWA. I'm sure that will go smoothly: a loose affiliation of promoters who often have problems agreeing on basic things like talent contracts and house show pay-outs and who keep losing their connection to national TV promotions because they still think its 1972 and now they have to come up with some sort of universal drug policy?

Congress is going to find out very quickly why its going to be damn near impossible to create a universal drug policy for pro wrestling in the US. Unless they want to dump billions of dollars into some nationwide wrestling commission, and honestly, don't we have better things to spend our money on?

This is going to come down to how responsible each promotion feels for controlling drug use in their workers.

[Pete]

What a g*d damned friggin' brilliant move to sign Pac-Man Jones...what one ESPN talking head called "the Arena League of wrestling" gets plastered all over the sports media right in the middle of a possible Congressional investigation into professional wrestling. What a perfect time to be drawing public attention to yourself.

[Highway61Revisited]

These meetings as a whole are going to farcical. The minute someone asks why a promotion doesn't have a policy as strong as other althetic organizations the response will be, "We're entertainment! We're just like Saturday Night Live!"

Once we start getting into the standards and practices of some of the federations under the NWA banner, we're all going to see how screwed up pro wrestling is from the top to the very bottom.

I see TNA started releasing people but exactly how are they going to get around the fact that their current Ultimo Dragon champion Kurt Angle is a known drug user. That when most people thought it would be a good idea for him to go to rehab, TNA signs him up to keep 'rasslin.

And QFT @ Pete.

[dukedave]

I have no idea why but the title of this thread makes me want to sing "My baby, she wrote me a letter."