6 Crazy Wrestling Revelations That Were Confirmed Under Oath
5. Hogan & Warrior's Juice Bar
Contrary to popular belief (and blind bloody obvious circumstantial evidence), the 1994 trial that nearly sent Vince McMahon to prison wasn't to do with the act of actually taking steroids, nor the monies ill-attained through the work of the mammoth performers said to be filled to the gills the illegal bodybuilding substances.
The United States government needed to pin McMahon clean on charges of distribution and trafficking to stand a chance of getting their man. The capture of dirty Pennsylvania medic Dr Zahorian years earlier had resulted in all eyes turning towards pro wrestling, and Hulk Hogan's 1991 Arsenio Hall Show lies (“I only took steroids three times, and only for injuries”) did as much to stoke the fires as extinguish them.
'The Hulkster' and The Ultimate Warrior would be the megastars called to contradict Hogan's original claims with their own testimonies about rampant use during a period they allegedly believed them to be legal.
Warrior was first to come clean, noting that "...in my mind and other wrestlers’ minds we didn’t think they were illegal at the time...I didn’t think anyone would consciously take steroids if they thought they were pouring toxins or poisons into their body. Steroids were a small sacrifice I was going to make. I was willing to make that sacrifice to maintain that character for my career or bodybuilding.”
Similarly, Hogan was uncharacteristically transparent. “I lied on national TV when I said I didn’t take steroids. I feared the publicity of it. My family would be hounded. My life would be ruined...It was very common. At the time, all wrestlers were using it and I had a prescription for it.”
The juice was loose, and wrestling would be stigmatised with (not entirely unfounded) accusations of abuse and misuse forevermore.