[vincesanity82]

According to the New York Daily News, the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection will hold its hearing late next month as a response to the premature death of wrestler Chris Benoit.

"I am extremely concerned about the possible illegal and destructive practices by professional entertainment athletes that negatively influence the younger generation," said Rep. Bobby Rush, the Illinois Democrat who is the chairman of the committee. "We must make sure that today's wrestling sports heroes are not using illegal performance-enhancing drugs that, unfortunately, can and have led to their untimely deaths." A congressional source told the Daily News that the panel has not yet compiled witness lists, and it is still not clear who will be asked to appear at the late-September hearing. Rush's subcommittee sent a letter to the WWE on July 31 requesting information about the wrestling federation's drug-testing policies. Similar letters were sent to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and the National Wrestling Alliance on Aug. 13.

Congress to Hold WWE Steroids Hearing - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

[EmpireWF]

This is the first I'm seeing that it's certain a hearing will be held. I mean, I thought one would be held but it looks like things are happening.

And although WWE would be the featured people, they won't be the only ones. Like mentioned above, Congress has contacted TNA and the NWA (why the NWA, I don't know. They're a barely connected group of small indy companies) about their respective drug policies, if they have one.

This could make the baseball hearings look like childs play...depending on how Congress handles it.

[vincesanity82]

me thinks the list of wrestlers could get quite lengthy..

[EmpireWF]

That's one question...who do they call to testify? How do they come up with the list? Do they balance it out with current wrestlers and guys who are retired who had lengthy careers in the US?

How does Congress figure out particular wrestlers to call...it boggles my mind.

[EmpireWF]

By the way, here's a link to The Daily News report...

and a quote...

"WWE spokesman Kevin Hennessy said his organization was unaware of the hearing but would comply if asked to attend. A spokesman for TNA declined comment. NWA officials could not be reached for comment."

TNA is slated to get a new two hour show on SpikeTV in October so it should be interesting to see how they handle this.

[vincesanity82]

Im not sure how the selection process will work but maybe theyre gonna go by past records first..Its gonna get ugly quick I think..If any sport has a lack of steroid testing or under the rug testing policy and a whole lot of users, wrestling would be it..

[azrael492]

There is no way I see that they can regulate steroid use in this venue. There are so many local wrestling circuits that go unnoticed that they could use until they got their shot at stardom. How could they watch all of them?

[bears9]

And is about time