Refreshingly honest from the recently-retired Phenom
In an appearance on the Spotify show Joe Rogan Experience, Mark ‘The Undertaker’ Calaway openly admitted to having used steroids while a WWE superstar.
He recently called time on a career that started way back in 1990 on an episode of ‘WWF Superstars’. Calaway actually made his debut under the ring name ‘Kane the Undertaker’, although he would later drop the first name.
The recently-retired Undertaker appeared as a guest on The Joe Rogan Experience. (Image: Spotify)The Undertaker won the WWE title four times, and the World Heavyweight Championship on three occasions. In 1997, Glenn Jacobs debuted as Undertaker’s brother, taking up the ‘Kane’ moniker himself.
The duo became known as the Brothers of Destruction and together won both the WWE and WCW tag team titles. They were also embroiled in a series of bitter feuds.
Who can forget that time The Undertaker was ‘buried alive’ by Kane, who interfered in his match with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon?
The Undertaker was asked by Joe Rogan to detail his experiences of steroid and drug use in professional wrestling. The WWE implemented a Talent Wellness programme in 2006 which tests for steroids, recreational drugs and the use of painkillers.
Recalling initial drug tests in the 1990s, Undertaker said: “They started out early on, I’m talking 90s. They didn’t want people getting pulled over, people finding weed in the car, you would get fined.”
The WWE relaxed its drug testing protocol in the mid-1990s as it was deemed too expensive. The company was suffering financially from the popularity of its then-competitor, World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
On the impact of ending testing, Calaway said: “They didn’t realise when you take that away, you are going to drink more, you are are going to take pills. Then you’ve got guys overdosing.
“Everything led up to the current drug protocol.”
It was then reintroduced in 2006 as the Talent Wellness Program, implemented as a response both to the excesses of 1990s wrestling and the sudden death of superstar Eddie Guerrero in 2005.
The Undertaker readies Brock Lesnar for a chokeslam at Summerslam 2015. (Photo: Getty)When pressed by Rogan on the issue of steroids, Undertaker said there was a pressure on wrestlers to look a certain way.
“There was a time where everybody had to be jacked, especially if a guy is 6’8, there was a stigma, you have to be 300 pounds.
“If a guy like Brock Lesnar comes out and he looks skinny, people are going to be furious.”
At the time, the culture was similar in virtually all professional wrestling federations – so these issues were by no means exclusive to WWE.
With professional wrestlers now much leaner, The Undertaker said “I couldn’t get that way when I was on steroids”.
He then spoke highly of the current WWE Talent Wellness Program.
“Our industry has come a long way, they take good care of the athletes now.
“That was the wrestler’s mindset, now we’re tested for everything. They test for steroids, they have for a while.”
The Undertaker said that, under a full-time contract, superstars undergo a urine test four times a year and a blood test three times.
