AEW’s drug-testing situation just became a much bigger conversation, because the latest word is that people inside the company apparently aren’t exactly talking about getting tested for steroids.
The subject came up during a Fightful Select Q&A after Brian Cage openly admitted to past PED use and Lars Sullivan immediately turned around and accused AEW of allowing wrestlers to abuse steroids. That accusation came with zero evidence, but the follow-up discussion about what kind of drug testing actually happens in AEW raised a much more interesting question.
Sean Ross Sapp was asked whether AEW could face backlash over its wellness policies after Cage’s comments. His answer started with something pretty simple: in all his conversations with people from AEW, nobody has ever told him they were drug tested.
“I mean, there are. I’m going to give you guys the lowdown on what I had always heard. I have never been told by anyone in AEW that they got drug tested.”
That alone is going to get people talking, but it didn’t stop there. Sapp claimed he knew people who previously worked for AEW who were using steroids and other drugs. According to him, their significant others later told him what they were taking and even who was getting it for them. There was one giant problem with turning any of that into a story at the time: nobody wanted their name attached to it.
“I know people that used to be on the staff and have since got fired that were using steroids and other drugs and stuff like that. And literally their significant others would later tell me, ‘Yeah, they were on this shit and here’s who got it for them.’”
“And obviously when pursuing that for a story, nobody’s gonna back that up. That’s the reality we’re in. Nobody’s gonna back that up.”
Then came the part that really puts AEW’s testing policies under the microscope. Sapp said he hasn’t heard about steroid testing taking place in AEW anytime recently. He also included TNA in that statement.
“But I’ve not heard of drug testing for steroids in AEW or TNA anytime recently.”
That does not mean AEW definitely has no drug-testing program. It means Sapp says nobody from AEW has ever told him they were tested and he hasn’t heard about steroid testing taking place there recently. There’s a massive difference between those two things, but it still leaves one hell of a question hanging over the company. The timing couldn’t be messier. Brian Cage just openly admitted that he has used PEDs during his career while insisting they aren’t the reason he became the wrestler he is today. Cage didn’t dodge anything when talking about his history.
“Do steroids work? Absolutely. Have I taken PEDs? Absolutely. I’ve never said I haven’t. People try to, like, judge me, and I feel like, too, that’s a thing. People try to, like, call you out as if you’re keeping a secret. Are PEDs what got me to where I am? Absolutely not.”
Cage also said that despite people claiming he looked “gassed up” after returning, he has only been using testosterone replacement therapy for an extended period.
“When people say like, ‘Oh, I’m so gassed up at my return,’ I’ve only been on TRT forever now. I’m 42 years old.”
That was enough for Lars Sullivan to jump into the mess and accuse AEW of allowing wrestlers to abuse steroids.
“AEW allows their wrestlers to abuse steroids lol”
Sullivan never provided anything to prove that claim, and Cage never said AEW approved or encouraged his PED use. The bigger story now isn’t what Sullivan tweeted or what Cage once took. It’s what anyone actually knows about AEW’s drug-testing setup. Sapp also gave his own view on PED use throughout wrestling and made it clear he believes the issue goes way beyond one company or one wrestler.
“However, look at these people very clearly. It’s rampant PED use. Now, whether you wanna give a shit about it or not, is up to you.”
He then specifically mentioned Cage and Brock Lesnar while talking about the physiques some wrestlers maintain. Sapp also brought up peptides and said plenty of wrestlers on television are using them before circling right back to the lack of steroid testing he has personally heard about in AEW.
“But it is not feasible to look like Brian Cage or Brock Lesnar on a day-to-day basis without the use of PEDs.”
“Half the wrestlers on TV are still on, like, peptides, which have a lot of gray area and, you know, are very helpful for people. But I’ve not heard of drug testing for steroids in AEW or TNA anytime recently. And if you fail in WWE, you got to be a fucking moron. The thresholds are so high in WWE that you got to be really, really stupid. They’re all on it. I don’t say they’re all. A lot of people are on it.”
So now AEW has a pretty obvious question hanging over its head. Cage has been completely open about his own PED history. Sullivan made a sweeping accusation about AEW. Now the word from someone who talks to people inside the company regularly is that he has never been told anyone there was drug tested and hasn’t heard about steroid testing in AEW anytime recently.
That still isn’t proof that AEW doesn’t test its wrestlers. But when nobody seems to know what the testing policy actually is, that mystery starts becoming a story all by itself. AEW can kill that mystery pretty quickly if it wants to. If there is a formal steroid-testing policy behind the scenes, spelling out how it works would shut down a lot of the speculation. Until then, Brian Cage’s PED admission just kicked open a door that isn’t closing anytime soon.
What do you think AEW’s drug-testing policy should look like, and do you think the company needs to publicly explain how wrestlers are tested? Let us know what you think in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
