Reports of anabolic steroid abuse, as in many other elite sports, have plagued professional wrestling. Though there are no formal statistics on young people who are injured when they attempt to copy wrestling moves, at least one emergency department physician has noticed a pattern of injuries. The younger they are, the less they seem to realize that wrestling is choreographed. He says he worries about preteens and teens becoming desensitized to depictions of physical violence. And no one is in the hospital in a halo.
New Jersey moves against extreme wrestling.
New York Times. A quick scan of several lay publications revealed a number of reports of injuries in professional wrestling. Darren Drozdov fractured two cervical vertebrae and underwent surgery in October 1999 when he was thrown to the mat by his opponent. Stone Cold Steve Austin was to undergo surgery in early 2000 to repair a midcervical bone spur and disk protrusion. Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura, a former pro wrestler, complained of back injuries during a speech to travel executives in July 1999.