On a current episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff talked about WCW Superbrawl VIII, the death of Louie Spicolli, and drug screening in WCW at that time. Here are the highlights:
Knowing of Spicolli’s drug problems prior to they signed him:
“I suggest, I ‘d heard it sure, however like a great deal of things that you hear, didn’t always sign up genuine high up on my richer scale. Couple things in Dave’s excellent reporting. Soma isn’t a pain reliever; it’s a muscle relaxer. It’s not an opiate. It is a muscle relaxer, and what I did hear and discovered to be real was that a great deal of those somas weren’t originating from wrestling mark physicians; they were coming by from Mexico, especially in Spicolli’s case. Since you might get them over-the-counter in Mexico. You didn’t even require a prescription like a great deal of things that you require prescriptions here for in the U.S., you can actually stroll throughout the border and purchase it in a pharmacy and bring it back to the United States. That’s where the somas in Spicolli’s case were originating from, and Louie would make journeys down to Mexico and revive pails of somas, and after that share them with individuals he shared them with.
“But the signs of Somas, you understand, I’ve seen I do not wish to point out names specifically for individuals that aren’t around due to the fact that it does not matter. The names do not matter, however I was sitting throughout I was consuming supper after a program with a significant skill took a seat in this specific town at that point in time was truly, truly enjoying the alcohol usage extremely mindful about it and had like one beer bought a meal food came took a seat we’re in the middle of a discussion and he simply deal with planted in his food. I was having a completely regular discussion there was no sign that he had actually been consuming or was on any tablets. I indicate, he was speaking no various than you and I are right now totally lucid and after that he simply began his head would simply move a bit and boom face plant right into his food and I discovered later that it was somas and where they originated from which’s what occurred a great deal of times with somas.”
WCW drug screening after Spicolli’s Death:
“It got really major. And Harvey Schiller, to his credit– and I might get a few of this incorrect, however Harvey Schiller belonged to the U.S. Olympic Committee. And as such, was extremely well-informed and participated in a few of the screening that evaluated professional athletes for efficiency improving drugs. Harvey had a relationship with among the medical professionals that the Olympics utilized to evaluate professional athletes. This specific physician at that time when we’re discussing the late 90s had the screening innovation and the capability to find drugs that a great deal of other physicians and screening centers simply didn’t have.
“The Olympics had a lot more strenuous and advanced screening policy. Harvey, and I wasn’t included in this, and Harvey desired it that method. He didn’t desire me included. Harvey as president of Turner Sports and I reported to Harvey despite the fact that I was President of WCW I reported to Harvey Schiller. Harvey organized that a person together with Diana Myers and Nick Lambrose and set up a much more stringent policy and utilized this specific medical professional that Harvey and the physician had a service it wasn’t simply one medical professional he had a personnel that circumnavigated and we did set up a far more reputable and stiff screening program and procedure at that point in time.”
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